The Run To End All Runs

Chris and I took the hour-long trek down to State Line today. It was a glorious run. Below is a list of what is now gracing my fridge:

-De Dolle Bos Keun- 330ml
-De Dolle Mad Bitch- 330ml (2)
-'T Smisje Dubbel- 330ml
-'T Smisje Kerst- 330ml
-La Chouffe- 750ml
-Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar- 750ml
-Orval- 330ml (2)
-Jolly Pumpkin La Roja- 750ml
-Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza- 750ml
-Ayinger Celebrator- 330ml (2)
-Achel Bruin- 330ml (2)
-Achel Extra- 750ml
-des Rocs Brune- 750ml
-'t IJ Struis- 330ml
-Mestreechs Aajt- 330ml
-Avery Salvation- 750ml (2)
-Avery The Reverend- 750ml
-Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout- 750ml
-Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale- 330ml (2)
-Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale- 550ml

It was a rousing success. We then decided to swing by DP Dough on the University of Delaware campus to pick up lunch and some calzones for tomorrow night's New Year's party. Chris came up with the brilliant idea of ordering the calzones uncooked so we can throw them into the oven tomorrow night. DP Dough is perfect right out of the oven, but becomes rather rubbery if you microwave it. He's a genius.

The Mummer's: Can It Be Stopped?

This is starting to become an annual tradition. I wrote about the gayity of the Philadelphia Mummer's Parade last January and will probably complain about it next January. What a bunch of losers. I know this is Philly's version of Brazil's Carnival and has been a tradition for years but some traditions are meant to die. Lord, please let this be one of them. My hope is that our generation will help eradicate a number of societal norms like the mummers. My top 5 are:

1) The coolness of smoking cigarettes (although I fear the South and LA are lost causes)
2) Elk Lodges, Moose Lodges, Italian Social Clubs
3) Retire at 65, move to Florida, play bingo; early-bird specials
4) Pull-cart use on the golf course
5) Grumpy old men spouting off about 'Nam

Seriously, look at these goofballs.

A Fun New Years.....Finally

New Years has typically been a drag for JP and JP's wife. Christina is always into doing something 'fun' but I typically put the kibosh on it. Hoho and I have talked about putting together something elegant and highbrow for a couple years. Basically our demands are: 1) Leather Couches, 2) Wood-paneled walls, 3) Martinis, 4) Black Tie, 5) White silk scarves. In truth, we're both obsessed with the roaring 20's so the goal is to hearken back to an era of elitism.

Unfortunately, this hasn't worked out so well. Last year was spent hanging with high school friends at Mike Curry's parent's house. It was really fun, but still felt a little like high school all over again. Chris did his best to put together a swingin' event this year but it was squashed for a number of reasons that I won't go in to. We finally decided to try for a small dinner with a few couples followed by a quaint get-together at my house.

The Bhutas, Hohorsts, Dunns, and Prices are going to enjoy one another's company at Avalon, a nice little BYOB in West Chester. We're going to the earlier seating so we can be back at our place for on-demand karaoke and limbo before the ball drops. It should be a fun time. Grand Cru of the Emperor will be served along with Champagne and Martinis to ring in the New Year.

Everyone is already in the area so Bhuta, Chris, and I are trekking down to State Line to refill my supply. I think a stop at DP Dough for lunch will be in order. For those who didn't go to a real University, DP Dough is a calzone franchise that sets up shop on college campuses around the country. I don't know how they do it but a DP Dough calzone is one of life's great pleasures. The secret is supposedly in the dough recipe - a recipe that is under lock and key. Anyway, we're coming back in the early afternoon to join up with another crew of guys. I guess we're going to hang out, throw the football around, and watch some bowl games.

A bottle of delicious Duchesse de Bourgone was consumed last night. I'm not a huge fan of Belgian Sour Ales in general, but this one has a super sweet plum and apricot burst at the start that helps smooth the sour at the back. She was followed by my brother's friend Jonathan's amazing Imperial Stout homebrew. It's hard to believe it's a homebrew. Seriously, it's better than Storm King.

Christina's still in Florida enjoying the nice weather, so I guess I'll rent a movie or something tonight. We started watching Syriana on Wednesday and I'd like to finish it.....

Post-Christmas Wrap Up

The best Christmas ever ended when my plane landed in Philadelphia this morning. The weather here is pleasant, though, so my attempts to brag about 80 degree weather won't quite create the jealousy in my friends that I desire.

A lot happened since the last post. Tuesday was a fairly rainy day in south Florida. A cold front moved through that produced heavy rain fall throughout Monday night into Tuesday morning. Our plans of playing Indian Creek in Miami were put off. Paul thought the course was too wet and that we'd have more fun if we pushed it off until Wednesday.

So, Joe Jr., Joe Sr., John, and I went up to Old Palm Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl - about 45 minutes from Delray. Old Palm is ridiculous. You must purchase a home in order to gain membership consideration (starting at only $1.7m!). If accepted you have to plunk down $260,000 in initiation fees. Your annual dues are going to cost you $20,000. Paul and Carrie got in without having to purchase a house because Ray Floyd, a close family friend, designed the golf course. They leveraged their friendship into a membership, but their pockets are $260k smaller now. My guest locker was between Matt Lauer's and Hank Kuehne's (PGA Tour Pro).

