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| When you work with my little girl, Katie, you end up in a lot of selfies and random pictures. Their generation has perfected selfies as a medium... |
The other reason is simply that I'm like a second Dad to her. I first met her a little over six years ago when I was dating her best friend's Mom. Things changed but the friendship with Katie and her best friend Meagan very much remained. So much so, I helped Katie get a job at my Beer Store where she's turned out to be a huge asset, as I knew she would. At the tender age of 23, she's my little girl. (Consider that fair warning, young playahs...) Anyway, just this week, my "daughter" went back to Nursing training in Toronto so we'll only get her on weekends. That's why she's kicking this off... a "Dad's Tribute"... which equals pride. And fun stories of my daughter's adventures. (She's a great kid and I love her to bits...)
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| A Katie and Meagan Vegas selfie taken in this huge ferris- wheel viewing-pod thing that didn't exist the last time I was there in 2012. Again, the medium perfected by these two... |
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| Damn, I love this place. Gotta go back there soon. Just hearing Katie's stories made me miss this city... |
After landing in Planet Hollywood Hotel, the pair frequented the Koi Nightclub where it is "All You Can Drink for $20" but only for women! Why is that? Because pretty young ladies bring all the boys to the yard... ♫ and I say it's better than yours... ♫ Sorry, got musically sidetracked - it couldn't be helped. However, the bar is clever enough not to include either beer or liqueur shooters because young girls, even at their petite size, can drink $20 worth of beer or liqueur but cheap American liquor? Not a chance. And the guys pay full-freight - anywhere from $10-$18 for beers, mixed drinks, whatever. That's why the Pretty Girl Quotient is important to hotspots in Vegas like Koi - they draw in the guys, who drop a bundle. Even in the Vegas nightclubs, the odds favour the house. The pair found out just how important the Pretty Girl Quotient was when they arrived one night and realized they only had $20 between them. As they turned to go back to the room, a bouncer rushed over to ask why they weren't coming in. They explained they were simply going to get more money. Next thing they knew, they were handed a "Two for $20" card and in they happily went. The nightclub was taking no chances on the girls somehow not returning.
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| Three of Nickel Brook's newest offerings, enjoyed by the Beer Musketeers at Donny's Bar and Grill on Easter Monday. Actually, scratch the Equilibrium ESB. I accidentally drank all of that the night before while Skyping with Stevil St Evil... |
Suffice it to say, they had a blast. I was getting excited texts literally the second Katie had landed back on Canadian soil. But the exact same day the girls flew out to Vegas (Easter Monday), Donny's Bar and Grill played host to two of the Beer Musketeers, Glenn and Cat, and later in the increasingly-wobbly afternoon, Stevil St Evil, straight from Wellington, New Zealand, courtesy of Skype on my laptop. I hadn't been on Skype in maybe four years when I last talked to my brother Gary in Vietnam so naturally, I couldn't remember my Skype name or password. So the night before the Musketeer arrival, Stevil tracked my account down and connected to me. From there, it was simply a matter of getting a new password from Skype and *bam* I was back on it.
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| Musketeer Glenn enjoying his first Nickel Brook Immodest Imperial IPA which was the biggest hit of the day |
However, we thought it best to give Skype a test-run that night so I connected with the vacationing Stevil where it was the following afternoon for him. Steve was set up nicely with a growler of his beloved Aro Noir Stout made by his local crafters, Garage Project, while on my end, I basically started piling into the many IPAs I have bought for the Musketeers visit the next day. We had a great chat but... ♫ Oops, I did it again... ♫ (Apparently, I'm feeling musically-inclined today? And with pretty catchy but crappy pop songs to boot.) Yes, I drank most of the Musketeer beer. So knowing they were landing at 2 p.m., I decided, "They're coming to Burlington (from Toronto and Oshawa) so dammit, they're gonna drink Burlington beer," and proceeded happily to Nickel Brook where I stocked right back up. I had two growlers of Headstock IPA, as well as cans of Immodest Imperial IPA, cans of Malevolent Black Imperial IPA, bottles of Naughty Neighbour American Pale Ale and countless other odds and sods still in the fridge. I was set. Plus Glenn, having just returned from Florida, arrived with a knapsack filled with hard-to-find-here American craft beers.
