Betraying the Team

I have been unmotivated to finish the tour this year. I have been going to the Lincoln Park Pub and the Tremont Tap House. I think it is because I don't see the other members of the team on a regular basis. I also think the completely ridiculous winter has stopped me from driving any distance over 3 miles.

I think it is time to step up the effort sand start going to the Winking Lizard downtown and ticking off a few beers from my list.

World Tour . . Japanese Style

On the World Tour of Beer, participants drink beverages from all over the globe. I have talked about some of the fine brews we have had from the Czech Republic, from Trappist Monks in Belgium and from spots as exotic as Sri Lanka.

One of the countries that was not represented in this year's tour was Japan. When I was working at the Swage, we often hosted associates from Japan. Although there was a language barrier, we often found common ground in the fact that they love beer and we love beer.

I have to admit, the Japanese are not the only people in Asia who like to drink. Our friends in China and South Korea like to participate in their fair share of a good time. If you ever want to inquire, Hollow Leg and the Cruise Director have very incriminating photographs to back up my claims.

Partaking of some great Japanese beers like Ashi, Sapporo or Kirin can get you into a party mood and a little hung over. It made me wonder about the cultural experience of the Japanese. As we know, Americans like to drink. When we drink too much, most of us get hungover . . . with the exception of Hollow Leg.

I went exploring this topic on the Internet. I found a great blog entry about How the Japanese cure a hangover. Even better was the detailed explanation about the Japanese culture of the two-day and three-day drinking session.

I think they have the Americans beat here. There are actual words for two-day drunk and three-day drunk in their language. We just call it a lost weekend.

With a series of hangover remedies listed in the posting, the author rightly poses the question - what do YOU do to prevent a hangover?

My answer - have a Bailey's and coffee or just start praying for lunch hour to go sleep it off. Not that I EVER had to do that.

Five Great Beer Sites

So I am taking a page from other bloggers and my cohort, Hollow Leg. Hollow Leg regularly sends his numbered list of reasons to do something.

Here is an example of his list

Hey, all you ____s! I have some questions for y'all!

1. What are we doing this week??? I'll tell you what we're doing, we're finding a day to go to WL. Tomorrow?
2. What do you think would have the faster terminal velocity if dropped from an airplane, a pumpkin or a box turtle?
3. Did Anelyn get a haircut?
4. Would you rather have a wedgie for a full year or jam a toothpick under your entire thumbnail?
5. Who's taller - Entertainment Director or an average male ostrich?

In his honor, I decided to track down some of my favorite beer websites.

1. www.mickeys.com

Not only does this website harken back to my college days, but it has some amazing content on it. Besides, you got to love the stinger and the big mouth bottles

2. www.beerhunter.com

Michael Jackson became a beer expert before anyone else I know. He has elevated the idea of drinking beer and understanding it to an art form.

3. www.ratebeer.com

If you need to find some information on a beer, this is the spot. I often refer to their compendium of beer information to get ABVs and brewery information. Careful, it can be an addictive site.

4. www.thirstytraveler.tv

Ok. He doesn't just talk about beer, but it is a often the subject. You have to love a guy who travels around the world to drink beer, taste the local cuisine and experience the culture. Can you say Dream Job?

5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer

I reference this website a lot. There is a ton of information about beer styles and beer. Even better, the wikipedia exists in several languages.

Cheers

New Winking Lizard . . Same Good Beer

As I mentioned in a previous post, original Winking Lizard closed its doors. Fortunately, it opened a new place literally next door. I have to admit, before I went there, I was hesitant. there were so many good times at the old place. I didn't know if it would be the same.

Low and behold, the new place is great. The layout is much better. The patio looks fabulous. Even more importantly, the good times were still there. I met up with Hollow Leg and friends for a few beers.

We fell immediately back into our usual habits with all of the same great beers on tap. It made me realize something: it is not about the place, it is about the people. It is about the beer.

Speaking of being about the beer, Great Lakes unveiled it Christmas Ale last Friday. I have to say, buyer beware. This ale is a potent one. At 7.5% abv, one pint is enough. If you are feeling crazy, maybe two for the entire evening.

On this particular night, I went with one and a quarter, then downshifted to Shiner Bock from our good friends in Shiner, TX. Anything that 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will drink is good enough for me!

