London! - Football!

While we were in London, the NFL was playing one of two games at Wembley Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers vs the Jacksonville Jaguars. We decided it would be fun to see how another country reacted to the NFL.  This poster was on the wall outside of the tube station.

 Wembley Stadium

 Before the game they had a tailgate open to anyone with tickets outside the stadium. It was supposed to be like an "American" tailgate with American food. It was a good effort.

 

People had very interesting outfits on.  Notice the Raiders fan in between the guys in this picture. 

We knew our seats were low. But we didn't expect to be basically at field level.  They were great seats but if possible, they were almost TOO low.

We were so close to the fire blasters it heated up our faces!

Ne-Yo did a pregame concert.

Both large American flags and British flags were presented.

 Ne-Yo also sang the National Anthem.

The Jags mascot.

Here he was dancing to "What Does the Fox Say?"

 Attendance was 83,559.  Pretty impressive for the quality of a game we watched.

 
The game wasn't great, the 49ers won 42 to 10 but we had a fun time from the 2nd row!

View of Wembley on the way out at night.

On the tube on the way back to the hotel from the game.

Sarah was also in London and we had plans to meet for a beer after the game.  It was a Sunday night and you'd expect places to be open later than 11pm but apparently London is a sleepy town and isn't.  Instead we ended up at Victoria Station and did sneak one beer in before closing.

At least the food stalls were still open.  The sandwiches made for a tasty late night snack.

Beer Fest

A few pictures from beer fest.  Darren stole Carmen's hat.

Mollie, Carmen and me.  This was shot three and best we could get

Erin & Ben.

 

 Erin and my brother later that night.

Beer Bracket

A couple weekends ago, Darren's mom and Jerry were in town and we took them to Beer Bracket III. Beer Bracket is easily summed up as an NCAA tournament style blind taste test of 16 wheat beers.  They gave you two cups and and you chose and voted for the one that you liked best.

 

 

Most of the breweries were micro breweries but they did let the rock bottom in since each restaurant has their own brewmaster and their own specific breweries. However the winner of Brew Bracket III was Barley Island.  Both of the finalists were my two favorite beers I tried during the day so I was happy with the results.

Can't wait until Brew Bracket IV! :)

Shaq's All Star Comedy Jam + Superbowl

The night before the actual superbowl, we went in with a couple of friends and got tickets to see Shaq's All Star Comedy Jam.  I am not a lover of comedy but this was pretty funny although incredibly raunchy. 

There were many star sightings this evening our only sightings of the entire weekend.  Here was the man of the hour, Shaquille O'Neal.

And Snoop-Dogg.

And Flava-Flav.  Sherri Sheppard was there as well but I didn't get a picture of her.

Earlier in the day, my brother randomly decided to come into town so after the comedy show we walked downtown to met up with them.

The bars were so expensive so a lot of "tent bars" popped up in many of the parking lots.  They had heat, music and drinks.  Here is Darren with Eric and Ashish.

And Darren with me.

Superbowl morning I had read that Sun King Brewery was doing a Kegs and Eggs breakfast.  They were going to have my favorite beer, Java Mac, and food prepared by Chef JJ. Holy cow the food and drinks were amazing!  The food was french toast, pork breakfast taco and biscuits and gravy.  Such a good choice!

Steven and I prepping food for the Superbowl party!

Drink More Beer

Until about 6 years ago I did not like beer at all. As in I would not take 1 sip of it because I hated it to much.  Not sure how that all changed but it did and I haven't looked back.  Beer has become my beverage of choice and not just the Buds and Millers of the world.  If given a choice I'm more apt to choose a Stout or a Belgian over a typical American Lager.  Michigan's Brewers Festival was full of those odd ball good quality beers I love.  Hopefully we'll get a chance to go back one day!

Beer Fest

This weekend Liz met me in Ann Arbor for the Michigan Brewers Festival.  Darren and I went last year and had such a great time, we made it a priority to go again this year!  The weather was supposed to be terrible so we went out before and got panchos.  Of course we tempted fate and it was hot and sunny all day. Perfect day to be outside drinking the insane concoctions that they had this year.  This year we tried about 15 different fruit flavored beers, 3 peanut butter flavored beers, 3 chili infused beers, a couple chocolate flavored beers along with 30 or so others.  So glad Liz got to come spend the weekend with us!!

Liz & me

Darren & me

Darren, Alex's brother Ben, me, Liz, Alex's friend Kyle, Alex and Anna at the end of a full day!

Say Whaa?

Darren and I were in Indiana at a liquor store grabbing some Three Floyd's Bombers when we spotted this beer on the shelf from the Bluegrass Brewing Company.  It is called "Horse Piss Beer" and it's slogan is the Thoroughbred of Beers!!  Too funny!

Michigan Beer Festival

In July Darren, Alex, Anna and I went to the Michigan Beer Festival in Ypsilanti, MI.  I would never have been able to imagine the beer concoctions that they came up with.  I would never have thought of a blueberry pancake beer slushy, beer flavored with chipotle or beer that tasted like liquid creme brulee.  It was such a fun day... We might have to make a trip to the winter beer festival in February!