Blog Archives

In Which the Festive Times Begin!

11/29/2022

Howdy kids! We've got a week fulla fun stuff lined up for all y'all, so read on while we get to gettin' on with all the things that are good!

And first up on that ol' list is the triumphant return of CASK! Yes indeedy, this Thursday we're tappin' up a cask of Extra Naked (the arguably-best beer to serve on cask) and we went and crammed it full of relatively-new-to-us fruity-as-hell Zappa and it's gonna be mega tasty and you should try some!

Anyway, moving on into fun stuff to do whilst you drink these this tasty cask, on Thursday we've got a new-to-us event and that's a wreath making workshop! It's the first day of December, so we might as well just roll with the seasonally-appropriate punches and make some goddamned wreaths! Seriously though, I bet there's some cool-ass wreath designs you could come up with and then that way you wouldn't have to buy some horrible wreath from Target that the dog keeps trying to eat (which may or may not have happened in our household last year).

And then movin' into the weekend the name of the game is snackin'! On Friday, we are opening at 3pm instead of 12pm this week (because of reasons, and it's only for this week) and starting at 6pm, we've got Food-Zilla back in the house and we strongly suggest checking them out because they're definitely not serving your typical popup fare and it's pretty much spectacular. And then on Sunday we've got Chef Harold back in the house doin' what he does best, and that's teach y'all how to make sushi!

And lookin' a little ways into next week, we've got a Paint Your Pet workshop on Tuesday which was hella fun the last time we did it (and this time it's way less likely to be 85 degrees in the room while you're painting) and then next Thursday we've got more Simpsons Trivia! This time around the theme is Season Eleven and also you're no longer in danger of winning The Worst Prize from our prize box because somebody won it last month and anyway you should come hang out!

Also, congrats to our November coloring contest winners! Adequate work, everyone!

* Apparently Styria is a place? In Austria? I've been seeing this damn word for twenty years (Styrian Golding is a common hop variety, which I don't think is usually grown in Austria?) and I just learned what it meant today.

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In Which We Suggest Increasingly Unhinged Thanksgiving Activities

11/22/2022

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Well hey there! We're gettin' all geared up for our much anticipated (by us) Thanksgiving Beer Pairings, but that'll have to wait a hot minute because weve got a buncha cool stuff we gotta talk about first!

And startin' things off with a bang or whatever, it's worth mentioning that we will be open from 12-6 on Wednesday, closed Thursday, and then open normal hours after that for at least a week. Holiday hours! Tons of fun, right?

And speaking of nonstop holiday fun, there will be no cask this week on account of how our hours are all weird (and also this weekend is just weird in general). But! We've finally rebuilt our backstock and it's lookin' like smooth sailin' on the cask front for the foreseeable future!

And if you're lookin' for somethin' special on the draft list to ease your woes after not getting your cask needs met, look no further than Blood of Krampus! Remember that one? Well it turns out that we squirreled away a vanishingly-small amount of that tasty beer (which is a barrel-aged blend heavily featuring Biere de Krampus, if you hadn't put that together already) and it's on tap right now and it's pourin' until it kicks, so come getcha some while there's gettin' to be got!

Protip: Krampus tastes better out of a ceramic mug

And gettin' back on to that ol' Holiday Nonsense train, we're bringin' back another vaunted tradition around here and that's the Shitty Wednesday Bottle Release! See, the day before Thanksgiving is kind of the worst - there's crazy traffic everywhere, and once you suffer through that you're either gonna end up awkwardly standing around and eating second-tier snacks (because all the food effort went into The Big Day), or you're gonna go to a bar and run into a bunch of people you went to high school with and get a fresh reminder for why you never bothered staying in touch with these people anyway. Not ideal! So we figured we'd "spice things up" a bit by releasing some bottles for you to grab on your way out of town! This year we haven't quite matched last year's deluge of new stuff (we had like seven new things I think? And this year we released most of our bottled stuff throughout the year instead of all on one day) but we've still got some goodies! We bottled up some of The Gargoyle because we missed it and also y'all seemed to dig it, and also we've got Working Title in bottles for the first time, and also we've just got a whole bunch of other cool shit in bottles already, so come on by and stock up! If you show up with the fancy stuff then you look thoughtful instead of looking like you procrastinated your trip by stopping at the bar and having a beer (which you should also probably do).

