Claude_Verret

They do have elite beers in my opinion. Their imperial coffee stout IIRC in their 2x series and unearthly DIPA are certainly elite IMHO. No brewery has great beers across their whole lineup outside of Wicked Weed.

Which is why, once again, I'm fully expecting/guaranteeing no playoffs. Sure we have all the parts on the remainder of the roster of a top flight playoff team, but in the NFL today with a QB situation like the Bills have you need a lot of bounces to go your way to overcome that major shortcoming.

Grilled pizza...awesome. Here is one of my early efforts on the egg before I learned you need to rotate halfway through (about 5-6 minutes at 550F) to get the edge of the pie done uniformly around the entire circumference.

Absolutely agree with personal taste and all that, but to hold the 2XIPA up to Two Hearted is like holding Two Hearted up to Pliny. They're all just a notch above the other in my book. I don't think any competent beer person would call you completely nuts if you tried to include southern Tiers IPA's towards the top of the always crowded American IPA/double IPA category.

Here's something interesting that I found while googling around the intertubes. BJCP score sheets for commercial examples of all the various styles, scored by BJCP Grand Master VII judge Gordon Strong. It's a good example of how all beer has it's place when only judged on the merits of the style category.... Miller Lite for example gets a 43/50, PBR a 45/50, Genny Cream Ale 43/50, Pliny The Elder 50/50! http://www.bjcp.org/course/ClassicStyles.php

For their standard beers I tend to agree, where Southern Tier stands out in my opinion is with their bigger styles like the 2X series, Unearthly IPA etc. Of course those are beers I wouldn't drink very often even if they were readily available to me here in NC, but they are definitely elite IMO.

Cool. Looking forward to hearing the review.

Wow. Of course beer appreciation is very subjective, but the calling out of Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Southern Tier as of late in here is a head scratcher. The thousands of reviewers on places like Ratebeer.com and beeradvocate definitely are not in agreement, those breweries all produce some world class beers.

Have a friend who used to work for the Bisons in the mid 90's when they were the farm team of the tribe.......we made a few trips to Cleveland. I remember going crazy down in the Flats, although I hear that area isn't quite the same these days.

This post made me think of this song... Fresh out of paper plates Guess I'll do the dishes Instead of washing off Only one plate at a time Big evening up ahead Wide array of choices Bladerunner, robocop, Or the bride of frankenstein

Enjoy the Rush show, it's epic.

No pizza, ribs, briskets, butts, smoked wings, etc. on the Egg? A reverse sear ribeye on the egg is well worth the extra time.

I don't follow all the NFL suspensions and appeals closely, but something tells me that in the vast majority of the situations where the penalty was reduced the player probably took responsibility for his actions and expressed remorse. Brady has instead only fed the fire with his childish antics.

Do you use charcoal baskets with yours? I sometimes only fill up one basket, but even with two it's not that much charcoal and I can get the indirect side to the 350 range where I like it. I'd say two baskets full is maybe equivalent to a full chimney starter load, and I probably don't get the best air flow when I let the ash catcher fill up completely to be honest. But I mainly use my performer now for the quick cooks and the more involved cooks like pizza, woking (there is a wok accessory for the weber btw, yet another versatility advantage) or long smokes are all on the big green egg. For cheap grate height adjustment I've seen some people use fire bricks to raise the charcoal baskets to directly under the grate for high temps sears, and for getting meat farther away from heat source by using the baskets on top of the regular grate then placing a second grate on top of the baskets for smoking butts, ribs etc. I do have the rotisserie attachment for my performer that I use a lot. I make beef on weck using the rotisserie. Phenomenal. The regular weber kettle rotisserie is not compatible with the performer, but these guys make one that is, which is what I have: http://cajunbandit.com/rotisserie/22-5/ If you haven't been here yet, it's a great forum / resource: http://weberkettleclub.com/

Here is the Amazing Ribs review of the various grate types. A friend of mine has the cast aluminum GrillGrates and swears by them. http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_guide/guide_to_grill_grates.html

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 28s29 seconds ago NFLPA is prepared to go to federal court. They're waiting for the go-ahead from Tom Brady.

Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet 16m16 minutes ago Tom Brady & NFLPA will see the NFL in court. 2 options: fast-track it with an injunction or slow-play, keep it going until after the season

He deliberately had his phone destroyed, that was the key in the appeal being rejected.

Let me add this..if you're typically only cooking dogs, burgers and chicken for the most part, by all means gas is definitely the way to go. If you like to get more adventurous and versatile with minimal time sacrifice then you'd be better served going charcoal IMO. I'm the other way around, I don't like to bother firing up the charcoal on a weeknight if its only going to be dogs or burgers. I'll pull out the cast iron and just cook 'em on the gas stove.

I bring my kids to breweries all the time, most of the ones near us have tasting rooms that aren't only kid friendly, but also dog friendly. That immaculate Sierra Nevada beer garden I mentioned up thread? Yep you can bring your dog to hang with the family. We had an adult weekend in Asheville this time, but in the past we have taken our kids. You mentioned that you went to the downtown Asheville Brewing location, well they have another location that has a full size movie theater, with homemade pizza and of course beer! It looks like they are showing the whole Harry Potter series and Tomorrowland coming up, so definitely kid friendly. https://www.ashevillebrewing.com/movies.html

The performer series has a bin for your bag of charcoal built under the table attached to the grill..which is another advantage of performer in the large table attached prep area that is typically non-existent on a gas grill. You simply pour the needed amount of charcoal into the provided baskets positioned over the gas assisted start, press the ignition, let charcoal start and and go. Clean up is with their one-touch system with aluminum ash catching bucket underneath. I dump it after maybe every fifth cook. If you use lump charcoal it produces even less ash so your dumps would be even less frequent. IMO the webers are even better for temp control and versatility, most temp gauges included on any grill gas or charcoal are garbage. I use a maverick probe attached to the grate and can dial my cook in with great precision. Additional versatility provided with charcoal include turning it into a damn fine smoker, rotisserie attachment ability that is only available on select gas models, ability to raise charcoal baskets close to grate for steak house level searing, better two zone cooking control, adding of wood chips or chunks to the fire also out performs those chip boxes you can use with gas IMO.

Yes, it's not too far from Wicked Weed which is an absolute must stop if in Asheville. WW also recently opened a second location "The Funkatorium" that is dedicated to their sour beers. I think Asheville is up to over 20 craft breweries now, for a town of ~100k that is amazing.

I use lump for my Big Green Egg.. but that's a whole other level of charcoal cooking and completely blows away gas...but they are damn pricey. I admit that I didn't pay for mine, my brother in law got one from a PGA event and gave it to me. Having said that, if it bit the dust I'd buy another immediately without hesitation. They really are that awesome. My other grill is a Weber Performer that is technically part propane grill. I have the version where you can connect those mini camping propane tanks for a gas assisted start of the charcoal, so I don't even need my chimney starter anymore. Again, ready to cook in 10 minutes tops. A lot of you guys sound like a couple of my neighbors a few years ago with the propane. After hanging out with me at my man cave and eating my food they both have kettles and have ditched the gas. I do understand though, ten years ago I was the same way with propane. Yes indeed. There is something so primal and relaxing about building fire with an ice cold ancient intoxicating beverage in hand. On a week night it's a perfect time for a macro lager.

Plus that's an extra 10 minutes of serenity with a beer out back waiting for chimney to do its thing. Agreed with everything except the starter laced briquettes. I may just be extra sensitive, but starter fluid chemical taste ruins the food for me.

Chimney starter $10. 10 minutes to start grilling on charcoal.