The Dutch have unique tastes in food. They enjoy their fries with mayo, take their licorice salty and used to eat quite a bit of Mr. Ed and his friends. So when my buddy Frank brought over a big bottle of corked Dutch beer, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Sure, it’s from the land […]

Grigori Rasputin was a complex dude. How he was regarded depended upon who you asked. To some he was seen as a healer and a prophet, using his powers to alleviate the hemophilia Tsar Nicolas II’s son Alexi. Others saw him as a hedonistic religious charlatan who used his power of persuasion to weasel his […]

Meet the world’s most transparent sellouts, Chris Hodges and  Jamie Case.  These two winners “spontaneously” decided to travel the country in a Ford Fusion as part of their efforts to get married without it costing them a fortune.  Of course they are blogging all the way, singing Americana-laced praises of Ford from coast to coast. […]

There’s nothing like a buddy showing up with two big bottles of beer you’ve never tried before.  Friday night, my friend Frank arrived with two pricey corked beers that had a lot of promise. We eagerly popped open the first (a barleywine drenched with honey taste) and were terribly disappointed.  Then the second, a Russian […]

No one questions the sanity of the guys over at Dogfish Head Brewery – they’re nuts. They don’t make ordinary beers – their brews are always unusual and often extraordinary. But they swing for the fences every time and you gotta appreciate that. The other night at the beer store, I came across something I […]

That is the question that I wrestle with every so often. I love to eat great food, and this interest has led me to become an avid cook. I love the improvisation involved with putting together a great dish without using any measuring devices, just my senses. It’s creative, spontaneous and sensual. I also love […]

In this series of reviews, we take a look at the beers that make the slow, sad march from the front of the fridge into its chilly depths. The origin of many of these second-row citizens is unclear. Perhaps they were purchased on a whim or they were brought over by a friend who was […]

My beer epiphany happened a little over two years ago. Our house beer for years was Bass Ale. And while I enjoyed it, I kept looking for something more. I’d go to my local beer store and buy some Bass, and then grab something else along with it that I hadn’t tried before. This went […]

Hello Don. I say this because at this point you and I are the only ones reading. We’re working on a “statement” post, where we tell you what this blog is all about, but I couldn’t wait. In short, Don’s the whiskey guy, I’m the beer guy and we’re brothers. We’ll explain the rest at […]