The Kansas City Chiefs!

     The Kansas City Chiefs just became the second team in history to lose the first three games of the season and then win the next four. With a few more home games coming up, things are looking good. I have not been a fan of Todd Haley since day one, but if somehow he can keep this up, all will be forgiven. Sadly though, I have seen this before, it always seems to come crashing down the second a Kansas City sports team does well enough to give us fans a shimmer of hope. Furthermore, with the exception of the Raiders game, the wins were not pretty, but 5 field goals or 10 touchdowns a win is a win and tonight's was fantastic! Also, speaking of the Raiders, I am particularly sad to see Al Davis go, the circus he created in Oakland was always a source of humor and comfort, in that, no matter how bad the Chiefs were, we were still not as big a joke as the Raiders organization.
      While I am off on a major tangent, I might as well as share a link about Kansas City. Kansas City is the home to Boulevard Brewery and the Weston Brewing Company, as well as several good brewpubs and other breweries nearby such as Free State in Lawrence Kansas. If you are reading this from outside of Missouri and have not tried Boulevard, their Smokestack series beers are generally a safe bet, the Collaboration Number 2 (White IPA, collaboration with Deschutes, may be hard to find now), Saison Brett and Bourbon Barrel Quad  are some of the most prominent brews. Kansas City is a fantastic city and the only city in America to make Top Destinations 2012 at Frommer's. The article is interesting, but still barely scratches the surface of Kansas City's charm.

Happy Halloween

     Have a great holiday, whether you are drinking La Parcella or Steel Reserve! I think I will go with the New Belgium Kick when I get off of work....But J. K. Scrumpy keeps calling.... As far as costumes go, my work schedule is responsible for me "phoning it in" this year, so I purchased a goofy Santa Beard/Glasses combo and covered the beard in grenadine to make it look like Santa has been eating some pretty disturbing things, or earning his "red wings".... Another inappropriate Halloween costume idea that some individual may be interested is a pregnant woman, with a sack filled with red jello or something and a baby doll that can be opened up to splatter all over the floor. I think it would be a very classy costume. Anyway, I hope your Halloween was good and just wanted to leave you with that mental image in your head....

St. Peter's Brewery = Garbage (or should I say rubbish?)

     I will make this short and sweet.  The real St. Peter must be rolling in his grave. Even the bottles look like they contain cheap swill, which in this case is very accurate advertising. Still, that same statement can cover most British beers that come to America. With that said, I do respect the history of the British brewing industry, beerhouses, pubs and the styles that originated in the UK and have had some good British beers, but we must face it, the days of the Empire are gone and so are her beers.

J. K. Scrumpy's Solstice and Ace Pumpkin Cider (Review)

     I have waited all year for the return of  J. K. Scrumpy's Solstice Cider. J. K. Scrumpy's is simply pure cider deliciousness. This cider is sweet and rough, in a good way, with a slight maple syrup finish. Very crisp apples with a perfect blend of vanilla and cinnamon. It tastes like applesauce. It is also organic. Get it while you can. This cider should be available at most places in town that carry a large number of craft beers such as the Brown Derby International Wine Center, Hy Vee and some of the larger Brown Derby stores.
     The Ace Pumpkin Cider was also very interesting. I liked it, unlike the Woodchuck Pumpkin Cider, the Ace retained its cider-like qualities. In fact at the end of the day it was a cider. I still tasted a little bit of sourness (for lack of a better word to describe it) from the pumpkin. I do not think I would want to drink a whole lot of it, but it was good and worth trying out if you are feeling adventurous or disappointed that most of the pumpkin beers have disappeared for the year.

Pandemic (Board Game Review)

     As url of this page mentions board games, I suppose, I should chime in on those as well. Like any American kid, I grew up on Life, Monopoly, Sorry and Risk. All of those games have their merits, but there is another genre of board games that is quickly taking over the American market, the "European Style Board Game". While in graduate school I was introduced to the Settlers of Catan and my world changed. My roommates and I permanently set up Settlers of Catan with the Seafarers expansion on our front porch. This provided a perfect atmosphere for porch drinking and board gaming. We were fortunate those cardboard pieces were fairly sturdy, as that set up survived a Shih Tzu attack, several severe thunderstorms and countless spilled beers!
     Since the Catan days, my friends and I have purchased and played many other "European Style Board Games". This is where Pandemic fits into the spectrum. Pandemic is a game in which the world is afflicted by several civilization destroying viruses and the human players act as different specialists, working as a team to save the world. While it was not the first team based game I have played (that honor goes to Arkham Horror, which I will write about someday), it was interesting and refreshing to not be in direct competition with the other players. When my friends and I played, we won on the first try. We may have been doing something wrong, gotten lucky or just be geniuses (ok, ok, so we can safely throw out the last possible explanation) either way it was still a lot of fun, after all who does not like saving the world? (Jersey shore people and Jared from Subway are two possibilities...) Of course, there are ways to make the game considerably more difficult and expansions are available, one particularly interesting expansion adds a human player that acts as a terrorist. If you have an hour or so and $40 I would certainly recommend the game, it is not my favorite but does add some variety to your board game library.

