Far be it for me to suggest that Sean Connery doesn’t wear anything under his kilt, but given the evidence on the internet it seems that most guys that are daring enough to actually don the tartan plaid do so commando style.  To quote Kramer from Seinfeld…”I’m out there Jerry!”  So when I had the […]

Hype can be a fickle mistress.  It can draw attention to something that’s marveluous and help it gain in popularity (like Seinfeld), but it can also create high expectations that, if not met, can drive people like me away quicker than you can say Battlestar Galactica. I don’t go in much for hype.  Just because […]

There they are.  The ten little pieces of wood that have taken Maker’s Mark Whiskey to the next level.  See for 52 years Maker’s Mark Whiskey hasn’t put out a new product.  They have just bottled their small batch whiskey and that has been their only product they have.  Trouble is it isn’t very good […]

This is how my weekend started.  With a funeral.  A Funeral for my Son.  A funeral for his Bachelorhood!  Yes, my Son got married this weekend, and the festivities were great.  This kicked it off with a lunch put on by his co-workers.  He is working a summer job in Boise in a Carpenter shop […]

On this episode we talk about a great summer tradition – drinking away from home! Don shares his impressions of a couple of Idaho brewers; Wallace Brewing and Laughing Dog, as well as reviewing Four Roses small batch bourbon. Jim talks about the beer scene in Wisconsin and reviews a couple of goodies from New […]

Don recently carpet-bombed New Belgium on our podcast, where he said that he disliked everything they brewed. Having been down that road myself in the past (I dissed Flying Dog in its entirety), I knew that the “common” beers a brewery makes don’t always tell the whole story. Many breweries brew on two levels, making a selection of […]

Well here we go!  Our first remote broadcast, and our first one where Jim and I will actually be face to face!  As some of you know Jim and I live across the country from each other, he in Jersey, and me in Idaho.  Well Tomorrow Jim will be escorting our Mother out here to […]

I’m sure by now everyone who reads this blog today should be fully aware of BrewDog’s End of History, the beer that comes stuffed in roadkill.  There has been a ton written about it and how they continually keep jumping sharks with their stronger and stronger brews that get zanier and zanier.  Well yesterday I […]

I admire New Holland for swinging for the fences with their High Gravity series of big beers.  Some are excellent, like the oak aged Dragon’s Milk and some are very good like their Night Tripper Imperial Stout. But when you go big, you can fail big, and that’s the case with Charkoota Rye, a smoked […]

I love Spring.  It is perhaps my favorite season.  Flowers blooming, trees budding, new life all around.  It seems to happen every year that spring is just too short.  Around these parts it seems like we go from a high in the 40s to a high in the 80s overnight.  This year it seemed like […]

Now I’m gonna go and show my age.  I can actually remember when the Beatles White Album came out.  See never before, and I would argue that never since has a more symbiotic relationship ever existed in the history of song.  John, Paul, George, and Ringo just go together like peanut butter and Jelly, or […]

On my recent foray up to Northern Idaho we took a day to tour the lakes region, which includes the areas around Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, Idaho.  Well one of my favorite Idaho Breweries just happens to be located just outside Sandpoint, Idaho in the small town of Ponderay.  The Laughing Dog Brewery is a […]

Well I’m finally ready to pass judgment on my oak-aged bourbon porter, my first-ever home brew.  I had it four weeks after bottling and thought it was a mess and needed to spend more time in the bottle.  That was a few months ago, and now it’s time to crack one open and see how […]

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad beer from Smuttynose, and I know I’ve had a few that were very good.  But for some reason I usually pass them over in the beer aisle.  I think it might be their packaging, as while some brewers scream for attention at the shelf, Smuttynose seems content […]

As many of you know, Dogfish Head honcho Sam Calagione has a new TV series coming out on the Discovery Channel called Brewed. You know, the TV show Don and I almost got. Anyway, part of the show will feature Sam traveling with his archeologist pal Pat McGovern to recreate ancient ales from the remnants […]