SirTheory’s Treatise on Life

It has come to light the past number of years that the American League is dominating. If you look at their inner-league record and how frequently the win the World Series and at the number of elite teams the have things are looking bleak for the National League. The sad thing is that we probably won’t see things change in a long time. Surprisingly the dominance isn’t due to a major difference in talent. Instead, the reason that the AL always seems to come out victorious is due to something else entirely.

The American League is playing a different game than the National League.

Oh, sure. Most of the rules are pretty much similar. Enough that most people probably don’t really see a problem. Yet if you look at what the rule difference means in how the teams are compose, it means that the AL automatically has a huge advantage.

First, the big rule difference is that in the NL the pitcher has to hit. So once every nine batters someone is at the plate that spends most of their training not swinging a bat. Pitchers, with a few exceptions, are basically an embarrassment at the plate. You only have nine people in a line-up. When one of those is an out over 80% of the time and your main goal in production from that spot in the line up is in bunts, it is a significant decrease from any other spot in the lineup.

In the AL, however, they have things thing called the Designated Hitter. The DH hits instead of the pitcher so the pitcher can concentrate completely on their pitching– aka, what they’re paid to do. The DH, on the other hand, is often a big power hitter with minimal fielding skills. Essentially, they are paid solely to provide power to a lineup. What is the difference? Well it isn’t uncommon for any given NL team’s pitchers to not hit any home runs in a year. Some do, but you definitely don’t count on it. Then if you look at the AL you’ve got Designated Hitters who might hit 35 or more home runs. As a result the lineups and benches are composed completely differently.

This is OK when the AL is playing the AL and the NL the NL. But when the two leagues face off (and every seasons ends with the biggest series of the year, the final battle between the teams that emerge from their respective league) the advantage will go to the AL every single time. What it means is that when the two leagues face off, either in the regular season or the World Series, there has to be a way to determine which set of rules to play by. It is settled by what ballpark the team is playing in. So if the AL Yankees are playing the NL Mets in the Mets’ stadium, then NL rules are used and both pitchers bat. Conversely if the Mets and Yankees were playing in the Yankees’ stadium, then AL rules are used and both teams use a DH.

“Well that sounds all fine and dandy,” you say. “Both teams play by the same rules and the NL gets to use a DH at the AL field and the AL allows the pitcher to bad in a NL park.”

As dandy as it sounds, it is still not  equal. When playing a game in an NL park it is going to be fairly even. NL pitchers can’t hit too well and AL pitchers can’t hit too well. It is when playing in an AL park with AL rules that the advantage swings hard to the AL team

An NL team which builds its team around NL rules where the pitcher has to bat is at a severe disadvantage when it comes to playing in an AL park because they lack someone on the bench who is up to filling the role of a Jim Thome or David Ortiz. The AL team in the AL park is at full power. An NL team in an AL park is just relieved that someone with a batting average above .200 is hitting in the pitcher’s spot. Just because the pitcher is not batting on either team that doesn’t mean the footing is equal. For a league already built more around being offensively dominant this quirk in the rules gives them a decided head start on any inner-league series they play in their park.

Let’s say that this difference in rules is responsible for even just one loss for a NL team. Teams miss the playoffs by only one game every year. What if the difference is two games? Or three games? Can we really say that the right teams are making the playoffs? Then the biggest effect happens in the World Series when both teams host games. There just one game that gets swung due to the rule difference is a huge deal.

Unfortunately, I don’t see either league deciding to conform to the other league’s rules. At least, not in a long, long time. So be prepared for a lot of AL dominance in the upcoming years. In the meantime we will have to endure a lot of ESPN round-table discussions about why the NL isn’t keeping up with the AL. The NL will be considered a second-rate league. It will just be us purists who keep the life of the NL alive.

Children’s books are highly underrated by most people. Harry Potter, of course, gets read by a lot of adults. Yet it still gets labeled as “just” a children’s book. People just seem to think that writing children’s books means dumbing things down. And most people don’t like dumbed down. The attitude is one that I try to fight hard against. Well written words are well written words, regardless of the audience.

Gordon Korman wrote one of my favorite books ever. I Want To Go Home, even now, is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I would put it above Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy or Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. (Both of which are, in their own right, super books.) Gordon Korman has a fantastically dry sense of humor and mixes it with amusing characters and situations.

