Mid-Atlanticon 2010!

I suppose I'm not much of a joiner. I'm not one for clubs or conferences or conventions in general, but when I heard about Mid-Atlanticon 2010, that was a different story. I had to be there! It was a meetup somewhere along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States of America, featuring fans of the Comics Curmudgeon blog site that takes an alternative, often hilarious, and always interesting look at the daily funnies. Yes, those comics we see every day but usually don't give much more than a passing glance at. Who ARE those people behind Beetle Bailey, For Better or For Worse, Mary Worth, and Mark Trail? (the answer to the latter may be disturbing to sensitive readers)

The Comics Curmudgeon was created by Baltimore-based writer and editor Josh Fruhlinger, and he has a fan base of many thousands who can't wait to read what he has to say about whatever daily comic he chooses to comment on each day. Many of us can't wait to weigh in with our own opinions. Well! A Comics Curmudgeon Meetup was something not to miss, so off to Washington DC I went!

My trip got off to an exciting start when I discovered an authentic Montgomery Ward mini-fridge in my Virginia motel room! Montgomery Ward has been out of business for years now, but their fine products remain. It was a wonderful fridge.


Next up was a fun evening with fellow curmudgeons wossname and bourbon babe, unbuckled that included a barbecue, lots of laughter, and Mooncattie's first Scotch!

The following afternoon - a group of happy curmudgeons gathered at Washington's National Zoo for a tour of the Small Mammal House conducted by volunteer guide Perky Bird.

The animal we all came to see! A real live prehensive porcupine!

Oh, and I saw a Panda bear as well.

Finally, it was time for the great event. Our meetup took place inside Washington's Capitol City Brewing Company brewpub. As you can see, it's a pretty impressive looking place from the outside. Yes, it really was that big.

Sadly, I don't have a good photograph of Josh himself. But I do have this photograph of the star of the evening, Mark Trail's plucky young ... er ... ward? Son? Buddy? Well, it's Rusty's Head On A Stick, and we all agreed that was indeed the best place for him. His occasional extreme close-ups in Mark Trail are pretty frightening usually. We're pretty sure he's a science experiment gone horribly wrong, but in Mark Trail that's sort of par for the course.

Well, amid much laughter, fresh beer, and fine food, an excellent time was had by all. I met some wonderful people, and it was great fun to share comics-related chat with folks I had only previously known through the blog. I hope there will be another meetup one day (full disclosure: I had gone to a previous gathering in Tucson, Arizona in 2008!), and I hope to return to Washington DC as well.

NEXT: All Aboard for Cresson, Pennsylvania and The Station Inn!

Warsaw

Crumbs! Here we are with the Summer of 2010 finish line coming into view, and I haven't been very good at keeping up with entries on this page. I've done loads of traveling and have lots of stuff to chat about, so I'll have a go at putting up a series of short chapters on my comings and goings since early April in no particular order.

Here are some photos from my first-ever trip to Warsaw, Poland. I dropped in for two nights in mid-July of this year during a rather extended European heat wave. Happily, my Novotel room was nicely air-conditioned.

Here's a view of Warsaw's gigantic 1950's era Palace of Culture and Science from my 15th floor window. The guides usually say that one should begin any visit to Warsaw with a trip up to the Observation Deck of this so-called "gift" to the Polish people from Stalin.



Here's the view looking south-east, back towards my hotel and the city beyond! Not especially attractive, I'm afraid.



More evidence that the city in general is rather, well, ugly. This view looks west from the Palace of Culture and Science, with a large shopping mall and office complex in the bottom-left corner. Much of the area to the west was part of the Jewish ghetto set up by the Nazis during World War II.



Much of the border of the Jewish Ghetto has been marked for posterity with inlaid bricks as seen below, similar to the Berlin Wall outlines that one sees nowadays marking the old boundary between East and West Berlin.



There is very little of the original Ghetto wall left. This one section remains in the courtyard of a housing unit, and one sees the ever-present Palace peeking over in the distance.



My favourite part of Warsaw was the Kazienkowski Park, a former royal park now open and free for everyone to explore. I enjoyed the bits of forest, lagoons, sculptures, and pathways. It was a pleasant place to wander around on a hot summer's afternoon. Peacocks make their home here, and are fun to watch.

How can you resist a park that features a bust of Caligula? I guess he would have been an improvement on a lot of the folks who invaded this city.

