365 Days of Beer

Let me begin by thanking Phil for being the first to send me an email through the link on the left of the page.

I hope you keep checking on my progress and if by any chance you also go to the Marillion Weekend 2007, the first one is on me.

No major update today, as I only had another one of my Abita Christmas Ale's last night with dinner. Again I couldn't detect that many aromas. I don't think I'm crazy then...

Yesterday I also stopped into one of the local supermarkets and bought single bottles of whatever beers I still haven't had. This should finish off that store unless they get something else in or I missed something.

Tomorrow is once again Kill the Keg Wednesday at David Copperfield's. One beer will be selected and it is $3 pints until it is finished. I should be going along with Big Daddy Cal, who was excited about the new stuff they put up on tap.

My plan this week is to scale back on the new beers. I'm at 45 but I will only have 4 new ones this week (2-3 at most tomorrow at Copperfield's, and 1 or 2 of the bottles at home). I'm saving #50 for a very special brew, to be had at during the Super Bowl this Sunday. But you won't find out what it is until the day after.

Anyone who can correctly guess what my #50 beer will be gets 2 pints at Copperfield's, on me. Email me or post your guesses here.

Oh, and "Email Chain" members are ineligible for these sweepstakes...

Greetings once again fellow beer nuts. It is wayyyy too early on a Monday morning but what the hell.

Allow me to begin with a plug. Check out this band and be happy:

Sweetness

Now... ONTO THE BEERING!

Friday night I made some taco's. I know nothing about cooking Mexican food from scratch but I quite like the Old El Paso taco mix. Buy the "salt shaker" style container and keep it in your cabinet. You can increase or decrease the amount of the mix based on your personal preference, which is great (it says put in a 1/4 cup of mix for every pound of ground beef but I up this slightly). So what better to pair with Mexican food than Mexican beer!

37) Carta Blanca - This comes in a very bare-bones bottle. An average lager but it was refreshing with the tacos. Slightly better than a Corona.

38) Dos Equis XX Amber - This is a Vienna style lager. Most Oktoberfests are of this style. Really not that good. Just boring and one dimensional with no complexity at all.

Saturday was a big day of beer for me.

It began at around 9am that morning. I had a leftover taco for breakfast. Truly a nutritious choice.

39) Molson Golden - This was actually ok once you got past the nasty Heineken-esque odor. Smooth drinking, which is probably what they intended.

40) Abita Christmas Ale - Received as part of a monthly beer shipment, which I will write about another day. Aromas were non-existent. The write up describes all these complex holiday spices that were supposed to be on the nose but there is really nothing there. A quick check of the RateBeer reviews shows that I am not crazy or losing my sense of smell. I have 2 more of these left so I'll try again but I gotta say I've been very underwhelmed by Abita thus far. Their Turbodog brown ale is decent at best and I'm told that is their best output. Proof that just because its a microbrew doesn't always mean its going to be great.

41) Saranac Black and Tan - I've linked plenty of times to the brewery so if you need it its way down on the page someplace. This was the last bottle from that mix-pack I bought a while back. This was a stout but not a memorable version. Smooth drinking and with a caramel taste.

Had dinner later that evening at an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood which keeps changing its name every 6 months or so. I think its still the same owners though. The food wasn't anything to rave about. Why is there hardly any good food in Forest Hills? For such an upscale neighborhood the people who live here have such horrible taste or they are just complacent.

Anyways, the beer choices consisted of Peroni and the typical macros (Bud/Coors/Miller). The waiter wasn't even sure of everything they had. ATTENTION RESTAURANT OWNERS! DO A BETTER JOB WITH YOUR BEERS! At least get a bottle of something brewed locally. I ordered the Peroni which I have already had before so it doesn't count. Peroni was only on the menu because it was an Italian restaurant. I understand in most Italian and French restaurants the focus will be on the wine but still... At least pretend to care or don't carry any beer at all. This will be the topic for an article another day.

Finally for a Saturday nightcap:

42) Orval - An amazing Trappist beer. Pours a deep, cloudy orange. Aromas are grassy with a hint of cloves. Complex and full bodied with all kinds of dark fruit flavors.

