fstorm1

Been running 7 for a couple months and I'm still astonished by how nice it is. I did a clean install, and have added a lot of the same progs/etc that I had before, but it's still smooth as all get out. Very, very few problems, shuts down in about 5 seconds, loads in about the same. So impressed with it and the job Microsoft did, especially after the absolute horror that was Vista when it first came out.

Finally (!!!) had the cash this past week to buy something more than just High Life (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I scooped up a 12er of Honey Moon, a case of DaMan, and a 6er build. The first I tried was Lakefront's Wheat Monkey Ale. Really nice. Carbonation a tad higher than others of the style, and although there was nice sweetness, it's source wasn't easily discernible...banana, bubble gum, clove, hard to tell. But it was very crisp and refreshing. Certainly a notch below the "classics" of the style, but quite good. Looking forward to their Pumpkin for the holidays. Only looked at Festival, but they, despite having a solid number of new brews, and Belgium's 6 packs, didn't have Gumballhead. May try Flanagan's this week for that. May also possibly grab another case of DaMan this weekend. Thank goodness it holds up as well as it does.

Spent this past Saturday in Madison with my lady friends brother, a graduated student at UW, who's leaving for a year to teach English in Vietnam. Anyhoo, we went down to spend the day with him and his sister, and ended up dragging them both to Mt Horeb for their annual Mustard Festival. My lady friend and I went to the same fesatival back in '01, was one of the first things we did together. Had lotsa fun, hot dogs, mustard everywhere, Culver's even had a Mustard Custard (not quite as disgusting as it sounds, just plain weird), yadda yadda. Block off of "downtown" Mt Horeb is the Grumpy Troll, as great but tiny brew pub. Had the sampler of 11 beers, and was most impressed with their work. Particularily liked their Hefe (of course), but they had a couple porters that were very good, and even their IPA wasn't too bad. Left with a growler of the Hefe, a little pricey at $15, but it's another growler for the basement bar. Get a chance to slide down there, the beers are worth the trip. And even if it's not, you can visit the Mustard Museum, always fun. Spent the evening back in Madison, on (or at) "The Terrace", drinking Oberon on tap, sitting by the lake, listening to free live music. Good times.

Okeedokee, spent the evening polishing off a 6 pack of the best wheats in the world that I foolishly forgot to give to my future father in-law last weekend (gosh, darn it, what a bummer http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif), a pack which included DaMan, Hacker, Sprecher, Paulaner, Franziskaner, and Ebel's (two DaMan's in there), and I gotta say, although DaMan is the best tasting wheat in the world (thus far), Hacker is still the best in terms of drinkability. May be blasphemy, but I gotta admit it. Be heading away to the great white north (Duluth) for the holiday, but here's hoping everyone's holiday is full of good beer, good food, and good pyrotechnics.

Yikes. Almost went a month with nothing new in here. Everyone must be as poor as me. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif On our way back from spending last weekend in Duluth, we stopped (for the 2nd time) at The Dane in Wausau. Guess I didn't mention the last time, but man, is that place spit and polish. Again felt I was under dressed arriving at the 2nd bar (they have what seems to be a "snottier" bar and a layman's). No matter, I was on a mission. Wisely remembered to bring two empty growler's with, and filled one with their stunning scottish ale. The second I got their seasonal Maibock, which is really very, very good. Since it's an 1 1/2 hours home, it was a tad warm after we got home, but beer waits for no one, and neither does my thirst. I will say it was even better after a day in the fridge. Excellent stuff. Whilest waiting for the nice bar fellow to fill the Maibock, I asked if I could try another of their seasonals...not sure if you're all ready for this: Watermelon Wheat. Seriously. Tried alot of wheat's, don't recall anyone having the oomph to try pairing it with watermelon, which can very easily overpower anything. But I gotta say, honestly, it wasn't that bad at all. I'm not gonna get a growler of it, nor would I want to drink it all night, but as a closing beer, after an evening of other stuff, would work great. Reminded me of how the Pyramid Apricot Ale tasted (not in taste, but in fruit/sweetness). Same thing, good closer. While in Duluth, my nice rich mostly wine-drinking future uncle-in-law (great guy despite the wine lovin) had filled one of his beer fridges (yes, he has 3, no joke) with Harp lager. Now all I could really recall after all these years is that at some point in my Milwaukee 21-ish year old days I O.D.ed on Harp and hadn't been able to drink any since, especially out of the bottle. But boy, dunno if it was the weather (hot), the scenery (spectacular), or the company, it was amazingly tasty. May have to give it another try, when I'm not in such a good mood. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'd throw Berghoff into that mix, but I may be alone in that thinking. Sand Creek's Badger Porter is very, very good.

