The Super Bowl Under The Stars

Every year for the past 27 years, my friend Frank's family has hosted a Super Bowl Party. Like most gatherings for the big game, it's well-attended and appointed with a fantastic array of food and drink. Unlike most Super Bowl parties - or other gatherings that take place during January or February in the Northeast, for that matter - it's staged outside.

You might think this is a pretty insane idea. And you would be right. Last night in Albany, the temperatures were somewhere in the teens but there was a steady breeze which made it feel even colder. People were decked out and layered, wearing hunting and skiing gear with heavy hats, gloves and boots, lined with hand and toe warmers. The chill was inescapable but the constant supply of grilled meat and alcoholic beverages was helpful in forgetting the fact that I couldn't feel my feet.

There were two large grills set up and piled with food starting at around 4:30. A large steamer behind them was loaded with clams. Across the yard there was a table with crock pots containing bear stew and venison chili alongside some Cajun shrimp which unfortunately froze solid before the game even began. There were rabbit legs with a honey mustard glaze, seasoned venison, bear and pork tenderloins, bison burgers with jalapenos and cheddar, Swedish meatballs made with bison and Italian sausage, skewers of venison wrapped in bacon and pastry pouches stuffed with minced venison, garlic and extra sharp cheddar cheese alongside sweet and sour Asian dipping sauces.

The most revered of all the cuisine was the Spedini. Or was it Spellini? Spinnini? I don't think I heard the name pronounced the same way more than once all night but whatever it was called was a thin piece of beef wrapped in a robust Italian cheese and grilled to perfection.

A vast array of microbrews were stuffed in a makeshift snowbank. Irish coffees were distributed during the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Unsurprisingly, the only female in attendance was a Newfie named Stella who was equipped with a bottle opener around her collar and one of these vests.

The party started back in 1983 when Frank's dad, his brother and his cousin were kicked out of his mom's house just down the street from where this party was held for being rowdy. In a moment of impromptu creativity and resourcefulness, they decided that they'd just bring a TV outside with them. While the first party was a born out of necessity, it's become a great tradition.

The part actually attracted a news crew from the local CBS affiliate who took a bunch of footage so they could pair it with a lukewarm voiceover and play it on the 11:00 news to give the Super Bowl coverage a "local angle":

The newscaster is clearly - and understandably - baffled by the fact that a large number of people would willfully stand outside in the dead on winter to watch a football game when they could just as easily huddle up indoors. I can't say I blame her, but if she was there last night, she would have understood why the crowd has grown so much over time.

The 2009 Fack Youk Fall Beer Review

It's been a while since we talked brews around these parts, but judging by comments on previous posts, I can tell that there are a decent number of you out there who share my love for great beer.

I personally enjoy fall beers more than any other seasonals. A big part of that are brews like Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales which add dimensions that Winter, Spring and Summer brews just don't have. I find Winter ales to be over-spiced. Summer brews to be enjoyable but they aren't usually complex enough to achieve Great Beer® status. Spring ales are few and far between.

Something about beer and the Fall just seem to pair exceedingly well. It's just starting to get cold and the leaves are turning, setting the stage nicely for a darker, heartier brand of brew.

On to the review:

• Three of us (my buddies John, Frank and I) tasted 13 different beers, divided into 4 categories: 4 Oktoberfests, 2 Fest Biers, 3 Harvest Ales, and 4 Pumpkin Ales, in that order.
  
  
• As for ratings, we used a 1-5 scale with 1 being "I would never drink this beer again" and 5 being "I'm definitely buying this the next time I see it", or something to that effect.
  
  
• Two of us drank out of goblets like this one, and the other out of an oversized wine glass of roughly the same shape, which I always recommend in an effort to maximize your beer experience. We weren't too anal about rinsing them our or cleansing our palates so it wasn't the most scientific of tastings.
  
  
• The beers below are listed from least to most enjoyable by category and the ratings are based on the average of our 3 scores.
  
  
• Each beer is linked to its respective place on BeerAdvocate so you can get a good look at the bottle and some other (more expert) opinions if you'd like.

Oktoberfests - We tasted the this group first, which was probably the right move since they were the most straightforward of the bunch. The scores are lower than almost all of the other beers because they are simplistic, but as far as session beers go, these and the two Fest Biers are probably your best bet.

