Balticon 2009 Bacon

I have not had the BLT sandwich at the Balticon hotel, but this past weekend, Mur did. And when it came out in it's crispy, piled-high glory, Evo was there to provide photographic witness.



He could only offer the following tweet comment on the matter: "All of the pigs were sacrificed for @mightymur's BLT."

Indeed, Evo. Indeed, they were.

Farpoint 2009 Libations

Balticon is this weekend, and in gearing up for the convention, I am reminded that I never posted the Farpoint libations list. At Farpoint in February, the hotel bartender got into the spirit of the con with some zeal, and devised a Star Trek-inspired beverage selection for the bar. For the curious, here are the drinks and recipes:

• Actuarian Fizz: lemon juice, grenadine, gin, & club soda

• Chech'tluth: bourbon, gin, club soda, peppermint schnapps, & Johnnie Walker

• Klingon Bloodwine: red wine infused with ginger, & fresh chilies

• Black Hole: Kahlua, Smirnoff "w"odka, & lemon juice

• Antimatter Shot: Sambuca, Blue Curacao

• Klingon Martini: gin, vermouth, & a dash of Bloodwine - as budding martini aficionado, I couldn't pass this up. It... wasn't as bad as I feared. With better gin, it could have been "good." Also, it didn't really look "Klingon":
  

• The Picard Cocktail: 8 oz. of Earl Grey tea hot, 1 oz. Grand Marnier - Jared had this one and was willing to share. It was surprisingly good.

• Vulcan Mind Meld: 1 part ouzo, 1 part rum (151 proof)

• Talos IV Coffee: 3 parts Grand Marnier, 1 part coffee

• Klingon Disrupter: Jim Bean, Patron Tequila, cinnamon schnapps
  

I'm not normally a "mixed drinks" fellow, but if there are similar options next year, I may need to explore them a bit more.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

It must be Thanksgiving, as there is no other explanation for the sudden appearance of the following inflatable abomination of confused symbology slumped in my neighbor's yard:


For our own part, the feast was well-apportioned and heartily enjoyed, and I continued my Thanksgiving tradition of cracking open a bottle of Dogfish Head's wonderful Chateau Jiahu to mark the occasion.

Enjoy yourselves, but don't be too gluttonous. Obesity and excess are not, in most cases, things to be thankful for.

From the Dregs of the Sea to the Dregs of Oktoberfest

And so it came to pass that the International Talk Like A Pirate Day event at the Clipper City Brewery was attended, and ended up being quite good.

• The front office area contained a small but well-stocked bar serving all of their main brews, including the just-in-season Winter Storm. The stated requirement to be served this latter brew was to wear "pirate garb," for which patrons were screened by the serving wench. Due to time constraints and a broken toe, I chose not to come in costume, and instead wore a Pirates of the Caribbean shirt. Sadly, this didn't pass muster. However, everyone did receive an eyepatch at the door, which did count... when worn properly and uttering an appropriate piratical phrase.

• The back warehouse was set up with taps, tables, not too ridiculously priced brisket and sausage-based food. Portable latrines were set up on the back loading platform, leading to it being affectionately referred to as... wait for it... the "poop deck." Pirate filk band The Salty Dogs, as well as founder Hugh Sisson, made the rounds and encouraged the joviality. The event was advertised as having an upper limit of 200 people, and it appears that roughly that number were in attendance, many of whom had a nigh-Rennfest level of detail to there costumery.

• My and Laura’s evening was most pleasantly spent with Tom, Carrie, and Greg. Plans were made on how to appropriate NASA technology to suck a stack of cases of Loose Cannon back to our respective homes, but sadly the time and engineering constraints were too much to overcome.

• Overall, I’d call this a success, especially given the Heavy Seas pint glass I walked away with. On the basis of this, I definitely will make time for future Clipper City on-site events.

I am currently in Munich, taking a week of vacation while Laura is at a JWST conference. Sadly (or perhaps not), we have missed Oktoberfest’s official ending by a week. I suspect there may still be some beer left in this country, however...

Talking Like a Pirate Tonight in the Clipper City

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and to celebrate, the local Clipper City Brewery is having an event this evening from 19:00 - 22:00 EST that will include food, beer tasting, and live music. Laura and I will be stopping by, both because it sounds like fun, and I'm quite the fan of their Heavy Seas line of beers.

If you are near the Baltimore area at all this evening, I encourage you to check it out. Details are here.

Harpoon Tasting at the Perfect Pour - 09.12.08

As previously mentioned, I was recently turned on the The Perfect Pour (by Melanie, to whom I owe great thanks!), a new local beer and wine establishment. It is my new Beer Mecca (TM cmdln). They have, hands down, the best selection of domestic and international microbrews that I have seen yet, at the very least in my area. Another pleasant discovery is that they host regular beer samplings.

Tonight I stopped by for the Harpoon beer tasting. I had the pleasure of chatting with Nick from Harpoon about their current and upcoming offerings, as well as tasting the following brews, none of which I have had previously:

• UFO (UnFiltered Offering) Hefeweizen - A solid example of hefeweizen style, and worthy future exploration.
  
• Octoberfest - I'm not a big fan of the Marzen/Octoberfest lager style, and this struck me as being par for the course, but quite drinkable.
  
• IPA - Very good, and compared favorably to similar brews like the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. Then again, I am biased towards this style. :)
  

The conversation was as good as the beer, and I was interested to hear of Harpoon's upcoming Leviathan Series. The Triticus, a 14.3% wheat-wine ale aged in bourbon casks, sounds particularly intriguing, and will be the first release under that label.

I ended up walking away with a six-pack of the IPA and a Harpoon IPA pint glass, which made for a lovely cap on the event. I plan on attending other tastings there, a schedule of which can be found on The Perfect Pour's website.

4. Southern Tier Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout

I was recently turned on to a new local beverage store, the Perfect Pour, and I am insanely happy to have found it - they have the single best beer selection I have yet seen in my area. This particular brew came highly recommended from the staff, and I was not disappointed.

Vitals:

• Name: Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout
  

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
  

• Style: Sweet Stout (Category 13B, BJCP 2008 Style Guidelines)

• Alcohol: 10.0%

• Serving: 22-ounce bottle, chilled, served in a freezer-stored Rifts pint glass
  

Scoring (in solidarity with Charlie the Beer Guy):

• Appearance: 9 - Pours a totally opaque brown-black, with no light penetration. The head is brown and foamy, fading slowly to a thin lace.

• Aroma: 10 - Simply amazing. A powerful slug of vanilla, with butterscotch-caramel notes and a slight alcoholic undercurrent.
  

• Taste: 9 - Very sweet, with a strong mix of vanilla and chocolate notes upfront. Roasty butterscotch and coffee flavors come out in the middle, with a pleasant bitter roastiness in the finish that persists. Little evidence of its high alcohol content.
  

• Mouthfeel: 9 - Thick and rich, with little carbonation evident. Very smooth and silky.
  

• Holistic: 9 - This mad hybrid of a dessert, a coffee drink, and a beer just blew me away. Wow.
  

Overall: 46 - Very impressive. While not for swift consumption or for all occasions, this is a serious treat that seems best at home complimenting dessert after a large meal. I definitely intend to pick this up again, perhaps to go along with a holiday dinner or two.