Top 10 Things I Miss About Las Vegas

This is on my list - the venue, not the two staggeringly attractive dudes.
But you'll have to keep reading to see where Downtown's craft brewery
Banger Brewing lands on the list. And yes, I was drinking their Hazy IPA
while Mark was enjoying their Blonde Ale. The sort of thing I remember.

I didn't write a single blog in April. Neither this one nor my beer blog, Brew Ha Ha.

I was halfway through Part Two of our Kingston Craft Brewery Invasion for the beer blog and just stopped cold. That was back in late March.

Why? I think mostly the enormity of what's going on around us these days (virus-wise) frankly knocked me silly. Stunned me. In my long stay on this planet, I have never seen anything quite like this.

Not long ago, my buddy, Mark, from London, posted one of his critically-acclaimed (I'm the critic and as such, acclaimed it) Vegas vlogs: "The Top 10 Things I Miss About Las Vegas."

Okay, back in 2012, Motley Crue did a two-week
residency at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino. This is the kinda thing that I can't use in
this list. Why? Because the Hard Rock no longer
exists. It's gotta be something I can do in Vegas
right now! Boy howdy, this was a killer concert!!

For folks our age, it's kind of a David Letterman thing that we remember with love. Now Mark and I have only met once in Vegas but I think we got along like two houses on fire. (Is that an expression? I feel like it is.)

I kinda thought, "Maybe I should do that, too." Try to get past my... I don't wanna say Writer's Block. More like Writer's Malaise. Just wasn't into it. I saw Motley Crue do their residency at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino back in 2012 and to use their words, I needed to "Kickstart My Heart." I'll include Mark's vlog link at the end as his list is vastly different than this. That said, while some things on Mark's list resonated with me, a few of these will bring a smile to Mark's face.

Okay, despite the fact that my first 13 trips to Vegas were on the strip with Trips 14-16 in the Downtown, I have weighted the list equally for both. Why? Because I absolutely love Fremont Street. For reasons you'll see. And it's gotta be something I can do or see if I landed in Vegas tomorrow. Can't be something I haven't done yet, such as The Front Yard at Ellis Island Hotel-Casino. Also nothing from the past that no longer exists. To be frank, if that were the case and as unpopular as this choice would be, the Imperial Palace Casino would be Number One on my list with the old O'Sheas not far behind. (Not as keen on the new one.)

Sometime between the night of April 11, 2018 and the
following morning, workers had adorned the Statue of
Liberty outside New York New York with this humongous
Golden Knights jersey to celebrate their team's first ever
NHL playoff win. I've no idea how they did it so quickly.

So let's get this Vegas party underway, shall we?

Number 10: The Golden Knights jersey on the Statue of Liberty at New York New York. I can tell you exactly when this happened because I was in town. On April 11, 2018, in their inaugural NHL season, the Vegas Golden Knights won their first ever playoff game 1-0 over the Los Angeles Kings. (They would sweep them in four.) On the morning of April 12, I came out of the Excalibur where I was staying, got onto the walkway bridge between New York New York and Excalibur. I looked up to do my now-traditional cheerful salutation, "Morning, LL" (Lady Liberty) and by gawd, she had this gigantic Golden Knights jersey on. How did they get it on her that quickly? I have no idea. But I have attended all three Toronto Maple Leafs games in Vegas and have seen first-hand their fans' enthusiasm, rowdiness and - this surprised me more than a little - true knowledge of the game. Vegas Golden Knights' fans are the real deal all the way.

This is Mike Palm (@mikepalmcirca) doing, as I recall,
college football predictions during the "My Guys At The
Longbar" TV show at The D way back in November. His
usual partner on the show is Derek Stevens, who owns
The D, Golden Gate and the coming-soon Circa. It was
fortunate Derek was not there as I would have Vegas
Geeked The F**k Out! We all need our heroes, right?

Now, by my own stated rules, would the jersey be on her right now if I landed in Vegas? Yup, it goes on her when the Golden Knights are in the playoffs and yes, right now, they would be if the NHL and Vegas were still up and running.

Number Nine: The Longbar at The D. Settle in because despite the fact that this is not my beer blog, you're gonna see many alcohol-related (okay, beer) things on this list. The majority go to Vegas to gamble. I go there because I love the carnival-like atmosphere and drinking great American craft beer.

The D was the second hotel-casino I stayed at on Fremont Street (Golden Nugget, also much loved, was the first) and a big reason for that was The Longbar. I spent a week there and by Day Three, the bartenders there stopped asking when I approached and simply went about pouring me a 32 ounce (946-ml) plastic beer pail of Stone IPA. There were basically three guys I dealt with during the course of the week and if memory serves, two of them just called me "Canada" as in "Hey Canada, still having fun?" Yup, always.

So how long is the Longbar? There are 15 widescreen TVs behind it, each
showing a different game. They had a captive audience in me as one night
last November when they had a Maple Leafs game on one of the TVs.
The Leafs weren't even playing Vegas. But they know hockey fans from
Canada are down there and they mix it up pretty good on those screens.
So here's seven of those 15 widescreens. That'll give you a good idea of it.

But Derek Stevens, who with his brother, Greg, owns The D, isn't afraid with fist-bump with their Canadian guests. Bar Canada on the second floor of The D opened the night before I was meant to land there in March. And the following night, the town was shut down. British Vegas vlogger Matt Bridger has been there. I have not. If he wasn't such a cool dude, this would be a lawsuit. Regardless, the Longbar remains a stellar example of Vegas-Done-Exactly-Right. An absolute favourite of mine.

Number Eight: Excalibur. I already know this choice will meet with some serious derision. I get that. Pretty much every place on the strip is a solid step up. But bear with me.

In Vegas, I feel like I'm a king... and this is my kingdom.
Excalibur has been my home there much more than any
other hotel-casino and when I return to the strip (I'm kind
of a Downtown guy at the moment), they will see me once
again. I absolutely go there every time the Toronto Maple
Leafs are in town so hey, I'll be back soon enough, friends.

The digs against it is that it's old (built in 1990 - if that's ancient, then WTF am I?), too cartoonish with its Disney castle turrets (back when Vegas was trying to portray itself as family-friendly) and that there are too many kids there. Matt Bridger, also an Excalibur fan, says Circus Circus gets the same knock. No biggie to me. The reason is I quite like kids. If 50 of them were running around me, screaming and yelling, I likely wouldn't even notice. I'm a parent and we get desensitized to the raucous squeals of children early on. (Unless it's crying. Then we come running.)

But the simple fact of the matter is this. A room to me is just somewhere I sleep, shower and the place my clothes live for a week. The bar is not set too high for me. I'm there to see Vegas, not my hotel room. Cost-wise, it's usually the best bet on the strip. It's clean, it's nice, the staff are friendly but they have one more thing that the other places don't. Baja Fresh, right next to classic burger joint Johnny Rockets, is a fantastic 24/7 Mexican food place. To me, that means shrimp burritos any time day or night. And believe me, there hasn't been a time that Baja Fresh has not seen me. They're as likely to see me at 5 a.m. as 5 p.m. Because if you can't eat a tasty-ass burrito for breakfast, well, who the hell are you trying to impress?

