Honor a Founding Father with @Newcastle Founders’ Ale

Is there a better way to spend Presidents’ Day, which is primarily a day to celebrate the birthday of George Washington, one of our country’s Founding Fathers, than with a Newcastle Founders’ Ale?

Not if the beer is free, folks, and mine was thanks to my new best friends at Newcastle Brown Ale who sent me a couple to quaff.

(If you can maybe forgot it’s a British beer and that George Washington kicked those Red Coats’ tails in the Revolutionary War, that whole first sentence works. Just play along.)

Founders’ Ale has a nice light brown color, and pours with a sweet bubbly head. Like the Newcastle Winter IPA I tested the other week, it’s very light on the hops which is more acceptable in a pale ale like this than in an IPA. I think a lot of American IPAs and pale ales have gone overboard with the hopping anyway. A little extra is bracing but too much and it feels like someone just sandpapered your tongue.

Tastewise, Founders’ Ale starts a little sour then evolves into more of a sourdoughish flavor that weakens as the pint glass empties. Maybe a wee bit of caramel  or honey in the nose, but otherwise a fairly simple, smooth and refreshing beer without bite. Good for downing after you break a sweat shoveling snow or skiing like I did this weekend.

Soon, I hope to review a lovely looking batch of beers that the downright sexy people at Hanger 24 Brewery in California sent me recently. God bless their beery hearts.

P.S. I love this job.

Eats Types and Leaves

I finally own a smartphone.

I know. Big deal.

Who doesn’t own a smartphone in 2013? These days, babies squirt out from between their mothers' legs demanding unlimited data plans.

Yet up until a few months back, I still sported this relic.

Forget apps. With three letters per key on this beast, Tolstoy wrote War and Peace faster than I could text: “You have to call me because I am a frickin’ dinosaur.”

I joined the 21st century shortly before Christmas. My Love was out  upgrading Li’l Diva’s iPhone (you read that correctly, I was out techno-geeked by a 12-year-old girl) when she learned I could glom onto her calling plan at a big discount. Money aside, I think My Love bought me an iPhone simply because she was tired of me whipping out my clamshell in public.

I Spoke at Dad 2.0 Summit and All I Got Was This Lousy Wrap-Up Post

It’s two days since the Dad 2.0 Summit, and my voice has returned.

So has our power.

You may recall that several pre-conference conspiracies almost prevented my attending last year’s event. This year, I experienced only one.

It came with a crash and thud at 3 a.m.

A tree across the road snapped during 60 mile-an-hour winds, taking down power lines in front of our driveway.

That shouldn’t be an issue now that we have a standby generator, but we live on a cul-de-sac. I had awesome visions of  convincing a MedeVac helicopter pilot to rescue this delirious dad blogger and get him to LaGuardia on time.

However, once I saw my path was clear, I knew what had to be done. I showered, dressed, and abandoned my wife and kids to get my tuchus the hell out of there before Earthquake-Tsunami-Snow-pocalypse struck.

You may now feel free to tear up my “Father of the Year” application.