Shake your Tailgate feathers, win some cool shwag

My good friend Kerry Byrne, the Potentate of Pigskin, and the Kingpin of the Coldest, Hardest Football Facts in the business -- seriously, I didn't know diddley about football until Kerry asked me to write about beer for the site for two years*, and now I know way too much -- wants you to fire up your grills, pickup trucks, deep-fryers, and portable refrigerators for the Tailgate Recipe of The Year contest, sponsored by Football Nation, Whole Foods, and our mutually-admired buddies at Harpoon Brewery.

What's that sponsorship mean? It's not just advertising bucks, it's prizes. If your recipe for tailgating greatness wins, you're up for the big prize package, delivered to your home for Super Bowl:

• Brand New 46-inch Flat Screen Television
• Tailgate Meal for 10 From Whole Foods Market, Delivered by Football Nation
• Harpoon Brewery “Everything But the Beer” Tailgate Package (and no, I don't know what that means either, but you can bet it's for legal reasons!)
• Mr. Bar-B-Q Tailgate Package Including Collegiate Grill Mat and Grill Cover, 30 Piece Barbecue Tool Set and Grill Accessories

Cool, right? So start cooking.

Just keep in mind: bring your A game, because you're going up against stuff -- and I use that term specifically -- like Kerry's own Deep-Fried Stuffing Balls. They're not Schweddy, they're stuffing, and I have it on good authority that they are "the best part of the stuffing." So get to work: you've got till December 12!

*Did some of my best stuff for them, too: check out this piece about getting blitzed, and this piece about malt liquor, and this one about vodka.

Get East End (Pittsburgh) beer in the White House for the Super Bowl!

Scott Smith, owner/brewer/damn near everything at East End Brewing, is a man with a mission. He's found out...well, I'll let him tell it, because he is a funny guy.

It seems that during a recent visit to Wisconsin, The White House placed a beer order from fellow Craft Brewer, Hinterland Brewing Company in Wisconsin, so that they could have some Green Bay beer on hand for the Superbowl.  Simple enough, but maybe you can already see that this act by itself, is not exactly a "beer-partisan" move.  Since Friday of last week, we're working to help correct that.

And here's where YOU come in...

HELP US GET SOME PITTSBURGH BEER TO THE WHITEHOUSE!
What can you do?  Well, if you're a FaceBook user you can climb on board the movement by going to http://www.facebook.com/EastEndtoDC and hitting the LIKE button.  (We're approaching the 1,000 Fan mark already!)  Then, share this with your circle of friends on Facebook, and help us grow the presence there!  And while you're on that Facebook page, be sure to check out the links to some of the local press we've gotten, and give a listen to my KDKA Radio interview from Friday of last week.  That's all on the Facebook Page.

If you're a Twitter user, you can help spread the word there by Tweeting with the hashtag #EastEndtoDC. Or follow our progress on our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/EastEndBrewing.  That's where this whole thing got started late last week, and where most of the updates are posted.

If neither of these websites are your thing and you "don't do social networking", don't worry, no problem.  You can still help.  Share this with your circle of friends, and send it along to your favorite news reporter for your favorite press outlet.  Any help getting the word out is still a huge help!

My hope is that someone knows somebody who thinks this story is worthy of some National press, which should get the RIGHT people's attention...and hopefully later this week, I'll be honored to load up some Black N Gold Beer to head out on the most important delivery run of this brewery's life. Thanks for all of your help and support with making this happen for us, and for Pittsburgh!

Cheers,
Scott

Before anyone squeals about playing favorites among the Pittsburgh breweries, I'd point out that Penn is already the "wager beer" that PA governor Tom Corbett has bet on the Steelers against the Packers with the Wisconsin governor (I have no idea what beer he bet; but Corbett's gonna be drinking it after the game!) and, well...Iron City is made in Latrobe. Church? Come on, Sean, get moving!

So...why not give Scott a hand on this, and do whatever you can to help get a Pittsburgh beer to our beer-loving President Obama (after all, the man needs something to soothe the pain of the Bears being at home in the snow...).

One Guy in the news

Guy Hagner sent this link to a story on his One Guy Brewing operation in Berwick. He mentions extended hours during football season; I kinda have the hankering to go up to see a Bulldogs game and get some beers myself!

Update: For all of you who insist that Guy get a website...he has: www.oneguybrewing.com will now direct you to his page on www.mybeerbuzz.com. So no excuses!