In Memory of the Virginia Tech Massacre

I just wanted to dedicate this blog entry to 32 Virginia Tech family that were struck down seven years ago. Yes, this blog is suppose to be about beer, but my life has been shaped by many of Virginia Tech alum. The Girlfriend was a student at the time (and two of her friends were shot)and one of my best friends at my school also had one of his friends shot. Though I wasn't there, these events shaped the people in my life, and thus have shaped mine. I hope something like this never happens again, and I can only wish the best for everyone in the future. Love life, love friends, and maybe share a beer or two with them.

Craft Beer, just a Phase?

Ok, so maybe trying to keep up a blog while in the middle of track season, switching jobs, and making sure the evil dogs don't take over the house is just plain old hard. I will try my best to actually post, but again, as of now it's empty promises in your head. Anyways, let's get to the beer blog.

There has been a lot of talk that the Golden Age of craft brew has jumped shark, nuked the fridge, or is on its last legs. Though I might agree that the Golden Age as we know it can not sustain itself, craft beer will not just disappear, or even decline. Yes, I might be biased (okay, lots.) but craft beer is here to stay like a bad case of crabs . Here are my three of my reasons (and please feel free to comment)

Dogfish Head, the Legendary American Brewery

1. Quality: When I was a wee lad, my father, his friends, Hollywood, and most of Europe thought of American beer as swill. Budweiser, Miller, Coors, and their Light counterparts were the height of American Beer quality. Well, thanks to Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, and Dogfish Head, American Beer can keep it's head high in the beer world. No longer do we have to hang our hats on one Blue Ribbon. If you look at Beer Advocates Top 250 we have plenty, if not most beers in the Top 250. Yes, Beer Advocate is slightly biased towards American Beers, but look this years past World Beer Cup results. All American, and damn it feels good. Which leads me to my next point.

A Little Old, but Some Interesting Numbers

2. Quantity: The above article can just be about the sheer quality of beer America has, but in reality, it's the amount of good beer there is. I'm not talking about the top 250, I'm not talking the top 500. Just the fact you can finally go into almost any beer, liquor, alcohol store and gets something that isn't an InBev POS. Look at your favorite beers from square one. For me, it was Coors Lite (American), then Michelob Amberbock (American), to Magic Hat #9 (American), to New Belgium Fat Tire (American), to finally Rochefort Trappist 8 (Belgium).

This was Once a Rarity to see, now it's my Tuesday!

3. Beer Culture: Myself, The Girlfriend, The Entire Great Trio are all mid-twenties. We go to craft beer bars as many times as a nun goes to church. A lot. And the demographic that walks in isn't just us; it's Black, White, Asian, French, Old, Young (21+ of course), Men and Women. And what we see is everyone loves good beer. Sure, when we are watching the Ravens trouncing on the Steelers we knock back swill light beers, but when we are having a nice dinner, wine isn't paired with the food, beer is. Or in The Girlfriends case, the food is paired with the beer. Beer, real beer, is here to stay.

Of course, you can argue my argument proves we are seeing the end of the Golden Age. But lately, Brew Pubs are taking hold. We might not see national craft beers like we used to, but local and regional beers are just taking hold.

Have a beer and have a Happy Easter!

Slainte

My Christmas Present, Part 1

Sorry for the late post, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. But I promise you I’ll be posting at least once a week for now on. If I don’t, you can find my at World of Beer, and force me to drink Miller Lite, and only Miller Lite for the whole night. So let’s get down to business, beer business.

For Christmas this year (well last year) I bought The Girlfriend a beautiful Finnish watch. She, being the loving amazing girlfriend got me nothing for Christmas. Rather she got me the best thing to date, a brewery tour of the Eastern Shore. So for a good two months, I had to wait for my present, and needless to say, it was worth it.

The Girlfriend planned everything, as I literally only hadto sit in the car, walk into bars, breweries, and distilleries, and drink. She picked me up from work and we drove from Annapolis, to the St. Michael’s Md. Here, we dropped off the puppies to our mutual friend and went to a local brewery, ReAle Revival.  Here, I sampled the first beer of the weekend. Here I struck up a conversation with the bartender and started talking beer and home brewing. Little did I know, it was the Brew Master, and he invited me to check out his brewery. Needless to say, I was giddy. As I got a private tour, I was given sample of sample of  beers, mostly taste batches, but each pretty good. As it ended, he asked why I was here, and told him it was my Christmas present from The Girlfriend. He told me to wait a minute and he came back with a pleasant surprise. Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 Aged in Oak Barrels. If you don’t know about Epic you are missing out. Either way, the Epic Series was amazing.

