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!