I Want To Go Home is where all of what Korman does well comes together in a perfect storm. Mike is your average non-athletic guy. The only thing that stands out about him is that nothing stands out about him. A nice enough guy, but not bold enough to really make friends. He is forced into camp and it is with no enthusiasm that he arrives. The only other person at the camp who hates camp more than Mike is the mysterious Rudy.

Camp Algonkian is situated on an island which is devoted entirely to the camping of kids. So when Rudy and Mike become friends the suggestion of escaping camp is ludicrous. It would take someone really smart and able to succeed. Thankfully Rudy has a plan.  And another plan. He implements more plans than can be counted on one hand. Yet escape always seems to elude them.

What sounds like a simple story gets twisted in Korman’s situational humor and the result is catastrophically funny. Reviews on Amazon are littered with adults who reminisce about reading the book over and over as a kid, and who still reads it and dies laughing. It is laugh out loud funny, will warm your heart, will make you say “oh no he didn’t!”, and more. Give it a try.

Strange is the 007 game that doesn’t actually feature James Bond. Yet EA Games somehow managed to throw this together, complete with a shiny little “007 Presents” sticker. Really, I’ve only ever seen two Bond movies, so I can’t say I’m too upset over the lack of James in Rogue Agent. In fact, compared with the other 007 game I have, Rogue Agent is better off without the presence of Bond. Instead what we have is an agent kicked out of service and who has nothing to lose. He treks through a variety of environments and tries to kick a lot of you-know-what.

His success, of course, depends entirely on how well you do. And your ability to succeed depends on whether you enjoy shooting a lot of dudes. And whether or not you get bored with it. Because boredom is a very real possibility. On the other hand, if all you’re looking for is a straightforward first-person shooter, G:RA will throw some serious challenges your direction.

One thing I like in a game is a lack of ambiguity on where to go. Mucking around a map while not entirely sure if I’m going the right direction just irks me.  In this way Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is pretty ace. There is only one way to go. Because in Goldeneye it isn’t the going that matters, but the surviving. In order to reach the end of any given level, surviving is quite important.

In order to survive you need to have several skills: A) be good at taking crowds of bad guys out and B) understand the fine art of patience. For as many rooms that you can enter with guns a-blazing, there are an equal amount of rooms where doing so will leave you dead or awkwardly crippled. That is because, as redundant as it seems to get, the bad guys can be quite a pain to take out.

A lot of the frustration comes into play when you’ve worked long and hard to get through a level, only to hit a really tough room without the proper firepower. The only weapon that has unlimited firepower is your pistol. It is also the only weapon, in addition to your grenades, that you can keep without actually holding in your hand. Unlike other games which allows you to just keep on picking up weapons, in G:RA you basically can only keep what you can hold in your hands. Some of the weapons only require one hand, thus allowing you to carry two at once, others take two hands. So when you run out of ammo, and there are no other weapons around, you get limited to a single pistol.

Despite the fristration, there is something rather satisfying about passing a section with only a pistol when there is no way you should have a change in hell at succeeding. For example, I’ve taken out entire tanks with nothing but my trusty pistol. If I had had the rocket launcher it would have taken exactly two shots. With the pistol it took hundreds. To even have the slightest hope at taking down a take with a pistol you must have cover. This is another aspect of the above-mentioned patience. Without cover you’ll be a sitting duck for the canon balls that the tanks have a nasty habit of flinging at you every few seconds.

The enemy A.I. is hardly realistic, but certainly not horrible. The game cover points out that the “all-new E.V.I.I. AI means no two games are the same!” which is true from the point that the characters don’t move on a pre-programed track all the time, so there will be subtle nuances from game to game. Yet it isn’t so different that I would consider it a huge selling point.

The worst part of G:RA is how the difficulty doesn’t really seem to increase beyond new gadgets being utilized. If you can take out the bad guys in the first room, you can take out the same enemies in the last level. There are just more of them with nastier weapons. Or locations with things like the afore mentioned tanks. That increase is pretty much neutralized by the gadget that gives the game it’s name… the electronic and upgradeable Goldeneye.