Classic. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif I traveled over to one of the Festival's in the area today, and there was nary a sign of DaMan to be found. I will add that the stuff I still have left over from last year (about 5 bottles to go) is actually very nearly as good as the "fresh" stuff (at least that I remember). The only diff thus far is a slight raise in carbonation. When the time comes that it's available, and we get close to the end of it's 3 month run, I say stock up. May seem weird drinking a beer that's past say 4-5 months, but really, even if my taste buds are off from not having "fresh" for 9 months, it's still better than any other wheat around. I was (again) a bit disheartened by the poor selection in the build area at Festival. I'd hate for my "new beer tasting" to be relegated to $14 six packs at Flanagan's Liquor. I did however snag single bottles of the 1554 and Fat Tire. Well I had to grab something.

Update of sorts, for whatever it's worth: the Blackberry Wit from Sam Adams wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, given their horrendous failures in previous fruit offerings, like their Cherry Wheat and Cranberry Lambic. Seems to be just the right amount of berry, but the choice of blackberry as the fruit is odd, given that, to me at least, blackberries aren't especially sweet, just, well, berry-like. Combine that with wit's inherent sourness, and it makes for a decent if uninspiring choice. Pyramid's Rollick Amber was a good albeit confusing surprise. Now, before trying, I did not go to the BA page for this brew, and, reading the label, figured it to be (as written on bottle) a "spring seasonal", and, obviously, an amber lager. It struck me as a bit familiar, but not from a "spring" nor "amber" that I've had, with the sweetness a tad stronger than expected, and the hops/lager bite toned down. Checking the BA page now, I see that it's listed as a Marzen/Oktoberfest, and is only available in the Winter. The Pyramid website lists it as being available Feb-Apr...which, technically, is still Winter in Wisconsin. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Dunno, but every other Oktober I've had that wasn't year round was available only in the Fall and into Winter. It does have the malty caramel I'd expect from an Oktober, but it's not quite enough there to really make it an Oktober in my book. Not sure what they were aiming for with this, as other than a nice warm weather crispness, I think it would work much better in the Fall. May have to try another, see what shakes out. And your useless info (as if all of this isn't already useless): every time I tried to type "berry" my fingers would involuntarily type "beery".

Well, thanks to my nice lady friend being in California the past 3 days, I was able to check out three different locations for brews. She doesn't mind my "hobby", but there's no way I could get her to travel to three different spots with me...much like there's no way I'll travel to three different clothing stores with her (my personal record is 2). Anyhoo, ended up with several very good brews, including Pyramid's Curve Ball Blonde Ale, Flying Dog's Garde Dog, and , yes , the much ballyhooed Mothership Wit from New Belgium. I was very happy that all three were winners, with the Garde Dog being the best of the lot. The Curve Ball is by far the best Kolsch I've had to date, granted a small sample size (all of 4), but my previous experiences with the style were so poor that I shied away from them. I'll have to go back to them when I see them now. The Mothership was very good, I was astonished by it's smoothness, despite the higher carbonation. I had a difficult time digging past the citrus/tartness...would like to see that mellowed a bit. But it is by far the best "organic", and one of the best wit's, I've ever had. But the real prize was the Garde Dog. To my knowledge and memory (both of which can be described as "hit and miss"), I've never had any of this style, but I'm very impressed with it. Reminded me of how I felt when I had my first Tripel...excited to find more. Also from the sixer are Sam Adams' Blackberry Witbier (uh oh, none too confident in this one), Pyramid's Rollick Amber Lager, and Point's Burly Brown. Also stocked up with a 12er of Honey Moon, which, in my opinion, is a very good, yet economical warm weather brew. FYI-I will admit that although I was looking to stock on beer period, I was specifically looking for the New Belgium stuff. Sunday, not to be found at one Festival location in Appleton. Today, I found it at Flanagan's Stop & Shop in Appleton for $3.29 (22oz), then found it at Festival (a different one) for $3.49, on sale from $4.49. The three style I found were the Mothership, Fat Tire and the 1554 Enlightened Black. I'm a bit surprised that, given the popularity of pale ale's, that those are the three available here. Am I right in that thinking? Opinions? I've seen the comments about the Fat Tire, but what about the 1554? Yes, no, maybe so? Thank you warm weather. I should be thanking a god of some sort here...Ra, or Apollo or something. Maybe Mother Nature. Better yet, how about Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, for making such lovely, uh, stuff. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Several good brats to be had out there, but yesterday evening, I enjoyed some Festival (grocery chain) brand, simmered in Berghoff Red Bock Winter Ale, then on to the grill. Very good, but not as good as the ones I've done simmered in Hacker Pshorr.

