Rugged One

Nice pics Adam. I think Harpoon makes the UFO Hefe. I've been wanting to try that but it pretty much looks like you all didn't care for it. I think I'll wait. Tried the Victory Moonglow Weizenbock. This one is a little unusual but still rather good. Very fruity and spicey for a weizenbock. The Victory Moonglow Weizenbock. Pretty decent and this was even an old bottle. Held up pretty well.

I gotta agree with what you guys are saying. I rode it during Coaster Celebration this past weekend and we need a new category for the airtime on this thing. Strongest I've ever felt on the nearly 500 coasters I've experienced. I honestly don't think I can even rank or compare it to other wooden coasters, the experience is that different.

I was really surprised by how just different the two rides are. While I think that the Florida version is the superior all around ride, we had ridden it so much that when we finally rode the USH version, we really dug it. Just because it was so different. Especially the opening dark ride segment with all the mummies coming to life. Good stuff.

El Toro during Coaster Celebration ERT last night. Nice.

Ooooh, it's nice to see such a good topic come back from the dead. I'll cast a vote for the Silver Comet at Martin's Fantasy Island. With a great airtime hill at the start, a wild finish with sweet air at the end, and loads of great laterals in the middle, I definitley think that this is one of the most grossly overlooked wood coasters out there. Late 90s CCI mastery at it's best.

Tried something new that I picked up while we were in New York last weekend. The Davidson Brothers IPA from Davidson Brothers Brewing in Glens Falls, NY, just south of Lake George. We had wanted to visit the brewery itself after the Great Escape on Sunday but ended up wasting too much time at the park waiting on a coaster that unfortunately never opened. We'll get there next time though. The Davidson Brothers IPA. It would have been really good if it had just been a little hoppier.

Sweet! Thanks for the link Wally. I hadn't seen those yet. It does indeed look like good progress has been made in just a few shorts weeks since our visit. I can't wait to visit again.

That Sunday of the trip, after leaving the ACE Day at Magic Mountain early because of boredom and the threat of rain, we decided to grab some In-And-Out Burgers and get to our hotel early in anticipation of a visit to Universal Studios the next day. I hadn't bothered to try and hit up a liquor store yet to see what type of tasty Cali brews might be found, so we checked one out down the street. Finished with the Minden Maibock. We had a lot of fun here. I'm looking forward to checking out some of their other locations in the future. Next went with the Stargazer IPA, which is brewed right here at this particular brewery and like all other San Diego based IPAs, rocked hard! Started out with the Red Trolley Ale. Nice selection on tap. After Universal Studios, we hit up the Karl Strauss brewpub at Citywalk. I definitely liked the Alley Cat more of the two. The Great White was a little light but still not bad. Found a couple of bottles from a brewery that I had been wanting to try. Lost Coast Brewing. The Great White Wit and the Alley Cat Amber.

Yeah, we even have Gluten-Free posting beers now! So I think I'll finally put up the second half of beer pics from our So Cal trip last month. I'll end with a construction pic of the new Bistro and Beer Garden, which still looks like it has a ways to go. Come on baby, be ready come Labor Day! Quite possibly the greatest beer pic I have ever taken. Inside the fridge. Cold Stone beer, ready to go. Yum! And Victory! And Avery! (Way in the back). Stone distibutes other brands to the area as well. Like Paulaner! The bottling line. Mmmmm. There's Arrogant Bastard being brewed in that system right now. Various specialty malts. The grain silos out back. Our tour guide was great! Very passionate and knowlegable about craft brewing. Check out his goblet of Stone Russian Imperial Stout on the table. Nice! Time for the tour but to be honest, I could have just hung out over here for the duration of our visit. Lots of cool merch to take home. They had some info set up on the new Bistro and Beer Garden that is being built onto the brewery. I don't think that they are going to make that Spring opening though. While I had to get me some Stone IPA! That's about the most legit smile you'll see out of me in a beer pic. I was psyched to be here! Kim tried the Stone Pale Ale. The tasting bar. They had a pretty good deal going, where you could pick a glass out and get it filled for $3.00 with one of four tasty ales they had on tap. Upon entrance, we discovered a pretty rowdy pub crawl visiting. Luckily they left right before the tour started. Next stop after Sea World, was Escondido, CA. The home of the brand spanking new Stone Brewing Company brewery. I may be all smiles in this pic but it was just OK. Disappointing after the great spring seasonal, Spring Heat Spiced Wheat. Of course a free sample was in order. In this case, the latest of the A/B seasonal craft beers. The Beach Bum Blonde Ale for summer. The Sea World San Diego Hospiltality House. I've been to all of the Busch Parks now and I must say that I think this was the nicest of the bunch.

