Holiday Cheers

The wife asked me to decorate her SIXTH Christmas tree in our house which is located out on our sun-porch. She said I could decorate it anyway I wanted to. So be it.! I give you the Beer Tree! The surprising thing was she actually liked it! So I guess this will become a holiday tradition and will change yearly as it will reflect what I am currently partaking of during the holiday season. Plus, I got an idea for tinsel made of beer caps that has the potential of being pretty darn cool.

This year I went by the Mt. Juliet Beer Company Store and bought four six-packs to serve at our Christmas party. After popping the bottles in the ice bin for serving, it justed seemed appropriate to use the colorful, empty cartons as ornaments. From top to bottom there is the Backdraft Brown out of Pennsylvania, the Starr Hill Juno Lager out of Virginia, the Magic Hat Winter Ale out of Vermont and the Rogue Santa's Reserve Ale out of Oregon.

I also got a growler of Southern Pecan Brown Ale from Lazy Magnolia Brewing in Mississippi (don't let the Yazoo label on it fool you). I also placed a couple of other high-alcohol beers underneath which were bought in Chattanooga earlier this season. They were the Acme IPA (small bottle) out of California, and a pint oif Delirium Noel from Belgium (big bottle on the floor on the far right). Speaking of high-alcohol beer, I also received a four-pack of 10% ABV Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA from my friend at work, Joy. My wife and I got a 12-pack containing six varieties of Flying Dog brews from our friends, John and Dorie. Then, my brother-in-law, Andy, got me two IPA growlers as well. One was Sierra Nevada and the other...he can't remember, but he will be investigating it again next week to get the name. Thank you so much, everybody!!

I will follow up this post in the next few weeks with a quick run-down of what I thought of all this beer. Gonna be a busy holiday season!!

A Lone Star but A Lot of Beer

During a recent weekend trip to Austin, Texas, I had a chance to sample a few local and non-local craft beers that were pretty good. When my wife and I arrived on Friday night to the house of our friends, Dianna and Johan, I was greeted with a cold bottle of Fireman's 4 Blond Ale from Real Ale Brewing there in Austin. A nice beer overall with good flavor and finish.

Saturday afternoon Johan took us out to Central Market which had an incredible beer section. Austinites are very lucky to be on the cutting edge of large supermarkets (they are the original home of Whole Foods which is now nationwide) that specialize in organic, fresh and unique products at reasonable prices... including beer. I selected two individual pint bottles to purchase with plans on having one later that afternoon and one on Sunday afternoon. The first one I picked up was Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California. I cracked it when we got back to the house and shared it with Johan. Incredible hoppy flavor as the name might imply and smooth finish and no bitter taste at all. A very, very good beer. After some research I found that this wonderful beer is considered a Double IPA - make that an "award-winning Double IPA" - which is by far my favorite sytle of beer.

We all attended a concert later that evening and dined at a local chain eatery beforehand called Opal Divine's. I was delighted to see that they carried a great beer selection including several products from Austin's own, Live Oak Brewing. I chose their IPA, of course, and it wasn't bad. I may have liked it more if I didn't still have the smooth taste of the Hop Stoopid Ale still in mind. The folks at Live Oak do a tour of their small microbrewery as well which I would like to check out next time I am down this way. The beer selection at the music venue was typical and boring, but I did get a kick out of having one my favorite "mass-produced" beers, Shiner Bock, for the first time in a can. All four of us actually toured the Shiner Brewery (in nearby Shiner, Texas) the last time we visited Austin and it was a great tour. Shiner is a great success story in terms a small brewery producing great products and gaining some amazing national success.

Sunday afternoon before our flight home I popped the cap on the second pint bottle I had bought at Central Market. This was was called Small Batch 471 Double IPA from Breckenridge Brewing in Colorado. Double IPAs as I mentioned above are my favorite style of beer and this was the first one I had gotten in a bottle and I have to say I was fairly disappointed. It wasn't a bad brew overall, but it really lacked the pure hoppiness of double IPAs I had tried in the past, and still had the coarse bitterness of an English-style IPA - totally different from American IPAs.


Thanks to Johan and Dianna for showing us such a great time and thanks to Austin for providing great opportunities to try really good beer in a great American city.

Getting Off the El for Some Ale

On a recent day-trip to Chicago, my wife, Ashlee and I, and our friend, Joy, rode the El from downtown north a few stops and took a walking food tour of the Wicker Park/Bucktown neighborhoods. The tour was excellent and the food superb and one of the six stops included Piece Pizza and Brewery in the Wicker Park area. This small microbrewery produces several medal-winning beers. Including in our tour was a taste of their Golden Arm Kolsch. Not bad but way too light for my liking, so while everyone was enjoying their delicious pizza I slipped up to the bar and ordered a glass of their Camel Toe Double IPA (photo above). Now we are talking! Excellent hoppy aroma and taste and 9% AC. Dark amber color with full body and smooth finish. Definitely gotta come back up this way and try a few more of their products (photo right).

I was also able to try a glass of Goose Island Seasonal Winter Ale at the nearby Wicker Park Tavern while Ashlee and Joy did a bit of shopping. Goose Island is also produced in the Chicago-land area and their winter ale was strong and smooth with a beautiful copper color. Not a great aftertaste, but a good beer overall.

A Long Hiatus...

I have been on a self-imposed hiatus from drinking any beer thanks to a low-carb diet that my wife and I have been on for a month or so. It has been worth the sacrifice since I have shed over ten pounds that I needed to lose. I have more pounds to lose, but enough is enough!! I had to have some beer and attending the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival in downtown Nashville this weekend was just the thing. This is a traveling festival that visits a lot of large cities and this was its second annual stop here. My friend and mutual real beer lover, Nate, attended last year and said it was pretty good, so I agreed to go with him and his new girlfriend, Ginny, this year as well as my wife, Ashlee.

As Nate had said, it is a pretty good little festival with 60 beers to taste (not all microbrews, but you take what you can get), 40 different bourbons and several choices of local BBQ. They had tasting stations set up in the bottom floor of Nashville Municipal Auditorium and the $25 entry price got you a tasting glass, a T-shirt and all the hooch you could down in a 6-hour span (the BBQ was extra). Most of the beer samples were poured from bottles although a few brewers had kegs on site for draught pours. There was also a tasting class offered by New Belgium Brewing out of Colorado that included three of their newer concoctions. These three, plus any new ones I tried at the tasting stations, are listed below in no certain order along with a quick judgement:

- Leinenkugel's Amber Lager- decent but not worth a second taste

-Brooklyn Winter Ale - pretty good with a nice finish
-McSorley's Irish Black Lager - OK, but not great especially compared to some of the great Irish brews I had recently on The Emerald Isle.

-New Belgium Bierre de Mars - nice color and finish to this fragrant ale

-New Belgium La Folie - a wood-aged sour brown ale (it was definitely brown and it was most definitely sour)

-New Belgium Blue Paddle - their first attempt at a lager. Not bad, but not as smooth as the Bierre de Mars

- Schafly # 15 Oatmeal Stout - actually a bit watery and fairly disappointing

- Mike's Apple Spice - OK, not technically a beer but this stuff was great - they warmed it and it was a great fall treat - and yes I like Mike's Hard Lemonade as well

- Kona Pipelane Pale Ale - decent brew with a nice color

- Stone Mill Organic Ale - Yuck! The big boys strike again with a faux-microbrew that's just a soapy-tasting mess. Stick with what you know, Michelob.

The rest of the festival was spent visiting with old, familiar friends like Sweetwater 420, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA and Magic Hat #9.

PUBlin, Ireland

I took a rather quick trip to Ireland with my wife, Ashlee, and besides a whole lot of Guinness (16 pints if I counted right) I found some pretty good less known Irish beers and microbrews along the way.

The first came while still in the U.S. at the Newark Airport as we awaited our flight to Dublin. I had a Brooklyn IPA 20 oz. draught that was excellent. Brooklyn's a strong contender in the U.S. microbrew market and I have been pleased with their product in the past and they did not disappoint with their IPA.

