Ed, Chief Prognosticator, lamented last year that BCTC ’08 might be “the beginning of the end”. I hope that Ed is no Nostradamus.

So… will BCTC ’09 be a groovy Beatle-esque Abbey Road scene or will it be more like Helter Skelter. Never mind that Abbey Road was recorded during the most contentious period of discord between the Fab Four. Certainly don’t confuse the Manson mythology with the fact that a roller coaster of the very same name inspired Helter Skelter. Don’t be afraid of a little Helter Skelter.

On the plus side, for Abbey Road is Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, a sweet serenade about a serial killer. Nevertheless, just ask Dan; what would you play when retreating from Bells Way-Flow? Octopus’s Garden or Helter Skelter? Methinks the White Album has better beer drinking potential. Or is that the Wit Album?

When I get to the bottom
I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and turn
and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you don’t you want me to love you
I’m coming down fast but I’m miles above you
Tell me tell me come on tell me the answer
and you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer

Go helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
I will you won’t you want me to make you
I’m coming down fast but don’t let me break you
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer

Look out
Helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
Look out cause here she comes

Spring of  ‘08 finds a new cast of characters  ready to obtain VIP tickets the minute they go online, but to no avail.  The Ommegang web page crashes, the phone lines are busy.  By the time anyone gets in only standard tickets are available, but they are snapped up, and in greater numbers than before.  With no Friday camping at the brewery, all head for last year’s discovery,  Deer Haven.  Dan and Suzan pop the EVC first.  Neal arrives all the way from OH,  Max barks.  Neal has treats… ooh, you’re OK!  Ed, Jamie and Mani arrive (Mani all the way from Visp).   Max barks some more.  Krisitin and Rick arrive, Max… oh you get the drift.  Neal still has treats, though.  Beers are handed to Kristin and Rick, preventing them from shopping for food, but no worries,  no one notices, and there is plenty of food (and even more beer).  Drinking, eating, drinking, skinny dipping, and standing on the hill naked follow.

Morning dawned clear.  The party shifted to Ommegang.  Sh!t, no place to park the EVC… hey, there are Ric and Natalie!   The gang from Stewart’s opens up space.  As the festival begins, Neal (Johan) turns into the best “wingman” that Mani (Hans) has ever had.

The drinking goes on, the wingmanship goes on.

Sadly, Johan forgot that Amsterdam is not in Belgium, the chick noticed, and the beer tasting ended.  Stewart’s continued to pour, though, as did Uncle Jesse (homemade barleywine and whiskey!).  I think there was loud music, bands, a movie, and a bonfire.

Morning came and the crowd began to pack it in. 

Ed laments that this may be the beginning of the end, though photos showed that debauchery was not completely absent.  Max is Neal’s new best friend.  It was a good time, though, and all agreed that it should be revisited in ‘09.

Brewery Ommegang’s BCTC is almost here. Only five days left until the pouring begins! Abbey Road theme for this year’s beer festival. Baseball pants, mullets, skinny dipping, and so much more!

Things to do…

1. Buy beer
2. Buy doggie treats
3. Arrange bail money

Ahh, only 12 months since the Planet of the Ales, the tone begins to change.  No more Friday night camping,  leading to the discovery of Deer Haven campground.  Friday AM brings cold rain, Dan and Suzan buy extra clothes so they can actually go for a bike ride and only approach hypothermia.  This is July?   On the way back into town we have a VW weekender sighting… Stewart’s brew crew on the road in.

Ed and Jamie show up with 3 month old Willa… you do the math.  A cold drizzle leads to heavy drinking at Deer Haven.  Wait, anything would have led to heavy drinking at Deer Haven.  Ed stokes the fire, Oliver steals food, and all is well in the world.