That was fun. We went home and really did a whole lotta nothing (played FIFA 07 mostly) until dinner. Paul and Carrie left us 4 Filets they weren't going to eat because 'we're not Filet people'. We grilled them up along with some nice NY Strip Steaks, potatoes, and the ever-popular Harvest Day Pear & Herbed Goat Cheese appetizer.

Wednesday was absolutely beautiful. The temp dropped to the high 60s/low 70s with perfectly clear skies. My morning run was greeted by about 100 old people all jostling for some space on the running path along the beach. I guess they re-started their morning routine now that Christmas was over. It was annoying.

We drove down to Miami and played Indian Creek. What a great place. My only goal was to beat Paul. He's a 2 handicap and plays over 150 times a year. He had already played Indian Creek that morning so I knew I had my work cut out for me. This course is very difficult and has the 2nd fastest greens I've ever played on (Oakmont being the fastest). My struggles around the greens led to a mediocre 77. Paul shot 75. I was crestfallen.

Maggie, John, Christina, and Paige all went to South Beach while we played golf. John thought South Beach is best characterized as 'Mexico + boob jobs.' Miami in general is a pretty trashy place so I'm sure they didn't have as much fun as we did on the golf course.

After the round we drove home. I made plans to meet my Aunt Bea Wednesday night in Delray. She stopped by the house before going out. Downtown Delray was packed. It's such a cool spot. Anyway, it was great to re-connect with Aunt Bea. She's my dad's sister and has lived in Boynton Beach for the last 5 years. She looks fabulous which leads me to believe she's had some work done. I was really glad that we had the opportunity to get together.

Afterwards, John and I dominated some FIFA 07 before I headed to bed. I woke up early this morning, boarded a plane out of Palm Beach Intl and flew home.

This was clearly the best Christmas ever. Now that Christina and Paige are pregnant (and expecting only 2 weeks apart) it is going to be more difficult for the family to get together over the holidays. This mini-vacation is going to be the last time that we are all together without worrying about taking care of kids. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to be a dad but times like the ones I experienced this week are going to be something I miss.

-a somber JP

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Holiday Travel, On The Beach For Christmas Part 2

Christmas Eve greeted us with sunny skies and a balmy 79 degree morning. JP decided to go for an early run. I woke up at 6:30am and ran on the jogging path along the beach. There's nothing better than a tropical sunrise. The run is only 2 miles - just enough to break a sweat and feel like I've accomplished something.

By the time I came back, Maggie was already up brewing coffee. We decided it would be best to leave the house to allow Paul and Carrie to have an undisturbed gift-giving time with their kids. We went to this semi-famous Delray eatery called Luna Rosa. It's right on the beach so we ate in open air and appreciated the view. Apparently some guy from Philly owns the joint, as evidenced by their inclusion of scrapple on the menu.

After breakfast John, Joe Sr., and I played golf at The Links at Boynton Beach. It's a public course about 10 minutes away. I'm convinced there's not a bad course in south Florida. This one was a cheap as they come and it would put most public courses in the Philly area to shame. I played like garbage and shot 81. This was the first time playing since August so I decided to make that my excuse.

Back to the house for a quick late lunch, then off to Fort Lauderdale to attend Dr. James Kennedy's church's Christmas Eve candle service. Dr. Kennedy is always on TV, but he's not a normal (i.e, corrupt) televangelist. The service was just ok. A long service, yes, but I felt the program could've been a lot better.

We picked up Joe and Paige from the airport shortly thereafter, came back to Delray, took a walk around town, and went to bed.

Christmas morning - another run. This time the jogging trail was surprisingly packed. I later learned that Delray has a high Jewish population so I guess that accounted for the crowd. After breakfast, Joe Jr, Joe Sr., and I went to Delray Beach Golf Club. The renowned golf architect Donald Ross designed this course, but we were skeptical. After all, it is a municipal course. My theory of 'no bad course in south Florida' held up again - in spades. What a fun round. I dominated this time, struggling with a 4 over 40 on the front but finishing strong with an even par round on the back for a solid 76. Sustained winds of 30+mph made the conditions tough, so I was pleased with how I played.

We came back around 1pm, hung out for a bit, and left for the world-famous Parrot Lounge in Fort Lauderdale to watch the Eagles game. The Parrot is owned by a Philadelphia family and hosts huge gatherings each game day. They do their best to make it feel like home by importing Sarcone rolls, Yuengling Lager, and Philly pretzels. We felt it succeeded in mimicking south Philly because the area surrounding it is a DUMP. Fort Lauderdale seems to be the home of tatoo parlors, heavy metal music, and Biker Boyz.

Fortunately, the bar was packed with fellow Eagles fans and three Cowboy fans. Why anyone would put themselves through the ridicule of hundreds of Eagles followers is beyond me, but they received just punishment throughout the game. All in all it turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the year and had me thinking back to the fun I had watching the team during their '04 Super Bowl run.