Of course, no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit to the amazing Guinness Brewery. The story of the Guinness empire is great, the tour was great and the beer is great (sorry, I didn't taste a real difference between a pint in Ireland vs. a pint in the U.S. although it may be a just a hint more watery here, but that may not have anything to do with the brewing process). I highly recommend a visit and a tour and will probably do it again if I get a chance because jet lag kicked in during our tour and I do feel I missed a few things because the place is enormous. It was also cool to visit the brewery during their 250th Anniversary...not that they are making a big deal of it or anything (ha ha).

Also while in Dublin we had a great pub crawl thanks to a little research on the internet by yours truly before our trip. Our first stop was The Bull & Castle - a pub, German-style beer hall and restaurant all rolled into one. They specialize in microbrews including several Irish brands. I started with the Galway Hooker IPA draught. It was extremely good with great body and finish, but not chock full of hops as I was hoping. Although it's named after the famous Irish fishing boats of the port city of Galway, it's always fun to order up "a hooker."

Next I ordered a small O'Hara's Stout draught. This dark and yummy concoction is heavier than Guinness and with less carbonation. It is made my Carlow Brewing and their motto is that O"hara's is the way beer "used to taste in Ireland" - an obvious dig at the worldwide monster that is Guinness.

We moved on to The Brazen Head Pub, one of Dublin's oldest pubs (Est. 1198). A very cool, charming place. Here I ordered a Macardle Ale draught. It was dark red and good to the last drop. Macardle's was an original Irish brewery that I have since discovered was closed in 2001. It was swallowed up by the Guinness empire in the 60's and is still produced by them I suppose.

Next stop, The Porterhouse. This place has no history to speak of. It's a fairly new microbrewery chain actually. However, they are producing some tremendous beer. I started with their Hop Head Ale draught. It was very hoppy as the name promised and I loved it. I deemed it best of the trip up to this point. Next up was the high-alcohol brew, Brain Blasta (photo above). It had a good taste, but my memory seems a little foggy after drinking it.

We finished our crawl at Messrs. Maguire, an excellent three-story pub overlooking the River Liffey. They also brew their own beer and I started with the Rusty Ale draught, their version of a red Irish ale. I had recovered enough from the Brain Blasta to recall that this was a good tasting beer, but nothing to go on and on about. I finished with their Bock which was also had a good taste and body.

During a day trip to the famous Blarney Castle we stopped in the village of Bunratty and I was able to try Kilkenny Smooth Ale (photo below) at the original Durty Nelly's Pub. This was a very rich orange in color ale that I enjoyed very much and would currently rank a close second in my "Best of Ireland" ranking.

On our last full day in Ireland, we went back to The Bull & Castle not only for the beer, but because it was where we had our best meal of the trip as well. I switched to some of their bottled brews on this visit and started with the Chotworthy Dobbin, a dark, bitter from Whitewater Brewing. It was OK and there was plenty of it since it came in a true pint bottle. I turned next to Belfast Ale also from Whitewater Brewing. I enjoyed this dark ale more than the Dobbin and again it came in a huge pint bottle.

My first trip to Dublin was everything I was hoping for in terms of being a tourist and a beer drinker. I hope to return someday and continue being both again.

FOOTNOTE: Back in Nashville: I had an Amarillo Pale Ale draught from Yazoo at La Paz Mexican Restaurant. It was served with a lime. It had a beautiful copper color and good clean taste that complimented the south of the border fare just right.

Southern Brewers Festival

I made it down to the 15th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend with my wife, Ashlee, and my brother-in-law, Andy, a budding beer snob. This event has really grown from the small gathering of just a few brewers setting up on the corner of the host, Big River Brewing and Restaurant, located downtown. It was so small when it started out in fact that they would run out of beer within a couple of hours of starting. But, with steady growth each year it has become what it is today, a large and anticipated downtown event held on the river at Ross' Landing with at least a couple dozen brewers from mostly around the south as the name of the festival would imply, but even some of the bigger boys from across the U.S. like Sierra Nevada and Yuengling.

They added a few "new to me" brewers this year while a couple of others I was hoping would be there were sadly missing for some reason or another - Good People Brewing from nearby Huntsville who were announced in earlier festival promotion as gong to be there this year was not to be seen, nor was Duck-Rabbit Brewing out of North Carolina who I discovered at this very same festival a few years ago.

Tickets to the event are $15 and all those proceeds go to the local "Kids on the Block" campaign and includes a commemorative plastic mug to sample beer in and one free token to use to buy one said beer. You can purchase more beer tokens for $3 each and they in turn each get you a generous 10-ounce pour of any craft beer available. Most of the microbreweries bring two or three of their offerings of various styles. There is no chance of beer running out too early nowadays as tractor-trailer loads of kegs stand nearby at the ready. The event lasts all day and into the night with a musical stage for various local bands and even the preliminary round of the World Krystal Hamburger Eating Contest being held during the festival...the winner ate 4 big Angus burgers and 42 of the little ones...wow!

A lot of the usual suspects were there representing great Southern microbrewing - Sweetwater out of Atlanta, Terrapin out of Athens, GA; Starr Hill from Virginia; Foothills from Winston-Salem, NC; Highland from Asheville, NC; and Abita out of Louisiana. A few of the "new to me" brewers that I tried included:

Moon River Brewing out of Savannah, GA - I tried their Slow Vannah Pale Ale and it was very good. Crisp and smooth.

Seven Bridges Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I tried their Sweet Magnolia American Brown Ale. Ashlee, Andy and I all gave this one the unanimous festival grand prize in our opinions. Great brown ale taste with a smooth finish and aftertaste. It's the only one I went back for seconds on.

Bold City Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I had to try their Mad Manatee IPA of course. It was decent, but nothing to blow your socks off. I also tried their Duke's Cold Nose Brown Ale. It was nice, but just didn't compare to the Seven Bridges product. It was good to see Jacksonville having some competing brewers coming out of that area.

A1A Brewing out of St. Augustine, FL - Their Red Rocket Ale was my first purchase of the day (because they were the first booth I came to) and it was a great starter. Nice, crisp Irish-style ale. Perfect for a warm summer's day on the river.

I ended the day with some Sweetwater 420s (in bottles) at the Blue Plate Restaurant adjacent to the festival as we met some friends for dinner, good conversation and a lot of laughs late into the night.

MO fun, MO beer in St. Louis MO

A recent trip to the fine city of St. Louis, MO gives me the opportunity to write another guest blog for my favorite beer blog. Some plans for Memphis were thwarted so on a whim we opted for a first time ever trip to St. Louis. A fine decision it was as we found St. Louis to be a great town.


We arrived AM Staurdayafter spending the night about an hour and a half short of our goal form getting out of town Friday evening from Paris, Tn. Straight to the Arch to get tickets which turned out to be for 1:30 PM so we had some time to kill. A couple of times around the Gateway grounds and "Expansion Memorial" museum still left us short of lunch time so, thanks to some help from a great employee at the Arch, we found Morgan Street Brewery for lunch and a brew.

Boasting 13 regular brews, and five always on tap, I was unfortunate enough to time my visit when there were no Stouts on tap so I opted for the modestly named "Red Lager." Given that they had an "Irish Stout" that they claimed was their version of Guinness Stout, I figured i'd end up with their version of Bass Ale and I wasn' far off.

