Social media can be both a fantastic and terrible place. You can follow the lives of celebrities, brands and long lost friends and family that are not a part of your everyday life. You can also provoke and prod discussions into the deepest depths of hell as anonymously as you wish to.

When I first started this blog I saw Twitter as a wonderful tool to interact with other beer lovers across the globe and for the most part it did exactly that. In my hiatus from blogging, and Twitter for that matter, things changed a lot. Opinions were becoming more staunch and no ground was being given on certain arguments in the Beer Twittersphere. Today it seems like a weekly occurrence that certain topics will lead to all day back and forths from pundits, beer fans and industry folk alike. Kids and pets in taprooms? All out fucking war! Private equity verses selling out to the big boys? Fuck them!

I bravely entered into a conversation on Twitter today about the term mediocre in beer. I second guessed myself on it for a good couple minutes. Do I really want to get into a debate on Twitter today. I mean it is a day off for me, so I have the time, but I was feeling brave. Luckily the interactions that I had, specifically with @BeerBabe, were civil and I think that by the end we understood each other’s standpoints.

But this is the risk you take on social media. You can get swept into a shitstorm quicker than a presidential aide.

Drinking: Royal Palm Brewing – Uncle Ronnie’s Brown Ale

Royal Palm are pretty much the new kids on the block–NKOTB for the cool folks–in Palm Beach County. They opened their doors in March of this year and my first visit to them, a week after opening, was more pleasant than I anticipated. Call me a cynic but I usually don’t expect much from new, small breweries. Royal Palm surprised me. Their beers were quite good.

I found myself back at RPBC on a lovely Tuesday afternoon that called for rain and not a single drop has fallen yet. I ordered up a pint of their Uncle Ronnie’s Brown Ale because brown ales get little to no love from the most vocal of beer geeks anymore. Guess what? It’s delicious.

Chocolate and caramel dominate the nose and flavor with a nice medium body to make it feel authentic. I love it.

Through my craft beer life I have stayed pretty steady to IPAs and sours being my beers of choice but if people keep making fantastic brown ales, like this one, I may be swayed to the dark side pretty quickly.

Listening to: Municipal Waste – Hazardous Mutation (The Whole Album)

Okay, I’m not technically listening to them as I write this. Bush’s Swallowed is actually on at Royal Palm Brewing but I was jamming out to Hazardous Mutation on my way here and late last week. The main reason behind this is because Municipal Waste are fucking awesome but the other reason is they are playing at Neshaminy Creek Brewing‘s 6th Anniversary party this Saturday.

For those not in the know, Neshaminy Creek is just minutes away from where I grew up in PA and they are an amazing brewery. Take my word for it or just go visit them yourself. PA and Neshaminy Creek will thank you for it.

To have such an amazing band like Municipal Waste playing at a fantastic brewery’s anniversary is nearly once in a life time. Alas I can’t be there. I do however pledge that I will attend Neshaminy Creek’s Anniversary party next year for sure, probably also the Borough Brewhouse’s too. 😉

Reminiscing: Seattle

Last year I took a trip of a lifetime with my wonderful girlfriend to the Pacific Northwest. We started in Seattle, went down to Portland, traversed the Oregon Coast, traveled through the Redwoods of Northern California and finished up in San Francisco. It was the time of my life. I really mean that.

People throw around terms like “best day of my life” or “time of my life” during points to which they are legitimately having a good time but really is that the time of your life? These 3 weeks on the west coast were the best 3 weeks of my life. Not a single doubt about that. Document this post and bring it up if I ever change that.

Our starting point of Seattle was with purpose and it didn’t disappoint. Food, beer, architecture and all the green around just made it a wonderland of life to me. Washington is where I realized I like hiking–as long as it doesn’t involve 90 degree temperature and ridiculously high humidity.

While in the Emerald City I had the chance to visit Cloudburst Brewing. This is a brewery I followed on social media for a good while and developed a liking for because of their sense of humor and their owner’s journey in the beer world. We went to Cloudburst’s taproom and had a great time. Fantastic beers in a super intimate environment. Then they go on and do something like this to push my love for them to a whole new level.

It’s June! Refracted Light IPA is back! Again, we’re donating a portion of sales sold in our taproom to @equalrightswa – a Seattle nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ equity & justice. For more icing on the rainbow, visit Slowboat @thebeerjunction @TekuTavern & Full Throttle. pic.twitter.com/O4BOWGNYmM

— Cloudburst Brewing (@Cloudburst_Brew) June 5, 2018

For real. If you are person with feelings, loves beer and finds themselves in Seattle please go give Cloudburst as much money as you can for this cause because…fuck it, I love them! This is a brewery that makes me feel the feels that I had about breweries when I first got into craft beer.

Congrats Odell

Speaking of feels for a brewery, a quick little congratulations to Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO for the opening of their new brewpub and taproom in the RiNo District of Denver. Odell was maybe the first brewery that I ever fell in love with on a trip to Colorado for the Great American Beer Fest in 2010. Lovely beers and a beautiful taproom, what more do you need?

I had the chance to take my girlfriend right to that spot this past November on her birthday and got to experience that feeling all over again.

I was super happy to read about the opening of their new spot in Denver. If you are in Denver this becomes a must hit but don’t let that ever deter you from heading to funky Fort Collins.

Holy Crap!

Everything I wrote today was somewhat or completely related to beer. Go me!