Thursday, February 28, 2008

WDBD

The keen observers among you figured out quickly that I was in New York City yesterday. After an honest day's work, I found it difficult to pass up Alan's tempting e-mail from a couple of weeks ago. It was called Night of the Imperials and that about hit the nail on head. Other than a Lagunitas Pilsner, everything else was big in flavor, big in age, and/or big in alcohol....sometimes all of the above. So, in about 90 minutes and paired with shrimp cocktail (perhaps not the best pairing with these beers) and a cubano sandwich (better than the shrimp with beer), I indulged in the following: '04 Dogfish World Wide Stout; '04 Dogfish 120 Minute IPA (via The Randal); Blue Point Sour Cherry Imperial Stout; and Captain Lawrence Imperial IPA (cask). A crazy 90 minutes I tell ya. I made the 120 minute last the entire session (does that make it a session beer?) while I sipped on the other three. As great as the Blind Tiger scene was (and I should've been happy with leaving it at that), I couldn't help but get on the train back to PA with an empty feeling that I missed something great over at Spuyten Duyvil. Even though I was only a few subway stops away from this Brooklyn bar, it wasn't yet opened when I finished with work for the day. So, instead I went directly to Blind Tiger, knowing that I likely wouldn't go back out to Brooklyn (20-30 minutes each way from Manhattan by walking, subway, and walking) to have time for one beer then turn around back into Manhattan. I kept hearing this voice in my head saying "these beers rarely come to the States." I did the (so-called) responsible thing and caught the 6:30pm out of Penn Station so that I could be home by 8:45pm. Otherwise, I was looking at 10pm or 11pm arrival back home and after being up at 5am to get to NYC, that just wasn't an appealing idea, given it was only Wednesday night. But, that voice is still in my head.

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