sabills

A lot of podcasts have call-ins, don't see why that wouldn't work.

"On fleek" is the first slang that is truly beyond me. I can never remember if its good or bad. I turn 30 in September, I suppose it is time to let go.

I decided the other day that next time he's in town I'm going. I'm not the biggest Boss fan, but he's on that list of "shows you should see" for me. Plus I'm sure I know every freaking song.

He kinda did that in the first season, didn't he? When Jimmy was just a public defender, he told him to use a generic name, like "Gibraltar" or something.

That OT goal felt very Eichel-like.

When do we get to start comparing players to Eichel? That's what I'm excited for.

Much like Bowie, I can claim no true personal attachment to Prince. I knew his hits, knew he was kinda weird, knew he changed his name to a symbol and back, knew the Charlie Murphy story on Chappelle, but that was about it. Until that half-time show, I had no idea what kind of guitar player he was. Completely changed my view of him. I still don't know his stuff well, but he's awesome in my eyes. I'm also a sucker for a show in the rain. Nothing feels more real then a bunch of people sopping wet in the rain at a rock show, and the band just eating it up. See: The Tragically Hip a few summers ago.

Cannot express my love for this show enough. Like that slate article says, it isn't getting the love of its predecessor, and I think its because it doesn't have the "sex appeal" that the other did. No mass crime or explosions (yet). Even Mike's story line is a slow boil. To me, BCS is doing what both Mad Men and Breaking Bad did at the same time. MM's ability to pull high drama from such low stakes (Maybe this middling advertising firm will get sold/go under! Will this couple get a DIVORCE?!?!), along with the underlying danger and connection to a seedy underbelly of ABQ as in BB, plus the artistic cinematography of both shows. And I say that with nothing but immense love for both previous shows. Also, that note's totes from Gus. I half expected him to be there when Mike turned around. EDIT: Confirmed: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/04/19/gus_fring_is_back_better_call_saul_s_creators_confirm.html

I think AFFC might be my favorite in the series, but ADWD is my least.

Don't judge me.

If you did something like that, it would probably explode. It should happen.

I just walked and got a hair cut on Elmwood today. One of my favorite days of the year is the first really nice day of spring, especially walking down that street. Everything feels so alive.

Luckily they kinda had a guy waiting in the wings to take over. Their new head brewer had been brewing their stuff on his own for a year as the brewer for Hydraulic Hearth. And Ethan Cox, who's the main owner, still oversees most of that stuff. A little concerning, but I'm not going to worry until I have more reason to. Their standard "Resurgence IPA" has gotten better, I prefer "Road Trip" if they have it. My wifes favorite beer of theirs, and also near the top for me, is their "Blood Orange Saison". They also have new stuff almost every time I go, which is often, so try some of the smaller batch stuff, too.

They're about to grow their business fairly quickly; they're acquiring another place on the West Side thats probably at 3 times what they have now. That should help their scale. http://www.communitybeerworks.com/2015/07/lets-talk-about-our-new-location/ Thats an old one, but things are progressing: http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2016/03/29/expansion-brewing-for-community-beer-works.html TL;DR: They're currently at around 600 barrels a year, with that expansion they'd be up to about 3500 barrels, with possibilities of expanding at that location to over 15,000 barrels.

I JUST talked to a brewer in the area about that recently. What hops and malts they can get their hands on change a lot, especially for the small guys. Also, different harvests mean different crops, even from the same field. In wine this is almost an advantage: wineries make a specific "vintage" of a wine from that years crop, and every time its a little different. Beer customers expect consistency across years and decades of drinking their favorites. According to the brewer, the key is getting your beer to change so slowly and subtly that people don't notice. Thats where it becomes both an art and a science: not just in making a good beer, but making a good beer that is consistently a good beer, and also within a range of flavors that people will recognize as being the "same" beer. EDIT: Broke up my wall o' text a bit

Thats where having that tap-room legislation go through helps. I know CBW being able to serve on premises has helped out some. I'm betting their new location will have a bigger taproom.

Missed this before. Somewhere else I guess :( Probably my porch a lot, haha

Yeah, while I'm not a fan of ABInBev at all, credit where credit is due: they haven't stuff up to much. When they've taken a brewery its rarely destroyed its quality that I've noticed. Elysium and Goose Island are still pretty good. They just want the money and the market share, not to make everything taste like Bud.

List of breweries/brewpubs visited while on an 11 day west coast swing, vaguely in order, as well as I can remember: Ballast Point Stone Russian River Oak Park Brewery Sac-Town Hoppy's in Sacramento New Helvetia Sierra-Nevada Caldera Rogue McMennimens Kennedy School Bridgeport I can't even list the number of new beers I had out there. Russian River and Hoppy's each had "samplers" that allowed you to try everything they had on tap, and every bar/restaurant I went to had new breweries and beers to try. I think the only "generic" beer I had out there was a Corona at a diner in Monterey, which was pretty perfect at that time, to be honest. So. Much. Beer. I want to go and do it all over again.

I want Hoffman baaaad. If only so we can make "dont' hassle the Hoff" jokes.

For those who haven't heard my stifled crying from here, Blue Monk is officially closing April 16th. It's a sad day for me: that place was expensive and usually packed, but its become one of my favorite places to go in the city, especially for when people come in from the suburbs or out of town. I've been lucky enough to have it just a 10 minute walk from my place for a few years now, and I made use of it. No lack of places to get a beer in this city, but its still a loss for the beer culture here.

I'd like to see what the home-away records are for the Sabres over that span vs. just Pittsburgh before drawing any conclusions. I bet its not that different.

I don't think she's scamming him, at least not knowlingly. I think Mike is just willing to do literally anything for his granddaughter. And I don't think she was lying about the gunshots either. Her husband was shot to death, she's just super paranoid.

That guy wasn't a wolf. Tuco is a wolf. Wolves don't go up to sheep and ask if they can have five dollars. That guy was just an sheep. Maybe a coyote.

I mean, I gotta figure the fact that the Pens have had Crosby and Lemieux for a decade or so each probably helped with us losing to them a lot, especially since we haven't been particularly good in either of those eras.