When I ordered my beer it was five o'clock somewhere, but only about 11:20 AM Central time and since I had the family with me and a great deal of sight-seeing (prefereably sober) to do, I went with the pint rather than the 22 oz size. Not a bad beer at all and I would be perfectly satisfied if I had brewed it up my self, home brew style. I do intend to try that sometime soon. The picture makes it appear darker that it was and in reality it was a tad darker than a Bass and truely red. Their menu said "Similar to a Vienna style lager, our Red is the perfect compliment to a hearty meal. Full body, smooth malt flavor, and subdued hoppiness makes this beer very drinkable." I found it to be less malty (thankfully) and a bit too full bodied. It lacked a definite flavor. A bit smokey, a bit malty, a tiny bit bitter and almost no aftertaste (if I understand that term correctly). Now I am sure that if it were after dark, a live band was playing some smooth blues, and I was surrounded by a group of friends for some good conversation I would be able to drink enough of it to become the conversation, but as it was, one was enough. I finished my beer and on the next trip by, the waitress said that they had just tapped a keg of their Irish.... *sigh* Story of my life. LOL Next time I go, I try the Oatmeal Stout for sure! I love meesa Oatmeal Stout!

Writers note: read about our trip to St. Louis soon on www.molehillgardens.blogspot.com

Did Romeo Drink Beer?

The Great Carnac holds the sealed envelope to his head and ponders about what's inside. After a few second he flatly says, "Mount Juliet."

He tears open one end of the envelope, blows it open and extracts a slip of paper with a question typed neatly on it. He reads the question silently, smirks and then reads it aloud.

"What did Romeo do on his wedding night."

The audience erupts in laughter.

Does anyone else miss Johnny Carson like I do? Besides that, does anyone know why the little town in western Wilson County is called Mt. Juliet because there sure ain't no mountain anywhere near it and it's a long way from "fair Verona" where Romeo and Juliet did their dirty deeds?

I guess it really isn't important, but what is important to note is that Mt. Juliet (and Wilson County) now have a HUGE new beer store called the Mount Juliet Beer Company!! And I mean a real beer store dedicated only to real beer...ok, they do have domestics, but they are in the minority in terms of inventory and I guess a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to scratch out a living among the uneducated masses, right?

The vast selection includes the option to do variety six-packs from their wares as well. And those selections come from most of what they offer, and not just old beers that have sat around for months and not sold -- like at another giant beer store I USED to frequent in Nashville.

I have been tardy in posting this entry since the Mount Juliet Beer Company opened, and in the meantime have made two different "shopping sprees" there. Here's a quick run-down of what I have gotten there so far.

My first variety six-pack included:

1. Dundee Pale Bock - very good German brew, light in color - made in Rochester, NY
2. Dundee Honey Brown Lager - not bad for a lager. The honey infusion certainly helps.
3. Sweaty Betty Blonde - a wheat beer with good flavor. Love the name. Another great product from one of my favorite craft brewers, Boulder Brewing in Colorado.
4. Hop Project from Yazoo here in Nashville. I have had this before and love its hoppiness so.
5. Harpoon Summer Beer - it was a kolsch that tasted like Budweiser to me. Not impressive even though this Boston-based brewery produces one of my favorite bottled IPAs.
6. Victory Sunrise Weissbeir - an extremely wheaty unfiltered beer that was a little overpowering to me in terms of wheat taste, but not an awful choice for a hot summer day. Victory's out of Pennsylvania near Philly and have just started entering the market here with a wide variety of interesting brews.

I also bought an individual 6 pack of Karma Ale from Avery Brewing in Colorado which was very enjoyable. Avery produces a great bottled IPA and this lighter ale was extremely smooth.

A couple of weeks later my next variety six-pack included:

1. Victory Prima Pils - a hoppy pilsner? very unique and definitely an A for effort. The taste was of decent hoppiness but the aroma was still pure pilsner.

2. BBC American Pale Ale - decent pale ale from our neighbors to the north in Louisville (Bluegrass Brewing). I may have had this. before.

3. BBC Amber Ale - nice, and a bit smoother than the pale ale

4. Dogfish Head - Festina Peche' - peach-flavored malt beverage...completely gross...terrible...had to pour it out. Enough said. These craft beer pioneers from Delaware ought to be ashamed of this product. Yuck.

5. New Belgium Skinny Dip - This craft brewery juggarnaut's new summer beer was pretty good especially ice cold.

6. Stone Pale Ale - perfect and smooth. The boys at Stone just keep on keeping on out their in northern San Diego. By far my favorite craft brewers who are putting their product in bottles.

Again, I also got an individual 6 pack of Pass Time Pale Ale from the great folks at Boulder Brewing. A great summer ale that I have enjoyed one of every evening over the past week.

The owner of the Mount Juliet Beer Company - who's name has slipped from me - also promised a future of kegged beer to be available to fill growlers with like the my favorite beer store down in Chattanooga. Oh, what a happy day that will be here in Wilson County! Definitely worth the climb up fair Juliet!

BEER Chere 2009

If there's a better "beer town" in the U.S. than Asheville, I sure would like to visit it, and if there's a better free music and arts festival than Bele Chere in downtown Asheville, I would sure like to attend it. My wife and I "discovered" Bele Chere four years ago (it's been around for 31 years) when a band we really liked was slated to perform there. We have went back the last three years for the festival itself no matter who was playing because it's just such a great event. One of the best attributes to Bele Chere is the amazingly cheap beer for sale at different locations throughout the festival. And I am not talking about the cheap-tasting (and usually over-priced) domestic swill served at most outdoor festivals. I am talking about high quality microbrews from local brewers (Asheville boasts seven microbreweries at last count) but also from around the country as well as excellent imports. This year was no exception as I was able to try a bevy of new brews. Here's a breakdown of what I had and where I got it during the festival as well as the great price:

Pyramid Thunderhead IPA - bought at The Winehaus - an independent wine and liquor store in downtown Asheville. They were selling a selection of four different bottled microbrews and imports for $2 each ([see photo above of dead soldiers from The Winehaus) right out of their storefront and you could wander around with your beer inside the festival area (as long as you poured it in a plastic cup). The IPA was great and ice cold. Pyramid is out of Washington (state) and is best known for its Apricot Ale (also available at The Winehaus for $2)

Leinie's Berry Weiss- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing - My wife chose these bottled fruity summer treat at The Winehaus also for $2. It's from an old Wisconsin family brewery and was infused with honey and blackberry juice. I had a few sips and found it to be pretty darn good especially as a summer brew. From the research I have done, it looks like this one-time independent brewery has been absorbed into the Miller Brewing Company conglomerate

Warsteiner Radler Premium Lemon - this lemon-infused pilsner import from Germany started out at $3 according to the hand-drawn sign where we bought it from a street vendor, but had been reduced to just $1! This wins the prize for cheapest beer ever at Bele Chere. Not my favorite beer in the world by far, but it was cold and again...only $1.

Green Man Ales - Summer Wheat -on tap at The Laughing Seed Restaurant. It comes from the brewpub located downstairs from the restaurant called Jack of the Wood. This was my wife's choice with dinner (photo above) and I liked it from the few sips I had. $3.50/glass.

Green Man Ales - IPA - This was my choice with dinner (naturally) and wins the prize for best beer tried by me at Bele Chere. Excellent body and hoppy aroma/taste. $3.50/glass.

The next day for lunch we sought another of Asheville's great brewpubs just a couple miles from downtown - Asheville Pizza and Brewing (photo below). This quirky little independment establishment has been an Asheville staple for many years. The pizza was delicious as was their brew. I started with their Scottish Ale which was smooth as silk depite a fairly heavy body. Next I tried the Houdini ESP - Extra Special Pale - this was my favorite of the two and although it did not have the super-hoppiness of an IPA that I like, it still had enough aroma and taste to satisfy me, and it went great with the pizza. Yes, they have an IPA here (Shiva) which I have had before at a beer tasting and really liked (that's why we sought out this place while in town).

ChattaBREWga

I was in Chattanooga for the weekend visiting the inlaws and attending a concert and was able to try a good selection of new (to me) beers at three different locations around town.

The first was at the Market Street Grille downtown next to Miller Plaza. I was actually looking for another new place called Deluxe Grill and Tap Room (supposedly 40 beers on tap was what drew me to it) located across the street. It was after lunch and Deluxe wasn't open until dinner, so I was walking back to the car and the meter that I had just pumped a dollar worth of coins into and passed by the window of the Market Street Grille and noticed on the hand-written marker board above the bar saying that they had Highland Cattail Peak on tap. I knew Highland was a great microbrewery over in Asheville, NC, but had never heard of Cattail Peak.


