6 wine/liquor glass decanters. I do have the tops, just not pictured. Bottles were cleaned in our dish washer. Fill with your favorite booze or make into a vase. College kids, ladies will think you’re classy n’at
Send me a message through the contact form and I’ll use a randomizer number picker thinger to select the winner.
DEADLINE: Friday, November 13th 23:59 Eastern
(click on image for 3264 x 2448 – 2.08MB)
To most of you outside of Pennsylvania this may seem like a normal thing but here in the fine SW corner of the commonwealth this is a first. For the first time we are able to buy beer in a grocery store and Giant Eagle’s Market District is the place.
Nestled in the corner of newly christened Settlers Ridge the mansion of foodie heaven opened its doors this weekend. You’re here for beer though, and quite frankly that’s why I went.
Layout
There are 2 coolers. The one pictured above and then around the corner from it that is 4x’s as long. There was also a display of Christmas beers at the street entrance to the cafe. I would loved to have taken more pictures of the beer layout but there were so many people in there you wouldn’t have seen anything. If you’re familiar with Wegman’s on Upper Peach in Erie the coolers are similar. No rows of bottles though.
Selection
One worker told me they have 250 different beers which, from a bottle shop standard, is on the lower end of the spectrum but I do give them credit for going above and beyond the Bud/Miller/Coors. The cooler pictured above is for single bottles. I was pleased to the gang from Ommegang (avg price $7.99) going top shelf and joined by Brooklyn’s Local 1 and 2, Chimay, Orval (for $5! wooo) and a class from Lindemans.
Unfortunately this is the only section with freestanding bottles. Everything else is 4 , 6 or 12 packs. Overall display and appeal of setup was pretty high and everything was clearly marked with a price which is great when you’re there for a quick pickup.
Price
This is where the knife will be plunged into the heart of most bottle shops who rely on carry out beer sales. I like using Arrogant Bastard as a price gauge. That’s pretty much a staple of any craft beer store and if they stick you on that then you’re in for an expensive trip. Market District price was $4.50, avg. bottle shop $7, restaurant price $11. Based on prices I’ve seen recently, Market District offers beverages $1-3 cheaper than most bottle shops on the singles and almost $5 cheaper on the 4 and 6 packs.
Rules
Overall
This is a huge step for craft beer in PA. I don’t see a lot of the bottle shops losing too much business since its 2 different levels of service you’re getting… for now. Market District is too new for us to know what they’re going to do in terms of events or how educated the staff will be. Local bottle shops are usually staffed with beer geeks and have a wider selection meanwhile if you need a beer in a pinch and want convenience odds have it you’ll hit the supermarket. Now with Wine and Spirit stores in many Giant Eagles you really can have a one stop shop. Local breweries who are getting their beers into these stores will now have unremarkable visibility and the BMC drinkers will hopefully get a better understanding of the varieties out there. My wish for now is that they get some aisles for single bottles and 6packs that aren’t already chilled in the coolers.
Here is the beer list for Market District.
cheers!
P.S. Oh yeah my shopping. I picked up 3 Philosophers, Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale and Orval for $19.
Every once in awhile a great internet show comes along that makes me stop and go “now that’s pretty goddamn funny!” This is the latest to not only do that but also start talkin like d’at… n’at. Ladies and Gents live from Johnstown PA, Greg and Donny, 2 model Americans with a great show!
You can also follow dem guys on Facebook | You Tube | Blip.TV | Twitter
he discovered what makes time travel possible
Here is the first of 2 things that I’ve giving away for free! You just need to come and get one or both! Actually if it’ll fit in my car I may be able to bring it to you.
Entertainment stand from IKEA (click to enlarge)
I was giving this away a couple months ago but the person who was taking it finally bailed and I can’t find the old messages from others wanting it so its up for grabs again. It’s in great shape, Teapsoon is about to crawl and this will be eye level for him soon. Nuff said.
Send me a message through the contact form and I’ll use a randomizer number picker thinger to select the winner.
DEADLINE: Friday, November 13th 23:59 Eastern
My dad is probably rolling over in his grave at that headline. He was hardcore voting and I respect that but last night there was no reason for me to go out. None whatsoever and before your head blows up let me explain why.
I think voting for the sake of voting is pure bullshit. I understand its a great right that each American has but I exercise my right to vote on subjects every week. Just because it wasn’t for local politics makes no difference. Wait… wait… I can already tell some of you are getting wound up over that. Relax and listen. It is insanely rare that I speak politics because most people are uber psychotic on their views but comments to me on twitter and facebook have prompted this overall reply.
