Sorry, there wasn’t a longer post at lunchtime. I was catching up on work, and besides I wanted my alert about this coming big fun weekend to remain near the top of the blog for a while.
Yesterday evening turned out to be a very enjoyable one. I was out a few minutes early and was on my way to the Flying Saucer, when I got a text from one of my friends. “There’s a couple here who just moved to Memphis,” he told me. “They were looking out east but decided to move Downtown because of your blog.” I love hearing that, so I detoured to the Goose. They live a few blocks from me and are looking to meet Downtowners and the lady was looking to volunteer for some nonprofits. I told them to come to the party at the Warehouse Friday night, Carnaval de Panama hosted by the South Main Dirty Dozen. Great place to meet a lot of like-minded people. As for volunteer opportunities, I told them to check out Volunteer Odyssey.
After the Goose, I went over to the Flying Saucer and tried several newly-returned Dogfish Head draft beers. My favorite was the Dogfish Head 120 IPA, which checks in at a massive 21% alcohol by volume. To compare, Bud Light, the most commonly sold beer in North America, is only 4.2%. It wasn’t even possible to get above 12% until some recent advancements in brewing. Most IPAs are bitter but this one had so much alcohol that it turned the beer sweet. Delicious. The Saucer had 12 Dogfish Head beers on tap yesterday. Most of them are only here for one keg, but many will stick around in bottled form after that.
Speaking of high-alcohol beer, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill to raise the cap on what is considered beer. Previously it was 6.2% ABV; in 2017 it will go up to 10.1%. That will allow grocery stores to sell high-gravity beers, although you’d still have to go to a liquor store to get a bottle of the 120 Minute IPA I had last night.
The monthly food truck rodeo happens tomorrow in Court Square at lunchtime. Eight food trucks will be on hand to serve you.
A man broke into two rooms at the Civil Rights Museum last night. He broke windows in two rooms near the one where Dr. King stayed in 1968, and was found sleeping in one of the beds. Those sheets probably haven’t been changed since the Lorraine Motel closed in the early 1980s. Ewww.
There will be parties in the plaza outside FedExForum starting two hours prior to all Grizzlies playoff games, including the ones tomorrow night and Saturday.
That’ll do it for now. Happy hump day and I’ll be back tomorrow with more news.