The DuClaw and Antijenic Drift.

Man, horrid title misspellings right after National Grammar Day? What is the world coming to?

Of course, I didn’t misspell anything in my post’s title. Not one word. Honest.

“The DuClaw” being, of course, the brewery in Maryland, not the seemingly unimportant part of a dog’s paw (dewclaw), and “Antijenic Drift” being my very dear friend Jen, not a discussion of the arms race between our immune systems and pathogens.

Beer and friends. My life could be a lot worse.

You guys may recall a post from about two weeks ago concerning the possibility that I might not make it to DuClaw while in Baltimore. After writing that, I realized I genuinely wanted to make a point to visit the brewery and try the Bad Moon Porter again.… Continue reading →

I just spent $40 on bad beer. Intentionally.

And I’d thought it was going to cost me on the order of $100.

Okay, technically, I spent that $40 on a class about bad beer, thus so it’s really on the expertise to learn how to recognize specific “off” flavors.

I’m really looking forward to this. Tasting beer is absolutely one of my favorite things, which is why I genuinely love the bars and taprooms that offer 4 oz pours of all their beers. I get to try many different beers without getting hammered to do so. (Confession: I kind of hate being drunk.)

This was something of an impulse buy. I’d heard about a few seminars like this popping up around Chicago, but typically I’d hear about them after the fact or while I was already booked.… Continue reading →