Have you ever had the opportunity to visit a beer festival? There is something very unique about it that makes it an enjoyable experience. Even if you are not a beer lover you should try a festival out, as it will change your opinion of them. There are endless amounts of reasons to go, today we will explore a few of the more popular and more convincing arguments of why you should just drop everything and go.
The first reason you should go to a beer festival is to learn how to taste beer like an expert. Beer festivals often offer you the opportunity to participate in classes that teach you the proper tasting methods. Not only that they will provide the beer that will be tasted. This means that you will teach your palate the proper art of beer tasting! What can be better than that?
These festivals offer a wide variety of culinary booths or areas. These will teach you what foods to combine with certain beers and how to cook using certain types of beers. This will give you the opportunity to try and enjoy new foods as well as picking up a few recipes for that next party. Some of these festivals, especially those in the south, offer the best chili that you will ever try.
These gatherings are also one giant party. These festivals give you the opportunity to go out with friends or family to enjoy a new experience. Many people also make new friends at the festivals as well. There is ample opportunity to find people that have your same tastes or crave the same experiences. It also gives you something fun and new to do with the friends you already have.
Beer! What more could you ask for? These festivals are packed with beer. The prices are at acceptable levels. How many other festival do you know, that make it all about the beer. These festivals pride themselves in presenting their visitors with the best beers available as well as the tools to enjoy them.
More beer! Festivals include a great variety of breweries. These offer breweries from all across the country a chance to present their beers to the public. Many microbreweries go unnoticed or untried, as they are not experienced. These festivals will give you the opportunity to seek new varieties and possibly to find your new favorite beer.
It is important to get out and try new things. Beer festivals give people the opportunity to try not only new beers but also a new experience. A festival will be a fun environment where you can go and experiment new and undiscovered beers. This is only true if they are over the legal drinking age. This is a new opportunity to enjoy your pints and it should be tried at least once. However, be sure that once you have gone, you will most likely look for the next one in town.
Even though I’ve never chased a sip of creamy beer with a a few squirts of cock sauce, I know Sriracha is going to make it better. Hot sauce makes everything better. Just to make sure, though, I poured myself a glass of Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer.
Not that beer needs improving, mind you, it is a Fine and Good thing on its own. But I’m one of those uncultured eaters who puts hot sauce on everything (OATMEAL?!?!) so that my tongue can’t register flavor unless I’ve doused my meal in some caustic red stuff that measures death on the Scoville Scale.
Made by the free spirited brewers at Oregon’s Rogue Ale house, this brew is basically perfectly designed for me. I’m more of a pale ale guy, so I always find stouts a little flat and syrupy for my taste, and Rogue’s beer succeeds in kicking up the flavor to something a little more interesting.
When I first pulled the bottle out of the fridge it was a little too cold, I could only barely glean the spice in the aftertaste. As the beer warms up a little bit you can taste the bite all the way through.
Though my colleague Adam described the flavor as “like squeezing a Sriracha into a good porter,” I don’t entirely agree. Sriracha is wonderful stuff but the flavor isn’t exactly subtle, and I wouldn’t say the spice or flavoring totally overpowers the the stout. It’s got a nice tingle throughout.
Right now I’m about 3/4 of a way through a 750mL bottle, and I’m not regretting it at all. It’s a slow sipper of a beer-you don’t want to drink this too fast any more than you want to plow through a enchilada stuffed jalapeños and covered in green chili sauce. I’ve got another bottle under my desk, and I don’t know that I would necessarily want to dive in for another round. This is a nice novelty, but not a get drunk beer. Or even a drink multiple beer. This is a drink one beer, pound your chest two times, and move on to something else beer.
Even as I write this I can feel my heartburn kicking in. It hurts. I like it. Confirmed: Spicy beer is good.
Source: Hot Sauce Makes Everything Better, even Beer
Cinderella waltzes across a pillow. Alice In Wonderland sleeps on a shirt. Princess Anna smiles from a box of tissue.
Singer-songwriter Lyra Brown’s bedroom is adorned with some of her favourite characters from Walt Disney’s animated films, from Snow White to Frozen.