You start off with the eye only being able to see through solid objects. Not all solid objects, but most normal obstacles. Then at certain points in the game your financier gives it upgrades which pretty much make you unstoppable for most normal opponents (though, unfortunately, the bosses are immune to the power of the eye.) The two big powers are the shield (which will protect you from the rocket launchers and canon balls, and smaller forms of firepower as well) and the energy field that kills. Nothing beats walking into a room, locating a person, and pressing the right button. They fly into the air like a rag doll, even though you didn’t lay a finger on them. Of course, none of this flows as free as water. At 100% you can use any of your four abilities. After the use, however, it will have used up a portion, or all, of you eye’s ability until it recharges. Recharging, especially if you are playing the hard level, can take a little while, so the patience comes back into play. It is much easier hiding only to emerge once in a while to pick off an enemy than to come out with guns firing.

In the end, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is a very acceptable first person shooter. However, for those who are expecting and wanting something more in the traditional 007/Bond vein the game will definitely disappoint.

Year 2007 in the world of music has been… disappointing. Favorite artists have released underwhelming albums (The Shins, Bjork) or albums that fail to capture my imagination (The White Stripes). Which wouldn’t be extremely disappointing except I’ve only discovered a handful of new artists to capture my attention (St. Vincent, Noisettes).  For the first time in years it is looking like my normal year-end top-20 list will get shrunk to a top-10. And there still might be filler on it.

One possible option for the filler is Lovedrug’s second full length release. My history with this band is long and storied– swinging from extreme hater to a non-hater. Then ending up as an appreciator. It is a whirlwind of a story. Grab a cup of mocha and enjoy…

Once upon a time there was a band named Kerith Ravine. They were a little band out of Ohio who released one awesome CD, a couple of tantalizing EPs,  and then disappeared.
Along comes Lovedrug, who just happens to have several of the same members as Kerith Ravine (including the lead singer/songwriter). “Ho boy!” said I. “This will be almost like having Kerith Ravine back!

The first Lovedrug CD, Pretend You’re Alive, did nothing to prove my initial enthusiasm justified. Bland, typical indie emo rock anthems. So naturally Lovedrug became much bigger than Kerith Ravine could have ever hoped to be. Yes, I was bitter. I lamented the inane music industry and its championing of mediocre talent.

I saw them live. And that was when I stopped being anti-Lovedrug. They put on a great, energetic live show. It was the only context which the songs off of Pretend You’re Alive did anything. The live show gave me enough to hold onto to allow me to have hope for Lovedrug’s future.

Which brings us to Everything Starts Where It Ends, the new Lovedrug release. It keeps a similar tone to Pretend You’re Alive, but creatively pushing the envelope. As a result it sounds a lot more alive. It ends up being an engaging listen that doesn’t play it safe.

It still fails to live up to Kerith Ravine, however this album won’t surprise fans of Kerith Ravine the way it might surprise those simply familiar with Pretend You’re Alive. The album proves that Lovedrug are going in the right direction and, perhaps later down the road, will fulfill the promise Kerith Ravine came close to perfecting.

Superbad is a movie I have been looking forward to since I saw a preview early this year. After the genius of Arrested Development any movie starring any of the main characters catches my eye. Michael Cera, who played George Michael on Arrested Development, was one of my favorites. The previews for Superbad were amusing but I was sold completely on the strength of George Michael.

Realistically, this movie isn’t a far shot from what drifts through your average American male teenager’s mind: Sex, sex, sex, penis, sex, scoring alcohol, sex, boobs, sex, porn, and any other key buzzword to cause this blog to come up on any naughty Google search. Seth, played by Jonah Hill, even has a casual discussion with Evan (George Mic… erm, Michael Cera) about which porn site he’s planning on subscribing to. Yet Superbad manages to do more than remind people of their adolescence.

The character who ends up being the most interesting in the movie is Fogell (the debut of Christopher Mintz-Plasse– you’ll be seeing more of him, I guarentee it), an ultra nerdy kid whom no one really likes except himself. Evan tolerates him well enough to agree to be roommates in college while Seth really doesn’t seem to think he contributes much. Yet the three still hang out and drink alcohol together, albiet in one of their basements and not at the cool parties the other kids are going to.

This all changes when Fogell finds a place to purchase a fake I.D.. Seth immediately latches onto this and sees this as an opportunity. He promises the pretty girl in his cooking class that he would pick up the alcohol for a party that evening. She, doubtlessly, sees it as nothing more than a convenience that saves her from trying to dig the alcohol up. Seth sees it as a promise for some lovin’.

