Thomas.Ortega's blog

This is Part One of a Four Part series. Parts Two through Four will be release whenever I get the time.

So back in early March, three co-workers/co-conspirators decided to take me up on a offer of a road trip North to visit some breweries. Our first stop after landing & lunch at The Great Lost Bear. (Portland’s best beer bar) was D. L. Geary’s in Portland Maine.

In celebration of one of the best beer drinking days of the year, Opening Day of the baseball season, I thought I'd write a few words about two of my favorite things (beer & baseball).

First some baseball trivia: Today marked the 100th anniversary of the ceremonial first pitch by the standing President. Who was the first President to do so? (Answer below.)

Myself & 500 of my closest acquaintances descended on Adamstown, PA for another phenomenal beer festival put on by the gang at Stoudt's. Here are some pics (if you haven't guessed yet, I just got a new digital camera - Just wait for what I got in store for you next). See if you can find me below...

As some of you know, I love a good road trip. Well the road called, & with a couple of gamed friends we ended up in Downingtown, PA, home of Victory Brewing Company. Founded in 1996 by Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski, Victory now produces over 42,000 barrels a year of quality brews, led by their multiple award winning Prima Pils. We were given an all access tour of the facility before having lunch at their restaurant (which was delicious btw. Save room for dessert, they have beer ice cream!). Here are some pics...

We have been experiencing some technical difficulties here at Ortega On Beer, so while we work them out, here something to wet your whistle.

We all know my love of the beers from Stoudt's. Here's a special selection they came up with to commemorate the 150th anniversary of McGillin's Old Ale House in Philadelphia. McGillin's is the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia (Congrats to them!).

This just in, Burger King has announced that it’s going to test selling beer at its location in South Beach, Miami. This comes on the heels of Starbucks opening up its menu to beer & wine at various Pacific Northwest locations that will be called (deep breath) "15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by Starbucks". Both companies explain that they are doing this to stay competitive in the struggling economy.

Happy New Year everyone out there in Beervana. I know it’s been a while since my last post (four months & two days to be exact but who’s counting). Sorry for that, won’t happen again. Now that we’ve gotten caught up, let us get down to what’s going on.

This past week I was invited to a Belgian Beer & Poker Night by one of my friends where one of the respondents to this invite said the following:

“However, Belgian Beer tastes like soapy water to me.”