good man,
those beers (especially Local 1). I actually just picked up a bottle of that to take to my aunt and uncle's for dinner on Sunday. They drink mostly wine, but they should be open to trying some. On vacation this summer I gave my uncle a little bit of stout to enjoy with some chocolate he had and he was still talking about it the next day
Out of curiosity, what does a bottle of Local 1 go for up by you?
Carl, one more stout I forgot to mention is Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. As the name implies, it's an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels and it really is phenomenal. It's like a big chocolate milkshake with some bourbon poured in.
Last night I went to Basil T's in Red Bank. One New Jersey magazine named it the best brewpub in the state so my parents and I went to check it out. To be honest, while the beer was decent, I think they got named that much more for the food. It's an italian grill/brew pub and the food was phenomenal. Only problem was that it's pretty expensive ($24 for pasta in bolognese sauce), though all the pasta is made on the premises daily. I had their pale ale, which was serviceable but unremarkable, their amber ale that I thought had a funny aftertaste that almost reminded me of the little sour kick in a dry irish stout like Guinness, and then I ordered their extra special bitter but I think they brought me their american wheat, which was also just alright. I was bummed that their dry irish stout, which has won some medals out at GABF wasn't available.