Leaving Maryland

So I greatly enjoyed this trip to Maryland, although I did NOT get to Brickskeller AGAIN! I'm beginning to think this place does not exist. On the flight back I was hoping to hit Ram's Head or something in the airport, but we were rushed for time. Turns out I was spending 10 minutes rearranging my bags so that neither weighed more than 50lbs. Before Continental switched to the Star Alliance, you could pack as much as 70 lbs per bag with no fee if you were OnePass Elite. PERFECT for loading 'er up with local beer. So we barely made it without paying any extra.



Th flight really sucked, as I was stuck all day without any craft beer. They are charging $5 for like a 10oz can of Bud Light. I should just load up on those mini-bottles of Jack D and Bacardi before flights so I can get a buzz while on the plain. Also, I saw an elderly woman knitting a blanket while on the flight. I'm surprised they didn't shoot her on site when she tried to get through security. Some idiot Nigerian terrorist tried some crap in Detroit, so chances are we'll lose even MORE freedom, and you won't be to so much as scratch your nuts 1 hour before a flight lands. I'll take my damn chances and get some freedoms back. Including getting more beer.



We land and no beer was broken in my bag. Kinda glad b/c I need to wear that suit one more time. I'm pretty fired up about getting back out to the East Coast in June for our family reunion. Turns out we're taking a cruise out of B-More, which means we'll be back up that way, and dammit I'm coming in a day or so early just to beer it up in DC. No two ways about it. There ain't jack else I'm trying to do out there. We beered it up strong today and are looking forward to getting to Lafayette tomorrow. Holla

Let's try another beer: Otter Creek Jamaican Stout

You know, we need another beer. We had these Otter Creek World Tour beers in our cellar/house for over a year.

So time for the Otter Mon Jamaican Stout.

Ths beer is a deep brown and opaque, with a huge tan head. The beer has a roasty choco nose, yet tastes rather bitter coffee like. It didn't sour or oxidize sitting in our cabinet, but it's not the style of stout I'm for. I like mine a little sweeter, no homo. The beer is extremely smooth, full bodied, and low carbonation. Great stuff. High 3 Star. I could use this on those long lonely nights in the heat afterhours.

One time for Jam Rock...

St. Bernuardus Christmas Ale: 5 Star Beer

The brown sugar sweetness, the chewy body, the notes of ginger snap cookies, the lack of an aftertaste. The smoothness of low carbonation. The cloudy crayon brown color coupled with an everpresent white head. The nose that matches the flavor perfectly. The oh so slight touch of sourness just to letyou know it's belgian. 5 Stars all the way.

I didn't even plan on writing about this one, let alone blogging about it. St. Bernardus out of West Flanders, Belgium hits the mark and hits it hard for what I envision a Christmas Ale would taste like.

That is all.

Beering in Long Island: Bobbique

After we relax at the hotel and get changed for the wedding, we decide to squeeze in a trip to Bobbique. For one thing, we were going to a wedding with people from Kenya and what I think were West Indian. Basically we knew they would be late as all get out, and I didn't want to starve waiting them out.

So at Bobbique we walk in rather overdressed, but feeling right at home. Order a couple slices of pie and start a little beering with whatever's on draft. They had about 12 taps and maybe 60 beers, many of which I've never heard of. Awesome.

From memory, I got my hands on some Captain Lawrence's Freshchester. Very pleasant hoppy pale ale. Afterward, I got some Brooklyn Special Reserve: Backbreaker. The waitress couldn't tell me much about it but I surmised it was a light belgian pale ale due to the hint of sourness. Turns out it's an English pale ale that the brotha Garrett Oliver cracked the malts in himself in merry old England. Not a bad beer overall.

How we knew was the manager of the place, Eric, came by after we told the waitress we travel around beering it up. Very cool guy that hit us with the Yankee Brewnews and the Ale Street Newspaper. Even said we could go for half pints for whatevers on the bar. The brewmaster for Blue Point was there as well. Eric told us that we now have to go to a NY Mets game b/c Brooklyn Beer actually brews specific beers for the Mets that you can pretty much only get at the Mets game. The funny part is that the Mets suck so bad, that I shouldn't have any trouble getting tickets.

