For any of you local peeps who did not get an e-mail, I'm hosting a party tonight (sat, Dec 5) at T-station. Food should be ready by 7, so feel free to drop by if your not otherwise committed.

It's that time again, however, I'll need to preemptively bow out yet again to ensure I'm packed and read to move on Saturday (Amber gave me the "you do realize we still have a lot to pack" look when I mentioned going out tonight).

For the rest of you's - discuss!

.. i'd meant to mention this sooner than now, but now is better than later. .. i'm presuming that there's an east guild meeting tonight?

This article talks a little about a few new beers Dogfish Head is releasing this summer, and contains more links to further information. I, for one, am interested in at least tasting these brews. I hope they're phenomenal; there's something gratifying about a 9000 year old Chinese beer recipe telling Budweiser, "You're doing it wrong."

Asheville, Beer City USA

Say What?!

Yes, you read right. Actually it's a tie with Portland, Oregon. But then, Portland has a population of over half a million, so Asheville wins in a per capita contest. Here's an article if you're interested.

All I've got to say about it is (to paraphrase the Red Stripe ambassador),

"Asheville. It's got lots of beer. Hooray BEER!

So what's the flavor of the night...

------
I'm the T-train.. I bring the party with me.

Hey everybody!

Last month Dom, Matt, Ken, Amber and I all had dinner at Trali and thought it would be awesome to have a thing once a month. I know we've tried this before, but lets try it again...

First Wednesday of every month, 19:30 at Trali.

For the trying-to-be healthy among us, they have a couple of good appetizers (smoked salmon, Guinness steamed mussels), and grilled salmon and/or salad for the main. A pint of Guinness is *always* good for you, too!

You know, with all this talk of drinking and stuff, I thought *we* had the chops... Apparently not.

--
Bill

So Alaa bought me two tickets to go see Steve Earle and Allison Moorer in Ithaca last night. She couldn't go, so I took my friend Travis. We went to this amazing tapas place in Ithaca before the show and got good and lubricated on Ithaca Pale Ale. I had a salad, a cheese plate with manchego and a locally made gruyere clone, the best salt-cod fritters I've ever had, some smoked pork tenderloin with a cilantro aioli, and a homemade chorizo sausage. It was fantastic, and luckily I laid down a good base since it turned out that Ithaca Brewing Company was selling their wares in the theater, too.

Looking for something different to drink, I picked up a 12-pack of New Belgium beer. New Belgium is a brewery located in beautiful Ft. Collins, Colorado that produces several "craft" beers. They have what they call the "folly pack," which comes from their motto: "Follow your folly; Ours is beer."

The first in the pack I tried is the Mothership Wit (according to the label an "organic wheat beer with spices").

The first taste was an unexpected blast of tangy orange flavor, but not an overwhelming one. I was also gnawing on a pretzel at the time, so the salt may have played a factor.