By Timothy Long Last month I wrote about the joy of visiting the Eastern Shore. I mentioned how great it is to live in this area with a plethora of fun places for day trips. So, it was only fitting for this month’s article that I travel west to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. After all, that is our motto, “From the Bay to the Blue Ridge.” This trip fell into our lap. My wife and I were invited to a weekend party at Bear Chase Brewery. It was my buddy Evan’s birthday. His wife, Trish, had planned a weekend celebration there. Leigh and I made the cut and landed on the guest list. And man, am I glad we did. Bear Chase is located in Bluemont, VA, just west of Leesburg. It took us about an hour to get there. You’re so far west that you can throw a rock into West Virginia. You’re not on the top of the mountain, but you’re close. To say that the view is spectacular would be an understatement. This place is truly God’s country. On a good day, you can see Tyson Corner. Although, I don’t know why you’d want to. (Sorry, that’s an Old Towner joke.) Trish had rented the Manor House for all of us. It’s a big, gorgeous house right next to the brewery. It’s spacious and elegant with huge rooms and a great deck that offers the same great view as the brewery. Leigh and I were both blown away by its beauty as we entered. Evan immediately greeted us. “Do you want a beer?” He knows me well. “Of course I do.” Once we stowed our gear in the room. I headed downstairs with Evan to the rec room. This was not only a great party room…
By Timothy Long One of the great things about living in this area is that there is a plethora of locations for fun one day getaways. When I first moved here after college in the late 1980s, I was fortunate enough to have several friends living in the area. One of which was my former college roommate and fraternity brother, Andy. He had grown up here and was a proficient sailor. When he graduated, he bought a thirty-foot Catalina sailboat and it docked in St. Mary’s, Maryland. We would go on great weekend sailing trips all over the bay. I’ll never forget my first time sailing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was amazing. To this day, I love visiting the Eastern Shore. My wife, Leigh, and I go there a couple of times a year. We love St. Michaels. But we always stay in the adorable town of Easton. Trips there never disappoint. It’s a great place for strolling, shopping, dining, and of course, imbibing. We decided it was time for an Easton trip. We met our friends, Bonnie and Art, at the Tidewater Inn in downtown Easton around noon on Saturday. Located in the heart of Easton, this beautiful boutique hotel is a must see. The architecture and design capture the look and feel of the inn’s waterfront home. A classic inn lobby with working woodburning fireplaces greets you as you enter. It has spa services and wonderful banquet facilities. Plus, Hunter’s Tavern, their fun and delightful bar. It’s lunchtime, so we headed down the street to Rude Burger. They’re not actually rude to you at Rude Burger, which I found a tad disappointing. But that was my only disappointment. It’s a cute, small, and very busy place. The first thing that jumped out at me was the…
By Timothy Long But you may want to hide me from the crowd. I was pondering over a subject for this article. So, I went back to visit some of my previous April articles. Spring was the theme. A good theme for a beer article, but I’m not feeling it. And a writer has to “feel” it. Our editor, Lani, always sends out an email out around the tenth of the month. It’s always a nice and complimentary email. In reality, it’s a kind reminder to ensure that the writers are doing their homework. I always smile when I get it. I think of my mother at the table during dinner. “Timmy, if you don’t finish your dinner, you can’t have your evening bourbon and cigar.” That’s obviously a joke. Mom always let me have my bourbon and cigar. Lani always suggests possible subjects for the next month’s articles. I look at April’s list: Springtime, Taxes, and Easter. Beer, bourbon, and cigars do not go with Easter. Can I put a fun spin on taxes? The thought dissipated as quickly as it appeared. This column is meant to be entertaining and informative. I’m no tax expert. And there is nothing fun about doing taxes. I might as well write about having a root canal. I visit the list again. Wait! Where is baseball? The season traditionally opens on the first Monday in April, and most of the first games are still played then. The game of baseball and beer are as American as mom and apple pie. The search is over. I grew up a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Our whole family was and still is. I remember when my dad called me off from school because he had gotten opening day tickets. He always had connections for tickets. My…