My other Warsaw highlight was in the newly-rebuilt Old City, which had nothing to do with the buildings. It was a hose laid out as a sprinkler for folks to get some relief from the heat wave. It was wonderful! I'd love to see that sort of thing in other cities, especially my home town. Children would hop in, then run out squealing with delight. This little bit of Warsaw put a smile on every visitor's face.

I visited Krakow about five years ago, and I have to admit that it is a much more beautiful place to visit than Warsaw. It benefits, of course, from not being razed to the ground by Hitler's army. Although the apartment blocks, office blocks, and retail blocks of Warsaw seemed monolithic and charmless to me, there are still some nice places to explore in the city. The Nowy Swiat "royal route" is chock-a-block with high-end cafes, nice restaurants, and a brewpub or two. At the north end, the Old City features a number of rebuilt churches, public squares, and cobblestone laneways. The city appears to have a very good transit system. I enjoyed hopping on and off the trams that seem to form a web from the inner city, and Warsaw's single-line subway system is in the process of being expanded with the Euro 2012 football championships fast approaching. There is a lot of construction going on in Warsaw, and I do hope that the architecture of the next generation is more imaginative and attractive than that of the past few decades.

NEXT: Mid-Atlanticon! A Meeting of Curmudgeons!

To Michigan, for Easter!

Easter weekend, 2010. In the Great Lakes area, it'll go down in the books as a mostly sunny weekend, weather-wise. Spring seems to have made an early appearance in this part of North America, and the always-iffy prospect of traveling over a long weekend in early April ended up being no problem at all!

I made an early start on Good Friday, and was at the Ontario-Michigan border by 9:30am. By 10:15, I was starting my first Rail Trail walk of the season.

This is the Wadhams to Avoca Rail Trail, and it can be found just west of Port Huron, MI. It was a super walk on a day that topped 70 degrees F (perhaps 22 C). I was very happy to manage 7 miles of walking, although the blisters that were born that day are still visible! I'm hoping to do lots of healthy walking this year, and have mapped out a series of interesting trails to try.

This is the Gallup Park Trail in Ann Arbor. It took me two visits over Easter weekend to complete this one (lots of limping by this point!). This trail goes alongside an active Norfolk Southern line for part of its length, although I sadly missed being able to capture any trains for posterity.

A nice drive, a family visit, some pleasant walks, and ....beer! MICHIGAN beer!

Yes, it's something of a Golden Age for the beer industry in Michigan. And I was eager to find out a little about what our next-door neighbours have been up to. A good place to start my research was a visit to the fine folks at Ratebeer, who have some very nice things to say about Michigan beer, what to try, and where to buy it. That led me to a very fine place indeed, Champane's Wine Cellars.

Yes, that's how it's spelled! Champane's is at 7007 Chicago Road in Warren, MI, just a bit north of Detroit. It proved to be my first-stop shop for a grand introduction to the beers of Michigan. I met up with the manager of the "Beer Department", Michael, who was quick to offer some advice as to what to choose. And there is a lot to choose from! After explaining that I was allowed to bring a total of 24 bottles back to Canada, we quickly went to work. I spotted a newly-arrived Hofbrau Maibock (yes, we get to drink the stuff even before the Muncheners do!), so a 6-pack of that was a MUST. That left eighteen bottles of beer for my wall.

Michael noted that as I was spending a few nights in the state, I really ought to pick up a couple of extras for consumption while in America. He brought out two singles from the fridge with the warning NOT to leave them on a shelf for any length of time. Keep them cool! I did just that, and here are the two in question.
Both are from Bell's, out of Comstock, Michigan, and I should note that most of the beers that Michael recommended came from either Bell's or Founders (from Grand Rapids).

This is Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock, a very dark red beer, smooth and exceptionally easy to drink. It's up there in alcohol content at 8%, but it didn't taste overly strong or bitter. Absolutely delicious!

The "Keep It Cool" Beer #2 was Bell's Lager of the Lakes (referring to the Great Lakes, of course!), a very light-coloured lager of 5% strength. This is one of those perfect backyard BBQ beers. Very pleasant...but I think that Consecrator with those dudes with the horns is our winner!

Well, it's time for a break from all this local brew sampling, so why not head off to Bay City for a Saturday evening? The place seemed mostly closed for the Easter weekend, but here's a find (thank you again, Ratebeer!) It's the Stein Haus at 1108 N. Water Street, and wow-we-wow! Look at all those steins hanging up there! And what's this? Hofbrau helles AND dunkel...ON TAP? Yum!

