Damn it! I never realized home many types of beers are not available to me with our government run liquor distribution system.

I live in one of the free-est countries in the world but I'm feeling like a 3rd world dictatorship when it comes to this topic.

Enjoy your variety!

I do love me some variety. Here's the lineup for Saturday. I won't get to all of them

Hale’s Rudyard’s Rare ‘05
Boundary Bay Old Bounder ’05
Lagunitas Gnarleywine ‘06
Deschutes Mirror Mirror ‘07
Alaska Big Nugget ‘06
Fishtale Leviathan ‘06
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot ’06
Pike Old Bawdy ‘06
Avery Hog Heaven ‘06
Skagit River Two-penny Ale ‘06
Anchor Old Foghorn ‘06
Stone Old Guardian ‘07
Scuttlebutt Old No. 1 ‘06
Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws ‘07
Port Townsend ‘06
Full Sail Old Boardhead ‘06
Diamond Knot Ice Breaker ‘06
Bridgeport Old Knucklehead ‘06
Rogue Old Crustacean ‘06
Flying Dog Horn Dog ‘06
Dick’s Cask ‘06
Leavenworth Old Grumpy Cask ‘07
North Coast Old Stock ‘07
Great Divide Old Ruffian ‘07
Left Hand Widdershins ‘07
Hood Canal Breidablik ‘07

So only a dozen of them, right?=

Sounds good!

Let me guess the ones you'll be sure not to miss:

There are some must-trys on there if I were to attend, but only because I respect the breweries:

Mirror Mirror, Big Nugget, Old Foghorn, Old Guardian, Old Boardhead, Old Crustacean, North Coast Old Stock

But I do like trying new things. You'll have a tough choice crossing option off. I don't envy you that.

Well, I can't get a single one of those here. Although, from the names, I suspect most or all are mini-breweries so they probably don't ship too far if at all.

Actually, with those interesting names, I first thought it was a list of joke beer names. I had to Google a few to realize you were not kidding!

Nope, Murph, not kidding. As you've probably surmised, Barleywines are traditionally "Old something-or-other". And yes, most of those particular beers are rare, and available only on draught on the west coast (especially in those vintages!). However, I think all of those breweries except Diamond Knot (Everett, WA) have bottling lines, and many of these big beers ARE bottled. I would be very frustrated to be deprived of the wonderful choices available to us here in the Northwest.

Peter, no love for Lagunitas? While I'm sure the ones you mentioned will be tremendous, with the exception of the Deschutes, they are readily available to me in bottles, so I gravitate more towards the rarer opportunities. Other artisans on that list worthy of your attention are employed by Boundary Bay (Bellingham, WA), Fish (Olympia, WA), Avery (purveyor of tremendous, high-gravity beers from Colorado), Hair of the Dog (Portland, OR) and Dick's (Chehalis, WA). With the exception of Avery and Fish, these are very small enterprises making world-class beers.

Fortunately, the Parkway (a small, humble and happy place) sells six-ounce tasters for this event. Hopefully, I will be in the company of some dear friends, which will enable me to cover a bit more territory without getting completely loaded on these 9-10% ABV beverages.

Again, I do wish you were here.

Is Coors good? I liked coors light but it was too watered down. Didn't like guiness or dos eques.

*shakes head, sighs, and walks away*

It's fine. I use it as windshield cleaner.

I refrained from making fun of it in your first post because it was your birthday but since you asked about the 'Nancy Beer' I guess it's all fair game now.

As the very old joke goes, people who drink light beer don't like the taste of beer, they just like to pee a lot.