Morning finds us parking the van next to the lovely boys from Brewers Art in Baltimore.  As we head out on the bikes,  they offer to watch Oliver; good score for him (they had hamburgers), good score for us (they had beer).  Plenty of  good brews, we discover that both Brewers Art and Stewart’s continue to pour after the tasting is over.  4 year old Sage (Stewart’s daughter) proves she can draw a mean beer.   Ed grows contentious but Dan points out that while he can lose the extra pounds he had put on, Ed will still have three kids next year.

At the end of the weekend, Ed bemoans the dwindling debauchery of last year’s Ommegangstock, but we all decide it’s worth a return next year.   Oliver (rest his doggie soul) is known up and down the camping row… apparently he had more than one hamburger that evening.

Manfred, we have you covered. Just follow my lead. OK?

So you want to bring something to share…. you should.  Checkout these web sites:

http://draftmag.com/recipes/

http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol4.htm

http://www.beercook.com/

Now get into that kitchen and make some stuff to share!

The Andersons is place of wonder and marvel. It began as a farm implement store in Maumee Ohio way back before calendars or nonsense like that. It is rumored that The Andersons sold the materials used to make Stonehenge when some uppity Druid decided that he wanted to know time.

They have grown from a humble farm store that has tires for your 1932 Farmall Cub, anti-biotics and hormones for your livestock, to a retail juggernaut that carries fine wines, beer and ale. After all, once planting is done you have some time to kill before you need to cultivate.

Dudes and dudettes in the know shop at the Andersons. Even Wonderdogs prefer that their treats come from this fine emporium.

Moreover, The Andersons operates a gigantic grain and fertilizer operation. They also are a huge Ethanol producer. Mmmm ethanol!

Yes, it is smack dab in the middle of the Mid-west, but they carry one of best craft beer selections anywhere.

And now I introduce you to our video of the Andersons Beer department…Max shops for beer! (silly ass slow download…)

In the beggining there was… Planet of the Ales

It was June 2006, Suzan and I were sitting on the Narke deck on a Saturday afternoon, enjoying several good brews when Ed began discussing this beer festival he had heard of.  Somplace in NY he said.  Someplace named Ommegang that brewed Belgian style beers.  You could camp on the brewery grounds he said.  Send us the link we said.  By Sunday evening plans were being made to go.

2006, those where the days, show up on Friday, camp where ever you want, pay the fee (no advance purchase required), it was all OK.  The EVC arrived early and powered it’s way up the the hill in the far corner.  The Narke’s arrived later.  Dinner was had and all walked down to the tent to see what was happening.  “Gratis” beer shouted Jamie, “it’s Gratis, you do NOT have to pay!”.  Yes it was free beer all around, the night ended well with well under 100 folks on the grounds.

As morning dawned the cars began to roll in.  Parking where they wanted, pitching tents, drinking cheap beer, good beer, bloody marys.   100s and 100s came.  Cars got stuck axle deep in mud.  The fest began, the beer poured, the rain came, Woodstock it nearly was.   The sun cam out and all was good.  We meet the folks from Stewart’s in Bear DE (Ric and Natalie own a VW Weekender). As evening fell, Ed made friends from Long Island with mullets and we dialed Manni on the mobile.  Most of us passed out… Ed partied on.  Sometime in the middle of the night Ed tried to wake us all up to see “something really gross”.  We all passed (ask Ed what it was, something to do with a Saab and pizza).

Morning dawned, we had cool posters showing we had gone… all was good and plans were being made for ‘07.   Stay tuned for part II.

CLICK   HERE

Sure, looking for the best Mullet is a no brainer (perfect for us!) but how about a new twist?
Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians

In 1987 EMI Parlophone in the UK put together a promotion with Heineken Beer, unusual for the fact that the Beatles have rarely loaned their name for advertising purposes. Specially printed cans of Heineken Beer featured a red banner across the top that said “The Beatles - A Unique Cassette.” Along the bottom, the Beatles’ names repeatedly circled the entire can. By sending in four pull tabs from the cans and approximately $5.00, consumers received a special custom pressing of a unique EMI compilation cassette titled Only The Beatles (Parlophone SMMC 151).