Sunday was another day of heavy drinking:

43) Hofbräu München Original - Surprisingly I have never had anything other than their Oktoberfest. I quite enjoyed this. It was very refreshing with a nice grainy malt taste. Pleasant, clean aromas as well.

44) Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA - One dimensional yet very enjoyable IPA. Fruity hop flavors and that's all, but I liked it nonetheless.

And with dinner...

45) Molson XXX - See above for link to Molson. Nasty malt liquor. Actually, as disgusting as malt liquor can be, this was probably one of the least offensive. And no I didn't put the bottle in a brown bag.

I am currently way ahead of the game here. 45 beers down with 320 to go. I am now about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Maybe I should slow it down for the sake of suspense?

Nah...

This weekend is my dad's birthday so I will not be making it to the city, however, if you are looking for a place to go for good beer, especially BIG, BRUTAL, IN-YOUR-FACE BREWS then the place to go is David Copperfield's.

Tomorrow after 5pm they will be putting up the following BEASTS:

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine
Victory Old Horizontal Barley Wine
Heavyweight Perkunos Hammer Imperial Porter!!!
Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball
the debut of Sixpoint's 15% ABV Belgian Grand Crue

On bottles:
2004 Thomas Hardy's and Calvados barrel aged J.W. Lees Harvest ale
Flying Dog Horn Dog

This is the weekend to get HAMMERed if you know what I mean.

I wish I could be there... SAVE SOME FOR ME!!!

Tomorrow's intended post is going up tonight. I skipped out of Stout but I was glad I did so. That's another story for another day but not because of anything Stout did. I just didn't go...

36) Brooklyn Monster Ale - Thank God for this. This is loosening me up at a time when I really need it. 11%. "The Cracker" knows why. That's all I'll say. I'm loving this beverage right now. Have you ever needed something? Then needed a drink to get your mind away from it? That's my situation now...

See you Monday...

Last night was a return to David Copperfield's. It was "Kill the Keg" Wednesday's. Every Wed. they pick a keg and pints are just $3 until it kicks. Last night's selection was the Victory Hop Wallop. I've had that already and I need to tread new waters so I started with...

34) Dogfish Head ApriHop - Great fruit beer with lots of hops. The apricot flavors were very subtle, which I enjoyed. This went very well with the fajitas.

35) Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball Ale - Big, deep, full-bodied beer. Very dark malty aromas. I loved it. Definitely a beer to sip slowly.

Statistics so far... 35 beers down with 330 to go. I may stop by Stout for a quick one after work today. Check back tomorrow...

...is the motto of d.b.a., a terrific and cozy beer bar located on 1st avenue in the Lower East Side. In addition to beer, they have a wide selection of whisky, bourbon, and tequila. The staff is friendly and welcoming.

While its not a big place, it has a bar with seats for about 12, and tables and counters all along the walls. There is a rear garden which must be really cool during the warmer months.

Above the bar are a group of large chalkboards with the current available selections. The beers on tap are rotated frequently, and there are also 2 hand-drawn selections available.

I stopped by around 8:30 pm last night and got a seat at the bar. They have a live webcam on their site but it is currently down. The webcam indicates that Friday and Saturday night they are pretty packed until the wee hours.

DBA also hosts various events each month, such as beer & cheese pairings and microbrewery visits.

So... to start I had:

31) Victory Hop Devil IPA - This was served hand drawn from a cask. Quite simply an amazing and very complex IPA. The color was a dark, cloudy orange... similar to the murky colors you get from some apple ciders. If hops are your thing you will love this beer.

32) Avery Old Jubilation Ale - A wonderful choice for the winter. Deep mahogany color and a pleasant blast of coffee, chocolate, and roasted nut flavors.

By the way, cheese & crackers here are complimentary, so I ordered up a plate for dinner. There were three cheeses offered: brie, an creamy herb cheese, and a walnut raspberry cheese. I am not a cheese whiz so I couldn't tell you exactly what the last two were.

Finally...

33) Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux - This was a saison. 9.5%, from Belgium. Very fruity aromas and flavors. I will have to try this again.