Protip: this is a sharin' beer

Anyway we're a little light on events this weekend (because of all that stuff I mentioned), but we've got Decimation Deli comin' by on Saturday and their sandwich game (not to mention their hot sauce game) is completely on point so come on by and say hi!

Protip: get your sandwich decimated

And if you're lookin' into next week, we've got some fun times happening next week! We've got a "Fiddle Times" Jam Session next Tuesday and it's open to all who wanna hoedown, and then next Thursday we've got a Wreath Making Workshop (and also we've got sushi on Wednesday, but you knew that) and anyway it's gonna be fun times and you should come by!

(oh, also we're opening late (at 3PM) next Friday because of Reasons, but that's not all that late so it shouldn't be much of an issue for most people?)

Looking at you Rick

And now it's time for the moment you've all* been waiting for: Thanksgiving Beer Pairings! For those of you who might be new around here, this has become an annual tradition that started out fairly innocently: we wanted to come up with some fun and sassy pairings for Turkey Day! But as the years have gone on, we pretty quickly ran out of normal Thanksgiving traditions to gently poke fun at, which means this list is really just a shining testament to why we don't usually get invited to parties (or rather, why we don't get invited back). Anyway, buckle on up and put on your Eatin' Pants, because we've got some Thanksgiving Magic comin' straight atcha!

Protip: combine all of these situations into one Family Dinner. Making memories!

Extra Naked
pairs well with... wishing you hadn't eaten so much the previous day
and if you don't have any Extra Naked, we suggest... shame eating

Shut Up Kelly!
pairs well with... ooOOOooh! Somebody brought fudge?!
and if you don't have any Shut Up Kelly, we suggest... trying to convince your elderly aunt to do shots of Allen's Coffee Brandy with you

Ginger Spectacular
pairs well with... trying to get out of any and all discussions about politics
and if you don't have any Ginger Spectacular, we suggest... pointing into the middle distance and yelling "what's that!?" and then running away, giggling

El Pulpo
pairs well with... constructing increasingly-elaborate forts with your youngest relatives
And if you don't have any El Pulpo, we suggest... acting so erratically at the dinner table that you get banished to the kids' playroom to go watch Dumbo like six times in a row because that's somehow the only movie they have. Again.

Protip: Terry's toffee chocolate orange slices are WHAT'S UP

Joyrider
pairs well with... compressing, shaping, and re-baking the stuffing to use as hard taco shells
And if you don't have any Joyrider, we suggest... pointing out each dish individually and making the argument that it "technically qualifies as a taco." Really fight to make your point. Make a chart if you have to.

Joybringer
pairs well with... making up songs about the foods you're about to eat while you fill your plate
And if you don't have any Joybringer, we suggest... putting on a puppet show wherein you have the turkey carcass stage a Gallagher-style performance and messily smash the giblets with a potato

Barrel-aged El Pulpo
pairs well with... happily shouting
And if you don't have any Barrel-aged El Pulpo, we suggest... angrily shouting

The Gargoyle
pairs well with... trying to convince people that turkey and peanut butter really do go well together (which they do)
and if you don't have any The Gargoyle, we suggest... making peanut butter gravy and then fleeing the scene before anyone tastes the abomination you have wrought upon this world

Protip: ask for your crowler fills before closing your tab out so you don't have to wait!

Wasted Life
pairs well with... a nap on the couch
and if you don't have any Wasted Life, we suggest... taking a nap anyway, albeit a less satisfying one

Menagerie
pairs well with... making bacon-chocolate fudge
and if you don't have any Menagerie, we suggest... using pâté as frosting on a bunch of cupcakes

Baby Monster
pairs well with... showing up in a tuxedo and refusing to comment on it (and/or acknowledge that it's abnormal)
And if you don't have any Baby Monster, we suggest... making a big deal about needing to "get dressed for dinner" and then disappearing for 40 minutes only to come back in slightly nicer pajamas

Working Title
pairs well with... étouffée
And if you don't have any Working Title, we suggest... making "Thanksgiving Gumbo" out of leftovers

