Beer Updates

I have lagged behind on my beer blogging (but not my beer consuming). Here's a few updates:

For St. Paddy's day (March 17) I had a pint bottle of BBC's Professer Gesser's India Pale Ale which was a Christmas present from Ashlee. I enjoyed it out on the patio as I watched some March Madness On Demand on my laptop. Pretty sweet!

I also cracked a BBC Homewrecker Double IPA pint bottle in March which was also Christmas present from Ashlee. Thanks, babe. both were great!

I now have a growler full of beer bottle caps (photo above). Now what the hell do I do with them? I tried a beer cap string of tinsel for my beer-themed Christmas tree in December, but it did not work out too well. More on this later....

I shared a six-pack of Little Hump Pale Ale - a seasonal from Highland Brewing in Asheville -with my friends, Chris and Craig, as we tailgated before the US Mens Soccer game at LP Field in Nashville in late March.

I had a 12 oz. draught of Lucky Bucket IPA at 12th Street South Taproom in downtown Nashville.

I finished a six pack of cans of Snapperhead IPA from Butternuts Brewing in New York

I had my first birthday presents from my friend, Mel, in New Zealand. A pint bottle of Green Man Brewing Strong, an organic bock from the Kiwi brewery, and a pint of Emerson's Taieri George, a spicy ale product of New Zealand. I have a couple more to try and am really looking forward to them. Thanks so much, Mel!!

I had a 12 oz. draught of Terrapin Brewing's Monk's Revenge Belgian IPA at Flying Saucer in downtown Nashville recently. It was more Belgian than IPA and I wasn't overly impressed.

I stopped by Blackstone Brewing in downtown Nashville the other day and had a 10 oz. draught of the American Pale Ale (cask-conditioned). It was very good. I followed that with a 10 oz. draught of their Nut Brown Ale which wasn't bad either. Haven't been here in a while. I always forget about this place when it comes to Nashville beer.

I had a 12 oz. draught of JuJu Ginger Beer from Left Hand Brewing (Colorado) at dinner at Rumba Restaurant in Nashville the other night. Not a big ginger beer fan (my wife loves it), but it went well with my Asian-style fish dish.

Back to BREW-a-ville

Louisville, Kentucky, is quickly becoming one of my favorite beer towns in the Southeast. Every time I make the trip 3 hours north to this city on the Ohio River, I come across more and more good quality craft beer. My trip this past weekend was no exception.

I drove up to play in a poker tournament at The Horseshoe Casino across the river in Indiana only to find out that the place was closed for a week due to recent flooding (note to self: check the casino website before heading out next time! doh!). I found another smaller casino up the river about 50 miles called Belterra which was pretty nice and had a decent daily tournament. I didn't fare too well in the tournament, but at least I got my fix.

Afterwards, I headed back down to New Albany, Indiana, a small city across the river from Louisville and stopped for lunch (and beer, of course) at the Bank Street Brewhouse of the New Albanian Brewing Company. I have been here before after discovering it during my last visit (see previous blog) to the area. I started with a half-pint of their Hoptimus IPA which I have had before and really like. They had a couple of interesting seasonals on the chalkboard so I started down the list as I munched on my lunch (pork tacos! yum! and the pork was from a local farm. cheers!). My first, and my favorite, was the Yakima, a hoppy rye ale concoction that was spot on. My luck was turning from the poker since I got the last glass of this sweet nectar before they ran out! The next seasonal I tried was the Jasmine, a sweet-tasting stout that was exceptional as well. They had another that was a Belgium-style brew that I passed on. I instead moved on to a pint of one of their flagship beers, the Elector, an imperial red ale that's pretty darn good.

