NOLA & THE ATL

I took a quick trip to New Orleans and Atlanta this past weekend and was able to try several new beers during my journey.

While in New Orleans, my wife, Ashlee, and I stopped in the International Beer House on Bourbon Street late on Friday night.  They had a good selection of craft beers on tap.  I settled for the locally-made Hopitoulas from Nola Brewing.  This 6% ABV West-Coast style IPA was delicious.  Ashlee had the Strawberry Ale from Covington's Brewing which is also Louisiana-based.   I had a sip of it and thought it was OK.

A classic sign on Bourbon Street.  Not good ones particularly, but definitely big ones.



Bright lights, Crescent City.



On Saturday I flew up to Atlanta to meet my friends Wayne, Jim and Ryan for our second annual G.A.M.E. (Grown-Ass Man Extravaganza) Weekend where we travel to see our beloved Tennessee Titans play a road game.  The night before the game we had dinner at Max Lager's Grill & Brewery.  The food was excellent and their house IPA, the Hopsplosion, was pretty darn good.

We spent A LOT of time at the Phillips Arena location of Atlanta's own regional chain, Taco Mac, where they have 130 beers on tap.  I did my best to try as many new ones that I could including the following:  Breckinridge 471 IPA (Colorado), Eye Patch IPA (Monday Night Brewing - Atlanta, GA), Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale (Monday Night Brewing), Sweetwater Crank Tank Rye'd Ale (Atlanta), Breckinridge Christmas Ale (Colorado) and Wild Heaven Ode to Mercy Brown Ale (Georgia).  My friend, Rex, who lives in Atlanta and was kind enough to show us around a little on Saturday night actually introduced me to the Wild Heaven brown ale at a very cool bar called Ormsby's, but I had a full pint the next day before the game back at Taco Mac.  I enjoyed them all with a nod to Monday Night and Wild Heaven for producing some great products out of fledgling local microbreweries.  Hats off to Taco Mac for continuing to make these unique beers available to the public in a great setting with delicious food as well.

The Titans unfortunately lost to the surging Falcons on Sunday afternoon, but we had a great time at the game and enjoyed some sweet seats near the field in the fabulous Georgia Dome.  The photo above was taken from our seats just before the game started.  Taco Mac has a set-up inside the dome as well,  but I didn't find it until late in the game.

Taking another gamble on good beer in Sin City

I got a couple of really cheap flights to Las Vegas recently ($150 RT!) and went out to play some poker and, of course, drink a little beer.  After a little research, I found a few new places that I hadn't been to before and also visited a few of my old favorite spots as well.

First up was Big Dogs Brewing Company.  They have 3 locations in the Las Vegas area and I chose the Draft House Barn in N. Las Vegas, Their beer was excellent.  I had the Dirty Dog IPA and their Red Ale.  I even got to meet their master brewer, Dave Otto.    A return here is without a doubt.



I found out about Barley's Casino and Brewing thanks to a buy-$50-in-gift-certificates-for-$25 deal I found online.  It's located over in Henderson, Nevada, which butts up to the east of Las Vegas.  I had their Red Rock Red Ale and their Black Mountain Stout.  Both were pretty good, but I will give a nod to the stout.  I used one of my $25 gift certificates to have the two pints and a huge sirloin steak that was delicious.  I returned on the second trip to use my other $25 gift certificate and had two more pints of the stout and another huge porterhouse steak while watching some NFL games.  The pints turned out to be only a dollar on NFL Sundays...wow!



On a non-beer note:  on my first trip, I stopped in Gold & Silver Pawn which is where The History Channel's "Pawn Stars" TV show is filmed.  None of the "pawn stars" where on site when I visited, but it was kind of cool just seeing the place which was packed with visitors.

Another non-beer Vegas first was that I actually got to see the volcano in front of The Mirage erupt.  I have been here a half-dozen times and never saw it occur in person even though it goes off every hour on the hour.

On my first trip I also returned to a couple of my favorite Vegas beer-spots also.  First was Yard House, a restaurant and bar chain which has over 100 beers on tap.  It was actually a new location for me as I visited the one near the Red Rock Casino which is about 10 miles west of the one I usually visit on Las Vegas Blvd.  I tried two of their "shortys"  i.e. half pints, that I hadn't had before.  They were the Squatters Hop Rising, a double IPA (9% ABV) from Utah, and the Firestone Union Jack IPA, out of California.  Both were excellent.  Back over on the The Strip,  I had the Deadlift Double IPA out of Oregon at Pour 24, a good beer bar in the NYNY Casino, and the Humboldt Hemp Brown Ale out of California at Burger Bar which is located between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay casinos.



On my second trip I checked out Ellis Island Casino and Brewery over on Koval Street which runs parallel to The Strip.  I had heard of this place for a while, but never had a chance (or the nerve)  to check it out since its in an albeit seedier side of Vegas.  I walked over since it's only a couple blocks from where I was staying up on Las Vegas Blvd. and made sure it was still daylight.  I encountered no problems and the place is actually not bad at all.  Their craft beer is pretty good and the kicker is that the pints of it are  free if you are gambling.  I had their pale ale which was OK, their stout which was better and their Octoberfest which was weak in color and so-so in taste.  I also made $6 playing video blackjack...so who's complaining.  By the way, if you don't gamble, their pints of beer are a whopping $1.75 each!   Hoo-ray for the "seedy" side of Vegas!!



Just a cool shot of the Bellagio Fountains going off around midnight on The Strip with Bally's and the Paris casinos in the background.



Another great non-beer find was Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area 20 miles west of Vegas.  This beautiful area has a cool 13-mile motor trail through it with some amazing vistas.  Yes, that's snow on the mountains in the background of this shot.  It actually spit snow on me at one point of my tour in a place accurately called Icebox Canyon.



I also got to be in the audience during part of the live filming of the final table of the 2011 World Series of Poker on ESPN.  First prize: $8.7 million.  The eventual winner was Pius Heinz from Germany (he's the one in the white hooded sweatshirt in Seat 6).