A friendly chat with patron Beth was a highlight of my visit, and she was quick to suggest I try another Bell's offering, Oberon. "It's like a Michigan summer afternoon", she smiled, and the label on the back of the bottle backed her up! It was also one of the beers that Michael at Champane Cellars chose for me (17 left to go!), and here's what an Oberon looks like. It's a 5.8% wheat ale, a very refreshing cloudy beer with perhaps a hint of orange, or is it just that nice bright label with the sunshine? Whether in a Bay City bar on a Saturday night, or back home on an April Friday night, it was very enjoyable. Even if (at the bar) they serve it with a slice of orange. Is that a sneeze I feel coming on? Ahhh....ahhhh. CORONA!

NEXT: "My Other Beer Is A Stout"!

Peterborough For Beer

Peterborough, Ontario. It's a Junior A Hockey powerhouse, a passionate supporter of its Lacrosse team, and the gateway to the Kawartha Lakes cottage region. I was surprised recently to learn that it's also becoming something of a beer hotspot, both for home-grown craft brewing and for imports. I had a chance to pay a couple of visits to Peterborough (approximately 130 kms. north-east of Toronto) in the past month, and I'm glad I went!

My first stop was 300 Charlotte St., the home of the Publican House Brewery. Not so flashy on the outside, but inside they were sampling and selling three tasty products. A stout and a "west coast style India Pale Ale" were available only in 64 oz. Growlers, or big glass jugs for the uninitiated.

I went home with several cans of a very pleasant House Ale, which I found to be quite robust for a 4.8% light beer. It would find a place of honour on my cottage deck this summer, and now all I need is the cottage and the deck! There's a patio next door to the actual brewery on Charlotte St, so perhaps that'll do once the weather warms up a bit.

Now it was time for the main event, a visit to the St. Veronus Cafe and Tap Bar at 129 Hunter St. West. What a nice building. What a great restaurant! WHAT A SUPER BAR!

It's hard to tell from the photo, but four out of the five draught taps are for Belgian beers, and the fifth is for Stiegl from Austria. This would be big news in Toronto, or any other Canadian city, but is really quite spectacular for Peterborough. The fridge in the background protects at least a dozen Belgian offerings that would be very unusual to find pretty much anywhere in this country.

I met up with my friends Rick and Cathy, and it's thanks to them that I even found out about this wonderful place! (By the way, you Yarning Fans out there may enjoy visiting Cathy's Project Fleece blog.) The food menu is as true to Belgium as the beer list - mussels, frites and stoemp all make an appearance. I opted for a Carbonnades Flamandes, a sandwich featuring a ribeye steak stewed in Leffe Brune beer, in a sourdough bread. One of the finest sandwiches I have ever tasted.

However, for us it was all about the beer, and here's a look at our round. Wow!

A nice Bavarian Weihenstephaner for Rick, a lovely Leffe Brune for me, and a cherry flavoured Mort Subite for Cathy. All served in their appropriate glasses. A Leffe Brune, on tap, in Peterborough! Yum. On that particular day, St. Veronus was offering, as their speciality draught, a Russian Imperial Stout from southwestern Ontario's Wellington brewery. Our server assured me that he was able to sample quite a lot of it!

I was able to sample one more Belgian beer that day, and I liked it so much that I came back two weeks later to try it again! It's a 9% from the Brasserie de l'Abbaye des Rocs, another Brune that seemed a tad more bitter than the Leffe version. Hey, I'm not supposed to even like dark beer much, so what's the deal here?

Here's my other treat from Visit #2, an 8% Gouden Carolus Ambrio. I've never even heard of this, yet there it sits in a fridge in Peterborough. Yum! I found it perhaps a bit more sour to the taste than the l'Abbaye, but it sure grows on you with each mouthful.

I'm told that St. Veronus regularly rotates their selection of Belgian brews; indeed, their "recently acquired" beer menu insert was quite different two weeks after Visit #1. This is all very impressive!

There is yet another Peterborough beer spot to try out, and it'll mean another visit from me, hopefully in the near future. It's the Olde Stone Brewery, just around the corner from St. Veronus, and it will be interesting to try their products and compare them to the Publican. Roll on, summer weather weekends!

NEXT: Meanderings in Michigan!

Getting Down, Downtown

Jeepers! It's been over two months since I've bothered to write anything. As usual, life got in the way. Working, sleeping, and commuting between the two. I meant to write some nonsense way back in January about a new brewpub I visited in Toronto. Most of my memories from the evening at Duggan's Brewery have vanished into the mists, but I'll quickly jot down what I do recall from my visit.

For starters, you may find yourself in Toronto one day and ask yourself "Where can I go to enjoy some really good beer here?"