It was a mild afternoon for early March in southern Indiana and sitting at the pub's bar with the garage-doors up (it's a converted distribution warehouse - photo below) was very relaxing. The bartender was kind enough to turn off the University of Kentucky basketball game (which was a blow-out) and allowed me to watch my beloved Duke Blue Devils battle against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals. The game was tight and I couldn't leave without seeing the end so I decided on another beer. They had another of their flagship "Four Core" beers, Beak's Best, in cask-condition on tap and I decided to give it a whirl after a recommendation from a fellow bar patron. It was very good (maybe not the be-all, end-all this guy thought it was), but not bad. While I really admire the cask-condition style of making beer, I can't say it's my favorite. The absence of carbonation and the room temperature-to-cool serving status don't bother me and are supposed to enhance the flavor of the beer, but I just don't taste it. It's decent and drinkable, but I do see what all the fuss is about really. Duke pulled out the win to move on to the finals and I closed out my tab and moved on to my hotel room back across the river in Louisville. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The next day I drove back up to Belterra and played again in the daily tournament at 11 AM. I lasted longer than I had the day before, but was knocked out by the time it got down to two tables. I decided to stop on the way home for lunch back in Louisville at Cumberland Brews. I had tried to go to this place the day before, but there was a St. Paddy's Day/Irish festival going on in the neighborhood and parking was not to be found anywhere close. I was a little leery of the place because I had read reviews that it was basically a smokey little hole in the wall bar that brewed a few beers. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet (except this blog, of course). The place couldn't have been more pleasant. It's a small but rather roomy multi-level establishment with a nice selection of beers to choose from and ample-enough seating at the bars, tables, couches, etc. upstairs and down. I started with a half-pint of their Amarillo IPA which was decent. I ordered some cheese fries for lunch (they were fantastic by the way!) and moved on to a pint of their pale ale which was my favorite so far of theirs. Kentucky was in the SEC finals and the place only had two TVs upstairs where I was at and I didn't have the nerve to ask them to switch to ACC finals going on at the same time in which Duke was playing their arch rival, North Carolina. I was able to follow the score on the crawl at the bottom of the screen and saw the Blue Devils were pretty much laying the wood to the Tar Heels. Sweet! I finished lunch and my beer and got the check since I had to drive home that was about all I needed to have on this visit. Back downstairs the crowded bar had thinned out a bit and what do I spy in the corner? - A small TV with the Duke game on! I take a seat at the bar to see the last few minutes of the game. I ordered a half-pint of the Slewfoot amber ale and watched my Dukies take down the trophy. The amber ale wasn't too bad either.

Yet another great place for craft beer in Louisville...that makes 5 decent places in the area when you count Bluegrass Brewing (the most well-known in the area), Browning's over by the baseball stadium, BJ's (a very decent chain restaurant/brewery) and New Albanian across the river. It's hard to ask for more than that from a city this size I guess. Thanks, Brewaville, I will see you again soon!

When Irish Eyes Are Brewing...

My wife and I took a road trip this past weekend with some of the in-laws down to the Florida Panhandle. This area is not my favorite area in the world to visit, and the early-March weather as predicted was not very conducive to hanging out at the albeit-lovely beaches there, but we made the best of it.

One of the biggest surprises was actually the beer I found being brewed at an Irish pub of all places? McGuire's Irish Pub has nothing on tap (not even Guinness!) except for a half a dozen of their own microbrews. I wasn't expecting much more than a few "gimmick" beers when I researched the area for microbrews and only found this place, but was surprised at the quality and the selection available. While the ladies went shopping one afternoon, my brother-in-law, Andy, who I have finally converted to "real beer" and I sought out this place for lunch. It's located on the far west end of the town of Destin.

I started, of course, with their IPA which was the seasonal brew on the menu and what they referred to as an "Irish Pale Ale." The name is not only clever but also fairly appropriate because it was far from an "India Pale Ale" in that it wasn't very hoppy in taste or aroma, or cloudy in appearance. It was a rather clear, golden-colored pale ale with a decent body and taste.

