shufon

There are tons of free museums/galleries, just go to the National Mall and I think there are ~15 museums and galleries there. The Hirshhorn is my favorite gallery, but most of them are good. Also, any of the national buildings-- Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Capitol, etc are worth checking out if you're into that.

As far as shopping goes, I think DC sucks, but maybe a local could shed more light on the subject. The only good thing I've found is that the Barney's in Georgetown never sells much Thom Browne and it all goes on the sale rack.

For drink, if you like beer-- Churchkey has by far the best beer selection in the city. Pizzeria Paradiso in Dupont Circle is my second favorite location for beer.. the taplist is always nice and they have a pretty sick bottle list for good prices as well.

Food.. Minibar is amazing but getting a reservation is extremely difficult. Vidalia is great new American. Toki Underground is the best spot for ramen. Rasika does a modern take on Indian that is very good. Birch and Barley is the restaurant of Churchkey and their food is surprisingly good. Ben's Chili Bowl is good for a late night drunken snack (although maybe not in summer heat) but the line can be a pain in the ass. If you venture into northern VA, there are some very good pho places, specifically Pho Sate in Falls Church or Pho 75 in Arlington (not a bad walk from the metro).

I could probably think of more stuff but that's all I've got for now.

Nice timing Layne. There's going to be a large bottle share on the 30th It's up to you really about checking vs. shipping.. I usually just check the bag but if you don't want to pay the luggage fee, it's probably actually cheaper to ship them up here.

Haven't had either Love Child. Boulevard doesn't distribute up here unfortunately.

^That Sgt. Pepper is a fun beer, wouldn't mind getting more bottles of that. Crazy lingering black pepper presence in that beer.

Did this last night with the tasting group:

The BA Old Ruffian was kind of a random addition. We didn't get to much at all but it was still a decent tasting. The 06 LP Framboise surprised me and was actually my favorite of the night.

^wlgeorge

For all you Cali guys, if I drive out to Santa Rosa to go to Russian River, where else should I hit up in the area? I know Bear Republic and Lagunitas are out there, but what else?

Can anybody recommend a good leather repair shop? Preferably in Manhattan.

Oh and that CCB Blueberry Muffin Brown Ale was surprisingly good, and the Apple Brandy BA Warmer Winter was probably my favorite beer of the night. Tasted like Doggie Claws on steroids.

Not the greatest pics, but:

Funky Buddha Raspberry Berliner, No Crusts, Bonita Applebum, Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, Pina Colada, and Daywalker Ginger IPA

Funky Buddha Last Snow, Cigar City Peach Jai Alai, Cucumber Saison, Apple Brandy BA Warmer Winter, and Blueberry Muffin Brown Ale.

Funky Buddha is all hype in my opinion. The Passionfruit Berliner bottle I got to drink a couple months ago was pretty damn amazing, but other than that I don't think the beers are nearly as good as people say. No Crusts was meh (how this beer got popular is beyond me). Bonita Applebum was not bad but gimmicky and I didn't care to try it again. Daywalker Ginger IPA sucked unless you like eating raw ginger. Maple Bacon Coffee Porter was delicious but I couldn't drink more than 6oz if I wanted to because it's so sweet. Cranberry berliner was pretty tasty but had a cheese thing going on.. I still enjoyed it though. Pina Colada was pretty awesome but I love coconut, and I don't think anybody who drank it without knowing it was beer would think it was beer.. it just tasted like carbonated coconut and pineapple syrup. Last Snow was nice, the most toned down of all of them, and the only one I wouldn't mind being able to get bottles of regularly.

The only thing that slowed me down with the books was keeping up with all the lesser characters and all of the connections between the characters and houses. I ended up referring to some character index I found online.

yo how the fuck was collage? lol

blend of 4 beers + aged in a shitload of barrels..is it #legendary? is it really worth it?

It's awful. Don't buy it.

@islandboi -- headed right now to Churchkey to have 7 Funky Buddha beers (including most of those you had) as well as a bunch of Cigar City and a collab between the two. Really looking forward to all of them

Rye on Rye was pretty awesome. That bottle was from the first batch ever made so it's a few years old and mellowed. Was definitely much less boozy and in your face than what I had been told to expect.