The best band I saw on the Third Street Stage were rockers
Alter Ego. Don't get me wrong, there were other really good
ones, as well (Hey now, Crush Featuring Chandiss) but these
guys seriously kicked ass. Best of the 80s, 90s and '00s here.

Number Seven: Free Concerts on Fremont Street. This actually blew my mind when I landed on Fremont for the first time back in September. Free concerts every night. There's three separate stages on the street. The Main Street Stage between Golden Gate and soon-to-be Circa? Yeah, never saw anything happening there. The First Street Stage between Circa and Binion's. Same thing. Nada. But the Third Street Stage between 4 Queens and The D? Now we're rockin'. There were exactly two styles of music that bands played on this stage. Country and rock. I like country music just fine - it's quite danceable - but my key issue with it is that the men are always singing about how much they love their women while the women are always singing about what cheating scumbags their men are. Somebody is lying here. Best bet is the men. So make mine rock music where everyone lies and cheats but sings honestly about it. The Fremont Street Experience, a collective of the hotel-casinos, is paying for your free music. It's just appropriate that you enjoy it. To a non-gambler like me, Vegas doesn't send a lot of freebies my way. But this one? Free live concerts? I dig that action.

Way back in 2010, Wonder Boogie entertained
my girlfriend and myself in Carnaval Court. It
was the middle of the afternoon and frankly, we
were already drunk. No one was allowed on the
stage. So I said to the security guy, "I just want a
quick picture." He said, "Okay" and here it is...

Number Six: Carnaval Court: Situated just south of Harrah's Hotel-Casino on the Vegas strip is a cool little spot called Carnaval Court. It has one of those circular bars where the bartenders pour booze straight into your mouth, as well as a mini amphitheatre. During the day-time, that amphitheatre was kind of an informal thing. The live music played but you wandered around at ease. Musically, the best band I saw there live was called The Spasmatics. Like Alter Ego, above, they slayed it. Looked like the guys in Revenge of the Nerds but nailed the rock.

But the most fun band I saw in Carnaval Court? Wonder Boogie. When I was in high school towards the end and Disco came out, I very much despised it. I was a Led Zep Head even then. Jeans, jean jacket and black t-shirt. I was that guy. Now that I'm older, I remember things, especially music, with a more nostalgic view. Wonder Boogie played not only Disco but tons of R&B that I always liked... then and now. But the best thing about this band wasn't even the music. The singer came down and got interactive. And I mean, in-your-face interactive. Suddenly, he was the one pouring shots in your mouth and making you sing along. Yeah, I did both, I admit not even sheepishly. Come on, it's Vegas! The rules of your life no longer apply. Being drop-dead drunk just past lunch time was now the new normal... when you're in Vegas. And again, free live concerts!

Me and the Manneken Pils out front of The D during my
November trip. Whenever I visited this little fella, I
always thought one thing. "Washroom inside the door
to the right." Being a beer drinker, even seeing a statue
do it, well, it brings that call of nature on. Excuse me.

Number Five: The Manneken Pils Statue At The D: This one is gonna seem a little bit silly and frankly, quite self-indulgent. But it was kinda thrust upon me by Hog of Hog-and-2cent fame. And that suits me just fine. The little boy in front of The D with his D out. I have, of course, seen pictures of the original in Brussels and apparently, ours (Sorry, Derek and Greg, I've taken partial ownership now) is a good head taller. So you know, "Manneken Pils" quite literally translates to "little man pee." It's a nod to the Stevens brothers' Belgian heritage. If this strikes you as somehow vulgar or unnecessary, all I can say is don't come to Vegas. Like, ever. I think it's a blast.

So how am I connected to this statue? Simple. Kaylene of Sin City Nerds (follow on YouTube - great couple) took a picture of hubby Nick, lying down in front of some fountain doing that sexy dude pose. (Nick will confirm guys can so NOT pull that shit off.) But Hog suggested the couple do a calendar, kind of a "Men of Vegas" thing, with all the guys in front of statues or fountains. He picked mine for me. "Don's got to do that peeing boy statue!" Hey, man, happy to do so. But be warned! You WILL be in front of the Bellagio fountain for yours! (FYI: He hates it.)

This is me showing my slick moves at a restaurant that was
called Stripper. For the record, there were no strippers but
there was a pole in the middle of the bar and every once in a
while, a waitress would climb the thing and do moves. Kind
of silly but very Vegas. I believe Stripper left the Miracle
Mile Shops quite some time ago. But, of course, I have a pic.

Number Four: The Miracle Mile Shops. I've always called it the Miracle Mile Mall. Because it is. I am not a mall guy. For most men, that likely goes without saying. But this is not your regular mall. Running a full circle around Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino for 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometres), I absolutely maintain that you could stay at Planet Hollywood and never once see the strip. This place has everything. More than 200 shops, 15 restaurants and more than a few live entertainment venues. It's humongous. I've been to about five of those restaurants and every damn one of them was great. My favourite, now gone, was Hawaiian-themed Aloha Spirit Cheeseburgers, which had, no joke, about 25 differently prepared cheeseburgers. Thought I'd died and gone to Heaven! No longer there because turnover (like rent) is huge in Vegas but one place I know for sure is. That would be Sammy Hagar's Wabo Cabo Catina. Love the Red Rocker. Been through that place a bunch of times. Two floors upstairs of just clothing and memorabilia. Sammy knows his shit.

And Sin City Brewing is in there. They make a damn fine malt first, pine back-end hybrid IPA. And I quite liked it. Also, a great amber ale and a solid straight-forward stout. They only have five styles there. All are very good examples of their styles. Solid brewery.

Okay, also a Nacho Daddy there, a big favourite of mine. And of course, for Hog and 2cent, there is an Earl of Sandwich, their favourite.  There's two ABC convenience stores where I get my craft beer. And a few memorabilia shops that I frikkin' loved. I dunno. Pretty much the only mall I've ever enjoyed in my life. What can I say?

This is Toby at Freedom Beat serving me up a Sierra
Nevada Brewing Hazy Little Thing IPA. I have NO idea
if this is the 2-to-5 Happy Hour in the afternoon or in
the wee hours of the morning. Because of the 14 I could
have potentially gone to, I made it to 12. When $8 craft
beers are suddenly $4, you make that extra effort, right?

Number Three: Freedom Beat restaurant/bar at the Downtown Grand. Okay, I stayed at the Downtown Grand, just a three minute walk off Fremont Street, based on the strength of a Matt Bridger vlog that I watched about it. Turned out to be a fantastic choice as I spent my 2020 Birthday Week there in Vegas back in February.

Now the Downtown Grand has a lot working in its favour. Great hotel! Room was fantastic. Never went to the pool but on Matt's video, it looks fantastic and it's a rooftop pool with a view so that rocks. Because it's a smallish casino, their bar service to the slots and games was the best I've seen of any place in Vegas! And I mean, by a long stretch. Every 10 minutes someone came by. No place in Vegas has that. Strip or downtown.

