Claude_Verret

You've both got me beat. I have three taps and rarely do I have them all going at once. Right now I'm out of homebrew completely but I've got 10 gallons of APA in the fermenter.

What can I say, you have good taste brother! :thumbsup: I'll have to seek out some Pikeland Pils I've never had that one. The NHC is a blast, you should definitely try to make it one of these years. Needless to say there is way too much drinking going on from early in the morning until whenever you pass out. I'm getting past my prime apparently and I can't keep up anymore. I was in bed before midnight every day of the conference and these young guns were going strong from dusk til dawn all three days. Pro Brewers night is always a treat with all the local craft brewers on hand pouring their beers. For example, this year Russian River was pouring Pliny and some of their oak wine barrel aged brettanomyces sour beers. Just great, great stuff. NHC is Seattle next year, but I hear it's finally coming back east to Philly in 2013.

I'll jump in since I've had a little bit of a chance to gather my thoughts on this. I'm a homebrewer and beer lover, but like weave I wouldn't call myself a beer snob at all. There is a time and place for almost every kind of beer. Almost. My favorite styles are APA, IPA, czech pils, porters, stouts, and some belgians every now and then. My go to "lawnmower" beer in PBR. An ice cold PBR is fantastic on a hot summer day. Plus it's Drunkard's beer of choice when pillaging the RBC lots. When the Sabres are in the playoffs and I'm watching at my man cave outdoors it's always Labbat Blue. My favorite beer is Pliny the Elder from Russian River. They "invented" the double IPA style with this beer and it's been voted the best beer in America numerous times by the readers of Zymurgy magazine. Unfortunately, outside of a couple bars in Philly you cant find this on the east coast, but if you ever find yourself out west do yourself a favor and seek this beer out. Unearthly from Southern Tier which has been mentioned is also fantastic, but it's no Pliny. Other good double IPA's are Great Divide's Hercules double IPA and I used to be a big fan of Dogfish head 90 minute but in the last few years it seems like it's gotten to sweet, almost like to keep up with demand they are not letting the beer attentuate fully. The continuous hopping of DFH 60 minute & 90 minute is a great way to get huge hop flavor in your beer. I have homebrewed a few that way and they usually turn out great. Some regular APA & IPA favorites: Great Lakes Burning River, Sweetwater 420, Southern Tier IPA, Bell's Two Hearted Ale, New Belgium Ranger IPA & Mighty Arrow, Bear Republic Racer 5 & Hop Rod Rye (an IPA using rye malt in the grist adds another level of spiciness complexity to the beer that I enjopy a lot) Victory Brewing in PA makes some fantastic beers. Their czech pilsner Prima Pils is fantastic. Of course the ubiquitous Pilsner Urquell is great too if you can find some fresh stuff that's not in light struck bottles. Their Donnybrook stout is also a great example of an Irish dry stout. I enjoy Ommengang beers as well. Hennepin being a great farm house saison. I've been to the national homebrewers conference the last three years and you can always tell what the new "fad" craft beers are by going to these. Last year there were a lot of Belgin IPA's. Big belgian beers fermented with characteristic estery and phenolic Belgian yeast but heavily hopped with american hops (cascade, centennial, amarillo, simcoe etc.). They are ok, but I can't say I'm a big fan. This year at the conference Black IPA's seemed to be the rage. These are basically IPA's brewed with debittered dark malts that give the dark color but cuts down the roasty character normally associated with these malts. There were a few that I enjoyed, but most were not done very well and were not well balanced IMO. Alaskan Smoked Porter is fantastic. I love a good smoked porter and have smoked my own malt to brew with in the past. I know I have forgotten many but it's now 10 AM and I need a beer!!!

Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale. I'm fairly certain it's not available in your neck of the woods, but if you make it down for some pillaging this season I'll buy some for the tailgate. :thumbsup:

As 'ole Roby would say..it's hotter than a dogs breath down here in NC. Temps of 100+ F in the forecast the next three days and heat index of 112+. It's absolutely brutal. The summers here in the south are the only times when I begin to seriously think about moving back to Buffalo.

