This is a pretty classic routine by Breuer. Breuer’s take on drunkenness is pretty psychedelic, with different alcohols becoming epic characters heading to a party in your stomach… you know it’s all true.

OMG! Sierra Nevada might open up a brewery on the East Coast. Old News? Probably. The way that the company undertook the fact-finding mission, or at least the one in the New River Valley of Virginia, is the story that you probably haven’t heard. A source tells me that Ken and Brian Grossman came to Blacksburg, Virginia to meet with professors at Virginia Tech. The duo came in fully armed with fake names and business information. Not sure if they had fake moustaches and noses attached to glasses though. I find this funny because, as a founder of the craft beer revolution, Ken’s got a face that lots of folks recognize. It’s akin to putting a sheet over a rhinocerous and saying it’s a dining table. It might fool some folks, but it won’t fool everyone.

Regardless of the shenanigans that the Grossmans and Sierra Nevada pulled on their site visits, I applaud their efforts. The speculation is that beer is costing them a fortune to ship to the East Coast, so it would be easier and cheaper to just make it here. It’s a green initiative that makes economic sense, and it’s pretty rad that they’ve identified it and are taking steps in that direction. They’re greenifying an already uber-environmentally conscious business. Cheers to Sierra Nevada for stirring up this little mountain town!

Pirate Festival is a celebration of rum, beer, vodka, tequila, pirates and wenches with the best entertainment in Los Angeles. May 21, 2011 1pm – 5pm at Olympic Collection in west Los Angeles. Entrainment by the real pirates of the Caribbean Pirates for Hire and the #1 Band in southern California Adam’s Attic event benefits the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

Join Mutineer Magazine, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Ballast Point Brewing Company, Breakaway Spirits Company and Beer West Magazine as we sponsor this event to benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

Tickets are $25 each. Visit the event website to purchase.

This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Leap Year Cocktail. The Leap Year Cocktail was created in London on February 29, 1928 for a special leap year celebration. First found in the Savoy Cocktail Book, the “cocktail was created by Harry Craddock for the Leap Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel, London, on February 29, 1928. It is said to have been responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail ever mixed.”

You can’t argue with a track record like that and I will be eagerly awaiting the next leap year celebrations.

Barrel aged and special treatment beers are nothing new to Stone Brewing Co … if you just so happened to be at the right place at the right time somewhere around the country that Stone has toted kegs of the elusive beer to. Today, that will change as Stone announced that they will begin bottling and releasing barrel aged and special treatment beers in their Quingenti Millilitre series. Quingenti Millilitre means 500 millimeters and as such the beers will be seen in 500ml cork and caged bottles. This is great news as bourbon barrel aged Imperial Russian Stout and Old Guardian Barley Wine aged in red wine barrels were incredibly difficult to find … well, unfortunately this won’t make them much easier to find. Due to the scale of Stone’s distribution and how many barrels and much space in the warehouses it would take for this to see distribution, Stone will only be releasing a very small amount of bottles for each release and in order to find yourself the proud owner of one you’ll need to visit Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido, California.

The first release will be Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter aged in bourbon barrels. One of my favorite beers from 2009 and now aged in bourbon barrels? Count me in. Sadly, only 672 bottles of it will be released and if they impose even just a two bottle limit per person, not even 350 people would see this wondrous beer set to be release around July.

Other beers to be on the look out for are Old Guardian in red wine barrels, Old Guardian in rye whiskey barrels as well as 2011 Stone Imperial Russian Stout & 2011 Stone BELGO Anise Imperial Russian Stout that are already resting in a variety of barrels.

Be sure to follow Stone’s Facebook and Twitter for the most up to date information on upcoming Quingenti Millilitre releases.

