One of the perks of writing for this fine establishment has finally started to come through. On rare occassions (rare = twice), though God how I wish they would become more frequent, I get promotional beer to try out from breweries (or Russ’ kitchen) as part of this “job”. Its always a moment that fills me with an indescribable joy. Now, through the joy of pictures and a site upgrade, I can finally share it with you.

So this time I got the beer from Magic Hat Brewing Company in Vermont. To my eyes, the box looked a little like the box on the right. I do believe it was singing to me.

The first thing I pulled out was a black Magic Hat folder that contained an assortment of stickers, press releases and the strangest item of all…poppy seeds. Yes, poppy seeds. Now I can start that opium den I’ve always wanted.

Then I saw it. A six pack nestled deep in a translucent bed of trapped air, with six black shrouded bottles of the liquid essence of all that is good in this world contained therein. Eager as a little kid at Christmas, I unwrapped each of them to find the following: a bottle of Circus Boy, a bottle of 60 Winks, a bottle of #9, and three bottles of hI.P.A. Now, I was expecting the hI.P.A., but the rest was just icing on the proverbial cake.

So in the next few weeks, expect a flurry of beer reviews on Magic Hat products. I may do a double post or post one midweek just so it doesn’t take a month to get to the end of it. Many thanks to Kate La Riviere, Minister of Fermentation Elation Relations (I want a job title like that) at Magic Hat for the free beer and the swag. Hopefully, the reviews won’t disappoint.