Heresy Imperial Stout Aged in Oak Barrels
8% ABV
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Easton, PA
Color-Dark as night.  I swear I saw two red pig eyes in there looking back at me!

Aroma-Vanilla, a little dark and toasted malt, peppery hops.

Taste – Great stout start, strong vanilla/oak in the middle, good hoppy/coffee finish.  This is good, real good!  Woo!  There’s the alcohol!  Better slow down and savor this one for a while…I’ll get back to you.  Great, full mouth feel.  Good quality oaked aged stout, highly recommended!
Saaalut!
8 bananas.

I don’t know when fist bumping first started, but it is rapidly taking over and killing the high five.  My first exposure to the bump was at a dive bar across from my old apartment.  They had dart tournaments one night a week.  I wasn’t a regular, but I did get to compete occasionally.  We always had a dartboard when I was in college.  I wasn’t great, but and I did score much better at darts than I ever did in my classes.  Anyway, in the dart tournaments, you were randomly assigned a partner.  I knew how to play darts, but I didn’t know the ins and outs of dart etiquette.  Every time I would score well, my partner would give me the dreaded fist bump and say, “Good darts.”  While I was unfamiliar with the tradition of fist bumping, I went along with it just to fit in with the uber-cool dart community.

I’ve since had time to reflect on fist bumping and I am now totally against it.  There’s no worse feeling than going in for a high five and realizing that your partner is presenting a solid fist.  Do you quickly close your hand and stumble into a weak wristed, half closed hand, fist bump?  Or do you hold strong with your high five and awkwardly slap their closed fist?   It’s really a no-win situation.  I have decided that I will remain open handed and gently wrap my fingers around their closed fist.  I will then hold onto their hand and just look into their eyes and smile, until they uncomfortably jerk their hand away.  I believe this will effectively end the fist bump phenomenon, one uncomfortable hand holding exchange at a time.

Hanami Ale   

Smuttynose Brewing Co., Portsmouth, NH

According to Smuttynose, this is an ale brewed with cherries and other natural flavors…O.K.
The color is a deep pinkish amber.
The aroma is sweet, cherry pie…Oh yeah!
First sip-CHERRIES!!!  This is not an ale with a subtle cherry flavor, this is all cherry with other subtle flavors falling in.  I can’t tell if it’s all sour cherry or cherry with a lemon finish.  There is a quality ale carrying these huge fruit flavors.  If you like fruit beers, especially cherry, then this beer is for you.   I happened to have lasagna with this beer and they complimented each other very well.  I imagine this beer could step in anywhere a red wine could go.  Hanami Ale would also go very well with dark chocolate, cherry cobbler, or chocolate covered cherries.

Saaalut!

Hanami Ale gets  9  bananas!

Bell’s Amber Ale
5.8% ABV
Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Comstock, MI

Golden Amber in color

Great Amber Ale, malt lays comfortably over the top of the hops, perfectly balanced for the style.  This is THE amber ale.  Crisp and clean, malty goodness.  Bell’s proudly states that this is their flagship beer, and rightly so.  Bell’s makes some quality beer but I’ve had sediment in every brew from them so far.  They are not pasteurized, so maybe this is the norm.  It doesn’t seem to affect the flavor.  If it does affect the flavor then I really want to go to Michigan and try these beers fresh!  Highly recommended, give all Bell’s offerings a shot!

Saaalut!

Strong 9 bananas!

I read a column in the paper today that basically said The Dawgs would have an o.k. year in 2009, but we don’t have a prayer against Florida.  The columnist implied that Coach Richt said, ‘If we couldn’t beat Florida with Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno last year, how can we win with Joe Cox and Caleb King?’   I hear they are already fitting the crystal trophy to fit Urban Meyer’s little cloven hooves.  We are in a rebuilding year, can’t we just skip the Florida game?  Is it fair to put our poor, little, down-trodden Bullpups up against the mighty Gators and the glorious Tim Tebow?  I just hope the repeating national champion Florida Gators take it easy on us.  At least keep it close Mr. Meyer, maybe within 40 points…Puurrty Please?  Can we  forfeit?  It would give our players some much needed rest so we could finish out the season strong.  Actually, should Florida even have to play any of these games?  I mean, what if the Mighty Tebow twists an ankle or something, landing after his descent to the field?  Why take that chance?  We all know they’re going to win it all…Right?   Right?