If I was in an especially snarky frame of mind, I'd offer these wise words:
1. Rent a car
2. Leave town

Oh, I guess it's not all so bad in Toronto The Good. The sidewalks are no longer rolled up at night, you can actually drink on a Sunday, and you needn't flee to Buffalo to have a good time. Although if you do, you no doubt will!

There are a few places here and there in T.O. that are keeping jive alive, and I'll try out a few of them in 2010 to see how they rate. First up is a visit to Duggan's Brewery at 75 Victoria Street.

Duggan's is the child of Toronto brewmaster Mike Duggan who previously worked out of the Mill Street Brewery. He connected with the old Victoria Street location of Denison's Brewery and in December 2009 opened up Duggan's, a proper little bistro with nice food and a nice selection of suds. I wandered in for an evening in mid-January to check the place out.

On the upside, it's a very pretty room. The staff are very nice. There is food, and there is beer, and overall there's a rather upscale, pleasant vibe to the premises.

Is there a downside? Well, not as such, but aren't I the picky one when I feel like it? Duggan's selections are numbered without much of an explanation that I could track down. The #5 is an Asian lager featuring Japanese brewing rice and is described as having a "straw" flavour. Well, it tasted extra-grassy to me, and it just didn't sit too well. It's one of the few beers that I have ever gulped down in order to get to the next one. I have heard very positive comments about it from a trusted colleague, so we'll put this one down to my less than developed beer tastebuds.

I then tried the #13 Weisbeer (sic). Yes, that's how they spelled it. By now, you must be thinking that they've got at least thirteen beers to try. Well, no, they don't. Lots of numbers are missing from the menu, and several that were on the menu were missing in action. One had a problem "with the tap", another had a pressure problem, but the problem was apparently solved within the hour as it was available...within the hour! I suppose another problem was li'l ol' ME. I wasn't wearing a suit, you see. But the table of gents that took up a table next to me were, and although they ordered their Weisbeers well after me, they sure got them served way before me! No matter, it eventually showed up in a nice Weisbier-style glass, looked properly cloudy, and didn't taste too bad at all. I'd trade it in a heartbeat for a can of Denison's Hefe, but it was fine enough.

Friends soon arrived to scope out the rest of the available menu. I should mention that when I arrived, a bit before the Corporations That Employ Suits let out, the staff were bringing in brand new Duggans glasses, complete with the brewpub's logo etched into the glass. Very nice. If you don't mind your large glass holding 0.4 l of beer! There seems to be some sort of problem with folks wanting to shortchange you a mouthful of beer. This kind of thing gets the folks in Prague real mad - they know when they're getting a smaller glass than they bargained for, and they'll support the establishments that offer the full 0.5 l as a result. If you're that proud of the beer that you make for heaven's sake, give us that little extra, please!

Don't get me started on the smaller sizes! Well, OK, get me started. My aforementioned friends decided to give the #Whatever (I've lost my notes!), the Belgian Trappist style with the extra-high alcohol content, a go...well, it's served up in Juice Glasses! Little Juice Glasses! I totally understand, of course. You know what Canadians are like once you've poured 40% of a litre of Belgian-strength brew down their gullets. Oops, I stand corrected. None of us know. Little Juice Glasses. The prices weren't little, however. Meh.

The big calling card at Duggan's is the #9 IPA, a 6.2 % pale ale that is very hoppy, pleasant to drink, and my favourite of the pack. It's the only one I returned to, and the Duggan's that I'd drink again if I found myself back there.

The snacks were pricier than average as well, but very nice. Ribs and poutine showed up with curry as a base for their sauce. They're big on curry here, and it's quite tasty. My order of wings was billed as coming with a stilton flavoured dipping sauce. It didn't, but subsequent orders from my colleagues did, and I gather it was all quite acceptable.

Overall, my impressions of Duggan's are that they are in their own way, quintessentially Toronto. Quite diverse, pleasant and polite, clean, kind of over-priced for what you're getting, and missing something that is hard to put one's finger on, that something that makes you want to come back as soon as you can. I hear this a lot about Toronto. Folks love to come here....ONCE. Perhaps I'll pop back in to Duggan's one day. If you ever do, I'd enjoy hearing what you think.

NEXT: The Peterborough Project!

Happy New Year At Long Last

I just haven't had much incentive to sit down and write anything. I'm not a Winter Person, I guess - I feel like just hibernating and waiting out the cold weather. At any rate, my best wishes to those of you who read this (and to those of you who I'd like to!) for a very happy 2010. Where's my flying car? What a rip-off century.

