V for Victory

Currently enjoying a nice light pale ale from the Victory Brewing Company who are based in Pennsylvania. Not that we're in PA - we're in NH! (More of this PA, NH stuff below.) The V in the Victory logo recalled (for me) Victory V's, those deadly brown lozenges from years ago that gave you a kick like a mule. I bought a packet a few years ago to find they were weak and insipid, maybe another example of how the mind plays tricks. But no! I discovered that the Victory V's of my youth had contained ether and chloroform, no wonder they had that dramatic effect on the tongue. These 'dangerous' ingredients have, of course, been excluded in recent years - shame!

Last night's very well educated pint was at the John Harvard brewpub in Harvard Square. An unusual light coloured Rauchbier compared very favourably with the heavier darker Rauchbiers of Franconia in Germany - in other words I liked it very much with my meatloaf! The meatier Arrow IPA at 8% was not exactly a thirstquencher but was well worth trying! Vicky enjoyed her US take on a shepherd's pie but they spell it shepard's pie which I thought a bit odd in this academically correct part of America.

And off to the White Mountains for tomorrow's run. They're called white for the same reason Snowdon's called Snowdon but there are lots of them clustered together and I'm running up one of them in the morning. This afternoon the sun wasn't shining (unlike in the photo) and as we got closer the drizzle turned to sleet turned to snow - glad I've got my bumbag to run with. We'll let you know how it goes - the ski season isn't supposed to start for another month so our lodging is fairly quiet so we should sleep well.

Regarding PA, NH, NY, etc., these are the zipcode (postcode) abbreviations indicating which state you're in. These can be quite important to take notice of especially (as in North Wales until recently) there are dry counties. Nearly half the state of Arkansas (AR or Ark) is dry and in last week's mid term US elections Arkansas counties elected to stay dry! Goodness gracious they allow the sale of guns to anybody but the idea of selling some fine ale and they're all up in arms - I think I'll stop here as I'm mixing up my metaphors.