New Feature: Friday Favs

Back when twitter was taking off the #FF (Follow Friday) craze saw people sharing others on Twitter who they thought were worthy follows. It worked for a while, but it eventually became a game to see if you could get others to include you and therefore build a following that may or may not make sense.

We are going to reserve our Fridays for some of our favorite blogs or blog posts from the people I follow each and every week. There will inevitably be a heavy dose of food and travel bloggers, but at the same time we may get a bit off-topic and explore some other areas as well. We may even go away from blogs and talk about other favorite things.

I’m not going to highlight someone on the 3rd of July, as too many people are focused on their holiday weekend, but I can tell you next week I’ll spotlight AlDente. This blog is written by a longtime friend and fellow St. Bonaventure Alum and it is one of the best homegrown, honest and quality food blogs I follow, so stay tuned for next Friday and I’ll introduce you to Jared’s blog.

In the meantime, take a look to your left on the computer screen, you’ll see a list of blogs I follow. Bump around a few of them, you’ll be happy with the time passer. If you’ve got a blog you feel I should check out and maybe feature. Let me know!

al la carte: Slaying Dragons Edition

March is silly  season for our family. Both Lorrell and I have two out of town trips for business during the month and Loriana has a couple of dance competitions. Mix in committee meetings for various organizations we are involved with and writing the blog will be a challenge. Challenge accepted. Here are this week’s links of interest.

The State of Craft Beer in America — Craft beer has always met its challenges head on, and with the growth of the industry there are more challenges than ever. A good long read on the industry, (Gear Patrol)

The best breweries in the Northeast — From Allagash to Victory this list features some heavy hitters. What are your favorite Northeast Breweries? (Thrillist)

Underrated Gems — What are the restaurants in Denver that are most unappreciated? We all have our favorites and Thrillist has blown the lid off of nine of them with this list. (Thrillist)

An IPA from Ommegang — Sellouts or innovators? I’ve seen Brewery Ommegang called both for announcing a new IPA that will be under limited release in the Tri-State area in NY. These grandfathers of the craft beer movement in Brew Central are sure to impress when Nirvana is released. (Brew Central)

East meets west at Empire — Working on a beer tea combo and planning to break ground on the farmstead brewery at Empire (Brew Central)

Empire Brewing Expansion Update — I remember when Empire Brewing was going to be the first craft brewer into Madison County. Now there are at least three open ahead of them. What’s happening with the farmstead brewery? (Brew Central)

a la carte: Hoppiness Abounds

Will the winter ever break in Central New York? Maple season is almost upon us and I’m starting to wonder when it will get warm enough for the sap to run. Here is hoping that when I make a stop in late March to Upstate, old man winter will have departed. For now, how about a look at food and beer around the internet:

Hops Processing Comes to Cazenovia — When I was at Madison County Tourism, there was always a lot of talk about hops processing and Madison County. Now it appears a co-op has grown some legs. The Bineyard will start processing hops with this August’s harvest. (Cazenovia Republican)

The Science of Beer Goggles — We’ve all donned them at one point or another, and you know a lot of people who are a 2 at 10 and a 10 at 2, Esquire looks at the “science” of this phenomenon (Esquire).

Brewery Maps — This is neat, see if you can find your favorite on this map of all the notable breweries in the US. (The Blaze)

Irish Food Porn — We are approaching St. Patrick’s Day, here are some drool worthy photos of Irish inspired food. (Bon Appetit)

What are your neighbors eating? — Using Google Trends, Huffington Post has a list of what each state is looking to cook. (Huffington Post)

Just the tip — How much should you tip people when traveling? I am not a shy tipper. I usually give 20% ish of the post tax check at restaurants as I appreciate good service. Oftentimes I’m caught short handed when it comes to the valet, bell hop or shuttle driver because I forget to carry cash anymore. Here is a guide to some standards for tipping. (CNN)

a la carte: Drinking, Eating and Traveling

Winter continues to grip most of the country, so let’s warm up with some good food and beer related links this week.

MBA’s and IBU’s — Sam Calagione of Dog Fish Head sat down recently to talk about the state of the Craft Beer Industry and has concerns about the impact giant brewery conglomerates will have on selection at the tap. Sam has had his run ins with big beer, and is a true innovator in the craft beer scene. I’m always game to hear his takes. (Men’s Journal)

Six to try right now — People who live in Wyoming love to play their food safe. Here are six restaurants that you should try right now that are pushing the envelope for Wyoming cuisine. (Casper Star Tribune)

Carry on Myths — While not food related, it is certainly travel related. I’ll be doing a lot of traveling in March, Denver, Washington, Syracuse and I’m sure to want to kill my fellow traveler more than one. (USA Today)

NY Beers Shine – It is beer week in NYC and the state is well represented. Beer Graphs learned what we’ve been saying from Day 1. New York Beers are standing up against the best of the best. (Beer Graphs)

Al La Carte: New Digs, 50 Shades of Green and Iconic Syracuse

We told you on Friday about the infusion of cash and support from the state of NY for the Brew Central Campaign, so let’s kick of our links this week with a peek into their YouTube Channel.

Avery Brewing Moves into New Digs — The expansion will allow Avery to dramatically increase production of their fine Boulder Beers. (Your Boulder)

What are the iconic restaurants of Syracuse? — AlDente takes a look at which restaurants in the Greater Syracuse area are the iconic ones. I though his list was pretty strong. I would have added in the Brewster Inn and the Brae Loch Inn, both in Cazenovia. Of course that’s what makes these lists fun, the subjectivity of them all. (AlDente)

Kuerig’s monopoly on the 2.0 at risk — A company has developed the Freedom Clip, which allows you to use most non authorized cups in the new 2.0 machines. What would you pay for it? (Huffington Post)

50 Shades of Green?– Forget the supposedly retched almost soft porn movie in theaters, if you want to kick it up a notch and “arouse your taste buds”, Innis and Gunn as the beer for you. Hopped with 50 different varieties, it is sure to be something else. (Drink Nation)

For the Love of Perch — Just in time for lent, long time friends of the blog, Lorne and Mary Rudy are serving it five different ways at Fisher Bay Restaurant in Bridgeport. You can’t get much more fresh or local than Oneida Lake perch in Bridgeport.. (Syracuse.com)

The Hater’s Guide to Chuck E Cheese’s — “A bunch of kids would take, like, two bites of pizza and then leave the rest of the slice. Part of me died inside. Who does that with pizza? That’s deviant behavior.” Nothing says awesome like a big freaking rat serving pizza, Am I right? Here is a dead on take about this mysteriously successful brand. (The Concourse)

Fish Fry Time! — Today is Ash Wednesday and for the millions of Catholics that means abstaining from meat today and the next 6 Fridays of the Lenten season. I miss the classic CNY Fish Fry. Fish in general is in short supply in the High Plains, and so are Catholics frankly when compared to the Irish/Italian heavy Syracuse area. Syracuse.com has collated some of the best Fish Fry options in the area. (syracuse.com)