5 Seasons and the Start of Another

November 13 - 14, 2012

I  took a quick trip down to Atlanta to catch my favorite team, the Duke Blue Devils, in a huge match-up with the Kentucky Wildcats to kick off the 2012/13 college basketball season.  Thanks to my long-time friend and past contributor to this blog, Craig, for going along with me (even though he's an NC State fan) in place of my wife, Ashlee, who was staying with her mother due to illness.  Since Craig is a fan of good beer as well, we made sure to incorporate a bit of that into our trip as well.

We toasted the trip the night before at my house with a couple of pints of Bearwalker Maple Brown from Jackalope Brewing in Nashville.  I had gotten a growler of it at the Mt. Juliet Beer store after trying it at a new local establishment the day before called JB's Pour House over on the east end of Hermitage.  I also had a pint of Jackalope's Thunder Ann Pale Ale while at JB's.  While it's a nice place overall, and they boast at having 36 beers on tap, other than the Jackalope products, I can't say I was overly impressed with JB's overall selection.  That's too bad since I just heard our local WOW Wingery is closing in November 2012 which is very sad. That's the place where my friend Nate and I got our photos on the wall for drinking 50 different beers.  The owner and our friend, Brad, took great strides in bringing good craft beer to the area and we are going to miss it.  The place is becoming a "Piranhas Bar & Grill" and supposedly Brad will still be a partner and is going to try and keep the good beer vibe going, but we shall see since the Piranhas in downtown Nashville is terrible in terms of beer selection.

On to Atlanta....

I got a great rate at the downtown Hilton and it was just a quick cab ride over to the Taco Mac that is built into the Phillips Arena next door to the Georgia Dome where the game was being played for some pregame food...and beer...of course.  Taco Mac has an amazing selection of beer on draft and always something new and interesting. On this visit I had the Rogue Yellow Snow IPA (excellent!) and then Atlanta's own Red Brick Brewing offering, the Hoplanta IPA (also very good).  I had a sip of Craig's order, the Vanilla Gorilla Smoked Porter also from Red Brick and it was very tasty.



They closed off half the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to make a fairly intimate
early-season college basketball setting for the State Farm Champions Classic. 
Tickets were reasonable and we also got to see a great match-up of
Kansas vs. Michigan State in the first game for the same price with
MSU pulling the upset in a close game down to the wire.

It was cool to see ESPN's College Gameday broadcasting live before, during and
after the game.  In this shot analysts, Digger Phelps, (left) and Duke's own. Jay
Bilas, discuss one of the two games going on.  We even got on TV a bit as
Craig's family spotted us in the background a couple times during the pregame show.



Our seats were decent at about 50 rows from the court and on the aisle.  Except for the one annoying UK fan behind us, it was a nice set-up.

The win was sweet as a Duke fan especially given the fact that the place was overrun with UK fans and the especially-rude one behind us got a nice big serving of "Shut Up" delivered hot and fresh to him.




A little bonus we found on the way home in north Atlanta was the Big Wood Forest Preserve in the suburb of Sandy Springs.  We took a great morning hike through this lush and surprisingly large suburban oasis.



Our true reason for being in Sandy Springs was to have an early lunch (and a couple brews) at 5 Seasons Brewing before heading back north.  This is a nice brewpub with a large patio and deck that I am sure stay busy in the warmer months.  I had their seasonal Pumpkin Head Lager which was pretty good followed by a room-temperature serving (they were having cooler issues this morning) of the Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale which was actually very good.  Thanks to Groupon.com for the deal that brought us here as well that got us 4 beers and two appetizers for half price.

Dead Buffalo Soliders

October 20 - 22, 2012

Some friends and I recently took our 3rd Annual G.A.M.E. (Grown-Ass Man Extravaganza) trip to see the Tennessee Titans play on the road way up in Buffalo, New York.  We checked out Niagara Falls while we were in the area while staying just across the Canadian border.  There was also some pretty good beer found along the way as well.



