New Knights & New Sites

The past few days have been particularly productive for the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale. Sir Dayvd has been slaving away developing the KMSA Shoppe, where you can now purchase Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale merchandise to express yourself in whatever way you like.

You can visit the KMSA Shoppe by clicking on the logo on the left side of the blog, or here in this post. Check it out!




We also added two new Knights to the Realm yesterday. First, my cousin, who is a far better man than I, submitted to the sword and was dubbed Sir John of the Rangeline. Sir John's father and my mother where siblings, so besides sharing our tastes in wine, women and song, we also share the same DNA! You can read his eloquent request for membership in the comments on Wednesday's blog. The picture below is Sir John teaching a theological class in Georgia (not USA, but next to Russia Georgia)



Sir Timothy of Dunleary, the proprietor of one of our Sacred Watering Holes, the Dublin Village Tavern, also requested to be knighted. He shared a very interesting letter with us via email yesterday, which I would like to share with you today with his permission. I believe it sums up a lot of what the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale stand for.



Sir David – I’ve been wanting to write this email for some time now. I just could never find your contact info/email. I am Tim Picciano, owner of the Dublin Village Tavern, and I want to thank you for your patronage and most kind words about our establishment. And yes… it is OUR establishment, because I’ve let the customers define who and what we are since we’ve opened. If you are a regular at the DVT and we see you thru the window, your drink is waiting as you come thru the door.

All my life, I’ve loved and visited watering holes and restaurants like the DVT everywhere I go and I am pleased to have built one now and humbled that it’s been recognized as a Sacred Watering Hole by such a prestigious group! We display our Sacred Watering Hole plaque proudly on the chimney that comes up thru the bar.

I must give credit to my General Manager, Geri Ziemba, as she has been with me from the start and has overseen the tavern’s development and personality to ensure we would meet the standards and expectations of people like the Knights.

As far as myself, I would be honored to be considered for membership in the KMSA. I am 56 years old, half Scotch Irish (Gallagher) and half Italian (hell of a mix!). I have loved beer since I’ve been 10 years old and I continually try new brews as I come across them but there are so many new beers being created today I cannot keep up. I subscribe to “All About Beer” magazine which keeps me in the loop about the beers that are not available in Ohio.

I was raised Catholic but I don’t go much for the “organized” religion thing. Years ago as a kid, when I was attending Catholic school, I got up one Easter morning and was so excited about the basket of chocolate that I ate some. Well, when my family went to Mass that morning, I was not able to receive communion due to the church’s fasting rules and was not able to turn in my communion ticket (yes, the school actually handed out communion tickets to the students to turn in when you received communion so they could check up on you). On Monday, I was called to the Principal’s office, since they didn’t see my ticket, and chastised heavily for my sinful behavior. I thought I was going to hell at that moment.

That night, we visited my late Aunt Grace Moffa and the story was told to her. She took me aside and said “Timmy, there are two sets of rules. There are the church’s rules which are made by man, and there are God’s rules. The only important ones are God’s rules!” I never forgot that powerful piece of wisdom! I consider myself a spiritual person, but not in the organized or recognized sense. It’s a private thing. I pretty much believe in the concept of Karma, what goes around comes around. I do a fair amount of community volunteering in Dublin (because of my great staff at the DVT which allows me the time to do such) and help design, plan and execute community events with the City of Dublin. Because of these efforts, I was named Dublin’s 2009 Business Person of the Year in March which was quite a surprise and an honor. I didn’t even know I was nominated. I call it a group award since my staff at the DVT is so good that they provide me the option of spending time doing other things.

I figure, for as much as I’ve taken from the world through my decadent behavior in the past, I can at least give something back now! I thank you again for your inclusion of DVT in your journals. Being a small, independent place of business, we don’t get much press like the big boys. But I’m fine with that, because I like it just the way it is. Next time you are in town, if you are so inclined I’d love to meet you for a pint or two. My contact info is below.

One last item, check out our new web page (still under development)… you guys are recognized on the home page (www.thedublinvillagetavern.com).

Most sincerely,
Tim Picciano, or… Sir Timothy of Dunleary (if approved)

Sir Hook Who Prefers to Remain Decadent So That I Will Always Have More To Give Back of Warrick