The movie doesn’t really pick up until Seth sees the I.D. that Fogell acquired. We find out (as if we didn’t already know from the numerous commercials) that Fogell picked the name McLovin. Just McLovin. Despite the obvious fakery Fogell tries the I.D. out at a liquor store. Things happen, people get hit by cars, and all of a sudden we have a movie with two identities. We have one storyline with Fogell and the cops and we have a storyline with Seth and Evan trying to find a way to get alcohol for this party… undoubtedly the first real party either of them have been to.

Then there are the girls. Each of the guys has a girl he’s had his eye on. For Seth there is Jules, played by Emma Stone, who is the curator of the party and looks like a model.  Evan can’t keep his eyes off of Becca (Martha MacIsaac), who has more of a hometown quality to her (and I don’t mean that in a bad way). For Fogell there is Nicola, played by the stunningly gorgeous Aviva (pictured left and in the above picture with Fogell). Aviva really does go by just one name having dropped Farber, her last name.

Each, by the end of the night, ends in disaster. Evan almost gets raped by a drunk Becca, a drunk Seth accidentally head-butts a sober Jules, and Fogell gets busted by the cops while in bed with his vixen. There is more to the ending than that, but I’m not here to play the part of a spoiler.

In the end the movie is quite funny, though not as funny as my high expectations were set up for. Yet it is also a very sweet movie that will have you saying “awwe” at points. Which, in my opinion, is a perk. Movies like this have to display real humanity or they’ll become mired in nothing more than dick jokes. So Superbad is recommended. But I won’t really know what I think until I see it a second time to see how repeat viewings treat it.

So I’ve been a big Cartoon Network addict the past few weeks. Be it Futurama or Robot Chicken or Frisky Dingo. Mostly Adult Swim fare. So this weekend, where had no plans Friday evening, Saturday all day, or Sunday all day I planned on getting a bit of television in. However, I groaned when I found out that Cartoon Network was going to be spending all of that time (except for Adult Swim hours) in a marathon of the kid’s anime Naruto. 100 episodes spread out over 50 hours and 3 days.

I have an appreciation for anime. I’ve enjoyed Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, as well as others that I’ve seen on Cartoon Network like Full Metal Alchemist. Naruto, while I was familiar with its existence looked more like a silly, brainless anime. There was no real appeal there for me. Yet I sat down Friday evening, bored, and turned it on. Three episodes in and I was hooked. It has the number one thing I look for in movies, books, and television: Amazing characters.

A lot of shows and books have well developed main characters (Full Metal Alchemist seems to be that way) and that is great. I love well developed main characters. However, Naruto not only does great character development of the main characters, but of the side characters as well. While Naruto appears in all the episodes, in many of the shows he is more of a peripheral character. Instead that episode will focus on one of his friends, or enemies, or someone else, and we get treated to textured flashbacks and get to know that character in a way that brings them alive.

Oh, speaking of enemies, the evil characters in this show are stunningly textured. Especially Gaara, a red-haired boy who alternates between a dead, evil stare and a fierce scowl. He is terrifyingly powerful, especially in the earlier episodes, and his character development is superb. You hate him and yet you sympathize with him and want him, as be becomes more and more pathetic as the episodes go on, to turn around.

Naruto is the spiky, yellow-haired kid. He is our hero and a kid with little talent yet high aspirations. He is loud, annoying, and doesn’t like to recognize authority. Yet he is more than that. He manages to use what he has effectively. In most of his fights he is a severe underdog because the other person has a lot more tricks up their sleeve. Through raw determination to succeed and using his brain to combine things in new, unimagined ways, Naruto will often succeed against all odds. And in such a way we see him grow from geeky kid in over his head to a real competitor.

The show isn’t for everyone as many episodes may be short on action for many viewers. Other episodes might be too gruesome for other viewers (just the fact that it is a show about kids battling each other with magic might be too much for many). But I really enjoyed the marathon, even though I didn’t get a chance to see every episode. Unfortunately, the DVDs are ridiculously expensive, even used, at this point. But hopefully in upcoming years they’ll become affordable. I’d enjoy picking them up.

