New York news...

For those of you who are lucky enough to have enjoyed Hutch Kugeman's brews at Great Adirondack in Lake Placid...you're about to be joined by a multitude. Hutch is leaving Great Adirondack (no worries; his former assistant Paul Fryman is returning from Snake River Brewing to take over) to become head brewer at Ithaca Beer Company, effective this weekend. Congratulations to Hutch and Ithaca: this is great for all involved. Looking forward to more success from all parties!

Second Chance, Pittsburgh Area...

Last round: here are some bars that I was thinking about putting in PA Breweries 4th edition that, for one reason or another, I didn't put in the manuscript. If you think some of them really deserve to be in, let me know, and tell me why.
Again: if you don't see a bar here, chances are it's already in the book!

Kazansky's Deli, Pittsburgh
Amel's Restaurant, Pittsburgh
The Library, Pittsburgh
Harris Grill, Pittsburgh
Claddagh Irish Pub, Pittsburgh
Hemingway's Cafe, Pittsburgh
Union Grill, Pittsburgh
Apple Inn, Pittsburgh
The Map Room, Swissvale
Bar 1311, Pittsburgh
The Hop House (Noblestown Rd.), Pittsburgh
Club Cafe, Pittsburgh
The Hop House (Babcock Blvd.), Pittsburgh
Bites & Brews, Pittsburgh
Birmingham Bridge Tavern, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Deli Company, Pittsburgh
Barley's & Hop's Bottle Shop, Bethel Park
Mr Smalls Funhouse, Millvale
Bado's Pizza Grill And Ale House, Mt. Lebanon
Burgh's Pizza And Wing Pub, Bridgeville

Thanks for all your help. All decisions are mine in the end, of course. I'm going to try to get to as many of the second rounders as I can in the next couple weeks to form my own opinion; that won't be easy in Pittsburgh, but I am a resourceful man...

Second Chance, Round 3...

Two more rounds, actually.  Again: if you don't see a bar here, chances are it's already in the book!

Here are some I may have missed in the Lehigh Valley...

• Tally Ho, Bethlehem
• Starter's Pub, Bethlehem
• Volpe's Sports Bar, Allentown
• The Tavern on Liberty, Allentown
• Hops Fogelsville Hotel, Fogelsville
• Dunderbak's Market Cafe, Whitehall
• Blue Monkey, Catasauqua
• Summit Bar & Grille, Macungie
• Basin Street Hotel, Kutztown

And in the Harrisburg/Gettysburg area...

• Coakley's Restaurant & Irish Pub, New Cumberland
• The Coliseum, Camp Hill
• Bourbon Street Saloon, Harrisburg
• Molly Brannigans, Harrisburg
• The Village Inn, West Fairview
• The Pub & Restaurant, Gettysburg

 Thanks. One more round...Pittsburgh.

Second Chance, Round 2...

Okay, here we go again: I have most of the good ones in the Philly 'burbs, but again: haven't been to some of these, or haven't been recently. Are any of these must-haves?
 
Fatty's, Wyndmoor
Drake Tavern, Jenkintown
Dominick's Side Door Pub, Chalfont
Blue Dog Tavern, Chalfont
Ron's Original Bar & Grille, Exton
America Bar & Grill, Chester Springs
The Note, West Chester
Blue Pear Bistro, West Chester
Baggatway Tavern, West Conshohocken
Gypsy Saloon, West Conshohocken
Blue Dog Pub, Lansdale

Getting into PA Breweries 4: a second chance

As I said, I sent the completed manuscript for Pennsylvania Breweries 4 in last week. But...since then, I noticed that I'd screwed up and missed a few bars in Philly, and I've been reconsidering. Can you give me a little help? I've made my choices, and a few of the definite adds (like Beneluxx, which was simply a brainfart on my part). But these...I either haven't been to them (like Devil's Alley), haven't been to them recently (like Union Jack) or I'm on the fence (like Mad Mex). So do me a favor: take a look at this list, and pick your TOP FIVE that you can't believe I haven't put in...and I'll think about it some more. Looking for a little advice, folks; thanks!

(Remember: I've already got most of the good ones in. If you don't see a bar on this list, assume it's already in there. If some of these seem odd to you, I judge a bar on more than just how many craft beer taps it has! And this is just Philly, not the suburbs.)


Devil's Alley
O'Neals Pub
St. Stephen's Green
Old Eagle Tavern
North Star Bar
Mad Mex Philadelphia
Philadelphia Bar and Grille
Rembrandt's
Kildare's
Lyons Den
The Ugly Moose
Downey's
New Deck Tavern
Locust Bar
Dr. Watson's Pub
Dirty Frank's
Drinker's Tavern
Doobie's
Misconduct Tavern
The Irish Pol
New Wave Cafe
Devil's Den
Ten Stone
Union Jack's
TIME
Brownie's Pub
Society Hill Hotel and Bar Restaurant
Tir Na Nog

Deaths in the family

I just got the news that a family friend died: Gus Dobish, a long-time friend of my in-laws, father of my brother-in-law Chris's wife Katie, and a larger-than-life guy who always had a story. He had plenty of life experience to draw on, too: Gus worked as a pharmacist for years, was also an actor (including a performance as a heart attack victim in a hospital plan commercial that was so realistic that people contacted the hospital to see how he was!), and late in life got his law degree, becoming so successful that he was a vice-president with Rite-Aid. Gus always had something going on, had energy popping off of him, and could do a beat-pause in a story better than anyone I know. My heart goes out to his wife, Nancy; to Katie and Chris and their kids, and to his other two daughters, Deb and Heidi.