That was all I could handle. I stumbled back to the train station to head home, my legs numb, and my body warm.

33 beers down, 332 left to go.

A nice pleasant surprise was waiting for me when I arrived home... my first shipment as a member of the Microbrewed beer of the month club. I walked back to the apartment carrying the box with a satisfied drunken grin on my face.

Until next time...

I'm getting over my runny nose. I was scheduled to take my next dose of medicine an hour ago but I haven't had to. I will probably skip it because tonight I will going to d.b.a.

I stayed away from the beer yesterday. Mixing beer with cold medicine is a big no-no if you want to have a healthy liver.

So in all there is nothing to write about. I guess I'll explain my profile picture. It is taken from the Gilded Otter in New Paltz, NY and I am drinking the Gilded Otter Three Pines IPA... I think.

I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of a sniffle and a stuffy nose and it has continued into today. It's one of the more annoying sicknesses you can have but right now I'm in that enjoyable medicinal daze, which is a nice feeling really. Almost like being buzzed but not quite. I can hardly feel anything at the moment.

Now...onto this weekend's recap. Good progress was made.

Friday evening I went to David Copperfield's alone. My friend had a last minute emergency and had to leave town. Such is the life of one on the 365 beer quest. There will be a lot of Tuesday nights when nobody wants to go to the bar.

At Copperfield's, I started off with:

26) Stoudts Winter Ale - Stoudts is another fine microbrewery out of Eastern Pennsylvania. At some point during this summer I am going to have to make a weekend trip to the region and visit all these breweries. This was a nice strong ale with a deep mahogany color. It was quite similar to the Weyerbacher winter offering.

27) Mendocino Red Tail Ale - A good amber ale with bitter hops on the finish.

That was all I could pull off, as I also had a burger and was stuffed. Without the food I could have kept going but I left with a smile on my face and another 2 beers on my list. I just can't eat they way I used to be able to.

Saturday I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of individual bottles of some mass-market beers I have missed over the years. I am not really looking forward to drinking any of them but this is what I will have to put up with if I am to reach my goal.

28) Saranac IPA - Unremarkable, as with most stuff put out by Matt Brewing Co. Okay for someone looking to graduate from Budweiser to the good stuff but not something I would go back to.

29) Molson Canadian Light - I'm not even going to bother putting up a link for this junk. It's hard to keep track of the Molson line with all their variations. After buying this I had to be sure it wasn't already on my list. Thankfully it wasn't or I would have just poured it out. It was bad. Right down near the bottom of the quality scale along with Coors Light or Bud Light. Why anyone WANTS to drink a light beer...I don't know. None of the reasoning makes any sense. To save 30-50 calories? Big deal. Take a 20 minute walk later on. So you can drink more beer and thus get "drunker"? Drink a good Belgian beer and get the job done in 1/3 of the time.

Really the only purpose I can see in drinking this piss is to generate bigger belches. And this had me going almost all night.

Finally on Sunday, I avoided having any medicine all day so I could have a beer.

30) Sapporo Light - Just as bad as it sounds. Sapporo gets a link because I'm half-Japanese and because I like their Sapporo Reserve. That's about as low as I would stoop willingly.

Sunday afternoon I dropped by the Beverage Barn in East Meadow, Long Island and picked up 4 good beers. I won't tell you what they are now but they will appear on the list in the coming weeks.

Also thanks to the cool cashier dude who gave me this sweet Victory Storm King Imperial Stout sign. It is now proudly displayed here in my cubicle. For the record this is my current favorite beer of all time.

This week's schedule is going to be a bit weird. I'm going to take off today to do some much needed chores and recover from this cold. Tomorrow and Thursday I have defensive driving classes in the evening, after which I will pay visit to d.b.a. and Stout, respectively. Wednesday I'm leaving open but a visit to David Copperfield's isn't out of the question. Friday will be another day for chores and errands but I will probably hit up one of the bottles in my fridge in addition to going to the gym.

30 beers for the year... 335 to go...

Yesterday I stuck with my plan of not having any beer...tonight I'm going back to David Copperfield's but in the meantime allow me to touch on a subject that has recently come up in the news.

