Brass Monkey Red Ale is one funky monkey day drinking session beer

Well staying up to dawn last night scrubbed any brunch plans, but it's okay, because we're gonna go straight into day drinking at the Brass Monkey in the Meatpacking district. Warren's friends were had already been partying for hours, so our group settled into a back booth and Warren regaled us with college stories as the Belmont Stakes unspooled in the background. In both instances, you gotta love Southern kids. Coming from Pepperdine, Dan and I had a muted fraternity pledging and experience, which made Warren's stories about pledges kidnapping active members and tying them to a light post at their rivalry's school along sorority row, that much more enthralling.

Brass Monkey to my great surprise has their own house beer, a red ale. I'd guess from it's smoothness and subtle caramel notes, it's an Irish-style red ale opposed to an American, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it's easy to drink but a rather simple, tasty beer. Perfect day session beer. TRANSFORMERS rating

After bidding goodbye to our friend Nichole who had to go work at Pop Burger, we set our sites on one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, Fatty Crab (menu).

Last last trip we had it to-go and the food was cold but excellent. Tonight the food was hot, spicy and fantastic. It's Malaysian food, a style of food my naive pebble of a brain didn't think could exist. Lots of spices and spicy sauces. Like a bastard child, I'm the only one in my family who can't handle spicy food and I was this close to spontaneously combusting, but I was still loving it.

Thankfully, we had at our disposal Recession Specials; a tall boy of PBR, a shot of Mr. Daniels, and a shot of spicy pickle juice, which killed the bourbon bite. Of course, the pickle juice further inflamed my scorched tongue, which I had to dunk with PBR. A viscous cycle.

Hopefully you can tell, but the bread/buns the sliders arrive in are amazing. That sauce pictures is sweet like eel sauce but with a different consistency and not as strong. Pretty sublime stuff.

Afterward, a nap and then hitting the Big Apple with my taller, blonder and bluer-eyed little bro, Warren D. Love'n life.