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Encounter with a homeless man touches a Virginia Starbucks manager

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/encounter-with-a-homeless-man-touches-a-virginia-starbucks-manager/2012/06/18/gJQAxUDVlV_story.html

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Blog Entries.Local

Rocky Patel A.L.R. 2, Again and Again

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

The Rocky Patel A.L.R. Second Edition is a cigar I find myself coming back to time and time again. The name stands for Aged, Limited, and Rare, though mentions of it in my musings are anything but rare. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed this cigar in severa…


Rocky Patel DBS With Larceny Barrel Proof

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

I’d been eagerly waiting for a few months to try the Rocky Patel DBS. After letting it rest for a few months in the humidor, I couldn’t hold off any longer and decided to light it up on a Friday evening, pairing it with a glass of Larceny Barrel Proof …


Celebrating 17 Years of Musings

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

Today marks the 17th anniversary of this blog. It all began on a lazy afternoon, experimenting with Blogger. I was looking for a place to share my thoughts—and, occasionally, my rants—about the growing “craft beer” scene, especially in my local area an…


Kiptopeke State Park

Syndicated From: ODonnellWeb

Camping and Birding on the Eastern Shore. My first experience with a serious bird migration.


Our annual celebration of “all beers Oktoberfest” continued with beer, a cigar, and a fire. Despite a late afternoon temperature of 80°, it wasn’t raining for a change, so we decided to get in the first fire of the season. Center of the Universe …


Maltese Brewing Oktoberfest Celebration

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

It’s that time of the year when the local craft breweries put on their Oktoberfest celebrations. I haven’t gone to many of them in recent years so was glad when our schedule made this one doable. I do have fond memories of the events held by Blue and G…


L’Atelier LAT56 and Peerless Small Batch Bourbon

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

The L’Atelier Cigar line from Pete Johnson of Tatujaje Cigars are consistently enjoyable smokes. One I’ve not had until late, to my recollection, is the L’Atelier LAT56. The highly rated line has been out for over a decade. The 6 1/2 x 56 LAT56 f…


Jukebox the Ghost

Syndicated From: ODonnellWeb

How the hell have I missed this band for the last 16 years?


Camping on The Cape Part 2

Syndicated From: ODonnellWeb

We spent a week camping on Cape Cod. This is the trip report on the second half of the trip that was spent on mid-Cape.


Oktoberfest Season and Cigars

Syndicated From: Musings Over a Barrel

Bourbon and other whiskies make up the usual partnering with cigars on these Musings. But, I’m a long-time craft beer fan. (This blog had its birth during the infancy of the craft beer “movement.”) I especially enjoy the malt-forward beers. To that end…


Harry’s Alehouse Wing & Beer Pairing

Harry’s Alehouse held a Wing & Craft Beer Pairing event this week, featuring beers from Flying Dog Brewery. Having attended several previous beer dinners at Harry’s, we were excited for the next adventure. We were not disappointed.Harry’s Chef Jame…

 

A Saturday Feast
Last Saturday we hosted a feast for nine folks in our home for an afternoon of beer and food. This was the fruit of a donation to the annual fund raising event for our son’s former elementary and middle school. Even though he’s well into his college years, Colleen and I were asked to once again donate the popular event.
The lucky bidders were treated to eight courses, featuring interesting beers paired with delectable foods prepared by Colleen. The menu was as follows…

Optimal Wit
Port City Brewing, Alexandria, Virginia
Paired with Pancake Bake with Cinnamon Streusel

Kölsch 151
Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, Virginia
Paired with Artichoke Dip and Tortilla Chips

Grateful Pale Ale
Star Hill Brewery, Crozet, Virginia
Paired with Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Sneak Attack
21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, California
Paired with Olivada and Mozzarella on French Bread Crostini

Get Bent Mountain IPA
Parkway Brewing, Salem, Virginia
India Pale Ale (7.2% ABV)
Paired with Salty-Sweet Bacon Panini

Woodbooger
Strangeways Brewing Company, Richmond & Fredericksburg, Virginia
Belgian-Style Brown Ale (6% ABV)
Paired with Parmesan Potatoes and Flank Steak

Curieux
Allagash Brewery, Portland, Maine
Oak Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgian Triple (11% ABV)
Paired with Blue Cheese, Sugared Walnuts and Pears
on Mixed Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Blue Mountain Dark Hollow
Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, Virginia
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout (10% ABV)
Paired with Brownies and Ice Cream
To go along with the copious food and drink, the afternoon featured interesting, and often raucous conversation. The beers where new to the majority of the participants. I also think we’ve created a few new craft beer fans. All of the pairings worked well and served to illustrate the versatility of beer.

