This Saturday, Ann, her sister Jenny, Jenny's boyfriend Kevin and I went to the Beeradvocate.com Extreme Beer Festival. What an amazing selection of beer! My personal favorites were:

• Sam Adams 3 Weiss Men (9.7%ABV) - a double-strength Hefe-Weizen
  
• Sam Adams Utopias (25%) - the strongest beer in the world
  
• Harpoon Barleywine (10.3%) - a very mellow barleywine, not as hoppy as most American versions
  
• Magic Hat Nailbiter (7.8%) - imperial stout aged 18 months, according to the pourer, will be available as Thumbsucker in early spring
  
• Rock Bottom Framboise - a much more sour Lambic-style brew than I would have expected from this subpar chain brewpub
  
• Rogue Smoke - just an excellent smokey amber/brown ale
  
• Cantillon Vigneronne - a grape lambic, as delicious as all of Cantillon's beers
  
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine (9.6%) - this was the 2001 vintage, and was probably my favorite beer I had all night. Well, except for the Utopias, but that goes without saying
  
• Smuttynose Oak Aged Barleywine (11.25%) - really delicious, the oak barrel contributed a lot of flavor
  

So, you probably think that I was pretty drunk after all of those beers. You're right. But I wasn't nearly as drunk as Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams - his speech was hilarious. His motivation for creating Utopias? He wanted a beer that he could set on fire. You could really tell that he was a beer lover at heart, which may not be obvious from the slick marketing campaign that SA runs these days, with their emphasis on Sammy Light. I just wish some of their more adventurous beers could make it into bottles, and that Utopias could cost $15. Anyone who is in the area should make plans to hit the Beeradvocate.com Belgian Beer Fest in the fall. If this festival was any indication, that one should be incredible.

Man, the Pats are damn good. It's always fun when your team beats Hunter S. Thompson's.

I tell you, it's a weird feeling for this New England sports fan to be confident going into a championship. And I'm not the only one - the region probably hasn't been this cocky since the days of Larry Legend. Maybe it will come back to haunt us, but I doubt it. The Pats are just too well-coached.

Another weird thought that just popped into my head - isn't it going to be wierd in two years when Super Bowl 40 rolls around and they have to use XL as the Roman numerals? Do you think that the average American knows what that means, or will they just think it means "extra-large"? I can see it now: "Super Bowl XL - played on a 150 yard field! Only on Fox!"

Curt Schilling (yes, that Curt Schilling) is answering questions on a Red Sox message board that I like to read. It is fascinating stuff.

Okay, I did the math, the BMW thing would be more expensive. But the first two would work.

Here's a great analysis of why a moon base and a manned mission to Mars are a very bad idea. Hmm...maybe we should try making sure all Americans have health care, eradicating Malaria, or giving a BMW to every person in the country - or maybe all three, since it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than Dubya's hair-brained scheme.