First, go and read this CNN article: http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/19/news/companies/beer_imageoverhaul/index.htm?cnn=yes

Now, if you're a "fan" and "defender" of the macro-breweries, you might not want to read any further, because I guarantee I will not have many nice things to say about them. If you have a true passion for beer, or even if you at least view beer as more than just a simple beverage to get drunk off of, then read on!

Anheuser-Busch, the biggest beast of them all, is fronting a campaign to improve the "image" of beer. It is their analysis that they have lost market share because beer is perceived as a "lesser" beverage than wine, vodka, or whiskey.

Let me say two quick things here:
1- I agree that a totally random poll would find people rank beer below most other beverages on the "class" scale.
2- I am all for the education of consumers. People DO need to know that beer has as much variety, complexity, and food-friendliness as wine.

AB's strategy here is to decrease or even eliminate the use of "sex" to sell beer. Their new campaign will call for the following:

- a new website along with short TV ads to direct viewers to that site.
- ads touting the "social" aspects of beer such as why it is a better drink to have at a sporting event.
- what they call "romancing the product" or educating consumers to the brewing process.
- attempting to teach retailers how to pair beer with food
- gathering research on the potential health benefits of beer

They are calling this a "grassroots effort." To me it is a waste of their time and marketing dollars.

1- Nothing from AB, Miller, or Coors could ever be grassroots. Grassroots campaigns in the world of beer will come from individual beer drinkers, craft brewers, and those in the retail/restaurant world who believe in drinking good beer.
2- Who doesn't already know that beer is the best drink to have at a sporting event? Since when does anyone go to the concession stand and order up a shot of vodka? This is pointless. I can picture their ad now. It will be a bunch of clean cut guys having a good time at the ballgame drinking their Bud Lights and high-fiving each other.
3- The brewing process. Only a handful of beer drinkers will ever give a rat's ass about how beer is made. Even with the wine boom of the last few years, your average wine drinker could not tell you what malolactic fermentation is if their life depended on it.
4- Beer/Food pairings. I have mixed feelings on this one. There has been an increase in beer dinners and beer/cheese tastings recently. This is a good thing to see but the fact remains the majority of people are going to want a burger and fries with their beer. Ultimately the big companies do not have the depth of variety to warrant a food pairing.
5- Health benefits? Most likely another way for the marketing department to push the light beers. Are they going to tell us that beer can be a part of your diet if you drink in moderation? Duh! Remember those ghastly ads featuring good looking, vibrant, active men and women doing whatever it is that marketing execs think good looking, vibrant, active men and women do on weekends and then drinking a Michelob Ultra? Expect more of the same.

Over the past year, stocks for the major breweries have been on the decline. My guess is that they are getting desperate and the idea people are out of ideas.

My prediction: This campaign will be a huge failure and we are back to the sex ads by the spring.

The problem really is that AB and the other giants don't realize what the root cause is. What it comes down to is quality. Macro-brews suck. And each day another group of beer drinkers realizes this. Once someone tries their first Duvel, Dogfish Head, Victory, Great Divide, or Alesmith product it is hard to go back and drink a Coors Light. There will always be some people who enjoy only Budweiser but the major companies are losing touch with the average beer drinker while these craft brewers and quality imports are making gains.

According to this recent article on RealBeer.com (http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002698.php) craft beers have actually gained 7%! And while the mega-brews have declined, craft beers are actually keeping pace with the growth of the wine and hard liquor market. Given their reduced distribution this is even more impressive.

So shouldn't that CNN article have been talking about how the AB/Coors/Miller segment is losing market share to the microbreweries as well as to wine?

Expect these trends to continue as beer drinkers continue to get more sophisticated, and at younger ages. At the last major beer event I went to at least half the crowd was in their mid 20s. Don't believe that just because there are a lot of dollars behind the big 3 that they are somehow going to recover. Remember there are new converts to craft beer being made every day.

Nobody goes back. Nobody stops drinking craft beer and goes back full-time to the macros. Nobody.

The creation of www.toomuchbeer.com!

Of course, it just links back to my blog but expect to see some merchandise up here soon.