Next, we hit Evolution in Salisbury (uneventful) before heading to Bethany Beach. Waking up, The Girlfriend takes me to Starboards. There I am required to drink an Orange Crush. Let’s just say, my liver hasn’t done much morning drinking since college. And let’s just say, 8 a.m. was the last time I was sober for the rest of the day. After breakfast, we went to Berlin Maryland, to hit our favorite Maryland Brewery, Burley Oak. Now Burley Oak is a small brewery, but it makes perhaps the best Saison ever. Period, end of statement, the best. SummaRye, is a Rye Saison, that happens to be panned as absolutely amazing by everyone I’ve known who has drank it. I was psyched to go, but oh so sad when we got there and saw a closed sign. I moppely walked up only to find it was a beer release party and they were glad to have anyone come in. We walked out with a slightly used liver, and a bottle of beer, 1 or 440.

That’s it for now, I’ll finish the rest of our trip later. But I’ll be adding one of the Great Trio’s blogs tomorrow.

Till next time,

Slainte!   

Beer, Religion, and a Hangover

Today, I woke up five times wanting to puke. Today, I swore of alcohol twenty times. Today, I asked God to help me get through this hang over seventy times. Today of course was St. Patty's Day Ante. A day in which a good 1/4 of the adult population was nursing hangovers, waking up drunk, or just feeling like beer is worse then Putin and Ukraine in the same room. So in celebration of this hangover, I will dedicate it to the amazing things Catholics have done in the world of beer.

I want to start by saying I do not endorse any religion above another (though The Flying Spaghetti Monster is pretty dope) and in reality I wish religions would unite humanity, rather then divide it. But Beer is as European and Catholicism is, so there is much overlap. You all remember my earlier blog on Belgians, Trappist, and the amazing-ness that it is. But the overlap is more then that. First, lets look at the season we are in, which is Lent. Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday in which all adults (who are healthy and not in the military) must fast, give up meat (on Fridays), and give alms. In order to prepare for the 40+ days of fasting, Tuesday was a day of feast. People ate like there was no tomorrow, hence Fat Tuesday (or in America...just Tuesday.) Fat Tuesday, better known as Mardi Gras, or even Carnival. 

Somehow this is Catholic...

Yes, Mardi Gras and Carnival are Catholic celebrations, um, began as Catholic. Americans, Brazilians, and the German's all have celebrations before the Lenten season begins. Funny thing, those Germans. I don't know if you know this, they love their beer (hell The Girl Friend is drinking one right now and she's full German). They will literally celebrate anything just so they can get drunk! To name a few drinking holidays we have: Fasching (German Carnival), St. Martin's Day, and how can we forget Oktoberfest. Yes, technically it's not a Religious holiday. But take a look at this website and see what I mean.

This is a Catholic Mass...err, lot's of people drinking.

Finally, a little known fact is that the Running of the Bulls is part of a major Catholic Holiday. San Fermin, honors St. Fermin, who is the co-patron of Navarre. Needless to say, you have to be pretty drunk to run with the Bulls. 

So, if you're drinking with a lot of people most likely you can thank the Catholics (except you know, Super Bowl Sunday, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July,  Cinco de Mayo, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day...)

It's also why I do bad things at night, you know, when God is asleep.

But here is a list of other holidays that started with Catholic Undertones:
New Years Eve, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, St. Valentine's Day (you know...if you're single)

Slainte!

Next Blog, one of the Great Trio will be writting!

DC Beer Fest

As I write this article, my body can't help but remind me that yes I am hung over. Not just hung over, but that leg sore, stenographer in my head, liver hurting kind of hang over. The one that by the end of the day you have come to think you're finally done being hung over, only to find out your body has given up on feeling 100%. Was it worth it? Well, the amount my liver has degenerated over the day, the fights with The Girlfriend, and a very empty wallet later there is only one answer. Hell yes!

