I've combined my Friday and Saturday reports for this past weekend for a couple of reasons. First, It's now Monday and I just want to get the thing typed. Second, Saturday was pretty much a bust, as I'll explain later.

Rich O's is having their annual "Gravity Head" festival, where they feature the strongest beers in the world, so I went in on Friday to sample some of these deadly concoctions.

Before I got three feet into the door I was accosted by CanadianGirl from work. She was upset that I hadn't been visiting her at the sample tasting lab lately. She was also drunk. (Yes, I'm talking about you. You're a very cute and friendly drunk though.) I spent a good deal of time reassuring her that my absence had nothing to do with her or the lab - I'd just been either sick or very busy for over two months. I promised to make every effort to start going to the lab again.

Also representing my work at Rich O's on Friday were CanadianGirl's hot boss(can I say that?) and CheerfulGirl, who for some reason didn't seem very cheerful at all.

Anyway, I first ordered a "Hercules" from Louisville's Browning's Brewery, and I drank it while talking with CanadianGirl's boyfriend and CheerfulGirl's husband. I also finally got to see if CanadianGirl's hot boss (can I say that?) was wearing a ring or not. She isn't.

I didn't like the Hercules. It was just too bitter.

Once the crew from work left I had a new beer from Rich O's own NABC. The 5B Brown Porter I also did not particulary like. I know the guy who invented this recipe, and I know he'll understand that just because I don't like his beer that doesn't mean that it isn't any good. More on that later.

Oh yeah, during all this time while I was choking down my first two beer I also had an Alaskan Smoked Porter on ice. It became my last, and only good, beer of the night.

I ended up in the "Living Room " area of Rich O's talking with MisunderstoodGirl, TrainGirl, and RealTrainGirl. It was pretty cool to have some of the women regulars there, as it had been a while.

On to Saturday. I've been completely swamped with work so I wasn't really sure that I'd go out at all, but the glamour and glitz of Gravity Head called to me so I went back to Rich O's.

The crowd was unbelievable. It was also unbearable.

I'd been thinking about the 5B Brown Porter that I'd tried the night before. I wondered if I'd given it a fair test, what with my taste buds still being all shot to hell from the Hercules I'd had just before it. I decided that, to be fair to my friend who'd invented the recipe, I'd have another pint and see how it stood on its own.

Unfortunately, I still didn't like it. Just too bitter. It took me over an hour to drink the thing, and that hour was spent walking from section to section trying to find a place to simply stand. There was no hope whatsoever of being able to sit down because the crowd was so thick.

I ended up going home after that one beer, and working until the wee hours of the morning.