By Timothy Long I remember my first Guinness. Do you? Oddly, it wasn’t at an Irish pub. I was in college and met a couple of my fraternity brothers in downtown Pittsburgh during spring break. It wasn’t my first choice for spring break. Let’s just say that beggars can’t be choosers. So, I opted for what I like to refer to as a blue-collar spring break. Since I came from a blue-collar family, this was going to have to do. We were at a bar called Mario’s in the Southside neighborhood. That’s right, an Italian place. There was even a pasta machine in the front window. It’s almost sacrilegious when you think about it. My first Guiness was in an Italian restaurant. I was tempted to confess this to Father Jude, one of the Irish priests in my parish. But all he would have done was laughed and then replied, “Well, God does work in mysterious ways, Timothy.” At least Mario’s didn’t look like an Italian restaurant. It looked like a pub. The actual full name is Mario’s Southside Saloon. So, it did not have Italian decor. But it did have good pasta on the menu. It still does. Mario’s has stood the test of time. Southside wasn’t a popular area in those days. Marios was the only bar worth visiting in that neighborhood back then. It was known as a hockey bar. Pittsburgh Penguins players even hung out there. So, we were there to watch the hockey game. A year or so earlier, the Penguins had drafted a young player named Mario Lemieux, with no relation to the saloon. They were building a team around him. It was an exciting time. And it got more exciting a few years later when the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups. Mario’s had…
By Timothy Long Or are we just not drinking enough beer? Last month, the New York Times published an article titled “Has the Craft Beer Industry’s Keg Finally Kicked?” A cute and cheeky headline, but it wasn’t original. I’ve been seeing similar headlines for about a year or so now. Mainly because people send them to me in emails with “Tim, craft beer is dead!” in the subject line. I’m sure that most of you have seen the headlines as well. These articles are the result of the closure of some well-known breweries, most notably Anchor Steam, and the closing of many small local breweries as well. The New York Times article seized on the fact that in 2024, for the first time since the craft beer trend began, more craft breweries closed than opened. This is the truth. There’s no fake news here. The Brewer’s Association reported that in 2024, there were 399 brewery closings, and that there were only 335 brewery openings. The trend is over. It’s time for a new fad. Seltzers, non-alcoholic drinks, and craft cocktails now rule the day. The craft beer industry has crashed and burned. Or has it? To answer this question, we first need to step out of the world of beer and into the world of publishing. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of the headline? Everyone knows the answer, but few of us ever think about it. It’s simple, the purpose of a headline is to grab your attention. It’s to get you to read the article or click the link. Either way the reasoning is the same. It’s an attention grabber. And this is where Betteridge’s Law of Headlines comes into play. This adage states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by one word,…
By Timothy Long It’s January. It’s a time for new beginnings. It’s a time for new thoughts and new ideas. It’s a time to reflect on our lives. It’s a time to ponder change and to set new goals. And why do we do this? Because we’re bored. Let’s face it, this is not the best month, and that’s putting it nicely. We’re all bloated and broke. The holidays have ended, so we’re recovering from that sugar high. The weather sucks on a good day. It’s perpetually cloudy and cold. And even when the sun comes out, you can barely feel it. The days are getting longer, but it isn’t noticeable yet. The only happy people are the gym owners and employees. Their gyms are packed. Well, packed for the first three weeks. So, while you’re sitting on your couch pining away for spring, let me give you something important to ponder. Which came first, beer or bread? This puzzling question has been debated for decades. And people still take sides. It’s not as prolific as the chicken and the egg argument, which has gone on for centuries. By the way, the answer is the egg. Why? Because eggs existed long before chickens. According to Sciencefocus.com, Dinosaurs laid eggs, the fish that first crawled out of the sea laid eggs, and the weird articulated monsters that swam in the warm shallow seas of the Cambrian Period 500 million years ago also laid eggs. They weren’t chicken eggs, but they were still eggs. When the question is asked, we assume it refers to a chicken egg. But that isn’t the way it’s stated. So, the answer is the egg. Be sure to bring this up with your weird cousin or brother-in-law at the next holiday gathering. It’ll make for a great…
By Timothy Long When I was in college and living in the fraternity house, we would roar through the weekends. Fridays and Saturdays were full of football, basketball, parties, and the pursuit of sorority girls. The latter reminds me of an old joke. In their later years, Groucho Marx once asked George Burns “Do you remember when we used to chase the girls?” George replied “Yeah. Remember when we used to catch them?” All that revelry on Fridays and Saturdays lead to one thing, being flat broke on Sunday. College boys were not then and are not now known for their financial acumen. But we were creative, as college kids always are. On Sunday’s we would often have “Dollar Parties.” Everyone would throw in the few bucks they had left, then we would buy the refreshments for the Sunday afternoon festivities. Although the occasional bottle of cheap gin or bag of ganja was purchased, the celebration was usually a pizza and beer party. Pizza and beer are one of the greatest pairings of all time. The two are right up there with peanut butter and jelly, steak and potatoes, top hats and coattails, and wine and cheese. This pairing can be suited to almost any occasion but goes perfectly with sporting events. A good slice of pizza and a great pint of beer can enhance any football game, basketball game, or soccer match. Hell, if it’s really good pizza and beer, it might even make a cricket match palatable. Atlas Brewing Company opened last June in the Carlyle Crossing neighborhood of Alexandria. Not only did they open a brewery with their award-winning beer, but they also partnered with Andy’s Pizza, who make award-winning pizza. Now that, my friends, is a great pairing. Do you want to know the best thing…