We're heading to Indian Creek Country Club tomorrow morning. Indian Creek is one of the top clubs in Florida. Paul is a member and has invited us out. Should be fun....oh, their winter is supposed to set in tomorrow. The temp is dropping to the mid-70s.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Holiday Travel, On The Beach For Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas everyone!

Whew! It has been a hectic four days for JP. Not only did I attend four different holiday parties, and
endure a brutal airport/airline fiasco, I had to deal with a crazy mother-in-law who thought for sure Christina died due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Let's explore the last point first.

My mother-in-law (Maggie) works very hard making window treatments, especially this time of year. She does so in the basement of their Havertown house. Most of the time she is working alone, so she watches TV - mostly local news and Joel Osteen-types. It just so happened that the Today show was running a special report on the dangers of Carbon Monoxide poisoning and they happened to focus on people who live in homes with a gas fireplace - like us.

As soon as the report is over she calls Christina to warn her about her imminent death. Rewind for a sec...Christina had some headaches a month or so ago. The Today show said headaches are the first sign of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. So obviously, this was the answer to the headache question for my mother-in-law. Never mind that Christina was 2-3 weeks pregnant at that point and her body was having all sorts of issues...

So Maggie called Christina. No answer. She called again. No answer. Four calls later - still no answer. Panic set in. She calls Christina's sister. Nope, Sandy hadn't heard from her. She called my Father-in-law. Nothing. She called me and left frantic voicemails on my cell phone and office phone. Nothing. SHE IS ALREADY DEAD! She did the only thing a rational mother would: stopped working completely (did I mention this is the busiest time of the year?) and run out of the house and into the car for a 30-minute trek to West Chester. She might just arrive in time to save Christina! There's still hope!

Of course, Christina was upstairs working. Her phone was downstairs. The sewing machines are pretty loud so Christina couldn't hear it ring. She was able to catch Maggie right before she started the car. Phew! Christina was ok.....let the lecturing begin. Christina received an ear-full about 15 minutes before I received the same ear-full. The fiasco resulting in a tidily wrapped Carbon Monoxide detector under the tree.

Episodes like this seem to be common place in the Drygas household. Maggie has spent countless nights praying from 2 am to 6 am because she had a dream that something bad happened to one of her kids. I guess this is the tough part of living your life as a prophetess.

Move ahead to Saturday. We leave for the airport at 7:30am - 3 hours before our flight. We check in no problem. Up the stairs we go to the security line which is currently a 1.5 hour wait. It reminded me of going to Six Flags when Batman: The Ride first opened. We're standing in line for 20 minutes when we realize that we need to be in D terminal - we're currently in E.

The line at D terminal isn't quite as bad, so we get through in about 15 minutes. We get to the gate and get in line for seats (we flew Southwest). A murmur goes through the crowd: They're holding us for 30 minutes due to a connecting flight arriving late in Philly. No surprise there, I guess. 30 minutes go by and we finally board. We're on the plane for a long time..what's going on? Turns out that the connecting passengers still hadn't arrived even after we waiting the 30 minutes. Finally, after another 20 minute or so the connecting passengers arrive and we take off.

We were flying to Jacksonville first to switch planes. Now, we're over 50 minutes late and our connecting flight is supposed to take off 35 minutes after our original arrival time. The captain assures us that the plane to Fort Lauderdale is being held, but that we'll need to sprint to the connecting plane once we arrive.

The flight time is about 2 hours. We arrive and run to the next plane, past a bunch of grumbling Jacksonvillers whose plane was held up due to our connecting plane occupying the gate. 'What's so special about Fort Lauderdale?' one lady angrily scoffed. My internal response was, 'I don't know much about Fort Lauderdale but it must excel in its specialness compared to this red-neck town.' But, this is a kinder JP if you recall, so I restrained myself.

Anyway, back to the plane. We sprinted on and found seats in the back row. More bad news. There are strong storms in Fort Lauderdale. The airport is temporarily closed to all flights. Great. Expected wait time: 1.5 hours. It's about this time that Maggie starts freaking out about enough water on the plane. She asked the stewardess (oh, excuse me - attendant) twice within five minutes to check the water supply.

Good news came about 30 minutes into waiting that the storm cleared up and we were good to take off. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale in about an hour. Paul picked us up and took us back to his place. Carrie, little Paul, and Caroline we all there. They were staying the night, having Christmas together the next morning (Christmas Eve), then driving down to Miami to Christmas with the Shulas.

This house is amazing. It sits right on an offshoot of the intercoastal highway. It's about a block away from the beach and is outfitted quite nicely. The schedule is: playing golf Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then Tuesday and Wednesday for good measure. It's sunny, and 85 and couldn't feel less like Christmas. What a great time....Yes, I could live in South Florida

Part II tomorrow....

Mini-Putt

See kids? If you put your mind to something, anything is possible! I discovered this Mini-Putt game about 6 months ago and everyday, while eating lunch, I have tried my best to score a perfect 18. It was a frustrating 6 months, but I finally achieved my goal today. Nothing can bring me down from this high!

