TOPIC:

"Biertourist":1l33vjht wrote: We really need an ICB "Beer Swap" utility so we can trade beers with each other easily and therefore more often.[/quote:1l33vjht]Great idea, but I don't see why it needs to be a separate thing. If you have beers you'd like to swap, just start a thread saying what you've got, what you'd like, and what swapping arrangements suit you best. You can also PM people to ask if you can have a some of something in particular.

"Biertourist":1l33vjht wrote: is it legal to ship beer around the country here?[/quote:1l33vjht]Yes, completely.

IMO one massive obstacle to more beer swapping is the cornelius keg. The sooner those things are banned the better...

My final Milwaukee/Chicago beer entry:

On my way back from Milwaukee to Chicago I exited off of 94 and headed to "Flatlander's Restaurant and Brewery" in Lincolnshire, Illinois. -I really didn't expect much to be in Lincolnshire but it was a VERY posh suburb; they had a Marriott Resort on the golf course, all of the buildings seemed to adhere to a "red brick only" building code, many of the streets were new brick, and there were luxury cars and SUVs pretty much everywhere.-Very unexpected.

Flatlander's has the pub section and the restaurant section of the building completely separate from each other. Flatlander's allows beer enthusiasts to brew a 30 barrell batch of beer with the master brewer once every 3 months (for $50 a person; I think 20 people per brewing session); you bring your own container and get to go home with 5 gallons of wort and some yeast for fermenting your beer. -Insanely cool!

I tried only their IPA; I was a little concerned when it was served in a chilled pint glass but it was absolute delicious! Definitely the best IPA I had on the trip and a perfect example of American IPA in my book (except for the chilled glass).



I finished up my beer adventures on Saturday by visiting the Goose Island Brewery in Lincoln Park, Chicago. The staff was pretty incredibly rude and seated us for a while and then came back later and said that there was going to be a party in 1 hour that needed all of the tables in the area; we were offered no drink and no new seat; every seat in the place was taken at that point and we had to wait all over again for a new seat. -I had time to try their quite delicious and malty sweet bock before I had to head to the airport to catch my flight.

I'm glad I FINALLY made it to Goose Island, but I probably will NOT go back to the Goose Island Brewery on N Clybourne Ave again. (I'm willing to give the Wrigleyville location a try.)


Adam

I saw something interesting in a homebrew shop in Pensacola once.

There was a rack where people could leave and take bottles of wine. Might have been beer too.

Shame we do not have central homebrew shops in Dublin, though Athlone is fairly Central to the whole country <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Saruman&amp;quot;:idf080cg wrote: Shame we do not have central homebrew shops in Dublin, though Athlone is fairly Central to the whole country <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->[/quote:idf080cg]Even swampy old Florida has nearly double the population density of Ireland. We all need to bunch up, folks.

There is enough room in Roscommon for every single human on the planet to stand with a comfortable metre in each direction of space and still plenty of room in the county left, Or so I have heard.

Could you imagine the sales of Galway Hooker were that to happen?

&amp;quot;Saruman&amp;quot;:1y1pzl90 wrote: There is enough room in Roscommon for every single human on the planet to stand with a comfortable metre in each direction of space and still plenty of room in the county left, Or so I have heard.[/quote:1y1pzl90]There's 2.5bn square metres in Roscommon, and you're looking for 2 square metres per person, so you'd probably need Galway and Mayo as well.

I'll take my square in The Salt House, please.