Trial Run
pairs well with... wrapping stuffing balls in turkey skin
And if you don't have any Trial Run, we suggest... sayin' "I'll rassle you for it" every time somebody asks you to pass them something (and following through)

Protip: do not drink several pints of Honey 'n Hops and attempt to walk down hardwood stairs in your socks

Honey 'n Hops
pairs well with... eating the entire cheese board before anybody knows it's there
And if you don't have any Honey 'n Hops, we suggest... making a decoy cheese board with lesser cheeses so you get all the good stuff for yourself

Mirage Daze
pairs well with... practicing astral projection as your older relatives exhaustively list off the medical problems of everybody they know
And if you don't have any Mirage Daze, we suggest... telling stories about fictional characters as if they're friends of yours

Rumble Royale
pairs well with... turkey dipped in honeycup
And if you don't have any Rumble Royale, we suggest... making "candied" versions of foods that aren't generally candied (green beans, stuffing, etc)

Man Overboard
pairs well with... talking like a noir detective for the entirety of dinner
And if you don't have any Man Overboard, we suggest... speaking only in movie quotes (bonus points if you stick to a single movie. We suggest Wayne's World)

Critters XVIII
pairs well with... using bacon as a makeshift cracker to dip into soft cheeses (ideally you would have Harbison and some extra smoky bacon for this)
And if you don't have any Critters XVIII, we suggest... taking a half wheel of brie and trying to lick all the cheese out from the rind (bonus points if you're making eye contact with somebody while you do this)

Protip: enjoy Embrace of Death instead of the weird fruit salad cups your one aunt always forces on everyone (or is that just my family)

Embrace of Death
pairs well with... insisting that chips and salsa is totally a traditional Thanksgiving appetizer
And if you don't have any Embrace of Death, we suggest... turkey stuffed with tacos

Exiled from the Abyss
pairs well with... serving traditional foods but in slightly different preparations (pickled green beans, smoked turkey, sweet potato chips, you get the idea) to see if you can make the hardcore traditionalists at the table have a breakdown
And if you don't have any Exiled from the Abyss, we suggest... making "turducken" versions of everything - green beans wrapped in stuffing wrapped in mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce wrapped in candied yams and stuffed inside a twice-baked potato, that sort of thing

Hellmouth
pairs well with... turkey pan fried in gravy
And if you don't have any Hellmouth, we suggest... cutting all the food into small pieces (or forming the soft foods into balls), deep frying it, and then mixing everything together in one big bowl. You never know what the next bite will be!

Protip: seriously, try this with some apple pie

Firekeeper
pairs well with... apple pie
And if you don't have any Firekeeper, we suggest... secretly installing murphy beds around the host's house

No Light Ever
pairs well with... those weird "truffles" that are basically just crushed oreos and cream cheese
And if you don't have any No Light Ever, we suggest... trying to convince people that the box of Oreos you brought for dessert is actually a "deconstructed cake"

Porcupine Pale
pairs well with... tricking your mother in law into drinking carbombs after dinner
And if you don't have any Porcupine Pale, we suggest... aggressively serving everybody absinthe

* And by "you all" I mean "Jared"

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In Which Krampus Comes to Town

11/16/2022

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Howdy-do, have we got some cool stuff for you! We're headed headlong into an action-packed week fulla fun times and beers and friendship and all that good shit, so read on up and check out all the cool stuff we're doin'!

And first on up, we're releasin' two new beers! And maybe a third one! And also we're doin' up back to back release shindigs for two of those beers, on account of how they're collabs we did with cool people we know and those cool people wanted to get into some shindiggery!

Anyway the first of them dang ol' beers is Firekeeper and it's a witbier (made with chamomile and elderflower and a little lime peel) and we made it in collaboration with Everett-based Firekeeper Studios and we're doin' up a release party thing on Saturday (early) afternoon and Lala's Neapolitan-ish Pizza is gonna be settin' up and slingin' some pies and you should come on by!

And since we're doin' cool beer release shenanigans on Saturday, we're also releasing our collab with Grayskull Booking! They book a significant number of the cool metal shows in the area and they're throwin' a show for their birthday in a couple weeks and so we brewed a beer for it! The beer itself is a hoppy saison called Hellmouth and it comes out on Saturday!