It was a wheat beer. Enough said. Not that great...to me, but not awful. The Market Street Grille was a fine little pub with some decent beer selections, but I decided to move on down the street a few blocks and return my new favorite Chattanooga haunt, The Terminal Brewhouse. These guys brew their own beer in a great little historic building and I had saw on the website recently that they had a new hoppy beer they were brewing called the Magnum PA - a combination they describe as "west coast double IPA meets English IPA." It was delicious. Just a hint of bitterness but great hoppy flavor and finish. I decided to give the beer menu a look for my second pint and landed on their Belgian White. The Belgian style of beer has been documented frequently on here as not being my favorite style of brewing, but it was a hot day and ice cold orange-infused draught sounded pretty good...and it was pretty good. Hats off to The Terminal House for again delivering the good in terms of real craft beer in Chattanooga.


Later that evening my wife, Ashlee, and I strolled downtown to stretch our legs after dinner and when she asked for a destination I asked if she would mind checking out the Deluxe Grill and Tap Room I had tried to visit earlier in the day. She agreed and after a pretty long walk we arrived at the quiet little place (their location is too far away from most of the walkable nightlife in downtown Chattanooga and parking is very minimal - not sure they are going to survive). Their claim at having 40 beers on tap looked pretty close to being the truth. They had a wide selection to choose from including a vast array of Highland Brewing products. I chose St. Terese's Pale Ale which I have had before in a bottle, but never a draught. Very close to perfection. Light and smooth. Perfect for a summer's night. Ashlee ordered the Star Hill Northern Lights IPA and found it to be a bit heavy for her so we switched half-way through our pints because she really liked the lighter St. Terese's. I had also had Northern Lights IPA only from a bottle so it was a real treat to get the enhanced flavor from the draught.

Chattanooga is turning into quite the little beer town. Did I mentioned I filled two growlers at the Chattanooga Beverage Company with two of my favorites, Moccasin Bend Centennial (another small local microbrewer) and French Broad Alt from North Carolina, to take home with me for the following week?

A Toast to South Florida

During a recent beach trip to South Florida, I got a chance to sample a few new beers with mixed results.

I first bought a six-pack of Wailua Wheat Ale from a Publix near our hotel for consumption in the room and on the beach. Unlike the Publix supermarkets at home, the ones in South Florida, or at least this one, did not have a very good selection of microbrews to choose from in their beer aisle. I am not a huge wheat ale fan, but the fact printed on the bottles that it was infused with passion fruit peaked my interest. Plus it had a waterfall on the label and I am a sucker for pretty pictures. It was actually a pretty good beer. The passion fruit was definitely apparent in the taste and actually cut the sharp wheat taste that usually turns me off to these concoctions. It had a good finish and appealing aftertaste. A very nice surprise. It's a seasonal product of Kona Brewing and as the name implies this small microbrewery is located in Hawaii (although the bottle indicated this particular six pack was brewed and bottled in a new partner brewery in New Hampshire for East Coast distribution).

On our second night in South Florida, we had dinner at a Yard House Restaurant in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. Yard House is easily my favorite "chain" restaurant with over 100 beers on tap and excellent food. If only one would come to Nashville!! My first choice was the exceptional Stoudts Double IPA from Pennsylvania. Full of hoppy flavor and aroma with a nice smooth finish. It was great to see that this Yard House had a few different selections in terms of regional brews than the other one I visited in Las Vegas (out there, they had a double IPA from San Francisco).

Stoudt's has been a pioneer in the microbrewing business and one of the first to open in Pennsylvania. back in 1987. They are located just outside Philadelphia and have a nice range of products according to their website. Definitely might be worth a visit if I am in the area again and I will be on the lookout for more of their products to try in the meantime. My second choice at the Yard House was the Juniper Pale Ale from Rogue Brewing in Oregon of whom I am a big fan and have tried several of their great products. This one was no exception. Full body with a clean, fresh delivery. I do think I would have enjoyed this one more had I tried it before the double IPA. I have made this mistake before and have got to remember that in the future if I want to try more than one selection at a place that has a double IPA I need to hold out to try it last because they are so powerful that they "pale" other ales (pun intended) in taste and aroma.

The third and last evening in South Florida found us driving south a few minutes to downtown West Palm Beach's City Place, a large, beautiful shopping and dining complex. The restaurant/microbrewery there is called Brewzzi (cool name), an Italian-bistro/microbrewery regional chain. It reminded me a lot of the Big River Restaurant/Brewery regional chain we have back at home. The restaurant decor was similar, the menu offerings were similar and the beer was similar. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of Big River brews and in turn was not overly impressed with what Brewzzi had to offer either. The beer that both brew is decent in taste, but is so LIMITED in terms of variety, originality and creativity. In short, the beers they brew are boring and predictable, and I think they do that intentionally. They are going for mass appeal and looking to attract casual beer drinkers who don't want to stray too far from their domestic mass-produced swill. but still want to say they "drank a microbrew." It's a good and albeit successful marketing strategy, but it's fairly eye-rolling to me as a self-proclaimed "beer snob." They aren't fooling me one bit. I asked for their "Reserve" which their menu claimed was for the "beer connoisseur" and was promptly told they were out of it. I knew where this was going. So I had to settle for their boring common offerings. I tried their "Brewmaster's Special" American Dark and it was about as good as what it was trying to be....Michelob Amber Bock. I went next for their darker lager, Black Duke. I liked the name and thought it was a decent but forgettable brew. I also had a taste of their Brewmaster Special Kolsch but it didn't have the hoppiness I was enjoy (kolsch-style brews never do to my experience so far).

ODDITIES AND ENTITIES:

My wife and my friend, Nate, have been yapping about their love for ginger beer for a few months now. I tried it in Australia last year where it's very popular, but it doesn't do a lot for me (but neither does the taste of ginger). To satisfy their longing for ginger beer, Nate ordered a few bottles of ginger extract called Elixir G from California (not available here for some reason). You pour a table spoon into a glass of lager beer and "wah-lah" you have ginger beer. So I gave it a try with a bottle of Victory Lager that Nate brought over. I also had it with Heineken Light Lager that Ashlee bought. OK, not bad on a warm summer evening and probably great with Asian food (I am right - we just tried it tonight). I give all the credit to the extract, however, which has a very pure ginger taste and aroma and pretty much overpowers the weak taste of the lager anyway.

Tapping the 12th South Tap Room in Nashville

Last night we had tickets to see the "Queen of Mean" Lisa Lampanelli at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, but beforehand my wife and I met our firend, Nate, at the 12th (Avenue) South Tap Room for dinner and, of course, some beer. I had been wanting to check this place out for a while and last night was the perfect opportunity since Magic Hat Brewing was advertising that they were going to have a sample tastings there as well. Magic Hat products are high on my favorites list, so it was a no-brainer.

We arrived a little after 5 PM and got our first Magic Hat sample - their new summer seasonal ale called Wacko - great name. It had the red color of a fruit-infused beer, but the light, crisp taste of a clean summer-style ale with a nice subtle finish. Zero fruit taste...interesting with that crazy color. Next we tried their Odd Notion Summer Ale which was a Belgian-style pale yellow brew which was nice and light. Unfortuately, that was the extent of our free tastings, although they were running some happy-hour-like deals on their other beers that the taproom carried, but those weren't anything I hadn't had before so I moved on to a few others that I didn't recognize off their fairly-impressive beer menu.

My first choice was the homerun of the evening. A superb hoppy elixir from Victory Brewing in Pennsylvania (just outside Philly) called "Hop Wallop." It wasn't labeled an IPA, but it might as well have been. Excellent hoppy aroma and taste from a bottle - now surpassing my current favorite bottled IPA from Sweetwater. Unfortunately, I don't think Victory beer is readily available in this area (yet, hopefully) since the tap room had a large sign on their door proclaiming that Victory beer was "finally" in Nashville. My friend, Nate, is a stout lover and he went for the Victory Storm King Stout of which he graciously allowed me a sip. Another excellent bottled product. It was ultra-smooth despite it's jet black appearance and heavy body.

