Days That End in Y

You may have noticed a paucity of posts here at Days That End in Y. Don’t worry. That trend isn’t continuing. However, one that’s definitely ending is the frequency of posts. Instead of returning to the days of half a dozen or more posts per day, I’ll be writing less frequent but longer and more thoughtful posts. While I don’t think I risk death by blogging, this seems like the best direction to keep this site alive. I do enjoy writing, I do enjoy drinking, and I do enjoy operating this website, but I do also need to focus more energy elsewhere.

If all goes as planned, you should find me blogging from various parts of Europe over the next month and from various locations on the eastern seaboard shortly thereafter. Later in the year, there may even be a cross-country trip, provided the cost of gas doesn’t kill the idea! If you have any suggestions for must-see sites like wineries, breweries, and bars for absolutely anywhere in the country, then let me know! I’m always excited to diversify the experience here outside of Boston. I know I oftentimes focus on local events a bit too much.

That said, I have a couple great posts that I hope you’ll enjoy coming up over the next week!

And speaking of Boston, I might as well mention a few upcoming local events that I think are worthwhile to attend, even if you’re not from the area. Unfortunately, I have to miss a number of them!

• Beer Summit: The Beer Summit is back April 18-19. There are sixty-six confirmed brewers in attendance who will be dishing out unlimited samples at three sessions!
• NERAX: NERAX (New England Real Ale Exhibition) throws its twelfth annual shindig this April 30-May 3 in Davis Square. I think of this as the American counterpart to CAMRA. Indeed, from what I understand, casks are filled up all across Europe and then flown to the USA by CAMRA for this event. Then, those same casks are filled up all across the USA and flown to the UK for their events. I’ve seriously never seen more casks in one room before. They also need volunteers, which was definitely a blast for me last year working security and clean-up.
• Harpoon 5-Miler: You can either run or volunteer at this charity event benefiting The Angel Fund on June 7. Scarily, dehydrated runners get two free beers immediately after running five miles, but it’s all in the name of fun and helping others. I volunteered a couple years ago and highly enjoyed it. I’ll be back again this year.
• American Craft Beer Fest: Beer Advocate returns with its usual awesome festival June 20-21, except this one will be ten times as large! I can’t wait, and I plan on volunteering yet again! I do know that they will need many more volunteers than usual, so if you’re able, help them out!
• The Return of the Belgian Beer Fest: It’s never too early to plan for a beer fest September 26-27! I think this one’s supposed to be smaller than the June fest, so it just might sell out that much faster than usual.

I’d also like to give you a sneak preview at something I’ve been working on: the Boston Beer Trail. A full guide is coming shortly.

I’m dealing with a quintuple whammy of the Extreme Beer Fest, Beija event, Valentine’s Day, anniversary, and girlfriend’s friend visiting this and next week, so the blogging has been sparse. Factor in all the eBay sales (I’ve been trying to clear my apartment of crap in exchange for needed cash), the purchase of a Wii (that’s why I need cash), and miscellaneous stuff, and I simply have no time. Hopefully, this will all change on Tuesday.

Anyway, if you’re in Boston, then you should be attending the Extreme Beer Fest today and tomorrow! The Alström Brothers of Beer Advocate fame put together incredible events. Unfortunately, this one has been sold out for weeks, but you may be able to find tickets on Craigslist. In the meantime, you should plan for the monstrous American Craft Beer Fest, which will be at the World Trade Center June 20-21 (happily coinciding with my birthday).

There’s also an event at Alibi at the Liberty Hotel on Sunday night 10 PM - 1 AM with Beija. You’ll have to RSVP at info@Beija.net.

In the meantime, I don’t want to leave you completely high and dry with absolutely no booze news. Here’s a couple beer-themed tidbits that I found interesting. The video demonstrates how to melt a beer bottle in a microwave. Is it safe? I dunno. Don’t try it at home? As for the picture, it’s pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a diagram for how to cook beer chicken! Mmm…chicken…I haven’t had lunch yet.

Ah, 6th Annual Winter Jubilee, I already miss you. As last time, the event was somewhat badly coordinated with no floor map available or list of beers, a line that went in front of the food (I made sure to eat beforehand), and lights that very annoyingly kept on flickering the whole time. It was also a bit too crowded, though the crowd thinned out a bit after a couple hours. Plus, most breweries brought a very limited selection of beers. Dogfish Head didn’t bring Randall like usual, Clipper City only had two despite having their whole Heavy Seas banner, and there were only two casks in the entire area.