While preparing for the event, Colleen and I often thought “Why are we doing this?” But in the end, it was a lot of fun. And “it’s for the children.

The ending reward for a hardworking chef.

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]

 

Harry’s Alehouse Bourbon Barrel Beer Dinner

We capped off last weekend with an enjoyable event at Harry’s Alehouse. The “Bourbon Barrel Beer Dinner” promised interesting beers and good food. As we were seated our server let us know that the first course would start in about 20 minutes, and he th…

 

Strangeway’s Debut and Steal the Glass Event

Earlier this week, Capital Ale House in Fredericksburg hosted a Strangeways Brewing “Steal the Glass” event. As reported recently, Strangeways recently entered into an agreement to begin local distribution of their beers. Tuesday’s event marked the first Fredericksburg appearance of the beers outside of the brewery. Colleen and I decided to stop in and enjoy a few good beers and some tasty food.

Four Strangeways beers were being poured this evening; Überlin Berliner Weisse, Helles Frozen Over, Tirami’Zu Brew Rum Barrel Aged Porter and Home for the Holidays Spiced Cranberry Sour.

I’ve been enjoying some sour beer styles of late, so I chose the Home for the Holidays Spiced Cranberry Sour. The attractive red beer has a refreshing tart fruit flavor with a hint of spice. The low 4.2% ABV was welcome as I emptied my glass quite quickly.

Colleen started with Tirami’Zu Brew Barrel Aged Porter. I stole only a brief sip, not wanting to disturb my soured tastebuds, but I think I’ll check that one out at the brewery soon. It was full of creamy dark chocolate aroma and flavor.

We’ve enjoyed several visits to the nearby Strangeways Fredericksburg location, where they keep around 40 unique beers on tap, so having just four options from which to choose made for an easier than usual decision process. For our next round, to accompany our meal, we simply ordered “the other two.”

This time I sipped the Helles Frozen Lager and Colleen claimed the Überlin Berliner Weisse. The Helles had a nice crisp, grassy bitterness. A lighter bodied beer than I typically drink, it went well with my French Dip Steak and Havarti sandwich.

While we were enjoying our dinner I noticed that Capital Ale House owner Chris Holder and Neil Burton, the Strangeways Brewery owner, were also in attendance to help celebrate the new distribution status. I hadn’t seen either of them for some time so took the chance say hello and enjoy a quick chat about beer in Fredericksburg.

Besides two more glasses to add to our glassware collection, we obtained a bunch of Strangeways swag as well. We enjoyed a pleasant event talking, eating, and drinking. I’m can now look forward to seeing even more Strangeways beer variety at my favorite local establishments.

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Pint ]

 

Harry’s Wing & Beer Dinner

Last Wednesday evening Harry’s Alehouse held a Wing & Beer Pairing. This was the first beer dinner event we’ve been able to get to at Harry’s and it sounded like one we’d very much enjoy; four chicken wing selections paired with four beers.We arriv…

 

Rappahannock Political Forum 09

Local bloggers are coming to the rescue of local politics again this year in the form of the Bloggers Forum 09. Yours truly is one of several panel members participating in this event to showcase those running for Stafford and Spotsylvania VA superrvisor positions. For more info, click the banner to the right of the […]

 

Local Bloggers Pass 4,000 Posts!

Today marks a milestone of sorts. Actually it’s more of a surprise. I was checking some stats and FBurgNews.com has logged more than 4000 posts from local Fredericksburg, VA area bloggers. Way to go team! As we grow together, I’m working on changes to the website to group blogs.  You’ll all still end up in […]

 

City Taxes Going UP-UP-UP

For those of you that vote in Fredericksburg VA, here’s who you can thank for higher real estate taxes. Councilwoman Greenlaw made the final motion to raise the rate to $0.705 of every $100. That’s almost 26% percent. It was seconded by Vice-Mayor Devine. Councilman Kelly put forward an alternative $.68 of every $100. It […]

 

A few blog changes

First, a new addition.  http://roadsdivergedwood.blogspot.com/ is a photographic view of Fredericksburg, with a bit of history about those places appearing in the shots. Death of a blog, that’s what happens when things start getting out of hand when ‘friends’ take posts in a direction not intended.  Of course I’m talking about the Fred Vegas Chronicles.  Fredericksburg’s very […]

 

Kindle Mania! Fredericksburg Hits the Big Time

Now get the area’s hottest news delivered direct to your Amazon Kindle!   FburgNews.com tries to bring together a diverse set of blogging content, and it is now available in more formats than ever. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029U2X8Q Hopefully they will drop the price to make getting the local inside story more affordable.