Back to Bobbique, we didn't get anything but desert, but we could clearly see the portions of the food, they are not playing around. The waitress we had could probably use a little help in tasting the beers on tap that day, as I think this place changes over taps damn near daily. Loved the atmosphere with the 50s rock and blues playing. Tons of bottles of beer everywhere. Eric told us of the best place to buy beer, but we didn't have the time. Maybe next time we're in the area, which I'm sure we'll do again.

Hold Up

Beer Log: Right Now

State: Polishing off a mug of homebrewed Apricot English Ale.

Sierra Nevada Estate

Grabbed this one at Specs on Jones Rd and 290. Ready to rock and roll on this one. Amber Sierra Nevada Copper color. White very lacy head. Cascady piney nose. Strong hoppiness but not overly bitter, if that makes sense. The hops is actually pretty grassy, probably due to the wet hopping. Very smooth and moderate Carbo. Another 4 star beer for Sierra Nevada, despite just not being perfectly balanced with the low malt. English ale smoothness and West Coast bitterness. 4 Stars. Even the wife likes it.

Ok.

Bobbique is what we need more of in this country. Great location in a small town, great food, and with a varied tap that changes probably daily, it's just what the doctor ordered.

Beering in Long Island: Brickhouse Brewery

The day after Christmas the wife and I hop in the car to drive from the Baltimore area to knee deep in Long Island, in Holbrook. It rained most of the way and I think I spent more money in tolls than Gasoline just getting through Delaware. The anal rape that is the northeastern toll road scene is ridiculous. It had to add a good HOUR to the trip, having to slow down every time the highway went over a damn puddle.

So we get there and have a late lunch at the Brickhouse Brewery in downtown Patchogue. I'm loving how our travels in beer have taken us now to Long Island, just a couple months after places like Oktoberfest. Looking for local beers and breweries a fantastic extra dimensions and a sense of fun for what could be the most mundane of trips.

We get seated in the back what damn sure is a brick structure, plenty of murals on the wall of probably what Patchogue looked like back in the olden days. Reading the history of the brewpub, we learn that this location was a dry goods store in the 1800s and was even a stop on the Underground railroad. How great is that.

I ordered up the meatball hero and some crab cakes while the wife gets a cheeseburger, and it's game time with a six beer sampler. I left my little notepad on the plane home, so hopefully I can remember all of this...

Street Light

Your basic light pilsner with a decent amount of toasty malt and hops. Like most samplers, I don't get much of a head and thus much of a scent. But everytime I try to smell these beers, I get the cinnamon from the pumpkin spice beer on the corner of the sampler tray, so everything is a little off. But a nice introductory beer for BMC drinkers.

Boys Red

Reddish amber color with a great malt, toast, and lightly hopped. Probably one of the better ambers I've ever head. Certainly the best on the menu.

Fresh Hop Kitty

At first sip I go this heavy headed beer to be a lighter cascadey hopped English IPA, but on the subsequent drinking the strength came out as it warmed up. Certainly a very American IPA and almost West Coast strength. Something I'll rarely get much of on the East coast. Very well done.

Nitro Boom Stout

Strong roasty coffee nose and flavor. They nitro'd this one, so it was very smooth and low carbonation. I think this would be a great one for those that drink coffee and claim they don't like beer. The bitterness reminded me of pure unsweetened chocolate, not the candy bar version.

Blitzen

A jacked up beer that had a lot going on, pretty complex and cinnamon sweet. Memory fading...

Pumpkin Spice

A smooth beer, probably poured with nitro, that had cinnamon sprinkled on it. Orange colored with a lasting white head and cinnamon all over it. For some reason, whenever I taste straight cinnamon I get the taste of dirt. It needs to be cooked or something. Regardless, somewhere under that cinnamon was a wheat beer with some pumpkin garnishment. Not bad at all.

Later on while still working on my hero, I got the Blue Point Toasted Lager, the local microbrewery. Fantastic area right? If there's one style I love, it's toasty Amber lagers. And this one did not dissapoint. Light malt, toast, but not quite English Muffiny like the Bud Am Ale. Loving it.