I’m a renter in an area I don’t plan on living in much longer. I looked at the ballot for my area that I would be given at my voting center and my options were for coroner, judges and tax collectors. It would be irresponsible for me to go in and a) select my entire party and walk out – based on the last major election I found out my party pisses me off and I crossed lines in multiple races. b) randomly pick people just for the sake of voting c) voting for people in an area that I know I won’t be living in. Its like a dine-and-dash.
As a renter its natural for my length of residence in one location to be less than 5 years (landlords do a great job chasing quality renters away) so why should I push for someone who will have no impact on me? If I’m not going to be an active member of this community much longer why should I try to vote my people in?
Bobbo has a good post (nice template) about why you SHOULD vote but see, its not relevant to my situation but probably is to yours. Once Lushie, Teaspoon and I settle down we’re going to be all about the community. No matter where we’ve lived we’ve supported our church and local businesses. That’s what matters to us.
from seriouseats.com
“It’s National Sandwich Day! So designated because November 3 marks the birthday of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who popularized everyone’s favorite lunch so long ago.”
I have an unnatural obsession with a good sammich and thanks to the internet I know I’m not alone. tehjim, justrightjim, Woy and myself are usually swapping pictures of sandwiches worthy of a hall of fame. Then there is greatest sandwich artist of all time, BuBBy (that’s his sammich pictured above).
I don’t know why I crave sandwiches. I would much rather eat one for breakfast (my Mother In Law actually makes me BLT’s for breakfast when we visit) and think that a quality sandwich is more pleasurable than a steak dinner. Here in Pittsburgh there debate will last for generations on where the best sandwich is.
When I moved here in 98 I was addicted to Primantis Cap n Cheese.
Then as my palate developed I was head over heels for Fat Heads Headwich line.
And right now my favorite dish can be found at Bocktown in the Bocktown Burger
Go out today and have a good sandwich. Give thanks to John Montagu and what the heck, have a craft beer. None of that Bud/Coors/Miller crap.
On June 30th of last year I was having a real dilemma. Do I get an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii? As you recall shortly after Teaspoon was born I picked up a Wii and loved it, still do actually, but now I upgraded again and bought a Xbox 360 Elite Saturday night.
Lushie basically got tired of me bellyaching about it and a package deal at Best Buy made it too good to resist (for an additional $50 I got another controller, rechargeable pack, HDMI cable and some other jazz). I was sitting there yesterday being even more unproductive this weekend as I tried to get use to this funky controller (I’ve only played Playstation and wii. Serious. I only played an Xbox once in my life) and familiarize myself with the whole gaming unit.
Games
I’ve always been a sports game kinda guy. I did own Devil May Cry and some other shooter games for the PS2 but couldn’t really get into much more because not having online play capabilities made those games boring for me. I bought NHL 10 since that is an absolute must in this hockey house and the system came with Lego BatMan and Pure. There is also a deal with buy 2 games and get a 3rd for free ($30 or less value). I already dumped enough cash so I resisted another $59.99 title. That was the biggest punch to the gut for me was the price of games. The average price for games I want to play are $59.99 and after playing hockey for 10 minutes this was no longer an issue. the quality of play, overall entertainment and appreciation for the programming that went into making these games was justified.
My brother’s kids are also on Xbox Live so I’m looking forward to shredding them all during online play. I was told by many on Facebook and Twitter that the new “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” could very well be the “end all-be all” of first person shooting when it hits shelves next week. Put that on the list.
Other Features
This is replacing the PS2 so the DVD player is a bonus. A pleasant surprise was watching my laptop sync with the Xbox. I wasn’t even aware that Vista and Xbox played together besides just sharing the Microsoft name. I’ll be honest, I havent had much time to mess around with it more but I’m off the next couple days so we’ll see how this pans out.
Do you have an Xbox? What’s your Live ID? Leave some comments and let me know what you think about the Xbox and some features I should check out.
I don’t know why I agreed to do this again. Probably has to do with the way my world functions now with everything needing to be on my schedule. November is crammed full of appointments, craft beer events, meetings, family events and while sickpuppy settles into his new job, manage all things SIDT in a month involving Podcast Awards. Add to that I picked up a new toy over the weekend (more on that tomorrow), I think I just like to punish myself 
The last time I did NaBloPoMo was 2007 and while I had a good time doing it, writing a post every day can get a bit challenging. I’m taking this up so I can commit to keeping this blog updated. OK who am I kidding, I have a lot of bitching to do and this is the place for me to do it. Just wait till you read what happened at Giant Eagle today and Teaspoon is a daily comedy act (as I type this I can hear him laughing in his bed).
I’m not sure who else is doing this besides Uncle Crappy. I finally opened my Google Reader and have close to 1000 new entries. Go check out his site and hey if you’re doing NaBloPoMo too leave a comment so I can go check yinz out.
cheers!