Well, hopefully I'm not jinxing anything by saying that Spring is finally here, the cold(er) temps are behind us, and it's time to turn my tastes from heavy warming to cool refreshing. I have just about extinguished the last of my "late winter/early spring" supply, and am eager to head out and load up for the next few months. Aside from the delicious Oberon, which is something I very much am looking forward too, any new Spring brews floating around that require my attention?

I would just like to be the first to mention how I love the "T-shirt" reference in your sig. Since that episode, my nice lady friend and I must've said that phrase a hundred times. Amazing how much we hear everyday that would make a great t-shirt. Okay, carry on. Sorry for the interruption.

May have mentioned the Red Bock at some point in the life of this thread, mainly 'cause I also liked it when I first tried it (quick search shows April of last year). Actually took a Berghoff mixed 12-pack on the trip to the future in-laws (yes, as a butter-up-the-future-father-in-law gift) couple weekends ago. As I mixed in some of New Glarus stuff, meant that I had some Berghoff for my own enjoyment at home. And Wednesday night, it was a Red Bock that I had. Yummy stuff. And coolness on finding a place with the Dark on tap. The only other one I know who has it is The Joynt in Eau Claire. Last night I had their "Prairie Lager" (formerly "Original Lager"?-what's with their name changes anyway?), and even that was better than average. Tried that Ommegang at Hops & Props. Agreed, it's spectacular. One of the best I tried all night. And don't worry about the tone or language. I use "aroma" and "yummy" and consider them to be fancy descriptions.

Couple days ago I finally had a chance to sit down and really take in the Black Wheat. Although I had tried it at Hops & Props (just a sip, doesn't really count), and also had some two weekends back (also doesn't count, as I was at the future in-laws and was, well, getting blasted), this was the first time with everything set for a trial. Anyway, it was good, but disappointing. I compare it to Crack'd Wheat in that the "other" stuff added to the wheat just dominates too much. The Crack'd's hops profile diminishes as it warms, and I can get my beloved banana/clove/wheat goodness, but only just barely. Same with the Black. I've mentioned how I'm not a huge fan of hoppy brews (though I've learned to accept lower bite versions), but I've grown to enjoy, to an extent, darker brews, particularily the "sweeter, buttered bread" darks. But in the case with the Black, the coffee/chocolate so dominates that I have a very difficult time finding my wheat. Wheat's are certainly a difficult bird to deal with when adding foreign flavors, so delicate. Very, very easy to ruin. Of all the wheat beer tries (American, hefe, etc) I've now had the best are just left to themselves. For what it's worth, another yea on the Blueberry Stout, and a big yea on Capital's Maibock, my favorite of that style. Coincidentally, I also had my first Rogue, their Dead Man's Ale, which is their Maibock. Good, but I think the Capital was better. Best beer I've had in the past few weeks is Delirium Tremens. Although listed as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, the hops were nearly non existent. Very sweet and delicious. Also gets points for having not only pink elephants but also alligators on the bottle.

Having now gone twice, the biggest thing that my nice lady friend and I will change (assuming we go next year), is to head for the back of building as soon as we walk in the door. This year, as we entered, the front part was absolutely packed. It seemed like everybody was moving in one gigantic mob towards the back. We never really found any room to breath, if that makes sense. Who knows who they'll have next year, but since they had New Glarus last year and Bell's this year right at the front, first breweries out of the chute, it may be difficult to just pass them by and move on (the first three breweries this year, in fact, where Bell's, Breckenridge, and Coors/Pabst, who had the classic Schlitz available on tap...couldn't pass any of those). But, we'll see. Still fun, and logan, if I run into you next year, you can have some of my crackers, or pretzels, or whatever I may be hiding in a pocket or wearing around my neck. Thanks for the info, tristarscoop. I've been keeping an eye on N.G.'s schedule (danced a little jig when I saw that Stone Soup was a regular yearly), still shows May for DaMan, but April would be just that much better. I still have 14 bottles of DaMan from last year. Had one for my birthday on Sunday, still tasted yummy delicious. Guess I'll have to clear some space in the cellar a bit earlier this year.

