The Science of Beer

My wife and I attended the 2nd annual "The Science of Beer" event at the Nashville Adventure Science Center tonight. It was a pretty neat little event that I just happened to hear about a few weeks ago. But evidently a lot of people heard about it because it was sold out with no tickets at the door available when we arrived about 15 minutes after it started. Good thing I had pre-ordered our tickets.

I decided to buy the $20 admission tickets for three reasons: Number One - there was going to beer there...hello...Number Two: I don't have to work tomorrow, and Number Three - we attended a wine-tasting event at this place a while back and really liked the layout for such an occasion. The NASC is a large, multi-level, hands-on science center for kids of all ages that sits on a hill near the Civil War's Fort Negley overlooking downtown. It has a lot of open space to set up tasting booths and for attendees to mingle. Plus, most of the science exhibits are open and can be even more fun to experience with a little buzz going!

The beers available weren't anything to get too excited about, but not bad. It was all bottle-poured samples, but it was at least mostly respectable American micro-brews. It was co-sponsored by Lipman Distributing, so, of course, their products were what was bing presented. It was also sponsored by Nashville's own Yazoo Brewing and it was a bit disappointing that they didn't have draught samples of their wares. There were tasting stations set up by beer category: stouts, porters, IPAs, wheats, pilsners and ales. The lines were a little long due to a limited number of pourers and a lot of lollygaggers tasting their samples while in the way of others trying to get a taste as well. The "science" part was a little lame with a few information booths set up, a beer Jeopardy room, a scavenger hunt and a silent auction on a few interesting items. Overall, it was OK, but probably not something worth attending every year. It was good to see it sold out and that much enthusiasm for good beer in Nashville. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the Music City Beer Festival sells out fast each summer as well.

I was able to try a few new-to-me samples...at least one at each station we visited...here's how they went in a brief run-down:

Ass-Kisser Double IPA: I had heard of this one thanks to its unique name, and had been wanting to try it. It's brewed by Rahr & Sons Brewing out of Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately, it was an English-style IPA that I don't really care for too much. It was drinkable and a decent finish but the smell and first taste just weren't pleasing to me.

Stone Smoked Porter - excellent smokey taste and smooth finish. The Stone folks out of California are one of my favorites and always do it right .

Victory Storm King Stout - I have actually had a sip of this before from a bottle my friend, Nate, got one time when were out. It was good to have a few full swallows of this nice stout from Pennsylvania.

Red Tail Ale - I was excited to see this beer not for its taste (which was a decent Irish red ale) but for its brewer, Mendocino Brewing out of New York. They produce one of my favorite high-gravity IPAs in a bottle - the White Hawk Select - which you couldn't get in this area until now I guess....I actually bought it in Chattanooga which is under a different distributorship. And, yep, they had White Hawk at the IPA tasting station which made up for that nasty English-style one. Update: I also just bought a Blue Heron Pale Ale of theirs (unknowingly, I hadn't even looked at who the brewer was) at the Mt. Juliet Beer Company store in a variety six-pack so the distributing in Middle TN is definitely on. Haven't tried it yet, more on that later.

I also had some weird German pilsner as well that I had never had before, but failed to save the name of it. Doesn't matter much because it wasn't very good anyway. I do remember it being the bright yellow color of well....piss...sorry, that's just what it looked like. We never got to the wheats. The line was too long and neither of us are big fans anyway. Again, not a bad event. For $20 a person of which some of that went to charity you got a good variety of beer with plenty to drink, a nice full tasting glass from Yazoo to keep (I really hate those beer festivals where they give you some dinky little glass which is really good for nothing after the sampling is over) and admission to most of the science center without a bunch of brats running around in it.

When we got home I cracked open a pint bottle of Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego (did I mention I don't have to work tomorrow!). My amazing wife, Ashlee, got me this beauty on a recent trip to California. It was excellent and easy to taste why it won a gold medal this year at The Beer Cup.

Beer Tree '10

"Oh, beer tree, oh beer tree...you're gonna make me a fat-teeee"

Well, it's the holiday season once again and the 2nd Annual Beer Tree is now up at our house. The finished product looked pretty good I thought. This year's beer selection for our holiday party were from bottom to top:

Terrapin Moo Hoo Milk Chocolate Stout - delicious! the folks in Athens, GA, score big again! And I don't mean The Bulldogs!

Brooklyn Winter Ale - this Scottish-style ale is a solid contribution from the New Yorkers

Winter Hook - With a 42 IBU, these babies are smooooth. Nice job, Washingtonians!

Harpoon Winter Warmer - I got the nutmeg flavor, but my palette doesn't pick up the cinnamon...yet. Gotta keep working on it!! This is the Boston-based brewery's flagship seasonal beer and they have a right to be proud of it. Excellent holiday beer.

BBC Bourbon Barrel Stout - Not new to me, but one of my favorites from the beloved Bluegrass Brewing in Louisville. It was a great surprise early Christmas present from my wife that I was kind enough to share with our guests...after I had one, of course...hey, it's only a four-pack!!

Other highlights on the tree was an empty can of 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA (to the right of the Harpoon carton) that my wonderful wife brought me back from California after a recent trip. A "Save Cummins Falls" bumper sticker near the top to go along with the theme of our holiday party to raise a little money for a great cause. My old beat-up beloved Harpoon IPA hat serves as the tree topper. I also put Christmas ball ornaments in the beer cartons which are hard to see in the photo above but I thought it was kind of cool and festive....ok, and maybe a little gay....not that there's anything wrong with that....

Cheers and Happy Holidays!!

Key West Again, Good Beer Found Again

I had another opportunity to visit South Florida as well as Key West for a second time this year and was able to have another reasonably successful foray into new-to-me beer-hunting. I took a guys-trip to see the Tennessee Titans play in Miami and we turned that into a four-day trip to this great area with lots of beer, gambling and football on the agenda. Not a bad way to spend mid-November!

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday morning, taking advantage of the Veterans Day holiday. From there we drove down to Key West per my suggestion since none of the other three in our party had ever been there before. My first stop inside the Key West city limits was the great liquor store I found on our last trip here back in September (see previous blog). This place has a tremendous beer selection and reasonable prices considering that it is down here at the very southern tip of the U.S. I was in a bit of a hurry and only found a couple I had not had before, so I settled for some old favorites in a variety six-pack (Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Left Hand Brewing's Milk Stout and Victory Brewing's Hop Wallop). More on the newbies later. Speaking of old favorites, I also grabbed a six-pack of Dale's Pale Ale in cans. Did I mention this store had great selection?

We started our bar crawl on Friday night with dinner at the Southernmost Brewery (also known as Kelly's Caribbean Grill). My wife and I have been here several times pre-blog, but this will be my first entry regarding their limited number (three regulars and one seasonal) of brews. I settled for their signature Key West Golden Ale which is a decent light-weight concoction. I will save the others for other visits because there will always be more visits to Key West (next May is already on our radar). What I really wanted was one of their great "Save the Ales" T-shirts, but they were unfortunately sold out of XL sizes. Nerts! Maybe next time.