We lost another good friend last week: Edith Lelak, who was Thomas and Nora's "nanny" when they were babies and I was still working corporate. Edith and her husband John quickly became a third pair of grandparents for the kids, and as my father said, "If I couldn't be there for the kids, I can't think of anyone I'd rather be there than John and Edith." She was a loving, sweet person who the kids simply adored. The two of them sang with me at her funeral last Thursday; we sang The Prayer of St. Francis.

Go with God, Edith, Gus.

Just too much to do...

So Friday I kind of bumbled through the day, getting caught up on phone calls and e-mail, writing scripts for the interviews I'm conducting this week for a few stories I've got to do. I did platelet donation in the morning, and it went smoothly, and sang a confirmation mass in the afternoon. Thomas was in Harrisburg at a mock trial state final competition, so Cathy and Nora and I went out for Chinese; got Szechuan (or however we're supposed to spell it these days) seafood, which was tasty, and split a bottle of Stone 8th anniversary, the "imperial mild," and it was good (though I probably should have had it when I got it), rich but very drinkable, and imposing enough to handle the spice. Then we went home and watched more of Season 1 of Heroes.

Saturday was crazier. Cathy left for Harrisburg at 8 to visit with an old friend of her family who is in the endgame of a nastily rapid bout of cancer. Thomas left Harrisburg at 8 to return here. Nora and I left at 8 to take her to Drexel for another robotics competition, and I came back and sang another confirmation mass (we had about 250 kids in the parish being confirmed over the weekend). When that was done, I went back to the house, picked up Thomas, and we drove north to Hellertown, to have lunch at the Braveheart Highland Pub. I had a pint of O'Hara's Stout, we split the smoked fish plate (excellent), and I had a caesar salad with grilled shrimp. A very nice lunch; then we hustled him over to Southern Lehigh HS for his final regular season forensics tournament, qualifiers for the national tournament (he made it to the final round today, but didn't quite make the cut). I drove back to Drexel, picked up Nora, drove home, met Cathy, we all changed. Drove to Nora's school, dropped her off with a friend's family for an overnight birthday party, and we drove to the annual fundraiser auction at Holy Ghost Prep.

I had offered a basket of three whiskies (Tomatin 12 Year Old (from John Hansell), a 1994 Knappogue Castle, and a bottle of Rock Hill Farms bourbon) with a sub to Malt Advocate, a book on Islay whisky (Peat Smoke & Spirit), and some other stuff; and also offered an in-house tutored whisky tasting -- 13 whiskies -- with cigars and snacks. That met some brisk bidding and wound up going for $1200; felt pretty good about raising that much for the school! We had dinner with the auction: lobster tail, lump crabmeat, sushi, poached salmon, stone crab claws, huge shrimp, and a crab casserole...all delicious. I shared around a bottle of Bernheim Wheat Whiskey and a bottle of Parker's Golden Anniversary (gave some of each to the two guys who bought the whisky tasting), had a couple beers (Lager...and Weyerbacher Muse). Then we went home and crashed...Only I'd had a big coffee on the way home from Drexel, and wound up reading till about 3!

Got up at 7:15. Cathy drove up to Southern Lehigh to help judge the tournament, and I did two Palm Sunday masses, then went to Roxborough to pick up Nora. Came back home, had some Prima Donna and sourdough for lunch...and haven't done much else, to tell the truth. We're all napping a bit today. Might have another beer tonight, though...

Suck the Head

Yeah, the day after finishing Pennsylvania Breweries 4 is that kind of day. Adios, amigos!


Seriously: does anyone know where I can get more 50 ml thimble glasses like this? I want real simple ones that I can put ice cold vodka in for a zakuski party I want to do, about two dozen of them. Drop me a line; thanks!

First new post in months on the Session Beer Project

Finally put something up on the Session Beer Project blog. I don't want you all clicking over there just to find out that it's essentially a link to another story, so I'll just link to that story: The Untimely Death of The American Session Beer. It's not just ranting and hand-wringing: Ken Weaver got some numbers to back it up. Good stuff, though some objections could be made.

It Must Be Great to Have Tom Wilson's Job

March 21, 2010 (tomorrow, but that's the magic of Saturday delivery of Sunday's comics):

Today, the Ziggy comic (which is the way this 'entertainment' should be referred to) makes a joke about the federal bank bailout, approximately 17 months* after it happened. Ziggy celebrated the moment by continuing to wear pants (a huge thank-you to Stephan Pastis for that).

I'm telling you; I save so much time in the morning by no longer reading Ziggy, Cathy, and Family Circus...



*(I'm sure Uncle Jack will acerbically provide the painstakingly exact date at some point; thanks, Jack!)