Syndicate Brewing in Niagara Falls, Ontario, is a great little brewpub and was just a few minutes from our hotel.  Their Sinister Sam IPA was very good.  Their seasonal Pumpkin 3.14 (Pi - get it) was decent as well.  Their food was outstanding.  I know buffalo wings are famous just south of here, but the ones here are pretty darn good.



Go Titans and the MINIVAN BAR is now open!  Tailgating was a lot of fun in the suburban setting of Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY,  just outside Buffalo.  Notice the growler of Sinister Sam IPA"smuggled" back across the border from Canada among several other libations.

 

We took a ride on the famous Maid of the Mist to get an up-close and soggy look at Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of Niagara.  Even our rain ponchos were in support of breast cancer awareness.

After the game we decided to find some of the edibles that make Buffalo famous.  They say there are none better than at Duff's and I have to agree.  They were excellent.



The view from our room at the Double Tree Fallsview was pretty spectacular.  We also got a chance to go up in the Skylon Tower, silhouetted in this shot, for a bird's eye view of Niagara Falls.



The game was a  thriller with the Titans pulling out a win at the end of the game by a score of 35-34.  Our lower-bowl end zone seats were pretty good and the Bills fans for the most part were pretty good folks to us. The weather couldn't have been much nicer.

On our way back to the airport in Buffalo for our trip home, we stopped at the Lake Effect Diner for brunch.  I heard of the place thru the great Food Network TV Show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and it totally met our expectations with great food, friendly service and even some good beer - I had a bottle of the Oktoberfest Lager from Great Lakes Brewing over in Cleveland, Ohio, which was decent.

A few more beer notes:

I had a bottle of Lakefront Brewing's (Milwaukee,, WI)  Fixed Gear Red Ale at the Midway Airport in Chicago on our connection going to Buffalo.  It was OK.

Thanks to my friends Wayne, Chris and John for coming along on the trip.  Can't wait to do it again next season!

To San Fran and Back Again - A west coast trip and other updates

We took a trip out San Francisco plus a bit more of Northern California with several friends over the Labor Day weekend for an early celebration of my wife's birthday.  I had a few beer highlights on the trip but not as many as I planned since I just didn't have time to visit too many brewpubs while in the area.

On our first night there we had dinner at Magnolia Pub & Brewery on famous Haight Street near our rental house.  Their speciality was Belgium-style beers which I have said many times are not my favorite.  But I did try their Tillies Union Ale on tap which was decent.  They also had some "guest" taps and I tried the Bombay by Boat IPA draught by Moonlight Brewing over in Santa Roza and it was great.

A few other new-to-me beers that I had while on the trip was Stone Brewing's Cali-Belgiaque IPA at NOPA Restaurant.  I split this pint bottle with our friend, Roman, who lives out here which was good because I wasn't crazy about it.  I had a bottle of Napa Brewing's Lost Dog Red Ale at Napa Valley Burgers after a bicycle ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to the lovely seaside town of Sausilito.  It was decent.  On our last day there I had a bottle of California's Marin Brewing's IPA at Q Restaurant and Wine Bar, a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives recommendation.  The food was excellent and the beer was pretty good.

A couple of non-beer related items of late worth noting include:

I was able to catch a show from actor and comedian, Jay Mohr "(Bob Sugar is a child!") at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville on Tuesday, September 25.  Thanks to my friend, Danny, for going with me as he filled in for my wife, Ashlee, who couldn't make it since she was in Chattanooga with her ailing mother.

I also attended the SOLD OUT Henry Rollins' show at The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville on October 12.  This was Henry's stop in Tennessee's capital for his Capitalism Tour which hit every U.S. capital before election day.  Whether you agree with his politics or not, you have to admire a spoken word artist who can go 2 hours and 40 minutes without an intermission or even a sip of water.  Amazing!  Thanks to my friends Mike and Wayne (filling in for Ashlee again) for attending with me.

Hill City IPA @ Good Dog, Chattanooga, TN
November 2, 2012.  Very hoppy!

BANKing some more good brew in the OBX



 Another trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina has come and gone...