• Blue Point Oktoberfest - 2.50 -Extremely light and drinkable, the Blue Point lacked any sort of depth of flavor and had a sharp biting amount of carbonation on the tongue. It's a good session brew, but not highly recommended if given the choice between this and other Oktoberfests.
  
  
• Stoudt's Oktoberfest - 2.67 -Pouring out a copper colored hue, Stoudt's offering was simple and easy going down. It had the mildly skunky notes of a typical lager and slightly less carbonation than the Blue Point.
  
  
• Saranac Octoberfest - 3.33 - The flavors in the Saranac were immediately more apparent than either of the above two beers. It had a nuttier, breadier taste to it with a smoother mouthfeel. It was notably hoppy as well, balancing it out pretty nicely.
  
  
• Harpoon Oktoberfest - 3.50 - The Harpoon poured the darkest color of any of the four in this category - nearly garnet red. It had the recognizable flavors of Harpoon's signature yeast strain along with sweet notes including dark fruit (dates?), hints of butterscotch and caramel, and a nice amount of hops. Really well-balanced and the most enjoyable of the crew.

Fest Biers - We were originally going to lump these in with the Oktoberfests but they didn't quite fit; they aren't very similar to each other (aside from the name), but neither belonged in the previous category. Both of these came out with relatively higher ratings mostly because they weren't really playing by the same rules as the Okt's, hence the separation.

• Weihenstephaner Fest Bier - 3.67 -With a beautiful straw-colored pour, it was apparent that the Weiheny wasn't really comparable to a typical fall beer. It had a somewhat skunky nose but the taste was much sweeter, with hints of honey. It was soft on the palate and an ideal choice if you are going to kick a whole six pack by yourself.
  
  
• Victory Festbier - 3.83 - Holding this brew up to the light gave it to color of an orange gummy bear. The character expanded and had a deliciously long finish. It was rich and malty giving way to some spicy and hoppy notes. You might miss the complexity of this one if you are downing a whole bunch of them or drinking out of a bottle, but if you pour it into a proper glass and savor, it's well worth the effort.

Harvest Ales - The cool part about these beers was that each took on the character of their respective region. As you went north, starting with the Southern Tier, on to Redhook and finally arriving at Long Trail, the beers got steadily heartier and, in our opinion, more enjoyable.

• Southern Tier Harvest Ale - 4.17 - In a blind taste test, I'm not sure I could distinguish this from an IPA, which is probably a good thing. It was a gorgeous golden color with citrusy flavors backed with bright, hoppy notes. More of a late summer than fall beer maybe, but delicious nonetheless.
  
  
• Redhook Late Harvest Ale - 4.17 - The Red Hook sat roughly between the other two in this category. It had some of the hoppy and citrius elements of the Southern Tier and also a bit of the malty character of the Long Trail. A good beer in its own right, this one still comes with a sincere recommendation.
  
  
• Long Trail Harvest Ale - 4.33 - A rich ruby-color once emptied into a glass this baby was nutty with notes of hot cocoa. It was strong, roasted and malty with a warming, almost whiskey-like character. In our eyes, this is was a great execution of a Harvest Ale and the epitome of what a fall beer should be.

Pumpkin Ales - The pumpkins had the widest variance of any of the groups, spanning the spectrum from pretty bad to mind-blowingly good.

• Saranac Pumpkin Ale - 2.17 - With all due respect to Saranac, this one represented the mistake a lot of breweries make when attempting a pumpkin beer; just dumping in a whole bunch of spices in a ham-handed attempt to give it the expected characteristics. You might as well get a medium-bodied ale and shake some pumpkin pie spices in it yourself.
  
  
• Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - 3.33 - The Smutty had some of the same problems as the Saranac but not nearly as bad. The spicing was overt and almost separate from the beer itself. It was enjoyable, but left something to be desired.
  
  
• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - 3.83 - The Dogfish Head did the best job of the typical pumpkin ales at subtly blending the spices and the beer. There were some notes of semi-sweet chocolate, coffee and mocha to balance out the cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice that overpowered the other ones. DFH rarely disappoints and this one did not either. Probably not worth the money, but the best one short of the...
  
