I learned this while reading some of my history homework: The Sumerians had a special goddess designated to supervise the production of beer. Her name was Ninkasi, or "the lady who fills the mouth." Neat, huh? She's pretty, too.
Next, we headed to the Paleontological Research Institute's Museum of the Earth. For no apparent reason, I have never taken J there! Weird. Yesterday was the first day of a week-long Darwin celebration both at the museum and in Ithaca.Darwin Day is an annual, international commemoration of the birthday and ideas of Charles Darwin, a British naturalist born February 12, 1809, and author of the seminal book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. This year celebrates both Darwin's 200th birthday, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin.
The Ithaca Beer Company was our next stop. Again, there is no sensible reason for this being our first trip to the brewery. Jesse loves craft brewed ale and we both love supporting local businesses so I don't know why we've never stopped in.
Before dinner at Viva!, we met my brother, Eric, at The Ithaca Coffee Company for some beer and catching up. The Ithaca Coffee Company is neat because they have coffee for me and beer for the boys. Plus they have a lounge/bar area so you can sit and relax.
St. Petersburg Times columnist, Tampa Bay resident and world beer traveler Joey Redner offers his list of the 10 coolest beer names. One of my favorites is #10!
10. Unibroue La Fin Du Monde How can you not love a beer that calls itself "End of the World?" Fortunately, the only thing that will end after enjoying this complex brew is your ability to make do with just any beer.
9. Harveistoun Old Engine Oil Mega-breweries spend millions of dollars on image building, cultivating a look, image and an enticing name that's not distasteful. Then there's the Harviestoun brewery in Scotland that simply looked at its tasty old ale and named it after the first thing that came to mind: Old Engine Oil.
8. Sweetwater Happy Ending Imperial Stout The name refers either to living happily ever after or the beer's great finish. It has nothing to do with massage parlors. Would a brewery that also has beers named Donkey Punch and 420 go there? I think not.
7. Ridgeway Santa's Butt A butt is a wooden keg of beer. The picture on the bottle of jolly St. Nick's butt crack peeking out from his baggy pantaloons ensures no one misses the double entendre. It has the distinction of having been banned in Maine and New York.
6. Buffalo Bill's Alimony Ale Billed as "the bitterest beer in America," this India Pale Ale is clearly the brainchild of someone disenchanted with the notion of till death do us part.
5. Dogfish Head Golden Shower Originally named Prescription Pills, the brewery was forced to change the name, lest someone think it was a pharmaceutical. Golden Shower saw one release before the government folks figured out what they'd approved. The beer is now known as Golden Era.
4. Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Pooh Coffee The coffee added to the beer is pooped out by a civet (a catlike mammal that loves coffee). A bit literal? Yes. But still funny.
3. McQuire's [sic] I'll Have What The Gentleman On The Floor Is Having Barley Wine The name is a subtle hint that at 12 percent alcohol by volume, this beer is meant to be sipped. If you can drink it faster than you can say it, slow down!
2. Avery Collaboration Not Litigation This beer typifies the spirit of the craft brewing community. Vinnie Cilurzo of Russia River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing realized they both had beers named Salvation. Showing a selfish disregard for the financial health of America's lawyers, the two brewers decided that instead of suing each other, they'd team up to brew this bold beer.
1. Wasatch Polygamy Porter The slogan explains perfectly why this is the coolest beer name ever: "Why have just one?" I have big love for this beer's name.
via mental_floss
When we were wine tasting on July 4, we stopped at Wagner Valley Brewing Company for a tasting. Mikus and I both really liked a Bavarian-style Doppelbock called Sled Dog and we took home a six-pack. Since he left shortly after we bought the beer and had only consumed a single bottle, the rest was left for me. I love it and have really been enjoying it. Its smooth and dark with caramel and molasses flavors; 100% delicious. The Brewing Company will ship your choice of their delicious craft-brewed ales directly to your door provided you are not unfortunate enough to live in one of the states that don't allow such daftness.
Donna the Buffalo wrapped up the fun, albeit long, evening. DtB has been around for such a long time that they barely need any notes. They do awesome zydeco, bluegrass, country rock and folk jams; I love watching Tara Nevins on her accordion.
Today, Jesse and I are heading to Sewercuse to the 2008 Empire State Brewing and Music Festival. The nice thing about this festival is that it really highlights the craft brewing industry, both local and nationwide.
We parked and walked to Stewart Park and wandered around for a bit. We got some yummy food and then headed to the beer garden for some Ithaca Beer which was served in compostable plastic cups made from corn! The beer garden was right near a big stage and we got to hear part of Hubcap's set which was fun and relaxing. We poked around a little longer before Jesse decided more beer was in order. I preferred my fruit and spirulina smoothie, though.
At some point, Jesse found a dead fly.
And then we had some rain. After we had our fill of the festival, we had some great dinner and drinks at Viva! Cantina. YUM! We had a really fun day together and it was so nice to do something different. And we can't move away without Jesse experiencing the Ithaca Festival! 
