...you know if you really have to. Because I will be attending a food and beer event being held at Toronto's The Academy of Spherical Arts in honour of Roland + Russell bringing Southern Tier IPA to Ontario. There is more information here and here. Events start at six but if you are the bailiff, they really start at nine. I don't get out much so if you want to get a sense of how much better I am in writing than in person, get yourself down there.

And what's that photo got to do with it? Well, I took it after enjoying supper with a gang in Ithaca where we enjoyed a few pitchers of "STIPA" back in 2006 at The Nines in Collegetown, Ithaca. It was so hot that evening - pushing 100F - that I was reminded of a group of ladies from the deep south who I once heard commenting on the weather. I could not decide if they were saying it was hotter than home or ham - ham was clearly better. After that evening, it was abundantly obvious that STIPA is a fine brew when it is hotter than ham.