365 Days of Beer

And so the quest continues...

163) Cameron's Long Leg - This is a blonde ale from England. British style blonde ales are a lot hoppier than other versions and this is no exception as you definitely get the strong hop flavor coming through. The hop used in this is the fuggles hop. This also gives it a little bit of an earthy finish. The beer is named "Long Leg" because of the old tradition of wearing stilts to harvest hops.


Cameron's Long Leg

163 new beers down and 202 to go. My buffer is down to 12 as today is the 151st day of the year, but I expected to slow down a bit around this time.

I know, the title sounds like a wrestling pay-per-view show.

But it was Memorial Day weekend and mayhem ensued!

You may have already read about Saturday's trip to the north fork of Long Island, but if not, scroll down a bit and be sure to read that. Today I'm here to talk about Sunday's BBQ festivities.
Picked up Chris and Max in my neighborhood, then headed out east again (only into Nassau County), to Jeff's house for a BBQ. Traffic was heavy but manageable. We made a pit stop at the Beverage Barn to pick up 2 12 packs. Tina was working and unfortunately couldn't join us.

I brought along a new beer! So here it is:

162) Tuckerman Headwall Alt - This is a German style brown ale, or altbier, but from a microbrewery in New Hampshire. This was the first time I had tried an altbier, so I have no real frame of reference. I enjoyed the balance of maltiness and hops. The pour, as you can see below, is a rusty copper. This was sent via the Beer of the Month Club, so I have 2 more opportunities to try this and better familiarize myself with the style.


Tuckerman Headwall Alt

After the new beer was out of the way, I proceeded to help Kaval "kill the keg" that he brought over for the BBQ.


It looks huuuuuggeee, I know...

The photo is deceptive and makes the keg look bigger than it is, but it was a 5L, and that's a lot of beer for 2 people to finish off.

So after drinking a lot, and eating lots of hot dogs and hamburgers, what better to do than play a DRINKING GAME?!

The game we played was Drug Dealer, and as you probably all know, you usually designate an Ace card as the cop, while another suit card (we used a Jack) is the drug dealer. Every other card is a number card.

You deal 1 card to each player around the table, and once all the cards are dealt, it is the job of the drug dealer to "make a deal" with another player, by winking discreetly at them.

The person who receives the deal then has to say "the deal has been made." What makes it fun is if the person receiving the deal waits a little bit before announcing this, just to build the tension.

The next step is for the cop to reveal himself and then attempt to point out the drug dealer. If he chooses wrong, the player he chose shows their card and the cop has to take that many drinks. You keep going until the drug dealer is found.

Now, if the drug dealer makes a deal with the cop, he is "busted" and has to chug the remainder of his beer.

We also have some additional rules we play with.

- We took out a number card and replaced it with a King. If the cop chooses the King (who rules over all) the King can raise his finger and hold it there while the cop is forced to drink. You have to show some mercy though, because if the other person gets you in another round, they will make you pay.

- If there is a definite "loser" in the round, such as when the cop goes around the whole table without finding the drug dealer, or if the drug dealer makes a deal with the cop, you have to put on the special crown and sit in a designated spot by yourself for the next round while everyone mocks you and perhaps throws shit at you.

I was the first "loser" because I winked at the cop and was given my proper "coronation". See below:


Joy...

As you can see the crown is actually a modified 12 pack case. Just cut off one of the smaller sides, and make it look like a knight's helmet and you've got it.

So... that's 162 beers down, which I noted is the number of games in a baseball season.

"Only" 203 to go...

Saturday I took a drive out east to visit Jeff and Melanie at their place on Long Island, then from there we took the short drive to the North Fork of Long Island for an afternoon of wine tasting and whatever else catches our attention. As you will see, the stuff that caught our attention quickly became the highlight of the trip.

I was supposed to drive someone else from the city out east but as predicted, Lazy Chris was a last minute dropout.

So I packed up a bottle of awesome wine for dinner, the digital camera, and jumped in my car, blasting the new Mute Math record all the way.