Pre-Christmas Craziness

This is a busy week for the household of JP. Tonight is the only night we don't have any specific plans. I think Christina has to stop over at her aunt's house and I may get a haircut, but we're going to relax as much as possible before tomorrow. The rest of the week is made up of office Christmas parties, small groups, Christmastime with families, and flights to Florida.

Yeah, this is the first Christmas that I'll be away from the northeast. The two of us, Christina's parents, Joe & Paige, and John are staying at Paul and Carrie LaNoce's house in Delray Beach. Paul is my father-in-law's cousin (follow me now). Carrie, Paul's wife, is the adopted daughter of the late Jack Stephens, one of the gurus behind Wal-Mart, former chairman of Augusta National, and reported (at his death) to be one of the top 50 wealthiest men in America. Carrie's mom divorced Jack Stephens and later married Don Shula - yeah you read it correctly.

Carrie grew up in South Florida and knew Mr. Stephens as dad. Even after her mom married Don Shula, Carrie kept close ties with him. Paul and Mr. Stephens became quite close - close enough that Paul attended the Masters every year and played Augusta whenever he wanted.

Paul is the owner or a highly successful industrial parts business. Needless to say they aren't struggling for their next meal, but they don't flaunt their wealth. In fact, they are the most down-to-earth wealthy couple I've ever met. They had a beautiful house reminiscent of '30s Hollywood in Delray Beach. Recently it was decided they wanted to be closer to the beach so they bought a new place basically right on the beach. That's where we're staying. Paul and Carrie own another modest home right across the street from Indian Creek Country Club in North Miami Beach. Coach and Mrs. Shula live in the Indian Creek property (average home = $35 million. One of the sultans of UAE lives there...you get the picture) and Paul and Carrie spend Christmas with them, so we'll have their Delray house to ourselves.

One of the advantages of going to South Florida in the middle of winter is the chance to play golf. Paul invited myself, Joe Jr, and Joe Sr. to play Indian Creek on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. It is truly a beautiful place. We're looking forward to it. Casey Dunn and I had an opportunity to play Indian Creek with Coach Shula a couple years ago.

Other than that we plan on playing every day including Christmas morning. Quite surprisingly, golf is dirt cheap in South Florida for the most part so we may play 36 holes/day. Who knows?

I'm sure Paul and Carrie have Internet access so I'll try my best to make daily postings. Merry Christmas to everyone! (I don't believe in 'Happy Holidays.')

Christmas With the Price's

Saturday was Christmas with the Prices at Mike's house in Denver, PA. Our family situation is a little complicated, as my mom and Tom (stepdad) live in southern Delaware and my dad still lives in Lancaster. Each year we have one Christmas party with my mom and stepdad's family, and one with my dad and stepmom's family. It's all a little weird and somewhat akward sometimes, but yesterday was fun.

My mom and Tom met up with Christina and myself, and Mike and Jill and the kids around 11:30. Grady and Michelle (Grady is Tom's son. Michelle is his wife) showed up a couple hours late due to a flat tire. Two years ago we shifted the party from a dinner to a lunch to make it easier on everyone, especially Jill. The 'lunch' is really just setting out a bunch of cheeses, breads, and tasty appetizers and allowing people to eat what they want when they want it.

Mike asked me to stop at Wegmans to pick up a variety of cheeses. I'm a sucker for french cow's milk cheeses, so I picked up some Morbier, a triple cream I forget the name of, and Chimay's wonderful semi-soft cheese soaked in it's highly overrated beer. The cheese was anything but overrated, however. It was pungeunt without a footy aftertaste. Kindy spicey but full of flavor. Everyone was very impressed, and Mike and I were sure that beer couldn't have had a lot of impact on the final flavor, as this didn't taste at all like the middle-of-the-line-should-be-ashamed-to-call-themselves-trappists pisswater of a beer the monastary brews.

Enough negative editorializing. Beer was abundant, as the day started out (before noon) with Mike and I sharing a 750ml bottle of Gouden Carolus Noel. We then moved on to Mike's newly bottled Belgian Dubbel homebrew. It's very interesting to taste newly bottled beer, experiencing its lower than normal carbonation and esterly sweetness. Four months from now this will be a nice Dubbel.

We then moved on to Dogfish Head's Fort. Neither of us had this before so it came as quite a surprise that this beer carries 19% ABV. Large amounts of pureed raspberries are added to the initial boil to give the batch a high amount of fermtable sugar. It carries a sweet framboise appeal. Some people hate extreme brews and some love them. Count us in the love them camp. Damn the 74 rating on ratebeer! Fort is a quality extreme beer that packs a high-alcohol punch without the syrupy medicinal aftertaste. Lovely.

The final offering the day came around 5pm. We decided to try Southampton's Imperial Porter. Someone on ratebeer summed it up best - Smell is of some chocolate and coffee with something else in the background, maybe raisin. Taste is interesting, a little coffee, a little chocolate. It’s a good brew, but not great. We both enjoy the Okocim Porter more.

