Beer, Beer, Beer

Last October I went out to California to visit my sister. Each year I go out to visit and we drink this fabulous local beer called Pliny the Elder. When I would come back home I would look for it and never find it in the liquor stores. So on that trip last year I decided I needed to ship a case back to myself. One hundred dollars for the beer and $100 for the shipping later (and a little lie to the shipping store to get liquor mailed back to me) I had it in my living room!

But why would I go to so much trouble to get a case of some microbrewed beer to my house?

Zymurgy magazine, the official publication of the American Homebrewers Association, has released its ninth-annual list of the 50 best beers in America. To assemble the list, its editors ask readers to submit lists of their top 20 favorite beers.

Russian River's acclaimed Pliny the Elder beer won the top slot for the third year in a row. At least many of the others on the list (like Sierra Nevada) have strong national distribution. The top-ranked brewery, as measured by total votes for its beers, was Delaware's Dogfish Head. The brewery's highest-ranking entrant was the hop-heavy Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, which tied for third.
Here's this year's full list (with the ones I really liked highlighted):

1. Russian River Pliny the Elder

2. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

3 (tie). Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

3 (tie). Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

5. Bell’s Hopslam

6. Stone Arrogant Bastard

7. Sierra Nevada Celebration

8 (tie). Sierra Nevada Torpedo

8 (tie). Stone Ruination

10. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

11. Stone Sublimely Self Righteous

12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine

13. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

14 (tie). Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

14 (tie). Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale

16 (tie). Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

16 (tie). New Glarus Belgian Red

18. North Coast Old Rasputin

19. Bell’s Expedition Stout

20 (tie). Deschutes The Abyss

20 (tie). Left Hand Milk Stout

20 (tie). Odell IPA

20 (tie). Samuel Adams Noble Pils

20 (tie). Surly Furious

20 (tie). Troegs Nugget Nectar

26 (tie). Rogue Dead Guy Ale

26 (tie). Samuel Adams Boston Lager

28. Anchor Steam

29 (tie). Bear Republic Racer 5

29 (tie). Ommegang Three Philosophers

29 (tie). Oskar Blues Ten Fidy

29 (tie). Three Floyds Alpha King

29 (tie). Three Floyds Dark Lord

34 (tie). Avery Maharaja

34 (tie). Dogfish Head Indian Brown

34 (tie). Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

34 (tie). Three Floyds Gumballhead

38 (tie). Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

38 (tie). Lost Abbey Angel’s Share

38 (tie). New Belgium La Folie

38 (tie). New Belgium Ranger

38 (tie). Oskar Blues Old Chub

43 (tie). Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

43 (tie). Great Divide Yeti

43 (tie). New Belgium 1554

43 (tie). Russian River Blind Pig

43 (tie). Ska Modus Hoperandi

48 (tie). Alesmith Speedway Stout

48 (tie). Dark Horse Crooked Tree

48 (tie). Green Flash West Coast IPA

48 (tie). Summit EPA

48 (tie). Victory Prima Pils
I couldn't find any of the Bell's beers. I'm still looking for someone I know who lives somewhere it's available!

If you'd rather have an import...here's their list of Top Imports

1. Rodenbach Grand Cru, Belgium

T2. Fullers ESB, England

T2. Guinness, Ireland

T2. Rochefort 10, Belgium

T5. Duvel, Belgium

T5. Saison Dupont, Belgium

T5. St. Bernardus Abt 12, Belgium

T8. Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock, Germany

T8. Cantillon Gueuze, Belgium

T8. Chimay Grande Reserve, Belgium

T8. Orval, Belgium

T8. Samuel Smith's Nut Brown, England

T8. Unibroue La Fin du Monde, Canada

Patiently Parenting

When you are the Aunt or the Grandma or the God Mom you tend to want all your time with your precious kids to be happy and carefree and without that nasty parenting stuff they get at home. It's my job to take him to baseball games and let him stay up past his bedtime.


Every so often I have to take a deep breath and be the adult. I had a couple of those moments this weekend.

The one where we discussed internet safety I want to share here. I'm hoping for kudos or advice on how to follow up.

My Godson needed to be warned that there are creepy people out there on the World Wide Web. And that he doesn't need to have contact with those people.


One of these is a 52 year old fellow that he has shared "comments" with concerning videos of him drumming on his YouTube account.

My Godson has become a pretty decent drummer for a 14 year old.He posts videos of him playing on his YouTube account. I'm proud of him and his talent and am thrilled he not only knows how to drum so well but that he has mastered the YouTube technology. I am not so happy about who may be viewing the videos and encouraging him.

So when I finally put the pieces together that this "encourager" was a 52 year old man in Phoenix who was a bar band drummer I put my foot down. I explained to my Godson that even though his "friend" on line might be a safe bet he needed to discontinue his visiting with him and block him immediately.

There was a bit of a fuss from him and much defense of his "friend" who was just being nice.

I explained that if this older man were someone that wanted to lure him to Phoenix he wasn't going to be rude to him...he was going to compliment him and tell him he could come to Phoenix anytime. And that if my Godson had any thought about running away to get there and see him he needed to put those thoughts out of his head immediately.

Why? I told him why in no uncertain terms.

Because I was not going to enjoy finding him buried in a shallow grave in the sand in Phoenix one day. And THAT was a possibility if he continued to talk to this older man online.

I was not going to spend years looking for him while he's locked in some guy's basement in Phoenix being abused or murdered. And that since it I was an adult who loves him very much, it was my job to explain this stuff to him and to try and protect him from harm.

Not everyone online was a good person and not everyone who asks to be your "friend' on Facebook is your friend. Not everyone who looks at your videos is someone that cares about how well you play the drums. Not everyone needs to know who you are or where you live.

I explained that he needed to go through his friends list and delete anyone who his Mama didn't know or that he had never met or talked with in person. And that if he didn't whittle his friends list down from near 800 to 600 in the next couple days, his Mama and I would either delete his online accounts or stand over his shoulder and go through - one by one - his list of contacts until we felt comfortable with it.

How'd I do? What else should I do?

Get Out And Live

After yesterday's post about how my Mom prepared me for life by making me learn to drive in big city traffic, I think this open letter to the youth of today is appropriate not just for the young but the young at heart!

Teach Your Daughter To Drive In The City

When I was a newly minted licensed driver my Mother never visibly flinched when I wanted to take off for "the city". The city being Kansas City, the largest metropolitian area near our little home town.
I thought it was fabulous that she allowed me to take my little 1976 Pacer X and head off for adventure. Off to Worlds of Fun I and my friends went. Off to KC Royals games we zipped on weekends. Off to the big city.
What I thought was just a very cool thing my Mom was letting me do was a very calculated plan to prepare me for life.
Many years later I found out Mom overrode my Father's objection to me driving into the city on my own. Why? Because she was determined I learn to drive in big city traffic. She never wanted me to be afraid, never wanted me to have to rely on someone else to drive me around and she sure as hell never wanted me to feel as though I was not capable of anything. The rush and crush of the traffic shouldn't be fearful. The thought process I'd need to navigate should be instintive. And the independence I'd have from mastering something as basic as driving in big city traffic would serve me the rest of my life - in so many other areas.
She was right.
Mom never learned to drive in traffic much bigger than her small town. I have seen her drive in busy traffic and honestly she is nervous, indecisive and frankly in over her head.
My Mom taught me many things. But one of the most useful was allowing me to learn how to handle whatever life may throw at me by making me learn to drive in rush hour traffic. At the time, I didn't know I was learning how to overcome most any crisis I'd encounter later. Those are the best lessons.
Thanks, Mom.