Has it been a week already? Hey friends, it’s Thirsty Thursday!

The Cox family & friends

Remember how last week Rudy and Ethan went to Belgium Comes to Cooperstown? They came! They went! They had a great time! I hear I missed all sorts of fun, including some particularly great beer from Ithaca, Allagash, Stillwater and others. Rudy gave a great summary that can double as a call to arms for next year:

What really makes BCTC is the camaraderie and communal atmosphere.  The 4 hours of pouring is great, but the best part for me is walking around, listening to some music, exploring the campsites, share great beers (especially homebrews!) with people you didn’t know the day before.  And waffles.  Lots of waffles.  Tons of freaking waffles.

Waffles? Sign me the hell up.

But what if you missed BCTC, or Cooperstown is too far away, and you want something closer to home? The Buffalo Brewfest is tomorrow! CBW won’t be there as CBW: we have no beer! Yet. Next year? I’d say it’s a pretty good chance you’ll be drinking our ‘Canalside Cuppa’ chamomile wit (note: that’s not a real beer. I just enjoy making up fake names).

You should still go, though, as there will be plenty of great beer. Did you go last year and think that it’s all the same? Nay! The likes of Dogfish Head, Stone, Sam Adams, Ommegang and Victory are new this year (you can look at a complete list here), and according to an oddly formatted Buffalo News article each brewery is supposed to bring something special.

Members of CBW will be there, though, as Ethan and I don the role of beer journalists and take one of WNYMedia‘s fancy cameras for a spin. We did this last year too, and you can see the fruits from that if you’d like. (it’s also on the Brewfest index, at the bottom, and since I had forgotten about it it was quite a shock to see my face staring back at me)

Right, so, other items? Location: making progress, actually, and we hope to have some announcements there soon (some of the neighbors have already been made aware of our intentions, with more to come). Business arrangements you don’t care about? They should be close to finalized tonight. And swag? Oh! Yes, we do have swag now.

Yesterday our postcards came in. They’re not meant to be mailed, but instead enjoyed and passed along to friends (you have told all your friends about CBW, right?)

And then, more excitingly, the shirts! They’re iron-ons, and handcrafted in almost every sense of the word: I didn’t sew the fabric myself, but I did send Ethan a text last night bemoaning that my house had turned into a sweatshop, with me as the sole employee. Irons get hot, man, even more so when you’re applying pressure with all of your might.

Endless fields of human shirts...

So how do you get some of this cool stuff? For the postcards, just track down your local CBW rep. No matter where we are, we should have some on us! The shirts though: those are more problematic. There are only going to be 10 of these made, one each for the owners and then a bonus shirt for the designer. Do you want t shirts? You should! I know I’m biased but I absolutely adore our logo, and I want it plastered on my chest as often as possible. We here you, devoted devotees, and we are working on solutions. You’ll be given a link to purchase some apparel sooner rather than later if the stars align.