Tuesday, June 09, 2009

As They Go, SOGO I

When the saying goes something like, "...you've got to get up early to keep up with...", the ubiquitous 'they' may have been referring to the restless brew dudes from our local breweries. Like, getting up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning to get the party started. The incriminating photos shall stay incarcerated. You're just gonna get the safe ones...for now. Cute puppy dogs, upright beer folk, and the like. That's the way things go when you start drinking at 8am on a warm Sunday morning with the good folks from Tröegs (that's Mr. Nick Johnson to you), Flying Fish (the ambassador of Cherry Hill to Philly, Mr. Casey Hughes), and Yards (er, did Herr Mashington get lost on The Wall?). Sunshine Pils, Troeganator, Philly Pale, Saison...and what the heck was pouring from FF, I do not recall. Nonetheless, plenty of beer to go around. Well, not that I began drinking at 8am in the morning. Those silly sorts of things only happen in Cooperstown...and for other select special occasions. We met up with these gents and a couple hundred or so of their closest friends as well as people who wanted to be their friends or just people who wanted a beer, a jello shot, a vodka slide, or a game of beer pong. Did this really make for two days in a row that I wound up at parties with beer pong and vodka slides? (And one party with a moon bounce, too!) Turns out, with the SOGO party house (you know what SOGO stands for, right?) about 6 blocks away from the top of the famed Wall in Manayunk/Roxborough, we never did catch any of the cycling action. There was plenty of action (read: 10 kegs of great beer and enough liquor to melt an ice block) at the party to get us in trouble. We bowed out, though, before we could cause too much of our own. An easy trip out the Schuylkill Expressway (is that twice in the past few weeks that I've made that reference?!), and we found ourselves with some light food and a couple of West Coast treats at The Drafting Room. I've already advised you to get thyself to a TDR barseat and help to drain those kegs. Then it was on to Wegmans for a grocery trip...before a lawn mowing session ended in a date with my hammock, a schwarzbier, and a nap. Not a bad way at all to finish off an almost-perfect weekend in Philly. Oh, did I mention how the weekend began on Friday night with me setting a 5-K PR (that's personal record, in runner parlance) in Springfield at the Victory Brewing-sponsored Run The Monk 5-K? I had a rough day on Friday, so I was running with a bit of chip on my shoulder which probably only helped me best my 5-K all-time by 26 seconds. A fortuitous meetup with Patrick Mullin there, with his running wife Tracy, made for a nice after-race party with a couple of Pils and HopDevils to rehyrdrate and to wash down the BBQ from Victory. Speaking of...did you read the article where Granada University researchers (in Spain) have spoken up on the benefits of beer over water for post-exercise rehydration? Speaking of....have I meandered enough here for one posting? Okay,,,,hard stop. p.s. and one last word...if you didn't know. Sun's Out, Guns Out....now....hard stop. (honestly)

4 comments:

Johnsonator said...

I have a shirt for you.... shall we meet up for a beer sometime next week?

Steve said...

Yes, I got stuck on the wall. Yeah, that's the ticket.

RT said...

Great write-up!

Mike said...

Nice write up. I guess between this and the party itself, we should actually update the SOGO website.