Chicago via Scranton

Went to the matinee showing of Chicago yesterday in Scranton at the Scranton Cultural Center with my friend Sylvia. It was a rousing performance and it played to a packed house. I never saw the movie so I didn't know what to expect (Sylvia had) but I was pleasantly surprised by the performance. If you haven't seen it, the dancing is wonderful, the songs strong, and the story and comedy just off-the-wall enough to keep you honed in. It always amazes me how well these artists perform and they NEVER make any mistakes. Afterwards we went searching for that Brazilian Steakhouse, couldn't find it and ended up at Coopers. Sylvia says that my car has an internal beer compas that always seems to point us there (much to her chagrin). We sat in the non-smoking bar and I decided on the Victory Hop Wallop which I had never had before. (They had Victory Hop Devil from their hand-pump but I haven't been a huge fan of it in the past since it's hoppy and those aren't my favorite beers.) Well, I'm here to tell you that even though Hop Wallop is supposedly more hoppy yet, it ended up being very good and went well with my side of steamed clams and lobster parmesan (both excellent). It arrived in a pint glass with a snow-white head, one and a half amputated fingers high. The color was tending towards a light amber and to my Polish nose could make out very little hop aroma. The taste though, what a wallop. Once I recovered from the first bonk, I tried a second sip and the thing that came though to me and probably best describes the flavor was a strong herbal taste sensation with just the right amount of effervescence. The first went down easy and the second even easier. If you've not been to Coopers you really don't know what you're missing. They have oh, about 20 different micros both import and domestic on draft and they claim 400 different bottles. It's worth the trip