Our next bar in the crawl is the oldest in Florida it claims, and the original "Sloppy Joe's" where Hemingway drank his way to legendary status. It's called Capt. Tony's and it's a hoot with ancient business cards and dollars bills with signatures of visitors from all over the world stuck everywhere on the walls, many of which have browned and are brittle with age. There are also bras hanging in numerous locations which echo back to years and years of good times had here. I slapped down $5 for one of their huge (18 oz.) house beers, Capt. Tony's Amber Ale, in a souvenir plastic cup. I lost the cup deep into the night of bar crawling on famous Duval Street....don't ask. The beer itself is OK and I have learned now that it is brewed by InBev conglomerate Anheuser-Busch for the bar. Oh, well, whatcha gonna do? At least it was drinkable and there was lots of it for the price.

We headed back north on Saturday past Miami and pulled into the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale, with gambling on our minds. Two of us, me included, were headed for the poker room, and two to the blackjack tables. My first session at the $1-2 tables didn't go real well and I decided to take a break and get some supper. I settled for a restaurant in the huge casino complex call Bluepoint Grill. They had a decent row of taps at the bar and I settled on the Shipyard Pumpkin Ale. Nice and seasoned with the flavors of autumn. It didn't go especially well with my dinner choice -- some of the best fish tacos I have ever had --- but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Sunday was game day and I strapped on my game-face and snapped open my first beer of the day at 8:26 AM (EST). I had brought the three-remaining newbies from my Key West six-pack and one Dale's Pale Ale can for my tailgating necessities. I wasn't kidding around with my A.M. Beer either. It was a double-IPA known as the 2XIPA from SouthTier Brewing out of Lakewood, New York. Good, good stuff.

The next was the Holy Mackerel Golden Ale from Thomas Creek Brewing in Greenville, SC, under the commission of Gordash Beer Company which originally brewed it in Ft. Lauderdale. I let my friend, Wayne, have the last one - a stout that I forgot to note the name of...slipping in my old age...I had a sip of it and it seemed like a good one, but, hey, I am a pal and don't mind sharing my beer to those in need! I just wish I could remember the name of it!

With all my real beer consumed, we made our way into Sun Life Stadium and the land of way over-priced, way-way-overrated domestic swill they also call beer. I was pleasantly surprised to fine nice tall pint cans of Red Stripe for sale (photo above)...hey, it's South Florida! Red Stripe's one of my favorite well-known lagers (not that I have many) and one of the few mainstream beers I can count on if necessary.

Another great trip to South Florida and to my beloved Key West and another good collection of beer added to the list.

Browning's, BJ's and Breeders' Cup

My wife, sister-in-law and brother-in law went to Louisville this weekend to take in some of the Breeders' Cup World Championships horse racing at historic Churchill Downs and I was able to talk them into having dinner at two different places in town that brew their own beer.


The first was Browning's Brewery which is built right into the side of the minor league baseball park in downtown Louisville. It was a smallish place and very busy for a Friday night so we ate at the bar which was fine with me since it gave me an ample view of their beer selections. I started with a pint of the She-Devil Imperial Pale Ale. It was tasty and smooth. No complaints here other than them calling it an "IPA" - yes, those are the initials of what it is but we all know what "IPA" really stands for and therefore this can be deceiving since it's got a decent hoppiness, but that's not it's greatest quality.


I moved onto their Scotch Ale next. This was by far their best beer in my opinion. A bit heavy but not overpowering with a great aftertaste. My wife ordered their Brown Ale and I had a taste, but wasn't impressed. Neither was she and brown ales are her favorite. I also got the barkeep to give me a small sample of their Helles. I am glad I didn't order a pint of this blindly. Yuck. It's a soapy malty mess of a lager that I just didn't care for. Overall a good experience here. The food was decent and while I was not a fan of all their beer, they do seem to take it seriously. I will definitely come back when and if I get the chance.

After spending the day at the races, we headed over to BJ'S Brewhouse and Restaurant in a nearby mall outside of downtown Louisville. BJ's is a chain restaurant with many locations in California and Texas and look to be just recently expanding into the Midwest and South. My expectations weren't very high on their beer since some chain "micro-brewers" are really just producing tasteless and unimaginative mass-produced swill (Sin City Brewing, Big River, Rock Bottom, Mohegan Brewhouse, etc.) just to lure you in so you will eat their nachos. Not the case for BJ's. Outstanding beer for the most part and their food was great as well! I started with the Piranha Pale Ale, a nice brew with strong taste and body. My favorite came next - their seasonal Pumpkin Ale. It was boldly flavored while remaining light and refreshing. I pushed my luck too far and ordered their Jeremiah Red Strong Ale which was average at best. I also had a taste of their Brewnette Brown Ale (great name!) and thought it was good also. Definitely better than Browning's Brown Ale the night before. I would definitely come back to BJ's in Louisville if the opportunity presents itself, and will look at it as an option while traveling in the future as well.

While killing some time before a movie Friday night, we stopped at a liquor store to get a little "anti-freeze" for the races the next day since the weather was to be unseasonably cold. Thank you Southern Comfort! The liquor store we found was actually the Liquor Barn, a huge warehouse of not only liquor and wine, but a huge assortment of high-gravity beer from all over the world. I bought several to take home and try over the next month or so. Ashlee bought some as well for me for Christmas stocking stuffers. Did I mention she's a great wife? More on those later.

New Autumn Brews

I am having a great fall so far this year and much of that happiness comes from some good, new (to me) seasonal beer that I have been having. Here's a quick run-down:

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale: I had this at WOW Wingery in Mt. Juliet as part of their "Drink the Wall" quest that I am currently on (see previous blog). They served it in a glass rimmed with brown sugar and the results were phenomonal. The brewers from Maryland do it right again.

I got a growler of Terrapin Pumpkinfest Ale at the Mt. Juliet Beer Company (MJBC). Amazing aroma and taste of all the spices of the season. This Athens, GA, product has been my (and my wife's) favorite so far of the fall brews.

I recently got a growler of Yazoo Fallfest Ale as well from the MJBC. Although not as good as the Terrapin product, it was still a good variation and worth carrying this Nashville-produced product to a BYOB Halloween party that my wife and I attended.

Greetings from the Portland, Oregon Airport

Who says you can't get anything good from an airport gift shop? My wife recently returned from a trip out west to Portland, Oregon, and found some great craft beer for me as she waited to board her flight home. Portland's a great craft brewing town with a couple of well-known producers, Rogue and Bridgeport, as well as several other smaller regional brands. Here's the list of what she brought me (none of which I have had before) in the order they have now been consumed:

Bridgeport Hop Harvest Imperial Ale - this was a pint bottle claiming only a one-hour process from field harvest to brewing. It is triple-hopped and delicious from Bridgeport Brewing, the grand-daddy of all craft brewers in Oregon.

Summer Grifter IPA - MacTarnahan's Brewery - This was a 12 oz. bottle from a small brewery in Portland that I had not heard of before. It was an excellent IPA with nice hoppiness and finish. Probably my favorite of the three I received.

Nice Rack IPA - Great name! This decent IPA is produced by Southern Oregon Brewery (SOB) in Medford. It was also a pint bottle.

