Failure to Drink

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject:  Failure to Drink

 

“Come on, it’s raining harder now!”

 

“Beer.  It’s rain or shine, we can’t back out now!”

 

“No one ever died from being a little wet.  Drink another beer and we’ll be fine.”

 

“I do agree, it’s raining.”

 

“And the sky is blue, and that couple over there is really in to each other!”

 

“Wow, they’re really going at it.”

 

“I guess that’s one thing to do while we wait.”  Frank eyes Sara.

 

“Get those dirty eyes off of me!”

 

“Really now, we’re going to spend the next four plus hours standing in the rain drinking tiny glasses of beer and waiting in line?”

 

“You’re so pleasant when you’re wet Tab.”

 

“That’s what she said!” Frank yells.

 

“Good one Frank!”

 

“I’m singing in the rain..Such a ..”

 

“Oh my god! Stop singing!”  Sara shoves Ann.

 

“Yeah, stick to the writing Ann.  You can’t carry a tune.”

 

“This line to get in is so long! I want my beer!”

 

“Can we please go somewhere and drink inside at least?  Do we really need to drink in the rain? Is the beer here really that good?”

 

“Okay, Okay . Fine.  Let’s go fine an indoor bar.  SoHo, or around here?”

 

“Let’s just get inside and dry off.  We can always move uptown later.”

 

“I guess if we’re drying out, I’ll get a dry martini.”

 

“Are you 80?  Do people are age drink dry martinis?  Do you even like gin?”

 

“Gin? That’s what they put in martinis?  Weird.”

 

“I’m in the mood for a Cosmo.”

 

“Cosmos all around!”

 

Scott looks at Billy and Frank.  “Are we okay with drinking cosmos?”

 

“They are a little girly.”

 

“Looks like the Mets are going to make the Playoffs.”

 

Scott and Frank grunt.

 

“Okay, that’s manly enough.  I guess we can have Cosmos.”

 

“That was…special.  Come on, there’s a bar over there.”  Tabitha leads them into a nearby bar.

 

“Crowded.  Looks like we’re not the only ones getting out of the rain.”

 

“I guess alcohol is alcohol.  Beer is beer.”

 

“That may be the smartest thing you’ve said all day.”  Sara says sarcastically.

 

“To make up for it, we can go to Brewtopia at the Javits Center.  I think it’s in early November.”

 

“You saying you weren’t going to suggest we go there anyway?”

 

“Beer tastes different in November…we’re obligated to be there.”

 

“You’re not going to rest until you’ve drank everywhere in New York, are you?”

 

“Maybe not even then.”

 

Beer, Lots of Beer

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Beer is Good! Beer is Good!

We’ve always been friendly to the new drinking holidays. We went to Brewfest last week, and we celebrated Repeal Day in December. This year there is a whole craft beer week starting with Brewfest, having beer specials and bar crawls all week and culminating in the Manhattan Cask Ale Festival the following weekend.

“You guys psyched for Craft Beer Week?!”

“You bet!”

“I actually am. They’ve really went all out. Bar crawls, beer festivals? If I still have a liver by next weekend..”

“It’s supposed to be a nice day. Wind in our hair, beer in our throats.”

“I don’t know if I’m up for any of those bar crawls all week though.”

“Oh you wuss. We don’t have to get completely trashed Every night. Some nights we can just chill and enjoy beer specials.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I enjoy all the cask ales actually. They’re usually so different. Very unbeerlike.”

“So we’re going to spend this weekend, most of this week, and next weekend pigging out on beer? I have to be honest..that sounds like a normal week.”

“Are you trying to ruin it? It’ll be a blast!”

“Eh.”

“Aww..is little Annie grumpy?”

“Little Annie..haha. I like it.”

“Repeat it and die.”

“I think someone needs a beer.”

“Lucky we’re going to get some then.”

“And on Sunday we’ll get more beer, and mead! At the Renn Faire.”

“I almost forgot we’re going to the faire! I love that place, but I haven’t been in years.”

“That’s right. On Sunday we will time travel back to the middle ages.”

“I wonder if I’ll have cell reception.”

“You can’t use a cell phone in the middle ages! That’s just wrong!”

“I’m not going to use it much, I just need to check the Mets score once or twice.”

“Or 18 times.”

“You’re lucky, you don’t have to worry about the Yankees score. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Lucky that they’re eliminated…I’m not sure lucky is the right word.”

“So beer this weekend. What are we doing tonight?”

“Beer?”

Tabitha and Ann together: “No!”