I wanted another Hop Wallop (love that name) bad, but decided to do a bit more menu-exploring and moved on to Lakefront Organic ESB. An ESB (extra special bitter) is an English-style ale - the most well-known of which is Bass. Lakefront is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin microbrewery and this concoction was very solid in taste and texture. I stand by this proclamation fairly strongly because I had bought an actual gold medal winning ESB from England earlier this week from our new Wilson County real beer store, Cheers. It's called Fuller's ESB and I have enjoyed the pricey six-pack of it I bought so far. It's actually a bit more actually "bitter" to me than Lakefront was, but you get what you overpay for I guess. As you can tell, I am a little peeved over the price of the Fullers (it wasn't marked and I will ask next time), but I am trying to move on beyond that because one of my mottos is that life is too short to drink cheap beer...but it is long enough to not overpay for it either. My other purchase at Cheers earlier this week was a bargain pint of an excellent Octoberfest hefewiezen actually from Germany called Georg Schnieder's Wiesen Edel-Weisse (boy, the Europeans aren't into the "cutesy" names for their beers are they - Fuller's ESB and Schnieder's "Noble White"). This product is proclaimed "organic' as well by the USDA (you won't find that moniker on the processed crap of Bud, Miller or Coors, folks).

One other great find this week was a bottle (and then another one) of Abita Jockamo IPA I had at the WOW Wingery in Mt. Juliet. The WOW Wingery is a great little place for good pub food before or after a movie in the new Providence Marketplace. They have a decent selection of beer in bottles and on tap. Since they deem themselves a New Orleans-style eatery (never thought of New Orleans for chicken wings?) they have everything carried by Abita Brewing out of Abita Springs, Louisiana. Jockamo is an excellent IPA with good hoppiness and a nice finish. The Abita folks are pioneers in microbrewing and their Purple Haze and Turbo Dog are hugely popular. Should have known that they would do a great IPA as well.

Three Cheers for Cheers (Beer and Cigar Store)

The long, hard wait is over. A real beer store has finally come to Wilson -we love our Coors Light - County. It's called "Cheers Beer and Cigar Store" and they have an excellent selection of microbrews and imports to choose from in their small satellite store attached to the already established "Cheers Wine and Liquor Store", a mere six miles from my house. Saints be praised!!

One of my first selections from Cheers included a six-pack of Single-Wide IPA from Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City. I knew this IPA existed after doing a little research on Boulevard after trying their excellent Lunar Ale a while back, and was happy to find it here at a reasonable price. It's a good, solid IPA, but cannot unsurplant my leading favorite bottled IPA - Sweetwater from Atlanta, GA. Their logo is hilarious and I love the little "squatty" bottles it comes in as well. Fits so nice in your hand on a hot summer afternoon.

The Cheers Beer Store also had a number of single pint import selections for varying prices and I decided to grab two of these as well for different reasons. I bought Lindemans Pomme Lambic because of my recent experience with the excellent Lindemans Framboise Lambic raspberry concoction out in Vegas, and because I love the taste of apple. Out it Vegas we orderd Lindeman's on tap, well, here's the kicker with Lindemans in a bottle: not only does it have a regular bottle cap under the foil covering the head of the bottle, but it also has a cork! I guees I should have known since it's the product of a natural double fermentation process. This was unfortunately discovered AFTER I had snuck it into the drive-in movie in Watertown the other night...sans corkscrew. So much for good beer while watching a movie out under the stars. Back home a couple days later (with a corkscrew), I was finally able to sample the Pomme. It was worth the wait. Excellent green apple flavor and aroma. Once again I give Lindemans credit for restoring my faith in Belgium beer brewing. Another great beer for a hot summer day.

I also bought a pint of high alcohol Russian lager labeled EpIIInctoe (translated "Yershistoe") from the Krasny Vostok Brewery in Kazan because it was cheap and, hey, it's from Russia. While I am not a big fan of lagers per se, this one wasn't bad at all. It has a little hint of hops without being totally bowled over by the maltiness you find in most lagers. Good finish after a bit of a bitter start. Probably wouldn't get it again, but glad I tried it.

I am so happy to finally have a real beer store so close to home. I am going to do my best to keep them in business as long as my wallet (and liver) can afford to do it.

BonnaBREW '09

My wife and I attended our second annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in nearby Manchester, TN, this past weekend. It's a world-class 4-day festival with upwards of 100,000 people in attendance. We stayed in our pop-up camper during the festival, and one of the rules is that no glass containers can be brought in to the area. So that limits your selection of decent beer to take. I opted to go with a couple different "draught-style" pint can options for the cooler. The first was Tetley's English Ale (I thought they only made tea!!). The second was Belhaven Scottish Ale which I had recently in a sample size at an Irish Festival. Belhaven is not quite as smooth as the Tetley, but not too bad. Definitely smooth enough to start your day with at Bonnaroo (photo below - note the time on the cell phone..yep, that A.M.).

One of the centerpieces of the Bonnaroo festival grounds is the "Broo'ers Tent", a circus-size tent chock full of microbrewers from all over the country hocking their wares at individual tasting booths (photo below). There weren't too many that I hadn't tried already, but I did find a few new ones to add to the collection. The first was a brown ale sample from Pisgah Brewing which produces certified organic beer in Black Mountain, NC. Very smooth with a nice body and finish. My wife liked it enough to buy a full glass. I chose to move on before making any full-pour decisions. Next I ordered a sample of Rogue Brewing's Shakespeare Stout which was uber-smokey in taste. Rogue's out of Oregon and is famous for its top-notch Dead Guy Ale. This stout was a little too robust for my taste, but it did leave quite an impression on your taste buds and showed me once agian that the folks at Rogue take their brewing very seriously. The only one left I hadn't tried was the American Pale Ale from Good People Brewing in Birmingham, Alabama. Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!! This is the hoppiest, tastiest APA I have ever had. I quickly ordered up a full pint after my sample and enjoyed its smooth freshness as I waded back out into the June heat and humidity for some more great live music.

Lost Wages - Gained Calories PART II

Well, it's been one month since my last visit, and I found myself in Las Vegas once again. No need to call Gambler's Anonymous or anything like that. This was a planned "family" vacation with my wife and her in-laws (seven of us in total). We had a great time and in between the shows, the great food and the scenery, I was able to squeeze in a few more new beers while in Sin City (and just outside of it).

Boulder Dam Brewing Company (BDBC) - I learned about this place while doing some "beer research" before my last visit, but since it's located in Boulder City (about a half-hour south of Vegas) and since I didn't have a rental car at that time, I had to wait for this trip to check it out. It worked out great because my brother- and sister-in-law wanted to visit Hoover Dam located right outside Boulder City and I agreed to chauffeur them if they would agree to have lunch at the BDBC brew pub. The historic downtown of Boulder City where BDBC's brew pub is located is a quaint little village with an obvious southwestern adobe-style building theme. Therefore, the brewpub looked pretty much like the rest of the little town from the outside. Inside wasn't anything to get excited about although their big brewing vat's sat right behind the bar which was kind of interesting and different. I started with their Highscaler IPA and wasn't overly impressed. It was decent, but the hoppy taste and aroma that I dearly love was fairly weak. My brother-in-law, Andy, tried their 6-sampler of beers and gave me a taste of their Black Canyon Stout which again I found to be OK, but nothing unique or memorable. He offered more of their products to me - a pilsner, a hefeweizen and a seasonal cerveza - but I passed on them because I knew what I would encounter. Probably the most interesting one they had was a mix of of their Lake Mead Light and lemonade...but I wouldn't call that beer...more like something a guy named "Mike" likes to make and bottle on a national scale. These guys seems to be quite infantile in their development as brewers and as a brewpub, and hopefully they will mature with their establishment as well as their beer, but for now, I have to say it's not worth a trip out from Vegas just for the beer and their theme, "A Bolder Damn Beer" is clever, but a bit of an overstatement. Luckily, Boulder City and nearby Hoover Dam and Lake Mead make this area a very cool area to visit no matter what's going on at BDBC.

