Beer, Everywhere Beer

Ho go scare me up some toast.
Brooklyn, New York - June 2006

Since Tanja's been pregnant, I've noticed that I've been less inclined to drink wine. Beer, since I'm not quite up to polishing a keg off in an evening or over dinner, comes in convenient single serving packages. There's a much smaller committment, chances of the beer going bad and turning into expensive vinegar before I finish it are remote.

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I sort of went to beer school right after college, at a fantastic bar in Albany called Mahar's, which may or may not still be there. I hope it is. Afterward, though, I got older, settled into almost always drinking Guinness or Rolling Rock, and that was that.

Lately, I've been wanting to branch out and drink more obscure beers, things I haven't had in a while. There are no good beer stores in Bay Ridge; it's sort of Bud and Coors neighborhood, so pickings were slim. I was looking for one of my favorites, Old Peculiar, but word on the street is that that one's no longer able to be imported.

For the last few weeks, we've been taking some kind of baby classes in Cobble Hill. Last night, ready to celebrate because it was the last class, I went into the Key Food, a regular supermarket, on Atlantic Avenue, and browsed, just to see what they had. Maybe I'd grab a bottle or two on the way home. As is happens, though, it wasn't the last class. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I learned there's one more to go. So, after class, in the rain, I dragged my pregnant wife to the store. Ten minutes and $44 later walked out with this bunch (in only the order I pulled them from the bag), which I'll be slowing making my way through in the next couple of weeks. I've never tasted all but two of these.

• St. Sebastian Dark - Belgium


• Ruddles County - England


• Black Sheep - England


• St. Peter's Old-Style Porter - England


• St. Peter's Cream Stout - England


• Black Sheep Rigglewelter Yorkshire Ale - England


• St. Peter's Golden Ale - England


• St. Peter's English Ale - England


• Chimay Premiere - Belguium


• Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout - England

Dominos

And tell me where the ink is.
New York, New York - August 2005

ESPN2 is carrying the World Domino Championships, live from the Las Vegas Hilton, and it's not being played by a bunch of hundred-year old Greek guys from Astoria with cabby hats and paper coffee cups, who, after being in this country since they were twenty, still don't speak a word of English?

Sometimes I wonder if it's time to get (better) cable. This is not one of those times.