You know what I think would make Tebow’s uniform look better?  Lots of beautiful red streaks, all over his helmet.  Walk into Jacksonville on Cloud 9,  gators…And bring Herbstreit with you!!!  There’s a reckoning coming this Halloween!

I can hear the mullet headed, jean short wearers now, “Heyyyyy!  I thought ‘is monkey lacked ‘dem gators???”

I heard a commercial on the radio, the other day, that really disgusted me.  It basically said that if you are a married man, struggling in your career, it is better to divorce your wife now rather than waiting until you’re successful.  Because when you are successful, you will have so much more to lose.  What a piece of shit!  I know the economy is rough, but is it really necessary to encourage divorce,  just to drum up business?

 All that P.O.S. Is thinking about is his $5000, not the damage and life changing event he is promoting.   And if kids are involved, you think the P.O.S. cares?  Of course he does, can you say custody battle?  CHA-CHING!!!
Marriage is hard enough, as it is.  We don’t need these pointy-tailed, pitchfork totin’ anti-cheerleader types, on the sidelines, putting ‘easy outs’ in our face.  There is no ‘easy out’!  You either put your nose to the grindstone and do the work to make a marriage work or you divorce, and spend the rest of your life working to repair the damage done.  You also pass on that legacy to your kids, and they get to spend their lives working to repair that same damage.  I’m not saying that divorce is never the answer.  I know that sometimes, a marriage can be too far gone to save, and divorce is inevitable.  What I am saying is that today, in our society, divorce is much more common and too frequently looked at as an easy way out.

On a positive note, at Talking Monkey’s Wedding Ring Rental, business is good.

For those of you that think golf is just hitting and chasing a little white ball around, here is how I hit a golf ball.

Tee it up, not so high that I swing under it, but high enough so that it hits right in the middle of the driver. Step back, look at the shot, line up the shot, approach the ball. Put left, big toe even with the ball and far enough away so that my back will be straight, my arms will run in a straight line with the club, not too close but not too far away. Grip the club. Wrap left pinkie around the end of the grip, make sure club balances between palm and pinkie, then place thumb down the center of the grip and let the other fingers fall into place around the shaft. Knowing that my default grip is a little weak, twist left hand a little more to the right until the head of the club is slightly closed. Interlock right pinkie and let fingers of right hand loosely wrap around the shaft making sure the left thumb sits snugly in the middle of the right palm, right thumb goes straight down the shaft, same as the left. Move my right foot up, even with the left, making sure they are a little farther apart than my shoulders are wide. Address the ball, make sure I’m the right distance from the ball, where the head of the club rests comfortably on the ground, keeping my body and arms in the optimal position, the ball should be a little past center on the face of the club, towards the toe. Now waggle. Loosen grip, break wrists back and forth, make sure my knees are perfectly bent, sway left to right to loosen my hips, make sure my back is straight but loose, make sure my feet are comfortable in their shoes. Look up and visualize the entire shot. Look back down at the ball and pick a concentration point on the ball to stare at to keep my head down! Visualize the entire swing in your mind and pause and relax. Use core muscles to start the long sweeping backswing, don’t break wrists until the last moment, let my weight transfer smoothly from the left foot to the right, don’t take the club too far past parallel, pause. Pop my hips, launch my downswing, again starting with my core muscles, pulling my arms through. Let weight start naturally shifting back from the right leg back to the front, building up all this power that will be released when my wrists finally release, all that torque, all that power. Let the head of the club come through the swing and end up right where it started, just above the lowest point of your swing, on the way back up, releasing all of the built up energy into the ball, which is now egg shaped, instead of round. Let my eyes follow the head of the club up as my follow through mirrors my backswing, keep looking up until my eyes find the ball again and follow it to see where it goes, as I hold the perfect follow through stance. Wait untill the ball comes to rest, put the driver up, and go do it all over again.