However, I’m willing to discount most of these problems in exchange for fifty-five breweries all in one place pouring unlimited quantities of beer. I was also surprised at the speed at which I was able to get beer despite the large crowds. There were a number of great beers available, and most were good. There were a few really nasty ones that I ended up pouring out, though, in particular those from a small brewery on the North Shore. Here’s a tip for quickly assessing which beer to try: the hotter the chick pouring for you, the worse the beer. Ideally, you should be drinking beer poured by a fat old guy. I, of course, made the mistake of going to the two hottest women in the place and trying their beers. Not a good idea.

There were actually a few new beers that I hadn’t seen before, too, all of them imports. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble remembering what the heck they were because there was no beer list!!!

This time, we went to the second session, and I’m a bit torn as to whether going to the first or second is better. When in doubt, the answer is, of course, to go to both, but there are time, liver, and financial constraints. Anyway, I think the event was much improved from last year: they got rid of tickets and there’s now a cool mini mug. However, there’s still room for improvement. We’ll see how it goes next year.

In the meantime, the next two major events are the Wine Expo on Feb. 8-10 and the Extreme Beer Fest on Feb. 15-16. Unfortunately, the former is ridiculously expensive, and the latter is sold out. I will be at both.

Photo Credit: Michael Guo

The Boston Wine Expo is coming soon on February 8-10. Are you going? I sure plan on it, though $75 is really pushing it for the cost of entry. Maybe they should cut down on the amount of television advertising and lower the ticket cost. Sheesh! However, I just found a discount code!!!

Use the code “GLOBE” and get $15 off the price of a Sunday or two-day ticket!

Bostonist also recently published some great tips about attending:

• Learn to spit.
• Go on Sunday.
• Go with a plan.
• Go if you’re single.

I also noticed that they’re adding a weekly drinks column, which should be interesting.

There are a couple other major drinking events in Boston that are coming up, too:

• Winter Jubilee: Tickets for Session 2 are already sold out! Session 1, however, is still available.
• Extreme Beer Fest: Beer Advocate always has some great events. If possible, I’ll be volunteering as usual.

The 6th Annual Winter Jubilee is coming soon on January 26 to Boston! There are still tickets available, but don’t count on them being available for much longer! I’m excited, especially since I missed three separate beer festivals in Boston this past fall due to traveling.

Just check out this brewer list! I mean, holy crap, how can you miss this?

Abita Brewing Co. Allagash Brewing Co. Babycham Cider Baltika Brands Belekus Marketing Belhaven Breweries Berkshire Brewing Co. Blackthorn Cider Boulder Beer Co. Boston Beer Co. Boston Beerworks Brasserie Dubuisson Brasserie Dupont Brasserie Lefebvre Brasserie Unibroue Brouwerij Affligem Brouwerij Liefmans Brouwerij Malheur Brooklyn Brewery Cape Ann Brewing Co. Clipper City Brewing Co. Cody Brewing Co. Cottrell Brewing Co. Cricket Hill Brewing Co. D.L. Geary Brewing Co. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Eurobrews Flying Dog Brewery Gardner Ale House Brewery and Restaurant Green Mountain Beverage Harpoon Brewery Haverhill Brewing Company/The Tap High & Mighty Brewing Co. Jasper Murdoch_s Ale House/Norwich Inn John Harvard_s Brewhouse Lagunitas Brewing Co. Landmark Brewing Co. La Resistance La Trappe - Brouwerij de Koningshoeven Left Hand Brewing Co. Long Trail Brewing Co. Matt Brewing Company _ Saranac Beers Mercury Brewing Co. Moretti Brewery New England Brewing Co. Newport Storm North Coast Brewing Co. Offshore Ale Company Opa Opa Steakhouse and Brewery Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery Owen O_Leary_s Paper City Brewery Paulaner Brauerei Pennichuck Brewing Co Rapscallion Brewery Rock Art Brewery Shipyard Brewing Co. Smuttynose Brewing Co. Southern Tier Brewing Co. Spaten USA Star Brand Imports Stone Coast Brewery Stoudt_s Brewing Co. Thomas Hooker Ales & Lagers Tigris Beverage Co. Trinity Brewing Co. Tuckerman Brewing Co. Watch City Brewing Co. Woodstock Inn Station & Brewery

For a little more information about the Beer Summit, check out my write up of the 5th Annual Winter Jubilee. While I wasn’t exactly impressed with some of the details of the Summit and didn’t quite feel too good afterwards, I’m still looking forward to this one and have already bought my ticket to the second session.

“Crush in the City” is coming soon. It’ll be a “complete winery and harvest experience” with sample tastings from the Robert Mondavi Private Selection. Ted Allen from “Queer Eye” might also make an appearance. You, however, will likely be unable to taste him.

The scheduled date for Boston is September 28-29 during the Beantown Jazz Festival. Chicago, Long Beach, Lincoln Park, Cleveland, Princeton, and Atlanta are also on the list for upcoming events.

Anyway, this at least sounds interesting and is most importantly free!