It is the 5th of July, that dreaded day when everyone must go back to work with hangovers and too little sleep. Hopefully you got a chance to have a barbecue or see a rousing 4th of July fireworks display. Where I live, the city puts on their display on the 3rd and then on the 4th we all set off our own fireworks show in the driveway.
This holiday was no exception as we went down to the river Sunday night and braved the bugs and the crowds to get our place in the park for prime viewing. This year I was smart. I put our seats all the way up by the riverbank, instead of back a ways. See in my little town there seems to be…I’ll call them hill folk, who come down and infest the park, indiscriminately setting off all manner of explosives, while their kids run around in rags and barefoot bothering everyone who is trying to have an enjoyable evening. I must be getting old, because that used to be a source of amusement for me, but this year I just put them behind me (literally) and pretended they didn’t exist, just my family and the people on the boats in the river. It was a good strategy, and one I will use again. We only got panhandled once, but it was from kids we knew, and we didn’t have any cash!…
For the 4th I had purchased about $250 worth of fireworks, with all manner of explosive power. I am happy to report there was no loss of any digits and no burns either. Actually the only injuries came earlier in the evening from a spirited game of basketball, and they were minor. So I did manage to drink a little over the weekend. Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed a wonderful Joe’s Pilsner by Avery. I know I reviewed it last week, but after the second can I am even more impressed than I was after the first. It is an incredible pilsner, and one I highly, highly (yes, that’s two highlys) recommend. If you see it buy all you see, within reason of course, you won’t regret this recommendation. I also had a margarita after the fireworks made with the Espolon tequila I reviewed for Cinco de Mayo. It too was refreshing and well received.
So how about you? Does everyone still have all their fingers and toes? I hope so. Did you drink anything on the fourth? Anything interesting, or just the usual IPAs and lagers? Perhaps you dabbled a bit in the darks or stouts? Did you go for something harder? Did you drink any whiskey or single malt? Just let us know how your holiday went in the comments. Now, back to work…yeah right.
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
Anchor Liberty Ale!
http://twitpic.com/5lbean
Way to be in the spirit Mikey!
I shared a bottle of Grimm Brothers Magic Mirror http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23076/69906/?sort=latest&start=0
An American Pale Wheat Ale? Sounds interesting. I’m not a huge fan of wheated beers. I like my wheat in my whiskey. 😉 How did you like it Angela?
My husband’s uncle lives right by the Hudson River so we went to the rooftop of the apartment building to watch the Macy’s fireworks. It was a beautiful, breezy night and the display was amazing. Brought some Railbender for the family but I had some Weyerbacher Blasphemy 🙂
Sounds great Katie. I love big city fireworks. It is like the whole show is one giant finale and then the finale seems like a beautiful and safe war zone. I have not had the Blasphemy. Is it some sort of barrel aged amazing beer?
yup, a quad aged in bourbon barrels. Was brought back after being MIA a while. It’s absolutely awesome and I wish I could’ve grabbed more than 1 bottle but cash was low. My hope is that the Whole Foods I bought it at doesn’t have many beer geeks and I can grab a couple more next time!
Sounds great. Fred up at Laughing Dog makes a Belgian Quad that he ages in bourbon barrels for over a year! He is bringing it to the Rare Beer festival in Denver this year. I can’t wait!
Most of my 4th was spent in a vehicle on my way back to Kentucky, but after transferring 10 gallons of an Oatmeal RIS, I celebrated with a DF Bitches Brew from the cellar before my volleyball game. It’s aged quite nicely.
John, your activity level would kill most other guys! That RIS sounds great. I love Oatmeal stouts! 🙂
well luckily I’m checking a bag in October for GABF.
WooHoo!!!!! Looking forward to that!
Glad to hear you had a good holiday! I was up at 3am on Sunday morning to start smoking the brisket. Anyone knows there are two types of fuel to keep your smoker going, charcoal and alcohol. So Elijah Craig and Ska Hopus Moderandi IPA were my secondary fuel. Later in the day I got into FatCat’s Dry Stout which hit the spot nicely. No 4th of July is complete without complaints from the neighbors! We win!
Awesome. I’d have to be pretty insane to get complaints from my neighbor. I think between the two of us we probably detonated enough to carpet bomb a small country. Sounds like you and your brisket were well fueled for the fourth! We went very traditional with Burgers, Dogs, and chicken apple sausages. However I must say my potato salad was a big crowd pleaser at my house. I think I’m still full!
My celebrating came on the 3rd…but I celebrated nonetheless. A nice mixture of Bell’s Two Hearted, Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, and Dogfish Head Festina Peche (never had this one before, but floating around in the lake, it kind of grew on me).
My brother-in-law (and his family) buy several thousand dollars worth of fireworks for the 4th, and I’d argue they would rival any small-town fireworks display you could find. Kind of nice to show up at their house mid afternoon with cooler in tow…then enjoy some bbq and beer around the lake, then when it gets dark, just grab a chair for the show. no crowds!
You win! Best fireworks story so far. I love it when the in-laws take care of things, and even better when on such a grand scale and by a lake! Awesome! I’ve heard good things about the Festina Peche, but have never had it myself. I love Nugget Nectar which has a peachy quality to it, although no peaches. One day I’ll try the DFH. Listening Jim?
Maybe it was just me, although I’ve had someone else tell me about it, but I thought the Festina Peche was not very good. I’m a big DF fan and I was pretty disappointed in my purchase. It just tasted off to me.