IN OTHER NEWS:

This weekend (October 16 to be exact) I joined WOW Wingery's "Drink the Wall and Get Your Wings" Club over in nearby Mt. Juliet - 3 down and 42 0r so to go - New Belgium's Ranger IPA, Stone IPA and a Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale (new to me) in a glass rimmed with brown sugar. The bartender said most folks can't do it in a year....we'll see about that!

My local fav beer store, Mount Juliet Beer Company, is now serving half-size growlers which are a great way to sample a new or beloved draught (works out to about 3 glasses) while limiting caloric intake or worrying about it going flat if you try and space out the five to six glasses you get from a full growler. Mike, the owner, also recently announced eight more taps to be coming in!! It's great to see the MJBC having such great success!!

Havin' a Drinky in INKY

I took a quick weekend trip up north to INKY (that's Indiana and Kentucky to those not in the know) to play some poker at a couple of Indiana casinos on the Ohio River that are sucking money at a steady rate out of Louisville and Cincinnati. Good job Kentucky and Ohio for letting that happen just like stupid Tennessee letting money flow out of both ends of it into North Carolina and Mississippi. Keep trying to legislate morality and keeping losing revenue to your border states. Just plain stupid. OK, I'm getting off my soap box...the poker didn't go real well, but I was able to drown my sorrows at a couple of nice brewpubs in the Louisville area.

Saturday afternoon I stopped in the town of New Albany, Indiana, just across the river from Louisville to check out The New Albanian Brewing Company. The town was holding an outdoor fall festival known as "Fringe Fest." NABC was participating as well at their new Bank Street Brewhouse location with live music, outdoor grilling and, of course, beer specials. They had $4 draughts and I partook in three of their eight choices. I started of with their imperial IPA that they call Hoptimus (great name and logo). It was uber-hoppy just like I love my IPAs, and with an ABV over 10%, it's a powerfully strong and tasty brew. Next I tried the Community Dark. This is a dark-colored, yet light-bodied ale that was pretty good albeit a little bitter in the aftertaste to me. The weak ABV of 3.7% was surprising. My last selection was the Oaktimus: that's the Hoptimus soaked in oak chips as a speciality brew. Wowzers! Great, great beer. Very unique and creative. They weren't doing growlers during the festival, or I would have been bringing some of this stuff home with me. What a great find this place was. I can't wait to try some more of their concoctions. I may be back up this way in a couple of weeks and will hit this place again for sure if I do.

I played poker Sunday morning at a casino right outside Cincinnati in tiny Lawrenceburg, Indiana. No great results but at least I lasted longer than the day before and was just card dead as opposed to taking one horrible bad beat after another like the day before. On my way back down through Louisville towards home I stopped at the original location of Bluegrass Brewing Company in the St. Andrews section of town. My wife and I and our friends, Nate and Ginny, stopped here on the way home a few months ago on a Sunday and they weren't serving beer until 1 PM. Ugghh! Stupid blue laws. Almost as dumb as no casinos in your state that is surrounded by them.

Annnnnnyway, I planned better this time and arrived at about half-time of the early NFL games and bellied up to the bar to check out some scores and fantasy football team updates as well as try a few brews. Their selection was fairly familiar to me, but one speciality brew with a clever name that caught my eye was the Card Strong U of Ale in honor of the hometown University of Louisville Cardinals. Unfortunately, the name was about the best thing about this rather ho-hum brew. The rest of the line-up was either ones I had already had or just didn't do anything for me, so I opted for their "guest tap" and selected the Three Floyd's Scottish Ale. TFBC is an award-winning Artisinal brewery in northern Indiana (the town of Munster) just south of Chicago...yes, there is a casino south of Chicago in Indiana...those Hoosiers are smart enough to know there's more to state revenue than corn. Even when the bartender, adorned in his BBC shirt, sat the draught on the bar in front of me, he couldn't help but say...."this is a great beer." He was right. Spectacular beer! Thanks BBC for brewing good beer and not being snobby enough to recognize that others are doing the same (if not better).

The Key West 6 and a Double D

My wife and I went to Key West for a long weekend where we rented a house with my brother and sister-in-law. The great thing about this house besides its privacy and roominess is that it has a huge fridge where I could keep some great beer during our visit in and around the pool and hot-tub (photo below). Since I am cutting back on calories as much as possible, I decided to limit myself to a six-pack, or basically two beers a day...granted a couple of them were full pints....so sue me. I found a great little liquor store with a very nice high-gravity selection of beers on the "new" side of the island. Here's the line-up:

Ringwood Brewing's Old Thmper Ale (pint) brewed by permission by Shipyard Brewing, Maine - excellent body and taste. I was a bit skeptical since English-style ales aren't always my favorite, but this one was great.

Victory Golden Monkey Tripel Ale - not bad for a Belgium Style ale, but Victory Brewing out of Pennsylvania always strives to create good beer.

Full Sail Pale Ale - a nice pale ale. I have never heard of Full Sail but they are out of Oregon, one of my top 5 favorite craft beer states. Those states, by the way, in order of my favorites are CA, CO, NC, OR and PA.

Full Sail IPA - a decent IPA although not as hoppy as I prefer.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA (pint) - Rogue Brewing is the real reason Oregon makes my Top 5 States list. Awesome brewers. Awesome IPA, and what a great name.

Two Hearted Ale - Bells Brewing - This Michigan-based brewer has put out some pleasing beer that I have been discovering over the last year or so as their distribution moves into our area. This one's right up there with a smooth finish and good hoppy aroma.

Besides "The Key West 6" I also had a great beer-drinking experience during our dinner the first night on the island. We went to a dessert-only restaurant called "Better Than Sex." How could you not go check out a place called that? Their menu included cocktails that were also dessert-inspired including the "Double D" - a pint of Rogue Chocolate Stout served in a tall glass that's rim was dipped heavily in milk chocolate. All their drinks are served this way and they call them...are you ready?...."rim jobs" of course. Yep, it was real damn good. But better than sex? Well, no comment.

16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival - Chattanooga, TN

My wife and I and some friends attended the 16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend and had a great time. We stayed right near the festival on our friends' (Tiff and Brenda) boat. There was great music by Big Head Todd & the Monsters. And, of course, there was a lot of great beer.

We opted this year for the "Party on the Pier" (photo above) VIP passes that promised us unlimited food, beer as well as beer-garden-style seating at the festival, private restrooms and close access to the music stage. It was a good deal overall. My only hesitation was that the "unlimited beer" was being provided by Gordon Biersch Brewing, the sponsor of the "Party on the Pier." My past dealings with Gordon-Biersch beer have not been too great. What little I have had of their offerings (a lame airport bar, Big River Restaurant brands, Sin City Brewing in Vegas) has been ho-hum at best. But, I figured if their beer selection wasn't great, I still had plenty of microbrewers to choose from at the festival.