Great spot overall. We were looking for the steps where they hid the runaway slaves in the underground railroad, but they said you have to be in the brewhouse to see it. Oh well. I just love the spot, food was fantastic, very nice High 3 Star beer. Wish we could get some of that down here in Houston, though we'd probably have it an an old Plantation house or something.

Beering in Maryland: 21st Amendment

Well we went to Corridor in Laurel and just went crazy stocking up with beer. We got variety packs from Weyerbacher and Erie brewing. Not to mention some random belgian beers imported by the Shelton Brothers and a case of random bombers. Many of these made the trip back, so those reviews are coming soon. I will say we went to town on the Weyerbachers a couple nights ago with the wife's family, but I was able to save one of each style to bring back to Houston.

So I go to my uncle-in-law's house and he and his girl say they try random beers all the time. I picked up some Watermelon Wheat and some IPA both from 21st Amendment. I was super fired up about the WW, not because I'm black, but because I'm a huge huge fan of The Brewing Network. I'm about 2.5 years behind schedule on their podcasts, but one of their sponsors is the Two-One-A, so it's almost like a big deal to try their beer though I've never set foot in California. Not to mention it's in a can, ensuring it's ultra fresh.

Beer Log: Christmas Eve

State: Hanging out with the wife's fam.

The WW had a huge amount of watermelon throughout, without much body from the wheat. This thing truly features watermelon, and sadly a little bit of water. I found it ok but kind of boring. In all reality, this beer would be good for introducing Bud-Miller-Coors drinkers to craft beer. In all reality, probably good to give this to women. Not so much that it's all that great, but it's a representation of what we can do with beer. High 2 Stars. Don't take that ranking to the bank as I didn't do a formal review, which would include my pouring it in a glass. We just drank it out of the can.

My uncle tells me that he and his girl actually make it a point to check out the local breweries when they travel, now that's a FAMU man for ya, and he prefers much hoppier beers. So we ditch the WW and pick up 21st's Brew Free or Die IPA. This is MUCH more like it. Right out of the can I got a very strong cascade hop flavor, great body, and just enough malt for balance. We both agree that this beer is fantastic and much more what we need from the west coast. Not an Imperial IPA, but very strong. 4 Stars. I got a couple of those beers with me back here in Houston.

Jolly Pumpkin: Noel de Calabaza Special Ale

Nose is a bit sour and grapey. Big head from high carbo or shaking (or both). Isos says: Could it be from a bad pour by the Brotha?

Taste: Sourness hits you, but not overpowering. There is sweetness to balance it out, but not all the way. Dry, no aftertaste. Maybe better in a champagne flute? Maybe some bret.... Isos says: I don't think he has this beer figured out at all :) Maybe served a little too warm. Isos says: I told him we could wait for it to chill.

That's it for now....

Beering in Maryland: Butternuts Anyone?

So we made it into Maryland last night and after sloshing around the roads to drop off the baby. We hit up Fridays for various forms of fried chicken and Blue Moon, then over to Latellas. Latellas is this liquor store in that Glen Burnie area has a HUGE walk-in fridge with all kinds of craft beer and some assorted champagnes. You know the place is on top of things as you walk in and they got some random Bollywood movie on the screen. The wife is still out of commission drinking wise, so instead of picking up single bottles, I just get a variety pack of something we've never heard of, figuring I can sample of that now.

Enter Butternuts Beer and Ale.

This variety pack has 4 different beers, all in cans. Fantastic. And this one had an IPA, Pale Ale, Stout, and a wheat beer. The labels look like something out of a Nick Jr Cartoon on acid, pretty much what Yo Gabba Gabba is now.

Beer Log: Last Night
State: Relaxing, watching the Las Vegas bowl on the massive HD screen at the mother-in-law's house.


Snapperhead IPA
This ipa has a very nice head and a deep amber color. No need to run away from this one, it hits the nail on the head with balanced caramel malt and citrus hop flavors. Not quite west coast strength either, but it represent Upstate New York well. I would say this one beats out Broken Halo as a good basic American IPA. High 3 Stars.