Cheers until next time.

One last Wink at The Original Lizard

So today is the day for me. It is my last trip the original Winking Lizard. Yes, it is true, the original joint is doing a last call celebration to send the fine lady out in style. They have been serving up the love since 1983.

Granted, they will be just moving next door. It is not like the current space is that spectacular. It just seems like all other things, everything is moving, changing, getting an upgrade. I work in the Internet industry. Working with my clients is like being on perpetual upgrade.

I just think back to all the good times. I think about getting my pirate from Sandbox, hanging out with the Cheerleader and her husband Bill.

I think about the birthday shot (a blow job) that I had to do the first time I went there with co-workers. Nice, eh? I drank it on the sly when no one was looking. How embarrassing!

Watching OSU play in the NCAA basketball tournament. Sitting with AneLyne and Hollow Leg and drinking so many beers I had to be driven home. Just because a girl sets off the fire alarm because she uses the back door 5 minutes after it is armed doesn't mean she is an idiot. How stupid is a place that lets you use a door until 5pm?

On second thought, maybe this new place will be better. At any rate, we are going to celebrate and remember.

I will leave you with the words of the Beatles

There are places I remember all my life,
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain.

Is 32 ounces better than a quality 12?

Ok, so the team has a meeting last Thursday. I managed to arrange a covert meeting so I was able to join them. Actually, I had business with Hollow Leg, but he was out buying school supplies, so it had to be postponed until this week.

At any rate, we were at the Winking Lizard, shocking I know, having a few beers and taking advantage of the burger night. I managed to order the baked potato instead of the fries, so that just tells you things were off to a strange start.

Normally, I really peruse the beer menu and think about what I am in the mood to drink. Somehow, magically, I noticed the beer specials section of the menu. It must have been a lie because a 32 oz. Labatt was only $4.

It true that I can be as much of a beer snob as the next person, but you can't disregard a value. I am a bigger sucker for a good deal. Apparently, Sandbox (code name) thought so as well because she ordered one, too.

Maybe it was just that we were both kind of having a hard day. Maybe it is that we would have had to ordered three Traquair House Scotch ales to get the same volume of alcohol. Well, Sandbox would have had Old Peculiar (which is a fav of mine as well.)

It got me thinking, was it really a better value? Labatt was the clear winner in the volume category. However, what about ABV (alcohol by volume). Let's take a look - each of the beers are given a ABV for a 12 oz serving. (all ABVs were obtained from RateBeer to assure parity of measurement.)


Labatt Blue Lager 5.0%
Old Peculiar 5.7%
Traquair House 7.2%

Ok - based on these figures. Labatt is holding Old Peculiar hostage in the value department. So it got a little more complex with Traquair. Here is the dinger. Traquair is a hefty $7/bottle. Even if I only needed to drink 2 of them to get the comparative ABV, you are still looking at $14.

The way I see it, drinking Labatt paid for my burger and the tip. You just have to love those Canadians.

Ending Prohibition

The focus of this blog has been around the team outings that are part of the Winking Lizard World Tour of Beer.

I think it might be a combination of the wicked rain storms, and the craziness of summer. It just seems like I haven't met with the team very much lately. I think it is also because I have been trying to cut down on the carbohydrates.

So, I have been unfaithful. I have been hanging out with my new work associates. You know how it is when you start a new job. You have to make friends, you have to go back to the old school ways of drinking Miller Lite.

Part of it is that Cleveland starts to shut down in the rain and the highways are crazy. The other part of it is this: I have been dating. The days of dating prohibition are over for me.

It is a weird thing to say, but it is true. Now there are two sides to this story. Side one - the uncomfortable madness of meeting new people. Side two - getting to have lots of groovy drinks and being exposed to groovy stuff.

Let me start with my latest - the Great Lakes Prohibition Pilsner. I have to mention that I did go for it because of the low alcohol content. I do have to say, I was disappointed. Here is the irony, I met with someone and I had the same kind of experience.

I needed to switch back to an old favorite - the Burning River IPA. Here is the quandary and why life and beer drinking are so similar. When you go out, do you stick with the drink that you have had before. You know you enjoy it. It is available in a lot of places and other people enjoy it. However, there is always the burning desire to try new things, to check some other things out. Maybe they will be better. Maybe it will be more engaging.