But the best part of the Downtown Grand? Their restaurant, Freedom Beat, which was actually something of a gem that Matt Bridger missed. (A very rare occurrence, I assure you.) Okay, let's start with the obvious. Their Happy Hour. Every afternoon from 2 to 5 pm and again, every morning from 2 to 5 am, they have half-price drinks and appetizers. So my $8 (16 ounce) pints of craft beer were suddenly just $4 a pint.

The sign in the background at the entrance of
Freedom Beat caught my eye. Yes, that one about
half-price Happy Hours at 2 to 5 pm and again at
2 to 5 am. I asked the hostess, "Is this for real?"
Yup, she smiled. So I walked into the bar, asked
for a menu to see what appetizers I could make a
meal out of, as well as asked what was on tap. It
was then I realized, holy shit, I'm set for the week

And here's the situation with that. They had Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing New England IPA on tap. They also had Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap. So a great east coast and west coast IPA. You can't lose. And if I was eating (even breakfast), they had Mother Earth Brewing (Vista, California) Sin Tax Imperial Peanut Butter Stout on tap. Second best Peanut Butter Stout I've ever had after Belching Beaver (San Diego) Peanut Butter Milk Stout, also imbibed in Vegas.

So here's what happened the week I was there at the Downtown Grand. I started by drinking their Hazy Little Thing NEIPA but two days in, the keg tapped out. So I switched to 60 Minute IPA. A few days later, it tapped out but the bartender said, "Donny, we got Hazy Little Thing back." The universe truly had this guy's back. And the appetizers? Two of them were easily a full meal to me. My favourite? The deep-fried Cheese Kurds with a dill dipping sauce. I wish I could say I only eat and drink like this in Vegas but why lie? No one who knows me is gonna buy that shit. So the Downtown Grand. Go when it's back, thank me later!

Number Two: Banger Brewing. The first time I landed on Fremont Street last September, I had pre-Googled nearby craft breweries. Two - Tenaya Creek and Hop Nuts - were listed as 10-15 minutes Uber rides away. Quite reasonable. Another, Banger Brewing, was listed as a 10 minute walk. I certainly liked that idea.

This was more than just a pleasant little surprise. As well
as being super close, their beers are exceptionally solid
and, in some cases, way off the beaten track style-wise.

So I landed in Vegas late at night and as is my opening night tradition, especially in an area that's new to me, started staking out the bars at the nearby casinos to see what their bars had on tap. Almost all had Stone IPA (so I would never go thirsty) and Sam Adams Boston Lager (a solid day-starter after coffee), as well as a few other sporadic craft selections. Not in abundance, mind you, but I've always been exceptionally good at tracking them down elsewhere. Also when I land in Vegas late at night, I tend to roam about until about 4 am (because I'm so damn jazzed to be there) until my body says, "Hey, asshole, it's 7 am Toronto time. Go to fakkin bed!!!!"

So it wasn't until Day 2 that I tracked down Banger Brewing, still with my morning (so, noon... ish) coffee out of the Golden Gate Hotel-Casino. Okay, I said to myself, right turn equals east... go. It was less than 10 minutes but there it was on my left so... north! I hadn't eaten yet but there was some kind of food stand within their boundary so I figured a cheeseburger and fries equaled a balanced breakfast because any qualified registered nutritionist will say it totally does.

Here, JJ at Banger Brewing holds up a glass of El Heffe
Hefeweizen that I am about to devour. Pretty much one of
my favourite Vegas beer discoveries. The brewery and I
have an ongoing battle about how much heat is in this
one that mostly involves them calling me a wuss. Okay,
the truth is it's more spicy than hot but it is the most
unique wheat I've ever had during my craft beer days.

Unless they're, y'know, honest or whatever.

But when I step into a brewery that's new to me, there's some strict criteria that has to be met. Do they make both a traditional west coast IPA, as well as a hazy New England IPA? In Banger's case, check and check. A solid stout? Their Long Knight Oatmeal Stout, top notch. Okay, moving on, unique beers? This is where they really stepped up their game. Their Morning Joe Kolsch is so damn good with its touch of coffee flavour, I found myself saying, "Are you sure this is actually a Kolsch?" (Not a style I usually seek out.)

But it's their wheat beer that truly sets them apart from others. The German purists, who created the style over 500 years ago, would faint if they tried Banger's El Heffe Hefeweizen which includes roasted jalapenos, serranos, habaneros and red-green peppers in the brewing mix. I am always calling it out on Twitter as the "hottest" wheat I've ever enjoyed. The brewery always responds by saying, "Dude, it's not even remotely hot!" The actual truth is it's beautifully spiced, very peppery and that's the problem the German diehards might have with it. Even Bud-drinking buddy Mark liked it! This is not your Grandpa's wheat. Long story short, Banger Brewing is one of the greatest discoveries I've made in 16 trips to Vegas.

I have landed. This is my Vegas Mothership. The
Yard House. Over 170 taps and some of the best
craft beers from across America and beyond!!
I honestly can't say enough about about the Yard
House. Fantastic servers, great vibe and the food?
Aye carumba! What Heaven looks like, people!!

Number One: The Yard House. Okay, true story. I was wandering down the esplanade between The LINQ and The Flamingo on the strip when I spied a bar that has "Craft Beers" on its marquee. So I wandered in, grabbed a menu and saw a few decent ones. Ordered a Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, California) Union Jack West Coast Style IPA. (This is NOT my beer blog. But dammit, I think it's the one of very few parts of my life that my brain actively remembers. Back to Vegas.) But when talking to the bartender about craft beers, he sorta looked around to make sure no one was listening and said, "Look, forget this place. You know too much about good beer for here. (False! You can never know enough about good beer.) Go further down until you get to the Yard House. They've got this peanut butter Stout that tastes like a Reese's Cup. Trust me, a beer guy like you will love it." (That would be the aforementioned Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout.)

So, after thanking him, I wandered further east until I came upon Yard House. Wandered in like the scruffian I am and plunked my butt down at the bar. Really nice looking restaurant. I mean, I'll happily jam fast food and pizza slices down my gullet while in Vegas but it's also nice to have a few really good places you can recommend to your friends. Checking both their bar menu and their food menu, this was that place.

Justin at the Yard House gives me an old-school
double thumbs-up for my selection of a Big Sky
Brewing (Missoula, Montana) Shake-A-Day IPA in
their (28.7 oz, 850 ml) half yard glass! That's a
whole lotta tasty in one killer-ass glass. Cheers!

This was the place I could send my friends who love craft beer. The ones who love a great meal. The ones who love a chill but still upscale meal environment. Are there fancier places on the strip? Yes, of course, there are. It's Vegas. But the Yard House checks off all the boxes coming in from two sides. It's quite respectable... yet also hugely accessible. A place you'd be happy to bring a date. Unless you're a high roller who disdains at the public at large, this is a place where you can be seated comfortably near the low rollers among us and hey, just have a great beer, a martini if you're a little more Fancy Dan, a fantastic meal or even a couple of tasty appetizers if you're an eat-and-run guy like me. (Try their Onion Ring Tower. It's seriously dope.)

