An 11:00am arrival in Alexandria, VA resulted in the unpacking of the Jeep and a quick perusal of the neighboring fence's James-n-Paul cooperative hop farm. Cascades were easily observed going bezerk with growth (thanks to the heady placement of a compost pile) and some Nugget vines were slowly bringing up the rear. In the photo James proudly holds growlers of Sweetwater Tavern's Oatmeal Stout and Great Lakes Brewing's Blackout Stout for an impromptu late morning beer tasting before the day's adventures. Sweetwater's was a smooth stout with plenty of surprising roasty character, and the Blackout was a high octane stout of boozy thickness. Chris preferred the Great Lakes (shocker) but it was not determined aloud which stout James leaned towards.
In Washington, DC between the hours of 2:00pm-4:00pm at the Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave NW, a wonderful occurrence takes place: NPR's Talk of the Nation is broadcast LIVE. 
James called ahead and reserved tickets to the studio to be part of the live audience. Chris and James took the Metro into town and entered the Knight Studio on level three of the Newseum. For some reason, people did not fill up the front row! Our two adventurers took their stations in the front directly next to the producer's and engineer's table. Hour one was Wednesday's usual "Political Junkie" Ken Rudin and the week's political scene, plus special guest "Republican" presidential candidate Ron Paul. Newsy headlines were discussed as was Paul's book The Revolution: A Manifesto, his candidacy, and ideas. Enjoy a quick video:The second hour was a discussion with Philip Gourevitch and his book Standard Operating Procedure about the photographs of military personnel mocking, jeering, and abusing Iraqi prisoners. What were the backgrounds concerning these soldiers? What was the other side of the story concerning the photos? What was the atmosphere and mindset to even snap these photos?
Then the second portion of the second hour had journalists Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post and their investigative reports series entitled "Careless Detention" about illegal immigrants in crowded detention facilities with inadequate medical care. It was a potpourri of journalists and political bigwigs that left James and Chris in awe. The broadast ended with a photo op with Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan. And Chris unthinkingly left his copy of Conan's book Play by Play: Baseball, Radio, and Life in the Last Chance League at home. A missed autograph moment. Conan joked that Chris was one of the three people in the country that actually BOUGHT that book. Then it was just a tad of sightseeing in the Newseum and a stop at the giftshop. A fun afternoon! And it was soon to turn into a fun evening....
A quick Metro ride to Dupont Circle and DC's famous beer bar The Brickskeller was our destination for Wednesday night. The "Lupulin Reunion" took place here. A "contest" of highly hoppy beers took place here in years past called the "Lupulin Slam". Lupulin by the way is the name of the gland within the hop cone that contains all the powdery yellow pollen that gives the hop its aroma and bitterness. A regular lineup of microbrewery "rock stars" took the stage to tout their wares and generally engage in a bawdy and raunchy evening of jokes and sarcasm.
From left to right in the above photo: Adam Avery of CO's Avery Brewing, Kim Jordan of CO's New Belgium Brewing, Rob Tod of ME's Allagash Brewing, Greg Koch of CA's Stone Brewing, Sam Calagione of DE's Dogfish Head Brewing, Tomme Arthur of CA's Lost Abbey/Port Brewing, and emcee Daniel Bradford of Durham, NC's All About Beer magazine.
Twelve samples were divvied out to the crowd. TWELVE!!! This could be a dangerous evening for all involved. In serving order:1. Allagash White
2. Port Brewing - Moonlit Sessions Black Lager
3. Stone - Vertical Epic 07.07.07
4. Dogfish Head - Festina Peche
5. Lost Abbey - Isabelle Proximus
6. Avery Fifteen Anniversary Ale
7. Allagash - Oak aged Triple with Rosalarre culture
8. Avery - Hog Heaven barleywine
9. Lost Abbey/Port Brewing - 2nd Anniversary Beer
10. Stone - Oak Aged Bastard (2007)
11. Dogfish Head - Palo Santo Marron
12. Avery - Samael's Oak Aged Ale (2008)
Unreal. Needless to say, the walk from "The Brick" to the Metro was a blurry, sluggish, stumbly one. When all was said and done, Chris was awake and active for a full 21 hours straight, from the early wakeup to get to Alexandria early in the morning to the final trip (or stumble) to bed after a hard day's and night's worth of fun and games. A good time was truly had by all...including "that guy" in the picture of Chris and Stone Brewing's icon Greg Koch. There's always "that guy" who makes his way into photos. Please, if you can help, for all that is good and humble in this world...don't be "that guy". OK? Thanks. That's all I got. Day Two posted tomorrow....
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