In this case, it would have been better to start with the Burning River - at least it isn't the same old Miller Lite.

A Picture is worth a 100 beers

OK. I have always found a strange intersection between events in my life. Sometimes it is more than two things, that those would be intersections among things.

However, I have been diligently logging my experiences on the WLWTOB. One of the beers that we enjoyed was from the Czech Republic. It was call Staropramen. It is pronounced STAR - O - PRAY - MEN. As we made our way around the tour, we had a couple of verbal mishaps. The crack staff at WL was very happy to help us with learn the correct pronunciations.

As you might know, Hollow Leg always managed to add a Fraternity House level of humor to several situations and outings. For this beer, he coined it as Straponman pronounced STRAP - ON - MAN. Not quite correct, but it made it very memorable.

This name was not an isolated incident. On another occasion, Hollow Leg was drinking Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Company. Stone is located in Escondido, CA. The evening we realized this, he called pronounced it - ESCON - DIL - DOUGH. Close, but no cigar (no pun intended Monica Lewinsky).

Irony took a hand here. Hollow Leg happened to be going to San Diego - just down the street - on a vacation the next day. He called me to let me know he was in ESCON - DIL - DOUGH.

So that brings me back to Staropramen. I am checking through my e-mail and a friend of mine - completely unrelated to the beer tour - is in Prague. I asked him to send me a few pictures. Being the beer lover that I am, he sends me the following.















Unreal. I can't believe all of the beers. Of all the silly things.

It just makes me think about all of the intersections in life. It makes me think that a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but definitely makes the 100 beers well worth the journey.

Cheers or as they say in Prague - Na zdraví (to your health)

The Century

One of the definitions of a century is any group or collection of 100. Well, I have completed the Winking Lizard Century.

When I started this endeavor in late January with Anne Lyn, I thought it would be well into the autumn before this journey was completed. I tried to envision 2 beers every week for 50 weeks. If you look at it like that, how hard would it be to get through the 100 beers?

It was never hard getting through the beers. I was even lucky enough to sneak a Guinness in as final substitute.

What was hard was getting up the next morning. What was hard is getting a cab to drive you back to the Winking Lizard because you had too many Belgian beers the day before and Mr. Hollow Leg had to drive you home.

In hind site, I am thankful for the lift and that clearer heads prevailed. It probably is not the best idea to let someone who sets off the fire alarm and just shrugs about it drive home in rush hour.

I will have to say the Hollow Leg (HL) made a valiant effort to finish before me - even getting a six pack in mid-season to narrow the gap. In the end, I had prevailed. Although HL won't admit to it, I think he did the gentlemanly thing by letting me finish first. He finished the next day before our first annual corn hole tournament (a raving success).

So where does that leave us. It means that the first half of the four man relay team has crossed the line. We need to stand on the sidelines and cheer on our teammates. We need to be there to support their efforts.

Go Team Go! Let the games continue - or maybe - another round.

And then there were 2 . . .

Last week when I went to the Winking Lizard, I had only planned on having two beers. I had the minuscule total of 9 remaining beers to finish. Much to my surprise, I only had 8 beers left to drink - happy day!

It all seems like smooth sailing. Well, the rough winds starting blowing when Anne Lyn did not come and Quality Expert was pushing the limits to catch up to me.

Looking back on where the tacking when wrong. There were two bad maneuvers. 1) I hate to be beaten by anyone and 2) I really don't want to let the trash talking Quality Expert drag his apparently hollow leg across the finish line first.

So, I had five beers. I tried to intermix the strong Belgian and other high ABV beers with some water and a 4.5 ABV. I will say the beers I did have were mighty tasty. I was trying to save my favorites for the last day.

I sailed through the five and had another later with a farewell group from my company. Fortunately, I had a cheeseburger to keep me from heeling over before I hit the road.

In other news . . .
Unfortunately, Anne Lyn had to observe the rule were Boats on a Port Tack shall give way to boats on Starboard Tack. She made it to the turn first, but Quality Expert seems to have caught the downwind and got the spinnaker out.

As for the Cruise Director, he seems to be stranded on a sandbar. He made some attempts to heave ho at an alternate location this weekend, but he is still aiming for the turnaround.

A Round the Last Turn

No, it is not a spelling error. It is not around - it is A Round. Getting down to the last round of beer.

