Happy Accidents

In the spring of this year I was planning a get-together in Manhattan to go bar hopping as well as stop at a restaurant known for their German food and excellent German beer (Zum Schneider). We all decided to arbitrarily meet up at ABC Beer Co, which is right across the street. After our first beer there we were kind of amazed by the quality of the place, and after lunch cancelled the pub crawl and went right back to ABC.

That day I had draught Schlenkerla Fastenbier (which wasn't available at Zum Schneider), amazingly fresh FW Union Jack, Maine Beer Co Mo, FW Velvet Merlin, and a few other unusual goodies- plus they have a bottle shop, so I went home with the excellent Italian Gose, Baciami Lipsia. It became a fave spot, and it was all quite random how we happened there in the first place.

 

Visited my favorite bar, Brauhaus Schmitz in Philly one night. Turns out the head Brewmaster for Schneider & Sohn, Hans-Peter Drexler was there. He literally tapped a keg of Tap X Mein Nelson Sauvin right behind the bar. Went nicely with a game inspired dinner tasting menu.

 

Last summer I was in Hyannis MA, for my cousin's wedding. Went to a bar with my brother that I had been to before years ago, when I was under-age (restaurant during the day to clarify), just to grab a drink and meet up with my father later on. Lucky us they had an Allagash Tap Takeover. Got to try Midnight Brett, Confluence, Curieux, Odyssey (so f'n good), and when my brother tried to order their triple it had tapped out but they replaced it with Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin and needless to say I also had one of those as well. Just as we are about to leave my cousin and her fiance came in (we didn't plan on meeting them) so that was one swell evening.

The next day I went to a random liquor store for some wedding booze and I scooped some JA Vanilla and Coffee Framminghammer and a couple FW DDBA's. Drank a CS Billionaire that I had brought during the wedding reception, made a few converts with an impromptu tasting at my table. Fantastic Weekend.

 

Picked my cousin up from work the other day and he told me he would by beer. The Canal's I decided to stop at had barrel aged Narwhal and The Shape of Hops to Come which really made our day.

 

My dad brews beer and gives me all I want for free. I accidentally stop by his house all the time. thanks pops!

 

It usually involves going to a bottle shop and they, actually, have as much Toppling Goliath or Three Floyds as you could want, but I, for whatever reason, just want one or two because I'm all about the "ticks."

 

Love ABC

 

During the summer a friend had a very informal wedding in NYC. This involved getting married in Central Park, drinks afterwards at a bar in Chelsea, and then dinner in Soho.

As a big group of us were walking from CP to the subway after the service, a couple of people said they wanted to run into a bar to take a piss, so we all said what the hell may as well have a drink. Turned out there had been a founders event, and they had KBS on tap. That was a nice surprise, especially since I hadn't had it this year until that point.

 

One time, I walked into my favorite bottle-shop to pick up a few cold ones for the evening. I went to the cooler grab two bombers, paid for them, and went home. When I got there, I realized that instead of just regular Colt .45, I had grabbed Colt .45 DOUBLE MALT!!!!!! SCORE!

 

While not an accident, I feel this way everytime I walk into Blackback pub in Vermont, with all of their Hill Farmstead and Alchemist beers on tap.

 

Used to lurk on this site before I actually registered and became a full fledged beer looney....decided to randomly search for heady on beer menus because "what the hell"...turns out a beer distributor had heady added to their list that day (probably not legal anymore to have it In ny) which was gone by days end I think...bought my first heady and my IPA hysteria had commenced...what are the odds? It gets better because me and my cousin shortly after did research and planned a Vermont trip after that...the Week we went up it was announced the alchemist cannery was closing and we got to see the place 2 days before it was closed...haven't smelled anything better than that cannery before or since

 

We stayed in Chicago down the block from Eataly. I hadn't heard of it, but my wife wanted to go. That place is awesome. They had a ton of DFH that I don't normally get, there were six packs of Three Floyds Zombie Dust sitting on the shelves, the pub had stuff like Artic Panzer Wolf on tap, 75 minute ipa cask, etc.

 

Brauhaus Schmitz is EXCELLENT! Great food . Great bier selection. Love that place

 

Non beer lovers in Bayview? Let alone Sugar Maple? I don't believe it!

 

Some years back I went to a local beverage place and there was a tasting with a local brewery, Captain Lawrence. Among the samples was a cask version of a great beer, Nor'Easter, that was simply off the charts. The man pouring was very knowledgable, very friendly, and we ended up sharing a few and having a nice long talk about beer as we did. He let me buy a growler of the cask Nor'Easter, even though he said it wasn't for sale, only samples. About a year later I found out the man was Scott Vacarro, owner and head brewer of Captain Lawrence.

 

2 days ago - stopped by the wholefoods near my office at lunch time and they had just tapped a keg of 2013 bourbon county stout - grabbed some lunch, went back to the office and told my team there was a compulsory meeting in an hour at the bar in whole foods - 5 bourbon county's for $38 and they were full 10-12 ounce pours too - super happy with my Tuesday this week

 

I also agree Del Ducato Baciami Lipsia is hands down my favorite Gose I've ever had the pleasure of sipping.

 

My local dive bar ordered KBS thinking it was Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout. They also call it KBBS. Wish that was kegged.

 

Sounds awesome. What beers did you have?