Monthly Archives: December 2012

Dec18

NERAX – A cornucopia of amazing beers!

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03 NOV 12

 

Marla called me up one day, asking if I wanted to go to a beer tasting.

My response was simple and to the point, if I recall… I simply stated, “Yes. When and where?”

So it turned out that it would be the same day as my third Halloween party, the 3rd of November, and would be right down the street from where Mike lived in Somerville. So I invited him along, packed my car with my costume and a few other odds and ends, and headed into the city to meet up with Marla and her friends.

And when I arrived… whoa. In heaven, there is a room that mirrors this room: taps lined the bar, and the entire back wall was packed with small casks of specialty brews. There were dozens of different breweries represented, and each had a few beers in stock to show off. The selection could literally have been deadly if one tried to sample them all.

So, after quick introductions between everyone, I started in on my first glass – they served the beers in portions ranging from ¼ pint to a full pint, and our general tactic was for each person to get a different ¼ pint and then we could all share so that we’d get to try out the most beers, while still retaining a bit of mental capacity.

Now, I’m pretty well versed in the language of Beer. But I didn’t even come close to the level of “beer-fu” that Marla and her friends have. I heard more terms and phrases in the two hours that we were there than I’d heard in years… probably since I took my last ROTC course – those guys’re big on their terms and phrases.

But after a good few beers tasted and many recommendations heard, it was time to head out – I was actually meeting Daniel and company at the climbing gym down the street later on in the day, so I didn’t want to slow myself down too much before.

Mike was heading out at the same time so we both went in on some pulled pork from RedBones, who happened to be a partial sponsor of the event, and thus had a table full of BBQed goodness. It was amazing, and after a quick nap at Mike’s place (really the only cure for the lethargy brought on by BBQ and beer) I headed onwards.

Dec17

A Halloween of many parts: Weekend #2

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By the time I showed up at Daniel’s apartment for my third Halloween celebration, I’d already had a rather full day – the NERAX beer tasting event in the morning and rock climbing at Metro Rock in the afternoon… not to mention the fact that I’d stayed up nearly the entire night before putting the finishing touches on my costume.

What costume had I been working on, you ask? Well, more a prop for a costume; I’d run with the “fallen angel” that I’d worn to Salem, and simply added one extra bit – a golden fiddle. A golden fiddle complete with the full lyrics to the famous “Devil went down to Georgia” song.

The party that night was, in a word, excellent. Nearly everyone *cough*ExceptChirag*cough* had an awesome costume, and the hosts had set the apartment up perfectly for a rather amazing evening. A few of the best moments follow:

  • Marla dressed up, rather impressively, as Link from the Legend of Zelda. But there was one problem – she’s not an encyclopedia of random Zelda knowledge. A few of our friends are. A quote from Marla, who was worried that no one would get her costume, “Dude! I out-geeked myself!”
  • I played a fiddle competition against a Victorian-Era Viking. The results are still inconclusive.
  • Mike dressed up as Caesar, gave Erin and Chirag collapsible prop-knives, and got assassinated part-way through the party. That was awesome.
  • What was more awesome was Daniel’s roommate Sue standing on top of his “corpse” and reciting the entire death-speech from Shakespeare’s play. From memory.
  • There was a Pinata. It was hellishly difficult to break… especially since people insisted that we spin the at-bar person around a dozen times. Many kneecaps screamed in agony, but the pinata was finally defeated.

As the party wore on into the night, Cards against Humanity was brought out and we played a few semi-rousing games before a group of us decided to head on out and change the pace a bit. Big T was finally back in town, and Mike Chirag and myself wanted to have a fun Scotch and Cigar night with him before he needed to head out. Thanks to Chirag’s sober lifestyle we had a driver, and so we moved the party over to Mike’s apartment for the remainder of the evening.

We caroused, hung out, caught up, and even watched an episode or two of Archer. And in the morning, we got an amazing diner breakfast from Innman Square.

Not a bad way to finish up my three Halloween adventures.

Dec16

A Halloween of many parts: The Eve itself

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The Location: Salem, MA.

The group: Daniel, Erin, and myself.

The costumes: The Cloak (Daniel), Little Red Riding Hood (Erin), and a Fallen Angel (Myself)

 

The train was packed. Like… not “whoa, that’s a lot of people!” packed. This was “mmrrrphle!” packed. As in “I can’t speak to tell you how crowded this is, because I am stuffed in the space between a frat boy and a dude in a gorilla suit”.

But really, what should I have expected? This WAS the train to Salem, from Boston, on the night of Halloween. The 8:00 train, also known as the most popular train, out of the most popular station, to the most popular Halloween site in New England. Arguably the most popular Halloween site in the country.

But, we persevered. It actually wasn’t that difficult… we told jokes relating to the drunkies screaming half a car away, chatted with the people squished against us, and tried not to muss up our costumes too badly. It was fun – that’s the joy of a holiday like Halloween; getting to meet new people and try to survive the crowds unscathed.

Thankfully I was able to make it all the way to Salem without doing too much damage to the wings that Erin had lent me, and so we walked (picking up some friends of Daniels along the way) into the heart of the insanity known as Salem Center on Halloween Night.

Seriously, this place was crazy. It was awesome. It was just… fun! I mean, the craziness doesn’t really compare to some of the other places that I’ve been (the Castro district in San Francisco, for one), but it was the unexpected sense of “hey, why not? Let’s dress up and be crazy!” that really swept me up.

That’s the thing about Boston: Our city is a controlled city – people do what they are expected to do. We have our riots, but you see rioters when and where you should see them – after a big game. You see people partying on the 4th of July, and you see standard-issue costumes on Halloween. As a whole, Boston doesn’t really just do things for no reason.

But when we do get an excuse to go out… This is a group of people who are cooped up in their suits and work clothes all year long, knowing that soon enough the entire city will be blanketed in a layer of wintery ice. This is their last chance for insanity and excitement before the winter, and since everyone is going crazy anyways…

Well, there was a lot to do, to say the least;

We tagged along with a long Buddhist procession, chanting some sort of hymn and handing out flyers.

Daniel and I tangoed in a giant dance circle, accompanied by a pair of robots disco-fighting.

Daniel got his Aura read – turns out that his wrist pain is due to stealing something in a past life.

We watched concerts and danced to some random Djs, ate fried dough and threw out sketchy candy that creepy people handed out.

And at the end of the night? We watched fireworks from the station platform before boarding a much-subdued train back into the city 🙂