Bombs Away!

Road trip. My brother Dave lives close to one of our vendors, and I was headed down to attend a two day meeting. It gave me an opportunity to stop by and spend the night and use turbo tax to help him with his taxes. I like visiting, I always get some Warcraft tips, and Dave had promised me a special treat. So I got out of my meeting earlier then he got out of work, so I made good use of my time stopping by some favorite spots.

I first headed to My Place (http://www.myplacepizza.com/home.htm) in Newton, a nice pizza place that offered a decent beer selection in Mark's Red Sox friendly taproom. I tried a local beer, Cavalry Hatch Plug, an English bitter that truly hit the spot after a long day in a hot conference room. It went down so easily, I needed another beer to savor. My second was a Harpoon Leviathan Quad, a deliciously strong Belgian ale. This beer needs to sipped, not slammed. Next I headed over to the Cork and Keg to check out their bottle selection. They used to have a great selection, and had recently added a walk in beer cooler. However, I was disappointed to find that the available selection had gone downhill. Still, I did fine several bottled versions from Cavalry, as well as a bottle of New England Wet Willy Scotch ale.

I got to Dave’s and dove into his taxes. To be honest, I did take a bit of sadistic pleasure in watching their reactions to Turbo Tax. Big refund with his info, need to pay after his wife’s info, smaller refund with the tax deductions. They ended up getting money back, so to celebrate we headed over to Eli Cannon’s Tap Room (http://www.elicannons.com/). The place has great food and a great beer selection. We split an order of nachos (I know, not on my diet) and I got the Cargo Philly cheesesteak, soaked in Jamaican Jerk spice, pepper jack cheese, and covered in jalapenos. Ouch! I needed some liquid quenching and tried two of their own beers from Magic Hat: their Sweet Sixteen Ale (I assume to celebrate their 16th anniversary) and their Snowshoe Lager. It’s a great bar, but it is 45 minutes from Dave’s and we needed to get back.

Dave had a special gift to split with me, and he knew what I liked. He found a bottle of Brewdog’s Sink the Bismarck (http://www.brewdog.com/sink_the_bismark) , an extreme IPA that weighs in at 41% ABV. Wow! We got out our sipping glasses and gave it a try. Was it good? Not quite. The alcohol was overpowering and burned my already burned palate. However, it is the strongest beer in the world that I will ever try (Brewdog only made 8 bottles of their End of the World beer that was >50% ABV). And I was certainly glad to be able to share the experience with my brother. – 5740/10370

"There can’t be good living where there is not good drinking." - Benjamin Franklin