Jay About Infinity Brewing

On Track... Shit... I still belong to On Track. Everyday I think I will go to another gym. Just about as dirty as that hotel too



No clean towels, mildew, no hot water...

I digress, on Saturday I met up with my buddy LB at Infinity Brewing in South Burlington w/ my son in tow. Is it bad to bring my kid to a beer tasting? What am I... a doctor? I don't know. They are small pours and the 4 together were about equal to a full beer. There are seemingly thousands of now microbreweries opening all over Vermont. I like beer so it is kind of fun. I had not tried (nor ever seen) the beers from Infinity. The brewery is in a small manufacturing business out behind the airport on Ethan Allen Drive. It was small and clean w/ a little pour room and a brewing operation w/ 4 tanks or so. One oddity was they seemed to have more merchandise than beer. There was a whole wall of T-shirts, hats, mugs, etc... but they only have 4 beers. There is a Golden Ale, a Dubbel Ale, a Red Ale, and a Red IPA. All of them had a ton of alcohol. The lowest was the IPA clocking in at 5.8% and the golden which is usually the easy drinker was a whopping 7.7%. I could have used a coat hook or something as the tasting room is pretty sparse w/ just 2 tabletops and the small bar. The people were friendly though and it was as I said, clean. The beers themselves were ok. I liked the golden in spite of the boozy punch and the other 3 were drinkable. I am usually an IPA guy but this one was a little malty and the red was over pronounced in my opinion. In a crowded market I am curious where they will stand out? The beer is not good enough to make it a destination and there is not enough production to get it on tap broadly. I would also not order it over other solid local beers especially at that alcohol "price point".

So I guess I would check it out if you have time but don't go out of your way. Is there ever a bad beer tour? Not really... they are just different levels of pretty ok!

http://www.infinitybrewing.com/#!/HOME#?1#?1#WebrootPlugIn#?1#?1#PhreshPhish#?1#?1#agtpwd

Jay About Fiddlehead HoDad beer

I am a sucker. Like a little kid I get taken in by shiny objects. Put some weird shit at the check out line and I am the sucker that buys it. This past weekend we were spending our kids' college fund on groceries at Healthy Living and I got sucked in again. There before my eyes was a shiny 4 pack of 16oz. cans. It looked just like Heady Toppers. Same size, same silver color, same tops, same too cool for school message about recycling the can. But these were not Toppers... they were the first canned offering from Fiddlehead Brewery in Shelburne.

First a little background on my history w/ Fiddlehead. When they first opened I was psyched, it was a brewery close to my house in a beautiful building w/ a flagship IPA. The early reality was that even though founder Matt Cohen was a friendly and knowledgeable guy the rest of the employees were morons who preferred chatting w/ friends about conditions on the mountain than responding to customers about the beer. Of course they knew very little about the beer or the process so that was fine. The attached pizza place had not opened. Frankly, the worst thing was that the beer was not good. It was flat and lacked flavor, kind of like the one note offerings often found at Long Trail. But they got better. Folino's opened and got geared up w/ pretty decent pizza. The IPA was refined and is now really a good standard IPA on tap around the area, often my go to when there is nothing special to try. The service in the brewery got better and now run pretty tight. They are making it happen, not killing it, but solid.

Background on the Alchemist and it's Heady Topper. It's great. It has always been great. I hate paying $14 for a 4 pack of 16oz beers but I often do. I like it quite a bit.

So, how about the new Fiddlehead cans? $19.95 for the 4 pack. Yikes! That is a pretty steep upcharge on one of the top tick markets out there, and for an unproven product. Needless to say the Toppers were sold out but there were plenty of HoDads available. I plowed ahead, the fool that I am. The beer? It is a coconut infused vanilla porter. Sounds gross but I am willing to be swayed. It is gross. It tastes like shitty soda and there is no way I would ever drink more than 1 (or any ever again after this 4 pack is gone). It cannot get better like the IPA, there is nothing good about it. There is also about 3% less alcohol per can so that is not comparable. I have had some hits and misses at Fiddlehead but the growlers are always pretty reasonable where these cans are a kick in the dick. It seemed like this place was heading in the right direction... hit some ice and has skidded into the ditch. If you want to overpay for a beer, get the Topper. Or even a more reasonably priced 16oz. Sierra Nevada Torpedo.

Erin Go Bragh... Brah!

Get it? For the Bros, or Brahs... ok, whatever... apparently we are saying it wrong anyway, should be Éirinn go Brách. In any event, Happy Saint Patrick's Day. I hope you all are celebrating the fact you are not actually very Irish but drinking a disgusting green dyed American beer that came from Germany. Saint Patrick likely would not give a shit as long as you got those motherf*ing snakes off this motherf*ing plane!!!! I like this holiday, it is one of my favorites. There is no pressure to get gifts or be thoughtful, you just have a bit of fun.  BTW, good for Guinness pulling out of the NY parade over the stance of sexual equality. I am pretty sure there are gay people in Ireland so you should probably let them walk.