Want to serve your country? Why not serve beer for the Department of the Army as a brewmaster. Yes, that’s right … the Army Installation Management Command of the Department of the Army is looking to hire a brewmaster in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I guess when I enlisted I either missed the memo or this job wasn’t available, but one lucky person in Oklahoma will be brewing beer for the United States Army and be responsible for:

• Planning and managing the day-to-day operation of a brewery.
• Preparing and/or overseeing the preparation of beer following and creating recipes.
• Developing operating budget, identifying labor, equipment and supply cost elements.
• Controlling pricing, beer production methods and techniques. Supervises assigned staff.

And who doesn’t want to be a brewmaster? But at $22,000 a year and no benefits, it certainly isn’t as glamorous as it may sound.

A couple of weeks ago our motley crew of Mutineers from Washington to Virginia descended upon Murphys, California for the first annual Mutineer Magazine Staff Retreat. We tasted wine, played bocce and strengthened bonds over long meals and forty-two year old Scotch. It was a great weekend and I am excited to share some of it here with you.

Raising a glass at the Tanner Vineyards Tasting Room. The Syrah and Viognier here were just lovely, though a little dangerous on my empty stomach.

The historic Murphy’s Hotel.

Mutineers Brian, Julie and Ryan getting their bocce on.

Ashley Teplin of Media-ANT doing her part to secure victory for the women’s team. She also makes a mean pan of shiitake laced breakfast potatoes.

Mutineers walking the trail to Natural Bridges just outside of Murphys, California.

Friend of Mutineer Corbie and Mutineer design wizard Julie looking for creatures.

The Aphrodisiac cocktail, an intoxicating blend of sparkling wine, hibiscus, coriander, anise and ginger from Mineral.

Some fellow Mutineers have been living in Murphys since last September. If I’ve heard about one thing since they arrived, it has been the vegatarian restaurant Mineral. The thing that intrigued me about this restaurant is that only one of the guys is vegetarian and yet, they all rave about it. I knew that if a group of bacon loving young men loved this place, than it must be somewhere worth checking out. On our last day in Murphys, my Editor in Chief Alan set up lunch for me, Phil our designer Julie and her boyfriend Ryan. I have to tell you, that this is one of the best meals I have ever had the pleasure to sit down to.

Also, this is not a review, simply an account of one incredible lunch.

The Cherry Bombs were my second favorite dish of the meal. I can’t find a proper description, but as far as I could tell it is chile and cheese that has been battered, fried, topped with a cherry and served with balsamic jam. That description seems too simple. I feel like something as vibrant and exciting as this was deserves to be written about with neon and punctuated with sparklers.

The cheese and cracker plate consisted of delicious thin toasts served with Bellwether Farms Crescenza, olive oil and olive dust. It was creamy with lovely bitter olive notes and the toasts had a pleasing snap.

This Kumquat Sparkler was just delicious. I wish I knew what was in it, because I think I’d like to make it at home.

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Once upon a time, in a land known as Paso Robles, there was a little craft brewery called Firestone Walker. They made beer. And by making beer, they made people happy.

One day, in addition to making beer, Firestone Walker also made a decision. They decided to throw a party -  a party celebrating some of the best barrel-aged brews coming out of California. This made people really happy.

So on Friday, April 8, Ballast Point, Russian River, The Bruery, New Belgium, Stone and Lost Abbey all converged on Historic Santa Margarita Ranch, and poured their finest for the people. Rich and malty, frothy cups of barrel-aged bliss.

No one expected the 32 degree nighttime lows, so there was rejoicing throughout the land at the abundance of bourbon. Oh, the bourbon. Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Makers Mark, Jim Beam, Woodford Reserve, Knob Creek, Blanton’s. A delicious spread of barrel-aged, 51% corn goodness.

Party-goers were also treated to Paso port wines from Roxo Cellars, Cass Winery, Paso Port, EOS, Eberle and Le Vigne. A selection of cigars was available for purchase, to really help revelers feel like royalty.

And then there was food. Artisan, Mee Heng Low Noodle House, The Grill at Avila Beach Resort, Novo, Buona Tavola.

It was like a dream come true.

And we lived happily ever after (at least ’til the morning hangovers kicked in…).