Traffic wasn't too bad and the weather held out the whole day, not a drop of rain fell as the forecast had stated. Heading out east on the LIE, we discussed the agenda for today's trip, deciding to give priority to the wineries we haven't been to before.

There are 2 main roads on the North Fork, route 48 and route 25. We went to 48 first, then decided to circle back down 25 on the way home.

The first stop on our list was Roanoke Vineyards.

Roanoke Vineyards is a relatively new winery and I believe they are owned by the same people who own Wolffer Estate on the South Fork. The tasting room is a decent size and it wasn't too crowded.

Tasting here is $5 for either the reds or whites. We all went with the whites because last time we were here we tried the reds. I did like the 2004 Wolffer Late Harvest Chardonnay but didn't get a bottle. The best thing about tasting here is the free cheese & bread they give you.


Free cheese!!!

The next stop was Lieb Cellars, where we were hoping to actually buy some cheese. However, due to a new law that says the wineries can only sell products made within the state, they no longer sell the cheese they used to.

But they were giving away free ice cream! Jeff and Mel each got the $3 flight of whites, while I decided to go with the $3 red flight. I didn't like any of the wines. There were no discernable fruit flavors to be found. Most of them had a strange bell pepper taste to them and the aromas were all oak. Sometimes the finish was rather coarse.

They said they also put some of the wine in the ice cream and I don't know if it ruined it or not but the chocolate raspberry ice cream we tried had a strange aftertaste to it as well.

Since the cheese is no longer being sold here there is really no reason for us to visit Lieb again, since none of us were crazy about their wines.

Shinn Estate is another new winery out east. The owners are Barbara Shinn and David Page, who own Home Restaurant in the city. They have plans to open a bed & breakfast next year on the property. The tasting room was cozy and cool, offering a relaxing place to sit down and try some wine.


Shinn Estate

Tasting here was $8.50 for 5 wines but David let us have all 6 that were available. The highlight was the first one we tried, the 2005 Home Chardonnay. 80% of it was fermented in stainless steel while 20% was fermented in oak. The wine was very balanced all the way through. The notes usually added to these wines by oak were very subtle. At $15 I thought it was a good value and decided to buy a bottle.

Heading further down Rt. 48, we found the new location of Catapano Dairy Farm. It is a small, family owned goat dairy and the main attraction here are their homemade cheeses.


Cheese! That-a-way!

Just follow the sign in the lot to the small shack where all the cheese goodies are located. If goat cheese is not your thing, then perhaps you might be interested in the various goat milk beauty products they have available.

Jeff and Mel picked up some cheese as they usually do here and I decided to get a block of goat milk fudge. I haven't tried it yet but I will be sure to write about it once I do.

Our next intended stop was the Tasting Room on Peconic Lane, but as we drove up we saw the sign out front saying they were closed. Wha?!

We almost pulled the car away but something there across the train tracks caught my attention.

THE PECONIC BAKING COMPANY! YES!


I love their slogan: "Fueled by Frosting"

This is the point in the trip where it became less about wine and more about food! Indeed we were unprepared for the various sweet delights that awaited us inside.

Go ahead... take a gander:


Cake city!!!

There are many more photos available on my new Flickr page. Be sure to check that out and leave me your comments.

Ooh, but you're all probably wondering about the Peconic Baking Company. Okay, so the place definitely has a friendly atmosphere and everything looks delicious. It's in the middle of nowhere and if you are looking to get that nice homemade type of baked goods then this is the place to go.

Everything looked so good so I took a while deciding what I wanted. In the meantime I took photos and tried a bunch of free samples. They had a big plate with 5 or 6 various selections you could try and I went with a raspberry lemon square which was very tasty. They also had cookies, cupcakes, and regular cakes, and everything else you could possibly imagine.

All in all, this will definitely be a place I will go on every future visit to the north fork.

Down the block from the bakery we found the 4th and final winery we would visit on the day, Ackerly Pond Vineyards.

Ackerly Pond is previously known for just producing grapes, but now they produce their own wines as well. The tasting room is really tiny. Two women worked the counter and there appeared to just be enough space for the 3 of us. Conveniently we were the only ones there at the time. Tasting here was $3 to try all the wines they have available.