Yep, La Unica / Montesino were my go to "everyday" cigars.

I don't smoke cigars nearly as much as I used to, I'd say I'm at like 5 a year now. But when I used to keep a humidor and smoke more regularly I preferred robustos. A. Fuente, montesino and romeo & julieta were my go to stogies usually. Has anyone ever been to the JR outlets down here in NC? I've been to the one on I-40 in Burlington a few times, the walk in humidor is massive.

Bloody stool? If yes it's almost definitely E. coli but more likely salmonella or campylobacter which are much more common.

My complaint is that I am leaving Buffalo tomorrow morning for the 720 mile drive back to Raleigh.

I was in your same position last week before heading to San Diego for a beer conference. I got back on Sunday and I'm still feeling the effects of last weeks over indulgence.

Yes, it's the second date of the second leg of the Time Machine tour. I'm pretty bummed, I've seen hundreds of rock concerts over the years and Rush easily puts on the best show out of the dozens of bands I've seen live. I have family and friends coming to town this weekend and they had already delayed their arrival from Friday night because I was going to be at the concert. I wouldn't be a good host if I left them all to my wife. Rush are coming to Greenville, SC in June, and I have already targeted that show now as my opportunity to fake an illness cold and go. :thumbsup:

On Tuesday the Rush concert in Greensboro was moved from Friday to Saturday night due to "unforeseen circumstances". Now I can't make it and had to get my 8th row floor ticket refunded. :censored:

Knee woes suck. I feel for you guys. My knee was shattered in a car accident a few years back, and I still have five screws in there holding it together. Even though my docs said that I have recovered as well as could possibly be expected, I'm still looking at a total knee replacement before I'm 50.

The same thing happened to me when my Sirius radio was stolen. I guess Sirius didn't believe me that it was stolen though as I still get emails asking me to reactivate it. My radio , among other items, was stolen the last night of a beach house rental at the Outer Banks. The rental company said it was common for thieves to walk onto properties from the beach access on Friday night before Saturday morning checkout. This year we are going back and I will be pulling an all nighter lying in wait out at the pool on the last night. I REALLY hope those bastards try it again. :censored:

You people are sick! :w00t:

I won't ruin it, but that spoiler thread over on the stadium wall gives some information that could clear up why 'slow' zombies could take over and even defeat a modern military.

If you don't like spoilers, then don't read the Walking Dead thread over on the stadium wall. There is a guy there that has read the books that the series is based on and he gave many potential future plot twists away.

Even if it was a weak shot by Horton (which it certainly was not), I still wouldn't place much blame on Miller as that was an absolutely brutal turnover.

We've seen this movie way too many times before. The Sabres are coming off their best game of the year and Ottawa is struggling as of late....you know the rest.

Same here. I now hate my favorite team. F you Darcy/Quinn/Golisano. F you all.

Yes. I couldn't care less about eavesdropping on the conversations of strangers. I don't care if you are talking on your cell phone, to someone sitting right next to you or to the wall, if you are talking louder than conditions dictate then you will annoy others. For some reason though most people find it necessary to yell into their cell phones.

I work for a large medical technology company. This woman was interviewing for a research position so there was no way the bluetooth device was in any way appropriate. I really couldn't believe it. I appreciate technology as much as the next guy but in my opinion for some people its gotten way out of control with the ipods, blackberrys and laptops. People need to find a way to sit quietly with just their thoughts every now and then.

Exactly, there is a huge difference betwen normal conversation face to face and the idiot that can't grasp the concept that their voice is amplified into the ear of the person they are speaking with on the phone. Annoying as hell. :censored: Another annoying cell phone habit is the people that wear the bluetooth ear roach thingies at ALL TIMES. We had a girl show up for an interview with one of those in her ear. She wore it for the entire interview. Are you freaking kidding me?

My HOA giving me grief about the man cave that I built in my backyard. :censored:

My brother and I are irish twins. I was born 355 days after him. It wasn't until I had kids of my own (3 years apart) that I came to realize the hell that my parents must have went through upon my arrival.