- I know I just said yesterday that we are usually stuck at home, but my parents babysat that kids tonight at their house, so Pam and I had an entire night to let loose.
- The excuse for a babysitter was that my paternal cousins all get together once a year for the "Cousins Party." We were there for a couple hours, but we had some other plans to take full advantage of a rare "night out" as well.
- After dropping the kids in Rockledge and then peeling off down the street, driving away as fast as we could from the whining about watching Frozen and then whining about not wanting to watch Frozen, we ended up in Manayunk, as the cousin who pulled the short straw this year to host lives there.
- But we didn't want to be fashionably early (I like to be right on time), so we hit up Manayunk Brewery first, which was right down the street, and was infinitely more preferable to Mad River.
- I find myself ordering the strongest beer these days, which is stupid and irresponsible. But King Crunch sounded great even ignoring the 9.1% ABV. It was jet-black, and tasted strongly of roasted peanut butter and sweet banana. As an advocate of peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches, this hit the fucking spot.
- The busboy insisted on telling us his unsolicited opinions about Tom Holland. I have no idea why. He wasn't prompted to do so. I guess he just really fucking hates Tom Holland and he wanted us to know it.
- Manayunk Brewery serves a side of fries even with their appetizers, so which would earn it an extra puke if this was a review, which it isn't.
- I definitely missed the place where I should've talked about where I went to buy a four-pack of beer for the party. Tiny's Bottle Shop is the new-ish bougie destination in Port Richmond. We are a cool neighborhood! We have an expensive boutique bottle shop! It's great for special occasions, like, say, you are going out on the town without the kids and you need a heavy beer!
- I call Tiny's "bougie" because PhillyMag has mentioned them as a destination multiple times, and it was mostly likely right before 30 pages of ads for houses in Chestnut Hill that cost three millions dollars.
- But the chick who was working the counter was very nice, and appeared knowledgeable about the various wines they had stacked on the shelves. Pam wanted a dry white, and the employee was able to pick out a few that she would like (I chose the cheapest, which still wasn't Franzia-cheap).
- Pam would tell me the next day that she didn't feel hungover, even though she drank the whole bottle, so I guess preventing the morning sickness was worth the price.
- But anyway, I bought that wine and a four-pack of This Is How We Ill, which is a stupid fucking name, but it was high ABV, so I bought it anyway (I feel like this is a constant refrain of this column, the whole "I hate this beer name, it tasted good though" thing... sorry about that).
- So flash-forward to the family party. I'm driving, so I only drank two of the Ills. Great beer. Your typical IPA, with tropical notes from the hops, but also very bitter. Worth the price of having to tell my cousins what I was drinking, and saying this embarrassing beer name. I was a lot cooler when I used to slam Hamm's.
- But I usually feel uncool at family parties anyway. I should mention that I am the youngest of my cousins (besides my two younger sisters, who skipped the party this year), so age has always been a factor. Growing up, a lot of them would hang out together in the neighborhood, but I would only hang out at parties, and even then, I was a little too young to really "hang." This isn't my cousins' fault. They have always been nice to me. They invite me to shit. But despite all best intentions, I still feel a little out of place.
- Drinking has traditionally been the great equalizer, though, so it's not like I haven't had a lot of fun with my cousins in the past. Ostensibly, 2020 is a year of scaling back the drinking, so consequentially, I struggled through my usual shy bullshit for the couple hours we hung out. I felt shitty leaving early, because family is fucking important, but maybe I would've felt worse blacking out like I usually do at those gigs. I dunno.
- Declined a shot of peanut butter whisky, by the way, when our host could not confirm that it tasted more like peanut butter than whisky. Is peanut butter whisky a "thing" now? I haven't had my pulse on the trendy liquor drinks since Fireball, probably.
- I promise I won't do this travelogue / random thoughts / bullet point conceit every single time me and Pam hit the town (read: all three times this year), but I'm like four blog posts behind, so you're gonna get what you get this time.
- I drove home, and dropped Pam off at Casey's house, as she was having a "Galentine's" party. All good, because...
- This was my first time at home, by myself, tipsy, in almost a year. It was a nostalgic experience. I feel like I used to have those kinds of nights all the time, like if Pam was working night shift or was out of town (and of course, these were the pre-Willow days). I would get a case of beer and order a Pizza Hut pizza and just get fucking loaded and write and guffaw at bad TV and listen to punk music on full blast.
- No pizza, and only one more This Is How We Ill, but it was kind of nice, blasting DARK THOUGHTS and thinking happy thoughts, with no babies to fret about. I did this for about an hour and a half.
- Pam took an Uber from Casey's, and we ended up getting a night cap at The Lunar Inn, which is connected to Tiny's, bringing my day full circle.
- In fact, I actually brought a This Is How We Ill with me to the bar, which was an admittedly ballsy move that I wouldn't have attempted had I not already had three strong This Is How We Ills already. I prepared to show the bartender my Tiny's receipt, and make my case, but honestly, she didn't even seem like she wanted to be bothered with the whole ordeal, and just gave me an empty pint glass and said fuck it. (She was tipped nicely.)
- Pam showed up. So this is Lunar Inn, Port Richmond's cool new bar. Pam had already come here with Brittany a few weeks ago, which makes her cooler than me.
- I will say that Lunar Inn immediately felt comfortable. It felt like a neighborhood bar already. I love it. I love these types of places, where everyone is friendly because this is your home, this is where you live, so let's be kind.
- I hope it can hang on until Richmond Street is full revitalized. The former shopping corridor has pretty much been rubble since Pam and I moved to this 'hood, but it's finally paved and ready to go... well, except for the fact that the trolleys are now all fucked, and that might take another eighteen months. But EVENTUALLY, Richmond Street will rise again, and we'll have a cool bar to frequent when it does.
- We ordered fries.
- I also got a little nightcap of Croydon Cream Ale from Neshaminy. After drinking that Newburgh Cream Ale a few days ago, I knew that a cream ale would be the perfect beer to end the night on. Light, plain, refreshing, not too overpowering in any sense of the word. I may have gotten drunker than I wanted to tonight, but I know my limits, and to drink anything heavier would've been bad news.
- I had a great night with my wife and my family and myself and my neighborhood and with three different types of beer. I can't do this every night, but I did it tonight, and it was fucking great.
NOTES (Beer #1)
BEER: King Crunch
GENRE: American Imperial Porter
ABV: 9.1%
BREWED BY: Manayunk Brewery
LOCATION: *radio voice* MAIN STREET IN MANAYUNK
PURCHASED AT: In the brewery, at a hightop near the bar
PAIRED WITH: buttermilk chicken fingers and fries, which were surprisingly great
GRADE: 4 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 59.5
NOTES (Beer #2)
BEER: This Is How We Ill
GENRE: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.0%
BREWED BY: Interboro Spirits and Ales
LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY
PURCHASED AT: Tiny's Bottle Shop
PAIRED WITH: tomato pie, french onion dip, cheese and crackers, you know the deal when it comes to potluck family parties
GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 63.5
NOTES (Beer #3)
BEER: Croydon Cream Ale
GENRE: American Cream Ale
ABV: 4.4%
BREWED BY: Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company
LOCATION: Croydon, PA
PURCHASED AT: Lunar Inn
PAIRED WITH: fries
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 64.5
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