The funniest Super Bowl bet ever

When thechive.com recapped the exchanges between
brewing rivals, Samuel Adams and WhiteWater, I could
not stop laughing. The Atlanta-based WhiteWater got their
gloat on for three quarters of the game but, well, things did
not turn out as they planned. Just some hilarious Tweets!!!

Yeah, that Super Bowl will go down as one for the ages. No doubt about that. I was cheering for Atlanta all the way but the fact is, for New England to engineer a comeback like that? Holy crap, that was something to see!!!

Well, I wish I had, anyway. When the Falcons went up 28-3 in the third quarter, I figured it was game over and switched to something else before nodding off to sleep in my Lazy Boy. And despite countless messages and phone calls from Stevil St Evil, way down in Wellington, New Zealand, exhorting me to wake up and watch the comeback of the century, once I'm down for a happy little IPA Nap, I stay down. I don't sleep so much as hibernate.

Naturally when I woke up in the morning and went on Facebook, I had a real WTF-happened moment. So I went onto YouTube and watched the whole thing unfold with my coffee. That was the most exciting, unbelievable, crazy-ass football I never saw.

Ouchh, here's an early pre-game burn from SweetWater to
Samuel Adams, who naturally replied, "NOT COOL!" But
it carried on long after that and well into the game. In the
end, we know what happened but this stuff was funny as hell

Now as a decades-long diehard Buffalo Bills fan, I can't in good conscience ever cheer for New England. And to be brutally honest, watching Atlanta romp through the National Football Conference playoffs, I honestly thought they had the right stuff to win Super Bowl LI. (I don't know what you Americans were calling it but I was saying Super Bowl Lee.)

But man, I can appreciate some damn good hold-your-breath football, regardless of the uniform, and to this Canucklehead, that was probably the best Super Bowl ever.

However, while the Patriots and Falcons were battling it out on the gridiron, there was a sidelines battle being waged on Twitter between the Boston Beer Company, known to most as Samuel Adams Brewing, and Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewery. And man, it was funny. It's been on a number of social media outlets now but I first spotted it on thechive.com.

In the third quarter, with the Patriots down 28-3, the folks at Sam
Adams admitted to some nerves, posting a pic of their Boston Lager
and a plate of chicken wings with the simple caption: "Stress eating."

Five days before the game was held, SweetWater sent the first volley Samuel Adams' way, posting the story of how an Atlanta gas station yanked all of its Samuel Adams' beer prior to the game and quipping, "Hey, Sam Adams Beer, feeling a little deflated?" (Obviously a reference to DeflateGate, the Super Bowl in which... wait, you know all this.)

But Sammy A's proved it was up for the challenge, referencing Pats' coach Bill Belichick in their reply, "Your joke's falling flat. Better Belichick yourself before you wreck yourself." And with that, it was game on.

SweetWater suggested that when the Falcons won, Sammy A's would have to send a brewer to Atlanta as an intern. Adams upped the ante and said losing brewery wear the winning team's jersey.

The funniest pre-game Twitter exchange came before the opening
kick-off when Sam Adams noted their biggest problem was finding
more fingers for QB Tom Brady's championship rings as he already
has four. SweetWater replied that they had a pretty good idea of, uh,
which finger that ring was going on when the Falcons won. To which,
Adams replied: "Well, you certainly have A LOT to choose from!"

Before long it was finally decided between the two that SweetWater would have to brew a Patriots Extra Pale Ale if the Pats won and Sam Adam's would have to brew a Dirty Bird Lager if the Falcons won.

And of course, for three quarters, SweetWater had a number of sweet chirps for the folks at Sam Adams. But when the Patriots started to mount their fourth quarter comeback, suddenly Sweetwater got nervous, retweeting Sam Adams' early "Stress eating" post and asking, "Y'all got anymore of those wings?" 

And when the Pats won it in overtime, Sam Adams posted a GIF of the Fresh Prince and Carleton dancing and cheering, noting, "We know you're sad right now but here's how we feel about you coming to brew with us." At first, SweetWater played coy - "New phone - who dis?" before finally posting a GIF of an actor screaming and acknowledging the next day, "When you realize it wasn't a bad dream and you gotta pay up on your bet with Samuel Adams Beer."