Big Daddy Cal met up with me after work for a quick stroll over to The Ginger Man. The Ginger Man boasts over 66 beers on tap with 130 selections available by bottle. The selection is one of the best in the city.

The downside to the Ginger Man is the food. They have no hot food other than soup. The sandwiches are decent but like many others I like to have a burger or other hot food with my beer.

We arrived a little after 6pm so the afterwork crowd was in full effect. It wasn't overly crowded but I prefer if the "beer ignorant" would drink their macro-brews away from the bar, especially in a beer lover's haven. I understand the macro-brews are a necessary evil that helps a place like this pay the bills but it is annoying nonetheless.

Squeezing in between the button down crowd, we took a few minutes to peruse the beer menu, with Big Daddy Cal ordering a pint of Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier which he really enjoyed and I will have to try myself sometime. I got...

22) Goose Island Honkers Ale - Brewed out of Chicago, IL; this was an easy drinking American Pale Ale. Very enjoyable and a good "anytime" beer.

We got potato chips, which you should know cost $2 a basket. But they do give you about a bag's worth.

Next we each tried...

23) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout - Excellent stout with espresso and cocoa flavors.

The Ginger Man currently has an excellent selection of winter seasonals on tap. My friend got the Blue Point Winter Ale. I would get into the winter mood later but instead I went with a Belgian instead. Big Daddy Cal eventually downed his Blue Point and ordered one of these as well.

24) Kwak - A Belgian strong ale with 8% alcohol. This was served in an interesting glass. It was kind of a mini beer-bong complete with a wooden stand to hold the beer. Not as good as other Belgians I have had but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

At this point it became hard to keep track of things so I took notes, which I can hardly read.

We ordered food to absorb the alcohol. I had a Caesar Salad which wasn't so great and a slice of cheesecake while Big Daddy Cal had the Italian Sandwich. He tried to order whatever was on cask but it had kicked by then so instead he finished up with the Paulaner Hefeweissbier while I went with...

25) Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale - Very hoppy, which surprised me. Flavors were quite complex and this was a good choice for my 25th beer of the year.

Today I'm going to take it easy. No beer today. In fact I will even make a trip to the gym because I can feel myself getting soft.

25 beers for the year so far, with 340 to go. I don't have to have a new beer until next week. Tomorrow I will pay another visit to David Copperfield's, but will have 2 new beers at most.

Greetings from a windy and rainy New York. It's one of those days when you have to keep your umbrella in front of you because it is pretty much raining sideways. As an added bonus, the bottom of your pants will remain soaked for most of the day. Not a pleasant feeling.

But a perfect day to drown one's sorrows.

I'll be at the Ginger Man around 6:30 PM this evening to add to my list. Expect a full report tomorrow.

For now, here is the latest beer on the list, which I had last night:

21) Saranac Adirondack Lager - This is a lager in the Vienna style. Amber color and medium light body. Nothing to write home about. Additionally, Brooklyn Lager is one of the best of this style and it is quite readily available being that this is New York City and all.

21 beers through 17 days keeps me 4 ahead of the pace with 344 left to drink. Ideally I'd like to build up a buffer of about 1 month. I will remind myself to write about how to drink all this beer while also watching your weight. See you at the Ginger Man...

Here are the 20 new-to-me beers that I've had so far this year. Today is Jan. 17, so I am ahead of my goal by 3 days.

1) Weyerbacher Winter Ale - Reviewed earlier.
2) Ayinger Brau Weisse - Very pleasant, banana and yeasty aromas. One of the best German Hefeweizen's out there.
3) Victory Hop Wallop - Reviewed earlier.
4) Heavyweight Perkuno's Hammer Imperial Porter - My goodness what a beer. I only bought one bottle of this but I will definitely have to get it again. This is actually a Baltic porter... a very underappreciated and rare style indeed.
5) Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA - Amazingly the first time I had actually had this beer. I've had several others from this brewery and this one easily is the best I've tried. Definitely in my top 10 beers.

The next set of beers will have some dubious selections that I otherwise would have avoided but luckily the supermarket sells by the bottle (only macro selections). Of the next nine, five of them were purchased here. Let's see if you can guess which ones they are?