“Oh alright. We’ll have a sober night.”

“We’ll try to keep you distracted from the withdrawal.” Frank jokes.

“My hero!”

Brewfest!

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Brewfest

Last week was both Frank's and Ann's 24^th birthday. To celebrate they decided we should all go to Brewfest which features a whole lot of local New York breweries. It runs from five until ten, but we had to wait for Sara to get off work first, so we don't leave until five. The line to get in literally wraps around the South Street Seaport, and we don't actually get our 4oz tasting glasses and wristbands until a little after six.

“Wow, that line was a little crazy. I still don't understand why they only had two people checking Ids.”

“Yeah, that could've been done a lot faster. Oh well, let's drink!”

“Let's head over to the cask conditioned beers first, since they're only available for a limited time.”

“Cask conditioned? They are special?”

“Yeah, great stuff Tab. I don't think you'll like them, very dark and bitter usually.”

We push through the crowd and start tasting some of the cask conditioned beers, and predictably, I don't care for most of them. Since all of the tents are right next to each other, we end up on line for Rogue, which is right next to the cask conditioned ones.

“Those were pretty good. I like this; get a beer, wait on line for more beer while you drink the first one.”

“We might want to take it a little slower, we're really knocking them back like this.”

“Ann. Ann. That's the whole point! Cheers!” Scott says, clinking his glass with Ann's.

“Got to get our money's worth right Ann? Besides, what have we been practicing for if not this?”

“I wasn't aware that we were practicing at all, but maybe we should mix in some food. I know I saw some BBQ when we came in.”

“Food works too. We can make our way back that direction after picking out some beers along this row. I guess we can't try every single beer that's here.”

“Why not? Are you not up to the challenge Billy? Tsk tsk.”

“Dude. There are like 300 different types of beer here. Even in 4oz glasses, that's 75 beers. No one can do that.”

“Except Superman!”

“Aye! You're not Superman Scott!”

“Oooh! Mead! That's not beer, but I won't complain!”

“The Long Island Meadery? I've had those before, they're pretty good. I actually have an unopened bottle of Root Beer Mead back at the apartment.”

“Holding out on us Sara? We'll have to crack that open. Root Beer Mead sounds pretty good.”

“Well probably not tonight. We're doing pretty well so far.”

“Not as well as some of the people behind the booths apparently. Look at that guy, I think he's drinking faster than he's pouring.”

“I noticed that too. I guess you can't come to one of these things and not appreciate all the fine beverages around you.”

We do indeed stop and get some food, taking a break and listening to the live music. The seaport is awash with a mass of humanity, most of it tipsy if not outright drunk.

“That was a good idea Tabitha!” Sara says, as we emerge from inside the Seaport to use the bathrooms, instead of waiting on line for portapotties.

“Thanks, not that those bathrooms were amazingly clean or anything.”

“Come on girls! It's Belgium time!”

“Great beer and chocolate, what a great country!”

The Belgium beers are only available for an hour, presumably because they're much more expensive. Everyone else is aware of this too, so the rush of the crowd is strong around the booths, and we eventually taste everything we want to and are standing in front of an empty booth littered with beer bottles.

“Wow, these guys are all tapped out and gone already. Look at all these beer bottles, I guess they didn't bring enough beer.”

“Some of these breweries probably can't afford to give away that much free beer all night.”

“Yeah. This place is really really packed. I'm sure they did what they could afford.”

“As long as people remember what they drank and remember some of the breweries to try them again for real.”

“I've had so many different beers today, they're all blending together!”

“Well, there will be name recognition if you're in a store and looking for something at least.”

“I really liked that blueberry ale we had, where was that from?”

“That was Wachusett I think. I'm about ready to go. What about you guys?”

“I've had so much to drink tonight there's a brewfest in my bladder!”

“As long as there isn't a brewfest on the floor of the apartment when I get up tomorrow, you're fine.”

“Beer! Maybe we should stop for food on the way home.”

“It is only 9:30. I could do food. Or we could go to the beer garden in Astoria.”

“Beer garden! That place rocks!”

“Let's stick to food. Might as well just stop at that McDonalds near the subway. It's not like any of us are really going to taste anything.”

“Happy Birthday to Ann..Ha..Ouch!” Billy says, as Ann hits him.

“No singing. Especially not to me old man!”

“Oh okay. Angus burgers it is. I'll buy you dinner since It's your birthday.”

“Oh wow Billy, that's so nice. You could spoil a girl like that buying her Mickey D's like that.”