Clinking bottles and dancing draughts (a few more beers I had at various locations during my visit to Las Vegas):

Squatter's IPA - I picked up a six-pack of this bottled gem of a product at a nice beer store with a great selection in Vegas on the way back from Boulder City. Excellent bottled IPA. Made in Salt Lake City. Way to go, Mormons! Pictured below are the Squatters in their makeshift sink cooler (so totally Vegas) along with a six-pack of In-Heat Hefewizen from Flying Dog Brewing out of Maryland that Andy had bought. I had a bottle of this before on our New Year's cruise and wasn't overly impressed, plus I am not a huge fan of "heffies" anyway.


Big Sky IPA - I got this on tap at a bar in the New York, New York Casino called Pour 24 (get it, two dozen craft beers on tap). It's from Mizzoula, Montana, and was pretty good, but I was expecting bigger results in terms of hops from a draught.

Gordon Biersch Marzen - I got this overpriced ho-hum amber Octoberfest-style lager at a Gordon Biersch restaurant/bar in the Las Vegas Airport waiting on our flight home. It was as plain as day and the nearly $9 price tag for a tall draught was ridiculous. GB is a regional franchise brewer from California specializing in lagers. Fairly popular among the masses, but nothing special to me.

Lindemans Framboise - Finally!! The Belgians have produced something that I like. Who knew it would be the best fruit-infused beer I have had to this point. The name sounds weird, maybe even a little girly, and it is a "fruity beer" but this stuff simply kicks ass. Incredible raspberry taste during consumption and lingering in the aftertaste. Full body with an interesting slight effervescence as well. A really amazing beer. My wife actually ordered it per a recommendation from our waitress at Yard House - the 100-beer-on-tap restaurant I discovered in Las Vegas during my last trip. After a few sips I was sold. I finished my Double Daddy IPA that I also had the last time I was at Yard House (excellent again), and decided I would go for the ultimate blend called the Youngberry Chocolate - that's Lindemans Framboise and Youngs Double Chocolate Stout (my current favorite stout). No need to bring the dessert menu, miss. I am already there!! Wow!! What a flavor rush. I enjoyed every last sip and I am noted for not having much of a sweet tooth. They also have a float with Lindemans and a scoop of ice cream....next time for sure. According to a little research I have done, fruit and even vegetables were used to season beer before hops became common. Lindemans has been in the beer biz for a long time and continue that pre-hop tradition with other fruit flavored beers such as peach (worth a try) and apple (definitely gotta try that one).

Another excellent visit to Vegas. Can't wait to go back again for more discoveries.

Around the World in 80 Minutes

I celebrated the start of American Craft Brewing Week with my wife, Ashlee, and our friend, Nate, last night at the "Beers Around the World Tasting" at Cabana Restaurant in Nashville over near Vanderbilt. Actually, this event had nothing to do with American Craft Brewing Week as the "Around the World" name implies. It was just a coincidence that they had it at the same time. It was also just pure luck that I learned about the event because it was not advertised anywhere that I know of except on the restaurant's website. Last week, I just so happened to be perusing their website trying to secure a table early next month for a large group and saw the blurb about it. The description was pretty vague (see ad photo). But 30+ beer samples for $12, uhh, OK, sold.

Cabana is a great restaurant that my wife and I have been to before (hence, the reason we thought it would be a good choice for our large gathering next month), but we had never been to any kind of "tasting" there before and with the vagueness of the ad on their website, we really didn't know what to expect. Our questions were quickly answered when we arrived as we were ushered to their large covered patio where the tasting was to take place. They had set up several "stations" around the perimeter of the large space with six or seven bottled beers from all over the globe (photo above taken by Nate). Some were recognizable and a few were new (to me at least).

I, of course, prefer draught beer, but $12 beggars can't be choosers, so you take what you can get. None of the bottled brews that were new to me really blew me away, and they had only one IPA to try (my beloved but fairly common Harpoon from Boston), but with the open covered patio with comfortable seating, the lovely spring evening, good company, generous and virtually unlimited pours, and great food to nibble on from the kitchen - it turned out to be quite a nice evening.

Here's a quick list of the newbies (to me) that I tried:

- Monty Python's Holy Ale - England - not bad, but more of a gimmick than a serious beer I think.

- Kostritzer - Germany - a nice smoky ale that seemed close to a bock in taste, but looks like a porter or stout. These boys have been brewing since 1543.

- King Fisher - India - a decent pilsner (if you like pilsners which I don't too much)

- Wexford Irish Cream - Ireland - probably the biggest disappointment to me of the tasting. Very bitter aftertaste for a cream ale. Give me a Boddington's any day over this stuff. Yuck.

- Moretti - Italy - pilsner - Oh, look, a pilsner, guess what I thought about it??

- Flying Dog Old Scratch - Maryland - an alt combo of ale and lager. Very good beer.

- He'Brew Messiah Bold - New York - too malty for me as far as brown ales go, but a good effort. Great brewery name.

- He'Brew Genesis Ale - New York - a nice crisp ale.

- Rogue Dead Guy Ale - Oregon - I have had this before (pre-blog days). Pretty decent, but it gets a lot more praise from others than I would give it.

- Singha - Thailand - An OK lager, but the Far East just doesn't brew good beer that well in my opinion

- Left Hand JuJu Ginger - Colorado - this wins the uniqueness award of the show - I had ginger beer draught in Australia straight from the small microbrewery (Bluetongue) that we were visiting, and thought it was pretty good (if you like the taste of ginger). This bottled variety was pretty close in taste and body.

- Kasteel Rogue Ale - Belgium - overpowering cherry flavoring made this taste like cough syrup. I can appreciate fruit-infused beer but this stuff was just gross. Once again, the Belgians and I just don't see eye to eye on beer despite their hundreds of years of brewing experience.

- Lion Stout - Sri Lanka - excellent bottled stout. This wins "Best of Show" to me among the beers I hadn't tried. The distributor/server told us it is a consistent award winner and I can see why. NOTE: The only draught they had available for tasting - Magic Hat # 9 - was my favorite beer of the show, but I have had that many, many, many times!

- Brooklyn Brown Ale - NY - excellent brown ale. Been looking forward to trying some Brooklyn products. They are a veteran of the craft brewing industry similar to Stone and Dogfish Head, but are only just now breaking into the southern U.S. markets according to the distributor who was there hawking the brews. Yes, I checked, they have an IPA. The search begins.

- Brooklyn Summer Ale - NY - Great, great light ale, but when the distributor compared it to being "as good as" Magic Hat # 9, I couldn't help but laugh....puuuuhhhleeeeease!

- Chimay Rogue, Chimay Bleue, Chimay Blanche - Belgium - sorry, Belgium, I just don't get it, but many do and love your beers whether made by Trappist monks or not. I just don't get the appeal of a taste like burnt malt which the Rogue and Bleue gave off to me. The Blanche was lighter as the name implies and not as bad, but still not worth drinking to me. Palettes are funny things I guess.

- Greene King Abbot Ale - England - better than that crap they call an IPA at Greene King, but still a bit skunky to my taste buds (just like Bass Ale which I used to like, but now can't stand for some reason).

After the show, we were getting ready to amble over a block or so to Bosco's to celebrate an actual American-only craft brewery when our friend, Nate, waved us over to a nearby parking lot where he was haggling with one of the distributors who had been working at the tasting. The young guy had commented earlier in the evening that he liked the hat Nate was wearing and would like to do some swag trading for it. Nate's hat has a "Fat Tire Urban Assault" logo on it. New Belgium Brewing out of Colorado had recently sponsored a bicycle obstacle course/race in Nashville called the "Urban Assault" and Nate had purchased the hat during the event. Turns out one of the distributor's biggest products is New Belgium and he was so happy to see someone sporting his brand at the tasting that he wanted to give Nate some freebies and told Nate to just keep his hat. The guy was very generous and also hooked up Ashlee and me with T-shirts, hats and I got a very nice mechanic-style button down shirt as well. Way to go, Nate!