We still only got one sample token with our ticket and I spent it quickly on a mug of Sierra Nevada Tumbler Brown Ale. Delicious. The folks at Sierra-Nevada hardly ever disappoint and even though they aren't a "Southern" brewer, I was glad they were there. After that great start, we ambled on to the pier to see what the unlimited beer and food consisted of. The food was impressive with a good spread of eats including grilled brats, Kobe burgers, salad, cookies, etc. As far the beer went, I first thought they only had two offerings which were listed on a tap station near the food - Gordon Biersch Rodenbier and Gordon Biersch Czech-style Pilsner - definitely nothing to get excited about, but I had not had either from G-B, so I give them a try. The pilsner was actually decent, but I didn't car of the Rodenbier at all. Can't find out much about it. It translates "Clear Beer" in German. Beats me. It wasn't clear but it was quite bitter. I asked for another pilsner at a different tap station. I figured I would have one more "freebie" and then go buy some tokens and have some good beer. The lady behind the tap said she didn't have the pilsner. She had a lager and a stout.

"Stout, please!" I replied joyfully.

It seems each of the four tap stations had different beer, but no signs saying what they had except at the first one I went to. The stout was quite decent. The other stations I visited had a CPA (California Pale Ale) and a Roasted Pale Ale. Both were very good. Needless to say, I spent most of my afternoon and evening partaking in the decent, bottomless beers provided by Gordon Biersch.

I was given a token by a friend of ours who isn't a big beer drinker...then why did you come to a BEER festival?? Oh, well, I don't care. More for me! I sampled the Starr Hill Festie with that token. Another excellent brew from the guys from Charlottesville, VA. It's an Oktoberfest-style lager that was smooth going down and finished nicely.

I guess I did miss the opportunity to try a few new beers at the festival (there were only a few I didn't recognize), but bottomless beer at no extra cost is hard to pass up. Another great beer festival in Tennessee. You gotta love it.

The ABCs of A.B.C.

My wife and I went to Atlanta for a concert over the weekend and were able to stop by the Atlanta Brewing Company (ABC) on Saturday afternoon and check out their small tasting room and brewery. ABC touts itself as the "oldest" microbrewery in Atlanta, but this location is actually newer than their competition up the road, Sweetwater Brewing, which I also toured recently (see previous blog). They can claim the "oldest in Atlanta" moniker because they are a rebirth of Red Brick Brewing, an original Atlanta microbrewer that shut down for a while and has now been given rebirth under ABC production.

Their modest operation is also producing rather modest brews as well without much variety in terms of original recipes. I tried their Red Brick Brown Ale, their Red Brick Blonde, their Red Brick Octoberfest (not much variety or originality in beer names either) and their Red Brick Pale Ale. Their only original name (and best beer by the way) is their Laughing Skull Amber Ale which I have also had in the past in a bottle. It's a good American ale with nice body and finish. I didn't have a problem with any of their beers in terms of taste. They just don't happen to be as memorable or bold as some of Sweetwater's concoctions.

B -Double E- Double R- A-N-T...Beer Rant!!

So my wife and I are in nearby Murfreesboro the other night to pick our car up from the service shop at the Honda dealership there, and we decide to have dinner while in town. I suggest Old Chicago Pasta and Pizza, a new chain-style restaurant that's been getting good reviews from some of my co-workers. I also hear they have "over 100 beers on tap." This, of course, intrigues me greatly and as we pull into the parking lot their large sign out front proudly claims "110 Brews." Now I am really intrigued!

Well, that didn't last long.

They only have about 20 beers on tap and most of those are very common and most mass-produced swill. Even the microbrews they do have on tap and in bottles are run of the mill. I search and search the beer menu for something new. I finally settle on a Brazilian black ale called Xingu. It's in a bottle even though our ditzy waitress asked if I want a glass, a pint or a 22 oz. big gulp. Did I mention it was in a bottle like it says on the menu? Anyway, I am kind of over waitresses who don't have a clue about the beer they are serving - that's a fairly common occurrence. I am even over places claiming they have a "great variety" of beer selection and then finding out they basically have 10 different kinds of Budweiser and four different kinds of Miller. Or, if they do have something interesting on the menu, they are out of it when I order it. That's not what this rant is all about. This rant is about the bone-head who came up with their beer menu. Here's a few of the "WTF?" excerpts from it:

1. The "micro of the month" was Michelob Ultra? Dude, really??

2. The "new brews" were two common Leinenkugel's products. By the way, they are the 7th oldest brewery in America.

3. The "local flavor" was the Boulder Single Track - a decent copper ale that is produced in...Colorado....yeah, not so local.

4. Their "No. 2 World Specialty Bottle" was Sweetwater Blue...you know....from the country of ATLANTA!!

Good grief! What a joke! I hit up their website with my thoughts on their stupid menu and have yet to hear back from them. I will update this blog if I do.

The Xingu was a mass-produced soapy bore. The pizza was OK. I am not a big fan of deep-dish Chicago-style pizza anyway. Let's just say I won't be back...unless I get some freebies for my rant on their moronic menu.

PLEASE BRING A YARD HOUSE TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE!! Great food and one hundred beers actually on tap with great variety. Man, I miss Vegas!

EPILOGUE: 8/8/10 - Got a great response from them. Here it is verbatim:

Dear Mr. Fulfer,

Thanks for taking the time to make us aware of our opportunities with our beer menu. We will take a look at those beers and get them correctly identified with the correct terminology or replace them with beers that fit. I will make this a subject at a General Managers meeting on August 17th to ensure we have beers correctly identified and make beer lovers proud. I would love to send you a GC as a token of my appreciation. I just need your address. Thanks!!

Harold Wallace

Old Chicago (OCI Enterprises, Inc.)

VP of Operations

I was sent a $25 gift certificate a few days later. Thanks OCI! Now get to work on fixing that menu!!

BREWsic City USA

I was finally able to attend the Music City Brewers Festival in downtown Nashville this past Saturday. While this was the festival's 9th year of existence, it was my first opportunity to attend since it usually conflicts with another of my favorite beer-ensconced festivals, Bele Chere in Asheville. The calendar fell right this year with an extra weekend in July allowing me to attend both events on consecutive weekends.

This is a pretty good beer festival. Over 50 microbrewers from all over the country were represented and while most I recognized by name (there were a couple of newbies to me), they all seemed to be carrying new-to-me lines of good beer to try. The $50 ticket price is a good value since you don't have to buy tokens once inside for beer samples like you do at the Southern Brewer's Festival in Chattanooga that I have been to a few times. It's all you can sample at this festival with generous pours at every stop. The festival is split up into two 4-hour sessions with a limited number of tickets being sold to avoid overcrowding. My wife joined me and a couple of our friends, Nate and Ginny. We opted for the night session which helped avoid a lot of the summer heat and humidity. It's held in the downtown Walk of Fame Park and the layout of the beer tents encircling the park was great for easy access and very little standing in line. No one ran out of beer while we there either (at least of what I wanted to try). They also had live music and food for sale.

On to the beer!

Here's a quick list of the new-to-me beers I tried. I can't think of one I didn't like.

Ghost River Glacial Pale Ale - these guys are out of Memphis and new to me and to microbrewing - a good pale ale using Glacial hops

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing out of California. A first-class stout.

Snake Handler Double IPA - Good People Brewing out of Birmingham - first double IPA I have seen attempted in the South. Good effort, but the folks up north and out west are still the best at it right now.

