LTS

I prefer to exercise more rather than drink less.

I guess this is a good spot to put this... This is a classic marketing video response: http://video.blackhawks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=894&id=446251&lang=en

You're catching on. The use of the randall definitely started with the idea of adding that kick of hops right at serving time. It's evolved mightily since then with all kinds of cool things being in the randall to add some flavor during serving. Just one more thing that I love about beer.

Not exactly.. they could involve that but not always. The basic assumption is that fresh hops are added during the brewing process, whether that is mash hopped, first wort hopped, boil hopped, flameout hopped, grant hopped, or fermenter hopped. Whew.. that's a lot of possibilities. What will happen is that rather than having the lupulin being the most notable aromas there will also be a grassiness added to the beer from the freshness of the leaves. The reason most hops are dried is to remove that leafy flavor but keep the lupulin glands intact. you still get the hoppiness of course, but it's mixed in with the vegetal aspects of the hop at the same time.

Agreed. If I followed all of this properly then I believe the issue was the publicity they bring with the visit. It's not that they shouldn't do it or it doesn't have value it's that there's no need to make such a big deal about it. Here's the thing. I think both are great. I think it's great if an athlete decides, on their own, to visit people or to do something else that picks people up. I also think it's great if they do it as part of an overall publicity event. There are no losers here. In the end, people benefit. When it's done in the public eye some people may see the story and feel good for that child. When it's done privately that wouldn't happen. When it's done publicly someone may say, look at that guy, what an ego. When it's done privately that wouldn't happen. Whatever... would you rather see a story about an athlete visiting children in a hospital or a story about an athlete shooting someone. I know which way I'm voting.

It's been a few years. Generally I am not a Harpoon fan. I find their beers unimpressive. Still, that's me and others really like them.

Hell yea. And now onto beer. Last night I had Elysium Space Dust. Quality beer. really.. really.. good IPA.

Selanne continues to be one of my favorite players in the NHL. He just gets it done. That video was classic. Absolutely classic. The NHL is better with him in it. The same I said when Lidstrom was in it.. sigh.

It's shown up at least once although I think there was some fall out because technically it's not distributed to Rochester. I believe one of the owners of a shop went downstate, grabbed some, and brought it back up to Rochester. You can sometimes find it in Ithaca at Finger Lakes beverage Center. Downstate? It's there.

Yea.. not a Watermelon fan either. Monk's Blood on the other hand.. now that's fantastic beer.

I know people who've attained various levels of certification in the program as well. I think it's an interesting idea but I'm not sure just how much value it adds. It might be valuable in a bottle only situation but most beer centric locales are going to be featuring kegged beer. Kegged beer can easily be sampled from the tap so it's not overly difficult for a place to give you a 2 oz sample to see how you like it. In the wine world this is different. Having knowledgeable people is a good thing but here again there is a problem with brewers pushing style lines and turning over one-off products so often. A server may know what a Saison is supposed to be but who knows if Brewer XYZ made it that way. They might have pushed it beyond style to be Saison-like. So, yes, the server needs to sample each beer to be able to provide some insight or else they are going to be reading whatever a brewer provides as we marketing material for the beer. Being intelligent on storing, cleaning, etc. that's another story. I've found that most places (that are good places) have that down pretty well at this point.

Ahh hell.. thanks. Just looked it up.. it appears to be Sweetwater IPA (wow). 97 at Ratebeer and 90 at BeerAdvocate. I'm not sure if I've had that one.

Yea.. I forgot about those twists. Georgia has some goofy law that restricts breweries from selling beer on premises. Terrapin does a similar thing with the glassware. I'm assuming by the IPA you meant 420? I like that beer, but as you said, you are not an IPA fan. I've had a few others but it's been awhile so I tend to forget them now.

I remember the first time I had that. I didn't know the abv at the time.. after two pints and halfway into the third I looked it up... no one around me could believe 9.2%... we were believers about an hour after that.

Nice! Start the hunt for some Three Floyds.. it's there. It's worth it

Indeed, Heady Topper is fantastic. Over time, and because I make my own beer, I've stopped going as nuts as some people will over a beer. It's also in my nature to just not get overhyped... still. Heady Topper is close to that. There are some others for me as well.

I was in Los Angeles last week and stopped in at The Bruery. What a great place.. and sampling their beers was awesome. We don't get enough of them here. Or Xata was fabulous along with their Palm Humulus (Coconut IPA). Many other great beers too. Love getting outside the distribution market to try new stuff. Wished I was out there longer for that purpose..

That's a helluva deal. I would have been in trouble. Was in a snifter style glass then?

Going out of your comfort zone and putting on Duchesse are not exactly the same thing. Going out of the comfort zone is playing wing when you are a center. By going to Duchesse it would be like that same center now playing nose tackle for an NFL team. Great beer... wonder what he was charging for it.

Rumble might be harder to come by at Wegmans but it is a fantastic beer. I'm a huge Great Divide fan over all. Their rice beer is an easy drinker.

Indeed, I happened upon it a little over a week ago. I was surprised. I would have imagined there was more fanfare for the beer, even if it is mediocre overall. I don't stop drinking.. I guess I just stop posting in this thread. Good to see it back! I like the CB's Ales for ALS release. It has a proprietary hop blend put together by a hop farm in Washington. The purpose of the beers is to raise money for ALS. There are breweries all over the US doing it.

At least we're not Oilers fans. Gracias. It does suck. That's a funny statement coming from a Sabres fan right? They have to turn it around sometime, right? Just think of the draft positions they've had over the past 4 years. We're following the vets advice. The vomiting has stopped, but without food she gets weak quick. She's a battler though. I don't enjoy thinking about the day that will eventually come. Sorry to throw the real life crap in here but it gets under my skin when we sit here and call each other morons over a game of hockey. Either that or I am still under the influence of watching Ghostbusters 2 last night and feel like our negative energy is going to raise Vigo. Not this one... This one...

This just in science declares that team fandom is a predetermined DNA trait. Oh wait.. that will never happen. So, since you will still be rooting for that team that will suck year after year after year it seems you have just self-selected into the question you asked. Pot, kettle.. what? I'm pretty sure ownership is counting on fools like you to blame their DNA for HAVING to ROOT for the team. As a fan I am happy to have a hockey team... as a person I can choose to pay attention to that team or not. You know what I am worrying about today? The fact that a good acquaintance of mine was run over and killed Sunday night and that my dog, who is 15, keeps throwing up and won't eat.

Hopefully he'll front check, the NHL has been cracking down on hits from... ooooooh nevermind :) For me personally, I knew he would always be the teams savior. It was that time when he walked over to Fort Erie without using the Peace Bridge.

Ahh, thanks for the update.