Halloween things

Ale Saints Day at the Blue Nile on 2027 E. Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis's beautiful Seward neighborhood. Al the bar manager had put together an mazing selection of great beers (porters and stouts) for an extravaganza. At 4 Pm he opened a cask of Bell's Porter ***, 5 Pm cask of Summit Great Northern Porter with black treacle ***, 6 pm keg of Bell's Expedition Stout 2007 ***+ (this had matured so nicely and was so tasty it was a beautiful beer) and a 2008 keg ***, 7pm Surly Smoke Baltic Porter **+(not as good as at the brewery on Darkness day. The other beers on draft were Surly Darkness Russian Imperial Stout***+, Leininkugel's Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout **, North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout***, Moylan's (CA) Ryan O'Sullivan's RIS***, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter**+, Summit Great Northern Porter**, Salopian Entire Butt English Porter**, Furthermore Three Feet Deep Smoked Stout* (too astringent, smoke not appealing), Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout***+(this was so amazingly good), Surlyy Coffee Bender*(Too much coffee with my beer), Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 Rye Porter**+, Southern Tier Oatmeal Stout ***, Lion Stout(One of my all time favorites)***, Bell's Java Stout (too astringent coffee had a bad effect on this beer)*. Thom and I played some bagpipe tunes and had a good time. We were joined by Damian & Jen (preggers), and Doug.

After awhile we went over to Town Hall and had some food and you guessed it - more beer. I had a pint of stout (always good). We were joined by Katherine, Colleen, and Brent. The menu has changed and it was all very good. I had half a walleye sandwich with Brent, sweet potato fries, and deep fried green beans with spicy dipping sauce.

I worked on DeDe's yard on Saturday with DeDe, Damian, and Ava. Greg the electrician switched the boxes and updated the electrical for the house. On Sunday, Katherine and I worked all day on the yard and started to put the yard away for a long winter's nap. I visited Mike in the hospital and dropped off presents of leaves for everyone. Whew!!!!

Beer things

Last night I gave two brewery tours at Summit Brewery St. Paul, MN to the folks visiting there to participate in the Lighting Run. Lots of bike or hogs, young and old, tattooed or not, and in leathers or not, and all of them enjoying a perfect evening as the humidity had dissapated and there was a gentle breeze. The tours were smaller, 12-24 people. I gave them an abbreviated tour which still took around 40 minutes. When I wasn't talking about Summit I was pouring it for people, a lot of them had never had Summit and never had a full bodied craft beer. It was fun.

After the tours, I went to Barley John's brew pub and met Molly and Doug. We sat outside enjoying the perfect Minnesota summer evening. I had two beers their Wild Brunette and the Old 8 Porter. I hadn't had any beers at Summit as I don't like to give tours and drink beer. We talked of many things. Doug has been going crazy with geneology and has discovered all sorts of links to his family. I told them of my adventures in Portland and all beers that were sampled for research purposes. I also told them about the exciting and fun seminars I had taken at the AALL Convention. Great evening talking beer, computer and Internet technology, and whatever else was interesting under the evening sky.