Beer of the month

My beer of the month for April is most definitely Brooklyn Black Ops:

With thanks to HogTownHarry for picking this up in Buffalo for me! Appearance: A lovely used motor oil body with nice thick creamy brown head. Aroma: Chocolate-peat, bourbon, leather, vanilla, lots of malt, alcohol, yeast, some almost strawberry notes with a nice hint of whiskey in the finish of the aroma. Flavour: Tremendous, lots of oak, smoke, bitter chocolate, with burnt malt and coffee. There’s some alcohol but it’s not overpowering, thin but somehow creamy body with nice tingly carbonation on the tip of the tongue and a very long malt-whiskey-chocolate finish. Just superb.

Appearance: 4/5
Aroma: 9/10
Flavour: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall impression: 18/20

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brooklyn-black-ops/82103/30639/

Six Nations - Grand Slam

I can't recall the last time, if ever, a radio broadcast made me cry. Well today it happened. Congratulations Ireland - you made us proud, from Dublin to Cardiff to Casablanca then Toronto. You've lifted the spirit of the nation in a time of horrible uncertainty.

The Spring

Today was finally above freezing. I left work and it was 10c there was a slight breeze in my face. I flashed back to Dublin at the end of the summer. I suddenly missed the sights and sounds of home. The smell of the trees as I walked to the shops. The friendly nod of the odd passer by I knew. The familiar sights and sounds of the main street in my town. The bellows of laughter and chat coming from the pubs.

Immediately I was back in Toronto. I could see the city in the distance, it beckoned me. It screamed of a new home, a new place. Nothing will replace Ireland but my God, Toronto takes a good crack at it. I gladly got on the streetcar and made my way home.

Sometimes happiness comes from the simplest of things, today it came from the wind.

I'm pretty jarred. 'Jarred' is Irish for 'locked' which is Irish for 'pissed' which is Irish for 'Baloobas' which is Irish for 'Scuttered' which is Irish for 'Walloped' which is Irish for 'GaGa' which is Irish for 'Smashed' which is Irish for 'Locked'

Has it almost been a year?

I read somewhere that 90% of blogs once created are never accessed again after the first couple of months by the owner. Well, I guess this almost happened to me. It's one of those things, I keep meaning to do it; but I put it on the long finger.

So I've been living in Canada for over a year now, I came across this list of things and find myself agreeing with a lot of the topics

1. You stand in "line-ups" at the movie, not lines.
2. You're not offended by the term, "Homo Milk".
   
3. You understand the sentence, "Could you please pass me a serviette, I just spilled my poutine."
4. You eat chocolate bars instead of candy bars.
5. You drink pop, not soda.
6. You know what it means to be on pogey.
7. You know that a mickey and 2-4's mean "Party at the camp, eh?!"
8. You can drink legally while still a teen.
9. You talk about the weather with strangers and friends alike.
10. You don't know or care about the fuss with Cuba, it's just a cheap place to travel with good cigars and no Americans.
11. When there is a social problem, you turn to your government to fix it instead of telling them to stay out of it.
12. You get milk in bags as well as cartons and plastic jugs.
13. Pike is a type of fish, not some part of a highway.
14. You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
15. You know what a Robertson screwdriver is.
16. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers
17. You know that Thrills are something to chew and "taste like soap."
18. You know that Mounties "don't always look like that."
19. You dismiss all beers under 6% as "for children and the elderly."
20. You know that the Friendly Giant isn't a vegetable product line.
21. You know that Casey and Finnegan are not a Celtic musical group.
22. You participated in "Participaction."
23. You have an Inuit carving by your bedside with the rationale,"What's good enough protection for the Prime Minister is good enough for me."
24. You wonder why there isn't a 5 dollar coin yet.
25. Like any international assassin/terrorist/spy in the world, you possess a Canadian passport.
26. You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing 'u's from labor, honor, and color.
27. You know the French equivalents of "free", "prize", and "no sugar added", thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging.
28. You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.
29. You make a mental note to talk about it at work the next day.
30. You can do all the hand actions to Sharon, Lois and Bram's "Skin-a-ma-rinky-dinky-doo" opus.
31. You can eat more than one maple sugar candy without feeling nauseous.
32. You were mad when "The Beachcombers" were taken off the air.
33. You know what a toque is.
34. You have some memento of Bob and Doug.
35. You know Toronto is not a province.
36. You never miss "Coach's Corner".
37. Back bacon and Kraft Dinner are two of your favourite food groups.

Like everywhere, it has its ups and downs but I have to say, Toronto has mainly ups. Although I whinge about the public transport (TTC) it's generally clean, on time and very frequent. The people are friendly, the food great, the beers great and the standard of living is really high. The downsides? Well the novelty of snow wears off pretty quickly and standing waiting on the streetcar in -28c weather isn't my idea of fun to say the least.

But all in all, I've feck all to complain about.. it's a Thursday evening, I've no work tomorrow (I work a short week once a month). It's snowing out but I have the heating on, I'm curled up on the couch and I've a St. Ambroise Oatmeal stout in my hand.

Life is great.

More to come, don't you worry

Are you sick?

Is the standard response to the phrase "I'm off the beer'. "A man who doesn't drink isn't to be trusted" I have uttered those words myself, whilst slyly observing a stranger ordering a soft drink for himself at the bar. "He must be a recovering alcoholic, or on antibiotics" I have murmured to myself.

I believed all that was true until the morning of the 10th of Feb when I spoke the forbidden words myself "I think I will give up the drink till the 15th of March" I said, not thinking twice about 1) How bloody long it is from Feb 10th to March 15th and 2) the pure willpower required to go a week without a jar, let alone 35 days or 1 month, 6 days or indeed:

3,024,000 seconds
50,400 minutes
840 hours
5 weeks

But who's counting?

Immediately the self righteousness set in "Ahh, I'll do that standing on my head" that's all well and good, from Monday 0700 to Friday 4pm, when the buzz begins to infect the office, when talk of pints are all there is to speak of for the final hour of the work week. I began to sweat, all eyes were on me, the new guy in the office, the fabled Irishman who can drink a thousand pints and STILL have room for more, eager eyes, smiling faces all looked towards me, willing me to agree to go for pints, it was torture. I mumbled something about "not tonight, I can't, I eh, I eh have plans" but they saw through me like a cheap pair of boxers. I blurted out that I was "Off the drink"; the look of bewilderment and confusion on their faces was priceless. I made my excuses and left, PHEW! One Friday down, 5 more to go.

Well, 18 games of bowling, 3 trips to the cinema, 6 early bird meals and countless trips to the gym later, I am still off it. All I can say is that I am glad I am in Canada and off the jar, cause God help the poor feckers who do it at home, the pressure must be awful. Nuclear arms crisis' can't compare to the pressure a man must feel walking into a bar in Ireland and ordering a pint of coke or water, the stigma, the shame, the feeling that you are less of a man.

Well, with only 12 more sleeps to go till I have a beer, do I have any advice for a bloke thinking of giving up the beer? Yes.....

Move to Canada!