How sad is it that the last really good book I’ve read was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Yes, it is still considered a recent release… but I literally finished it the day that it came out. I picked it up at midnight and was finished by 6pm. Since then I have started several books and finished exactly zero. I started working on The Elves and the Otterskin by Elizabeth Boyer. It isn’t horrid and is getting more exciting as I get deeper into it. Yet it lacks subtlety and finesse. Nothing about it really separates it from the crowd.

Several days ago I re-picked up The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L’Engle. Precious few recognize L’Engle beyond her children’s classic A Wrinkle In Time, yet she has a massive catalog of books to her name. Last year I decided to try her other stuff and was amazed at how well written it all was. Very quickly she became my favorite author. Yet there were a few books that scared me. This one and The Love Letters. I had to put The Love Letters down for about three to four months before I could work up the courage to finish it. Once I did that I picked this one up and got about one chapter into it before setting it down. Now, over a half year later, I find myself picking it up again and getting engaged. Maybe I had simply burned out on her stuff… after all, I read most of her novels in a one and a half month period. Whatever the case, here I am and I know I’m going to finish it this time. It is a novel which, to quote the cover of my trade paperback version, is about “a family divided by hatred and greed…” Yet there seems to be an underlying mystery that is boiling which should serve as an anchor as the waves of the family problems are ridden. We’ll see. After I finish this one I don’t think there is much left, fiction-wise, for me to hit up from L’Engle. I can think of maybe two more off the top of my head. Then there is a whole slew of biography and Bible-related books that she’s done. Not to mention poetry and such. (She is one of the few poets I can not just tolerate, but enjoy. But I am glad that most of her stuff is in prose, regardless.)

When I do get around to finishing the Boyer book and several others in my room with bookmarks in the mid-way point I recently acquired the follow-up book to Orson Scott Card’s masterpiece, Ender’s Game. I have heard that the rest of the series is also good, although I have trouble believing that they are as dizzying or awe-inducing as the first. Ender’s Game had a twist that M. Night Shyamalan would give the world for.

If anyone has any good book recommendations for me, I’d love to hear them. Particularly newer releases as I have a tough time keeping up with new authors of note.

Weyerbacher doesn’t often get mentioned in the same breath as other great breweries. Yet it is surprising considering the consistency and quality of beers they produce. The Double Simcoe IPA is amazing. It is a very floral IPA with just the right balance.

It is also one of the rare beers which is almost as amazing out of a bottle as it is on tap. I had it awhile back on tap, but last night was at a pub with it in a bottle. So I ordered it and it came out in a bottle that looked more like a wine bottle than a beer bottle. It was probably double the size of most normal beer bottles. It reminded me of those large Yuengling Lager bottles I see at concerts at the Chameleon Club. And, somehow, it was only $4 for the whole kit ‘n’ kabootle. At a 9% alcohol content it is a good thing I wasn’t driving. I’d love to find a way to get a six pack of it, however. Just a superb beer.

Weyerbacher is located in Easton, PA. I have no idea where that is, other than it allows me to feel pride that such a great brewery is in my state. (PA is actually quite rich is microbreweries. I certainly don’t complain.) They started in 1995 and, unfortunately, lack a brewpub. If they had a brewpub I’d definitely trek out there sometime.

Every 2nd Sunday of every month (barring any major holidays like Christmas or Secretaries Day) there is a record show not too far from where I live. Like, just downtown. It advertises itself as the largest monthly record show in the nation. Whether or not that is true, I have my doubts. But I try to go every month. I really only go to one or two booths because the large majority of the booths only deal in records. Others have CDs, but they are dusty and old (not that that would stop me, but they aren’t exactly enthralling titles). But one guy has current stuff… and even has a bunch of pre-releases for albums which haven’t released yet. (Which is how I got that Thurston Moore solo album that I reviewed several days ago.) Today was probably the most successful trip I’ve had in a long time.

In order, from least important to most important:

It’s A Bit Complicated by Art Brut
Downtown Records, 2007

Never listened to the band before, but the name has definitely been around. And it is hard to go wrong with a $2.50 price tag. Seems rather like british indie rock with attitude. Seems like the sort of album I won’t really crave, but will enjoy the random song popping up on shuffle.