While we were in New York State this past weekend, I picked up a summer mix pack of some Saranac brews. The Saranac Summer Ale. The Saranac Mountain Ale.

Nice pics man! It's rare to see a trip put together of pretty much just waterparks, so I'm anxiously awaiting the rest. So did you stay at The Wilderness and then buy passes for the Great Wolf and Kalahari? I love those enclosed Tornado funnels. There's so much to do in the Dells, a couple of days just doesn't seem to cover it whenever we are there.

Nice pics Adam. Holy crap, that's a big pile of fries! Hopefully they will still be open whenever we are able to make it back to Pittsburgh.

On Saturday, after leaving Montreal early because of rain, we still had time to hit up the Lake Placid Brewing Company in Plattsburg, NY. Up until a couple of months ago, they used to do brewery tours and had a nice looking tasting room open. Unfortunately they had those shut down by the building inspectors until they can get their operation more up to code. The guy we talked to at the Brewery was really cool, and because there were only two of us, we got a quick, private tour of the brewery. He even hooked us up with a sample of their frostbite ale. Hopefully in the future they will get things sorted out, as I'd definitely come back to see how things are going. So of course I had to take some home with me. They have a little area where you can buy some merch and beer. And a sample of their Frostbite Ale, which was rather tasty. ....but we got a short one anyway. The sign may say no tours.... The Lake Placid Brewing Company in Plattsburg, NY.

Nope, not dead. We just went up North this weekend to check out some new parks. So on the way up to Montreal Friday night, we stopped off in Lake George for a bite to eat. Finished up with the Fat Scotsman Ale. Because the brewpub effectively shuts down during the winter, they are able to age this one for about six months and it shows. Very good. While I have the Inman Pond Blond. Kim has the Bear Naked Ale. Some decent looking stuff on tap. Surprisingly, we were still able to get a seat fairly quickly even with the crowds. As you can see, the inside has a rather woodsy, log cabin type feel to it. Little did we know that the tail end of the Americade Bike Ralley was going on in the Lake George area. Bikers everywhere! We wanted to check out the Adirondack Pub and Brewery.

I like those Wally! Wow man, you have promotional materials and merchandise. You're ready to take off with this thing! Adam, if you liked the Double Simcoe, I read somewhere that Weyerbacher is working on a triple IPA for later this year. Some random stuff from the last couple of days. Finally, the Troegs Sunshine Pils. This one is a little light but is still pretty tasty and refreshing. The newly retooled Weyerbacher Hops Infusion. I was initially disappointed by the original Hops Infusion but this one rocks. Again, very smooth and balanced with much more hops. The Lost Coast Indica IPA. I really liked this one. Nice balance to this and is one of the more drinkable IPAs I've had in awhile. The Avery Karma Ale.

We got the Pteranadon Flyers credit a couple of years ago. All we did was head straight to them as soon as they opened the Jurassic Park section. The guy at the front just waved us on through. It might have helped that one of the guys that was with us had a Florida Coaster Club shirt on. One of my favorite knock backs was getting denied the Little Titans credit at Mt. Olympus. The guy just basically slammed the gate on us and told us to go ride the Pegasus and the Zeus. I personally think he was just too lazy to run the ride for us, as seems like the norm at that place. We're actually heading to La Ronde this weekend, so I'm interested if we'll get denied the credit or not. Their webpage even has a feature where you plug in your height and it tells you what rides you are eligible to ride. The kiddie coaster is listed for people of an adult height to ride.