So my special lady and I sent the kids down to the grandparents and had a nice date weekend. We hiked the Stowe Pinnacle which was fun despite the rain/heavy snow/rain, went out for a drink at Hen of the Wood which was lovely and then had dinner at L'Amante which was also quite nice. The grilled sardine appetizer was the big hit narrowly edging out the always stellar bolognese. We then headed back home stopping at the Cafe Shelburne, under new ownership and with a dedication to be a little more inviting and informal but keep the high standards of well prepared French fare. We were immediately concerned by the near empty parking lot. More so by the bartender who was reading a book and seemed surprised when we asked to sit at the bar. We ordered a drink and she had to search the place for a drink menu. Not a good sign. After a long wait she finally banged out my cocktail which was actually quite good and well balanced. A main component was absinthe which can go very wrong but was solid in this instance. It was worse for the people who had to wait forever to get their martinis poured. If I were them I might have left. There were only 3 full tables... at 8:45PM on a Saturday. We ordered a lemon ginger creme brulee and it was very nice. The hint of ginger was delicious and not fake or weirdly overpowering. The menu for dinner looked good and the space was nice. Service was slow but friendly. I hope the place makes it but I am fearful that they are not getting the word out enough. If you have a chance stop by, it is worth a taste I think and I look forward to a longer meal.

The next day we cleaned and cooked with no distractions. That is a good day for me these days, folding laundry with no one bothering me. Well it is also funny that my son apparently seems to be calling trucks a word that sounds suspiciously like cock, or caulk... I'm not entirely sure.

9 Yrs

Today is my 9 year wedding anniversary and my Special Lady is truly a special woman. I am very lucky.

Now onto the good stuff. I was in the gym the other day and I hate the music they play so I was wearing headphones. That is when a Katy Perry song blasted over the gym speakers and assaulted me. I felt like an inmate at Guantanamo. I seriously tried to give up the whereabouts of every criminal I know (sorry T-Pain). I turned my music up but it just kept blasting through. This is truly awful shit. I know why John Mayer broke up w/ her. When you are the boyfriend you have to be supportive right? But how many times can you tell her w/ a straight face that she is a talented artist and her music is really good? And this is another dumpster fire in John Meyer we are talking about. So you tell me... Katy Perry or a seal?

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This brings me to another question... why do I still belong to my gym? It is right next door to my office but the other day besides the audio onslaught, 2 of the 5 treadmills were down, there were no clean towels, the place is filthy, I have already gotten athletes foot from the showers, there is mold all over the soap dispensers, the other clientele are creepy as f***, and the "employees" are always either working out on company time or just strolling about chatting. Hey, clean the f*ing bathroom!!!!!

Wondering what we are doing to celebrate? Well, feeding to fussing babies, cleaning up the food they toss on the floor or mash in their hair, cleaning a poop or 2, then reading a story while they crawl all over our bed and burp in our faces and rub snot on our pillows. THEN, maybe we will get some takeout from a not great Italian place if the roads are not too snowy and watch an episode of House of Cards (which is very good). Living the dream... you bet your ass!

Jay About Wooderson

Dazed and Confused came out 21 years ago. In 21 years did you ever imagine Matthew McConaughey would take home an Oscar for acting? Or any kind of serious award? I loved that movie and I think his role in it is truly special right up there w/ Spicoli and Lloyd Christmas as comedic genius that nobody else could have pulled off. And yet, it was hard to take MM seriously. More so after some of the steamier pieces of shit he starred in such as Reign of Fire, Sahara, and the litany of RomCom disasters. But here we are 21 years later and the guy is killing it in a couple of big time movies and a critically acclaimed TV show.

So here is the big question... could we be seeing the next Tom Hanks leap? Others have tried it but are seldom successful. The thing is, like Hanks, MM is goofy and kind of funny but he has never been a straight up comedian. Really guys like Jim Carey and Adam Sandler never had a chance w/ the role of serious actor. But check out the Tom Hanks corollary, he starts out as goofy but ultimately lovable and harmless characters. Think Bosom Buddies or Splash in the early '80s. He is doing fine in comedies that are bordering on RomCom status... or in the case of Sleepless in Seattle are RomComs, and then BAM! 10 years after his first couple roles he nails it in Philadelphia and starts his serious acting career. Now MM did not have the same success w/ comedies but if he can somehow find his Forrest Gump role, he certainly can do the astronaut/assassin/war movie/single guy on an island (he loves being on the beach sans shirt).

Just Saying.

Here is another shout out to the Public House in Hinesburg... good vibe, good beer, decent food, very nice service. They have been great w/ our kids both times we have been there and it is truly a family friendly place w/out sucking like Pizza Putt or some Chucky Cheese type joint. Barkeaters on the other hand is a bunch of D-bags.  We also had breakfast the other day at Rustic Root in Shelburne. They were also very nice and the food was excellent. The kids snacked on a baked pancake that was a little sweet but very tasty. I had the eggs benie, and it was quite good. Nice hollandaise sauce, well cooked eggs, and the roasted taters on the side were off the hook. Good coffee as well. Nice space, good service, fair prices. 1 2/3rds thumbs up, check it out.