While I was compiling this list (I'll add some runner-ups in a second), I had no doubt the Yard House gang would be #1. In fact, I'm such a vocal and fervent fan of theirs on Twitter that Brandon from their HQ (no idea where that is) sent me a DM thanking me and asking for my home address. The next night(!), Fed Ex knocked on my door with a box of Yard House swag - a couple of T-Shirts, sunglasses, coasters, bunch of stuff, along with a card, thanking me again for being "such an awesome fan!" Yard House, you earned the status of being the Best Craft Beer Bar in Las Vegas, combining my two favourite things! So thank YOU!

Something that was definitely considered as I compiled my Top-10 List
was Marc Andre Fleury's save on Leaf Nic Petan on November 19 last
year. It saved the game for Vegas (VGK 4-2 win) and sent Leafs coach
Mike Babcock packing. (Thank you for that, Marc Andre!) But I have
seen all three Maple Leafs games at the T-Mobile Arena and each has its
great memories. On New Years Eve 2017, a 6-3 VGK win, I saw William
Karlsson score the first ever hat-trick for the Knights. And on February
14, 2019, I watched a 6-3 Toronto win on my birthday. All very cool...

Winnowing this down to 10 choices was bloody tough so here's a few that were considered but edged out. Attending all three of the Toronto Maple Leafs games against the Golden Knights in Vegas (reasons under the picture of Marc Andre Fleury, right). Posing at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign on my birthday 2018. The crazy entertainment circles on Fremont Street. The Super Liquor store across the highway from Mandalay Bay (whatta craft beer selection there!) Zingerman's Coffee near the elevators at The D. The Prohibition Bar at Golden Gate Hotel-Casino where Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin used to drink back in the day. Whiskey Licker Up, the rotating bar attached to Binion's Casino on Fremont (which I saw being built!) Surviving three hours getting drunk at Hogs & Heifers Saloon in the Downtown Grand complex despite being the non-biker dude in the joint. 

Being Canadian and having our border with the US
being locked down right now, I have no idea when I'll
get to see Vegas Vic and the cool Viva Vision screen
on Fremont Street again. It can't come soon enough...

Checking out the Triple-7 Restaurant-Microbrew at the Main Street Hotel and Casino at Hog and 2cent's urging. (Great call, guys!)

When I attach Mark's Top-10 List link at the end, you'll see his list is very different than this. But that's the thing. But if I asked any of my Vegas friends for their Top-10s, I can guarantee you'd virtually see a different list from everyone.

But that's Las Vegas. We all find joy in different things there, come for different reasons but the commonality among us all is none of us can get enough of the place. My coworkers are convinced I will live there some day and man, I hope they're right. Because there's no place anyplace I'd rather be. It truly energizes me and as gamblers go, well, I sure do love my craft beer! (I'm pretty bad.)

Until I can land there again, I will continue to follow updates from Vital Vegas and Las Vegas Locally as they are the premier scoop-grabbers of the place, far surpassing the local media. So here's Mark's vlog: Top-10 Things Mark Misses About Vegas! As for me, I can't "wait to cross Casino Center, wait to cross Casino Center, wait to cross Casino Center, walk to cross Casino Center." Peace out and stay safe, my friends.

Kingston #BeerFam 2020 Brewery Tour 1.0

The Host With The Most: When Josh Hayter, genial co-owner of
Spearhead Brewing, hosts a Brewery Tour, well, he doesn't screw
around. Enlisting the help of Tourism Kingston to pick up our
lunch (which will be described in great detail here) and Kingston
Economic Development to foot the tab for dinner, we ate like
royalty... but drank like court jesters. One day, six breweries and
probably the best-run Brewery Invasion ever. Hats off to Josh...

Way back at the beginning of November, Greg, Kimmy and I organized and run the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. We all thought it went very well, as did the participants. Everyone had a blast. Granted, "Hey, let's go to a bunch of breweries and drink all day..." well, it turns out that's a remarkably easy sell. Go figure.

We were glad we did it. And to that, I would like to add one very important caveat. I personally am very frikkin' glad we did it before Kingston.

Because when Josh Hayter, co-owner of Spearhead Brewing, picked up the ball to organize February 22nd's Kingston #BeerFam 2020, geezuz, he ran the length of five football fields with it. For starters, I checked back in my DM with him and he started planning this early last October - four months ahead. Like I said, the dude doesn't screw around. He quickly enlisted Amanda, the brewery's social media liaison among other duties, to help out (there was an ongoing debate, albeit friendly and chirpy, about who did more) and man... whatta day!

At Stop #1, Daft Brewing, their head brewer Ryan found a high
perch to talk beers with our group of 20, which basically took
over the sizable horse-shoe shaped bar. Which what we pretty
much do at every Brewery Invasion. The brewery had only
been open for just three weeks and I gotta say, it has a pretty
eclectic starting line-up. Colourful as hell and chill atmosphere.

Using his status as the most powerful businessman in Kingston (he's never ever claimed that - I'm totally projecting that onto him), he quickly enlisted Tourism Kingston and Kingston Economic Development into helping with the meals - first lunch at Kingston Brewing Company (much more on that coming) and then dinner at Spearhead.

We also had this sharp-ass white bus shuttling us from brewery to brewery (including a very necessary washroom), courtesy of McCoy Bus Service (the owner is a shareholder in Spearhead) with a great driver named John. Josh wisely waited until Spearhead, our last of six brewery stops, before dropping a glass onto our large table and suggesting we all throw something into the tip pot for John. Oakville Brew Crew's Greg was there when John got the tip and reported he was thrilled. Not surprised. Because the day only cost us our purchases at the six breweries, I saw nothing but $10's and $20's being crammed into the glass from all of us. Hey man, John kept a bunch of drinking fools safe from 11 am to 9 pm. No easy feat. Gotta reward that shit.

So here's the thing. When the Ottawa thugs - Matty, Joel and Ben - organized last Summer's Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion, we already knew about the great craft breweries there. Same when Kimmy, Greg and I organized the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion at the beginning of November. Everyone knew these breweries either through Beer Mails or Twitter posts. But none of us knew much about the craft scene in Kingston beyond Spearhead, to be honest. Josh was about to change that.

Actually, Stop #2, Stone City Ales was a place I was quite
familiar with but had never visited. A friend of mine used
to go visit friends in Kingston a few times a year and she
would always bring me back 1 litre howlers of Uncharted
IPA and Ships In The Night Oatmeal Stout. So I was very
pumped to finally visit here. They had some real beauties!

He wanted to show us that Kingston was a thriving craft brewery destination city. We had no real idea to what extent. But, my friends, we were about to learn.

We all gathered in the lobby of the Delta Waterfront Hotel until Josh showed up at 11 am to get our party started. Okay, Roll Call: Greg and I from Oakville; artist-cartoonist David from Hamilton, homebrewer Graeme from King City, Glenn, Jeff, Candice and a few others from Oshawa, Paul Peezy from Newmarket, our favourite engaged couple, Curtis and Nichole from Guelph and April and Chuck, the public faces of Waller St Brewing in Ottawa plus a healthy handful more that I didn't recognize. In fact, despite tons of tweets and correspondence between April and myself, I didn't even recognize her for certain. I went out for a smoke with five people in the lobby and came back in to 20 people. I was pretty certain it was April and Chuck but I didn't want to walk up, say, "Hey April!" only to discover I was talking to Sue Somebody. I'm sometimes a little over-cautious on account of being wrong so very often.

