40th, Part 2

Gumballhead from Three Floyd's
On Day 2 of my 40th weekend bash, Gina took me, my brother and his girlfriend to Three Floyd's Brewery and Crown Brewing. So not only am I a foodie, but I am also a beer snob. I have heard from several that Three Floyd's Gumballhead on tap is a thing to be loved. I agree. Wow, just a fantastic beer.

I also had their Topless Wych, which is a Baltic porter. Quite exceptional. If you have not had a Three Floyd's beer, I recommend it.

Crown Brewing was more "traditional" in the style of Rock Bottom, etc., but the beers were either very good (Celtic Oatmeal Stout or Special Forces IPA) or good.

As we were departing from that morning, I picked up the mail (from the previous day). In it, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew Jack had sent me a book: Lost at Guadalcanal: The Final Battles of the Astoria and Chicago as Described by Survivors and in Official Reports by John J. Domagalski. My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to have it signed by the author himself. I look forward to reading it (after having watched HBO's series The Pacific, I have been wanting to read up more about the Pacific war. Seems like I have a good book!

Also, it should be noted that my nephew Jack recorded a video of himself singing happy birthday to me!

At Crown Brewing, my brother and girlfriend gave me their gifts. A couple of bottles of Rogue's Shakespeare Stout (my favorite brew) and a signed copy of Pattiann Rogers' poem "Opus from Space."

Rogers is one of my favorite poets, and this gift was a complete surprise. In addition, my brother managed to secure a copy of The Blackbird's Nest: An Anthology of Poetry from Queen's University of Belfast signed by a contributor to that volume, Ciaran Carson.