  
• Southern Tier Pumpking - 5.00 - Being an imperial ale and checking it at 9% ABV, this one was already on a different level than the other three, but it went above and beyond expectations. That was apparent from the first whiff of this deep copper gem. You could smell the creamy sweetness as if you had just opened a box of pumpkin pie topped with fresh, home-made whipped cream. If you have had their Creme Brulee Stout, you'll recognize the amazing, ephemeral sweetness of the beer packed with caramel and vanilla. I kind of hate that we all gave this a 5, but it was the last beer of the night and stood out so far and above everything we tasted, we had no choice.

There are some notable omissions to this list and we are currently preparing a second round of tasting to come sometime this week. Stay tuned.

Paging Doctor Goodwin

My buddy Frank spotted this rather amusing typo in the Post yesterday on our way down to the Giants game.

You guys remember Dwight Goodwin, don't you? I believe he used to play left field for the Yankings and the Vets.

And check out this guy who was sitting in front of us in section 306.

He spent 90% of the game standing up and gesturing wildly to the people behind him. I believe that by buying patterned shirt of your favorite NFL team, you thereby agree to attend every home game and act like a douchebag. Fun times though, as the Giants won by a final score of 23-17 even though they outplayed the Redskins by far more than that. Eli Manning looked sharp, completing 20 of his 29 passes to his new receiving crew. We also walked away with roughly 3 of the calendars and towels they were giving away at the door per person. The only bummer is that rookie wideout Hakeen Nicks is out for a couple of weeks with a sprained foot.

I'm still recovering from yesterday, so content may be a little fluffier than usual around these parts. Bear with me.

This Just In: The New Yankee Stadium Is F_____g Sick

We've spent our fair share of time pointing out the flaws with the New Yankee Stadium, but actually having the chance to talk around it last night made me forget roughly 99% of them. I don't have time to find the words right now. I wanted to throw this post up real quick, because I've got things to do today so I don't even have time to tag or edit it.

Below, please find a collection of pictures and comments documenting the experience last night. Big Willie Style infiltrated the WB Mason Box somehow and Frank worked his way down to field level. We'll put some more posts up later, once I have a chance get BWS's pics off of his Blackberry and I have time to photoshop other people's heads onto our bodies.

-----

Big Willie Style took time to physically embrace the Stadium.


The Old and the New.
(personal favorite)


Right when you walk in Gate 6, there is a giant HDTV showing the game right on the wall. This was convenient, because at the time we were entering the place, the game was just about to start.

I don't care what you have heard about the screen out in centerfield, you will be amazed at how sick it is. I just nabbed that picture with my camera from our seats in Section 412, and look how it came out:


$36 worth of "fucking finally!!!". For some reason they don't unscrew the caps off of the plastic beer bottles. Why? I guess they are just daring people to shake one up and throw it at a Red Sox fan.

The bathrooms are nice, but two complaints. No dividers between the urinals (is this a thruway rest stop?) and no ledge to rest your beers on. Both of those would have been nice.

The concourses in the Grandstand are totally open-air. That will prevent them from smelling like salty garbage like they did in the Old Stadium.

The view from Section 412. It honestly wasn't that bad considering that our seats were probably in the worst 10% in the Stadium, location-wise.

The facade adds such a nice touch. I was actually happy we were up so high because I had the chance of getting it in a picture, if need be.

At one point, a cop climbed up on the roof for some reason. I asked him if he would take my camera with him and snap some pics, but amazingly he declined that offer.

Big Willie Style airplaning it through the extremely spacious ramps.


A view from the bleachers, with the rain coming down.

Unlike the Old joint, the bleachers have a better view of the game than most of the Upper Deck.


My food choice was the chicken tender platter (box). For $10.50, I got 2 1/2 chicken fingers and 19 fries. I have to say though, they were delicious. As good as chicken fingers get.

The condiment options were decidedly lacking, however. Can a man get some BBQ sauce or honey mustard up in this bitch?

I departed in the 7th, but Frank was kind enough to take my camera on his descent into the seats we could never, ever, ever afford.





Well done, Frank. You define wasted journalism.