Before I proceed I must confess my post days are all lies. I didn't want to make my blog public until I had enough material for people to get drawn in. So today is my very first post that is true to it's time. As punishment, I will drink 24 Miller Lites before I sleep tonight.

So why am I hung over. Two words: D.C. Craft Beer Fest. (Yeah, it's four words I'm hungover, get over it!) 73 craft brewers and Sam Adams were in attendance (Sam Adams' is NOT craft.)

All the Vendors Are Belong To Us!

I mentioned that there were 74 breweries, but I did a B-line right to one brewery. As a VIP I was able to get in an hour early so I figured I would shoot the shit and talk, but when I found out Founder's was there I knew I had to talk to them, and drink of course. As soon I walked into the door, I left my girlfriend and two friends, and was the first at there booth. I asked "When are you guys coming to Maryland, I need some KBS, I drove 90 minutes once only to be turned away." The guys laughed, but were excited that a fan was that dedicated. They told me the great news though. May at the latest! Again, Founders is coming to Baltimore!

This is the first session, even before it was completely packed. 

After drinking some Founders, I found The Girlfriend and we hit a good 30 or 40 breweries. Some were amazing, some werre horrible, but most were just so-so. What was disappointing was the fact (she even mentioned it) was the massive amount of IPA's. I would bet 90% of the breweries had an IPA, a Extra Pale Ale, or Imperial Pale Ale. To put it mildly, I can not wait for the IPA fad to die a very fast, painful death. Don't get me wrong, there are some damn good IPA's. I love Harpoon's, and 60 and 90 Minute are amazing. But, I feel like many other beer styles don't get their due. Alas, I feel like Sours and Saisons will be the next big thing (crosses fingers.)

My favorite libation of the day happens not to be beer but mead, well two meads. The best brewery (minus Founders) goes to B. Nektar Meadery for their Necromangocon and Zombie Killer. Both are amazing, and all I can say is they make great dessert drinks that are flawless made. Necro is flavored with Mango, and is offset amazingly with some pepper. I give it 5 stars. Zombie Killer gives Cherry new life, and can only be described as the best possible drink during the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

Oh, oh yeah, I forgot we went bar hopping afterwards and I found some amazing beer!

Founders, It's what's for Breakfast!

Hope You Beer-ventures are going well! We'll be having a guest writer soon.

Slainte!

Sour Beer, Bad Right?

Sour Beers are not for the faint of heart. Those who are new to drinking would probably spit out their very first sip of sour, but then again, why are high school kids drinking anyways? Sours, for those who dare to enter this realm of "esoteric" beer style, can be scary. To put it in a very general way, sours can have a hint of tartness like a cherry, to a full kick in the face like Warheads candies, to everything in between. Some sours, have a hint of "barnyardy" (as a Trio member calls it) , or a somewhat vinegary taste, to just plain sour. And believe me, each sour is amazing in its own right.

As I already have mentioned, there are many tastes of sours. There are also many types of sours. Each which is based on what makes them sour. In practice, brewers would make sure their beer would not be contaminated by anything other then what yeast they would pitch in their wort. Some Belgians, well some simply didn't care. They would ferment their beers in the open and it would ferment by wild yeasts in the air, or lambics. A little crazy, but hey it worked. Some even crazier brewers, mad drunk on their beer, purposely infect their beer with bacteria! They would pitch Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces, or Pediococcus with their yeast. Then, instead of having a beer ready and waiting in a couple of months, they sat on it for years to make sure the bacteria did its work. There you have it, a basic knowledge of how sours are made. And to add to your brain bank: lambics, gueuzes, and Flanders red ale are the most common sours out there.

To add to my blog, I will review my very first beer, it's rating systems, and my general take on it. It's in beta phase right now, so I will probably change it later.

Beer Review #1:

Tart of Darkness

Brewery: The Bruery, CA

Style: American Wild Ale

ABV: 7.0%

Rating: 5/5

Taste: 

Kick in the face tartness, with a large amount of grape taste. Super dry, yet refreshing finish. No bad aftertaste, and doesn't have any heat in any phase.