Moo Thunder Stout
At this point, I notice that every can has "Farmhouse Ale" written on it. I at first think there's no way these are brewed in the farmhouse ale tradition, or I'd expect a lot more sourness and high carbo. Turns out this stout had a touch more of both. Great roastiness and smooth choco all the way around. The nose matched the flavor. Fantastic. High 3 Stars.

Sometime much later on that night I try the Pale Ale. I was a little alcoholed out at that point, so I'll try to review that one later. Overall, a great start to Christmas vacation.

It looks like the wife is out with my mother in law to find a dress, and they say they won't be back until 1PM. Which means they won't be back until 3 PM. Which means I can take the baby, my soon to be stepfather-in-law, and hit the means streets looking for some brewpubbing in Baltimore. OR I can leave the baby with my great grandmother and great aunt (all in law), and we can hit the seedy beer bars of Fell's Point, and still be back before the Misses. Either way. Holla.

One time for Upstate New York and shouts out to Western New York as well. Loving it.

Old New Orleans Rum: Cajun Spice

To continue, I'm expanding my alcohol consumption to now include rum. Living in the Gulf Coast and going to school in Florida, you can't really get away from rum. The whole sugar cane heritage is very real, and that tradition has maintained past the colonial era. A friend of mine highly suggested I try this micro-distillery called Old New Orleans Rum. Started out in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and now calling my beloved Frenchmen Street home, Celebration Distillation now has what seems to be a nice following in the Crescent City. Since 1999, they've racked up the awards and even managed to keep the party going after Katrina with their most aged barrels sitting up the highest in the distillery.

I actually found all three of their brands in the Specs in Houston at Jones and 290. So why not cop all three. Word on the street, their Cajun Spice is their best brand, so I'm going for it right out the gate.

Beer Log: Right now

State: Just finished packing for the trip to B-More. Wife and baby are asleep finally. Watching Reno 911 reruns.

Old New Orleans Rum Cajun Spice

Clear amber colored liquor. Plenty of legs around my Hennessy goblet. The first swirl liberates too much alcohol masking what the second smell tells me syrup, cinnamon, and plenty of peppery alcohol. This one comes on strong with the sweet cinnaspice and pepper. I love how it all comes together with the sugar sweetness. I do the tequila tasting I learned on the Cazadores website where I take a sip, inhale through my mouth, and exhale through my nose, liberating even more cinnamon. This rum is KILLER. Very sweet, spicy, and at 80 proof will put some hair on your chest. Fantastic experience. 4 out of 5 um cane sticks.

So Much Beer, So Little Time

I'm sitting here in the Dentist's office while the wife gets some wisdom teeth pulled. Luckily I can hop on some random wireless network so I can blog about nothing in particular errr get some work done. We are doing pretty well right now I'm looking at my beertinerary for our upcoming trip to the Mid-Atlantic, and I am blown at how much opportunity we'll have.

First off we will fly out of Bush Intercontinental, so we can prep with some Heineken on draft. Not great, but we land in BWI and they have a slew of brewpubs and beer bars in the Baltimore/DC area. I don't care who your daddy is, we're going to Brickskeller in DC. They say it's the best beer bar in the city. Maybe I'll get my main man Obama to come have a beer with me. But I'm looking at hollering at Fell's Point once again in Baltimore and just wallow in the good beering.

Afterward we're taking a trip to Long Island for a wedding. While we're there, we'll be down the street from a meadery, and just a couple miles from places like Bobbique's for some good beering. Turns out a brewpub out there has Watermelon Wheat in a can from 21st Amendment. Almost worth the trip to find that beer.

After a couple more days back in Maryland, we hit up Lafayette, LA for another wedding. Probably just relax at Zea and party it up for New Year's Eve. And then we'll relax.

Um what else is going on. I've lost just over 4 lbs after getting back on Weight Watchers. Good stuff, but we're racking up on beer b/c I only have points for maybe one 12 oz a night.

I tried some Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum. Had a LOT of alcohol in this one, but not enough to overpower all the random spices they threw in this thing. Formal review coming later. Holla.

Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper

State: Eating corn on the cob with Lagunitas Brown Suggah Burgers.
Beer Log: Right now

Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper
The wife picked this one up today at Specs. Pours a dark brown color with a decent tan head. Nose is very citrusy hops, orange, and plenty of cinnamon with a handful of malt. This one makes you take a walk through flavor profiles. First you get the malt, then cinnamon, followed quickly by the strong citrusy hops, and wraps up with a belgian style sourness I do kinda like. No hint of the 10% alcohol. The wife says "if Anchor sets the standards, this blows away Anchor". I just love hot there is more orange character comes out as it warms. Probably a 5 star beer if cellared properly and allowing all those flavors to mellow out. Right now, a STRONG 4 Star beer. Very well done Mik, the Dogfish Head of Denmark.

Looking forward to trying the very single hop ipa's as well one day.

Beering in Ontario: Pepperwood Bistro

I know I visited this brewpub in July and it is nearly 6 months. But honestly it could be six years from now and I wouldn't forget Pepperwood Bistro in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. After beering it up in Toronto, I started to make my way back to Buffalo and had this spot as a must-visit in my beertinerary. Maybe it was the weather, smackdab at 79 deg and sunny, right across the street from Lake Ontario. This touristy area of Burlington was like those fancy outdoor upscale malls. Took me forever to park, but it made up for it when I sat on the patio with my book. The outdoor patio just exuded class. I didn't even bother going inside.

Pepperwood Bistro is a brewpub that seems to make it's money on the fantastic food. I believe I had mussels yet again. But with 6 house brews and 15 others on draft, it works out well for a guy like me. Too bad they don't do samplers. So I had to just throw caution to the wind and try three beers. Anything more and I couldn't make the drive back to Buffalo.

Pale Ale

Wanted to see how hoppy they would dare to make this one being that we're in Canada and all. Bready grapefruit nose. Good bread with grapefruit hops on the flavor and aftertaste. I get somewhat moderate carbonation. It's not my cup of tea as the malt doesn't quite balance the hops. Low 3 Stars. I'm interested in how this one sells out there.

Monkey Brown

Deep brown color with a tan head. Nose is chocolate. Taste is surprisingly bland. Second slug gets me some chocolate and roasty flavors. Low carbonation and very smooth. Great beer for newbies. Low 3 Star.

Framboise

Gold and hazy. Figured I'd switch it up with a fruit beer. Raspberry nose, smooth and bready with moderate raspberry taste. 3 Stars.

The fram is pretty good, but even better with the linguine Fruit Del Mar. One of the more tolerable I've had as it's not as sour.

Pretty obvious that although the beer was just okay, the entire experience was great. Food was even better, and the ambiance was fantastic. I can only imagine how they work it out when it's winter time and that lake effect comes in. But such a nice spot in the summer time. Fantastic.

Hit me with another Avery

It's the December UFC event, which means it's time for Avery Old Jubilation. Whether they plan that or not, seems like every time I get some AOJ, on the same weekend as a UFC.

So the wife was beering it up in Calgary and I dropped the baby off at my cousin's house to enjoy a nice visit to ye olde Flying Saucer. And nice to know that Avery was not going to disappoint.

Beer Log: December 11, 2009
State: Chilling out at the Saucer

Avery DuganA
So nice to be back at the old Saucer. Only 93 beers to go before. Not to be confused with the acid trip like cartoons of Tex Avery, Adam Avery seems to believe the world does not have enough imperial style beers. And my 2008 Brewery of the year did not let me down. No clue what type of beer this was when it showed up to the table, but it had a strong malty and piney/grapefruit hoppy nose. Seemed like I got a touch of cherries in there as well. Dark copper color with a thin white head. Could be the bartender just didn't give me any head on this one (no homo). Taste is a syrupy earthy malt with a strong balanced piney hops. Aftertaste is hoppy as well. Very strong all around. 4 Stars. Fantastic big beer once again. Double IPA style. Doesn't hurt that that label is HOT!