 We took another cheap beach trip back out to the Outer Banks (OBX) along with our friends, Nate and Ginny.  Nate's a big craft bere fan like me and had never been out here before so we made stops at all the places I had discovered before including The Weeping Radish Brewery in Jarvisburg, NC (where I picked up a pint bottle of the Black Radish lager to go), the Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills  where I had a draught pint of the Viking's Liking, an interesting obsure Norse style of beer, and we also had dinner at Full Moon Cafe and Brewing in Manteo on our last night there.  While I am not a big fan of Full Moon's own beers I did have a nice bottle of Natty Greene's Southern Pale Ale from Greensboro, NC, with my delicous dinner.

My newest craft beer discovery on the trip to the OBX was the Brew Thru.  These are a chain of beer/convenience stores sprinkled up and down the Outer Banks in which you actually drive in "thru" the store to make your purchases which are brought to your vehicle.  They actually have a fairly good craft beer section and we found a good variety of local brews (Carolina Strawberry Wheat Beer) as well as good stuff from around the country. including Baba Black Lager that Nate bought aand let me sample as well as a HopNotch IPA and a Dubhe IPA.  Those three were from Uinta Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah and  all three were very good.  We got an interesting six pack of Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beers from 21st Amendment Brewing (cans only) in San Francisco (I will be visiting those guys in September!).  It was interesting.  I can't say I am a fan of it, but I do appreciate the creativity of it.  I got a 12-pack of good old reliable Ranger IPAs from New Belgium Brewing in cans for consumption on the beach during our trip.

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The awesomeness that is The Brew Thru in the OBX...



A dishonorable? mention....



Hey, it was free beer! Hard to pass that up in this day and age.
Budweiser threw a great party in downtown Nashville
recently that included free music from good bands, free beer,
free local food and even party favors - that's a glow stick pictured above.



Meanwhile in Bristol, VA/TN....



Our pals at Starr Hill who we visited a few years back up in Crozet, VA,
 were the craft beer of choice at The Mumford & Sons all-day music

   festival held recently in this musically-historic little town.



updates

A few random updates from the first half of 2012:

I had the coffee stout draught at Blackstone Brewery in Nashville - a seasonal brewmaster special.  Delish!

I had a Whole Hog Six Hops IPA in a bottle from Steven's Point, WI at Taco Mac in Chattanooga.  Pretty good!

I had a Hap & Harry's Lynchburg Lager in a bottle at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville (not very good...make that "awful").

I had Jackalope's (new Nashville microbrewer) Spruce Beerstein at 3 Bros. Deli and Brewhouse in Murfreesboro during Preds game on their big TV.

Great birthday card from my wife, Ashlee....



Oh yeah!



Just do it!

Just a little BunBEERy

The wife and I attended a new music festival up in Cincinnati, OH, called Bunbury which was very good.  They had a craft beer garden as well which I appreciated.  Nothing really new on tap that I hadn't tried before, but again I like the fact that the festival, even though heavily sponsored by Bud Light, still recognizes the value of craft brewing.

Only new-to-me beer I tried at Bunbury was their
official one made locally in Cincy.
I had the Maibock Lager which was pretty good.



Great sign, not seen on this trip, but posted at one in Indiana we visited last year
called Big Woods Brewing.

Beering Through Europe

My wife and I took a wonderful trip to Europe for our 11th wedding anniversary back in May and I was able to grab some pretty good beer along the way.


While waiting for our international flight out of Chicago we had time to check out Revolution Brewing just
 a few EL stops south of O'Hare Airport.I had the Anti-Hero IPA (left above) and their Eugene Porter  while Ashlee tried their Black Power Oatmeal Stout  (right. above).  Afterwards, we moved onto another great beer bar
called The Map Room where I had the Bear RepublicHOP Rod Rye out of Sonoma, California.



Our first stop in Europe was Warsaw, Poland, a vibrant and growing city now out from under the boot of Communism.  Browarmia was on the first (and one of the few) microbreweries to spring up in the city after the dawn of capitalism found Poland.  Their house stout pictured above was excellent.  Ashlee really enjoyed their cherry wheat  beer.




