Great Lakes Celebrates 20 Years!

Just a few miles away, The Great Lakes Brewing Company has been serving lovely beers to Cleveland for 20 years.

Rumor has it they are going to have an all day happy hour this Thursday - Yipee!

Coast Brewing IPA

While I was sampling the culinary scene in Charleston, I managed to have a few of the local brews. One of the best ones was the Coast IPA.

It has a nice hoppy finish. What made it even better is that I enjoyed it with my friends at a great beach bar called Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island - a short hop from Charleston and very close to the ocean.

The burgers were amazing - making the beer that much enjoyable.

Palmetto Amber

While I was in Charleston, I decided to sample the local ales. I think it is one of my favorite parts of going to a new town.

There is a local brewing company named Palmetto. They have several types of beers. While I was there I tried the Palmetto Amber. It was a good beer. However, I noticed a few places had stopped serving it on draft.

I really liked it, but I wonder if the surge of Magic Hat is driving the local brew off the tap.

Updates to WLWTOB

My old co-workers have been giving me crap because I have not been very good on the world tour this year. Now that it is summer time, I am setting a vow to devote more time to drinking my world tour beers.

Just wanted to have a post to let everyone know I am serious. The Winking Lizard is going to see business picking up. I will also be making more of an effort to have regular blog posts as I go along.

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.

WLWTOB Finishers Party

So it all drew to a close. It finished much the same way that it started, Anelyn and I doing the world tour of beer. We both finished the tour and made it to the finishers party. Anelyn was deathly ill, but she managed to make it to the party.

Hollow leg and the Cruise Director were not able to make it . . . I guess they just couldn't tough it out in the long run.

So is it coming to an end . . no, it is just beginning. We have re-enlisted for another round. However, this year, the sophmore tour participants are allowed to have teammates. I am teaming up with Hollow Leg. Anelyn is pairing up with her boyfriend. The good news, there are going to be three more team members including Loose Lips and a new comer - St. Louis.

The kickoff beer was Smithwicks, but I have a suspicion that hollow leg is going to put down most of the tally.

Bells Two Hearted

On Friday night, I checked out a new restaurant/pub in the the neighborhood. Not only did they have great food, they had great beer selection. There were some beers that I had never heard. It was pretty exciting and I will definitely return to explore.

Last night I had the Bell's Two Hearted Ale. Maybe it is was the name of the beer. It was quite yummy, by the way. However, it game me the courage to send out a message to my friends from the world tour. (see photo)

Yes, the bar had a section that was covered with chalkboard paint, and the proprietors leave chalk out for the patrons (another reason to return). I got some immediate responses from my WLWTOB friends. Can't wait for the next tourney. The local bar has mini kegs of Bell's Two Hearted. Definitely think it will help my game - at least the trash talking part.

Ringing in the New Year

Well, 2008 is upon us. It seem like 2007 has gone by so quickly. I just wanted to take a few minutes to recap some great beer events from the past year.

March 13th - The day I started the blog. When we actually started to grow the World Tour Team.

March 22nd - Hitting the midway point in the tour.

May 13th - Finishing the Century of beers at Winking Lizard.

July 2nd - The First Annual Corn Hole Extravaganza

August 15th - Discovering Shipyard and Smutty Nose brewing on my trip to Down East

September 11th - Having my first try of Magic Hat #9 - which has become one of my favorite beers

November 11th - Learning how to pour a half and half from the Guinness experts

December 31st - Pouring my last half and half of the year before drinking a bottle of champagne with my sister-in-law at midnight.

Buckeye Beer Extravaganza

So time is a bit tight these days, but I didn't want it to slip away without writing about Hollow Leg's Beer extravaganza. OK, so it was Beer, Corn hole, Fire Pit, OSU v. PSU and Gorgeous George's Gyros as well, but I think you get the idea.

One of the big things is that I took the Rapid to Hollow Leg's house. Yes, it is true. I am notorious for pulling the fade and heading home after a few beers. Everyone worries about me doing that (although I am generally more tired than anything else). I figured, if I didn't drive there. I couldn't drive home. It was a good plan . . . until I realized there were tons of kids staying in the house and sleeping in wasn't an option.

Mick to the rescue. A previous work mate who recently relocated here was at the party. Luckily, I swindled him into giving me a place to stay and a lift home the next morning. We had an interesting conversation about Cleveland, and his duty to participate in the WLWTOB 2008.

Yes, Mick is a gentle man and I was a lady, so don't worry you pretty little head about it. Even better, he is now a Magic Hat fan.

Good Times! Also, my corn hole playing has greatly improved and I wasn't as pathetic as I usually am.

Bye Bye and a Boddingtons

As I had mentioned in my previous post, the original location of the Winking Lizard is closing. The team, which has grown significantly due to the increased number of fans, had a last meeting there.

It got me thinking about how this venture started with AneLyn and me. It was meant as a way to get through our daily work life and keep sane. OK, so we really like the beer, wings and burgers as well. Like all really good things, it just kept growing. It became a fun excuse to leave the office at 4:30. It gave us a chance to commiserate.

As I was sitting there, it was the usual cast of characters plus 1. Over the past few months, Loose Lips has been joining us for cocktails. You might be wondering why he never made it into any of the blog posts. I had been wondering about that as well. It seems the antics of Hollow Leg had dominated for awhile. I also realized I had started to shift the blog into a conversation about beer.

Loose Lips has been a very good addition in this regard. He loves a good beer. Yesterday, he was drinking Arrogant Bastard ale. That's right, it was referenced in a previous post about Hollow Leg's visit to Arrogant Bastard's brewing company - Stone Brewing.


At any rate, it seems like such a short span of time for this gathering to become such a great part of my life. It is always fun and never dull. Generally, we manage to drag it into the gutter part of the way through the evening - Loose Lips definitely is a strong contributor in this area as well. (I should mention that Loose Lips alternate name was going to be piglet.

It is hard to believe that I actually finished the World Tour , or hit the century mark as they say, back in May. At the time, Hollow Leg suggested that we should do a second round. I declined because I thought we wouldn't be able to do it . . in hind sight, football season is on the way.

Cooler heads did prevail. I finished my last Boddington's and had a shot with the Team. Sandbox bought the girls a "Last Call" t-shirt. The boys weren't nearly as organized!

So Bye Bye old Winking Lizard, hello new Winking Lizard! Can't wait to see what good time we have there.

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)

3rd and Last Place - Getting Dirty

Ok - so Hollow Leg and I have finished the tour. That leave Anne Lyn and the Tour Director to get through their list.

Just to level set - the Tour Director did start weeks after the rest of the team. He already took out a six-pack of beer - which we don't have confirmation he drank because he took it to a party.

Now, there is scandal. What are the rules of the tour. Drink all 100 beers - maybe just a sip - or maybe the whole bottle. However, you need to have all the beers. Inviting your friends to order off of the list and get your blanket for the beer fest is not what the team had in mind.

It didn't have to be competitive. It could just be a group of friends enjoying the beers of the world. The boys had to make it competitive. They were claiming they would 'crush' us.

Well, I did finish first - without the help of a six pack.

The Tour Director proceeded to have other's drink his beer - an not even pick up the tab. That just is plain out cheating. I think we need to add 30 additional drinks of his choice at the end of the tour just as a punishment.

Wait, could extra gin and tonics be considered a punishment?

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!

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!