Eelpout Festival! My Favorite Time Of Year!!

Well, its almost that time of year! The International Eelpout Festival is almost upon us. For those of you who don't know what A) a Eelpout is, or B) what Eelpout Festival is, let me fill you in. The eelpout is a fresh water fish that closely resembles a Eel. They are very slimy, and anyone who has caught a big one will tell you that they will wrap around your arm if you give them the chance. Super gross fish. Eelpout Festival is a magical celebration that celebrates this super gross fish. It is held in Walker MN on Leech Lake. Leech is one of MN biggest lakes. Eelpout Festival has grown in popularity so much that even Jay Leno did a segment from Eelpout Festival last year. You can find more info about Eelpout Festival here and they also have the Late show clips on the homepage

http://www.eelpoutfestival.com/


This will be my eighth year attending and I don't ever want to miss it. It started out on a whim. While we were at a friends cabin fishing only about a hour away, we decided to grab our gear and head over and try and catch us some Pout. Once we got there and saw what was happening, we quickly realized that our fishing gear would do us no good. One problem, my lonely case of beer was not going to be enough for the day.


The first thing we witnessed was the Polar Plunge. A giant hole cut into the lake, where people throw on some crazy outfits and jump in the freezing water for a chance to raise some cash for charity. There was also, helicopter rides, a rugby game happening on the lake, a ice fishing bikini show, lots of vendors selling Winter gear, and the official Eelpout weigh center. Once we saw the mild stuff, it was time to see where everyone else was going.


We headed onto the lake and around the point and the first thing we saw on the ice was a 30 foot tall inflatable Gorrilla. I knew it was going to be a good day. Everything is set up similar to Vegas is the best way to describe it. There is a giant road on the ice, and on each side are themed encampments. These encampments are usually around 30' x 30' big and inside they have dance floors, fully stocked bars, couches, beer pong tables, flip cup tables, hot tubs, you name. All you do is walk up and down the row and go encampment to encampment to party.



There really is no way to accurately describe Eelpout festival besides some of the most fun you could ever have on a frozen lake! Everyone we have ever brought has loved it and come back with us. I think our group was around 30 people last year! Maybe we will make our own encampment next year! Check It Out!!

Beer Ball - My New Favorite Game

So at the bar this weekend, a friend introduced me to a new game that I have never seen before. Its called Beer Ball. It is exactly like Skee Ball, but instead of racking up point tickets to by some cheap stuffed animal or RC car, you can win free beer, pizzas, or even a flat screen TV. For a $1 try, you get 9 balls. 400 points gets you a free beer, 500 gets you a pizza, and if you get a perfect 900, you get a 40" LCD TV. It helped that my friend was already pretty good at the game, and the fact that they had it set to a cheaper setting than a dollar. We got 4 tries per dollar. By the end of the night, we had 30 free drinks (we were drinking tall taps) and 8 pizzas. It was awesome. We couldn't find enough people to give free stuff to. Next time your at the bar, check it out. If your good at those types of games, you could have a cheap night out!

http://www.baytekgames.com/games/details/?id=259

Resolution Day 3 Update!

So my charge towards drinking 1 beer every day for the next year resolution is so far as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. Tonight will mark me trying my 3rd different beer of the year. Granted I have had them before, but the point was to just drink at least 40 different beers, not 40 new types of beer. I love this resolution, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for me!

1. Coors Light
2. Mich Golden
3. Blue Moon

A Different Type of Resolution

This year for New Years, instead of making the usual resolution like loose 10 lbs or quit smoking, I am going a different route. For 2012, I am planning on drinking 1 beer every day for the entire year. I want to do it for a couple reasons. 1, I think it would be neat to check that off of my bucket list and be able to tell people that I did that for a year! Second it would be neat to see if that type of resolution is as difficult to accomplish as the positive ones. It will be a neat experiment.

Another great point is that it will give me a great chance to experience a ton of different types of beers. I am curious to see how many I can try. At a 6 pack at a time, I should make it through quite a few different beers. I can't wait for the new year to get this resolution started!

Guinness

I have come to the conclusion that it takes a special kind of person to drink Guinness. I'm not talking someone who handle drinking a strong dark beer, I am talking about that kind of person who thinks they are better than you because they drink or have something that a lot of people don't. Example.

Part time aside from my regular job, I work behind the scenes at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and I bartend at the Trail of Terror (MN Ren Fest's Halloween Attraction). We just serve beer, a couple malt beverages and wine. The 3 beers we have on tap are Grainbelt Premium, Schells Firebrick, and Guinness. I had a guy budge in line last night when we had a long line of people just to critique my tap pour of his Guinness. "You need to pour it slower", "Your Doing It All Wrong", "What's wrong with you", "Haven't you ever pored a beer before" and my favorite that I have heard multiple times "When your in Dublin, they know how to pour". Usually when I hear people drop that one, I follow up with "I am sorry, but you are in a large parking lot in the Minnesota River Bottoms at a Halloween show where beer is poured in mass quantity. Not Ireland". I try to pride myself on my positive customer service, but sometimes people just push a person to far.

So, I implore you, if you drink Guinness, don't be one of those people. Your better than that!