Well, I am into the single digits for remaining beers. Only 9 left to go in my Winking Lizard world tour. It seems just like yesterday that I was having the first few.

I think the last set of beers will be interesting. I have a couple of the 9 ABV beers left on the list, but I have purposefully left two great scotch ales on the list for my closers. I have been eagerly awaiting the McEwan's Scotch ale.

There are many times that I would look at the list and think the McEwan's would taste lovely, but it just served as an incentive to get to the finish line. One more stop at pit row, then onto the checkered flag!

London Callin' You Out

So we had a little get together at the Winking Lizard with an associate from our London Distributor. Let's just call him The Jug. It isn't what you think. In Britain, you would order a jug of beer, not a pitcher.

At any rate, The Jug came with us for an outing. He was the stand in for our absent boy team members. Although he only had one style of beer, he was happy to talk about our tour and experience Annie Lyn's halfway. We had a lot of wheat beers, but with the turn to warm, sunny weather, it felt like the right thing to do.

Yes, Annie Lyn got her blanket, and the boy teammates are not halfway yet. They are getting desperate though - they resorted to getting take out six packs on Thursday. They tried to be clever and put them in the car before we got there.

No such luck - Annie Lyn busted them on the way to the car. It has prompted a new rule that Annie Lyn and I created yesterday when we were at the WL, only one six pack per tour when you are NOT with the team.

This clarification is very important because we are planning a golf outing and will need the six packs for the event. You always need to make sure you rules aren't too restrictive, but just keep others from pseudo-cheating.

So here we are calling out the boys from trying to take the easy way out - something the girls wouldn't do (unless until it comes down to the wire and gets competitive - but I doubt that).

Cheers

The Goat, The Cork and The Gecko

As with any journey, travelers tend to collect memorabilia. Sometimes it can be postcards, but often it trinkets. Things of interest you find along the way.

For the WLWTOB, our team has started to collect the trinkets. Of course, as the first to the halfway point, I have collected the first three designated trinkets.

I have a small white goat from my Celebrator Dopplebock, a cork from the Lindeman's Pomme and a ceramic stopper from the Le Meule with a gecko on the top. All three were received on different occasions and bring back great memories of sitting around, enjoying good beer and having a laugh.

However, of all three trinkets, I dig the gecko the best. I have to say the Celebrator Dopplebock was by far the best beer of the three. The Lindeman's pomme is apple infused and bit more on the cidery side for me. The Le Meule had some spice in it - maybe clove - that gives it an odd flavor.

It is kind of interesting how beers have so much personality - just like people - just like my teammates. Maybe I will have to mull that over. Is someone the celebrator? Is someone the pomme?

The Beer is Colder in the Other Fridge

I thought when I reached the halfway point, there would be a sense of liberation. It would be better to be drinking the second half instead of the first haf.

At first, there was glory. There was the halfway prize - a Winking Lizard blanket. It was very cool and had carrying handles.

Now, I am feeling the pressure. I went to have a few beers with Annie Lyn, and I started to get worried. I have two big drinking males on my heels. I was planning on relaxing. I was thinking that once I got past the halfway point, it would get easier.

It is getting harder. I made some rookie mistakes. There are a lot of wheat and flavored beers left - not really my favorite style. There are a lot of big beers (high abv) left. I need to regroup. I need to adjust the setting on the fridge and cool things off.

I need a beer!!

Holy Buckeye, Batman!

Do you remember watching Batman and Robin when you were a kid? Batman, Robin or one of their associates would get themselves into a completely ridiculous situation. You would be sitting in front of the TV thinking, they will never get themselves out!

Magically, in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the show, all the right maneuvers would magically fall into place, and - Kapow - they would win the day.

I think Ohio State's basketball must have taken a page from the Batman and Robin playbook last night. Like the past few games, Ohio State lets a huge gap open between their opponents, and then they manage to come back in the final minutes to edge out a point to win.

So maybe you are asking, what do the Buckeyes have to do with the WLWTOB? First, we had our team meeting during the game last night. Beside the Buckeyes unreal victory, I received my halfway blanket. The first member of the team to get there - with a gap of about 10 beers.

It's half time, I am 10 points ahead. I am WORRIED.