Maybe it was off. Perhaps a second bottle is in order to be sure, or perhaps you can find it on tap, or maybe a friend has some to try. Either way I’d try to get another taste to see if it was a bad beer.
I had never had the Festina Peche before so I don’t know what it is supposed to taste like. The tartness did surprise me and kind of caught me off guard. Plus, the level of peachiness was much less than I expected. But, it was surprisingly refreshing…enough so that I drank a second bottle (a 3rd bottle would have definitely been too much of this, though). I probably wouldn’t buy it again as I’m much more of an IPA kind of guy, but I wouldn’t turn it down if it found it’s way in to my hand at some point in the future.
We had a marathon 280 mile craft beer road trip hitting four breweries/brewpubs and one beer festival (Rails & Ales). Check out my blog for further details, don’t want to take up your comments section too much :).The standout for the weekend was a British Mild that’s like candy from a new place in Monument, Colorado, Pikes Peak Brewing. We bought a very cool growler from them (with built in wooden pouring handle and ceramic cap) filled with the Mild and drank that yesterday, yum!
Fat Cat: had a few Modusi also, one of my very favorite! If you ever get to Colorado, take a trip down to Durango to visit Ska, it’s well worth the trip.
Sounds great Will. I’ll check your blog for details. 🙂
Ours too was on the 3rd. Neighbors have a 150 acre farm and do a huge bbq/cum fireworks display (plus hayrides, fishing contest and pie-eating contest). Unfortunately, their taste in comestibles is rather plebian (lots of Lites), so I bring my own. This year it was Dale’s IPA (which I only recently ‘discovered’)–thoroughly enjoyable.
OK…not really sure about the BBQ, and what type of party that was. I’m thinking you got autospelled! But I agree that Dales is very good and a good choice for summertime picnics, etc. Good call. Might want to check out that fireworks show some time if its adults only…
Cum, depending on the following word, is Latin for “with”. As in graduating with honors is “Cum Laude” and its variations. Most likely not what you were thinking.
OH, see…Wayne didn’t capitalize it. Had he done that, I’m sure I would have picked up on his meaning. Yeah, I’m sure I would have… *trying to convince self*
Saturday night – Rich & Dan’s Rye IPA from Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series. Good, but 22 ounces of Rye IPA,a long day in the city, and a late start to the drinking portion of the evening spoiled me for anything else. Plus, I’ve found that leading off with an IPA does not segue well with the darker porters and stouts I usually have on hand.
Sunday evening – Weyerbacher “16” with dinner (Dark Braggot Ale with Honey – very mead-like and potent), then the “Highway 78” Scotch Porter collaboration from Stone & friends a few hours later, and finally a 21st Amendment “Back in Black” Black IPA. All very, very good.
Monday – no drinking. Pigged out on wife’s homemade Chocolate Mousse with Amaretto ice cream instead.
*makes mental note to pick up the Weyerbacher Blasphemy soon
Wish I could get the Weyerbacher out here. I even looked for them at GABF last year, but I don’t think they were there. I love me some Insanity! I had a Back in black the other day, and made Beercan Chicken with it. That was great! It imparted a nuttiness to it, very nice.
Be glad you live in a state that allows consumer fireworks. It’s just not as fun without them.
As far as drinking, I had a bit of everything (Spaced out over the day). Great Lakes Doppelrock, Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Columbus Brewing Summer Teeth and a pour of Four Roses bourbon.
Nice David. And if you live in Wisconsin, and I bet you do, then sparklers are about the best you can hope for. However I know of a family that took a few hundred sparklers and wrapped them together and then lit it with a fuse they had. The thing made a tremendous explosion! It even broke windows in the cabin they were using. So safe and sane fireworks can be made …mmm…”interesting” in the hands of an evil genius.
Actually I’m in Ohio. I have tons of family in Wisconsin, however, and the firework laws there are fairly generous. Sparklers are about the only things allowed here; there pretty much anything that doesn’t leave the ground is allowed.
Grounded fireworks are sad fireworks. They need to spread their wings and fly to be happy, especially if they blow up at the end! 🙂 Jim and I grew up in Wisconsin, and believe me I remember the days of just sparklers, snakes, and pop its. Sad days indeed.
Don; Did anyone ever tell you that you have “feelthy mind”. (But I did get a chuckle out of your response.)
Wow Wayne…I think you got autospelled again…or maybe not and we are now flirting???
Don; Being a fat, bald, bearded guy, I make it a policy not to flirt w/ other fat, bald, bearded guys. (Ugh, the mental image is just too much to process.) Besides, my wife would probably have a few objections, as I suspect, would yours.
Spent the weekend in maine whitewater rafting with a big group of great friends. The whiskey drinkers in the group each bought a fifth of something to share – knob creek, devils cut, and russels small batch. Now we’re hanging at the kennebec brew pub with a few pints of their ipa, stretching out a great weekend for one more day.
Hopefully you counted before you got in the raft, and all that entered made it back in one piece. Those are some good whiskeys. I haven’t had the Devil’s cut yet, but I’ve heard it is good stuff.
Kinda took it easy but got into:
Funkwerks White
Cigar City Guava Grove
Maui Mana Wheat
Foret
and Orval
was a good day! sounds like everyone else had some delicious tasty treats also!
America! fk yea.
Sounds like a good line up Matt. If that is taking it easy, I’d love to party with you on a bender! 🙂