When he arrived, Josh was looking resplendent in his Sin City Brewing bowling shirt from Las Vegas (they had some kinda deal where if you bought a couple of pints, they throw the shirt in for, like, 10 bucks) as he herded us like the slow-moving cattle we are onto the bus and it was off to Stop #1 - Daft Brewing.

Curtis captured this selfie of him and fiancee
Nichole at Stone City Ales. Afterwards, when
I was asking Brew Crew members what their
favourite memories of the day were, Nichole
said simply, "Seeing everyone from the Brew
Crew again." And this is why we all love her.

When we arrived, I checked out their beer menu and saw... no IPAs? Once they resuscitated me, using a nearby defibrillator, I carried on best I could. (They very recently added Bingpot NEIPA so, you know, carry on. Too late for me but the rest of you will be fine.)

Now at this point, Daft, owned by Adam Rondeau, had only been open three weeks so yeah, here's a brewery just starting to spread its wings. And what a cool set-up. A former muffler shop (I believe) so it's got those big bay doors that can be opened in the Summer. And they had a lot of fun on the interior with the bright colourful cartoon paintings. Awesome place!

Okay, one of the things Josh set up with all the breweries we visited was that they would offer up tasters, displaying a variety of styles and Daft was in the game. Now, the Brew Crew can correct me if I'm wrong (and I will edit this accordingly - or not. It's a crap-shoot) but I'm pretty sure we got their Never Nude Tangerine Sour, the True Level Fiesta Gose and (boy, I remember this one) Coffee Is For Closers Coffee Milk Stout. I liked the first two - fairly typical but solid for their style - but geezuz, that Coffee Stout? Okay, you know how in a lot of Porters and even some Stouts, you get that coffee background?

Candice, second from bottom right, passed her phone to brewer Ryan to
get a pic of the whole Brew Crew from his high perch at Daft Brewing. 
That would be owner Adam Rondeau crouching down behind the bar in
the centre of the photo there. Just an excellent start to a fantastic day.

Usually mixed in with some licorice or chocolate? This tasted like a cold black cup of coffee. Not a little... a lot! It was actually quite jarring. I'm betting an espresso drinker like my brother would be all over this one. So kudos for taking that extra step to Daft. It could be a polarizing offering but hey, you're new to the game so you gotta stand out. This would do it.

But this was funny. I grabbed a pint of their Oat Dirty Bastard Oat Stout afterwards (which I very much enjoyed) and while talking to brewer Ryan, I found out it was a brewery collaboration with the winner of a Homebrewer Challenge that Daft had set up. I told Ryan I quite liked it and he told me that the Challenge was a lot of fun for them. But when it came to the actual beer, there was a slight hesitation on his end.

Jeff, left, wearing his stylin' Wavemaker Brewing shirt
(Cambridge brewery) talks beers with Josh Hayter, the
organizer of the Kingston #BeerFam 2020 brewery
tour. Josh and Amanda did a fantastic job with all this.
Here we all were at Stone City Ales, the second stop.

"When we were brewing this, there's probably a couple of things I might have done differently," he noted. Nothing huge, he added. A tweak here or there. When he saw me grinning, eyebrows raised at his pickiness, he shrugged and chuckled, "I know. I know."

But here's the thing. That just shows me Ryan is absolutely 100% a craft brewer. They are protective of both what's in their tanks and brewing the way they believe something should be brewed. Right down to the very smallest of details. And that's a good thing. A very good thing.

So Daft Brewing was just the beginning of the day. And as bright and colourful and fun as they are (they really are), things were just starting. Great start, though! As Graeme said to me afterwards, a early-day highlight was, "Seeing Daft so fresh and them talking about pushing the envelope (style-wise) to start." Tell you this for free - on this day, Graeme was truly in his brewer's wheelhouse but we'll get to that further along.

Okay, let's all hop back on the bus for Stop #2, Stone City Ales.

Someone had brought out a specialty Saison and our
King City homebrewer Graeme was all over it. It
seemed that everyone came away from Stone City
Ales with an unknown hidden treasure. In this case,
Graeme was trying the Counterpoint French Saison.

It seems Stone City turned out to be a highlight for various reasons for a couple of the Brew Crew. Everyone's favourite artist-cartoonist David was pumped about the locale. "It was cool going to Stone City Ales and seeing the downtown area." And he's right. Kingston's main downtown strip, perhaps because it's steeped in history, still has that small-town feel. And here was Stone City, as you can see above in the picture, just blending right in. Unless you were looking up at the banners (which I wasn't), you could easily walk right past it (which I did) until I glanced back and saw everyone going in. I wish I could say this wasn't typical.

But in my distant past (so, you know, five years ago), I had become familiar with some Stone City Ales beers. Back then in Burlington, there was a craft beer bar called Rib Eye Jacks (since shuttered) where a young and knowledgeable beer technician named Kylie worked. She had friends in Kingston and several times she returned with one-litre howlers of their flagship Uncharted IPA for me. So even before I entered for the first time, I knew this brewery had the goods, the right stuff.

While the brewery is owned by Ron Shore, I don't believe any of us caught the name of the soft-spoken gentleman who gave us our samplers and then guided a tour into the back.

Spotted while having a smoke at Daft Brewing
was the Kingston Water Tower (which I think
is more for show these days.) Ironically, there
was a Speedy Muffler Shop shown here in the
foreground. The irony is with an average age
of 45 or so (Glenn and I inflate that number)
none of us are particularly speedy these days.

Granted, his name notwithstanding, we had a lot of questions for him. The first few were near-identical. "Could you speak up a little?" We quieted down (nice trick, man - not many can pull that one off), he spoke up, all was good. But some great tasters there for us, as well. Now granted, I'd love to tell you what those tasters were but I neglected to take a picture and now a month later, yeah, right, like I'm going to remember. I wasn't even 100% sure April was April...

That said, I'm fairly certain Uncharted IPA was one. But another I can tell you without hesitation. That would be their Nocturnal Czech Dark Pilsener. Why? Oakville Greg and I, seated at the same table, enjoyed the shit out this one. Just an absolute beauty. Roasty malts, nice medium body (not the norm for a pilsner), light touch of licorice, 4.8% so lighter ABV but certainly not in the Crushable Zone, given the dark malts. Just a fantastic beer.

In the end, I went home with bottles of the Noctural, the Uncharted and the Distant Origin Dry-Hopped IPA. Distant Origin was pretty solid, as well. Containing my two favourite hops - Amarillo and Idaho 7 - the 6% west coaster had some solid citrus in it, a little floral on the nose and a creamy smooth feel. That said, as much as I enjoyed those two IPAs, Nocturnal was the clear winner on the day. Believe me, a pilsner beating out two IPAs is unusual in my corner of the world. But Greg said that beer was a highlight for him as well so, hey, that's gotta be a damn good beer.

Here's a sneak peek at the next blog where Curtis, left, asks me, right, if
I've ever seen a guest brewery list on tap as extensive as the Kingston
Brewing Company's list was. As you can see, I gave it careful thought
before my researched and thoughtful answer: "I dunno." And hey, on
the far left, is that Paul Peezy and King City Graeme? Shit, it sure is...