Hoptober Golden Ale - New Belgium Brewing out of Colorado - probably my favorite of the festival. A great hoppy infusion into a malty Octoberfest beer. A beautiful combination.

Hopsecutioner American IPA - Terrapin Brewing out of Athens, GA - great hoppy beer from what is fast becoming one of my favorite microbreweries. They never disappoint.

Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout - Lazy Magnolia Brewing out of Mississippi. A good, good stout.

Abita Restoration Pale Ale - Louisiana - The pioneers of microbrewing just keep on keeping on.

Brown Ale - Atlanta/Red Brick Brewing - A decent brown ale, but I like Sweetwater's better which is also out of Atlanta. I might try to tour this brewery when we are in Atlanta in a couple of weeks.

Citra IPA - Nashville Homebrewer's Club. This wasn't bad. Give it up for the homies!

Some old favs I also had were: Sweetwater IPA, Bourbon Barrel Ale from Kentucky Brewing and a Jubilee Nut Brown Ale from Nashville. There were more I wanted to try but ran out of...uhhh...fortitude...yeah, that's a good word for it. Did I mention the pours were very generous?

EPILOGUE: On Sunday evening, Nate and Ginny came over and we had a little "hair o' the dog that bit us the night before." They had recently been to Seattle and found a couple of Japanese beers in a large Asian market there and brought them back to share. In return we cracked open a couple of stouts from Port Brewing that Ashlee had brought back a few weeks ago from her trip to California (thanks again to her friend, Terri, for hooking us up with a ton of great beer from the brewery there where she works).

In order of consumption we had:

Coedo Brewing Shikkoku (Black Lager)- Saitama, Japan - this came in a dark glass bottle and we were expecting it to be the lightest of the bunch, but it poured very dark for a "malt" beer. It was not heavy in taste or body and was an excellent beer overall.

Echigo Stout - Echigo Beer Company - Niigata, Japan - OK, this one was what we were expecting - a stout, and a pretty good one.

Port Brewing's Old Viscosity Ale - this extremely dark beer is aged 6 months in oak bourbon barrels. It is heavy in aroma, taste and body. In the words of Nate, "definitely a sippin' beer." There is no gulping this stuff down.

Port Brewing's Older Viscosity - yep, aged even longer and thus stronger in aroma and taste. A bit strong for me, but drinkable. Ashlee said Terri mentioned that they sear raisins for this beer's brewing process and you could definitely smell and taste their presence.

Two Villes and a lot of beer

My wife and I took our annual trip to Asheville, North Carolina, last weekend to attend the Bele Chere Music and Arts Festival. About half-way we stopped in Knoxville and had lunch at the Downtown Pub & Brewery which as the name implies is right downtown in a great restored area of the old part of the city.

I started with their Woodruff IPA, of course, and it was pretty good. Not super hoppy, but good enough. My wife, Ashlee, had the Downtown Nut Brown Ale and I had a few sips of it, and thought it was adequate as well. My second full beer was the White Mule Pale Ale. This was probably my favorite of the visit. Smooth, clean taste with good balance of hops and barley. They make all their beer on site. I even saw them dumping used barley out of one of the tanks while we were there. I finished with their Alt Bier wihch was a pleasant brew. Overall, the place is pretty good. They have a blonde, a stout and a porter that I didn't get to but will next time I visit. And there will be another visit. They are only two doors down from the Bijou Theatre which always gets a lot of good music there. The food was a little lackluster but not awful. It's definitely not my favorite Tennessee brewpub, but it's good to see Knoxvegas joining the craft brewing revolution.

We headed east another two hours and arrived in Asheville for the festival. The sun was relentless and grabbing a few beers while walking around was a main objective. The first new-to-me beer I had was in Tallgary's Pub which we ducked into to escape the heat for a bit. It's called Toubab Brewe and it's a German-style lager with a nice hoppy flavor. I loved it. After some research I found out that it's a local microbrew being put out by Craggie Brewing Company. I had never heard of them but by my count that is EIGHT microbreweries in the Asheville area now. Did I mention I REALLY like Asheville? The next new-to-me beer I had was a bottle of Fuller's London Pride. I got this at the Weinhouse Liquor and Wine Store which always sells beer during Bele Chere for only $2 and usually it's pretty good beer. But not this time. Yuck! This stuff sucked. Not much to be proud of in London if you ask me. Way too bitter and overdone. My palette continues to not appreciate English-style beers for the most part. I couldn't even finish it. Luckily, we went to dinner at The Laughing Seed Cafe where they have the excellent Asheville-made Green Man Brewing on tap and I ordered their wonderful IPA to get that taste out of my mouth.

We finished the night with some great music from The Dirty Guv'nahs and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals and afterwards found a great little wine bar called 5 Walnut which also happened to have a great beer in bottles and on tap. I started with a Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA in a bottle and then ended the evening with another Toubab draught. Thanks again, Asheville, for once again proving you are the best beer town in the world (per my somewhat limited research). Just to finalize that thought and this theory of Asheville being a great beer town I give you the fact that the next morning on our way out of town we stopped at a small gas station/convenience store and they had an amazing beer selection inside that would rival some "beer stores" in Tennessee, including pint bottles of New Belgium's high-gravity Ranger IPA for two bucks. In comparison, I recently paid $6 at a bar in Nashville for one of these in a 12 oz. bottle. So long, Asheville, I am sure gonna miss ya.

Here's a great link by the way for beer research:

beer.wikia.com

It's Wikipedia for beer!

More Vegas, More Brew

Another quick trip to Vegas came up again for me this year. This time it was to celebrate the birthday of me and my wife's friend, Mel, as well as her first visit to the U.S. from New Zealand. Mel's a fan of beer herself although her tastes lean more toward lighter brews.

Before coming to Vegas, my wife, Ashlee, had done a bit of touring in California before meeting Mel in L.A. when she landed from Kiwi-land. While in Cali Ashlee spent some time with her friend, Teri, who happens to work at Port Brewing Company in San Marcos near San Diego. Teri was kind enough to hook us up with a ton of good beer that Ashlee graciously lugged to Vegas for me to begin sampling and then lugged home for more sampling in the near future (more on that later). While in Vegas I did try four of the Port brews. They batted 3 out of 4 with me as I throughly enjoyed the full pints of their Wipeout IPA, Hop-15 Ale and their Inferno Ale from The Lost Abbey line. Their Belgian/French-style seasonal Carnevale Ale (also from The Lost Abbey line) wasn't real pleasing to my palette, but I still do applaud the effort and others do as well since it's a gold medal winner. These guys really know what they are doing in terms of brewing. Thanks to Teri and Ashlee for their help in letting me try these beers since I haven't made it to California recently, plus the fact that these beers are not available in Tennessee. Look for a report soon on the rest of the Port brews that I will be trying.

We were also able to check out Vegas' own Tenaya Creek Brewery while we were in town. It was established in 1999 and while small in stature, they are big in taste and quality. This was some good, quality beer and eons better than Sin City Brewing over on The Strip which is just over-priced soapy swill aimed strictly at the tourists. I tried the Tenaya Creek Brown Ale, their Hop Ride IPA, their Ringtale Pale Ale and their Hefeweizen. Mel said their pilsner was good as well.

