I've been collecting records since high school, but I only bought my first turntable this year. Sure, I've had a turntable in the past: I inherited a suitcase style table from my late great-grandfather with an old, rusty stylus (along with all his records, which include some amazing original Johnny Cash releases). But, until February, I've never been able to play my vinyl without fear of ruining them.


Since this is my first Record Store Day with a usable turntable, I awoke with excitement this morning. I drove to the record store in my old Cincinnati neighborhood to pick up the RSD release of The Best of Townes Van Zandt (on tiger-eye vinyl). While I was there I also nabbed an Italian bootleg Nirvana record entitled Damage, Mon Amour. On my way home I hit up a grocery store in search of a record-related beer. I was not disappointed. So, today I present to you (as I listen to that Best of Townes Van Zandt album) Rhinegeist's Slow Jam.

I just got home from a weekend cabinning with my in-laws. We were originally supposed spend a week in Florida but, through an incredibly unfortunate series of events, that didn't pan out. The long weekend at Kentucky's General Butler State Resort Park, however, was still a great diversion from Greater Cincinnati.


Now, though, Michelle and I are home. It's only 5:30 (at the time of this writing) but the sky outside is dark and the wind is picking up--we're about to see some heavy storms. Luckily, I know a fun trick to while away the time waiting for a killer storm: drink. With that, I present to you Decadent Ale's Vermont Maple DIPA, today's beer.

This is the last in a series of four posts devoted to Local Blend, a collaboration series of coffee porters MadTree released in January. I'll be judging each beer individually, comparing it to the others in the series, and, finally, rating Local Blend as a whole.


Here we are, that the last entry in MadTree's Local Blend series. Spring is finally here (I spent yesterday doing some yard work and planting my vegetable garden) and the sun is shining brightly outside my window. It's a beautiful morning, and I can't think of a better reason to break into this fourth can. So, without wasting more time, let's get to it: Local Blend Cleveland.

This is the third in a series of four posts devoted to Local Blend, a collaboration series of coffee porters MadTree released in January. I'll be judging each beer individually, comparing it to the others in the series, and, finally, rating Local Blend as a whole.

Today is as good a day for coffee as any. In fact, I've already had a mug. I've also had some tea, for what it's worth. It's cold and cloudy outside my living room window, which stinks because it's been 70˚ the last two days (albeit with a strong chance of tornadoes yesterday). So, I guess you could say that the today's cloudy 40˚ is unpleasant and unwelcome. Couple that with crummy sleep last night and, yeah. Coffee's called for.


However, since I've already had a fair amount of caffeine today, and since I have work tomorrow and definitely need to sleep tonight, I'd rather reach for something that tastes like coffee instead of the actual stuff itself. As such, it's a good day to turn to the next in MadTree's Local Blend series: Columbus, featuring coffee from Stauf's.