After securing our swag in the car, we continued our quick trek to Bosco's where I stuck with tradition and started with their IPA. Delicious as usual. For the sake of this blog and my "journey o' beer" I switched gears on the second pint (thanks, Ashlee, for being the designated driver!) and tried their Germantown Alt. Good body and finish. Quite enjoyable. Alts are becoming a new favorite of mine as well since they bring the best of both worlds by combining ale and lager qualities while maintaining a pure, fresh taste. Well done, Bosco's, as usual.

TERMINAL-ly Chill

After having to show some patience, my wife and I and some friends of ours finally got to visit the new Terminal Brewhouse in downtown Chattanooga near the famous Choo-Choo this past Saturday night. The patience came in to play as we arrived a few minutes after 7 PM local time to find the place completely packed with patrons and an hour-and-a-half wait to get a table for the seven of us. Not wanting to dine at 9 PM-ish, we decided to ditch our plans to have dinner at the Brewhouse and settled for the nearby Broadstreet Grille which has excellent food, but the beer selections are limited (I settled for a couple of Fat Tire pints).

After dinner, we gave The Terminal another look and it had quietened down enough to at least get inside. In fact, as soon as we got inside we headed up and back outside to their second floor roof patio and commandered one of the empty picnic tables scattered about. Our group had shrunk to five, but not our enthusiasm. We had a loud, raucous time as was everyone else out on the patio enjoying the beauitful spring temps and the respite from what seems to have been a month of rainy weather.

I, of course, started with their IPA that they call Goofballs ( don't ask, I have no idea where they got the name, but I like it). Their website brags that if you like to "chew your hops" this is the one for you, but I beg to differ. While it's a decent IPA with a nice aroma and a smooth finish, it's not got enough hoppy punch in my opinion for it to really stand out among a lot of other IPAs out there. Others in our group tried their oatmeal stout (Southsidenstein) and their Belgian White (The White Shadow) and gave them both good reviews. I tried a sip of the stout and thought it was decent as well, but again nothing earth-moving.

But what the Terminal Brewhouse lacks in beer production uniqueness (they are a relatively new craft brewer and I expect to see growth and experimentation in this area) they completely make up for in ambiance. This is postively one of the best brewpubs I have ever been to (and that's putting them up against some very unique place/pubs I have visited such as Lake Placid, NY, Duluth, MN, Spokane, WA, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Brisbane, Australia). They took an incredibly unique historical structure called the Strong Building (teetering on the edge of condemnation from what I have heard) and turned it into a beautiful establishment that downtown Chattanooga should be very proud to add to their collection. Sitting out on the patio with the huge "Choo-Choo" neon sign looming over us next door was entralling. A few in our group had been here before and ate dinner, and said the food was good as well, so I am looking forward to indulging in both the food and the beer on our next visit. I also applaud the owners' conviction toward having a "green" establishment both inside (water and energy-saving bathroom implements, reclaimed wood table tops) and outside (rainwater cistern, green roof that includes the aforementioned lovely patio). This brewpub was an ambitious undertaking and from what I have seen in terms of crowds so far looks to hopefully be paying off. Chattanooga was in dire need of a real brewpub (sorry Big River - I just don't believe in your conviction to craft brewing and think even less of your products). I still give the edge to Moccasin Bend Brewing as far as the best and most unique beer produced in Chattanooga at this time, but with their limited production and community presence, The Terminal Brewhouse is king of the mountain for now.

Despite my overall lack of enthusiasm for their IPA, I still had two pints and bought a growler of it on the way out (hey, I said it wasn't anything too unique, but I didn't say it wasn't PRETTY DAMN GOOD). I look forward to another visit to The Terminal as soon as possible and will be spreading the word to folks I know in that area or who will be visiting Chattanooga to check it out, including right now with a link to their very nice website: http://terminalbrewhouse.com/

Swine Flew Hits Lebanon, TN

Amen, brother, and past the pint glass. Lebanon, Tennessee, once again has a real pub and a real IPA on tap. From the darkened shadows that was once the beloved Lady Godiva English Pub here in my hometown of Lebanon, TN, - the home of Cracker Barrel (whoop-dee-do) and the home of no real beer store or bar that serves real beer up to this point - rises the Bunganut Pig English Pub and Eatery, a local "chain" with locations in nearby Murfreesboro and the original one in Franklin, TN.

My wife, Ashlee, and I went there for dinner last night after anxiously awaiting it's opening on...when else...my birthday, April 20 --- has to be a sign, don't you think? The food was good and the beer was....quite decent. They had Sweetwater IPA from Atlanta on tap which made me very "hoppy" since I had been wanting to try it on draught ever since having it recently in a bottle and loving it.

The place has some growing to do to say the least in terms of beer...they only listed their draught beer as "Sweetwater" and when I asked if it was "the 420" our ditzy waitress answered that "yes, it's only $4." Whatever, you twit, just bring it. When it happened to be the IPA, I knew it was destiny.

Long live the Bunganut Pig in Lebanon and here's to great draught beer on tap again just a mile from my house!!!

Bits & Pieces

A few beer-related notes of interest taking place over the past couple of weeks:

I tried two more new beers from two of my favorite Southern craft brewers: Terrapin in Athens, GA, and Highland in Asheville, NC. The new (to me) Terrapin I tried was their India-style Nut Brown Ale. I had a bottle of it while at Maffiaoso's Pizza in Nashville (excellent pizza and a great beer selection). This is the best of both worlds combining the hoppiness of an IPA with the nutty flavoring of a Belgium-style brown ale. Delicious. I bet it's even better on draught. Gotta keep a close eye for that offering somewhere.

I was in Murfreesboro the other night meeting a friend for dinner and a movie and had just enough time to stop by the new Total Beverages Store that I discovered recently. After perusing over their vast selection of craft beers, I settled on a six-pack of a new seasonal offering by my old pals over in Asheville, Highland Brewing. It's called Black Mountain Bitter Pale Ale. I get the "Black Mountain" part - that's an area near Asheville whose most famous resident is probably Billy Graham. But the "Bitter" part threw me because this stuff is smooooth. Really reminded me more of a German-style bock than a pale ale, but I won't argue the point and will settle for just enjoying its crisp flavor and thirst-quenching appeal (an ice-cold one went down really smooth this weekend after working in the yard in the unseasonably warm mid-80 temps of late April...gulp, gulp...aaahhh).

I celebrated my 42nd birthday this past week and my dear wife, Ashlee, surprised me with a very unique little gift from what is clearly one of my favorite craft brewers, Stone Brewing in California. It was two small drinking glasses made from recycled Stone IPA beer bottles. She was really patting herself on the back with this gift choice since the day before I received them we were at Maffiaoso's Pizza as I mentioned above and my second beer selection was a Stone IPA. As you can see in the photo above, I have already put these little beauties to work in our house. It just so happened that Ashlee was also traveling this week of my birthday out on the west coast and was fortunate enough to get to visit the Stone Brewing Restaurant and Pub just outside San Diego (man, was I jealous). Her friend, Christian, is quite the beer nerd as well out in San Diego, and after taking her to Stone also took Ashlee to Port (Lost Abbey) Brewing where she nabbed me a very cool T-shirt. I have not had any of the Port/Lost Abbey brews and according to Ashlee's description it's a fairly small operation that looks mostly regional in distribution (according to their website, it's west coast and some up north only for now).

Finally, I am proud to report that I am now a "card-carrying member" of the Bosco's Beer Police Force. Yeah, it's just a customer-loyalty program, but you get a cool card and points for drinking beer...what's not to love!