Overall take:

This beer is probably my favorite sour beer. The amount of tartness is mind boggling. Take all the grape sweet tarts you have had and multiply it by 10. It's just that tart. But amazingly, as tart as it is, it's balanced with sweetness, and a very refreshing grape musk taste. The best way to describe this beer is to take some Welsh's Grape Juice, add a ton of Grape Sweet Tarts, and then kick it in the side with some alcohol. Doesn't sound good? No, not really, but The Bruery does an amazing job at making this American Wild taste great. If I could clone one beer well, this would be it. Why? Well because it's f*$!ing awesome, and it's not cheap. Like $21 for a 750ml bottle. But it's worth it. Every single mouth puckering, tart tasting drop is worth it. And don't think I will be giving 5's often, I just plain think Tart of Darkness and The Bruery deserves it.

Price: $20-25/750ml

Would Recommend to Drink: Yes

Would Recommend by Value: Yes

My Idea for a New Brew

It's come to my attention that Beer is a pretty old beverage. What I thought was a maybe 10 or 15 year old libation, is actually actually some 7,000+ years old. It turns out a very large percentage of every beer in the world wasn't made by the evil inBev. Which is great because well inBev is as evil as Monsanto, the Yankees, and of course, Emperor Palpatine. Usually it goes Yankees<Monsanto<Papatine<inBev. But I digress. Anyways, beer has had a very long, intertwined relation to man. Discovery Channel did an entire mini series on "How Booze Built America." Fun fact, it's a great series, and an even greater drinking game. Tangent aside, beer has a great history. But I'm only concerning myself with a small era.

As you may or may not have figured out, I live in Maryland. One of the 13 colonies, and one of the few founded by non puritans, Maryland has a great beer history. And it got me thinking, what would early Marylander drink as beer. Imagine you're a early Maryland in the 1600. The Bay is full of weird looking water spiders things. So you decided what better way to feed your self then to steam them and eat them. Now what yo drink? Natty Boh doesn't exist yet, so you need a special beer. Turns out Baltimore is a great place, it has a large natural harbor, that is bustling with trade. Sugar, Grains, Molasses, and the like flow through the city like no other. So you visit your local granary and pick up some cereal, then some sugar. But alas, hops are hard to find, so American's used lots of different greens. And hence, my problem.

Hops existed, they weren't just very available to most colonists yet. And a couple Baltimore craft breweries have done this idea, but they use some ingredients many people don't like, such a Star Anise, Dandelion, and other esoteric brew ingredients. As one of the Great Trio's has lamented, he drove all the way to St. Mary's City to get an authentic brew, and was put off by its' flavor of Star Anise. So, I decided I am going to make a beer for him (and put a metric long ton of star anise,)

I am currently researching what ingredients I can use. I want to make sure the grains I use existed in the 1600's, the hops are as authentic as possible, and will be using local water (though I will not use bay water, bay water is like a class 1237.1 toxic waste.) Right now I have found:

       -Authentic unrefined sugar stored in Oak Barrels

       -Muscovado which is a very common sugar of the Caribbean 

As you can tell I don't have a lot, but lucky for me, beer doesn't have that many ingredients.I hope to have more on this later, and I will, but I want to blog about this from the very beginning to the very end. I am still researching grains and hops that we would have in Maryland in the 1600's but I promise the beer will be up and running soon!

Slainte! 

Good Beer Days

Some days you get home from work and just want to sit back, relax with some HIMYM, and drink some cold, amazing beer. Ok, I'm lying here, I do this every day. But stick with it for a little. I notice some days I have two or three beers, and I'm pretty buzzed and I have to stop drinking. It saddens me my liver refuses to work properly, and I cry a little on the inside. Alas, there are just bad beer days. Days your body has had enough, and says "screw you, I'm going home." Sadly, as I get older, bad beer days are more common.

Enter good beer days. Days in which your body literally takes that sweet life giving liquid and lets you drink to your hearts content. You drink one beer, then two, then three, and realize you don't even feel buzzed. If you're lucky (or unlucky because you have to pay) you're at a great bar with 500 beers. You sit there with your friends, talking, drinking, eating, and drinking more. You go through 8 or 9 beers, and you feel nothing. You get to play games with the bartender, like one of The Great Trio's, in which he asks them to bring the most offensive beer out. You find beers you haven't had before and you literally just drink. Your day of relaxing is being able to drink with no regard, and you love every second of it.