That’s option A.  Option B is to go through all of the motions listed above, lift your head up right before you hit the ball, to see where it goes.  Top the son of a bitch, and watch it shoot straight into the woods.

Talk about mixed emotions, the 2009 British Open was a roller coaster!  It hurt my heart to watch Tom Watson’s collapse on the 18th hole, but I was happy to see Stewart Cink get his first major championship.  In the press conference after the championship, Watson admitted that he hit the perfect shot with the wrong club.  And what about Andy North’s jinx?  He stated that Tom Watson would make the putt, and win the tournament.  We all know what happened next.

The most interesting point I heard was Curtis Strange’s breakdown of why the game goes away with age.  I, like most people, assumed it was the physicality that went away.  Flexibility, strength, etc.  Strange said it was the ability to focus that went away.  The ability to maintain that mental toughness, and remain in the zone for the amount of time it takes to win a golf tournament.  Jack Nicklaus added to this point in a phone interview, during The Open coverage.  Basically, he said that it is in the hands, that you don’t have the feel that you did when you were younger.  You could hear in Jack’s voice that he was rooting for Watson, but he just didn’t think he had it.  If you really watched The Open, you saw Watson lose that tournament early on.  Watson was not making putts all day, leaving everything short.  He dropped 3 strokes and was pretty much out of it, but luckily the field fell back to him.  When he walked up the 18th fairway, he knew he had stolen one, and he knew it was over.  When he hit that 8 iron 2nd shot, he knew he couldn’t have hit it any better…that was the problem, it should have been a 9 iron.  That’s when he started to realize that the tournament was still over, but with a different result.  The playoff was obsolete, the tournament ended on 18.  So Watson only gets to win 5 British Opens.  I don’t think he’s looking for any pity.  And who knows, can he do it again next year at St. Andrews?  We’ll see.

What is it about golf that we love so much?  Is it being outside, enjoying the weather?  That’s part of it, but we still play in the heat, rain, wind, etc.  Is it the competition?  Yes and no.  It’s fun to compete against others, but I think the major competition is against ourselves.  We have the opportunity with every shot to be great, at least for that one shot.

The fraternity of golfers is made up of hackers, bad golfers, good golfers, great golfers, hustlers, club pros and touring pros, but we all have one thing in common.  We love golf and we hate golf.  It all depends on when you ask us.

A bad golfer thinks, “I hope I don’t miss this putt.”

A good golfer thinks, “I have to make this putt.”

A great golfer has already made the putt.

Wherever you fit in, just keep playing.  Well, gotta go, it’s my turn.  God I hope I don’t miss this putt.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

18-20% ABV

As I pick up my goblet to take a sip, I hear an old Knight say, “You’ve chosen…wisely.”
This is mecca for beer lovers.  I know that technically it is a beer, but there is so much more to this beverage!  It drinks like a port or a brandy.  The aroma is very telling.  I smell hops, malt, alcohol, many layers.
The taste-There they are, hops galore!  But not in your face.  You can taste plenty of woody, citrusy hop flavor, but it is more than balanced out by the huge malt and alcohol.  This beer is sweet!  The hops and sweetness spiral together through your mouth giving you appropriately timed tastes of each, but the overall impression and finish is sweet. And it lingers.  My teeth taste good, my tongue tastes good, my lips taste good!  I don’t want this one to end.  I’m going out of state at the end of August, and I will return with more of this delicious contraband to put away in the cellar.  I think a 10 year old 120 would be amazing.
I have a note from Florida to Georgia here, “Please don’t change your beer laws.  We are making a killing!”
I’m just saying, I can’t buy an 18%ABV beer in Georgia, but I can get a bottle of 200 proof Golden Grain??? (Sorry, let me get this soap box out of your way.)
Anyway, loved the beer, go find it and buy more than one, so you can store some away.

Saaaalut!
Solid 10 bananas!