Their rose was probably the best we had tried that day and their reds were definitely better than the ones we had at Lieb. It's been a while since I've had a red from Long Island that I've enjoyed. In 2000 they had a decent vintage (as did the rest of the world) and I had some reds from Paumanok, Raphael, and Macari that I enjoyed. However, since then nothing has struck me as even being drinkable. Looks like at the moment, white varietals seem to show better fruit characteristics than the reds.

The wine tasting portion of this trip is now over so it was time to get pie!!! Everyone loves pie, don't you?!


So many pies, so little stomach...

Briermere Farms makes the best friggin' pies in the world. People have supposedly travelled thousands of miles just for one of their pies and after tasting one you will understand the obsession. Just look!


Pies!!!

I took forever to decide (and take photos) but I went with the raspberry cream. It's about halfway done by now. SO GOOD!!!!

It's like crack in pie form!

The raspberries are layered generously on top of the absolutely sinful and to-die-for cream. The crust is just perfect. Really if you visit only one place out east, make it Briermere farms. And the Peconic Baking Company. Go there too.

If you are into organic foods there are farmstands everywhere that grow their stuff locally. Other places we passed by but didn't go to are this cute tea cottage just east of Briermere and a place that makes award winning cheesecakes which is also in the same area. We'll save those for the next trip.

You know what?

IT DOESN'T END THERE!!! Bring on more homemade sweets!

On the way back we drove through Riverhead and on Rt. 25 just before the LIE, you can visit Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe, which has been serving up the good stuff since 1953. Some of you may have recognized them from an episode of Best Of: Ice Cream on the Food Network. The owners, Stuart and Carolyn Feldschuh, have been known to create over 100 new flavors every year!


Jealous? Ye should be...

I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices available at this place. All of it homemade, right in this little shop. Eventually I went with the Peanut Butter Cup, which I woofed down in record time. The cone even had a little amaretto taste to it I believe. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Oh man... so that was our Saturday. I'm going to have to do this trip again, and REAL SOON! I think next time it will be something along the lines of bakery, goat cheese place, maybe a winery, tea place, cheesecake place, pie place, ice cream place, belly explosion. Joy.

Today during work I felt like I was definitely in the mood for a decent beer and some food to go with it.

Gave a call to Tina and also to Big Daddy Cal and we setup a little shindig at the BXL Cafe. BXL Cafe is a small Belgian bar and restaurant on 43rd St. near Times Square.


Welcome to BXL Cafe!

After work was done I took the 15 minute stroll uptown (with a stop at the ATM) and met up with Big Daddy Cal.

BXL Cafe is on the same block as the Heartland Brewery Chophouse and is between Spanky's BBQ and Town Hall. The place was crowded but people seemed to stroll in and out at a steady rate. The Belgian beer must take its toll on people.


Come back tomorrow.

The interior is small and cozy and the staff is friendly. Two towers with 5 beers each sit on the bar along with a separate tap for Lindeman's Framboise at the end of the bar. Past the bar is a small area with tables, where we would sit later for dinner but before Tina arrived, Big Daddy Cal and I stood at the bar to get the drinking started.


Classic Belgian beer paraphenalia

He had a Delirium Tremens while I started with a Leffe Blond. After Tina arrived, we sat down at one of the tables and ordered dinner.


Leffe Blond

I had an onion soup which was average, and then a hangar steak with frites on the side. Hangar steak is always a good choice to get if its on the menu. Because it is not the most popular cut, you can usually get a good quality piece of meat. This was no exception. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was very juicy. The frites were pretty decent as well.


Hangar Steak in sauce & shallots AVEC FRITES!!

Finally I had to have another beer so I went with one that many people I know seem to have had but for some reason I haven't gotten around to:

161) Delirium Tremens - 8.5% alc. Its not the best Belgian strong ale I've had, and its not the revelation that some people have told me it would be, but it is a pretty good beer. Perhaps when you take into consideration that its made in a commercial brewery, that makes it even better. Slightly bitter on the finish, but not at all biting. Very easy drinking with the citrusy hop flavors dominating. This was served, like the other beers we had here, in its proper drinking glass.