We also visited my favorite 100-beers-on-tap restaurant, the Yard House, but I didn't have anything new and stayed with my beloved Double Daddy IPA instead. Thanks, Vegas, see you again in October maybe?

Connecting with some good beer in Connecticut

My wife was on a trip with some girlfriends over the 4th of July holiday, so I decided to burn some Southwest Airlines credit I had and zip up to Hartford, Connecticut, to play some poker over the long weekend at the nearby Foxwoods Casino. In between tournaments and coming and going to the airport, I also sought out some fairly good craft beer in the area.

After getting knocked out of my first tournament by an 83-year-old geezer who chased his flush and hit it on the river over my flopped set of sevens, I decided to head west about a half-hour from my hotel to the pretty little town of Willimantic, CT, and check out the Willimantic Brewing Company brewpub and restaurant. These guys are brewing some great beer here on site in what looked to me to be an old federal building of some sort....in fact it was an old post office building I have now learned that was abandoned by the government and lay vacant for almost thirty years. They have done a beautiful restoration/reinvention process here. Their 60' mahogany bar (photo below) in the pub is truly a thing a beauty. I have to say this is one of the most unique brewpubs I have ever visited - and there have been a lot. Not to mention their beer is outstanding!

I started with the Most Wanted IPA and it was deliciously hoppy and smooth. My second choice was the Downtown Willi India Dark Ale (IDA), an extremely inventive and well-crafted dark beer that maintains a nice hoppy aroma and flavor despite it's appearance. I have only seen this style of beer done one other time and that is from Terrapin Brewing in Athens, GA, which they call their India Brown Ale. This IDA wasn't as nutty at the Terrapin, so definitely not an exact replica. I would have liked to sample more of their nice selection of beers including another IPA that had on tap, but I just couldn't and drive back to my hotel because this is real beer being produced here that packs a real wallop.

Day 2 found me at the nearby Mohegan Sun Casino after another unispiring run on the Fozwoods poker tables. The Mohegan is a newer casino and is quite beautiful, and while they do have a nice poker room, they weren't running any tournaments that caught my interest that day, but they did boast a brewpub on the premesis. Before I sought it out I sat down at a great burger bar for lunch called Bobby's Burger Palace. Yummo! The Italian-style burger I had was delicous and the double bonus was they had a couple of microbrews on tap as well. I tried the Ten Penny Ale from East Hartford's Olde Burnside Brewing. It was a dynamite Scotch Ale strong in body and taste.

After lunch I located the Mohegan Sun Brewpub. It's located in the casino's race book area, so you have to navigate around old gamblers hacking up their lungs between cigarette drags while squinting at horses racing on a TV screen...I just don't get it, but, hey, to each his own. The beer is actually brewed on site and while their two meager selections available - a lager and an ale - weren't anything real inventive, they weren't half bad in terms of taste. And that was an opinion I formed before I found out the generous tastings I had been given were free and included a small complimentary tasting glass. You gotta love casinos giving away baubles hoping to get bullion in return. They call their lager Thunder Moon. The ale was called Sachem Ale. Weirdest thing was that the bartender showed me a letter from the brewer stating that both of these beers had been changed fairly drastically in style. The Sachem went from a cream ale to a pale ale, and Thunder Moon went from lager characteristics to pilsner? Well, why keep the same name? Might be a casino copyright thing, who knows. I do appreciate the effort of Mohegan to create and endorse craft beer ( a site more than Foxwoods which had nothing available that I saw other than the mass produced beers of the "sheeple").

Day 3 of the short trip saw me packing up and heading back west to Hartford for my afternoon flight. My plan was to stop at a brewpub near the airport called The Cambridge House for lunch and have a few beers before my flight, but that was halted by the fact that the place is closed on Mondays. It was Monday, July 5th, of course, and I feel very forturnate to have found the City Steam Cafe and Brewery in downtown Hartford thanks to a speedy internet search and even more lucky to see that it was open on this federal holiday because basically the rest of Hartford was closed up tight. Man, it was like the biggest ghost town in the world. Even most other restaurants were closed. I was the first one in the door at 11:30 AM, but before long a few others drifted in for lunch and a brew or two as well. City Steam went from being a hasty substitute to actually being a great find on my beer journeys. A beautiful non-chain pub in the bottom floor of a historic building with a beer and food menu that was very, very good. I did a five-sample of draughts (photo below) and have nothing bad to say about any of them. They were as follows: The Naughty Nurse Amber Ale, The Alcapulco Gold Summer IPA, The Innocent Ale, The Careless Love Ale and their Summer Stout. I absolutely loved the Innocent Ale (front row, left) which was bascially a nice, hoppy pale ale, and would usually have ordered that as my full pint, but the Alcapulco Gold Summer IPA was so unique that I just had to try more. This was an IPA almost gold in color like a pilsner (back row, middle) and light to the taste yet still holding on to that hoppy flavor that IPA's are known for. This is beautiful, creative brewing in my opinion. I was very impressed. The Summer Stout was similar in fashion by being light to the taste (still dark in color - hey, it's a stout) but still retaining that smokey flavor you are looking for in a stout. My barkeep, Justin, was very knowledgeable in beer and we traded favorite microbrew brands. He drives to Florida about once a year he said and I gave him some southern brews to be on the lookout for while he was down our way. He gave me my pint for free "for coming so far to try our beer" but I just turned around and gave it back to him in a tip. Again, what a lucky and great find.

I expected the lines in the Hartford Airport check-in and security to be worse than they were for the end of a holiday weekend, so I had plenty of time to kill waiting on my flight to take off. Right past security is the Black Bear Tavern, so I ambled up to see if they had anything interesting on tap. Bingo! An excellent selection for a airport bar with several regional brews on tap like Harpoon IPA out of Boston which is in my Top Ten List. They had three brews I had not had before and I knocked them off one after the other followed by a big plate of "Irish nachos" - these were quite similar to the "durty fries" I used to have at my beloved (and now sadly defunct) Durty Nelly's Irish Pub in Chattanooga. The first beer was Wolaver's Organic Oatmeal Stout - good the last dark organic drop! This product is from Otter Creek Brewing in Vermont. That brewery name reminded me of my last trip up this way involving me, the Providence, Rhode Island airport, a long layover, Otter Creek Beer and a slurred call to my wife telling her that I only had to have two more to get a free glass! Yep, I still got the glass!

Next was my biggest disappointment, beer-wise, of the trip. It was Blue Point Brewing's Toasted Lager which is a medal-winning beer from this New York brewery, and a favorite among the bartenders there, but I thought it tasted like soap. Just not for my palette I guess. Yuck! I had to chase that bad taste away with a blonde hooker...no wait, check that, it was a Hooker Blonde...whew, that was close! Hooker Brewing is a Connecticut-based brewery that I had heard about and even considered trying to tour while in the area but the limited tour times conflicted with my poker playing - tsk, tsk. The blonde, of course, is a summer wheat which was as good as can be for a wheat beer in my opinion since it isn't my favorite style of brewing. I asked for and added an orange slice to it more to help kill the taste of the previous beer than to aid the taste of this one. Speaking of airports, I also had an Obrycki's Amber Lager during a layover at BWI on the up. Nothing great, but not a bad brew for a place known for their crabs, not their beer.