Okay, back next with my favourite stop of the day, Kingston Brewing Company, where it seems, oh, one or two of us enjoyed lunch. A quick Brew Crew side-story here if I may. (I write this. Damn straight, I may.) Graeme lost his paternal grandmother yesterday morning. His daughter is her namesake. We didn't learn that until last night. He had messaged me, asking about potential brewery visits but I didn't think twice about it. Graeme has forgotten more about beer than I'll ever know. When we all learned yesterday, it turned out Graeme had spent the day, visiting Ontario craft breweries, helping them stay afloat. Pretty cool gesture. And I also noticed we circled our emotional wagons around him quickly, offering support and hopefully comforting words. But that's the Brew Crew. As much as we sometimes chirp each other, it's a tight brother and sister outfit. You're always just there for each other. I saw that last night. More importantly, Graeme did. So, Scooby Doo Gang, it's it, that's all and I am outta here! More Kingston fun coming but until then, I remain...

That was the day Las Vegas closed

Here's Britain's premier Vegas vlogger Matt Bridger, left,
with casino host Richard Wilk, who works for both The D
and the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las
Vegas. They met late last week at The D but more to the
point, look at the crowd behind them. The very popular
Fremont St is now very much a tumbleweed ghost town.

I literally watched Las Vegas go from a thriving, bustling vacation spot last week to shuttered as of yesterday. And by shuttered, I mean shut down completely.

I have to be honest. Like many, I never thought I would see that day. It's like something out of a horror movie, that our beloved Las Vegas could become a ghost town. A movie like, say, "Outbreak" in 1995. Or "28 Days Later" in 2003. Or perhaps "Contagion" in 2011. Or even worse, "I Am Legend" in 2007, where that rat-bastard Will Smith killed his German Shepherd, Sam. After seeing that, I now think he was probably the one causing all that trouble in that West Philadelphia hood. Bastard.

You know, those crazy, far-fetched Hollywood yarns about a viral pandemic that wipes out half the world's population??

Turns out that's not so far-fetched, after all. I mean, I certainly don't expect we'll see half the world's population of 7.7 billion wiped out by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a la Hollywood-style but with each passing day, we are all actually seeing how dangerous and even moreso, how very feared it has truly become by everyone world-wide.

On March 17, St Paddy's Day, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak shut down
all non-essential businesses, including hotels and casinos, to try and slow
the wave of Coronovirus, now gaining a foothold in the USA. Many of the
strip hotel-casinos had already suspended operations, especially after
seeing occupancy rates of less than 5% but Sisolak's order shut down all
the rest, including the hold-outs on Fremont Street. When business safely
gets started in Vegas again is anyone's guess but most of us hope it's soon.

Now both myself and my London, Ontario buddy Mark (along with his wife, Liz) had Vegas trips planned for March Break. Mark and Liz were leaving Sunday, March 15 while I was flight-bound the next day. And for a long while, we were both defiantly adamant that our trips would happen.

Then things started to change for us. First, early last week, a few markets in the NHL decided that no spectators would be allowed at games for fear of spreading the virus. San Jose is the one that comes to mind but I think a couple others were ready to followed suit.

Then the NBA "postponed" its season on March 11, due to fears of - same thing - Coronavirus. Then the next day, the NHL postponed its season. Okay, when hockey gets shut down, Canadians like Mark and myself finally start to pay very close attention.

Okay, a stopped escalator is nothing new to regular Las Vegas visitors
such as myself. Hell, a quarter of them are being repaired at any given
time on the Vegas strip. But it's the sign on the right that tells the tale.
Las Vegas is closed for business. It's something I never thought I'd see.

Next thing we know, March Madness, that yearly event where the top 64 US College basketball teams play off for the nation's crown, was canceled entirely. March Madness happens over March Break in America and believe me, Vegas is on fire during the tournament. If it was a TV show, it'd be called Betting Gone Wild. No single sporting event sees as many various and varied bets in Vegas as March Madness because it runs the entire week solid. It's a shit-ton of games - 63 in all - packed into one week.

Next up, the NFL Draft, which was slated to take place on the strip, mostly in front of The Bellagio, from April 23-25, more than a month from now, was changed to an audience-free TV event instead. It was meant to be this big glitzy live event that would have shut down a significant portion of the Vegas strip as the Oakland Raiders shift to Vegas and the presently-being-built Allegiant Stadium for the 2020-21 NFL season.

On the weekend, MGM Properties decided they were shutting down their properties as of Tuesday, including (take a deep breath) Bellagio, Aria, Vdara, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, New York New York, Park MGM and even the T-Mobile Arena where the Vegas Golden Knights play.

Half of my 16 trips to Vegas have been spent at the
Excalibur so I can tell you this is the walkway from
the Excalibur to New York New York. Doesn't even
matter what time of day or night it was because I
have crawled on that strip morning, noon and night
while I'm there - any hour, really - and I can tell you
this 100%. This walkway has NEVER been empty.
Not even once. So, 4:17 am, say? Yup, people are on
there. Not a lot but it's never empty. This is unreal.

That's half the freakin' strip.

On St Patrick's Day - March 17th - who was open and who was closed quickly became a moot point. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak stepped up to the podium and announced every single non-essential service, including hotels and casinos, were ordered to be closed 30 days for public safety. I applaud this bold but tough move. Well done, sir.

So - and you have never heard me say this before and likely never will again - the Canadian government absolutely did Mark, Liz and myself a huge solid by shutting down Canadian travel out of country on the weekend. We both pulled the plugs on our trips on - hey, how appropriate - Friday the 13th. I would have been forced home to Canada on Day 3 of my week-long March Break trip. I can only imagine what a total shitshow McCarran International Airport in Vegas was for the past few days.

But even though I have been stuck in Canada, I have slowly over the week been able to see what's going on live in Las Vegas over the past week. You see, I watch a lot of Vegas vlogs. It started with El Paso, Texas couple, Hog and 2 cent (@hogand2cent). From them, I started watching Mark (@pennys4vegas). And because YouTube has these "recommended for you" videos on the right hand side, that lead to a trio of British Vegas vloggers. First, it was the affable Ben Heath (@benjiheath) with his trips and his very fun "Cocktail of the Day."

For the life of me, I can't remember which casino this was last
night or even which of my Twitter friends took it. But frankly,
every casino in Vegas looked like this last night. Empty. Barren.
Deserted. Other words from the Thesaurus. But again, I don't
think any one of us have ever seen anything like this. If I wander
down to a casino at 4 am, there are asses in the chairs. Just wow.

From Ben, I started catching Nick Furmage (@nickyfurmage) and his lovely wife, Claire, who on one night in Downtown Vegas last October had a slot machine run, the likes of which I have never seen. He started by saying in that polite British manner how much he enjoyed it Downtown on Fremont Street. By the end, after countless Budweisers, an insane amount of slot free plays and a final winnings of over $800 (a complete reversal of their trip to that point), he was basically yelling, "I love Downtown Vegas!" towards the end. (For you hardcore slot players, I'll include the link at the end because it was as entertaining as shit and I don't even gamble. Well, all that much.)