If you are curious about what exactly constitutes a "European Style Board Game" this article may help explain the difference. http://gamesandprejudice.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/european-vs-american-style-board-games/

I am also very much waiting for someone to create a CharDee McDennis game!

Schlafly Pumpkin Bomb Recipe

I know it is getting late in the season for pumpkin beers. I also believe that is ridiculous as it is not even Halloween yet! Nevertheless, if you can find a good pumpkin spice beer such as Schlafly Pumpkin, some Buttershots and some Fulton's Pumpkin Pie Liquor, you are in for a treat. A coworker of mine, Elonzo, created his own version of the Pumpkin Pie bomb and it is very tasty. It is essentially a weaker, holiday themed version of the Irish Car Bomb. Start with a half a glass or so of Schlafly Pumpkin, pour in a shot of Buttershots and then drop in a shot of the Fulton's Pumpkin Pie Liquor and chug before the mixture curdles. I also think that perhaps a half a shot of Hot Damn or another cinnamon liquor will add a little kick. This is not an overwhelmingly alcoholic drink, However, anything one consumes in "bomb form" usually equates to a bad idea or a good time, usually both.... I know in Springfield, the Schlafly Pumpkin is still available at Hy Vee and I have heard the Fulton's is still available at Price Cutter. All of the individual components should cost around $10 a piece. While it is not the cheapest drink to mix, it will go a long way and the liquor can be stretched pretty far, I ran out of Schlafly Pumpkin long before anything else.

Bananatana (Review)

I just wanted to quickly review an interesting beer I had a few days ago. Bananatana is the ultimate in banana beer. That is simply the easiest way to describe it. This ale was created by De 3 Horne Bierbrouweij in the Netherlands with bananas and plantains. Like the name and description imply that is exactly what this beer is. This beer is a very thick and cloudy brown, in which banana is the only flavor I picked out of it. And it is banana-y. This brewery somehow managed to liquify some bananas and ferment the mush. It is sweet and kind of funky looking, but interesting and worth a try if you are bored. It is around 5% abv. Beer Advocate gives it a C+, I think this rating is unfair as several non-banana fans have lowered the ranking by giving it an F. I think it is at least a B-. It retails for around $9.99 at the Brown Derby International Wine Center, in Springfield, MO.

Michael Jackson's Rare Beer Club

I am a pretty big beer nerd. (hence the title of this blog) For my first official post, I want to talk about Michael Jackson's (the deceased beer/scotch aficionado, not the singer) Rare Beer Club. I joined this club about a month ago, with the hopes, of acquiring some rare beers that are not available in Missouri. So far, I can not say enough good things about this company. I received my first shipment a few days ago. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Instead of this month's featured beers, the RBC sent me a Stateside Saison and a Saison de Cazeau. Do not get me wrong, both of these saisons are hard to find and delicious (B+ on Beer Advocate). However, I can purchase them both here in Missouri. I was expecting to receive a Four Calling Birds from The Bruery and Lupulo de Hielo from Jolly Pumpkin. I then expressed my discontent with the shipment to the company. Within hours, a customer service representative replied and explained that on the very first shipment, they send the customer selections from previous months that they may have extras of. He then informed me that, since I expected different beers and was not satisfied, the club would send me the correct selections free of charge! Aside from the excellent customer service, this beer club is the real deal. The beers they offer are very rare and always come from highly rated producers such as Cigar City, De Ranke and so on. At just over 40 dollars a month, including shipping for 750ml bottles of world class beer this club is a pretty good deal. For example, October's selections would both cost $16 to $20 a piece retail. They also have opt out options and craft/import six pack programs. So, far I am very excited about this club! http://www.beermonthclub.com/the-rare-beer-club.htm


---Update--- 10/28/2011
I received the Lupulo de Hielo and Four Calling Birds today, which reaffirms my previous statement about the company's excellent customer service.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I do not really know what I am doing but this seems like fun. So here goes, this blog will primarily be about beer and board games and other nerdy things. However, it will often be off topic, filled with bad grammar and moderately offensive. So, enjoy....or don't....