The kids got great gifts this year including a highly entertaining limbo game. We discovered one of Christina's skills yesterday - she can limbo better than kids half her size. It was sight to behold. Christina and I decided that limbo will definitely be part of the New Year's party.

My mom got me a four-pack of Midas Touch, and my brother gave me a four-pack of Duchesse de Bourgogne along with two each of his Belgian Dubbel and Barleywine homebrew. He was generous enough to let go of one Maximator, three of Jonathan's amazing Imperial Stout homebrew (better than Storm King), and three Southern Tier brews.

We drove home. Christina had another party to go to, so I decided to take some time and finish shopping for her. Unfortunately, I had to return some shoes Christina bought from Nordstrom Rack. She wore them a couple of times so the bottoms were a little beat up. The customer service person I initially approached wasn't competent enough to determine if the shoes were returnable, so she called in a second equally incompetent service person who finally called in the store manager. The store manager inspected the shoes like Jean-François Champollion inspecting the Rosetta Stone. After 5 minutes of painstakingly reviewing the shoes' condition she finally accepted the return, but not without a stern warning. Way to go.

The night continued and I finished my shopping, returned home, ate some pizza, and watched the last half of The Return of the King on HD.

A Night at The Drafting Room

Peter, Chris, and I met up for a few last night at The Drafting Room in Exton. This is second time I've been to their Exton location and have to say I'm fairly impressed. The standard bottle selection isn't overwhelming but they always offer a fair share of quality Big Beers and on-tap specials.

Chris and I decided to split a 750ml bottle of North Coast's Brother Thelonious, named after the famous monk/jazz musician. North Coast does their best to imitate some of the more notable Belgian Strong Ales - Rochefort 8 and Chimay Blue come to mind - but comes up short. That said, this beer impressed me more than some other Belgian wannabes, including most of what Allagash and Ommegang offers. This finish was woody and not as smooth as I would like, but all in all it was pretty tasty.

My next pal was Avery's Old Jubilation, one of my favorite English Strong Ales (only $3.95 on tap). Old Jubilation has caramel quality that some others (Fullers) do not. A great way to end the night.

Peter, Chris, and I plan on getting together regularly so stay tuned for our future exploits. Peter is officially out of the New Year's dinner (much to his dismay), but may show up for the dance party/laugh at Bhuta time immediately thereafter.

I've been preparing for an important marketing presentation tomorro......never mind.

Thank God for Monk's

The Dogfish Head dinner took place last night at Monk's. Boy, if you ever get a chance to go to one of these dinners, consider yourself fortunate, change whatever plans you have and go. Tom Peters has connections with most of the great craft brewers in this country (and beyond) so he pulls out the big guns when he invites them to host a dinner. Dogfish Head was no exception.

I met Mike, Jill, Don, Jenny, and a handful of people from All Saints Church AKA Homebrewer United Church of Christ. They came down on a shortbus - literally and figuratively. One of the guys in the church works for Coatesville school district and recruited a bus driver to drive the whole crew down and back. So I turn the corner on 16th and Walnut and see a short yellow school bus with a bunch of tipsy church goers spilling out (there were rumors of numerous 90-minutes and 120-minutes consumed on the way down.)

The 6 course menu consisted of 1) Amuse Buche - Escargot, Fois Gras Touchon, Squash soup w/ Mussels, 2) Bacon-wrapped Bay Scallops w/ hot pepper lemon aoli, 3) Vegetable Purse (some high-end vegan thing that was really good), 4) Duck ragout and pasta, 5) Cocoa and Coffee-rubbed Lamb Loin, 6) Christmas Chocolate Cake.

Each dish was as good as it sounds, but the beer pairings stole the show. Each complimented the corresponding course perfectly. Kudos to Tom and his kitchen staff. 1) Chateau Jiahu, 2) Golden Shower Imperial Pilsner AND Golden Revolution Imperial Pilsner (more on that later), 3) Baltic de Belgian, 1999 bottling, 4) Raison d'etre AND Raison d'Extra, 5) World Wide Stout, 2005 bottling, 6) Big Brown Woody Ale.

Couple of comments: The Golden Revolution is a beer that's sold exclusively in Europe. Some Czech brewery tasted Golden Shower, liked what Dogfish did, contacted them, and asked Sam Calagione (Dogfish's owner) if they could work with Dogfish to brew a distinctive Pilsner. Czech Republic is, after all, the birthplace of the Pilsner. Revolution is like no other Pilsner I ever had before. It has the clarity and look of a pale rose wine. No head. The initial taste almost reminds me of a semi-sweet Riesling with a splash of honey. Hints of caramel and toffee create a secondary taste similar to Brandy without the burn. Very low IBUs - almost no taste of hops. I'm not sure if this should be classified as beer or mead, but it was crazy good.

Later on, Sam went into great detail of how the Baltic de Belgium came into existence. He wanted to incorporate wormwood into a beer. Wormwood, as I came to find out, is one of the most bitter herbs on earth. Now Sam is a pretty trippy guy so I wasn't able to follow his story in totality, but the basic premise was that he needed to get a specific type of wormwood from Europe. Apparently he couldn't have it shipped over so he employed some guy to smuggle it through customs. The guy got caught and detained but eventually Sam had his wormwood in hand. He was probably blowing smoke, but it funny nonetheless. The beer is fabulous and we felt fairly privileged to drink it as it was only served once before, in 1999. We drank the only remaining keg last night. Sam said he does not have plans to make another batch....too bad.

