Getting so ********ing hype for this match with the help of @hangthadj's girl, Carly Rae Jepsen. I wonder if I'll have time to get to the game early enough to hand out beers?
Oh. My deepest apologies. I was unaware you liked that stuff.... If it helps my apology, I have been to Mad Tree Brewing. Very nice place! Decent beer. Will not be drinking it this weekend. @Ueberjames - I have two old friends who are brewers at Goose Island in Chicago. Once upon a time, I drank a bit of that beer. Not these days. I am with @Minnman. I will be passing up Platform at the grocery store. Win for the independent brewers. I like local and small. Nothing against the big beer places. More about supporting the little guys and gals. How late are you getting there? How early is too early? Asking for a friend (right, @DAFCrew). Paging @Hamburgler03.
Wonderful idea. Alas, it's Great Taste of the Midwest weekend in Madison; the best beer festival in the US, and once again, I don't have a ticket: https://greattaste.org/ Okay, just an opinion about the "best beer fest" thing, but it's certainly one of the best, is on just about everyone's best-of list, is the second oldest behind the GABF, and is a very hard ticket to come by. Plus, no other festival can boast of having Mama Digdown's Brass Band funking and weaving its way through a crowd of deliriously happy festival goers. Though, horribly, they seem to be not performing this year!
Hey I tried with this: Losing and Draw are not options this weekend. Concerns I have are the underdog factor in a rivalry game, a new coach infusing a struggling squad with some confidence and the Crew making a lineup with the rash of injuries. The Crew are the better team, just score some goals and Room will take care of the rest. If we can get 2, a W should be easy. 1 runs the risk of settling for a draw. Since Sosa hasn't been getting minutes, I think I'd rather see Santos in the attacking portion of the field and really hope Keita can play LB. If not, I think we're stuck with Santos back there. Here's my preferred lineup: ----------------------------Room---------------------------- --Keita--------Crognale---------Mensah--------Afful-- ------------------Trapp---------Artur------------------------ --------Diaz------------Santos------------Argudo-------- ----------------------------Zardes---------------------------- Bench: Kempin, Clark, Guzman, Sosa, Mokhtar, Accam, R. Williams Guessing we'll be forced to put Santos in the back as Keita won't be healthy enough to start or even make the bench. In that case, bring Sosa in as the 10 and maybe Hamilton gets his first call into the sub lineup.
Well, I don't like the stuff but I can't say no to a can that cute. MadTree is fine; for beer and atmosphere, I prefer Rhinegeist (or, actually, Fifth Street Brewpub ((now accepting members!!)) or Dayton Beer Company). But, I'm also very un-wealthy, so it's usually Natty for me. My arrival will be contingent on my wife. She's helping take her little brother back to college on Friday and hanging out down in Louisville with some of her other siblings. She plans on being back in Dayton by 2:00 on Saturday but I've heard that story before. If I can be at MAPFRE by 6:00, I'll bring a few sixers of Dayton brews.
If Santos has to play RB, rather than Sosa, maybe we see more of a 4-4-2 with Romario up top with Zardes. Isn;t that what they did when Sanots slid back there last time?
When I lived in Chicago, I used to visit Goose Island on a regular basis. It was one of the stops on my bachelor party pub crawl, and was one of the last places in Chicago that I stopped in for a goodbye beer before my wife and I moved to NE Ohio. So when AB InBev bought them out, I was heartbroken. They can claim it's the same recipe all they want, but once you start making the beer at a highly-automated production brewery, it loses its soul. It was the same with Bass Ale, which was such a distinctive beer that it was used as the model for the Pale Ale that many American craft and homebrews were based on. After InBev bought them out and starting brewing it for the American market at AB's production brewery in New Hampshire, Bass has become a generic, boring ale that lacks the character that made it so popular in the first place, and my understanding is that sales have dropped precipitously. So I will avoid AB InBev beers when possible. Spaten's Oktoberfest beer is still pretty good, but that may be because it's still brewed in Germany. I prefer to support my locals as much as possible. I got it from my grandfather, who used to drive from Troy down to Cincinnati to get kegs of Christian Moerlein and Ft. Mitchell, KY to get Oldenburg. I myself worked for Great Lakes Brewing Company back in the early 1990s and really enjoyed working for the Conway Brothers (Although I think I'll pass on that new Moscow Mule beer they released). These days I'd rather drop into MadCap or Headtrip or Hop Tree, where I can have a pint and sometimes have a chat with the brewers. I actually went to college with the owners of Wadsworth Brewing Co., who are the nicest people you could hope to meet.
Donatos is a pizza flavored cracker. I'm not a huge fan of beans in my chili but then again I wouldn't call that chili. But for some reason I just like it. Something about the combo with sketti & a pile of cheddar cheese sprinkled with hot sauce is magical.
Regarding beer: I drink what I like. I like Bud Heavy and other beer-flavored beers. Platform's New Cleveland is also a favorite. Sue me. Regarding Cincinnati: I like Skyline Chili, Jungle Jim's, the Museum Center and absolutely zero other things about the town. Maybe Goetta. Their soccer team is a joke, which on MLS - a league that is widely considered to be a joke itself - is saying a lot. Everything about their franchise is laughably terrible, to the point where their own fans have been asking the social media staff to stop participating in the Twitter "Banter Warz" this week. One day they'll figure it out. But not until they clean house and hire soccer people top to bottom. But by then, they'll be MLS 3.0 living in an MLS X world.
Wait a sec... Someone from Cincinnati social media did something more terrible than grilling a knock-off jersey?
Donatos is the best chain pizza! We're getting one in Marietta and I'm SUPER STOKED. Though I'm going to fish up at Alum Creek Res. tomorrow, I think I'm going to hit up Giordanos and bring some home for the fam.