This photo is a bit blurry, but it's worth posting  just to see the "beer tubes" used at Browarmia in Warsaw, Poland.  Instead of ordering pitchers of beer, larger groups can have tall glass tubes of beer (3 to 5 liters) installed at their table that everyone can tap into.  We should have made friends with these folks!



I found this pint can beauty in a little corner market  just around the corner from our hotel in Warsaw.  Tyskie is one of the oldest-produced and most popular beer brands in Poland.  This one is their pale lager.



Our next stop was Italy and while it's a country not really known for great beer (the wine was awesome!), if I have to have a Peroni, then I would much rather it be on a warm day in the lovely seaaide village of Portofino on the Italian Riveria than at some Olive Garden in the U.S.



My favorite beer of the trip was found in The Netherlands and most of it was found in a supermarket around the corner from the houseboat we rented on a quiet canal in Amsterdam.  The store had a large selectionnof tasty (and high gravity) beers from not only The Netherlands but nearby Belgium as well.  And the view and ambiance while enjoying these beers could not be beat.



On a sightseeing day-trip out from Amsterdam we stopped for lunch in the town square of Delft, South Holland.   We chose this restaurant from several on the square because of its view and the fact that they were advertising craft beer.  I had the Monk's Stout from Dupont Brewing in Belgium (left)while Ashlee tried one of their ales.  Both were delicious.



More canal beer in Amsterdam!

Even more canal beer!

And even more canal beer!

Great trip.  Great beer.  Great memories.

More bricks in "The Wall" of Beer - Road Trip to Tulsa, OK

My long-time and best friend, Craig, and his co-worker and friend (and mine too now), Barry, decided to take a road trip recently way out to Tulsa, Oklahoma, over a 3-day weekend to catch one of the few Saturday-night shows on the current Roger Waters "The Wall" Live tour.  Along the way and in Tulsa we were able to find a decent amount of good beer as well.

Six or so hours out of Paris, TN, where Craig lives, we stopped for lunch (and a few beers, of course) at Springfield (Missouri) Brewing Company.  The beer was solid and the food was good.  Their brewpub was a beauty and made for a perfect stopping point to stretch our legs and our livers a bit.  I opted for their Pale Ale which was decent.  Craig and Barry (both fans of darker beers) tried their  rotating "Dark Horse" tap which currently was pouring the Del Fuego, a roasted German-style stout with chili pepper infusion.  I got a sip of Craig's and thought it was OK, although it didn't pack the punch of the pepper-infused Special Speedway Stout I had out in California over the new year at AleSmith Brewing (see earlier blog).



Tulsa itself has no craft brewpubs to visit within its city limits that I could find mention of during an extensive  Internet search.  This is surprising since I read recently that over 900 new brewpubs opened across the U.S. last year???  Holy crap, that's a lot beer!  Tulsa overall looks to a be fairly quiet  and buttoned-up kind of town (well, what did you expect, it is the home of Oral Roberts U).   The one redeeming small district that seems to wear a party hat most of the time is their Blue Dome District, a little section of streets with numerous bars, hip eateries and urban shopping.  We found two great beer bars there with more than enough craft beer on tap  to suit us quite nicely.  The now famous "blue dome" building pictured above was a 1920's-built gas station along famous Route 66.



The first establishment we found was Fassler Hall, a perfect replica of a German beer hall, with lots of the Motherland beers on tap and even one of my favorite American IPAs, Single Wide, from Boulevard Brewing over in Kansas City.  This was the first time I had been able to try it on draught and it was tremendous.  Their food menu was an interesting selection of house-made sausages and just speaking for myself, the Habanero Chicken Sausage was out of this world good.  Now THAT is how you infuse peppers into something!  Whoooo!  Are ya hearing me, Springfield???