And speaking of new/fun beers, we've got a cask this week! More to the point, our trusty Thursday cask will give you a bit of a sneak peek at an alternate-universe Firekeeper Wit (in this universe, we dry hop that beer with a whole bunch of experimental whole-leaf Galena) and it's gonna be tasty and you should drink some!

And also, at some point, we're releasing The Krampleman! Yes indeedy, we brewed up more Biere de Krampus and it's coming on draft and in cans soon (it was gonna be a Shitty Wednesday release but we got excited and now it's gonna get tapped as soon as we have a line) and also it's featured in our Holiday Mix Packs! Party!

And speaking of parties, we're gonna turn the clock all the way to Thursday (which you might remember from that sweet cask release several paragraphs ago) and talk about our Friendsgiving Party! We're bringin' our friends from Seabiscuit in with their savory and/or sweet pies and there's a beer and pie pairing menu (and holy shit it sounds so tasty) and also just for kicks we're hostin' some Bill Murray trivia and it's gonna be tons of fun! And tasty!

And then on Friday we've got a brief respite from the hootenanny, but that's not gonna stop us from havin' tasty eats because we've got Food-Zilla in the house! This is our first time havin' them in the taproom, but the menu looks tasty as heck and we're stoked to have them!

And then on Saturday, before all that other stuff I mentioned, we've got Crystal back in the house for some New Wave Yoga! I don't actually know what "new wave" means, but I know that Crystal's classes are pretty rad, so come on out and do some yoga with us!

And then of course on Sunday we've got our regularly-scheduled sushi classes that you should totally check out if you haven't already!

And lastly, lookin' forward a bit to next Wednesday we're doin' our Shitty Wednesday bottle release! We don't have a million billion bottles to release this year because of Reasons (several of those reasons being that we put a bunch of band beers in bottles over the spring/summer, which we don't usually do) but we're bottling some Working Title and re-bottling some Gargoyle and we've got a whole raft of other cool things in bottles and anyway it's an excuse to do something other than sitting in traffic all afternoon/evening on the day before Thanksgiving, so come on by!

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In Which We Double Check to Make Sure it's Pulpo Time (It is Indeed Pulpo Time)

11/9/2022

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Ahoy mateys! Here be a fine blog, the yarest set of updates there be. So shiver them timbers and read on, because we've got good times galore for you scurvy scallywags!

And to start things off on an appropriately anticlimactic note, we ain't got no new beers this week, not even a cask. But! That's because all of the beers we're packaging this week are for cool stuff we're doin' next week (and also cask will return next week), so you'll just have to trust us that it'll be worth the wait!

Oh! And also we're in the process of recovering from our recent, largely-unprecedented* run on Extra Naked, which means (in practical terms) that Extra Naked is gonna be back on tap starting on Thursday and all will be right with the world once again.

mmm... Extra Naked...

And speaking of Thursday, this Thursday is Simpsons Trivia! We're back on the whole "one season per month" train, and this month it's Season Ten! If I remember correctly, this is right around when the show starts to get really buckwild, so hold on to your hats and come hang out with us!

But wait, remember when I said earlier that we didn't have any new beers coming out this week? Well it turns out I was wrong! Or maybe lying! Who** knows! Because starting on Friday and lasting thru Sunday we're celebrating Pulpo Day! And if you're not "hip to the haps" on Pulpo Day (which is reasonable, because it's yet another holiday we made up just for the hell of it), it's the release party for our vaunted chocolate orange imperial stout which we release (in cans and on draft) every winter and which is named - you guessed it - El Pulpo! And to celebrate such an auspicious occasion, we're also releasing the barrel-aged version of the same beer (on tap and in bottles) and all weekend long we'll be tappin' up some rare cellar-aged vintages of El Pulpo (some barrel-aged, some not) and also Liz and Jared doin' a Private Tasting Session of different Pulpo vintages on Friday evening (which probably isn't sold out yet? But it's getting close) and we'll have cool food vendors all weekend - namely Lobzter King on Friday and Adrianos Tacos on Saturday and we're fully stocked on chocolate oranges behind the bar and it's gonna be a hell of a time this weekend and we hope you can join us!