It's been a special sort of month already in my life. Apart from the start of a brand new decade (even if it technically isn't, I prefer to start it off with a Zero), I've already observed my birthday (the Big 5-2!), the 28th anniversary at my place of employment, an 18th birthday for a niece, and next week, a 10th birthday for another niece. Later this year, a nephew turns 21 - so there are all sorts of momentous numbers flying around. And get this for a January - it's raining outside!

My neck of the woods went through the entire month of November without seeing a single snowflake - unprecedented in our weather records - but December brought us a series of small centimeter or so deliveries of the white stuff, so that we indeed had something of a White Christmas this year. There is still some snow out there, thanks to the below-freezing temperatures we've had through most of January, but this weekend we've shot up to 36 F and yes, it's pouring outside. Usually this would be some sort of significant snowfall, but I guess I'll ditch the boots again tomorrow and head back to work in shoes. No complaints from me.

I very often have travel plans by this time. Not that I'm particularly antsy to get out of town once New Year's Day is over, but January is the month for Air Canada seat sales that stretch into late spring and the summer, so it's generally around NOW that I figure out what I've got planned for holidays. It hasn't happened this time around. There were some hints of sales around Christmas week and late December, but with every announcement of "great deals" from Canada's national airline, the price tags have been higher. And higher.

Here's an example: I was thinking of a flight to Houston sometime in the spring. This would faciliate my long-standing dream of a Texas BBQ tour, taking in some of the best rib joints in the state (and therefore, of course, the world). In late December, there were fares available on Air Canada for $131. Well, $131 EACH WAY, plus taxes and all kinds of add-on fees. Well, by early January, the fare was suddenly up to $161. And the "great deals" seat sale currently on offer, those wonderful annual January specials? Well, it's now up to $198. Goodbye BBQ!

The present security concerns make flying anywhere seem like an arduous and unpleasant experience, or should I say, even more arduous and unpleasant than usual. So I guess travel is sort of on the back-burner for the moment. I'll keep my eyes peeled for specials, though, and who know? Perhaps something will come along. But when China looks like an affordable destination compared to London or Munich, then something isn't quite right.

I'm holding to last year's New Year's Resolution, which I'm happy to say I kept big-time: To drink more High Quality Beer. A return to Munich last summer, and a first-ever visit to Prague helped me keep that promise, and I was very happy to visit several fine brewpub establishments in the United States as well. I've already made my first visit to a brewpub for 2010, which will be the subject of my next bit of written ramblings. Best Wishes to You All!
NEXT: A New Downtown Toronto Brewpub!

A Perfect Munich Beergarden - At Last!

For ages now, I've been prattling on about wonderful beers and wonderful places in which to guzzle them. There are so many! And since I can only praise the lovely liquid so much without a Thesaurus nearby, I tried to attach a numerical rating to the various Beer Experiences. But is there such a thing as a Perfect Beer Experience?
Well, yes, I've decided that there is indeed a Perfect Ten out of Ten on my Yuk/Yummy Scale of Beer Goodness. There is a Perfect Beer for me, and a Perfect Beergarden where I can enjoy it, and yes, it is in Munich, Germany. It's the first beergarden I ever visited, the most recent beergarden I've been to, and if there was only one beergarden left for Mooncattie, this would be the one I'd greet the Afterlife with.It's the Augustiner-Keller, just west of Munich's main railway station, or Hauptbahnhof. Weather permitting, it's a joy to sit outdoors among the chestnut trees and the thousands of happy patrons and enjoy one of Munich's most historic (ie. OLD) beers. Whether you go for the Augustiner Helles, the slightly stronger Edelstoff, or their Weissbier, you are guaranteed a magnificent maß (I hope that's the 'double-s' key). If the clouds are rolling in, you can always duck inside the large adjacent beer hall and join your fellow revellers in toasting the night away.

I won't say there isn't a better place to enjoy a beer, but in my (albeit fairly limited) experience, it's the best I've found. Of course, this means I have to keep traveling and trying out new spots while not forgetting to return to my old favourites. Roll on, 2010, and Prost! to you all.

Augustiner Keller
Arnulf Strasse 52
80335 Munich
Ph# (089) 594393
http://www.augustinerkeller.de/



Take the #17 Tram to Hopfenstr. or any of the main S-Bahn trains to Hackerbrücke and walk one block north to Arnulfstr., then turn right one block to Zirkus-Kronestr. Cheers!

NEXT: The Big 5-0!