Before the concert on Saturday, we ambled back over to the Blue Dome District for a late breakfast at the funky Blue Dome Diner.  It was a bit of a walk from our hotel, a nice little Double Tree that we got a great rate on, but the weather was great and the downtown streets were quiet and safe.  After brunch, we were able to get in our second good beer bar,  McNellie's Irish Pub (actually it's the James E. McNellie's Public House if you are not into the whole brevity-thing).  This had been our first destination of choice the night before except that it was very, very crowded.  Now I know why.  The beer selection here was amazing!  Try over 350 different ones with well over 50 on draught.  There were so many beers that  I had never heard of that I didn't know where to start.  I opted for the "Double Dragon" flight (photo above) which had four of five beers with double the main ingredients that I had not had before.  From L to R there was the Tallgrass Oasis Double ESB (Manhattan, KS), the Great Divide Double IPA (Denver), the Ommegang Abbey Ale (Cooperstown, NY), the Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock (Bavaria region of Germany) and good old Young's Double Chocolate Stout (England).  Loved them all except the Ommegang, but as I have stated many times on here, I just don't dig on the Belgian style of brewing.  I moved on from there to a full draught glass of the (cask-conditioned) Marshall Atlas IPA from...drumroll, please....Tulsa!!  Yep, they've got a craft brewery here, but it's just not open to the public for tours, nor does it have a brewpub attached to it.  No matter...their beer is outstanding...at least this IPA is, and anyone that can do cask beer this good is OK (get it) in my book.  So I could actually walk out of there and back to the hotel and to the concert later that evening, I hand to end with a draught pint of COOP Ale Work's  F5 IPA out of Oklahoma City.  Another great hoppy and delicious IPA and a good regional beer to end our wonderful visit to McNelllie's on.

The concert was held in the futuristic-looking BOK Center just around the corner from our hotel.  It's actually a bit smaller inside than it looks from the outside.  The show was tremendous.  A visual and musical feast  from start to finish of one of the greatest albums (and concepts) of all time.  You are a legend, Mr. Waters.  Thank you so much for your vision and your enthusiasm after all these years.  We all felt privileged and grateful to have seen this amazing show in this lovely city on the plains.   Below is a quick glimpse of just some of the amazing start of the close-to-3-hour show.  "Daddy what'd ya leave behind for me!!"

Half Acre Brewing - Chicago, Plus a Few More

I took a long weekend trip to Chicago recently with my wife and a couple of friends to celebrate my 45th birthday and I was allowed to check out a lot of good beer both locally and from other locales during the visit.  Here's a quick run-down:



Started in 2006, Half Acre Beer Company  was at full production by 2009 in Chicago on N. Lincoln Avenue.  They produce some great canned and bomber-only-bottled beer.  We were lucky enough to take their Saturdays-only tour which is limited to 60 people.

 

They mean to keep it sterile and clean here at Half Acre!
So hands off!



I had my first Half Acre brew (their Daisy Cutter Pale Ale) on my last visit to Chicago.  I was so impressed that I swore to seek them out next time I was in town and we did just that.  Thanks to my wife, Ashlee, and my friends, Wayne and Rex, for going along with my little obsession in finding them, but I think they all enjoyed the tour - given by company president, Gabriel - (a snippet of which is in the video below) and, of course, the great beer samples.  Along with more Daisy Cutter, we also got to try their brown Over Ale and their Chocolate Camaro Stout.



I found some more great canned beer (it's really becoming my favorite container for craft beer if I can't get it on tap) at a little hole-in-the-wall store just up the street from our condo.  It looks like your typical quick-stop market, but their beer selection is amazing.  I tried a four-pack of Hop Slayer Double IPA from Wild Onion Brewing in Barrington, IL, and a four-pack of Red Racer IPA from Central City Brewing in Surrey, British Columbia.  Both were excellent.

My friend, Wayne, snapped this picture of me (sporting my sad excuse for a playoff beard in support of the Predators)on our first night in town at The Hopleaf Bar up in the Andersonville neighborhood near the condo we rented.  This was a great bar with a wide variety of beer selections. Here I was having the Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale poured from a bottle by Founders Brewery in Grand Rapid, Michigan.  On another visit I even got to try the uber-popular and hard to find Zombie Dust APA from 3 Floyds Brewing just outside Chicago which Ashlee and I visited on our last trip to Chicago by car last summer.  All tried were delicious. 