Not long after New England won the Super Bowl,
Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing was gifted with this tap
handle from the folks at Samuel Adams. And now the
question on everybody's mind is: "When will this beer
be ready and how do I get some?" Ball's in their court.

Now since New England won, I won't pick a winner of the Twitter Super Bowl (well, except for us readers) but SweetWater was good to their word, posting a picture of their staff all wearing Samuel Adams t-shirts but slyly noting underneath, "Alright, none of you Massholes can claim we didn't keep our word." Massholes is, of course, a Massachusetts reference. To which, Sam Adams replied, "We accept 'Massholes' as a term of endearment... cheers, guys!" But to be honest, "Belichick yourself before you wreck yourself" did make me laugh out loud - an actual LOL moment. The folks manning their respective Twitter accounts have great senses of humour.

Frankly, I remember this Twitter exchange more than the game but then again, I was awake for the Twitter stuff. Well, afterwards when I read them. Frankly, I am never done sleeping. I only take intermittent breaks from sleeping to do a bunch of stuff so I can collect a weekly cheque, thus ensuring that my bed is in a really nice room. *Looks at present state of bedroom* Or just in a room, I suppose. If only I could convince those all those dirty clothes on the floor we're going on a picnic, perhaps they'd jump into the hamper of their own volition.

This is an excellent example of the German
Marzen style - malty, crisp and clean. These
Samuel Adams' guys seldom disappoint me.

Okay, since this is (allegedly) a beer column rather than a football fight on Twitter column, to the victors go the spoils. First on deck is Samuel Adams' Octoberfest. I found a single of it in the orphans bin at the LCBO and as we know, orphans and single bombers often find their way into the fridge at Donny's Bar and Grill. Adams' Octoberfest was first brewed in 1989 and most years, the formula is tinkered with a little bit. Always ranging between 5% and 5.5% (I think mine was 5.5% - I forgot to say the ABV in my tasting notes), this pours a beautiful copper colour. The Marzen-style lager uses German Noble hops in the brewing but make no mistake, this is a malt bomb all the way. Despite the slight nose of brown sugar and toffee, this was not sweet in the least. Well-carbonated, lightly tart but richly caramel and grassy on the tongue, this is an excellent example of the German's century-old recipe. If you're a hophead only, go for their Rebel IPA, instead, as it is regularly available here in Canada. But I like to bounce it around a little and found this refreshing.

Which actually reminds me - my beer writing/video pal Drunk Polkaroo is sitting on a bottle of, I believe, their 2015 single-use bourbon-barrel-aged Utopia, highly prized, incredibly elusive and super expensive. I'm not sure what Polk paid for it but the 29% brew usually runs just this side of $200. This is only the ninth release of Utopia since 2002 so it'll be one helluva story from the Polk.

The recent participants in the Wellington Rebooted Mix
were the Terrestrial India Brown Ale, S'Wheat Thang
Hoppy Wheat Ale, Quick Brown Fox ESB and their much
loved by yours truly Chocolate Milk Stout. Stellar group!

Based on what I've seen on Twitter and Facebook recently, it would seem that the Wellington Brewing (Guelph) Rebooted Mix is back in play for Round Two. Originally released in October, I snapped one up because while I've had two of them, the other two were new to me. The 5.9% Terrestrial India Brown Ale was my 2015 Ale of the Year (the first brown ale to win anything with me ever) while a couple of the 7.2% Chocolate Milk Stout get snapped off the shelf every time it surfaces. Huge favourite of mine. So what the brewery has done here is package together four of their one-offs in a $9.95 four-pack. So obviously, those two alone made it worth buying this bad boy. That I bought it several more times speaks to all the beers inside. The S'Wheat Thang Hoppy Wheat Ale (okay, can I just say great name?) was perhaps not so much hoppy as it was lightly tart but the 5.5% wheat delivered. The usual banana on the nose with a hint of grapefruit, it did have a slight pale ale feel in the mouth - lightly spiced, a wee bit bitter but with strong classic wheat notes coming to the fore.