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| Screen-shot view of the Beer Musketeers from Stevil's end in New Zealand. As you can see, it was a sophisticated and dignified affair on the patio at Donny's Bar and Grill. What can I say? We do Easter Monday right... |
After appetizers of Headstock and Naughty Neighbour, we jumped into the Malevolent - Glenn's (and perhaps Cat's - I'm not sure) first foray into black IPAs. Using Simcoe, Columbus and Centennial hops, this beer is deceptive as hell. With a light coffee scent, it seems like a porter or even a stout on the nose but on the tongue, hoppy as hell with grapefruit, citrus and pine. So that's the deceptive part - it looked like you're gonna drink a porter, smelled like you're gonna drink a porter... but once it hit your tongue? Yes, that's an IPA. And a damn good one. Met with universal acclaim - everyone raved.
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| Screen-shot of how we must have looked to Stevil St Evil... |
Funny Glenn vs Skype Sidebar #1: Stevil, an old hand at Skype, decided to both screen-shot and record chunks of the afternoon shenanigans - three videos of roughly 10-20 minutes each. Since we had a good two hours jump on him, we were in worse shape with each recording. And folks, it was damn funny. Let's start with Glenn... and then continue with... Glenn. Not even 10 minutes after we powered down the Malevolent, Glenn exclaimed to Steve (on camera), "I have to try a black IPA some day!" The empty Malevolent can is literally sitting in front of him. Okay, just after that point, I bring out the Jewel of the Nile... Nickel Brook's Immodest Imperial IPA.
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| Glenn wraps his head around Skype while waiting to yell at Steve. Glenn's volume is 11. He's very Spinal Tap that way |
Remember, when a couple of blogs back, I referred to Flying Monkeys' Shoulders of Giants IIPA as the best Canadian IIPA I'd ever had? Yeah, turns out Shoulders has an evil twin brother and his name is Immodest. There's good... and then there's crazy good. Nickel Brook Brewmaster Ryan apparently decided life does not come with limits and brewed up this Spawn of Satan. Limited time so I'm thrilled they got a chance to have it. I'd already indulged but Glenn and Cat? Blown away. Ryan has incorporated what he calls "an obscene use of Citra and Simcoe hops" to create a 9.5%, 85 IBU punch in the face. Citrus on the nose, earthy pine on the tongue, this bastard was the bomb. Everyone declared it "Best of Show."
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| My buddy, Joe, put this on my wall and said, "This is the beer Gotham needs." Weird, it's like people think I worship Batman or something. Oh, right, never mind |
That brings me to Glenn vs Skype Sidebar #2: Okay, after Glenn insisted (okay, demanded loudly) that Stevil start drinking, completely not realizing that Stevil had just woken up, was drinking coffee and was 16 hours ahead of us... in the early morning his time... he finally showed his lack of Skype understanding by looking at Stevil in my laptop and asking (quite under the influence)... "Wait... so is this in real time?" As opposed to... fake time? By the end of it all, Glenn caught up but man, in the meanwhile, he made us all laugh. But that's life as a Musketeer. You mock, you get mocked. What a great afternoon (and morning) we all had. Here's Glenn's take on the shenanigans: Man, Am I Loud! He's a little rough on himself. It was great fun. And it was the afternoon/early evening. Volume doesn't count.
Okay, more beers coming. Glenn - thank you, dude - brought the party a crap-load of hard-to-get-here IPAs from his trip to Florida and they're next. My co-worker, Marie, recently went on a trip with better half, Ernie, to Caesar's Palace in Windsor, won a crap-load of money and wandered down the street to craftie Walkerville Brewery where she got me both a sick glass and a litre of their IPA. Ernie, for his part, supplied the jalapeno cheddar sausages he created for J&G Quality Meats in Burlington that we slammed down at this little IPA-Fest! (Blatant plug: 175 Plains Road East in Burlington - 905-634-0196 - Ernie makes the best stuff!!! Plus he's one of the coolest dudes going... and his chick is pretty fly, too...)
Okay, like I said, more beer news coming this weekend. Two things. Number 1: I have wayyyy too much fun in my life and I may have been blessed with friends that I do not deserve... but hell, I'll take them for granted, anyway. And number 2: guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here... As always, I remain...
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