baseball

Drinking my way through the Pacific Northwest

As Emily has mentioned in some other posts, we went to Portland/Seattle a few weeks ago to visit her brother and his family. We did a lot of fun things while we there, and in between them, we enjoyed one of the other things the area is known for: great beer! We didn’t over do it by any means, but we both were very “beer’d out” by the end of the week. We love good beer, so you know it was a good amount when we opt to skip the final brewery Nick and Kim were going to take us to. We decided we should put all that drinking to good use and note all the ones we had for each day, and pick out our favorites! (All scores are out of 5)

DAY ONE

Sprinkles (Everybody’s Brewing) – 3.75
Covfefe (Thunder Island Brewing Co) – 3.5
NW Red (Ancestry Brewing Co) – 3.00
Scaler Single Hop (Backwoods Brewing Co) – 3.75
Kumite (StormBreaker Brewing) – 4.00
Space Cake (Clown Shoes) – 4.5

Small note about this first day – we had a sampler so five of the six beers were just tasters. We didn’t drink as much as it appears!

As you can tell by the ratings, my favorite of the day was the Space Cake. It’s an Imperial IPA with an ABV of 9%, so it will catch up to you quickly if you’re not careful. It’s got a good malty taste with a bit of hop to it, and a nice mild bite at the end. The west coast style of IPA is definitely different, and this was a great introduction.

DAY TWO

Inversion IPA (Deschutes Brewery) – 3.75

I didn’t realize until I was looking back that I only had one beer this day. This was actually because we had planned to go to a Bar/Arcade that night, but we were all fairly beat after spending the day downtown and just ordered a pizza and crashed at home instead.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Deschutes beer that has disappointed me, and the Inversion IPA was no exception. It is a hoppy IPA with a floral taste to it, and is also quite smooth. It went really well with grilled cheese and tomato soup I had to eat. I easily could have had two or three, but had to much walking to do to warrant it.

DAY THREE

I’m just going to preface this with that fact that this was the day we visited Seattle and signed up to go on a Road Dog brewery tour. There is a lot of beers listed here but keep in my mind many of them were samples (although some were larger than what I would consider a “normal” sample size). The brewery tour was awesome by the way, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Sufficed to say, a good time was had by all.

Supergoose IPA (Hale’s Ales) – 4
Night Troll Porter (Hale’s Ales) – 3.5
Hale’s Cream Ale (Hale’s Ales) – 3
El Jefe Weizen Ale (Hale’s Ales) – 3.75
Pale American Ale (Hale’s Ales) – 3.5
Holy Basil Pale (Outlander Brewery) – 3
Tiramisu Brown (Outlander Brewery) – 4.25
Ancho Amber (Outlander Brewery) – 3.5
Imperial Peanut Butter Stout (Outlander Brewery) – 4
The Sister Imperial IPA (Fremont Brewing) – 4
Proletariat Porter (Fremont Brewing) – 3.75
Keys. Phone. Wallet. (Cloudburst Brewing) – 4.25
Trickster (Black Raven Brewing) – 3.75

I would have to say that the Tiramisu Brown was the winner of the day followed closely by Keys. Phone. Wallet. The Tiramisu was so smooth and easy to drink it was ridiculous. It had some great spice to it as well. I’ve never had real Tiramisu so I couldn’t tell you if it tasted similar, but if it did, I really need to try some.

DAY FOUR

Long Ball Ale (BridgePort Brewing Co.) – 3.5

After drinking so much the day before we decided to take the day off of drinking, and just had one at the Hillsboro Hops baseball game we went to. It was light and crisp, which was perfect to drink while sitting in the stands under the warm sun. It was my first MiLB game, and it was a blast (even though the Hops lost).

DAY FIVE

Pallet Jack IPA (Barley Brown’s Beer) – 4.5
3-way IPA (Fort George Brewery) – 3.5
Supplication (Russian River Brewing ) – 4
Reggie’s Red (Lucky Labrador Brewing) – 3.5
Chris’s Going Away IPA (Lucky Labrador Brewing) – 3.5

I’m going to go against my initial rankings, and have to say my favorite beer of the day was the Supplication. That beer has stuck with me all these weeks later. It’s a sour beer, with a serious bite to it, but it is delicious. It was also one of the more expensive beers I had, although I didn’t know that at the time. It was worth every penny.

I also couldn’t resist getting the “Chris’s Going Away IPA” when I saw it. It was the next to last day of vacation after all! It was a fairly standard IPA, that I’d have again if it I saw it.

And so, we’ve come to end of the drinking adventure. We were in Portland for another day, but took it off of drinking again, as the night before was pretty crazy. I was going to end this with picking my favorite beer overall, but there were so many good ones, that I think I’ll just stick with the daily rankings, and suggest if you like good beer you give those a try. We did a lot more than just drink, which you can read in Emily’s other posts, so it wasn’t just about the beer, but it definitely added to the fun. We had a great time in Portland and Seattle, and are very much looking forward to going back!