The tape featured twelve songs from 1962-1967, including “previously unreleased stereo” versions of This Boy and Yes It Is. This is the first and only time that a special pressing of Beatles songs was ever issued for the promotion of a commecial product. The cassette, along with the original can and inserts, is very hard to find as a set and is now worth from $150-200.00.

What would Dennis Hopper have to say?!?

(Don’t get it…..think  Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet”)

Dumbass can’t even steal good beer. Instead he is convicted of stealing a case of BLS (Beer Like Substance) a.k.a. “Old Milwaukee”. The judge laid out his sentence as a Beatles tribute in responses to the dumbass’s plea for leniency.

Click the pic for the whole story.

Birth Control Methods: Comparison Chart

Method of Birth Control	How Many Couples Using This Method Will Get Pregnant in a Year?	How Well Does This Method Work in Preventing Pregnancy?	Can This Method Also Protect Against STDs?
Consistent Abstinence	None	Completely effective	Yes
Birth Control Patch (”The Patch”)	5 to 8 out of 100	Effective	No
Birth Control Pill (”The Pill”)	5 to 8 out of 100	Effective	No
Birth Control Ring (”The Ring”)	5 to 8 out of 100	Effective	No
Female Condom	21 out of 100	Less effective	Yes
Male Condom	15 out of 100	Moderately effective	Yes
Birth Control Shot	3 out of 100	Effective	No
Diaphragm	16 out of 100	Moderately effective	No
Emergency Contraception	1 to 2 out of 100	Very effective	No
IUD	Fewer than 1 out of 100	Very effective	No
Fertility Awareness	25 out of 100	Less effective	No
Spermicide	29 out of 100	Less effective	No
Withdrawal (”Pulling Out”)	27 out of 100	Less effective	No
Not Using Any Birth Control	85 out of 100	Not effective	No

Wingman Technique

A Wingman is a guy you bring along with you on singles outings (like to bars) that helps you out with the women.

Typically in these ways :

• Since women often travel in pairs or packs, your wingman helps you approach them without feeling weird about being solo.
• The wingman will sometimes take the least attractive gal of the pair you approach so that you can get the one you want. (Though, this is not always necessary.)
• The wingman gives you social proof - or validation that you are a trustable man, not some drifter in town just to get laid.
• A wingman helps by motivating you to get away from the television and go out to practice your skills on women, and you do the same for him.
• The wingman can also be a more skilled seducer, a man from whom you can learn a great deal by flying at his side.

Keep in mind that a wingman should never be too inexperienced or he will hold you back. (Unless you are mentoring him.)

I don’t watch a lot of television, but I understand that there is a Bud Light commercial where they have a pretty good parody of the wingman taking “one for the team” by suffering at the table with a lame gal while his partner is out dancing with a hottie. That’s one of the situations a wingman can be put in, but the learning and support system is unbelievable if you do it right.

Your wingman is an invaluable assistant for you (and you for him), so don’t underestimate the value of finding one that you can work with.

Again, we need a caption.

Mecca Bodega was the headliner musical act at BCTC ‘08. Most of the Ommegangers saw them play. Well at least those of us who weren’t too tired and cranky. Gary Dauer slept through a race before but I’ll bet he never slept through Mecca Bodega!

Trippy video from ‘08″

Video from 2008 featuring Hans

me name is Axel, I visit from an online newspaper from the Flanders region. I see there are 2 others from my region… Hans and Johan..  but I hear they are really from amsterdam.

Dr. Z. Is that your pen name Manfred?

We need a caption for this photo from BCTC ‘08

Yes, Max gets his own post. Sorry Dan. It had to be done.

Due to popular demand and nothing else better to do… upon Ed’s urging, may I present the official BCTC ‘09 blog.

Sign up, add stuff, whatever.