Boss by Magik Markers
Ecstatic Peace, 2007

Thurston Moore’s label, Ecstatic Peace, should be renamed Erratic Piece due to the unreasonably varied quality the label releases. They release stunning albums and horrible albums. Then there are middle of the road albums like this. Magik Markers sound like disciples of Sonic Youth with the same fetish with noise. Not bad. Not good. I could, however, see it as a grower album. We’ll see. (Note: that is not the actual picture of the album as far as I can tell. But it works, yeah?)

Werewolves and Lollipops by Patton Oswalt
SubPop, 2007

So I’ve heard the name Patton Oswalt around before without really paying attention to it. It wasn’t until this year that I found out that he is a comedian, not a musician. It wasn’t until several days ago I found out he did the lead character’s voice in Pixar’s newest, Ratatouille. So when I found his newest album for all of $2.50 I figured, heck, why not? And it is actually pretty funny. Comedy is such a visual branch that albums really can’t do it justice. But I will definitely enjoy random sketches popping up on shuffle.

The Trumpet Child by Over The Rhine
Great Speckled Dog Recordings, 2007

Their last album had a bare-bones feel that almost brought on a cabaret folk sound. This one is much more lounge in feel. It asks the listener to prop of their feet, pour some wine, and cuddle with a loved one. It doesn’t seem too compelling at this point, yet I have trouble seeing Over The Rhine failing to deliver a solid album. Time will tell.

We Are The Pipettes by The Pipettes
Interscope Records/Cherry Tree, 2007

At the end of August the US will finally see a state side release of last year’s indie pop buzz album by The Pipettes. It really is a fun album, full of dance-yer-buttocks-off pop songs. They are a throwback, but a fun novelty none the less. (That cover is the European cover. I am assuming the US release will be the same thing, but I don’t know for sure.) One interesting note is that the US release will have 17 tracks, three more than the European release.

Marry Me by St. Vincent
Beggars Banquet, 2007

My first reaction upon seeing St. Vincent, who is 23 year old Annie Clark, and reading the album title, Marry Me, was “Yes! Oh God, yes….” Because she is beautiful. Then when I heard her voice that reaction only intensified because her voice is stunning. She performs an orchestrated indie pop, but it has weird flourishes that you don’t usually hear in such music. Not to mention her guitar skills which are quite impressive. This album could definitely crack my year end top 10 list.

Widow City by The Fiery Furnaces
Thrill Jockey, 2007

Another possible top 10-er. I love just about anything this band does, although I will admit that last year’s Bitter Tea left me feeling kind of empty. However, I am a devotee of Rehearsing My Choir (best album of ‘05) and this one seems to sound both weird, yet also like it could be appealing to the popular indie (what an oxymoron) crowd. We’ll see what kind of staying power it has with me. But on one listen it sounds great.

So that is my day in pictures and text. I am pretty happy with it. Because even the stuff I sound down on up there is enjoyable. It is just easier for me to talk negatives in a little blurb.

Lancaster Brewing Company has been a mainstay in the local beer scene for a while. While I find their stuff out of bottles a tad bland, I always enjoy going to the brewpub and getting their stuff on tap. They name the beers in a way that feels delightfully local, considering the Amish/farming community Lancaster offers. There is a Milk Stout, the Hop Hog IPA, the Amish 4 Grain Pale Ale… etc and so forth.

I’ve been there a number of times and usually try one that I’ve never tried before, in addition to a pint of the Hop Hog, the good ol’ standby. However, this time the most impressive beer was a cask conditioned mixture that I’ve never seen before. Apparently they blended the Hop Hog and the Milk Stout creating a stout that was hoppy… or an IPA that was dark and stouty. Anyway, it was quite delicious and it would be cool to see them make that a frequent addition to their tap lineup.  It made me wonder if getting bottles and mixing the two would create something similar. If so that would be quite fun.

The Milk Stout is one of the few stouts I really can drink and enjoy. It certainly has that lactose feeling to it, which, as a milk fan, is certainly not a bad thing. Part of the reason I’m not too fond of stouts is how they feel in my mouth. The Milk Stout has a mouth feel that is more alive.

Oh, and the pizza I got from LBC was fantastic. Although I might have to try their Reuben sandwich at some point. But it was a good evening for sure. If you like microbrews and are in the Lancaster area, give the place a try. If nothing else, the atmosphere should make it a winner.

www.lancasterbrewing.com