World's Friendliest Bartender - Gaid
I was pleased to see that Sam, the owner of the place and the captain of the Fuhgeddaboutit BBQ team had won some serious accolades at a recent competition.
Grand Master And Best Beef
I started out with a Lunganitas Lucky 13 Mondo Red because I had never had one before and it was the first thing I spotted on the chalkboard that lists the 19 draught beers that are available. It was a bit on the heavy side for such a warm day, but it was pretty tasty. Kind of a cinnamon spicy flavor. But noticeably strong. It goes off at a hefty 8.56% ABV and tasted it. And this kind of explains what happened next.
Gaid, knowing that I generally like Brooklyn Brewery's beer, offered me a taste of Brooklyn Detonation Ale. The Brooklyn Brewery has a habit of putting out limited run beers that can be infuriatingly good. Infuriatingly because eventually they are all gone and you can't get anymore. I still mourn the long gone Buzz Bomb Ale.
After the Lucky 13 the Detonation tasted refreshingly light. A nice hops bitterness that was well-complemented by the floral aroma and taste of fresh hop buds. One review commented on its "disturbing drinkability." And I can attest to that.
A long-time follower of my blog, who goes by the name of Splunge, dropped in and we then proceeded to chat and buy each other rounds of beers and talked with each other and Gaid and basically kind of killed the afternoon.
The Good Life
Eventually the Mysterious Chinese Woman managed to track me down and tried to drag me away. However, the mighty team of Splunge and Bar Man prevailed and induced her to stick around and party with us.
Hey Bartender, One More Round
I don't remember how many of those Detonations I ended up having. At least four, and probably more. Eventually Gaid's shift was over and his replacement, Peter, came on duty. He looked at my, by now, glassy eyes and asked me if I knew I was drinking a 10% beer. Well, it isn't quite 10%, but it is 9.2% ABV. Stronger than the first beer that I had that I thought was strong. And I had been drinking these like, well, like beer. Damn, they were good, and disturbingly drinkable.
Oh well, I got a wee bit hammered but it was all for a good cause. Splunge and I agreed that we should do it again sometime and the Mysterious Chinese Woman abstained from voting.
This morning I put on the coffee and went out to get the papers like I usually do. But when I got home I decided I needed a morning beer more than I needed my morning coffee. Luckily I had a few in my refrigerator and decided upon a Magic Hat Wacko Seasonal Ale.
Beer, Not Just For Breakfast
Not one of Magic Hat's better offerings, in my opinion. And why, because they used beet sugar, they felt the need to color the beer with beet juice is beyond me. It looks like you are drinking some kind of a Hawaiian fruit punch or something. There isn't anything distinctive about the beer either, kind of blah tasting. But after spending the previous day downing the heavy, heavy fuel it was a refreshingly innocuous 4.5% ABV.
By the way, Splunge said that he first went to the Waterfront Ale House to eat their ribs after reading about them in my blog way back and has been coming here ever since. He agrees with me that they have what are probably the best ribs in town. And New York is a pretty big town.
1 comment:
Well, I'll tell ya. 9.2 ABV explains a lot. For instance me getting a haircut on the way home and annoying the girlfriend by not telling her in advance.
Yeah, that was one drinkable beer. One that I will no doubt have again, but less of.
I really enjoyed spending a good part of the day talking your ear off. I was particularly thrilled to meet the MCW. She is a lovely and charming lady.
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