These days I feel are few and far between. Yes, there are the normal days of drinking. Yes, there are days in which you goal it to get so drunk you need subtitles. But Good Beer Days, ones in which experiencing beer for beer sake are magical. So magical that somehow you wake up the next morning and aren't hung over, aren't tired, and somehow you didn't piss off your girlfriend, your friends, and you didn't urinate on the neighbor's cat. It's as if the little beer fairy loves you, and wants you to enjoy life to the fullest.

 Embrace these days, you don't know when they will happen, or if. Sometimes you really want them, like when you are at a beer tasting, but your body doesn't. If you find yourself in one of these days, think about home amazing beer is, and just drink more. Drink to your hearts content (but be safe, Uber it up.) Drink, love your friends, and love life. What else could be better?

Here's to hoping you have many good beer days!

Slainte

Beer, it makes you do crazy things...

College, a magical time in which everyone that goes has stories upon stories. From puking on your best friend, to burning your ex-boyfriend's clothes behind his car, beer (or some Tricky Ricky) helps turn inhibitions into reality. No, this post will not be stories like I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (my life is about 1/10th as cool) but what beer will make you do.

So my beer buddies, which for now on shall be called The Great Trio, were and always are in search of great brews. From scouring our local liquor stores, to visiting new ones, to checking our local liquor stores again (you know, just in case they put new beer out since you left an hour ago), to asking friends in different states to bring there local beer, we were always in search of the next best elixir. Enter Beer Advocate. This website is like the Silk Road for beer lovers. Anything you want to know about beer, how it’s made, what year the best Mad Elf was made, Beer Advocate has everything.

One day, we found out they rated beer and liquor stores. We spent an entire night figuring out who had the most and the best beer in Top 250. Discovering there was a great place in King of Prussia, about 90 minutes from Baltimore we decided we must go. So all three of us took off the very next day (a manager, and two senior staff nonetheless) and drove all the way up there to get our hands on some Russian River, Founders, and Firestone Beers. We had a lovely lunch together next to the Delaware River at a local brew pub, and talked like little school girls about the cutest beer we wanted to take home and have our way with. Excited was really the only thing we were. After lunch we finished our journey to Kunda Bev and were amazed with all the beer they had. Piles and piles of beer, from California to Louisiana, and of course a WHOLE AISLE OF BELGIANS! We looked and looked for the beer that they said they had in stock. None! Nooo! Not only did they not have any of the beer we were looking for except for Founder Breakfast Stout, but we forgot Pennsylvania has ABC laws that only allow case sales. So we had to pony up $175 for one case. It was a sad sad trip back home in which we thought we would bring home 24 different bottles back. But we only ended

up with 48 beers that were only ranked 19th in the world.

So there you have it, beer gave us an amazing story, and we were sober the entire time (well sort of.) We fully expected a car full of amazing beers, beers that would take us weeks to taste, to rate, and to lament over being so good (or horrible.) In the end we took home an great beer, and amazingly disappointing story, and a lesson to always remember other states ABC laws. But in the end, The Great Trio can always say beer made us do all those things.

Until Next Time,

Slainte

BBC's First Real Post

So I've already gone over the who, the what, and the where. But now we finally get to the real reason for this blog. Beer and everything that has to do with it. This is somewhat old news, but in all honesty, it gets me as giddy as a high school senior on prom night (funny thing, I feel asleep at 12 that night, don't ask. Actually, this isn't funny...)

I love Trappist Beers. As a good Catholic, the Pope states I must drink at least 1 liter of Trappist beer a day in order to get into heaven. Jokes on the Pope, because I find this task easy, and I'm in heaven every time I drink a Rochefort 8. Joking and heresy aside (somewhat true though) I have a soft spot of Trappists. These Monks have 3 beers in the top 50, and have been producing beer the old fashion way for hundreds of years (in the case of Rochefort since 1595.) They have gone through 2 World Wars in which the Germans "salvaged" all but the one breweries copper kettles. The monks take pride in their work, as to them it is prayer, and produce arguable the best beer in the world. Do they make tons of money doing it? No, they only produce enough to keep the monastery open for the next year. Not only is their beer amazing, but it's actually pretty rare. Collectively, the 8 Trappist monasteries  produce just over 12.1 million gallons of beer world wide. Take Budweiser who makes over 5 billion gallons a year. So whats the news? In December of 2014 the International Trappist Association will welcome a 9th brewery. Exciting! More exciting is this abbey will be the first outside of Europe, and will be located in the great US of A.