Overall, a good beer trip to Connecticut. Definitely better than the poker where I had no success at all. But such is that game and now that I know it's an easy drive to Foxwoods and Mohegan from the Hartford Airport and that there is good beer around to sooth me if need be, I will more than likely return someday to this area and get re-connected again with the poker and the beer.

BONNA-BREW

I had a few new beers at the Broo'ers Festival Tent at Bonnaroo 2010 this year that including a couple of new (to me) brewers as well. I actually didn't spend a whole lot of time in the tent since I have had most of what was being offered, but I did spend a lot of money in there because their prices were a little bloated - between $7 and $8 for a 16 oz. plastic cup of beer or $3 for a tiny "taste" of it. Ridiculous! Not a great way to drum up business, folks, when there is cheaper Bud and Miller just outside. But no one said snobbery was cheap!

First I had the new Sch*Wheat (great name) from my good friends down at Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta. Wheat beers aren't my favorite, but this one was well made and they are extremely good as the temperatures rise outside, and it was absolutely boiling at Bonnaroo this year.

The first new (to me) brewery I checked out was Thomas Creek Brewing out of upstate South Carolina. The first of only two of their products that they had available was their Stillwater Vanilla Cream Ale. This was a great light summer beer and the vanilla was a pleasant finisher (photo below among the mass of humanity that is Bonnaroo). Much smoother than straight wheat beers. They also had a nice Irish Red they called the River Falls Red Ale. Not only was it good, but I got it for free with full 16 oz. pour from a pitcher that was starting to warm a bit. Still cold enough for me, however! Thanks, guys! I look forward to trying more of their products as they hopefully start distributing in Middle Tennessee. Their website only shows East Tennessee locations right now.

The other brewery I did not recognize was Nola Brewing out of New Orleans, LA. I started with their Brown Ale which was top notch. Nice nutty start and finish. Next I had their Belgium-style summer seasonal ale called the Hurricane Saison. This was another pleasant beer for summer weather, but I still give the winning nod to the Stillwater Vanilla Cream as the best that I tried. According to their website Nola is a small operation with only 3 yearly products and the one seasonal as of now. Their distribution map shows they only going as far north as Montgomery, Alabama, but it sounds like they are testing Tennessee waters with their visit to Bonnaroo.

ADDENDUM: A follow0up report on the canned beer from Oskar Blues Brewing that I took to Bonnaroo found both the Gubna Imperial IPA and the Gordon Ale to be outstanding beers. They especially helped ease the time to get into Bonnaroo this year which was a total cluster&#$@ of seven hours! Thank goodness for good beer on hand!

CAN you believe it's time for Bonnaroo again!

It's approaching the second week in June and that's means only one thing: Bonnaroo Time!! The annual 4-day Middle Tennessee Music and Arts Festival (of which my wife and I will be attending for our third straight year) starts June 10th and this weekend I stocked up on some beer for our campsite and since glass is not allowed. I decided on some Oskar Blues products out of Colorado. These guys are the leaders in producing great craft beer and distributing it only in cans. I have had a few of their products including Dale's Pale Ale (one of my favorites - in a can or not), Old Chub Scotch Ale, Ten Fidy Stout and Momma's Little Yellow Pils(ner) (bottom six-pack in the picture above and one of my wife's favs).

We stopped by Mid-Town Beverages in downtown Nashville which has an awesome selection but unfortunately while we were there they didn't have any Dale's Pale Ale (some lame story about a distribution problem) so I went for two new (to me) products: the Gubna Imperial IPA which I have been wanting to try for a long time and the Gordon Pale Ale which I had never heard of (I will report after The Roo how these two newbies were in terms of taste). I will also be visiting Bonnaroo's Broo'ers Tent again this year for more microbrew love during the event.

IN OTHER NEWS:

While at Mid-Town the dude who broke the bad news to me about not having Dale's Pale Ale did let me know they had just got in a case of the special Spring 2010 Limited Release of Stone's Imperial Russian Stout (it's the 10th Anniversary of this brew). I have been wanting to try this one for a long, long time probably since I bought a T-shirt touting this beer many pre-blog years ago only because I thought the logo and design were cool. If you will notice in the picture they have changed the logo a bit by giving the gargoyle a goofy-looking Russian hat (I don't like it). My wife and I enjoyed this pint on the patio tonight and it was deliciously smooth. I also purchased a 4-pack of high-gravity beer from Terrapin Brewing down in Athens, GA, known as Rye Squared Imperial Pale Ale. I shared it with my friend, John, who was cooking dinner for us the other night and we both liked it pretty well. It was a hair more bitter than I was expecting but had great hoppy aroma and the 9.5 ABV definitely had a kick.

Speaking of our patio, I have to mention the Mt. Hood hops (photo below) my wife is growing on our patio. She's doing it as decoration mostly, but we have been surprised how quick they have popped up and how vigorous they look in their pots. Maybe some home-brewing is in our future??

BREW-isville, Kentucky

My wife and I and another couple took a holiday weekend trip to Louisville, Kentucky, where we caught a concert, checked out a bit of The Bourbon Trail and had an opportunity to try a few more new beers.

The first two were provided by our traveling companion, Nate, who like me is a beer snob. He had brought a cooler for the ride up so we could sample a couple of beers he had procured on a recent trip to Chicago. Both were from Dark Horse Brewing in south central Michigan. None of their products are currently available in Tennessee. The first was the Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock, a seasonal lager infused with great coffee taste - a perfect choice since it was still in the A.M. when we cracked this baby open (hey, at least we waited until we crossed over into the Eastern time zone). The second was their Fore Smoked Stout which was pretty good as well. Thanks to Nate for bringing these along and sharing them with me.

We stopped for a quick visit to the tiny Corsair Distillery in Bowling Green - these guys are producing some great spirits and just opened a location in Nashville (with great beer on tap as well) - but that's a whole other blog topic. We stopped for lunch in Bowling Green at the Double Dog Chow House which we just happened upon. It's a sports bar with a dog theme obviously and their food was tasty and their beer selection was fairly impressive. I opted for a bottle of Snake Dog IPA from the Flying Dog Brewing folks over in Maryland. A fairly common IPA that I just haven't had a chance to try yet. It's good stuff. Plenty hoppy with a smooth finish.
As we arrived in Louisville and started to "paint the town red" (whatever that means), it occurred to me that the land of bourbon makes some pretty good beer too. Before our concert we stopped at the downtown brewpub location of Louisville's own Bluegrass Brewing Company. I had a draught pint of their experimental Belgian IPA which was excellent. Belgian-style brewing has never been my favorite, but when you combine the hoppiness of an IPA then I am listening!


After the concert (an excellent show by The Swell Season), we did a bit of bar hopping in the downtown area known as 4th Street Live, and I had a bottle of Kentucky Brewing's ( out of nearby Lexington) Bourbon Barrel Ale at the Maker's Mark Lounge. Excellent bourbon flavor to compliment the amber ale. Nate is a straight bourbon fan as are many people, but I just can't say the same. I think it makes a great compliment to many things like amber ale, port wine, simmering meatballs, etc., but I just can't appreciate the taste straight on. Give me smooth, warm Tennessee-style sippin' whiskey any day of the week....or heck, just give me a beer if ya got it.

