Live Blogging From Tun Tavern: Semper Fi!

9:46 p.m.
Just spoke with Torin Barnes from Beachwood and his friend Kyle Minichino from Pine Beach in Ocean County (both 2004 grads of Toms River High School South). They just got out of the Corps, Torin a a month ago and Kyle a year ago. Torin did two tours in Iraq.

"It's an awesome event (the birthday bash)," says Torin, who was drinking the pumpkin spice lager on the beer list. This was Torin's first-ever trip to the Tun Tavern. His father, an Air Force veteran stationed in Germany, homebrewed, so that's been a guiding force for Torin's beer palate.

Beyond the Marines, Kyle's looking to teach history in high school, and Torin heads to Stockton State College in January, looking to get into medical school after undergrad work.

9:30 p.m.
Menu item: A fighting force travels on its stomach, and what military menu would be complete without chipped beef on toast (shit on a shingle)? It's here along side the Tun's hot wings and other munchies that go great with beer.

8:30 p.m.
Just spoke with Monty, who says the Marine Corps birthday bash is a tradition at the Tun, going back to when he opened it more than 10 years ago. Monty served in the Marines in the 1980s. He says the Tun bash draws Marines from all around the tri-state region and beyond. (One year, a couple of Marines came up from New Orleans area and bought over 250 growlers to take with them. It took a couple of days to fill the jugs.)

The crowd is now singing the Marine Corps Hymn, the third time tonight the pipers and drummers have played the Corps' anthem, ending with a loud collective Ooo-rah!

8:20 p.m.
Mark Haynie, co-author of the New Jersey Breweries book is here. Mark says sales of the book are going pretty good. If you recall, the book came out in August. Mark says he and Lew Bryson, his co-author, plan some more signings soon, possibly next at Cricket Hill Brewing in Fairfield.

Meantime, Mark is hosting a beer night at Somers Point firehouse. Food and beer, and the conviviality that are both.

8:01 p.m.
It's Nov. 10, and it's the United States Marine Corps birthday.

What better way to salute the Corps than to blog from the Tun Tavern, birthplace of the Marines?

As many a military history buff knows, the Marines were formed at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia in 1775, at a site that's now Penns Landing and where I-95 cuts through. We're at the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City, the brewpub/restaurant started by former Marine Monty Dahm.

The bagpipes have just skirled a welcoming Marine Corps Hymn followed by God Bless America. Brewer Tim Kelly just tapped a pin of cask-conditioned Irish Red Ale. The crowd is cheering and we're drinking and saluting 233 years of Marine Corps heritage.