From what you mentioned, logan, I'm guessing you had access to the internationals, yes? Didn't do it this year. I agree completely on your analysis of the event (outside of the beer). The lack of wheat's is my biggest complaint, hence my summer idea. I'm doubting I'm the first, or last, to want a show when the temperature is warmer. Keep an eye out for the New Glarus Black Wheat. As you seem to enjoy dark's and wheat's it may be right up your alley. Also like to mention that the Stone Soup that was at the show was even better than the bottles I've enjoyed. Almost seemed fresher, or even just tapped. There's also the "18th Annual N.E.W. Beer Festival" in Appleton at The Wave Bar and Grill on April 5th. Here's some infos.

Well, attended Hops and Props on Saturday, and while I (eagerly) await Logan's comments and such, thought I'd offer mine. First, there were approxiamately 50 or so booths (includes a no-show, a wine booth, a gourmet sodas booth, an Oshkosh homebrewers booth, a mike's Hard Lemonade booth, and a couple bar/restaurant booths). Also, there were 12 booths on hand that featured beer's I'd already tried, so I skipped them. There were also 11 brweries that I didn't try any offerings from, so that should equal 25 beers tried. Here's a rundown: Bell's Kalamazoo Stout (ok); Special Double Cream Stout (good) Blucreek Brewing AltBier (good) Breckenridge's Pandora's Bock (ok) Buffalo Water Beer Co. Bison Blonde (ok) Capital (already tried available beers) Central Waters Brewing Co. Honey Blonde (good) Dark Horse Brewing Co. Blueberry Stout (good) Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (tried none) Esser's Cross Plains (tried none) Fauerbach Brewing Co. (tried none) Flying Dog Brewery (already tried available) The Fort Collins Brewery (already tried available) Founders Brewery Co. (tried none) Fox River Brewing Co. Blackberry Wit (terrible, "worst in show") Goose Island (wanted Matilda, missed) Grand Teton Brew. Co. (tried none) Green Bay Rackers (tried none) Hook and Ladder Brew. Co. (tried none) Keweenaw Brew. Co. Red Jacket Amber (ok) Lagunitas Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Lakefront Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Leinenkugels Classic Amber (ok) Lost Coast Brew. Downtown Brown (ok) Margaritaville Brew. Co. (Land shark Lager) (already tried) Michelob Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Milwaukee Ale House (missed them, tried none) Moylan's Brewery Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale (Excellent) New Glarus Black Wheat (good, too warm) New Holland Brew. Co. (tried none) Brewery Ommegang Witte Ale (great); Abbey Ale (excellent) O'So Brewing Doppel (ok); Black Scotch (great) Pabst/Coors Classic Schlitz (ok) Pyramid Brewery (already tried avail.) Redhook Ale Brewery (already tried avail.) Rogue Brewery Dead Guy Ale (good); American Amber (poor) Sand Creek Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Sierra Nevada Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Silver Creek Brew. Co. COUND'T FIND THEM, NO SHOW? Missed their root beer Sprecher Brew. Co. Inc. Black Bavarian (good) Steamworks Brew. Co. (tried none) Stevens Point Brewery American Brown (poor) Summit Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Titletown Brew. Co. (tried none) Two Brothers Brew. Co. Cane and Ebel (ok) Upland Brew. Co. (already tried avail.) Viking Brew. Co. Invader (great) Warbird Brewing Thunderbolt Wheat (good) Water Street Brewery (already tried avail.) Weyerbacher Brew. Co. Merry Monks (Excellent, "best in show") Random thoughts: Great to see O'so Brewing there. I distinctly remember buying their "Big O" almost a year ago from my nice liquor lady, shortly after they hit the market...they make a number of very good brews; Apparently Silver Creek Brew. Co. from Cedarburg, makers of a spectacular root beer, was a no show, bit of a downer (moreso for my nice lady friend); there were a number of breweries I'd never heard of, which was cool; I'd hoped by some miracle that The Dane and Shipwrecked would be present, but no; food was okay, nothing spectacular...one of the things that bugs me is that the idea behind this is beer tasting, yet they serve food which has very distinct and pallette ruining tastes...mexican and barbeque just two of them...I realize that food taste is important, but they could've offered more "bland" foods, but I'm almost certainly in the minority on this one; just like last year, way too many youngsters there just to get drunk (my biggest complaint)...I'm such a party pooper; good music from several "small" bands; finally got to try the "Classic Schlitz"...not too bad, very easy drinking; just like last year, there weren't nearly enough "water booths" to rinse glasses and cleanse pallette; bathrooms were and adventure...long lines for the men's facilities at two locations (guess that was bound to happen what with the size of the facilities); still big believer that they should have one of these events in the summer, as there were prcious few wheat's/summer brews available; very happy to see that New Glarus had there Black Wheat available, albeit hidden...no signage announcing that had it there...just ahppened to see an open bottle of it off to the side of their table...when I asked the gentleman for a taste, he looked at me like I asked him for his wallet...then he said "Sneak peak, not even available yet"...but he still looked like he was maybe holding it for someone else...it was good, strong chocolate and coffee characters...but it was warmer than room temperature, and I prefer my wheat's colder...still looking forward ot it's release...the real winners of the night were the Tripel's...several very good one's, including Ommegang's Abbey Ale, and the best beer I had all night, Weyerbacher Brewing's Merry Monks; lot's of booths ran out of beer after only about and hour and a half; Breckenridge has a wheat (Hefe Proper) which they didn't have available but advertised...folks serving told me they'd never seen it in this area...anybody?; Leinie's Classic Amber is exactly like the rest of their "library", easy to drink, but "dumbed" down for the masses; not sure Ommengang makes a bad beer, amazing stuff; happy to finally try a Rogue brew or two; A few other comments: I wrestled for several weeks how it was that I would be able to carry around a zip bag of saltines. Eventually, I just ended up wearing a dress shirt and keeping one bag in my breast pocket, then, after some begging, my nice lady friend kept another in her purse. But while shuffling around, I saw 4 people with necklaces of yarn which carried pretzels. I almost messed myself when I saw them. What a great idea, and how stupid am I for not thinking of that?!? I'll have to steal that idea for next year. Also, during one of my escapades to a men's room, the gentleman next to me set his beer on the "urinal shelf" while using the stall. Not 5 seconds later, the chrome plumbing that he had place d his glass under, dripped right into his glass. Yikes. He was just a tad unhappy, and I'm pretty sure any of us in there at the time let him have it each time we saw him on the floor. And, yes, he did continue to use the glass. If'n I think of anything else, I'll add...