Made it to my group's weekly tasting last night and had all of these:

Then came down to DC today for a few events leading up to Savor this weekend. Went to Churchkey for a Deschutes event tonight (mainly just to drink Abyss on tap until my girlfriend got off work). Ended up ticking a bunch of leftovers from the Sierra Nevada event they just had:

Wood-Aged Quad (100% aged in Heaven Hill barrels) - This was delicious!

Sierra Nevada Exportation (robust porter aged in Pinot Noir barrels previously used by Russian River) - tasted like a small chocolatey Consecration

Sierra Nevada Sidecar IPA and Foam

Flying Dog Sour Cherry (cherry berlinerweisse)

And finally 2012 Parabola and 2011 Abyss side by side

**spoilers**

Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! (sort of)

As I understand it (and I yield unreservedly to Ghost714's superior knowledge and wit as it goes far beyond what any of us lowly savages are capable of), the Iron Born were allowed to escape because of Robb Stark's condition that any Iron Born would be allowed to leave unharmed provided they hand over Theon. Furthermore, I think it was Roose Bolton's bastard who in turn sacked Winterfell as House Bolton allied with House Frey in reaction to Robb's marriage to Talisa/Jeyne. I'm guessing the vagueness of the tv show is due to them not wanting to spoil the Red Wedding next season by giving away the whole Bolton betrayal.

This lines up well with the TV series, but in the books Ramsay Snow knocks out Theon and sacks Winterfell near the end of A Clash of Kings and Robb's meeting and wedding of Jeyne Westerling doesn't happen until A Storm of Swords. Also, almost halfway into A Storm of Swords, Roose at Harrenhal still refers to Robb as King Robb even after he's wed. The destruction of Winterfell was totally Ramsay's doing.. I always just took it as him being crazy and sadistic.

^The way they handled Bran's story frustrated me. All of the things going on were completely too vague and disconnected. I'm assuming at least some of the events will be explained when the bastard son is (hopefully) introduced in the series.

Nice, have a couple of those coming. Looking forward to it.

Drinking this right now:

*More spoilers*

^Yes, I interpreted him as the white walker and the rest as wights. I think this was an adaptation of the prologue to book three where the 3 horns blast and wake up the raiders to wights attacking the camp on the Fist of the First Men. My expectation is that the next season will open with a combination of the camp being attacked (prologue) and Samwell killing the white walker with his dragon glass dagger (Samwell's first POV chapter in the book).

**This has spoilers for anybody who hasn't read the book**

^The House of the Undying scene was weak.. she didn't even get the warnings of three betrayals, etc. There are a lot of things that I wish had been different in the episode.. what was up with that last scene? I know they wanted a big shock and awe moment to end the season but the way it happens in the prologue of the third book is much better than how the show portrayed it. And why does the white walker/other look like a wight? I was under the impression they're not supposed to be hideous creatures, just different looking.

This whole season jumped around too much for me.. I know they only have 10 episodes to work with but they really left out details that would've made the stories make more sense and flow more naturally. It feels really disconnected sometimes. Why do the writers do things like have Roose Bolton reference his bastard son at the Dreadfort (in episode 6 or 7 I think?) if they're not going to show him? I was assuming he was just being pushed back to the third season but he's not on the cast of new characters for the third season. And why the hell is Jeyne called Talisa and why is she from Volantis? They could've played out the plot from the book the way it was written with her being a Westerling. Lastly, I don't think anybody who hasn't read the books connected the events of Beric being sent by Eddard to find Gregor Clegane in season 1 episode 5 to this season when Clegane was in Harrenhal having people tortured trying to find "the brotherhood". What was the point of wasting screen time showing the Tickler torturing people if it wasn't at least referenced who the brotherhood was, why Gregor was looking for them, etc?

At least the third book is being divided into two seasons.. that will hopefully give the writers enough time to cover all the important details of the story. The third book is incredible so I hope they don't fuck it up.

/rant

^^

I got lucky, 2012 Chocolate Rain one for one.

Got a wale today.

So the cans of Dale's I had were from 4/5/12, so almost 2 months old. The cans of Heady I had were less than a week old. My girlfriend said they were hard to compare because they had distinct differences, but I surprised myself and preferred Dale's. It was fruitier and had a watermelon thing going on that I liked.

How is Linchpin nemuine?

I just take it straight from tumblr/facebook. Guess it uses the pics straight from my phone.

Had this last night as well. Got it as an extra, was a confused awful mess of a beer, wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

Also is there any way to edit pic size when posting images here?