Avery Old Jubilation
Had this one last year almost to the day. Last time I got a lot of alcohol and plum. This time, I got more malt, chocolate, and smooth low carbonation. Not as raisiny. Could be last time it was in the house in the bottle, and this time it's on tap at the bar. Dark brown with a tan lac head. Moderate to high hops for good balance. 3 Stars this time.

Fantasy Football and New Belgium Frambozen

I made the playoffs in one of my leagues, and I'm sitting here with 3 players left: Kurt Warner, Crabtree, and Weaver, RB for Philly. My boy Alan has Antonio Gates playing right now and after that only the Cardinals defense. I'm just holding my breath all game while watching the Dallas-San Diego game. I win this I go to our leagues final. Right now I'm up by 5. Just need Gates to have a quiet day and it's pretty much wrapped up.

I went ahead and ate the tickets to the Texans game today. Just too depressed to dragass all the way out to the stadium, especially when I had to keep the baby with me. And wouldn't you know it the Texans blowout the Seahawks. Actually had some measure of aggression. Oh well.

New Belgium Frambozen
Picked this up the other day at the massive Specs at Jones and 290. I'm drinking it in my champagne flute although the beers says it's a raspberry brown ale, not some sort of super Belgium bottle conditioned beer. Nose is malty, toasty, and strong raspberry. Brownish-Ruby colored beer has actually has a nice blend of brown ale and raspberry. Low carbo, nice raspberry all the way through, but backed up by some earthy malty brown ale character. I prefer this much more than the pureblood framboise. High 3 Star. Man this stuff is just plain awesome. I'm drinking it down big time. New Belgium is coming out with hit after hit like Master P in the late 90s.

Rumming it up

Well I'm looking at expanding my paradigm into rum, and why not start 'em out with whatever the hell we have in the house. The wife is out of town in Canada and if she doesn't come back with some beer reviews, I'll know she's stepping out on me with some other dudes.

Beer Log: Right now

State: Sitting by the fireplace, listening to Toucher and Rich Podcasts.

First off, a few hours ago we hit Baker's Street Pub in Cinco Ranch. Very good Smithwicks. Funny how laying off beer will make even English ales taste malty.

Malibu Caribbean Rum with Natural Coconut Flavor

First off, you gotta wonder why not just say it has "coconut" in the rum rather than coconut flavor? Anyway, this rum looks just like water save some increase in viscosity and lots of little legs. Nose has a nice strong coconut and syrupness to it, no alcohol. The first sip I get the taste of simple sugar, with coconut "flavor" all the way through it. No real alcohol burn to go along with all those legs. The second sip is just like the first, with maybe some alcohol burn in your tongue. Goes down very very smoothly, and hardly has any alcohol taste at all. Talk about great for getting your girl in college drunk. Amazing. 3 barrels out of 5.

Ron Maarten Virgin Island Superior Golden Rum

Seems like rum-folk have NO problem putting up very long names. This one looks like apple juice in the bottle. First sniff gives me a strong apple nose, followed by a chill that made it all the to my spine. I'm getting LOTS of alcohol burn in this sniff. The last one I could probably breath in a respirator. This stuff is working on your nose hairs. Taste is a strong strong alcohol burn. On this first sip, I don't think any of it even went down my throat in liquid form. I more or less breathed it in than drank it down. I had a lot of trouble picking out much of any flavor. I guess 80 Proof stuff will do that to you. A stronger sip this time gets me a touch of pepper, not unlike gin. 10 seconds later and my body still has that warmth shiver thing going on. Feels like I'm in the middle of Russia with some strong vodka. If someone told me this was gin, I'd probably believe them. If you are trying to prove your manhood at the party, shoot this stuff straight. Good luck getting your girl in college to drink this stuff. She'll smell it a mile away and run off to the football team. 2 out of 5 barrels.

BeerBrotha Sports Review: Two Rows Holiday Spice

Well, this weekend was decorated with bullsh*t. First my main man and DTSA Affiliate Tiger Woods is sleeping with more white women than Lance Steel. The kicker is he's married to one at the same time. I mean come on. What ever happened to just paying the money to hush these women up. And how about you itznay the whole affair and just have the little random one-nighters. And then he goes and leaves voicemails to his mistress, using his real name, etc.