So, the new old Schlitz finally hits the Fox Valley this week. I had been told by a number of sales folks that it had been out already for some time. Never had the oomph to buy a 12 pack, and guess my hunch was right. S'much as I like bars and beer, I really don't have the urge to go out to try one beer. And during the week isn't the best time to go out keggling, at least not for me. Oh, well. Guess I'll wait a little longer.

'Nother vote here for Mario Kart. Just before X-Mas, found it packaged with the steering wheel, then we also bought a "pack" of generic Wii tools (steering wheel, tennis rackets, etc), all for the wee little one. She and my nice lady friend are obsessed with it. The second game I bought, right after Sports, was Mario Galaxy, which is tons of fun. Long, and not nearly as challenging as Mario N64 was, but it's fun enough.

Managed a sixer of both the Crack'd and the Stone from Festival yesterday (made the liquor lady climb a ladder to get it down from the top shelf of the cooler-she said the distributor had stacked them up and not put any on the shelf as they were trying to unload some of the other N.G. stuff first). I tried both, although not in my usual trying fashion. The Crack'd was what it (and Logan) had said, although the hops do calm down quite a bit as it warms. Not bad, just nothing overly special. Let's say interesting. The Stone on the other hand, which I knew nothing about, tasted like a really, really, good tripel. It mentions Abbey on the label, but BA has it marked as a Belgian Pale. Very good, like it alot. I'm proally gonna crack another of those this evening. EDIT: Upon further review, the biggest difference between the Stone and a tripel is the wine characteristics are dialed way down in this...which is fine by me. And the hop characteristics are very low for a pale. I've had two other of this style (O'so's Belgian Pale Ale and Furthermore's Fatty Boombalatty), but this one is far better. Very, very easy to drink, and quite crisp and refreshing. Unfortunately, I've now decanted the two bottles of Stone incorrectly, as you're to leave the sediment in the bottle. Just a natural motion for me to want to get all the good stuff in the glass. Have to remember that one.