“I grew up with Disney and I think it’s important not to abandon things that inspired you in childhood just because you’re an adult,” says the 23-year-old Edmonton musician. “One of the main reasons I started singing was because of Disney. First, I would memorize Disney books on tape before I could read, and I’d sing the songs from there. Then, I’d watch the films over and over and over and over.”
With her long blond hair, tiny frame and wide blue eyes, Brown could easily be the model for Disney’s next heroine. The album cover of her just-released debut, The Language of Eyes, even features the musician as the star of her own fairy tale – with fiery eyelashes, a flock of moths and a tower with a Rapunzel-like braid flowing out the window.
Brown’s songs are almost as whimsical – 10 lilting piano numbers starring her acrobatic and innocent vocals – yet her lyrics hint at darker, heavier themes. Demons. Scrubbing toilets. First love. Abandonment. Trying (and failing) to learn the language of ‘I’ instead of always putting others ahead of yourself.
“Let your hair down, I want to save you,” she coos on Big Fish Too Soon. “All I want to do is comfort you and abandon myself again,” she swoons on As It Seems. “I used to sit and wait and drop everything if you happened to need me,” she confesses on Cheek & Bruise, which tackles the embarrassment of letting someone take you for granted.
Sounds like the plight of a Disney heroine, right? Brown won’t divulge specific details about her struggles, but admits they directly contributed to The Language of Eyes. “A lot was crumbling around me and you unconsciously believe that it’s your job to hold everybody up.”
“I was really good at being the strong one – and I think those songs are the result of me crumbling as I tried to hold everybody up. It feels very lonely when you have to put on this facade of strength and I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling. So that’s how I want to comfort people.”
Songwriting wasn’t always a comfort to Brown. She wrote her first tune when she was three – The Washing Machine Song – but didn’t seriously start working on lyrics until she was 13. “Very embarrassing. I only showed my cousin,” she laughs. “Songwriting was such a secret act, I didn’t want to tell anybody, but then I kind of came out of shell and started writing on guitar and piano when I was about 14.”
A year later, Brown played her first gig – at (the now defunct) B Scene Studios off Whyte Avenue. She also forged an online friendship with one of her musical heroes, Emily Haines of Metric, around the same time.
“I gave her a two-song EP I had recorded at B Scene Studios and we started emailing back and forth. She was very encouraging and showed belief in me right away. That really made an impact on me. We kind of lost touch as time went on, but I never stopped writing. So I think she was the catalyst. I owe a lot to her.”
Over the next few years, between 2009 to 2013, Brown developed a faithful following in Alberta, playing various folk festivals, radio shows and house concerts. But it wasn’t until Rawlco Radio stepped in with a $10,000 grant that Brown was able to record The Language of Eyes with Edmonton musician/producer Jay Sparrow and engineer Brad Smith at Red Panda Recorders. “I sent them 20, 30 songs and they were like: ‘OK, you’re beyond ready to do this’!” she laughs.
She’s ready to share her songs with the rest of the world – The Language of Eyes is now available on iTunes and she’s applying to play festivals across Canada. She’s also ready to face whatever struggles come her way in the future.
“If you use your pain for something creative, it’s never a bad thing. I’m sure I’m going to go through a lot more s—, too. It’s unavoidable – and it’s a blessing in disguise.”
Catch her performance Friday, January 23, 2015 at $7:30pm at The ARTery, 9535 Jasper Ave. Tickets only $15.00 at Yeglive.ca
Source: Concert Preview: Lyra Brown Musical Fairytale
It is BEERFEST TIME, so in celebration I thought we should have a list of drinking games. These will provide you with hours of fun and a MASSIVE headache. Enjoy!
Beer Pong
This is a classic game that can be played at the bar. The only materials needed are Plastic drinking cups and a Ping-Pong ball. The object of the game is to arrange the cups in the form of a pyramid so the tip is facing your opponent. Each team will arrange their cups to face the other team. . Once this has been done and each team is on the opposite end of the table, players will take turns tossing a Ping-Pong ball towards a cup on the other end of the table. The shot must be a direct one and the ball may not take a bounce. If the player succeeds in throwing the ball in the cup the other player must drink and empty that cup of its contents. The team or player that makes the other drink all of their cups first will win.