Moving along from Nicky, I eventually found Matt Bridger (@Matt_Bridger68), the Godfather, the Headmaster, the Grand Poobah and Chief Bottle Washer of the British Vegas vloggers. Now Matt has posted some fantastic Vegas stuff. Disarmingly charming, the ultimate Vegas vlog host, you feel like you're actually sitting next to him as he speaks. The dude is pretty much David Niven. (Feel free to Google him, younger people.)

Now I have a Matt Bridger story here but I want to say something at large to these three British vloggers. No matter how many Budweisers or cocktails you consume at the slot machines, no matter how hammered you actually are, you all still sound so bloody distinguished! It's that damn British accent. Drunk as skunks and you all still sound like freakin' Cary Grant! Canadians and Americans all sound like bombed Homer Simpson!

Hold on. I'm Canadian but British Vegas vlogger Matt
Bridger got to the just-opened and I suppose now-closed
Bar Canada at The D in Downtown Vegas before I did?
So you know, Matt, I took this to my lawyer. He told me
I was an idiot and I should probably just shut up. But I
tell you, mate, if it couldn't be me, I'm glad it was you.

Where do I file an official Human Rights complaint? I hardly think this is equitable.

So, anyway, back to this Matt Bridger chap. Well, he was in an interesting position to see everything go down, having landed in Las Vegas on Wednesday, March 11 just before the Coronavirus shit hit the fan. And I mean, just before. As he posted his daily vlogs, things began to slowly unravel. If you go to You-Tube, plug Matt Bridger into the search engine and watch his recent series "Las Vegas Vlog 11-03-20 to 17-03-20" Parts One Through Six (slightly more than two hours combined - so, you know, grab several beers and some snacks), you will see precisely what I mean.

At first on Part One, Vegas was still jammed, the crowds around him buoyant with buzzy enthusiasm and the casinos, well, packed. Then there is this slow shift downwards as the vlogs progress. Matt usually ends his vlogs with a synopsis of the day and things take a turn to the south as the week progresses. For starters, British Airlines cancels his flight home. Being left on hold (and eventually disconnected) by both BA's British and American help-lines for an hour at a time, it takes him two days to straighten it out with a new flight home. But you can sense below that steely British reserve, there is some anxiety over being stranded there.

Well, at least the escalator was working. So this
young couple had little problem with appropriate
social distancing in Vegas this week. As you can
see, there's no one near them. This is not a Vegas
that any of us recognize. It just looks spooky.

By the time you get to Part Six, it goes from "Well, this is a lovely win on the Buffalo slot" to "Holy crap, the entire city is shutting down around me." (And yes, I can happily report that after an unexpected diversion to LAX, Matt finally touched down in London this morning. I repeat, The Eagle has landed. Safely!)

On one of his vlogs - Part Five, I believe - I commented underneath that it was fascinating progression, watching them daily and seeing the events unfold as if in front of me. As I said earlier, for some reason, you feel like you're right there beside him.

A follower of Matt's on Twitter, Dave Coyne, expressed very much that same sentiment. "This last set of Matt Bridger vlogs have captured a moment in time that is unprecedented. When we talk to our grandchildren in years to come about this outbreak, his vlogs will be reference material."

Towards the end of his trip, Matt got to interact with some well-known American-based vloggers, all of whom were still able to travel to Vegas, including Hog and 2cent from El Paso, Texas and Sin City Nerds, Kaylene and Nick, from the Seattle area. (Kaylene and Nick are young, enthusiastic and she has really cool hair so subscribe to them.)

Poor Mark Anderson, my Vegas vlogging bro
from London, Ontario. In this instance, he was
damned if he did, damned if he didn't. He and I
both canceled our Vegas trips on March 13 to
avoid our chances of catching Coronavirus but
it looks like Mark caught it in his hometown,
regardless. I suspect in two weeks, he'll be as
right as rain and we can both go back to our
guessing as to when Vegas is open to us again.

Also along for the final ride was Ace of Vegas (also on YouTube so subscribe) as all of them were taping the eventual shutdown - deserted casinos, shuttered bars and... well, nobody home. On Ace of Vegas' filming of the final shutdown, I commented underneath that "This is unbelievable, Ace. It's like a place I know all too well... but don't recognize at all." He agreed. "Like your house (but) without all your stuff in it, right?" Exactly that!

Anyway, make the time to watch Matt's Six-Part Series on the trip that started fantastic and then went all to hell. If nothing else, like me, you'll walk away thinking, "Wow, what a shitty year this past week has been."

Anyway, I want to end this on happier Vegas memories, those halcyon days where it was, you know, open. As I said earlier, British Vegas Vlogger Nicky and his wife, Claire, absolutely tore up the machines on Fremont Street one night last October and, well, this is the Vegas I want to remember. And Matt? He's quite well-known for filming his casino-hotel walk-throughs. His vlogs usually get anywhere between 5,000 and 50,000 views. But one filmed last November - a walk-through of Circus Circus Casino Hotel and Theme Park - just, well, exploded with over 164,000 views, None of us, including Matt himself, can figure out why. Nostalgia for an old-school Vegas resort? We don't know. But anyway, for Nicky and Claire's crazy night on Fremont, click here on: The Couple Who Could Not Lose! And hey, let's add some more views to Matt's biggest hit by clicking here on: Circus Circus' Hidden Fan Club! That's it for today but on a final note: Please wash your hands and practice social distancing. The life you save could be someone else's. Just be safe! Peace out, homeys...

Las Vegas? Coronavirus? I'm still going!!

This is where I scheduled to be the evening of Monday, March 16 and
this is where I'm gonna be. When one Toronto man returned from a
conference in Las Vegas with a now-confirmed case of the feared
Coronovirus, a number of my friends jumped on it, as if Las Vegas
was somehow an unsafe tourist designation. Bullshit, I say. We have
all these cases of it here in Ontario - 29 in total - while Las Vegas has
remained pretty clean thus far. One caught it in Vegas and came back
to Toronto. Another caught it in Washington and brought it to Vegas.

A few days back, news broke that a Toronto man returned from a conference in Las Vegas who was diagnosed with the Coronavirus.

Since that point, a great number of my friends have been sending me that story. Over and over... and over again. Why? Because I'm their "Vegas Friend," the one always going there.

But the thing is I've seen this happen also over and over and over in the course of my lifetime.

As you can see from the name of this craptastic blog, I've been here on this stinky little mudball of a planet a while. The Coronavirus is hardly my first pandemic. When I was a young kid, there was something called the Hong Kong Flu in 1968-69 that killed a million people worldwide. I was in elementary school and they gave us all shots with this massive eight-pronged needle that vaccinated us against pretty much everything. I still have friends with the needle scars on their shoulders.

Since then, I've seen the HIV/AIDS virus. I've seen the SARS virus. I've seen the Ebola virus. I've seen Swine Flu. Hell, in 2009 alone, there was a worldwide Flu pandemic that killed another 203,000-plus people around the globe.

And yet, somehow, I've survived at all.

But yes, absolutely, people have died. Especially in the case of HIV/AIDS where we're talking 32 million deaths since its initial outbreak. So by saying, "Well, hey, I survived," I'm not downplaying or underwriting that at all.

