You Ain't Got No Alibi!

Beer #274 Boysenbeery Stout / Invercargill , Invercargill, New Zealand

After a bad football Saturday, we did a late lunch with friends and got back in the groove with an Eagles win today.  Ugly, but a win anyway.  Also managed to go for a long walk on one of my favorite trails along the Schuykill River, which was exactly what I needed to start my day.

Now that the day is in full swing, it's time for a beer - the Boysenbeery, a stout from Invercargill Brewery in New Zealand.  I drank this one in a dark bar (Famers' Cabinet), but it appeared to be a ruby color, with no head at all.  Your nose picks up the scent of fruit and jam, and the taste is dry, with fruity strawberry and boysenberry notes, along with hints of cocoa and roasted malt.  Interesting beer, and if you're a fan of stouts, beers with fruit, or beers from New Zealand, I can't recommend this one enough.  This brew is made with boysenberry juice, and everyone knows boysenberries are were originally produced after cross breeding raspberries, blackberries, and loganberries.  Okay, I didn't know that, but Wikipedia is smart in ways I am not about the origins of berries.

BoysenBEERy.

Invercargill is the southernmost brewery in New Zealand, and depending on what's out there in Chile or Argentina, maybe the world.  It is run by a father and son team who have been brewing beers since the late 1990's.  This brewey has no ties to agri-business giant Cargill, one of the largest privately held companies in the world.

Thing to Think About Today:
It seems football is in full swing, so perhaps we'll spend this week reviewing some of the greatest football movies of all time.  I'll kick it off with one of my all time favorites, Wildcats.  This film is the story of a disadvantaged high school with a forgotten about football team who hires a woman to be their head coach - much to the dismay of the players and the coach's ex-husband.  Along the way she whips the Central High Wildcats into an actual team, and gets them to believe they can win.  Don't just assume this is a feel good movie; it is, but it's also hysterical along the way.  Incredible star power in this film, with Goldie Hawn in her prime, Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, James Keach, and the ever awesome Nipsey Russell, along with a theme song from LL Cool J.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIdGBLcVsxM

And no review of this movie would be complete without a clip from the Wildcats cheerleaders and their incredible put-down skills.  U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi!  You UGLY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shDtJ99lT-U