I agree with both sides of the IOA issue. While I really like the immersive nature of an event there, I have to agree that the themes do get repetitive. I don't see why they can't just alternate between the two parks every other year. Of course, when you use both or one and part of the other, that's that much more people and money you can bring in.

Plus don't forget O'Briens, The Liar's Club, and now I find out that you can visit the tasting bar at Port Brewing in San Marcos. I hit the Karl Strauss at Universal Citywalk last month (pics to come soon) and it wasn't bad. I'd definitley be up for hitting the one in San Diego or Carlsbad. Man, it's going to be a busy weekend.

I wouldn't mind seeing it just on the Studios side, as I've never attended one just on that side. What other areas do they use besides the sound stages in the middle? I remember the 2004 version using the Earthquake area for the Necropolis haunt. It seems like there were others but I can't remember exactly what areas they used.

I've gone the last 4 years, everytime being on a Sunday night, and the express passes the last three have come in handy everytime. At the least if you do get through a few houses early with no waits, you can use the passes to go through again. I believe that they were considerably less on Thurs and Sun nights than Fri and Sat. I'm kind of curious as to which parks they are going to utilize. I liked how last years utilized not only IOA but the sound stages as well. The 2004 version just seemed way too spread out between the two parks. Not immersive at all.

Have fun at New Belgium man and make sure to take pics. The last time I was out that way (2 years ago), I wasn't really into the beer thing like I am now. If I went back now, I could plan a trip of nothing but beer around it. Especially if it was around the GABF.

We overnighted in Carlsbad and the next morning spent a couple of hours at Legoland. On the way down to San Diego, we still had yet another brewery to hit. The original Pizza Port in Solana Beach. After that, we changed our plans up some. We had originally planned on continuing down I-5 to San Diego and hitting up Alesmith Brewing (the top ranked brewery in the world over at ratebeer.com) for their afternoon tour and tasting. However, we had such a good time at both Pizza Ports that we decided to backtrack back up the highway and hit the third and final Pizza Port in San Clemente. I kind of feel bad about skipping out on Alesmith (especially since the San Clemente Pizza Port wasn't as happening as the other two) but I guess that's what return trips to San Diego are for. In the late afternoon, we finally made it to San Diego and first checked out the Big Dipper and Belmont Park. After that, we had wanted to check out the highly rated beer bar, The Liars Club, which was right down the street. Unfortunately, when we drove past it looked so crowded and there was so little parking available, that we said screw it. We instead checked out another top ranked beer bar in San Diego, O'briens Pub, and it was a good choice. The funny thing is that it's sits at the tail end of this strip mall in what I guess is the San Diego equivelent of Korea Town. Pretty strange location and alas, they had no Korean beers on tap. I liked the saying on this O'Briens pint glass so much, that I took one home with me. So true. So true. It was keep the glass night for Lagunitas brews, so I went with the Shut-Down Ale. I started out with the Russian River IPA. This place had a reeally cool vibe. Lots of west coast stuff on tap and even though there were lots of people there, it seemed as though you could always get a seat. As you can see, it sits among a bunch of Korean shops. It's really hard to miss it. O'Briens Pub. I finished up with the Pier Rat Porter. They did have some nice outdoor seating though, where I enjoyed my El Camino IPA. Another west coast style wonder. Since it was the middle of the afternoon, there weren't too many people there plus as you can see they didn't have as much on tap as the other locations. The Pizza Port in San Clemente. As you can see, this one had a real Spanish influence to it. Once again, we had to go for the awesome pizza. The Swamis IPA. This is the Solana Beach equivelent of the one at Carlsbad and was just as tasty. Kim enjoys the California Honey Ale. They had a guest beer on tap that I was really hoping to find. The Russian River Pliney the Elder Double IPA. Excellent! This one was a lot smaller and even more like a surf shack than the one in Carlsbad. Being lunchtime, it was naturally packed but we still managed to find a table pretty quickly. The original Pizza Port in Solana Beach.