Keep Me Weird, Portland – Part 3 [The Finale]

Friday we stopped at Biscuit Bitch in Seattle before we headed back down to Portland. The name had us. Various yummy biscuit & gravy possibilities served there along with great coffee/espresso drinks. I had their Dirty Pumpkin Chai Latte; well done Biscuit Bitch.

Later that evening we drove to Hillsboro to see the Hillsboro Hops play. Unfortunately they lost their game, but my goal going in was achieved. We got our picture taken with their mascot, Barley the Hop. LOVE IT. We both also ended up with awesome hats.

Saturday, the whole family ventured back into the city to go to the Saturday Market. I got a cool fox print with our venture and we did the tourist thing: Voodoo Donuts. For as much hate as it gets from some people, I loved my Old Dirty Bastard. Donut covered in chocolate and peanut butter, can’t go wrong.. Though I got halfway through and couldn’t finish (that’s what he said).

Later that day, Chris and I braved the high 90 degree weather to visit the Japanese Gardens. I have been a few times, but it never gets boring. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from everything… Especially with views like these.

We met up with my old friend Kate for a few drinks and board games. We played The Oregon Trail and thought we had finished with only losing Kate to snakebite.. To find out we only made it halfway. No wonder some of those people stopped in Denver.

We also got to see the Naked Bike Ride before we went back home. The memories.

Sunday was going to be another hot day, so the family headed to the beach. Funny relationship between Portland and Cannon Beach; if Portland has nice weather, Cannon Beach is going to be rainy. If it’s hot/rainy in Portland, it’s nice as Cannon Beach. We actually had fog while we were there, but you could still see the ocean and Haystack Rock (a popular place for marriage proposals). Much cooler weather as well, we were happy with low 70s.

Monday was a day full of sad goodbyes. We said our good-byes to my brother, sister-face and Trent before saying good-bye and having one last espresso drink from Black Rock Coffee Bar, my favorite stop every morning in the past week. We said goodbye to the beautiful green trees and beautiful mountain views that we got to experience that week. We even said goodbye to the nicety of having someone else pump your own gas.

We had an awesome time in Portland and hope to be back soon to see my fam as well as all of the awesome things Portland has to offer.

Em’s Week Adventures

This past week has been one of the most fun and nerdy ones this year. Winter is no longer keeping us locked inside and the sunny, warm Spring weather has me out and about.

Thursday AND Saturday night I saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron and enjoyed it thoroughly both times. It must have had to do with the witty, Joss Wheedon one-liners, great acting by the cast, and more Hawkeye screentime.

-SPOILERS, HIGHLIGHT TO READ- I wasn’t quite sure why people didn’t enjoy the fact that Clint had a family. Sure, I know ships were sunk, but I felt like that was a nice plot twist. Also wasn’t quite sure why people were so upset about Natasha’s story either. Yes, she was upset when she revealed to Banner her sterilization in the Red Room, but I feel like she was more upset by the fact that she didn’t get to choose if she could have a child or not.

Also, that Quicksilver ending. Chris had me believing half way through the movie the first time that Hawkeye was going to die. “They’re revealing too much of his background story.” He whispered throughout the movie. He even started grabbing my hand through the battle in Slocovia. When Ultron fired those shots from the plane, my hand was squeezed and I couldn’t help but think, ‘Oh shit oh shit oh shit.’ Quicksilver was pretty much right on the dot. I didn’t see that one coming.–END SPOILERS-

Comic Book Day 2015 Stash

Saturday, as everyone knows, was Free Comic Book Day. We went to our favorite local comic shop who was having a small event. We grabbed a few comics as well as a commissioned sketch from a local artist. I asked for Hawkeye while wearing my “Because, Boomrangs” shirt from the Matt Fraction & David Aja comics, and the artist knew my taste. I got Clint Barton AND Pizza Dog. Spot on.

Hawkeye & Pizza DogMonday AND Wednesday Chris and I were in St. Louis watching Cardinals vs Cubs baseball. Both were fun games, and we ended up evening out in the end. Cardinals won Monday, Cubs won Wednesday. I did however win the war, as Cardinals took the series. Those are my boys.

Busch Stadium

While in St. Louis on Wednesday, we stopped by a comic shop I use to visit frequently during my St. Louis living era. Star Clipper, which had closed in one area, reopened in another part of town. I of course had to check it out. While it had the same vibe as the one I had frequented before, the new one felt more… Refreshed. I also liked chatting with the staff, nice to be around friendly fellow nerds.

Star Clipper

Friday night was spent seeing Matt & Kim live in concert. If you don’t know Matt & Kim, give them a listen. If you haven’t seen them live, go do so as soon as they are close to your neighborhood. I learned about Matt & Kim while I was in college, and have continued to love them because of their upbeat and energetic tunes. Their concert is just as upbeat and energetic, and we partied (aka jumping and screaming/singing) until close to midnight. (Their opening act, Waters, was good as well with their rock/upbeat music.)

Matt & Kim

5 Reasons to be a Cubs fan

  1. They are not the White Sox

If you want to root for a baseball team from Illinois, you have two options, but really only one if you have any kind of sense. Yeah, they won a World Series in 2005, but they’re still the worst. Plus they play in that prison of a baseball field called U.S. Cellular.