Double-fist the D.T.

With 161 in the books, that leaves me with 204 to go. This weekend's plans are still in the works but I expect to have another new beer or two, probably bottles.

I need to get a new digital camera.

1) The one we have now is a bulky relic. Some people even think its a digital SLR. HA HA! It's just too heavy and inconvenient to carry around at all times.

2) The quality ain't up to par anymore.

I will correct this soon but in the meantime I have to live with it. I've missed many photo ops recently (Burgers & Cupcakes, Manganaro's, Lenny's just today).

Billy Wagner just closed out the Phillies in game 2 of this series, putting the Mets back up by 5 in the NL East. Alay Soler pitched pretty well after a shaky start. Good news overall. How clutch is David Wright?

Many of my fellow Met-fan friends have admitted to having a man-crush on him.

I came home tonight and felt like having a new beer!

So here goes...

160) Dogfish Head Midas Touch Golden Elixir - The team at Dogfish Head have done it again. It seems they can really do no wrong. Supposedly this recipe is inspired by the oldest known recipe for any fermented beverage. It contains barley, white muscat grapes, honey, and saffron. DH describes it as being "somewhere between a beer, wine and mead" and you can definitely get that sense right from the aroma. The grape notes dominate the nose while the main flavor you are getting from this is honey. Alc. is 9%. An excellent experience of a beer. Note: this beer is produced year round but in limited batches. If you see it at your local beer store, don't hesitate to pick up a four pack!


Dogfish Head Midas Touch - as sweet as honey...

So that makes it 160 beers for the year. 205 to go. Tomorrow is a possible bar night, but I'm not sure yet. If not there are 9 new bottles waiting for me in the fridge.

The weekend got off to a great start. I went to my friends apartment with two Stone bombers in hand (1 IPA and 1 Arrogant Bastard) to watch the Mets play the Yankees in the first of a three game series.

My team, the Mets, were victorious in the first game, thanks to David Wright's game winning hit. Jump on the bandwagon now, bandwagon-jumping fans!

Then Saturday it was the NY Culinary Festival at Pier 94 along the Hudson River. I first heard about it through the newspaper and thought it would be an interesting thing to check out so I bought tickets for myself, Big Daddy Cal, and Tina on Saturday morning.

I got there quite late in the afternoon and met up with Big Daddy Cal outside the venue. What was strange was the fact that I printed up "tickets" then had to exhange it for another "ticket" (one of those old fashioned "admit one" things). Then and only then did they let you in. I could have just brought my own admit one ticket from an old carnival roll and walk right in. Maybe next year I'll go early, figure out what color they're using, then run over to Staples.

The inside of Pier 94 is basically a big gloomy and gray warehouse. I don't care about that so much as long as everything is easy to find and things are organized. It was a bit weird though, and maybe even a little ghetto.

The information booth at the front didn't really have much information other than a schedule of events and live music. There was no map available either but I guess it wasn't necessary being that the place is just one big room.

Your $20 ticket gets you entry to the place, plus it covers the music and demos. If you wanted to eat any food you had to pay.

HOWEVER...

...in keeping with the "exchanging your ticket for another ticket" theme you had to purchase "scrips" which you could then give to the restaurant booth people in exchange for food.

I understand the need for the scrip system is basically so the restaurants don't have to waste time handling cash and making change but all night there were people pulling out cash at the tables and then being redirected to one of the scrip booths. It was not really clear to everyone how things worked.

The place was pretty big so the crowd had plenty of space to disperse and I never felt cramped or like I was in anyone's way. That was a plus.

I wish there had also been more restaurants on hand. Some that were advertised didn't show up.

And better sound at the demo areas. If you stood in the back you couldn't hear a thing. And other times there were audio difficulties which made some of the chefs sound fuzzy.

Finally, the fact that you have to pay for each dish is a bit annoying. The $20 admission should also have given each guest maybe 5 free scrips to use on food. I could really do without the music acts. And some restaurants should lower their prices and/or offer at least 1 thing for free. Are they there to make money or to promote their restaurants so that sometime in the future we festival-goers may one day want to dine at their establishments?