6) Negra Modelo - Surprisingly drinkable beer. I am not a fan of the Grupo Modelo/Corona line but this was much better than I expected it would be.
7) DAB Original - So-so pilsener in the classic German style. Drinkable but unremarkable.
8) Redhook Blonde Ale - Simple and refreshing beer. Nothing great. I honestly wasn't paying attention because I was trying to stifle my laughter while preparing for a short video presentation at my fantasy baseball league's winter meetings.
9) Gales Christmas Ale - On cask at David Copperfield's. Too sour for my taste. Didn't really enjoy it but would be willing to try again.
10) Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier - Reviewed earlier.
11) Tecate - Just awful. Thank goodness I only bought one bottle. Basically the same thing as a Budweiser.
12) Modelo Especial - Basically a Corona. Mayyyyyybe slightly better but not as "cool" to drink. I'd be interested to see who wins in a taste test. Well, maybe not...
13) St. Pauli Girl Special Dark - Skunk city.
14) Weyerbacher Insanity - A barley wine. Definitely a style I will have to have more of this year.

Penn Station is a mass of humanity. People coming and going to all points in the city and beyond. The corridors are dominated by eateries. There are fast food restaurants, bakeries, countless delis that serve panini sandwiches and have those make your own salad/burger/stir fry counter, smoothie shops, pizza restaurants, etc.

To go along with all that food there is... beer. You can find beer almost anywhere in the station from bars to the Hudson News stands.

Unfortunately, Central Market in the LIRR corridor has closed its doors. They had, to my knowledge, the best bottled selection in the station. Lots of Belgians and microbrews were available, but no longer.

However you can still find good beer. Rosa's Pizza in the same corridor offers up 3 Blue Point beers on tap.

15) Blue Point Hoptical Illusion - I think I may have had a bottle of this in the past but since I can't remember for sure I'm counting it as a new beer. This was a very hoppy IPA. Good stuff and it put a smile on my face after a hard day of work. I regret not getting a slice of pizza to go with it. They make a good grandma slice and an awesome chicken & ricotta slice. Always a pleasure to see the local stuff on tap. Support your local breweries!

The next two I had after work last week. I had been looking to get a quick beer or two before heading home, and decided to walk a few blocks over to the Empire State Building, where there is a branch of the Heartland Brewery.

Heartland no longer makes their beer on premises (it is now brewed in Brooklyn by Greenpoint Beer Works) therefore I don't really think they should call themselves a "brewery" anymore since they are technically not that but... whatever.

The Empire State location is fairly large, with 2 floors. I got a spot at the bar right away, as it wasn't overly crowded. The staff was friendly enough but I can't speak to their beer knowledge as I didn't really ask any questions. They give you a menu which has enough info on the selections available.

Outside of the Farmer Jons Oatmeal Stout, which is very good, I've never been overly impressed with any of the beers here. None of them have been terrible, but I would say their beer is mediocre overall. The food is decent, if a bit pricey at times.

16) Heartland Empire State Premium - This is a premium style lager beer (kind of in-between a pale lager and a pilsener). Think Sam Adams Boston Lager. As usual, I wasn't overly impressed.
17) Heartland Indie 500 Pale Ale - I ordered a platter of mini-burgers which were quite tasty, and ordered another one I haven't had yet. This was a beer I would like to have again. It was nice and hoppy with an interesting citrusy aftertaste. A pleasant surprise and a good job by Heartland.

Continuing the list...

18) Bear Republic XP Pale Ale - Reviewed earlier.
19) Rogue Dead Guy Ale - I bought a bottle of this just before Christmas but didn't get around to drinking it until now. This is a German style maibock. Excellent stuff with rich malty flavors.
20) Saranac Pale Ale - English style pale ale. Nothing special.

So there you have it, that's where I'm at right now. Stay tuned for new additions to the list. Tomorrow I will likely be at the Ginger Man from 6:30 until ??? and on Friday it will probably be David Copperfield's.

Checking back in with a quick post...

I had off today so I went up to the closest supermarket in the neighborhood just to get a few things. I like where I live but the downside is there are no good beer bars within walking distance and no stores that sell good beer (outside of 1 market which has a handful of Belgian beers).

