Lead up to ABR

Some of last week’s lame beerness seeped into the beginning of this week but things are turning around as ABR approaches. Last night we went up to Stub & Herb’s as they were supposed to be having some pre-festival festivities. Although there wasn’t any organization to the matter, we did have the chance to share our table with Jim, part of the Lift Bridge crew, and Bob from Great Waters. It’s always nice to hear what the brewers are up to and of course ABR was the main topic of the night.

Besides brewers, some of the usual suspects showed up. While not as extensive as the crowd that tends to gather at Town Hall on Saturdays it was still nice to walk in, see some familiar faces and catch up.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t much in the way of beer specials although they did offer a Two Brothers tasting consisting of three 7 oz pours- Domain Dupage, Cane & Ebel and Oh Brother Triple. It’s not hard to guess which my favorite was, just find the one with the most hops and there you go.

Seeing how we hadn’t had dinner, food was in order. Instead of ordering something remotely meal-like I chose the Tachos. This is a big plate of Tator Tots topped with nacho cheese (the semi-liquid kind), sour cream, black olives, lettuce, tomatoes and jalapenos. There’s no denying that this is mighty tasty, but a word of caution: DO NOT consume the entire plate yourself. Mag warned me I was going to regret it and he was right. I had the most bizarre dreams and woke up with a horrible gut ache.

It sounds like there’s going to be some more pre-festival fun over at the Muddy Pig tonight. Not sure how wise it would be go to. Maybe better to lay low? Or maybe pull out that seldom used self control.