While I got my Brooklyn in a 16-ounce (473 ml) can, I
opted for this pic off the internet instead as my picture
sucked donkey dong. Actual. Donkey. Dong. And it is
too good of a lager to be sullied with bad photography.

The 6% Quick Brown Fox ESB (which, for some reason, reminds me of the typing class I was forced to take in First Year Journalism) is a pretty good example of a true British-style English Special Bitter. I don't drink a lot of ESBs which is surprising since every time I do, I seem to quite enjoy them. But then again, I suspect craft breweries aren't cranking this style out by the hundreds. Wellington takes the usual recipe but dry-hops it at the end of the cycle for a wee bit more oomph. Bready on the nose and nutty bitterness on the tongue, this was quite good. A great four-pack that's back - grab one if you see it.

Okay, speaking of a different style that absolutely brings a pale ale feel to the table, I found a can of Brooklyn Brewing Lager at my local LCBO. If I haven't tried a beer, I tend to grab it, regardless of style or this column would be all IPAs and imperial stouts. It seems I force my own hand except when it comes to picking up laundry off the floor. Clearly, I prefer Free Range Laundry. Let the underwear and socks run free, I say. Or just sit there in a pile. Who am I to impose my totalitarian oppression on them?

If it has a concrete or brick background, it's definitely
one of my pictures. I am not the most creative person you
will meet in your lifetime. I'm more like "Oh shit, I
should probably take a pic. What's fastest and easiest?"

While that's my deeply-thought-out and not at all accurate assessment of laundry, why don't we just get to the Brooklyn Lager? Okay, for starters, this is the best-selling beer out of New York City's Brooklyn Brewing, founded by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter back in 1987. While I haven't had their other fare (this seems to be the only one available up here thus far), it's not hard to see why. Fairly citrus and floral on the nose (which is so not a lager's usual aroma), the 5.2% beer is more definitely one on the tongue with mostly grassiness and toasted malt but still a touch of bitterness. This brew kicks some lagery (that is not a real word) ass. Look forward to more from these guys.

Okay, let's scoot back up to Canada for another, this time, Muskoka Brewing's (Bracebridge, Ontario) Shinnicked Stout. For those who may not know, "shinnicked" is the word for that out-of-breath feeling you get when jumping into an ice-cold lake in the middle of winter. Another word for that is cardiac arrest. Insane is also a word that works. Too drunk to think clearly is an applicable phrase. While lightly jogging to my car in the cold will leave me out of breath, that's not quite the same as shinnicked.

Is either Tom Brady or Joe Montana the greatest of all
time? Or is it this man, who scored four touchdowns in
the 1966 Chicago High School Championships? I say we
could make a pretty good case here for Mr. Al Bundy.

Okay, the fact that they use Lumberjack Coffee from the local Muskoka Roastery tells you right off the bat what you're smelling off this 5.2% stout. But to me, it was all nutty and tasty bitter chocolate on the tongue. I had several samples of this at the Rib Eye Jack's Beer Fest but truly, you need a full glass to properly review it. What can I say? Another winner from Muskoka.

Okay, back soon, as all sorts of birthday celebrations are going on this week. Great Lakes Brewing turned 30 on Sunday. I turn slightly older than 30 on Valentines Day while Beer Bro Stevil St Evil, down in Wellington, New Zealand turns a mind-boggling 87 on Wednesday, making him the second-oldest of our old crew after Beer Bro Glenn, well into his 90s. But one last Super Bowl note. The day of the game, I posted a picture of Joe "The Throw" Montana (who won four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980-90s) on Facebook and said regardless of the outcome, Joe would always be the best. Well, after Tom Brady's fifth Super Bowl win, I got challenging by many into admitting he was the GOAT - greatest of all time. Not so fast, people. Have we all forgotten the story of shoe salesman Al Bundy who scored four touchdowns in a single game for the Polk High Panthers in the 1966 Chicago City Championship against Andrew Jackson High? Sorry but we have to throw Bundy into the GOAT mix. Let the debate begin. Bundy, Bundy, Bundy! But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!! Until next time, I remain...