As an added bonus I found 3 unused scrips in my bag this morning. That's $3 in funny money that I cannot use for anything.

Other than that I had a great time, and ate a lot. For about 6 hours. Tina showed up later after getting out of work and by that time Big Daddy Cal and I were stuffed. Also I ran into Robyn, who has one of the best food blogs in the entire universe. Her pictures are also a lot better than mine. I will have to listen to her and get a separate food blog but I haven't come up with a catchy name yet.

For the beer readers, they had Bass Ale and Stella Artois. I had one of each but neither one counts toward the goal.

Check out some pics!


Cheeses from Artisanal


Crappy pic of a bison slider from Aspen

The bison slider from Aspen was one of the highlights. The meat was tender and juicy and all the toppings were in perfect balance.


Big plate of chocolate "salami"

I don't remember where the chocolate salami was from. Its basically pieces of bread with chocolate bread baked around it and it looks like salami, hence the name.


Chakra roll from Gobo

Sunday I went into Manhattan to do some shopping then I grabbed lunch at Wollensky's Grill since I was in the mood for a burger and they have a pretty good one.


Behold the monstrosity!

As I was leaving the restaurant, John Cleese (of Monty Python) was coming in to ask where the nearest bookshop was. He's a tall dude and even politely held the door open for me as I was leaving. Then I saw him politely blow off an autograph seeker on the street. Ehh... I don't care much about meeting celebrities unless they've really touched my life in some way, which is rare.

So tonight I'm going to a concert then tomorrow night I will go beering, I promise! Remember I'm ahead by 17 days!

...BEER!

Okay beer fans I am back with a new beer.

But first!

Here is a photo of beer #134, the Lev Lion Pale Double Bock.


Lev Lion Pale Double Bock

And now...

159) Hitachino Nest Weizen - Decent version of a German hef from Japan. A little sour to my taste, which kind of interfered with the banana flavors I was looking for.


From Japan!

159 down and 206 to go. I'll hopefully make some more progress this weekend. Check back again soon.

So last night I was supposed to go to the Collins Bar for the Dogfish Head randall event but due to a scheduling conflict I couldn't make it. Most of the beer events in the city seem to take place on Wednesday nights and that is now not always an option for me. I'll still go to certain events but it most likely means I will have to catch the aftermath of the events on the following day and just buy individual pints instead of whole flights.

Was out with Tina and I decided that I desired red meat.

Went to the nearest Duane Reade to check the Zagat guide and the nearest steakhouse was Angelo & Maxie's. Overall my impression is it was okay. The meat was good but not the best in the city. While wd-50 is a must-try place, Angelo & Maxie's is the type of place I would go when you just happen to be around.

Like last night.

We were seated promptly without any reservations. It was pretty crowded and it was a typical manly steakhouse though without the gruff service. We actually had a waitress and she was pretty nice and attentive.

Started out with the bread. I liked the bread basket they gave out and you didn't even need butter for any of these. Take a look:


Basket o' Bread

You have those cracker things with the seeds. Onion bread with more oniony goodness stuffed inside. And do you see that long dark piece of bread? Do ya? It's pretzel bread and it was pretzel good.

At any meal you have to drink. This is the only beer related item of this blog. Tina didn't want to get a whole bottle of wine so instead I got beer. Otherwise I was gonna Cab Sav it.


Drinkssss

I got a draft Brooklyn Lager. Other choices available were macros. Tina got an apple martini, which looked pretty good.

My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach, so I ordered up a French Onion Soup as an appetizer.


Soupe a l'oignon au gratinee

It was a typical steakhouse onion soup. For some good ones in the city try it at La Bonne Soupe or Les Halles. For the best in the world, go to Paris to the Les Halles neighborhood and eat at Au Pied du Chocon which I believe is open 24/7 so you have no fucking excuse not to go.

BRING ON THE MEAT!