He didn't even go to his own tourney because his wife put the NORD back in Nordegren and messed up his face. These Swedish/Norweigan folk seem pretty nice with decent beer, but that Viking blood is very strong. And ol' girl is a PURE BLOOD. Kinda like that West African warrior blood with really dark skinned black folk: Chiek Kongo, Terrell Owens, DMX, Ron Killings, Kimbo Slice, you get the point. Moving on.

We made it out to Two Rows to watch local boys Univ of Houston play in East Carolina. Things were up and down all game but the Coogs couldn't put it together in the end with the last drive. Very sad. But at least I got to try the Two Rows Winter Seasonal.

State: Whatever, eating their BBQ Chicken Pizza
Beer Log: Last weekend

Holiday Spice
Dark amber beer with a strong cinammon nutmeg scent. The taste is even stronger cinnamon, all the way up and down the taste. I got some stale bread like thing going on as I searched deep into the first beer I've had in quite some time. High 2 Stars.

Later on I made it to my good friends house with the baby to watch the GA Tech game. To test my supposed allergy to alcohol, I had a nice Left Hand Fade to Black and some Pyramid Howl. I'll have to review them later as we were celebrating Tech getting the big win over the Klan Country's own Clemson Tigers on the way to the ORANGE BOWL BABY!

The Texans were on the road this past weekend against the soon-to-be Los Angeles Jaguars, and I've been so disheartened with their entertaining yet choking performances that I couldn't even watch the game. So instead the wife made the decision that a full 99 hours of DVR and a queue of literally 5 years worth of Netflix is not enough, that she went to damn entrance of the Wal-Mart for the Redbox of Transformers 2. Pretty good movie, a basic CGI and explosion orgy with a healthy amount of racism. Three of my favorite things. All we needed was for Megan Fox to pop out of that top for the brothas out there. The movie ended just in time for us to see the Texans blow it again.

Carolina won in football but UNC lost to Kentucky in Men's Ball. FAMU men's ball is like 0-10, playing a murderers row schedule once again. Damn shame. Maybe I should find something else to do on the weekends. And with the Dynamo losing in the MLS playoffs and US Open Cup, we don't have any winter soccer games to go to. All we have are Tracy McBaby and Rockets. Oh well. Maybe I should just keep working through the weekend or something.

Back on the Wagon, No Divine Reserve

Well, I'm back on the Weight Watchers wagon. For the 3 of you that have been reading this blog from Day 1, I started WW as a solidarity thing for the wife, who was trying to lose the poundage. After a few months I went from 245 pounds to 201 lbs of black man. A good year and some change later, I kinda stopped WW and just eyeballed it, which kept me around 206. For the last few months, I just let it rip, drinking all kinds of beer, eating lunch at Five Guys and Lupes, piling up the Apple Cobbler at lunch and the eggs and hash browns for breakfast. So now I'm sitting at 214 lbs butt-naked in the morning.

So I'm back on the wagon, and even training for the New Orleans Half Marathon. Hopes to run a full 'thon in October, probably domestic.

But here's what really sucks, I ONCE AGAIN HAVE NO DIVINE RESERVE THE DAY IT CAME OUT. This time, I was actually eating lunch on the road in between my engineering offices, and stole a quick trip to Specs at 529 and Barker-Cypress at about noon. They had nothing though they admitted they would have it some day. I ran up to HEB at B-C and 290 with no luck. I down some Quiznos and beat it back to Specs, no luck again. Got to get to work so I just chalked it up. The wife went to that same specs and said they had the beer at about 3:15PM, and then sold out in 15 minutes.

WHAT KIND OF ISH IS THAT? How is it that working people are able to beat-ass over to Specs JUST WHEN THE BEER COMES OFF THE TRUCK! I later learn that it's just good ol' twitter. I think twitter is just a conspiracy by law enforcement to know our whereabouts at all times, but I may have to pay attention to it for the next DR. You know what, screw that. I make enough money, I'm going for STRAIGHT BRIBERY next time. Maybe the wife will come through again. Who knows.