Where We Be, What We Be Drinking: Week 7

It is Friday. Thank God. Just one more day until college football. To keep everybody's mind off of work, let's discuss beer and travel plans.

babaoreally: I will be in West Lafayette watching my Boilers come back down to earth against Michigan State. I will probably drink a Goose Island IPA at the game. Or maybe a bottomless Coke. Or maybe both. Like those t-shirts say, life is full of interesting decisions. Is that what those shirts used to say? I think everyone knows what I am talking about here.

DJ Carver: It's a bye week, so I'm back to bartending a wedding. Season is almost over so have to get all of that side money in while I can! I usually hate the PAC12 games that end at 1am, but they let me catch some college football action when I get home, so I'll do that while I have a beer to relax after the shift.

DJ DJ Carver is a solid DJ name.

Ray Ransom: It's bye week and I'm off to a foodie engagement party in central NJ to savor delicious passed hors d'oeuvres and Rutgers' delicious win over Michigan (yep, still get a kick out of writing that). The festivities are actually near the site of the second college football game ever played. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Rutgers beat Princeton in the first game ever played to secure a share of the first ever college football national championship in 1869. I suspect this paragraph will cause zero angry comments or guffahs from OTErs. Given that the couple is from Philly, I'll most likely be drinking some Brawler, a Pugilist Style Ale from Philadelphia's own Yards Brewing Company. A delightful choice for both marital observations and cordial fisticuffs.

A foodie engagement party? So it's an engagement party for people who like food? Or people who are engaged to food? Like, "If you like that hot dog so much, why don't you marry it?" "Okay then, I will. Hot dog, will you marry me?" Then a talking hot dog says "I will" and starts crying. And then they have an engagement party. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this, it's probably an engagement party that is supposed to feature fancy food.

Andrew Kraszewski: I'll be sailing into the Bermuda Triangle of the Midwest (West Lafayette) to see if MSU has the discipline to control an entire game or if Purdue can make this interesting. I expect a romp, but if I'm wrong and Purdue pulls the upset I don't even have to face you all because I'll probably commit hari-kari in the Ross-Ade bleachers. I don't see Three Floyds at home much, so I'll make a point to get into as many of their offerings as I can. Munsterfest looks especially season-appropriate.

MNWildcat: Come now, Andrew. Sail into the Bermuda Triangle of the Midwest, right into the welcoming embrace of Purdue Harbor, your one-stop port-of-call for debauchery, disappointment, and d'trains.

After presenting at a conference in scenic Sioux Falls on Thursday, I'll be back in the Twin Cities (call it Minneapolis) by late Friday...for my sister's wedding on Saturday. Both Dad (a Gophers season-ticketholder) and I are rather annoyed with her, but that is what it is. I have already scheduled stops by a couple NU tailgates that morning, but have to be suited up by noon, so the dulcet tones of Mike Grimm on KFAN will likely carry me through the day. To drink? Well the finest samplings of Minnesota fare, of course! Some Flat Earth Brewery, some Surly, and perhaps even stopping through New Ulm for a case of Schell's on my way up from Sioux Falls on Friday night. Along with, of course, a trip to my favorite Eagan discount liquor store to see what their $8 12-pack special is. Ah, home. A reprieve from my Milwaukeean captivity. Oh, and some hotdish. I gotta get me some hotdish.

C.E. Bell: My little brother is getting married Saturday, and I will be officiating the wedding, which means I will be on Manasota Key, Florida on Saturday (he wisely scheduled for a Northwestern road game, so I'm not too unhappy about this). The wedding isn't until late in the afternoon, so I'll be searching high and low for a sports bar carrying Northwestern-Minnesota during the day (or else watch on my laptop at the hotel). Since I'll be on a beach, at a wedding, with cousins/friends (but sadly no child or wife -- too early for the little guy to travel), and the wedding is at the hotel (meaning no need to drive anywhere afterwards), I'll be drinking a lot of Coronas (perfect beer for a beach day) and/or Makers Mark (every family event involves bourbon -- I love my family).

You should DJ this wedding, so you can relive your glory days by making the cat roar noise after important parts of the reception.

GoForThree: OSU bye week means a chance to get together with my buddy from flight school to see the Lake Garnett Grand Prix Revival, which is an antique and historic car race. Beyond staking my happiness on the saturday efforts of the B1G, I also dabble in old British cars. Find a more futile hobby, I dare you! The drinks will consist of cups of rot-gut Coors products, and if I'm lucky, the occasional Boulevard or Tonganoxie Wheat. I'll be furiously checking B1G scores during the caution flags. Giving the maintenance reputation of most British marques, I should have plenty of opportunities.

Jesse Collins: Bye week means I get to detox from Nebraska watching this weekend. While I enjoy football so very much, it will also be nice to not spend my Saturday more stressed than I need to be. On the flipside, that also means that I get to go shopping for furniture. So that will be my day. Of course, what I'm not telling you is that it probably means a trip to KC with a stop at Oklahoma Joe's, which means this is very much so, a great weekend.

Brian Gillis: You guys and your bye weeks. This feels like a bye season for me...I'll be in the heart of SEC country this weekend, in Birmingham, Alabama. One week too late, it seems, for all the excitement.

Candystripes for Breakfast: Not being on a bye week, I will be watching Iowa-Indiana from the comfort of my home, and hoping against hope that we can actually string together two wins in a row this season. Since it's an early kickoff, I'll likely have a mocha iced coffee next to me during the game, as I'll still be on breakfast at kickoff. (Rest assured, the Coke/Vanilla Coke/etc will be consumed later.)

MNW: Mocha? Latte or gtfo.

C4B: Look, it comes in a glass bottle, it tastes delicious, and the label on the bottle says mocha iced coffee. I don't care what it's called, it's what I'm drinking.

Aaron Yorke: I'm streaming the game at work in NYC, so I'll join Eric on the coffee/soda train.

Ray: What's with everyone not drinking at work? I thought this was a football conference, not a tea party.

Mike Jones: I'll finally be back in Iowa City for Iowa's homecoming game against the Hooisers. I plan on heading up with my dad so we'll probably be drinking Olde or vodka orange juice or gin and juice cause we LAAAAAAID BAAAAACK.

GoAUpher: I'll be back on my couch, adjusting to Minnesota's first early game of the year. Downside, boo early games. Upside? In the Eastern Time Zone this means the game is at noon (Central Time is still God's time though). I think I'll break into my last sixer of Alpha King for this game for no other reason than it tastes good and I like it.