Here's a photo from @OnlyInLVNV on Twitter
showing a "Virus-protected" shopper at a Costco
in nearby Henderson, just 16 miles away from
Las Vegas. Why people have decided to buy out
all the toilet paper and bottled water baffles me.
It's a virus. Not a hurricane. Not a tsunami. None
of this will stop a virus. At all. This only helps one
single group. Those who own supermarkets. And
that's about it. So, folks, Costco thanks you all...

That's tragic on pretty much every single level. But just as history is doomed to continually repeat itself, you can count on a new virus every 10 years or so. Or at least that's been my experience.

So why the panic over the Coronavirus as opposed to, say, the flu? Well, lemme tell you. It's new and it's different. As a former journalist/editor, it's "sexy" for lack of a better word. It's the thing everyone's talking about so let's slap that on the front page or these days, I guess, have it continually trending on Twitter.

Now, looking at my friends' sudden panic over my Vegas travels with the Coronavirus out there, is this actually a big deal? On one level, I suppose yes, there is cause for concern and here's why. It goes from a virus to a pandemic when it is no longer localized in one country or a larger regional area, which is the case far more often than not, but rather spreads world-wide. Then it's a pandemic. Ergo, now that it's worldwide, Coronavirus can actually now be considered a pandemic. In 2013, there was a Measle outbreak in Vietnam. It killed 142 people and yet, no one paid attention because it remained contained in Vietnam.

So what about the Coronavirus and Vegas? Well, let's see. One Toronto man caught it down in Vegas at a convention and brought it back to Canada. A Vegas resident caught it in Washington state and brought it back to Vegas. Thus far, the Vegas Coronavirus stats are this: one-in, one-out. In Vegas, that's actually what's known as a "push."

Are you gambling on catching a nasty virus in Las
Vegas, simply because of an ongoing pandemic?
Vegas Vic says no. Here's why. You can catch the
Coronavirus anywhere. From the smallest of towns
to the largest of cities, your odds remain the same.

Neither the dealer nor the player win because they have the same hand. It's Even Steven. Move along.

This is as opposed to where I live - Ontario, Canada - where there have been 29 confirmed cases (with zero fatalities) thus far. As I have said to my London, Ontario buddy, Mark (aka @pennys4vegas), since we are both slated to land in Vegas next week, I believe we're safer in Vegas than we are at home.

In fact, because I work in retail and remain exposed to hundreds of people daily with actual face-to-face, money-exchanging-hands contact, well, that, my friends, is how you catch a virus. And yet, I still go to work, oddly without fear. And, to be frank, without that pay-cheque, I couldn't afford to travel.

So why wouldn't I go to Las Vegas? Despite my many friends' concerns, which I do appreciate, by the way, I am every bit as likely to catch it here as I am there. And to put it in Vegas terminology, the odds are still ridiculously low, regardless of geographic location.

I suppose the cause for concern for many is the mortality rate. With the Coronavirus, it's 3.4%, whereas with the flu, it's 0.1%. So for every 1,000 people who get the Coronavirus, 34 have died or will die.

When a group of us traveled to the Huntsville Brewhouse last
April to brew an IPA for Lake of Bays Brewing, brewery owner
Darren Smith, the good-looking one on the right, hung with us all
day, despite having a cold. However, wisely, he did not wish to
shake anyone's hand for fear of passing it along. Instead, what we
all did instead was this congenial elbow bump. No one got sick.

Only one in 1,000 will die from the flu. That said, the flu is - and always has been - the far greater threat. Why? Because it's that much more prevalent. There were an estimated 80,000 American deaths from Influenza in the Winter of 2017-18 alone, more than double what health officials consider to be a "bad year." The usual numbers in the USA during the 2010-2020 time period saw 16,000 deaths on the low end, 56,000 on the high end until that record 2017-18 Winter.

So, in essence, I am more likely to catch the basic flu on a Vegas vacation than the Coronavirus. And, if anything, catching a everyday common cold is the most likely of scenarios while traveling.

So how do you quell the fears of potential traveler when a pandemic like this breaks out? Well, if you're me (and to be clear, you are fortunate not to be), the recipe is a big mixing bowl of common sense with a completely inappropriate dash of humour thrown in as spice. For instance, whenever I read COVID-19, the virus' name, I do so to the tune of "Come On, Eileen" which gives it a much more musical and softer feel.

This is Tiffany at Banger Brewing, serving up their
antidote to viruses, known better as their El Heffe
Hefeweizen wheat ale. It's a well-known fact that
hops contain antimicrobial properties. So is young
Tiffany serving me a beer? No, she's potentially
saving my life!! Such a noble person, that Tiffany.

As a beer writer (of sorts) and a craft beer consumer (of, dare I say, legend - oh, I dare), I am also quick to remember that not only are hops natural preservatives, they also contain antimicrobial properties. Because I drink so many hopped-up beers, favouring IPAs, I am drinking the antidote to potential viruses. In fact, I am so health-conscious that I drink a remarkably high amount of this virus preventer. Some of my friends would go as far as to say I drink a ridiculous, possibly inhuman, amount of this particular medicine. Hey, man, you gotta take care of yourself. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Or get wrecked yourself. Not sure how that catchphrase actually goes.

As well, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that worldwide, they have seen 101,811 confirmed Coronavirus cases. Of that number, 3,460 have died, mostly the more-susceptible elderly in the Asian regions and oddly, Iran, which was hit hard. So there's your 3.4% mortality rate there. There have also been 55,882 who have completely recovered. The balance are still being treated. Those numbers remind me of that time I was pulled over and had to explain to the officer, "Yeah, sure, I hit a pedestrian but you're not even taking into account all the times I haven't hit a pedestrian." I mean, seriously, you have to look at both sides of the picture.

Okay, you wanna see something that could actually kill
me in Las Vegas? It'd be this little fun-loving activity just
off Fremont St that invites beer drinkers to throw many
sharp objects around. In fact, Axehole Vegas, doesn't
even stop at stop objects, offering up shovel throws as an
alternative. How drunk do you have to be to throw damn
shovels around? You'd have to be Tequila drunk, I'd say.

Also of note, a recent study showed that 38% of Americans will not purchase Corona beer because of the Coronavirus. To be clear, there is NO connection between the (inexplicably) popular libation and the virus. None, whatsoever. However, I can quite imagine that Constellation Brands, the conglomerate that owns the Corona line, approaching the WHO and offering multi-millions of dollars just to change the name to the BudLightvirus.

Okay, since the Coronavirus is no laughing matter, should I even be making jokes? No, probably not. But here's the thing. Gallows humour is where the brain naturally goes when we are inundated with a subject matter, such as the Coronavirus. So long as the humour is not racially-oriented because that's both mean and unfair. This is worldwide. It doesn't matter if it originated in the Wunan province or Cleveland. We're all susceptible now. We are being told by medical professionals to stay six feet away from other people so how do you connect or interact with others during a time like this? Well, right or wrong, this is how I do it. And Vegas? I'll see you on Monday, March 16. Make sure, as always, you have a sufficient supply of my hop-based medicine on hand. Peace out, homeys.