I know for a fact that I will be one of the first ones knocking on their doors, begging for their new brew. I will sip said beer, look to heavens, and thank God that beer exists!

Here is an article if you want to know more.

Hopefully my love of Trappists will rub off on you.

Till Next Time,

Slainte!

What the BBC is all about

I first thought of the Baltimore Beer Collective when two close friends and I gathered together almost once a week drinking what else but beer. Sure, we drank together almost everyday after work, but these days were special days. Day's in which we gathered, bought beers that we never have had, and just drank, and drank, and drank. We found that a bomber or a 750ml split 3 ways would enable us to drink as much beer as possible before getting madly sloshed. Usually we would go through 4 or 5 bombers, or on days we all had off the next day (ok, when ONE of us had off the next day) we would drink about 10. (Note, this wasn't without repercussion, as one of my beer friends puked on my house. ON my house, not in, ON!) Anyways, in these little beer gatherings, we would pick a theme. One day would be Belgians, the next would be Sours, the next would be IPA's. All in all, we drank, tons. And we loved it. We discussed the beers, we rated them, we argued the political agenda of the Benghazi Attacks, and we just plain argued. But we loved it, and we looked forward to it every time.
This, is where the BBC started, and in all honesty, the BBC is just three friends who loved beer, who loved to argue, and who loved to share their passion of beer.

So there you have it my beer minions, the BBC is about sharing the passion of beer. Pure and Simple. I won't bore you with non-beer stuff (I hope) but if it happens, find me, and throw a giant penguin at me.

Until next time Slainte!

A Short Introduction Part 2

My last entry was a short intro on how I came to love beer so much. But before I continue on how, I'll share just who I am. In all honesty, if you don't care just who I am personally and want to skip through, do just that. I won't be offended...really. I swear. And no, I am not being passive aggressive. No, not at all...go on...

Anyways, to continue, my name is Rob. I was born in California and live, of course in the "great" city of Baltimore. I have lived in 5 states, and traveled extensively within the confines of the US. In high school and college I ran track and field as was a pole vaulter. During college I picked up climbing in a very bad way. Just remember, beer and climbing go together like...well beer and climbing. With climbing, I have been to dozens of states, and hundreds of cities in which I have found...what else but beer! I am currently a Bike Shop Manager (my other passion) in Annapolis in which I think about bikes, beer, and just how come Dura-Ace and Ultegra aren't 100% compatible. Lastly, and probably my second point of of pride (after my love of beer) is I coach a girls high school track team. Believe me, after dealing with 80+ girls for 2 to 3 hours a day, you will love any sweet, sweet beer you can get your hands on!

So there you have it my beer minions, there is short intro to my life!

Slainte!

A Short Introduction Part 1

For the past two years, I have gone from a beer drinker, to a beer lover, to a beer brewer, to what many consider a beer snob. Luckily, most of my friends enjoy beer almost (if not the same as I) and we make it our mission to drink as many different beers and styles that we can get our hands (and mouths!) on. So why am I blogging? One, I have horrible hand writing. Two, types is much easier and faster. Three, I just plain love beer.

My love of beer started not in high school (I swear I didn't drink in high school) but mid-college. I was a camp counselor in the Highlands of North Carolina, and many of my friends were from Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia. They kept asking "have you been to Kingsport Grocery?" My answer was always "no, why does it matter?!" In my head, Tennessee -like most of the south- had "cities" which were glorified suburbs, with little to no distinct culture, and the Kingsport Grocery was just a "amazing" grocery* store. Little did I know, it was an amazing bar/restaurant/tavern. Each floor had a beer selection based upon the Appalachian region. Four different floors, four distinct tap selections. Needless to say, I was in awe. What is this beer? There is so much, and the US sucks for beer. Oh, how wrong I was. This ladies and gentlemen, was my first foray in the wonderful world of beer.

And so, I hope you read and stop by every now and then. I'll be reviewing beers, talking about my home brews, and other beer related news.

Finally, as my good friend taps glasses and cheers to:

Slainte

*Note, I was getting used to southerners having different words for things, like a Toboggan is a hat, not a sled. Really? WTF!?!