I got a chance to talk to Tom after dinner and found out that he and the three other 'Belgian Beer Knights' are traveling to Belgium on Thursday to take part in the annual Christmas Beer Festival outside of Antwerp. It sounds like it's a 24-hour festival that showcases every brewery in the country that produces Christmas Beer. EVERY SINGLE ONE! That guy has the life......

Shangy's/Beer Club

Yesterday was a first for JP. My first visit to Shangy's. It's been called Beervana by some but I'm not a loser so I'll refrain from calling it anything but Shangy's. For those not familiar, Shangy's is noted as one of the best beer distributors on the east coast. Located outside of Allentown in Emmaus, Shangy's is the main supply house for Monk's and Eulogy. They have a selection of over 3,000 beers, some of which are pretty hard to find.

Scott's comments notwithstanding, the owner seemed pretty cool. He gave me the history of Shangy's, most notably that his family immigrated to the US from Iran and built the store from scratch. I find this ironic considering how bad middle eastern beer is (which is also ironic due to the fact that Mesopotamia is the area often credited with discovering and first brewing beer. And yes, they did 'discover' it - most likely by leaving a mixture of grain and water out in the hot sun. It fermented and voila! you have beer.)

As impressed as I was with their selection and low prices (at least compared to Beer Yard), I was frankly disappointed with their selection of domestic 'Big Beers.' For instance, they didn't have Bell's Expedition Stout or Dogfish Head World Wide Stout in stock (or 120 minute or Raison d'Extra for that matter). Not having The Beast or Dreadnaught was a surprise too. Don't get me wrong, their domestic selection is great. I guess some of the bigger beers are seasonal and might not be in stock now.

Their Belgian selection is huge. I really toyed with the idea of buying cases of De Dolle Mad Bitch and Des Rocs Bruin (a formidable strong ale), but finally stuck with my guns and made the purchase that I initially intended - a case of Gouden Carolus Grand Cru. This is a really tasty Grand Cru that comes in a traditional wooden wine-bottle case. It is brewed once a year - February 24th - to commemorate Charles the Fifth's birthday. Charles the Fifth commissioned this beer to be made back in the day to accompany him on fox hunts. Probably BS but a good tale nonetheless.

All in all Shangy's is as good as it gets but I really can't stand the PA beer laws and thus do not like being forced into buying a case of anything. I plan on aging 6 of the Gouden bottles so purchasing a case this time is no big deal. But I just can't justify buying a ton of cases, especially with my need for a constant variety in the fridge. Shangy's is about 15 minutes farther away from me than State Line, so I think I will continue to frequent State Line for now - unless......

.....Hoho's awesome idea of an awesome beer club materializes. Basically we set a fairly modest monthly amount that all participants are willing to spend. I'll make the trek to Shangy's and pick up a case (or two) of a beer of choice - hopefully a new beer to the club participants. The cases will be split up accordingly at a monthly tasting. We can hang out, sample the beer, and just enjoy each other's company. It could be fun to sample beers that we wouldn't normally think to buy.

I'm not quite sure how many people would be into it, but if we can get a minimum of 6 people involved everyone could obtain quality beer at a lower cost than buying per bottle (an even number of people would be optimal to split up a case). For instance a case of Avery's The Reverend costs $44 at Shangy's. That's $3.67 per 750ml bottle. The same bottle costs $5.99 at State Line. The potential savings on imports are even greater. A guy we know, Bob Perkins, has a similar wine club that people love. Now Bob actually travels to France and handpicks the wines, ships them to the US by himself, and then distributes them. Let's see if this club can make it a month before we get too extravagant.

I know we're all busy, but it might be fun to try to out...........

For whatever reason I took some time over lunch to look at the award winners from this year's Great American Beer Festival and found some real surprises. Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester won two medals - a bronze in the Wooden & Barrel Aged category for their Bourbon Ivan and a gold in the Imperial Stout category for their Russian Imperial Stout. Really? Ratebeer has the stout at a 99. It's about a half mile from my house so I'll check it out.

Other local Breweries that won were Rock Bottom(KOP) for Schwarzbier, McKenzie's Brew Pub (Frazer, Kennett Square) for Raven, and Triumph (New Hope) for Triumph Bengal Gold IPA.

Tonight is the big Dogfish Head dinner at Monks. I've been told that Tom is pulling out some real rarities, including Baltic de Belgium, an ale designed for and sold only at Monks like four years ago. When I spoke to Tom at the Return of the Belgian Beer Festival he mentioned that he wanted to pull out some '01 World Wide Stout, too. I'm excited.