Grilled Double Cut Rack of Lamb with Mint Jelly

Tina got the lamb as she often does. I didn't try it but she said it was okay, good quality meat, but a boring version.


Slab of meat

I got the 26 oz. ribeye, ordered medium rare as I always do. The meat was good quality and cooked to order but they should have seasoned it. I maintain that the best ribeye and the best steak period that I have had is at Strip House. They do an expert job with accentuating the natural flavor of the meat. The menu says this is available blackened which maybe I should have done. I do not like combining ribeyes with sauces. This cut is so well marbled the meat doesn't need any help. I would only trust Dylan Prime with putting toppings and sauces on my ribeye.

So, the question on everyone's mind is... did ya finish it?

No.


The aftermath.

I couldn't do it. Maybe it was because I had the soup but I cannot eat as much as I used to. Took the leftovers home in this cheesy looking doggy bag.


Cows.

Tina wanted dessert despite the fact that there are still cupcakes in the fridge. So I said fine. We split the warm chocolate souffle.


Chocolately richness

It wasn't like a real souffle, it was more like a warm brownie smothered in rich fudge. But steakhouses have never really been about the desserts.

Now I know I have let all the beer fans down over the past few days with these foodie posts but tonight I promise I WILL have a new beer. I have plenty of bottles to choose from but as always it will be a "game-time decision."

Check back tomorrow for a beer post, I promise!

Today's post is a beerless post. I know this is primarily a beer blog but this just has to be posted.
Last night went to wd-50 on the Lower East Side and did the 5-course dessert tasting.

OH MY GOD!

It was one of the best things ever. To go with the tasting, we got a bottle of JJ Prum reisling which went excellent with every plate.

Check out the pics!

Forgive me if the names of the dishes aren't accurate. I didn't take a copy of the menu and it was the first day they are running the summer menu, I believe, so the website isn't updated. Most of this is from memory so I might be wrong or forget ingredients.

You actually get 6 courses with the tasting, because this first one is a freebie:


Frozen tangerine with olive oil and basil

This went awesome with the wine. The olive oil added an interesting texture to the icy tangerine bits and the basil was awesome. The pairing of flavors that this restaurant comes up with are amazing.

Okay, 2nd course, first official course of the tasting!


Cornbread ice cream with corn dust and red onion

WOW! Holy shit this was so good. Never would I have imagined this combination would work. But the nuttiness of the corn was perfect with the savory red onion. I really contemplated ordering another one of these.

Onto course #3 (aka 2)...


Tonka bean creme brulee with cherry stuff

This is a new addition to the menu. I love creme brulee and this was awesome. The cherry dust on top was pretty tasty.

Moving right along...


Pumpkin cake with pumpkin & cream cheese sorbet

I think thats what he said it was. At this point I was blacking out and all that was running through my head was "yummmmmmmmm...."

In fact I forgot to take a photo of the next dish, which was manchego cheesecake with foamed pineapple and thyme sauce. I just ate it, then looked at the camera. Oops.

The final "official" course...


Carmelized banana with chocolate ice cream

Yes I know the photo sucks. The dessert, however, was amazing. I love chocolate & banana and anyone who doesn't like this combo I feel sad for.

Finally... since we were there for a birthday, and I had told them of this when I made the reservation, we got this little surprise...


IN YOUR FACE!!!!

This is chocolate cake with a candle on top, inside a carmelized sugar tube. FREAKIN' AWESOME! And the cake was perfect, not too rich or sweet. Just the perfect end to the meal...or in our case "extended dessert. "

AND YES IT DOESN'T END THERE!

On the way home I stopped into Sugar Sweet Sunshine and took home a six-pack of cupcakes, a piece of NY cheesecake, and a slice of the peanut butter icebox pie.


Behold!

Can't wait to see how long those last. As for the uber-delicious peanut butter ice box pie?

I started eating it on the subway. It was very tasty.

It didn't make it to West 4th St.

I have a picture of the aftermath but for some reason this stupid Blogger photo adding thing isn't working right and its not adding my photo. Jackasses. It's just a photo of the empty cup, and its not all that exciting really.