We are, like, way too excited for this year's barrel blend. It's so good you guys

And since we can't seem to stop at doing one event at a time, we'll also be out In The World on Saturday! More to the point, we'll be at the Hartshorne House in Wakefield doin' up some beer and cheese funtimes and also learnin' up on some local history, so if you're in the area you should come on out!

Get tickets here: Beer and Cheese Tasting

And speaking of further fun times this weekend, we're still keepin' on hosting sushi classes with Chef Harold on Sunday so if you ain't been to one yet, come check it out!

And looking forward a bit to next week, we've got some Friendsgiving Fun Times for you next Thursday! We've got our friends from Seabiscuit comin' out and doin' a pie popup (both savory and sweet) and each pie on their menu has a designated beer pairing on our menu because nothing says "friendship" like beer and pies and we're hostin' a Bill Murray trivia night complete with some frankly-ridiculous (even for us) prizes and anyway it's gonna be a blast and you should come out!

The pairings ain't nothin' to scoff at either:
Smoked Turkey and Sausage Pie x Shut Up Kelly! Robust Porter
Curry Vegetable Pie x Extra Naked Table Beer
Cheeseburger Pie x Trial Run ESB
Mini Pecan Pies x Honey ‘n Hops DIPA
Country Custard Pies x El Pulpo Stout

And then glimpsin' ever so slightly more into the future, we've got two cool music-themed beer release parties next weekend! Next Friday we're releasing our collab with Grayskull booking and we're usin' that as an excuse to host some Band Hangouts, and then next Saturday we're releasing our collab with Everett-based recording studio Firekeeper Studios and that's also gonna be a hoot and anyway you've got time to plan ahead but we've got lotsa cool stuff goin' on!

*Among other things, we've semi-recently acquired one of our first-ever "corporate accounts" who will, without warning, do things like order twenty kegs at once for their office. It's rad, but it can do weird things to our keg inventory.
** Frankly, even *I* don't know which one of those is accurate.

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In Which We Triple Down on the Ol' Canning Line

11/1/2022

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Hello again! Welcome back! How are you? We're great, thanks for asking! We've got a whole bunch more cool stuff comin' you're way, so we're gonna get on with it!

And first up on that ol' choppin' block, after a weeklong hiatus (which we'll be repeating next week, by the way), is the triumphant return of cask! This week we're tappin' up a pin of that tasty lil' newcomer to the taproom Trial Run and since we like to "shake things up" a bit when it comes to cask, we dry hopped it with tried-and-true Belma and it's gettin' tapped on Thursday and it's gonna be tasty and you should come drink some!

Just imagine it in a 20oz mug

And speakin' of tried-and-true favorites, we've got some tried-and-true favorites returning to the taproom this weekend! For starters, we've got Honey 'n Hops and if you're unfamiliar with this beer it's a big ol' IPA brewed with a buncha our fruitiest hops and also a pretty irresponsible quantity of honey and it's gonna be in cans (available Saturday) and also on draft (available Monday) and it's tasty as hell!

A recipe that dates back to the era of using our shopping list as the beer name

And speaking of things that are tasty as hell and/or things that will be available in cans starting on Saturday we're bringin' back Ginger Spectacular! This sucker's a strong farmhouse brewed with a whole mess of fresh ginger root (and also some honey, now that you mention it) and it's pretty much got spice for days and anyway you should come drink some!

See above caption

But if you're not really in the mood for any old new beers, and you want some new new beers, then you're in luck! See, we're headed Out West for the winter version of the Decibel Beer and Heavy Metal fest in a month or so, and we just so happened to have the good fortune to get paired up with a rad death metal band (namely Of Feather and Bone) to do a collab beer for the fest, and we're givin' y'all a "sneak preview" in the taproom (on account of how we don't expect very many of you to go all the way out to Denver for a fest) and it's gonna be available in cans on - you guessed it - Saturday and it's a tasty lil' grisette* packed full of pineapple and lime and it's tasty as heck and you should come grab some!