Crazy People in Spiderman Beanies

(tonight's post will be accompanied by the beautiful De Regenboog Calva Reserva)

Anger. You see it on display everywhere especially during the holiday season. I guess the stress of the overall busyness of this time of year can get to people and they crack. Take today for example. Wawa. Wayne, PA. 1:15pm. There's a tasty turkey hoagie being toasted for JP when all the sudden some dude in a spiderman beanie approaches the counter hastily with a partially wrapped hoagie in his hand. He aggressively started berating this poor women behind the counter (i set the age line at 74. Probably an over). The jist of the situation was that the tape holding the wrapping paper around the hoagie wasn't properly attached, resulting in the hoagie nearly tumbling from the paper.

This guy started pacing in front of me while the Wawa staff was doing their best to re-wrap the hoagie. It was like he was psyching himself up for a UFC match. Pacing back and forth, staring at the ground, taking deep breaths and talking to himself. He looked at me and muttered 'I hate this F-ing place.' I staved off laughing in his face for fear of getting mauled. The hoagie finally re-wrapped, he reached over the counter and ripped it out of the Depends-wearing employee's hands before she had a chance to hand it to him.

Enter Ms. Trunchbull (Matilda for all you Roald Dahl fans). I think she was a mid-level manager or something. Whatever she was, she refused to take any of this character's guff. She immediately demanded an apology. At this point the miscreant (now halfway to the door) stormed back toward Trunchbull, yelling out obscenities and derogatory names.

This went on for about ten seconds until Trunchbull needed to be restrained by three other Wawa employees. Patrons were left slack-jawed. I stifled a laugh and just stared at the ground as I was the only one who knew the genesis of the confrontation and the total ridiculousness of it all.

So what is the result of this? I'm guessing the two people had their entire day ruined due to anger. In fact, they probably complained about the situation to their friends or significant other thus subjecting innocent parties to their emotional distress.

Some have pointed out that I'm angry. Well, I don't think I'm really angry. You have to care to be angry. I am negative, though. So in light of today's incident I'm going to change my negative habits. For instance, I could have used this post as a venue in which to complain about the highly questionable song selections by Dr Ron Matthews, conductor of last night's very disappointing COS Christmas concert. Or about how one of my Calva Reservas lost its carbonation due to a crack in the bottle and caused me to curse my not-even-born-yet-firstborn (under my breath so it was okay). Or even how my toasted Wawa hoagie did not include the extra meat and cheese I ordered.

No, this is the new JP. The next time you see me you'll surely notice my oozing positivity.

Christina and I just got back from an opening night viewing of Blood Diamond. Wow, pretty powerful stuff. Contrary to what some talking head said on the radio today, this film was not overtly political other than displaying (gruesomely, I must say) how civil wars in African countries continue to rage in part due to one of the continent's most valuable exports. And no, it's not all the white man's fault. If it wasn't diamonds, it'd be something else to stir a cause to revolution. A very well constructed film in a Schindler's List kinda way. By the way, it did NOT make me look forward to our South Africa trip, what with the slaying of thousands of innocent people and all.

This weekend is the only weekend over the next six in which we'll have a chance to relax. I plan on finally finishing my bathroom, a job that started on July 22nd. Suck it, Bob Vila.

Ahhh the Main Line

I had a meeting in center city today with a client whose family has owned the same business for 204 years. That's pretty amazing, considering there is only a 1 in 1000 chance that a family business will make it through four generations (my client is the fifth generation).

So we were waiting around in a board room when I noticed a commemmerative copy of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, a paper that ran in Philly from 1846 to 1942. The paper was dated June 2, 1902, the day my client's business began operations. I started leafing through and was pretty amused by some of the ads and stories of the day. Then I found the 'Help Wanted' section. Here's a few ditties:

Wanted:

Girl, protestant, white, general housekeeping. No lice.

Girl, protestant, general housekeeping. No negroes need apply.

Man, negro, mill worker. No whites need apply.

You get the picture. This went on for two full pages. My quick glance noticed nearly every position available was segregated by race (and most were for unskilled labor, especially that of a servant nature in the Main Line). This didn't come as a surprise to me as much as it clarified the current state of America. It's never been better, people! Wake up. Quit complaining. Only in a country this great can people complain of their 'freedoms' being stripped.

Our generation has never had to deal with any type of adversity. What's the worst thing that has happened, domestically, within the past 30 years? The stock market decline of 2001-2003? 911? The gas crisis in the 70s? Boo-freakin-hoo. Terrible things, yes, but national devastation? Please. Read about the dust bowl, the crash of '29, the Civil war, or the draft in the 60s. Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I forgot that you were forced to stand in a soup lines as a result of your precious 401(k) dropping 50%. Bunch of babies.

Get real, you pack of hipster doofuses. Quit creating conflicts that aren't there just so you can have a soapbox to stand on.

Time for a $2.99 Acme hoagie. (Not so bad, really).

I.....HATE.....LOST

So my lovely wife just notified me that LOST is moving to 10pm when it resumes on February 7th. They want to avoid competing with American Idol. I don't even know what to say. First, they kill off Eko. Next, they focus much of their energy during the last couple episodes on some ridiculous (and dirty - not in the kinky way - the real filth way) sexual relationship between Kate and Sawyer. Now they have the nerve to alienate their audience even MORE by moving it to a timeslot NO ONE WATCHES. I'll follow Mike's lead and watch it online.