Lost Wages - Gained Calories

Despite zero success on the poker tables on a recent visit to Las Vegas, some great beer was found most of which I consumed at the best ale house/restaurant I have ever been to.

As soon as I got to Vegas after checking into my room, I went and got my usual $3.50 pint of Guinness at the street bar of tiny O'Shea's Casino on The Strip. This place is dated and pretty much a dump, but they give a good pour (despite being in a plastic cup) which is absolutely vital to me while walking around Vegas. A block or so away is the Flamingo Hotel and Casino and overlooking their garden area inside is the new Sin City Brewing Bar. With only four craft brews on tap, it's obvious this microbrewery is just getting started. And to me, they have a long, long way to go. I was not impressed. From their limited selection, I chose their Octoberfest Amber Ale. Fairly boring and served in a plastic cup for the ridiculous price of $6. Laughable. I am not one who worries about the price of good beer, but this swill was mediocre in taste and you can't even give it to me in a glass? What a joke. I've got a real feeling that like the fake Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris Casino, the fake volcano in front of The Mirage and the fake Manhattan skyline in front of the New York, New York Casino, Sin City Brewing is basically a fake of a real craft brewery and should be considered just another Vegas tourist trap.

With the disappointment of Sin City Brewing (even their T-shirts were overpriced and cheap) and finishing two places off the money in two different poker tournaments on my first day, my trip to Vegas was not going that well on day one. But, as Scarlett O'Hara said so long ago, "Tomorrow is another day." And it certainly was. The poker didn't improve, in fact, it got worse with early exits as my pocket aces and pockets jacks got cracked in two successive tournaments respectively by awful players with awful hands - yup, that's poker. Before that first bust-out at the Planet Hollywood Casino I was wandering around waiting on the tournament to start and happened across the original location for Sin City Brewing - a small walk-up bar with just a few stools in PH's Miracle Mile shopping area. I gave them another chance for some reason (boredom more than anything probably) and tried their Irish Stout. Not bad, but nothing original. At least it was a buck cheaper than the Flamingo location but it was still served in a plastic cup. I asked the barkeep about IPAs and he said they actually had one coming out next month (I perked up a bit since I will be returning to Vegas at the end of next month), but he said it would a British-style IPA - hmmmph, never mind. I ran into that recently bottled (Greene King IPA) and did not care for it at all. Not hoppy enough for me to waste any more time or money on these guys ever again. I won't be trying it unless they are handing it out free on The Strip (don't see that happening).

After that first bad beat/bust-out, of my AA vs an unsuited J5 (uggh!) I was done with poker for a while and I had to find some real beer.

I had read rave reviews online of an ale house/restaurant with a location in Vegas called Yard House, so I decided to seek it out. Unfortunately, it's at the far, far end of Las Vegas Blvd., so I had to take a cab to get to it. Even the bellman when I told him where I was going to need a cab to said, "All right, excellent place!." I remained hopeful. It's a chain restaurant that mostly has locations out west (but a couple in Florida - note to self for future reference) and claim to have more beers on tap than anyone else (over 100). I concur. Wow! I know there are some bars with this many beers on tap, but they are not actual restaurants as well.

This place is amazing! If I were to design an ale house this is what it would look like: lots of great beer on tap in a beautifully-appointed building with food as good as the beer. I was as blown away by my lunch ( a hot pastrami sandwich infused with jalapenos - yummy) as I was the beer and the restaurant itself. Nirvana had been reached! As for the beer, I chose to stick with pints even though they had plenty of 3-foot-long "yards" of beer glasses to serve you with (see photo below hanging above the taps), hence the name of the place. I started with the Double Daddy IPA first. This product from Speakeasy Brewing in San Francisco was excellent. Double IPAs are my favorite style of beer. As the name implies, the brewer doubles the standard amount of hops and malt creating a ferociously heavy, alcohol-laden beer. The Double Daddy checks in at 9.5%...oh yeah. Double IPAs are also sort of hard to find since they absolutely reek of hops in aroma and taste, they're just not for everyone (wimps). My second choice was a bit of a miss (but then most everything would be to me after enjoying a good double IPA). It was Kona Fire Rock Ale from Kona Brewing in Hawaii. It was your basic Irish-style amber ale. Nothing memorable, but a decent product nonetheless and I get to mark Hawaii of my state list.

The poker woes continued that evening with JJ going down in flames to A2 (great hand, buddy) and as bad as I was running, I was going to have a hard time justifying another tournament the next day before I returned home in the evening. That fact was confirmed as I hung out in my hotel room the next morning and proceeded to win $75 in a small online tournament (take it any way you can get it I guess). I went ahead and checked out of my room around lunch time and decided to just spend the afternoon before flying home with the two things that would cost me the least amount of money and heartache in Vegas: sightseeing and beer. I wondered thru a couple of the big strip casinos that I had not been into before. The MGM was nice with its free lion exhibit. I thought it was cool that the lions basically work "shifts" in the casino and also get time in an outdoor facility away from the Vegas madness. The Luxor was nice as well (that's the pyramid-shaped one) and it is connected to the lovely Mandalay Bay Casino by an enclosed breeze-way full of shops and restaurants including the one I was looking for called simply Burger Bar.

This upscale burger joint was also recommended online as having a good selection of beer on tap. And they certainly did! 24 to be exact. My first choice (out of a nice collection of IPAs) was Hop Henge Experimental IPA from Deschutes Brewing out of Bend, Oregon. Super-hoppy and delicious (experiment a success, boys!). I was lucky to get this great beer looks like because according to their website it will only be available thru May. I am very interested in trying more of their many selections because it looks (from the website) and tastes (from this IPA) that these guys are the real deal when it comes to craft-brewing (hear that, Sin City Brewing - get with the program or get out). I opted not to eat at Burger Bar because I was still full from breakfast, but their food looked pretty good. Maybe next visit. I stayed on the IPA train and ordered a Ruination IPA from Stone Brewing in California. Stone is one of my favorite craft brewers and I dearly love their standard IPA on draught and in bottles (see next blog post for more on that) and I had heard of Ruination but never had a chance to try it. Very smooth and not as strong as the name might indicate (at least to me). An excellent pint start to finish and quite a different experience from their standard IPA. Well done, again, Stone-meisters.

With a bit of a stumble to my bumble, I decided to walk off some of these calories by heading south thru the Mandalay Bay Casino and back out on to Las Vegas Boulevard toward the Town Square Mall area where the Yard House is located. I made sure to drink some water while at Burger Bar in preparation for the mile or so hike in the already mid-90s heat of Las Vegas. Of course, it's a dry heat there in Las Vegas and as I heard one comedian say "That's what they tell as they are loading you in to the ambulance."

I made the walk with no problem. Poked around in a few of the stores there and awaited the clock to strike 3 PM when Happy Hour starts at the Yard House...hoo-ray!!! My second visit to the YH started with Lost Coast Brewing's Indica IPA. I was able to try some Lost Coast brews in the past (8 Ball Stout, Alley Cat Amber and Downtown Brown Ale ) and liked what they were doing, and that goes definitely for their IPA concoction as well. Wonderfully smooth with a refereshing finish. And it goes good with Asian flavors, since I ordered the lettuce wraps off the half-off appetizer menu to go with it. Same as yesterday...great, great food. Before heading out to catch a cab back to the airport, I finished off my visit with the Alaskan IPA. It was actually a bit dull compared to some of the other wonderful IPAs I had tried in Vegas the past few days, but not awful. It still made anything Sin City Brewing was doing look like bilge water.

Thank goodness for good beer or my Vegas trip would have been pretty much a bust, but the weather was perfect and Vegas is always worth a gander. Now, I have more good reasons to come back than just poker. As I mentioned, I do have a trip planned late next month over Memorial Day weekend back to Vegas with the in-laws, and I hope to add a couple more beer-related stops on that visit including Boulder City Brewing over near the Hoover Dam and another great ale house in the old part of Vegas.