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.

 i



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.