Not only are my teammates Buckeye fans, they drink like the Buckeyes. They won't have a beer for a week, then - kapow - 8 in one night or 4 in one sitting. I can't rest on my laurels, they are gunning for me.

Just like OSU, I managed to be victorious and get to the halfway point of the tour(ney), but just like the NCAA tournament, the real action is coming.

Bring it on, baby! I am running out of the locker room after half time, sprinting to the middle of the court, bringing my fists to my sides and screaming "Yeah" til my face is more red the OSU uniforms. Bring it on!

Then there were 2, and then 4

Two quick house keeping news items. I am down to my last two beers before the midway point. The team meeting is tonight at the Winking Lizard and I am going to drink the weakest and the strongest beer (probably a Belgian - yikes) left on my list. After that, I might need to drink some alternative light beers so there will not be a repeat of the Friday incident.

In some really great news, I went to WL last night with my brother. His co-workers were having a goodbye happy hour for him. The boy team member was there with another work associate who was signing up for the tour as I walked in. I immediately initiated him into the team and now there are four members. (Although our new member claims he is going to finish first - we shall see.)

We are not quite sure of his role on the team, but we are leaning toward events procurement. We don't want to rush to judgement or pigeon-hole his capabilities, so we will be watching to see over the next few weeks to see how things will brew.

Maintaining the Team Spirit

While at a team meeting - with only girl members - we started chatting about how close I was coming to my halfway point. As the logistics person, it was on my mind that I might potentially get to 50 during a meeting when everyone on the immediate team was not in attendance.

We made an executive decision, which we later ran by our boy team member, that the two major milestones of halfway and final beer can ONLY be done with all team members present.

This decision was to help maintain the team spirit as we are venturing to participate with different groups of friends. The Tour is not meant to be restrictive, but encourage the consumption and enjoyment of our favorite malt beverage.

The team will be getting together on Thursday to celebrate my 50. When will the next midway celebration be?

Where Beer, the Team and Art Meet

As I was looking through some online drawings, I came across two very interesting comics.

The first one reminded me of Anie Lyn - our team analyatics representative. She was appointed to this position because her social style is Analytical, Analytical.

What does that mean in real world terms?

Here is the scenario - you ask Anie Lyn a questions. She says, 'Let me ask you a question about that question.

Here is the analytical comic that eloquently demonstrates Anie Lyn's team participation.

The second comic reminded me more of the other team mate - The Quality Expert. This cartoon might be a little overboard, but I could see him bartering for his work to get done and beer being the coinage of choice.

Maybe it is because he is our overall quality ranking expert, but we seem to have to taste every beer to help him out.

The next official team outing with all members will be next week, by which time I should be reaching the half way marker (50 beers) by the time we meet.

St. Patrick's Deployment Meeting

Well, the holiday drinking season (starting on Halloween and running through St. Patricks) has O'fficially concluded. It felt a little weird that our third team member was not even in the country.

We managed to coral some other WLWTOB supporters for a meeting on Friday. It was quite mellow, and I have a few theories about why.

1. No one from the team was saying he was going to 'crush' us
2. We skillfully avoided the Belgian beers
3. I was embarrassed that I am a mere 7 beers away from the halfway point
4. The session ran a brief 2.5 hours

I have an odd feeling about the team. I think I will be the first to make it to the halfway point, but then I am going to watch the other team members start getting fierce.

The biggest danger is that I am clipping through the ales - leaving the big Beligian beers and the fruity wheats. I think I need to re-evaluate the ales only tactic. I don't want to be choking down fruity beers and watch my team mates motor past me . . . or do I?

The St. Paddy's Team Event

The WLWTOB Team has been on a bit of a hiatus this week. We had a meeting on Monday, although we were down a member, and there hasn't been much activity this week.

Today, we are brigging out the green and getting the community involved. Our boy is still not in town, but I think we will manage to struggle on without him.

Since I am half Irish, today's world tour meeting has me in a bit of a quandry. I want to keep working toward my goal of 100, but there is only one Irish beer our world tour list.

Maybe it doesn't seem odd to you, but No Guinness, No Smithwicks, No Harp. The Winking Lizard sells the dark stuff - why isn't it on the tour?

I guess we will have to soldier on an enjoy some other beers today. Luckily it is only the eve of St. Paddy's!