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!!!