I'm trying St. Feiullien Christmas Ale for the first time. I mistakenly told my brother to pick me up two bottles thinking he was getting Gouden Carolus Noel. Needless to say, St. Feiullien is a subpar Christmas brew, regardless of their 95 rating on ratebeer. It just doesn't have the maltiness or spiciness of some of the others I enjoy.

The new year's party will have a decent winter beer selection. I'm thinking of getting a case of the Gouden Carolus Grand Cru for the occasion, as it will surely be a crowd favorite.

Something I need to do before I die: Spend Christmas in an swiss alpine village. Rick Steeves had his annual 'Christmas in Europe' show on last night and he spent half of it in a tiny village high in the swiss alps. Oh man, put some lederhosen on me and call me Samiclaus.

Does Rick Steeves have the best job ever? The answer is Yes.

Rage, Nectar, Overpriced Dom

The past couple years have helped spawn a calmer JP. This may be argued by some, but I think my overall handling of stressful situations has become more mature - excluding sporting events. During a putrid first half in last night's eagles game I texted by brother-in-law Joe the following: i hope m lewis is paralyzed, goes into a coma, and dies, to which he responded, you should be shot for owning his jersey. (he doesn't know I burnt in the backyard and buried deep enough so that not even the squirrels can dig it up.).

The problem here is that for a second I really wanted Michael Lewis to die. But with the quality of his play this year, am I justified for such a thought? Doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Anyway, as it turns out, the play that sparked my outburst resulted in a broken nose and concussion for Mr. Lewis. Sissy.

So I met up with Christina for lunch at Nectar the uber-hip-main-line-neo-asian/french-fusion restaurant in Berwyn. They have a lunch for $10 that includes choice of soup or salad and an entree. Christina had the saffron-infused vegetable fried rice with ginger egg. I had the lo mein with wild boar sausage. It was all good, but the highlight of the day was reviewing the wine list and seeing a '96 Dom for $619. I'm not quite up to speed on vintage champagne so I have no idea if the '96 qualifies, but $619 is just obscene. Where do those frenchy bastards get off?

Oh man, Magnolia is on IFC. Is Tom Cruise wearing a prosthetic penis? I think so.

COS Christmas Holiday Spectacular concert is Thursday. We went last year and was really impressed. It seemed to kick off the Christmas season.

Time to eat some cornish hens.

Back again...for a month maybe

So Hoho convinced me that it may be worthwhile to start contributing to this thing again. Who knows? It'll probably last a month until I get bored and move on to something else . We'll try to make it a good month.

I decided this blog is more theraputic than anything else. So, quite frankly, I don't care if anyone reads it. This post may prove to be a tad on the negative side as I am currently watching the Eagles get run over by an awful Carolina squad. I just got this HD Sony TV and believe me, the Eagles look even worse in high definition.

So enough about football. I'm thinking this thang is going to be focused on nothing. Not like Seinfeld nothing, but like Virginia Woolf nothing. For instance, I'm on my second bottle of brew tonight. Now I'm not normally a booze hound on Mondays but since I anticipated Jeff Garcia looking THIS awful, I prepared by lubing up to avoid the emotional stress. Only problem is that I didn't think ahead. I started the night with a nice World Wide Stout. For those that know me, WWS is one of my favorite beers. In fact, I'd argue it's the best stout out there (and ratebeer.com backs me up - I don't want to hear about Storm King, either). Problem is that this is an 18% beer. Ok. I can handle that. What I can't handle is following it up with The Beast by Avery. This is a Grand Cru that measures close to 15%. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal. Two high alcohol brews within 5 hours is no big deal. That's a normal day. Tonight it's both within an hour. Needless to say, Jeff Garcia isn't looking quite as bad now...

So my wife is pregnant. Yay. It's exciting although she really isn't showing, nor has she been sick so nothing really feels different aside from the talk of bugaboo stollers and prenatal vitamins. I'm frightened of carrying babies up steps.

We're going to South Africa at the end of January. Did you know that the average age in South Africa is now 25? How sad. 1 in 3...boy Jeff Garcia really sucks it doesn't matter how much beer you've had...people have AIDS. Oh well. I'm planning to enjoy it as I've heard Cape Town is one of the world's most beautiful cities. I plan on swimming with penguins near the Cape of Good Hope. There are great whites that jump like 6 feet out of the water but I think I can take em.

A good read for those interested in Trappist Ales is 'Brew Like a Monk.' I may write about belgian yeast strains in the near future but I'm boring myself even thinking about it. But seriously brewing and beer will be a constant feature, as I'm convinced that the beer world is much more interesting than lameo wine world.

Speaking of wine, Chris, Micha, Christina, and I shared a bottle of '92 Dom on Saturday. Chris' dad gave a bottle of the Perignon on a hunch that it was corked. Big mistake. It was glorious and I can now justify spending $250 on a bottle of champagne. My wife would rip my testes off, but it may be worth it.