Beer. Bacon. Have I got your attention now?

Right now I am listening to a killer recording of the opening song from the last Radiohead show in Boston (there is a video of it on Bros11 here). My Bro from back in the day just emailed it to me. Nicely.

It is still early March and the weather has turned downright freakishly spring-like. But it's supposed to snow again in a couple days. Fucking typical New England shit. God, I hope I end up on the west coast, the manic pattern here is definitely not helping my fragile psyche right now. But at least it will be light out until 6:30 tonight, which is tight. I feel that Smokey Joe is about to make his 2009 debut in the driveway soon.
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A few days ago I went up to my home-planet of Vermont to brew with a guy whom I have long admired (well, his beers, anyway) at his brewpub in Waterbury. He turned out to be a real solid guy as well and I had a great time hanging with him while he brewed up an American Brown Ale. It was a long day though, which started for me at 5:30 am and ended at 10pm, with a pant-load of beer having throughout. It was well worth it though as I learned a ton in just that one day, not only about brewing but also about how he started up his business from scratch and is now wildly successful, without ever having paid a second's thought to marketing or distribution; they don't send any of their beer out the front door, EVER. Complete control. It's good to know that passion, talent, and knowledge CAN equate to a successful business.

Yesterday saw temps in the 60's and the 3rd annual Bacon Eating Contest at AwesomeWood's tavern. This year, V actually competed! And she did quite well up there on that stage surrounded by a bunch of puffy, loud-mouthed, chowder-headed dudes. And she definitely won the crowd over, I think.
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That's the weekend wrap-up. It's Sunday, sunny, warm - and I am about to go out for a quick run. Next week might see a trip to Philadelphia for a brewery visit/job interview and possibly some partying (depending on if I can get anyone to come with me) seeing as how it's Philly Beer week. I'll keep you updated...

Peace,

-Wrence

It used to be about the guano...

So, as 'wrence mentioned in his post below, we had ourselves some good old-fashioned driveway beerhavery and cookitude on Friday night. Beers were had, texts were sent, and much roasted pig flesh was consumed. Let's begin...

I arrived to discover Man Saun and 'wrence crushing beers in the kitchen. After some consultation and mini-cornbread muffin type thingees, the decision was made to move the party to the driveway. For those who would find such a notion disconcerting, I assure you...the driveway was much more than that on this day.

Natural hardwood charcoal was added to the chimney thing and fire applied. In no time flat we had Smokey Joe looking quite ready to grill indeed. Bockwurst and smoked Kielbasa were thrown onto the grill and in no time flat we were chowing down. We had a few different beers to choose from some (but not all) include:

• 'Wrence's honey wine...delicious and super drinkable for something with such a high bbv
• 'Wrence's cardamom-spiced jaggery concoction (i can't remember if this was a wheat beer or not, i think it was)
• 'Wrence's amber
• 'Wrence's saison (prob about a year old and finally carbonated)
• RyToy's Pale Ale
• Man Saun's orange peel and coriander witbier
• Man Saun's lemon zest and grains of paradise witbier

Both of Man Saun's offerings were delicious, but the lemon wit was so far beyond delectable the girls drinking it actually had to be forcibly unstuck from their chairs...yeah, that good.

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the ribs, which were unreal. Falling off the fucking bone, great sweet/savory balance, nicely finished on the now-cooling Smokey Joe. They were quite the treat and those in attendance ate as much as possible without bursting. Despite our best efforts there were ribs who remained on a plate in the middle of the driveway for the remainder of the night.

With the visiting Inga in attendance as well as the resident Greeks (Gena, Vanessa, and Nancy[sp]) and the neighboring Lori, the party took a turn for the awesome when I saw to it that Sparks was made available to all who would so desire. For those of you not fortunate enough to know, Sparks is a malt beverage containing caffeine, taurine, guarine, and ginseng, is 7% alcohol, tastes like orange soda and turns you into a miniature version of Robert Downey Jr. I had about 2.5 too many with outstanding consequences.

The highlight of the night (for some) would have to be the incredibly lopsided text message showdown between Vanessa and myself. Despite using the unorthodox "alpha" method to Ry's T9 style, Vanessa managed to defeat me soundly at every turn. The sample texts in question varied from those dealing with tazo tea to something about Biloxi. No matter....revenge will be mine in time.

Later the guitar was fetched and songs were sung. On the soundtrack were some songs from The Band (It Makes No Difference, The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down) and Radiohead (Street Spirit, The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees). RyToy laid down the entirely substandard vocals while 'wrence axed his way to a couple of bloody fingers.

Events get blurry post sing-a-long, although I do know that the party moved upstairs as the night went on. Individual comings and goings are vague at best, but I do know this...I had a kick ass fucking time at DrivewayFest '08.

&Ry