The Quest for Good Beer (and good times) in Vegas Continues...

I recently got yet another cheap, cheap flight to Las Vegas ($150 RT!) on Frontier Airlines and in between poker tournaments and some more sightseeing I was able to try yet more new beer in Sin City which is quickly becoming on of my favorite beer towns in the country.



First up was Chicago Brewing Company, despite the name, this is a local establishment that has won best Las Vegas microbrewery on more than one occasion, most recently in 2010.  I thought their beer was very good.  Their Hardaway  IPA was stinking of hops which I love.  I also tried their Cocoa for Coconuts Porter which had a great finish to it.  This place is open 24 hours and has video poker machines in it, so I drank for free while I played and even made enough at $1 blackjack to go see the movie "Red Tails" at a theatre next door.  The beer was much better than the movie BTW.




Among the new sightseeing I did in between poker and beer was nearby Mt. Charleston, the closest ski area to Vegas.  The peaks had just gotten a fresh snowfall the night before, and the drive up from the desert valley floor was breathtaking to say the least.  The half-hour drive from Vegas was well worth it.




With a quick elevation change, the world changes drastically from the flat desert roar of Vegas to the green and white rugged tranquility of the mountains.



Gordon Biersch is a large chain microbrewery found across the U.S. and their brewpub in Vegas on Paradise Road which runs parallel to The Strip, is definitely a flagship facility.  The brewery is surrounded by a beautiful restaurant as well with some tasty food (I had the garlic fries as a snack...yummy) and some descent German-styled beers.  I had a nice big 22 oz. glass of their signature Schwarzbier (dark lager) on a quick stop-in one afternoon.   Speaking of German beer and such, I have to give a big disappointing thumbs down to the Hofbrau House just down the street.  I stopped in this huge German-style beer hall/restaurant for a quick beer and found it to be quite the tourist trap.  Man, what a cheese-fest.  Plus their beer was bland (I had their seasonal dark wheat - the hefe weizen dunkel ) and at $9 a pop, I can see why the place was completely dead??? Yep, $9 for a glass of weak beer, that is not a misprint. Schweinhunds!!!



My favorite new pub in Vegas is The Crown & Anchor, this British-influenced hole-in-the-wall is located a few minutes from The Strip and is open 24/7. I drank free here as well thanks to playing video poker/blackjack while I was there (plus I won $20 on top of that).  I chose the Bombardier IPA, a California-produced concoction from Pizza Port Brewing.  It was great.  Speaking of English pubs, I have to give another huge thumbs down to The Queen Victoria Pub in the Riveria Casino.  The place was dead when I walked in and I figured out why quick...a crappy, overpriced beer selection...I paid $7 for a glass of Boddington's....really, people??  You know I can get great beer FOR FREE at other places in town???  Yet another tourist trap.  Of course, the three goobers who had come into town for the "World of Concrete" convention seemed to really being enjoying their Coronas....yeah, at a "British pub"......ass-clowns.

Of course, when you go to Vegas you always have a good chance of seeing someone famous.  Best of all was  Ronald McDonald in the car behind me at a red light having his girlfriend take him to work.  In the Aria poker room I saw 2-time World Champion and living poker  legend, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, popular, young poker pro, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, World Poker Champion, Huck Seed, and I even played at the same table with former MLB star and budding poker pro, Jose Conseco.  He seemed a nice enough guy and chatted with the whole table, but was complaining a lot about bad luck at the game which is weird to hear from a guy whose obviously seen a lot of money come (and go?) his way and is playing in a cheap, daily tournament with the rest of us grunts (roid rage maybe?).  Speaking of rotten luck, the closest poker success I got on this trip was 13th out of about 70 people, but they were only paying the top nine.  Close, but no ceeeeegar.

Another fun trip to Vegas is in the books.  Incredibly, I still have a couple of breweries to visit out there, so I can't wait to go again!