Anyways, in beer news, there is a great event tonight at Collins Bar. Read one of my old entries for information about that. I have to go somewhere tonight but I will try to stop in for a quick one. Hopefully I will get a picture or two out of it as well.

Got a haircut today after work. I love the fresh cut feeling but I hate when the little hairs are digging into your neck and getting into your shirt. Awful.

Anyways, back to the task at hand which is to try 365 different beers that I have not had before.
Tonight I had noodles for dinner. Look at the pic. I think this contained at least 130% of my recommended daily allowance for sodium.


Noodz!

And... what would dinner be without...

BEER!

158) Asahi Brewmasters Select - Instead of my usual prose style reviews, this time I will kick it haiku style.

nice amber color
hard to find beer from Japan
it tastes like soy sauce

Okay so it doesn't taste like that, but it is nice and malty for a lager. I wish this were more widely available.


Issho ni nomanai?

158 beers in the books and 207 to go. Perhaps soon I will post a list, both those I have had this year plus my all-time list.

Tomorrow I will be dining at wd-50 and I am looking forward to trying their dessert tasting menu.

Yes, that will be my dinner. Screw my health.

The Mets are killing me lately. Another bad loss and they have the off-day to think about it going into the series against Albert Pujols and the Cards, then back to NY for the subway series against the Yankees. Their lead in the NL East is down to just 1 game and I am really concerned about the team. They seem to have lost that swagger that they had earlier in the season.

Tonight for dinner I am again having sausages (this time with mushrooms) and pairing that with a new beer while watching the close of the Nets/Heat game.


Beer w/ Dinner (Sausages with sauteed mushrooms)

157) Erdinger Weissbier (Hefe-Weizen) - I also bought this bottle from Beer Garden here in Queens. An excellent German Hef. with the requisite refreshing fruity citrusy qualities I've come to expect from the Germans. Pours with a huge foamy head. The finish leans towards the sweet side. It's on some bottle lists around the city I believe so I will have to recommend this to Big Daddy Cal, as this is his favorite style.


Mmm... foamy!

So that's now 157 beers down and 208 to go. I am way too addicted to this photo thing now. It makes my blog look a lot better doesn't it? I may have another new one tonight but check back tomorrow for any new updates.

I feel like going for some gelato tonight for some reason.

This photo thing is almost as addicting as the beer.

This is the Ridgeway Bitter which was beer #135. I had 1 more bottle left and so I figured, why not take a photo.



Enjoying this now with a couple of portobello mushroom sausages. Excellent!

Okay, so going forward I am going to try to put a photo of each beer that I drink. I'm about 40% done with the overall goal so if I start now and I can at least say I posted a majority of my beers with photos.

I started drinking this one already when it occured to me I should take the photo. I still need a better digital camera and a newer, smaller one that I can carry around with me.

Right now Police Academy is on Comedy Central. What a classic 80s comedy. The scene of Commandant Lassard getting a BJ from the hooker during his slideshow then seeing Mahoney come out from under the podium is priceless.

156) Utenos - Labas! Labas = hello in Lithuanian. That is one of 2 words that I know but when I used to attend Lithuanian summer camp I was able to sing the national anthem, which I have since forgotten. This beer is from Lithuania and I picked it up yesterday at Beer Garden on Hillside Ave. Being half-Lithuanian I picked up a bottle of this for my mother as well as a Mother's Day present. This is also the free glass I got. It has a Michelob Ultra logo on it but big deal, it was free. This is your run of the mill lager style beer but as you can see the pour is quite hazy and it is not overly carbonated. Its nice to have a lager of some depth for a change. Yeasty aromas dominate... nice change over the standard corn smell of most macro lagers. The taste is almost like a hefeweizen.


Utenos - from Lithuania

156 down and 209 to go! There will be more drinking today as I watch the Mets game but I don't know if I'll post right away or not.

So I'm experimenting with this automatic photo upload thing but its a bit of a pain as I can't figure out how to get all the photos into one entry.

Below is a picture of a Mickey Mouse shaped pancake I made for breakfast this morning. Tasty!


M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E