By Timothy Long Bourbon brings people together. – Tom Gale November is upon us. The temperatures are cooling. The leaves are turning. The holidays are approaching. And everyone is thinking about one thing…Bourbon. I don’t know if bourbon has an official season. But if it did, it would start in November. November is built for bourbon. A good beer is a great thing during a football game, but a beer doesn’t warm you like bourbon. November is also sweater season. And nothing looks better in your hand while sporting a sharp sweater than a bourbon. Bourbon is more than a drink, it’s a fashion accessory. A good bourbon is not hard to find in Old Town Alexandria. Almost every bar and restaurant carry at least a few of the better brands. But one establishment stands above them all, the award-winning Virtue Feed and Grain. Old Towners refer to it as just Virtue. Tom Gale is Virtue’s Director of Operations and, more importantly, their Bourbon Steward. Tom hails from Virginia’s Northern Neck and is a true southern gentleman. A fact that becomes quite apparent the minute he begins to speak. Tom tells me that where he’s from, they don’t refer to our area as Northern Virginia, but as North of Virginia. I chuckled. Tom has a plethora of witty quips in his verbal arsenal and he’s a delightful personality. Our mutual love of bourbon became very apparent as we talked. Tom’s knowledge of bourbon is amazing. When he complimented me on mine, I was sincerely flattered. The bourbon list is long and impressive at Virtue. Tom handpicks every bourbon and has a story for every bottle. It’s quite remarkable. Virtue’s inventory isn’t selected by brand name, but by Tom’s standards of quality. Tom understands that all palates are different, which…
By Timothy Long Pittsburgh is a fun sports town. It always has been. It’s the only city in the United States where all the professional sports teams wear the same colors. The Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins all don the black and gold. So, sports conversations are usually easy. Everyone is on the same page, and probably wearing the same colors. All the patrons of the bar you’re in are friends, buddies, compadres. It’s all fun and games, until a certain question is posed. A question that can divide the bar and create chaos. It’s a simple question, an innocent question. A question that gets asked in most places without any unseemly results. “What college team do you root for?” The bar will immediately split three ways. Sides will be taken, and the smack talking will get loud. University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Penn State University, and West Virginia University (WVU) fans will stand their ground and proudly display loyalty to their alma maters. Where there was friendship, there is now animosity. Buddies are suddenly rivals. Many Pittsburghers attend one of these three universities, so the city has large alumni bases from each. The three schools used to play each other every year. Now that each is in a different college conference, the games aren’t as common. But when they do occur, they are ferocious. The Pitt and WVU game is the Backyard Brawl. People tend to know this; the matchup is famous. But they often don’t know where the appellation comes from. It’s really simple: the schools are only one hour and twenty minutes from each other. As far as major universities go, that close distance is rare. The two are literally in each other’s back yards. My wife and I just attended the most recent Backyard Brawl. It was in…
By Timothy Long Did you ever think about where inspiration comes from? What causes an idea to pop into your head? For me, it’s often in the oddest places, and at the oddest times. I was walking through Whole Foods looking to buy lunch. I decided on sushi. As I was headed to the self-checkout, a store display stopped me in my tracks. It was a pumpkin beer display. Now, pumpkin beer displays in the fall are not uncommon. But the date was July 29th. I know that for a fact because the first thing I did was pull out my phone to check the date. Yep, July 29th. And I had already just had a pumpkin beer sighting. I immediately looked around to see if they had any Christmas displays up as well. They didn’t. But August was still two days away. I was raised Catholic. The priests used to teach us that God was ubiquitous. Pumpkin spice is now giving God a run for his money. It’s unavoidable in the fall, and now, evidently, in July. It appears in almost every consumable product imaginable: beer, coffee, cake mix, cookies, cocoa, protein shakes, bacon, and even hemorrhoid cream. Alright, I made the last two up to emphasize the point. I associate pumpkin with October, as most people do. I just can’t fathom anything with pumpkin in it being marketable in July. But it must be. Or that display would not be sitting on my path to the checkout. Even Linus would not be looking for the Great Pumkin yet. He doesn’t go to the pumpkin patch until Halloween. I want to make it clear that I don’t hate pumpkin beer, but I don’t love it either. If it’s a well brewed beer, and the pumpkin flavor isn’t overwhelming, a…
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