  1. Catchy Songs

Want to listen to multiple songs about your favorite team? Be a Cubs fan. They may not all be winners, but they’ll still get stuck in your head after a few seconds whether you like it or not. Evidence here and here.

  1. The Cubs/Cardinals Rivalry

Is there anything better than watching the Cubs beat the Cardinals? Answer: No, there is not. Count the rings all you want, there is no washing away the shame of losing 7 games to the 2012 Cubs.

  1. Young Talent

Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo, and Jorge Soler, just to name a few. The Cubs are going to have to pay for all the damage these guys are going to cause with the long ball. ALL YOUR OFFENSE ARE BELONG TO CUBS.

  1. Wrigley Field

Clearly the best stadium in the league, and with the renovations, it will get only better. Suck it, other teams.

Lets talk about baseball!

Since the Cubs have made some significant moves, I’ve been following the off-season fairly close and decided typing up a short post on my thoughts on the NL Central teams as they currently stand would be fun. Obviously, I picked that division since it’s the one the Cubs are in, which is all that matters. I’m doing it in a worst to best order as that seemed the most logical (plus we all know who is at top, and let’s avoid that for a bit shall we). Let’s do it!

NLCentral

Reds (76-86)

Honestly, I’m not sure what Cincinnati is doing. When they traded Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon, it looked like they might be starting a rebuild, but then traded for Marlon Byrd with one year left on his contract. That seems like a ‘Go for it now’ kind of move, but the other trade doesn’t make much sense in that regard. This will be an interesting year for Reds fans. Still with Cueto, Phillips, and Votto they could be surprisingly average and I would put them slightly ahead of the Brewers.

Brewers (77-85)

When I started writing this, I couldn’t think of much the Brewers had done this off-season, and it turns out there was a reason for that: They really didn’t do much. The only trade of significance was sending Gallardo to Texas, but there was no major league players in return so the help for this year is questionable. Ryan Braun might return to his previous form after dealing with injuries last season, but it’s not something I would count on. Not to mention Lucroy just went down with an injury, and if he is out a large amount of time the losses could really pile up. I fall into the camp that believes the insane start they had last season was more of a fluke than reality, so 77 wins seems about right. Assuming everyone stays healthy that is.

Cubs (84-78)

I never thought I’d be excited over a middle of the pack predicted finish for the Cubs, but after the last couple of years, it looks nice. Theo and company have added Joe Maddon as the manager, signed Jon Lester, re-vamped the catching situation with Miguel Montero and David Ross, and traded for Dexter Fowler to help patrol the outfield. It’s been an active offseason for the Cubs to say the least. Where they actually finish in the division will depend hugely on how well the young players such as Baez, Soler, Bryant, and others preform, which is why everyone should keep their expectations under control. If all the things break right for them (highly unlikely) they could finish well above this, but they could also finish slightly below this if the young players struggle. A middle of the pack finish is a good prediction, as they stand to do better than last year and this isn’t far above it. No matter what though, it’s going to be an interesting season.

Pirates (85-77)

The Pirates didn’t do a ton this off-season either, but have made the post season the last two seasons in a row, and I suspect a third trip is in order short of some disastrous outcome (Or the Cubs sneaking past them!). They lost Russell Martin to free agency, and didn’t add a catcher, so that could weaken them a bit. They added Corey Hart and Korean infielder Jung-ho Kang which will help offset some of that production loss, but it’s no guarantee. They also brought back A.J. Burnett, and while he is a bit of an unknown variable, if he returns to his previous form he’ll be more than adequate to take the mound every 5th game. Plus they have McCutchen, and good lord is that guy impressive. I’d look for Buctober to come again this fall.

Cardinals (86-76)

What can I say about the Cardinals? They’re good. They have average or better players at almost every position, and the depth to overcome injuries. The only weak spot might be their rotation, but that’s only if they start to show their age and regress, and that’s a long shot. Even if that happens they’ll probably just pick up a pitcher who has been struggling or isn’t that great, and he’ll become a Cy Young candidate. The Cardinals know how to work that voodoo magic. They picked up Jason Heyward to offset the loss of Oscar Taveras (both a really tragic and avoidable accident) and made a few other minor moves that I can’t remember. They were first last year and will more than likely be first again this year. I really hate that they are this good.

So what is the takeaway from all of this? The Reds and Brewers are going to be mediocre at best, the Cubs are a huge wild card with serious upside, the Pirates will hold their own, and the Cardinals will be good as usual. As a Cubs a fan I want to believe they will win the division as Rizzo has predicted, but it’s more likely that the young guys will have their ups and downs, and the Cubs will hopefully be competing for a Wild Card spot come September. I don’t mean that as a bad thing either, it’s FANTASTIC.

No matter what the season holds though, I can’t wait for baseball to be back and the 70° weather it brings with it. Let’s go Cubs!

P.S. I just remembered the Cardinals signed Carlos Villanueva who was a good long man reliever for the Cubs. Damn it, Cardinals.