Had a few new ones myself the last couple weeks, several of which weren't bad at all, and the rest were, well, not so good. It would figure, however, that the best came from three of my favorite breweries: New Glaris Coffee Stout, Capital's Munich Dark. and Sprecher's Abbey Triple. Up until a few months ago, I wasn't a huge fan of the darker beers. The coffee, and more so the chocolate flavorings turned me off. But I've grown to like the coffee's enough, even if the chocolate's are still not a favorite. NG's Coffee Stout was about perfect for me for the style where the coffee flavors, though dominate, aren't so ridiculously over the top that I couldn't find anything else. In this case, the nuttiness and sweetness were still more than apparent. Very good beer. Capital's Munich Dark features more or less the same characteristics, only in different doses. The coffee flavor was lower, and the sweetness higher. I have a feeling this is a weak effort in terms of the style, but I liked it enough. Strangely, it tasted better colder than when it warmed. Finally, the much maligned Sprecher Abbey. If you check at BA, you'll find reviews all over the place. From what I gather, however, the "newer" version of this beer is apparently much different than the old, which was, at best, poor. The bottle I had had fairly mild aromas, but the sweetness, and particularly the orange/fruitiness were very well balanced, but both higher than in my previous favorite La Fin Du Monde. I have a feeling the higher sweetness scares the purists, but I found it delicious. Last night I had my first "positive" Redhook experience with their Copper Ale, which is about the limit to which I can really enjoy a pale ale. Hops, obviously, much lower than any other pale I've tried, which was nice for me, as it allowed the sweetness to poke through. Good for me, bad for pale lovers. Oh, and I still haven't found the Cracked Wheat, after visiting 6 establishments. My last stop was the nice liquor lady, who promptly called her distributor, ordered it, and said she'd have it by Wednesday. I like her alot, honestly, but I have a hard time going there because she's limited by size. She just doesn't have the space for a "large" variety. Thusly, she doesn't have that many beers available in the "build" option. Plus, she's a bit more expensive than the others. Until I win the lottery, Festival will always be my first stop. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif

Thanks for the update on the Cracked, logan. I hadn't been able to find it, but now that you mention it as being similar to the Imperial, I'm gonna hold out for a single bottle. The Imperial was disappointing. This morning, my nice lady friend and I trekked over to Stevens Point, a planned excursion to Jung's Garden Center to buy this year's vegetable seed supply (totaled $91, and I've still not gotten all I wanted and haven't bought any "other" gardening supplies), and also to Point Brewery for the first time. I knew going in that Point would be considerably smaller than say Miller and Leinie's, but you really can't imagine how small until you're there. Amazing that they make that much and put out that much in such a small factory. But very interesting (didn't know they brewed all of James Page's beers there, or that they bottle Capital beers there for distribution), as all brewery tours are, although our tour guide was a "part time" Point employee who only works on Friday and Saturday, and is going to school. My lady friend and I both believe he may not have been old enough to actual enjoy the beer he was telling us about. He got some facts wrong, but no biggy, it was still fun and another tour I can cross off my list (leaving Capital, Berghoff/Huber, and New Glarus as the "Big Three" remaining). They had some nice deals in their giftshop, namely 6 pint glasses featuring their "Point Special" logos through the years. All six for just $9.99. Sweet. Also picked up a nifty Point pilsner/wheat glass, and a t-shirt. I was not, however, allowed to purchase a ring bottle opener. Funny, cheap little thing, but the lady friend wouldn't be seen in public with me if I wore it. Party pooper. Finished off the evening with all-you-can-eat fish fry and scottish ale at the Stone Cellar brew pub in Appleton. Now that...was a good day. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif BTW- I finally had that Bell's Lager I mentioned earlier, and sadly, it may be the first Bell's I've had that I really can't recommend.

I've had a couple English Brown's in the past few days, Big Sky's Moose Drool, and Abita's Turbodog. I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of this style, and though neither of these are the best in the category, they are solid and very easy to drink. My nice lady friend really dug the Turbodog. Hopefully that means she'll buy some once in a while. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Yeah, good call on the Oberon Ale. Very, very good. Their White Winter is pretty good, and I have a bottle of their Lager in the fridge now, will crack it soon.

Thought it was very good, albeit not as good as U2 many years ago. And that avatars is coolness. Funniest thing I saw all night, including the commercials.