We went across the street next to the Ri Ra Irish Pub. Here I started with what I thought was my own concoction - half Guinness and half Red Bull Energy Drink - since it was getting late and I was a dragging a bit and needed a pick-me-up. The bartender said he had never heard of it, but poured it anyway and the Guinness sat as pretty as you please atop the Red Bull with a nice separation line. I told him I thought I had saw it on a menu somewhere, but after more thought it was actually Guinness with a shot of espresso (which sounds pretty good actually because while I can drink Red Bull it's not for the taste, but only the kick). I was gonna take credit for this new drink, but after a little Internet research it seems I am not the first to think of it. It even has a name, "The Flying Guinness." I like mine better: "The Irish Alarm Clock."

I got back to normal after that and ordered a Bells IPA that they had on tap. It's from Bells Brewing in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Not near as hoppy as I prefer, but a decent brew overall with nice color and a good finish. Bells Brewing products are not available in Tennessee yet, but seem to have invaded Kentucky fairly well because Nate had an one of their Oberon Ales at lunch in Bowling Green, but unfortunately he was not very happy with it.

Overall it was a pretty successful beer-hunting trip into the Land of Bourbon with good finds and only a few disappointments - the biggest one being that the BBC Brewpub doesn't serve beer until 1 PM on Sundays (goofy KY law) but yet are open for lunch at 11 AM - hmmpfh! well, at least their food was good. I was able to grab another Kentucky Brewing Bourbon Barrel Ale - this time on draught - at The Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown in the heart of The Bourbon Trail that Sunday afternoon before we headed home.

Rolling 7 the Easy Way in Vegas

I took a quick long-weekend trip to Las Vegas recently to play some poker and in between tournaments (including a 3rd place finish for a tidy $500 profit at the lovely new Aria Poker Room - photo below) I was able to try seven new brews...surprisingly, all to my liking.

The first two I had were a Lagunitas IPA and a Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes Brewing. I didn't have to go far to get these either since they were on tap at the Munch Bar in Caesars Palace just a few steps from another of my favorite poker rooms on The Strip. This little eatery is new since I was in Vegas last year. They serve upscale fast food and have about ten beers on tap. The Lagunitas IPA was splendidly hoppy albeit expensive...eight bucks and some change, but at least it was a full pint of beer. Lagunitas is a northern California brewery whose only other product I have tried (Hop Stoopid) was also excellent, but that was while I was in Austin, Texas, because they still don't have a Tennessee distributor. Boo!!! The Mirror Pond Pale Ale was a better deal at $6 a pint and is a very solid beer. Deschutes is in Oregon and this particular beer has won a slew of awards. Also not available in Tennessee. Hiss!!!! I went mobile with this beer in a plastic cup as I took a stroll down The Strip and took in the amazing sites such as the beautiful Bellagio Fountains in action (video below - wait for the beer blog tie-in at the end).

Before leaving Sin City I was able to slip down Las Vegas Blvd. to one of my favorite restaurants/bars in the area, Yard House. They are chain eatery/bar and have over 100 beers on tap (a few of which are pictured below) and during this visit I picked the following three while munching on lunch. First was Moose Drool Brown Ale from Big Sky Brewing. Second was Speakeasy Brewing's White Lightning White Ale, and finally Firestone Double Barrel Ale. The name Moose Drool is funny enough, but it also happens to be a damn fine brown ale with good body and a nice finish. Big Sky Brewing is located as the name might apply in Montana and, of course, this wonderful beer is not available in Tennessee. Speakeasy Brewing out of San Francisco creates on of my favorite IPAs - the Double Daddy - which I first had at this very same Yard House - so I thought I would try their white ale they call White Lightning. White ales (witbier) are light wheat beers with a cloudy look and originated in Belgium. They are best served with an orange slice to supplement and enhance the flavor. I was served it without one which was surprising because after I did ask and received a nice fresh orange slice, the taste soared through the roof. It was easy to drain this smooth refreshing brew in quick order. Firestone Walker Brewing is located in California and their Double Barrel Ale (DBA) is their flagship beer. It's an English-style pale ale (and I usually do not like the English style of pale ales or IPAs) but without the bitterness and flat aftertaste. It may help as the name implies that this beer is processed in oak barrels.
My last stop before heading to the airport to a catch an early evening flight was much farther down Las Vegas Blvd. at the fairly new M Resort and Casino, a stand-alone complex far away from its numerous competitors on The Strip. It was busier inside than I expected as I set off looking for what I came to find: The 32-degree Draft Bar. They boast 96 ice-cold beers on tap and surprisingly with a few different choices than the neighboring Yard House. I give them credit for that since it almost seems obvious they have scouted their competition and want to offer something a little different including local brewers (of which Yard House has none because they are a chain). The first draught I tried was the Anchor Liberty Ale, a very nice dry-hopped product from the grand-daddy of West Coast microbrewing, San Francisco's Anchor Brewing. By the way, none of their beer is made with the use of steam despite it's most popular product, Anchor Steam. Liberty Ale has been produced since the mid-70's (and I am just getting around to it!) and it's a great brew. All of the Anchor beers seem to be distributed nationwide (although I have only seen Anchor Steam around here), so I am going to have to search out, find and try some more of their offerings. I finished with a pint of a seasonal brew from another well-known West Coast microbrewery,the Sierra Nevada Celebration. It's a dry-hopped winter ale with a deep red hue and a nice crisp taste from beginning to end. Although I applaud this beer bar for having local brews, I did not try any for two reasons: 1. the first local they had was Sin City Brewing and I have had it before and it's drivel - total tourist-trap beer. 2. the second was a brown ale from Tenaya Creek Brewing in North Las Vegas and while I wanted to try it, I am already planning to visit that particular brewery on my next trip to Vegas in July. We will see you then, my brown lovely!

ADDENDUM:

I started Cinco de Mayo this year the way it usually goes with a couple of bottles of Dos Equis Amber at a Mexican restaurant, but it ended very differently and very pleasingly as my wife and I and our friends Nate (another beer snob) and Ginny dropped by the Mt. Juliet Beer Company store to see what we could find. We opted for a mixed six-pack variety and the owner told us we could even have a couple out front at some tables he had if we discreetly drank it out of plastic cups...and we did just that! Here's the six I bought and the first two are the ones I had in front of the store:

O"Fallon 5 Day IPA - O"Fallon, Missouri - excellent and hoppy for a bottled IPA

Vanilla Java Stout - Atwater Block Brewery - Detroit - excellent coffee flavor and not too heavy

McSorley's Irish Pale Ale - Latrobe, PA - a bit too bitter for my taste

Point Cascade Pale Ale - Stevens Point Brewery - Wisconsin - good and fairly hoppy

O'Fallon Wheach - Missouri - great peach flavored wheat beer

Blackened Voodoo Lager - Dixie Brewing, New Orleans, LA - a decent dark lager. Glad to see these guys still brewing after Hurricane Katrina hit them hard a few years back.