Goose Island IPA welcomes me to New York City, four hours late

This was one hell of a day. I wake up early and successfully fly standby for an earlier flight, hoping to arrive in NYC at 7pm rather than 12am in order to spend time with the broham, the brosef, the hambone himself, my brother Warren. However, as we're about to land the plane starts dropping and jumping around, causing the woman next to me to start yelling and grabbing my arm. This is what happened next -

True story. So our approach is canceled and we're diverted out to sea, and about an hour later diverted into Atlantic City. At this point we're 2 hours late. To compound my woes, my phone's screen is broken and I have no way to contact my friends in NYC except my brother, whose number is the only one I have memorized. Long story short, we land in NYC after being on that damn plane for 9 hours, and I f*cking needed a drink. Fortunately I have the best brother in the world and he had a double shot of Maker's Mark and a Goose Island IPA waiting for me when I arrive five minutes to midnight - just in the nick of time!

Goose Island IPA upholds the Chicago brewery's golden standard. It has a light caramel malt that's sweet but makes room for the robust hops, which don't overwhelm the palate. This is a very drinkable IPA, a hoppy midwest session beer, and it's deserving of THE ROCK rating.

Afterward Warren and his two coworkers, Mike and Scuba Steve (pictured) head over to Pop Burger for some 1am brews and burgers. Warren's excited for me to try his favorite Barleywine, the Anchor Steam Foghorn, which is excellent. I'm excited to try the Brooklyn Chocolate Stout (amazing) and our lovely manager/waitress Nichole pushes the Brooklyn Local 1 & 2 on us. I'm an easy sell them all. The #2 is Belgian Strong Dark Ale and isn't quite as delicious as the #1, but you still can't go wrong with it. Warren has to be up early to trade commodities so we call it a night at 2am.

A burger so big I actually had to unhinge my jaws like a snake to eat it. Charming Walker, such a class act

A long, shitty day of zero drink'n ends with a burst of delicious brews from all over the U.S. Thank you brother and NYC for delivering, can't wait to see what the weekend entails!