This is a question you’ll get when you tell people you’re from New Jersey. That’s because the Garden State Turnpike runs through the most populous corridor of the state and what exit you live off of can say a lot about your heritage, your lifestyle, and even your income. Some folks in New Jersey take […]

I love it when I find a great new-to-me brewery, and Allagash Brewing Company just might fit that bill. I’ve seen the big bottles on the shelf before but it wasn’t until Kevin, a local beer guru, gave them a hearty recommendation that I really took notice. I decided to start with their Victor Ale. […]

That’s what I said to my friend Frank and our wives when I took my first sip of Stone’s Vertical Epic Ale 09.09.09. But let’s start at the beginning.  The beer poured rich and black in the glass, with a beautiful, thick head.  I could smell its very pleasing aroma from three feet away, with […]

So I recently had a birthday.  The first one since Jim and I started this web site.  I’m amazed and surprised at how my brother and I starting this blog has begun to change my loved ones buying habits when it comes to my presents.  See at my size I’m not the easiest guy in […]

Introducing someone into the world of craft brews can be a delicate thing. A couple of years ago my friend Steve started to show an interest in craft beers, most likely because I couldn’t stop talking about them. He was primed for crossing over; he had grown tired of mass-produced beers and had started to […]

You can’t go to a beer blog this time of year without finding reviews for pumpkin beers.  This year, one has stood out from the rest with positive review after positive review: Dogfish Head’s Pumpkin Ale.  So I picked up a chilly four pack and was ready to be blown away.  But I wasn’t.  Uh […]

It’s Friday, which is beer buying day for me.  I’ve found this awesome beer store that’s on my way home from work. It has an enormous selection of really amazing craft beers, good prices and lots of cashiers to get you out quick.  It sounds great on paper (or LCD) but why does it stress […]

I’ve been down with the flu for the past few days.  It was good times, with body aches, headaches, chills, and other unmentionable symptoms.  I laid around all Saturday playing XBOX (Arkham Asylum is the best game of the year, by the way), and by Saturday night I was feeling a little bit better. The […]

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 […]

So there are a couple of things that were I truly enjoy in Grangeville, Idaho outside my work that I am doing for the community.  One is Ernies Steakhouse.  Ernie got fed up with not being able to sell his organic grass fed beef on the open market as anything but regular cattle so he […]

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 […]

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 […]

I have drank Belgian beers before, and even had a Chimay before in a bar once, but this was the first time I had drank one with 1) the intent to write about it in this blog, so I wanted to be very observant about the beer and my experience drinking it, and 2) was […]