One of my local supermarkets takes all bottles out of their six-packs and only sells the bottles individually. They have the right idea there but their selection is all the usual mass-market stuff, with really only a handful of them that I haven't tried. Another supermarket occasionally carries a microbrew or two but I didn't feel like walking in that direction today.

This supermarket I went to instead is not much better in their selection and sells only by the six-pack. I try not to buy anything here but it is the closest place and it was very cold. But they do have the Saranac mix pack which gives you 2 pale ales, 2 lagers, a black & tan, and an IPA.

So what else is one to do except perform a little "customization?"

The trick at the end is to make sure you go to the register manned by whomever looks the most apathetic. This person is usually a teenage girl filing her nails in between ringing up groceries. You don't want to go to an old lady or someone who looks like they might care (a manager perhaps).

When are they going to open a Whole Foods around here?

Coming up, hopefully later tonight... that whole recap I promised.

By the way, I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, but if you are, I'd love to hear your comments. Feel free to post below.

As I promised myself, I will be giving a brief rundown of the beers that I've had so far this year but first, let me talk about a little place called David Copperfield's.

Located in Manhattan on York Ave. & 74th St., David Copperfield's is one of the best beer bars in the city, hands down. The location is out of the way, so while it can take time to get there, its usually never that crowded. The staff is also knowledgable and friendly. It's a cozy place decorated with all kinds of beer-related paraphenalia so it really does feel like "home" for any beer enthusiast. They rotate their draught selections frequently, and have a large bottle selection. As with any good beer bar, there is usually something available on cask.

I stopped up there on Friday evening to meet up with my friend who wishes to be called "Big Daddy Cal." We got ourselves a table because we were both hungry. The food here is typical bar fare, but its better than most bar food.

Every night from 4pm to 7pm is happy hour, and we were just in time to have 1 $3 pint. We each chose the Bear Republic XP Pale Ale. This is one of the better American style pale ales you can get, and it went very well with the appetizer sampler we got.

Next, Big Daddy Cal chose the Climax ESB which was available on cask while ordering up a turkey burger. I decided to go with the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier which was the best German Hefeweizen I've ever had. It had a wonderful cloudy yellow color and was dominated by a pleasant banana and wheat aftertaste. My friend also ordered one of these after downing his Climax.

For dinner I had the steak fajitas along with a glass of Victory Hop Wallop. Victory is definitely one of my favorite breweries. I am going to make it a point to visit them sometime in the summer.

I was finished at that point but Big Daddy Cal decided to do himself in and have a glass of Weyerbacher Insanity, which is a barley wine of 11.1% alcohol. I hope he made it home ok.

Up next... the recap of the beers I've had thus far this year.

So...where to begin??? I guess I'll start out with a brief summary of what it is I'd like to accomplish on this site... and I'm not really sure what that is yet. I'm new to the blogging thing, and I have no idea what I really want to do. Signing up was pretty much an impulsive thing to begin with.

I do know that one of my New Year's resolutions is to try at least 1 new beer every day this year. And they have to be beers that are new to me. I have only recently started to become beer obsessed. As of the end of 2005 I've only had 195 different beers, which makes it a good time to try this kind of project. My goal is to end 2006 with 560 beers. I still consider myself a beer novice but I do indeed have the love. I have read other blogs and review sites where people have had 2,000-3,000 different beers. Eventually I will get there but I have no delusions of grandeur regarding my... beer prowess. My beer philosophy is not to be snotty about it but to enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed... with good people and in mass quantities!

In addition I will be talking about various beer related events I will be attending, and local bars.

And while I'm at it, non-beer related thoughts will be posted.

At the moment I am enjoying a bottle of Weyerbacher Winter Ale. Today was a very cold day in New York, and winter seasonal beers are the perfect remedy for joints aching from shoveling the snow. This particular beer pours a nice mahogany color and is very smooth drinking. I also loved the roasty malt flavors. A good choice for the winter and I'm glad I bought a six-pack of it up front.

Coming up next...I'll talk about my most recent visit to David Copperfield's and give a run down of the new beers I've had in 2006 thus far.