Anyway that's probably all the new/old beers we have for you this week (to say nothing of the New/Old Beer Extravaganza that's happening next weekend, but I'm getting ahead of myself) so let's get on to the fun times!

Kickin' things off on Thursday is November's installment of Audio Triviality and it turns out that when you run music trivia for multiple years you need to get a little creative with the themes, so this month's theme is Kings & Queens! But it's maybe not so esoteric as you expect - think Queens of the Stone Age, King Diamond, probably Prince, and probably some somewhat less-obvious stuff (I dunno if there's gonna be anything from the King of Pop, put that's the gist of it) and anyway it's gonna be a buncha fun and we're restocked on fun prizes** and you should come hang with us!

We bet you'll be great at trivia after a few mUg PoUrS

And then on Friday we're bringin' in our friends from Light of Day Records for a vinyl listening party! They'll be spinnin' their new release, Rah Zen’s “Upon the Apex” (which just so happens to be on 180-gram translucent blue vinyl if you're a sucker for pretty records like we are) and they'll be sellin' copies and they'll probably bring a buncha other records for you to peruse and it's gonna be a buncha fun and also if you get snackish (and if a cool vinyl party wasn't enough to entice you) we'll have HotChix in the house for the evening and anyway you should come out!

Um also can we talk about how it's gonna be in the 70s? In November? BEER GARDEN FOREVER

And speaking of cool music-related shenanigans, we're hosting a music marketplace on Saturday! But this is no ordinary music marketplace, because it's targeted toward all y'all who make music (and/or people who want to play around with musicmaking stuff)! We've got SJC Drums here with a demo of some of their custom drums and Source Audio will be here with a buncha pedals and for those of you who want to get more into the Music Listening Experience we've got Light of Day Records in the house (again) for a "vinyl summit" which is mostly collector tips, care advice, and a general Q&A and also they'll have a vinyl popup shop if you wanna grab some vinyl and we're gonna have El Colombiano Coffee in the house slingin' some hot java and Decimation Deli will be in the house makin' sandwiches all afternoon and the point is that it's gonna be a hoot and you should check it out!

Let's get loud!

And then on Sunday we've got our regularly-scheduled sushi class taught by the delightful Chef Harold but you've heard me talk about that a couple times so we don't need to go into too much detail on that except to say that it's completely rad and the sushi is great.

And while we're on about next week, we've got another Simpsons Trivia Night next Thursday and we're pickin' things up at Season 10! We'll have a few beers and a few laughs and maybe some laughably ridiculous prizes and it's gonna be a good time!

And then starting next Friday and ending Sunday it's Pulpo Day! We're releasing our beloved chocolate orange imperial stout (El Pulpo) and we wanted to "do it up proper" so we're throwin' a shindig! We're gonna be tapping this year's variants of El Pulpo (regular and barrel-aged) and also a buncha cellared/vintage El Pulpo (both barreled and otherwise) and if you want a more "in depth" experience then Liz and Jared are hosting private tastings of El Pulpo (plus maybe a couple other goodies) and anyway that's a bit of a ways into the future but we're stoked as heck and we hope you'll join us!

PULPO! Poopo! Poblano! Pebble! Pwelpo!

Oh! Also! If you're more of a "local history" sorta person, we're gonna be at The Hartshorne House next Saturday doin' a beer and cheese thing, so come on out if you wanna get historical with us! Grab a ticket here: CHEESE PARTY

FYI, ticket sales close this Saturday!

* This might actually be the first time we've had a metal band request a fruit beer, which is pretty rad. Bonus fun fact: the working title for this beer, which was taken from one of their songs, was "Baptized in Boiling Phlegm" but it turns out there are... difficulties in using a name like that for a beer.
** We're trying something a little new with prizes at the moment, so the current stock is less "crap that Jared bought off the internet" and more "crap that Jared bought at Dollar Tree when he realized we were almost out of prizes." It makes more of a difference than you'd think.

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In Which the Festive Times Begin!

In Which We Suggest Increasingly Unhinged Thanksgiving Activities

In Which Krampus Comes to Town

In Which We Double Check to Make Sure it's Pulpo Time (It is Indeed Pulpo Time)

In Which We Triple Down on the Ol' Canning Line

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