Flip, Sip, Strip
This is an easy game that can be played creating a fun environment. All players will need is a drink in their hands and one quarter or coin. The object of the game is to toss the coin into the air and while it is still in the air the player must call it. If the player guesses correctly he passes the coin on to his right. However if the player guesses incorrectly he must choose whether to drink a shot or strip an article of clothing. The game gets tricky because a player cannot pick the same thing twice in a row.
Boxing
This is a simple fast paced game that will end when one player pukes or quits. The game has two main players and 1 or two players in each corner to help their boxer out. Players will have a shot in front of them that will be their penalty if they get “hit”. Both players roll a die and the one that rolls the higher value “hits” their opponent. The player that has been “hit” will proceed to drink his shot and his team will rapidly refill the shot glass and they roll again. The game can be played in 30-second rounds and the object of the game is to move quickly and have multiple hits per round. The match is over when a player pukes or quits the game.
Quarters
The origin of this game is unknown; however the fun it can inspire is far from a myth. This game is best played with 3 or more players. The object of this game is to sit around a table with a glass in the center. Each player will take a turn to bounce the quarter on its side and try to get it to land inside the empty glass in the center. If a player manages to get the coin in the glass he will pick another player to drink. The amount will vary according to the rules and wagers set by each group. Making higher wagers and increasing the distance from where the bounce must occur can alter the game while making it more challenging.
Flip-Cup
The object of the game is to split into two teams, each with 3 to 4 people in them. Players will have a plastic cup that can have either beer or a shot in them; this will depend on each player. The object of the game is that players must begin in order and drink the content of their cup; they will then place the cup on the edge of the table and flip it. They must make the cup land upside-down, once this is done the next player may drink and flip their own cup. This game is played as a relay race; the first team to finish wins. The losing team can have additional drinks as penalties.
Images via http://www.drinkinggamezone.com/
TOP 20 BEER QUOTES OF ALL TIME
Alcohol drinking seems to produce some of the best quotes which are written by notable authors including Plato, Benjamin Franklin, Ron Burgundy, Jim Morrison and many more. Such quotes bring fun and can be used to convert serious situations into funny ones. Below is a list of some of the most memorable beer quotes of all time from around the world.
- Beer is a proof that God loves people and wants them to be happy – Benjamin Franklin.
- Whoever invented beer is a wise man – Plato.
- I would kill everyone in the room just for one drop of just a drop of quality beer – Homer Simpson.
- No doubt, beer is the greatest invention in the entire history of mankind. The wheel was also a great invention, but it does not go nearly as well with pizza as beer – Dave Barry.
- 24 hours a day and 24 beers in a case equals coincidence – Stephen Wright.
- Since everybody has to believe in something, I believe I’ll get another drink – W.C. Fields.
- May your glass always be full, and the roof over your head always strong. And may you be in heaven for half an hour before the devil realizes that you’re dead – Irish Toast.
- An intelligent man is sometimes forced to drink in order to spend time with fools – Earnest Hemingway.
- Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than what alcohol has taken out of me – Winston Churchill.
- Beer is the cause and solution of all the problems of life – Homer Simpson.
- God made years and dough, and loves fermentation just as he loves vegetation – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- A quart of ale is enough meal for a King – Tufail Mehraj.
- You cannot be a real country minus beer and an airline – it is good to have a football team or nuclear weapons, but at least you should have beer – Frank Zappa.
- Do what you said you’d do drunk when you are sober, it will teach you to keep your mouth shut – Ernest Hemingway.
- A woman drove me to drinking yet I didn’t have the audacity to thank her – W.C. Fields.
- Beauty is in the hands of the beer holder – Anonymous.
- Not all chemicals are harmful. Without hydrogen and oxygen, which are chemicals, there would be no water, which is a vital ingredient in beer – Dave Barry.
- A non-drinker is a weak person, who succumbs to the who yields to the lure of denying himself pleasure.
- Women are like beer, they look and smell good, and you would step over your mother just to get one – Homer Simpson.
- Apparently beer contains the hormones of a woman, once you drink enough you can neither drive nor shut up – Tufail Mehraj.