I moved on to their Irish Stout next which was excellent and definitely my favorite. These guys definitely know how to do dark beer. Andy had their Porter which I got a sip of and thought it was well-made also. I finished my lunch visit with their Irish Red Ale which I thought was OK reminding me a lot of the mass-produced Killian's.


Besides brewing their own beer, McGuire's is a unique Irish pub and a unique place overall for a couple of other reasons. First, they have over 900,000 dollar bills hanging from the ceilings and over the bar (photo above) with messages from visitors from all over the world. Man, talk about a great retirement fund! Second, besides the standard Irish fare, they are also a world-class steak house. Our whole group came back for dinner the next night to try the steaks out (which were fantastic, by the way) and besides another stout I was also able to try their Wild Irish Raspberry Wheat during dinner. It was pretty good despite this style of beer not being my favorite. The only beer of theirs I didn't try was their light Old Fashioned Ale which looked way too much like Miller Lite to me and was probably made for just such a palette.

The final great thing about McGuire's are the prices. The draught house beers are only $3.50 a pint and the huge steaks (I had a 14 oz. New York Strip) they offer are extremely reasonable in price (all under $30 including the filet minon) considering that you also get warm, fresh soda bread, a large salad and a huge side (my baked potato was bigger than my hand!). But the best value by far is their bowls of delicious Senate bean soup for 18 cents...yep, 18 cents! Same price since 1977. By the way, the price of Senate bean soup in the actual Senate cafeteria is now $2.97.

ODDS & ENDS:

Here's a few other new-to-me beers I had while on this trip...

Dog Bite High Gravity Lager from Genessee Brewing out of Rochester, NY, in a pint can while driving through LA (lower Alabama). Just for clarity, my wife was driving. It was actually very good and very potent! It is considered a "malt liquor" which adds to hilarity of the whole situation.

Banks Caribbean Lager - I had a bottle of this yuck at a little pizza place where we ate dinner at the first night in Florida. It was pretty much gross, but the pizza was good at least. I moved on to a Sweetwater 420 from there to get back in the good graces of my taste buds.

As I mentioned before, this area of the Emerald Coast is not particularly chock full of microbreweries. In my research I found three different places that were around for some time but did not survive and are now closed...hence the name, "Redneck Riviera"....good craft beer is definitely not sought out here by the regular vacationing crowd. It also took some hunting to find a decent beer store in the area which we finally did at a place called "Wine World" [insert shrug of shoulders here]. OK? Whatever....

Here's what I got in a variety six-pack there:

Sweet Water Happy Ending - - a seasonal, silver-medal winning imperial stout from one of my favorite brewers in Atlanta that I have been wanting to try for a long time. It was extremely good. I got two of these and gave one to Andy in trade for a Terrapin India Brown Ale that he bought.

Long John Ale - Red Brick Brewing in Atlanta - not real good in my opinion but as I have said many times, I just don't jive with many Belgian-style brews.

Pine Belt Pale Ale - Southern Star Brewing - Conroe, Texas (near Houston) - Pint can - I have heard about these can-only guys out of the Lone Star state and been wanting to try their wares. This was the first of three of their brews that I got. It had a rather odd taste, not a bad taste, just oddly different with an aggressive mix of malt and hops. The IBU is 45 which ranks it rather bitter.

Buried Hatchet Stout - Southern Star Brewing - 12 oz. can - Really nice flavor and body. Better than Oskar Blues Ten Fidy canned stout in my opinion. Quite enjoyable. I actually split half of this with Andy in exchange for some of of his pint bottle of Choc Beer's Signature Series Smoked Porter from Kreb's Brewing out of Oklahoma. This beer exploded with taste and vigor and was extremely strong. Definitely a brew you want to sip on for a while. This brewery has a rich history according to their website and definitely needs to be investigated further.

Bombshell Blonde Ale - Southern Star Brewing - 12 oz. can - A really good blonde ale which is not one of my favorite styles of beer. An easy start and finish taste. A few of these would be great on a hot, sunny day.