Winning the Stanley Cup is not only hard on our good ol’ Buffalo Sabres. It’s hard on the fans. Playoffs are intense: You have to be swift (to get a seat at a bar), tough (to stay up later than normal 3 days a week during the 2 months of the playoffs) and focused (on where you are going, who you are meeting and what good luck pre-game strategy won the game last time).

On our quest for the cup, we’ve tried watching the games downtown, at home, at friends’. Sunday, we opted for a friend’s. On our way, we decided to grab our growlers and fill them at a local retailer.

If you don’t know what a growler is, you should. So, pay attention:

In the late 1800s, before breweries bottled beer, people would take fresh beer home from their local pub in small-galvanized pails. Rumor has it that when the beer sloshed around the pail, it created a rumbling sound as the CO2 escaped through the lid, thus the term “growler” was coined.

It’s second to having draft beer at home. Since I have yet to install a draft beer system in my endless project of a “house,” I like to get the same feel by filling growlers.

On tap this week:
Brooklyn Pilsner
CB’s Spring Fever Ale
Ellicottville Toasted Lager
Flying Bison Aviator Red
Ithaca Cascazilla
JW Dundee’s Pale Bock
Yuengling Porter
Long Trail Unfiltered IPA
Otter Creek Cuckoo Bock
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Smuttynose Hanami Ale
Southern Tier Jah-va Imperial Coffee Stout

We opted for the Ellicottville Toasted Lager and the Yuengling Porter. I preferred the porter. It was a little sweet and light for a porter, but decent. I had no idea that Yuengling even made one. But, what I liked best about it was that we won and closed the series.

Last night, we opted for watching the game at a bar over pitchers of Canadian Light. And, I think that the hockey gods prefer growlers. Game 1 lost to Ottawa. Ottawa!

Next game – Saturday. Growlers for sure.