Trade In Your Birthday Suit For A Santa Suit (And Do Everyone A Favor)

The Discovery Channel, which used to be about nature and history and documentaries, has a new program debuting on Sunday. It is called Brew Masters and features Dogfish Head deity Sam Calagione. It follows him on his adventures in beer land, which are far more interesting than mine. Sam gets to brew crazy beers using unusual ingredients, and sometimes he does it in very unique surroundings. Long story short, this is not some boring old documentary following a guy around a brewery. Sam is no ordinary guy either. This is a new series of shows featuring this guy and his world. Beer world. On a major cable TV network. Sure, Discovery used to be a great place to watch wild animal shows and Hitler documentaries, but that was then. Now it is full of shows about trucks driving on ice, science dorks blowing stuff up, sharks, and some guy named Bear Grylls. Not be mistaken with Bare Girls, which, I would assume, is on Cinemax late at night. I do not have Showtime, Cinemax or HBO (death to Comcast!). My internet and digital cable are enough. If I need more channels, I am watching too much god-damned TV. End of story. Did I mention "Death to Comcast!"?

But I will be watching Brew Masters on Sunday night. Want to watch it with me? 'Cause there's a big slumber party at my house! Wrong. We are having a viewing party at The Fred. Here is the deal:

• The first episode centers on the brewing of a wacky stout of some sort. It was brewed to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Don't know who Miles Davis is? Then you no longer have to wonder if you are cool or not. (Hint: You're not, sorry.) The beer is inspired by the album and its groundbreaking fusion of jazz, rock & funk. The beer is a blend of mostly Imperial Stout blended with a honey beer flavored with gesho root. No, I do not have any idea what a gesho root is either, but thanks for asking. 
• We will kick off the evening around 7:30 or 8:00-ish with some Bitches Brew music to get everyone in the mood, followed by some educational beer programming on the TVs. Libations will be DFH Chateau Jaihu & Chicory Stout drafts, some Palo Santo Marron and Red & White bottles. We may, and I stress MAY, have a small keg of the Bitches Brew. It is leaving Delaware on a truck today that is supposed to arrive on Friday. If that happens, we will have the keg. If this truck (they make multiple stops, not straight from DE to ATL) shows up late Friday or on Saturday, no DFH Bitches draft. I understand that this is a deal breaker for many of you. I will try to notify you all here as soon as I find out the good news. No post between now and then, no Bitches Brew. but it isn't like The Fred isn't loaded down with special beer any way, so we won't cry if it doesn't show.
• At 10:00 we will watch the Brew Masters show on Discovery. Yes, 10:00 pm on a Sunday. Where did you expect a beer show on Discovery to debut? Friday at 8:00? That is prime time to watch trucks drive on ice! Or sharks. Do you want to watch a beer show in prime time some day? Then you should be sure to support this one, because this is your chance. Watch it. DVR is cheating. E-mail the station and tell then how much you like it. If they can milk extra ad dollars out of this thing by moving it to a better time slot, they will. What if Shark Week got replaced by Beer Week? Can you imagine that? This, readers, is where it starts. Sharks were not always prime time, and I am still baffled by the popularity of trucks on icy roads. I drove a Ford Escort on icy roads in Michigan for years and no one made a TV show about me. Now the pawn shop show, that I can watch. Quality programming there.
• Free stuff! A package from Milton, DE arrived at the office today. I am not there, so I have no idea what is in it. But whatever is in it will be for any attendees Sunday night. I will open it up around 9:00, but don't get too excited. I expect it to be bottle openers and stuff like that. Hats and t-shirts? Maybe. Depends how big the box is. It will not be full of free beer and locks of Sam Calagione's hair, so keep it in your pants beer geeks.

I have three more things for you before I go:

1. The first of the eight days of He'Brew craziness starts Wednesday at Mall of GA Taco Mac. Eight different beers tapped on eight different days. Read the last couple of posts for more details. Remember that these are small kegs and will not last more that a day or two. You can taste new batches of the last six recipes for He'Brew Jewbilation, their anniversary strong ale. These are made with the number of hops and malts that correspond to the year's anniversary, and are all different. Start on Wednesday with Jewbilation 8 (eight malts, eight hops, 8% ABV). On the seventh day you will get the new version, Jewbilation 14 (yes, 14 malts, hops & ABV). The eighth day will be Vertical Jewbilation, a blend of 8 through 14, barrel aged in sazerac barrels. Three more stores launch the same series December 1st: Crabapple, Newnan & Kennesaw.
2. Fred & Peter's All-Star Holiday Extravaganza beer dinner is selling fast. At last count there were 14 seats left out of 50. The event is Tuesday, December 7th at The Fred. I gave you a link to the menu last week. It looks pretty awesome if you ask me.
3. The Beer Connoisseur Magazine One-Year Anniversary Party is Wednesday, December 8th at Deckard's. Tickets are $40 each, and HERE IS A LINK to the info. There are certainly some bells & whistles for the price tag. We are simply the venue for this event, so you need to open this up to find out more and who to pay. They are looking for someone to don the Santa suit for their birthday event, so if you are jolly and feel like drinking beer through a fake beard, call the number for the BC mag people. They would love to have as many Santa's as possible I imagine. And if you want to wear your birthday suit to a Santa event, I think the people at Cinemax may want to do a show about you. 

That is all I have for this week kids. Hopefully I can get my new camera out of the box soon and take some more pictures for your entertainment. I don't have any beer trips planned until February though, so not much is happening for a while. We did something fun Monday night, but if you weren't there, you don't want to hear about it now. Have a good week and keep that going into the weekend. Peek here Friday or Saturday to see if we received the Bitches. Later bitches.