Uh oh, Wally. You'll have to let us know how that turns out. Anyway, finally getting around to posting the beer pics from the So Cal trip that Kim and I took last month (May 18th-24th). Although the trip was primarily a coaster one, we made it a priority to try and hit a few of the top ranked breweries and bars in the San Diego area as well. I gotta tell you, we had such a fun time in San Diego and the beer was so good, that we are allready planning a followup trip back there over Labor Day weekend. By this time my "coaster" enthusiasm was really shining through, so we took off. I gotta say that this was one of the best times I've ever had at a brewery or bar. Just a great vibe and awesome beers. We can't wait to come back. Finished up with another house beer. The Nightrider Imperial Stout. Fantastic! Know your hops! Decided to try a guest beer next. The New Belgium Fat Tire. This ones for you Derek! By the way, did I mention that they call this place Pizza Port for a reason? Freaking awesome stuff. I could have eaten a couple of these myself. Next up, I tried their most popular beer. The Carlsbad Chronic. Very sweet and malty. I really dug it! They had so many taps, they were just sticking out of the wall at some points! Kim tries the Shark Bite Red, the only brew they offer in bottles. Although that will change soon with the new stand alone brewery that they've bought from Stone. You know what I had to start out with. The Wipeout IPA. San Diego style and it was awesome! Holy crap, this place had a lot of good stuff on tap, with about 15 house beers and another 15 guest beers on tap. And then find yourself someplace to sit and chill. Even though the place was pretty packed, we had no problem finding a seat at the bar. Grab yourself some beer from the bar. Order and pick up your food at the grub counter. While the Pizza Port in Solana Beach is higher ranked, we really liked the atmosphere of this one. The set up of all three Pizza Ports is pretty simple. After arriving on Thursday morning at LAX and stops at Adventure City and Knotts, we made our way south down I-5 towards San Diego. Our first stop was the Pizza Port Brewing Company in Carlsbad.

You know that's going to be required wearage now on all future BACT adventures, right? This afternoon Kim and I stopped by Kclingers, one of our favorite local beer bars, on the way home from some shopping. It's been awhile since we've been here and I'm glad we decided to stop as they had something on tap I've been wanting to try. Even the skeleton in the floor thinks it's weak. He'd rather stick with his bottle of Dead Guy. Kim puts it to the hopface challenge and as you can see, it failed miserably. We next went to the downstairs bar and low and behold they had the imperial version of the Big Daddy on tap. The Double Daddy. This one was a little more hoppy but not by much. It was how the normal IPA should have tasted. The Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA. I've been wanting to try this for awhile and I gotta say, it was a little disappointing. Too much citrus and not enough hops. Seriously, it tasted closer to a fruit juice than it did an IPA. Just another rainy day at Kclingers, the #37th best place in America to have a beer according to beeradvocate.com.

Finally getting around to posting these from last Thursday. Let's see, we got back from a week in California around 4:30 am last Thursday and had less than 24 hours before we had to be on the road for our next trip to Holiwood Nights. What do you think we used that time to do? Sleep? Pack? Nah. We drove down to Baltimore for the latest DuClaw release of course. ...or this one. I don't think Kim's ready for the double IPAs quite yet. I don't know what sums up the Serum more. This pic... Oooooh! Free glasses! Finally, Jay and I get to sit down with our spoils. The Serum Double IPA. And it's a good one. Hoppy as all get out. The release video was really well done, using footage from Pulp Fiction. "Mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down with?" Next month is another one I'm pumped about. The Sawtooth Belgian Wit. Trivia time. A lot of the trivia this time had to do with the history of the IPA and various barbituates. What a nice combo! For dinner I had the blackened tuna melt, the dinner special they had running with the release. Of course I had to start out with the Venom, just to get my taste buds tingling. I was really looking forward to this release. The hoppiest things they usually brew is the Venom Pale Ale, so when they bust out a double IPA, it's something to get excited about. Yeah, we're back at Duclaw!