Hoppy Halloween, Chattanooga Newbies, Nashville Newbies plus Re-Vegas, Re-Indy and Re-Memphis

Why yes...yes I am....

Oct. 31 - We threw a low-key Halloween party at our house and I got a nice variety six-pack from MJBC for it that included: a Tempter IPA from Telluride (CO) Brewing, a Flipside Red IPA from Sierra Nevada, a Hi-5 IPA and a Hopsecutioner (brought by my friend, Chris) from Terrapin, a Carhartt Woodsman from New Holland, a Naked Pig Pale Ale from Back Forty Brewing and a kinda  sweetly gross Cranberry Ginger Shandy from Leinenkugel.

Nov. 6 - Ashlee and I drove down to Chattanooga tonight for an O/A/R concert.   Before the show we checked out a new-to-us bar called The Flying Squirrel for dinner.  The food was great and they had a solid beer list.  I had the Hairy Eyeball Ale from Lagunitas Brewing and a 1/2 pint of the Hop the Pond Double IPA from New Belgium

Nov. 7 - The next day we had lunch at the new-to-Chattanooga Tupelo Honey Cafe which was delicious.  I had a Black IPA from Chattanooga Brewing with my meal.

Las Vegas

Nov. 9 - 11:  I took my first (and only this year) quick trip to Las Vegas to take advantage of the weird Tuesday holiday for Veteran's Day.  I played in a couple poker tourneys without much success, but had a spectacular trip nonetheless with great weather, a ride on the new High Roller Ferris Wheel (booze included) and a convertible Mustang ($10 upgrade!) drive out to the amazing Zion National Park over in nearby Utah.  Oh, and I had beer...

Just off the plane, at a bit of run-down little place off The Strip called Aces and Ales I had a  Hoppy Times IPA from Bad Beat Brewing (this didn't jinx my poker playing, that would have been if I had had something from "Card Dead Brewing"...uggh)

I had a couple pre-tourney libations at the Public House in The Venetian which has an impressive beer list.  I started with a Get Up Offa That Brown ale from Golden Road Brewing in LA and about a half a pint of Hopulent IPA from Epic Brewing in Utah that the barkeep gave me on the house since the keg messed up after I ordered it.  Thanks, bud!  I finished with a can of Hop Ottin IPA from Anderson Valley Brewing (CA).

Ahh, real live online poker again.  The tourneys were few and far between, but at least I cashed in one while in Vegas in the comfort of my great room at The Tropicana.

Zion National Park is breathtaking.  I highly encourage a visit in a sweet convertible.

The ride on the new High Roller Ferris Wheel was spectacular and included free booze.  The beer offered was domestic drivel, so I stuck with good ol' Jack and Cokes.

I stopped by Banger Brewing in Old Town and had a Hop Bang Boom IPA which was decent.

At an off-The-Strip Irish bar called McMullen's I had a watery Steinlager (New Zealand) which actually went down great after an excellent Chinese lunch at Ping Pang Pong.

Some great news!   I discovered that they have opened another Yard House on The Strip at the base of the High Roller Ferris Wheel.  The bad news was there was Monday Night Football on and the place was nuts when I went in there.  I settled for my old favorite location way down Las Vegas Blvd. the next day before flying out and had a couple of Oregon-made half-pints including a Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA (which I had unknowingly had back in April of this year at the 12th South Taproom in Nashville) and a Fresh Squeezed IPA from Deschutes Brewing.

In and around Nashville

I had an Iciban Shibori at our favorite sushi restaurant, O'sake
I had a Southern Wit from TN Brew Works at Barlines, a great new bar at the Omni Hotel
I had a Walkabout Pale Ale from Flat 12 Bierworks (Indy) at home watching pitiful the Titans on MNF, followed by a can of Fence Post Session Ale
I also had a Hop Zombie by Epic Brewing (New Zealand) - a surprise pint bottle present from my wife.  It went down perfect while watching an episode of "The Walking Dead."

Indiana/Kentucky

Tuesday, Nov. 18:  We took a quick trip up to Indianapolis to see our beloved Duke Blue Devils play in the Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse vs. Michigan State.  Duke got the W, and then Kentucky and Kansas squared-off in the second game of the night.  Some good beer was procured going, coming and at the game.

On the way up my friend, Mike, and I stopped at Big Woods Brewing in Nashville (Indiana) for lunch and I had their Hare Trigger IPA, followed by a Hazelnut Coffee Stout and a Martin's Pumpkin Ale.  All were tasty as was the food.  I tried to get single Mike to tell our cute red-headed waitress that she must have been the inspiration for their wood-nymph logo below.  He did not oblige...

Our seats were better than this fish-eye shot appears, but it's still kind of cool picture.

I was happy to find that this corporate NBA arena actually embraced local craft brew with several stands selling local Sun King Brewing products.  I had the Sunlight Cream Ale and a Mr. Sparkles (blonde ale) both on draught.

On our way home the next day we stopped for lunch in Louisville at Bluegrass Brewing where I had their Session IPA and their Nut Brown Ale.

Memphis

Saturday, Nov. 22: I returned to Memphis and Tunica for the good weekly Saturday tournament at The Horseshoe where I cashed on my last visit.  This time I was not so fortunate, but it did allow me time to go visit a couple new Memphis craft breweries that was able to get to on my last visit.

I went by the very cool (and very busy) Wiseacre Brewing which has a nice set-up in an industrial park.  I had the Lord Skylark Tea Pale Ale which was great and the Adjective Animal (a rather underwhelming double IPA).

I moved on to the much quieter, but still very cool Wiseacre Brewing where I had their Scottish Ale, their Belgian IPA, their Porter (photo above - look at the beautiful lacing) and their ESB...yes, I was here a good while watching the UT/Missouri game.

Sunday, Nov. 23:  I solved the problem of no breweries being open on Sundays in Memphis when I found the Young Avenue Deli for lunch and their excellent beer list (and great Philly cheese-steak!) I had the Fireside Ninja red ale by nearby Memphis Made Brewing and a can of Jack the Sipper ESB by Southern Prohibition Brewing (Hattiesburg, MS)

It can't always be about beer.  Here's my tasty morning mimosa I had in The Peabody Hotel lobby as I waited for the famous ducks to enter.  I have always wanted to see this in person. -- see video below

I thought Redskins were peanuts? G.A.M.E. Trip 2014

Five friends and I took our now-annual Grown. Ass. Man. Extravaganza. (G.A.M.E.) trip this year to see the woe-is-us Tennessee Titans play the Washington Redskins in D.C.  It was another great trip (and another loss for the Titans) with at least some great beer as well.

Bluejacket Brewing was just a 15-minute walk from the house we rented and their beer was outstanding as was the fancy way they listed them.  No dusty chalkboards for these guys!  I had half-pints of the Lost is Space IPA, The Darling Buds: Citra IPA and the Gauntlet black IPA, the Paramour IPA, the Mexican Radio milk stout (my favorite of the bunch) and The Wake imperial stout

On our second trip to Bluejacket I had the amazing kielbasa for dinner along with more beer, of course, including the Spectre IPA and the Bretta World Peach IPA. 

Although I have been to DC several times, I still got to experience new things on this trip including my first visit up to the top of the Washington Monument.  What a thrill and what an absolutely beautiful day for a visit.

More "new to me" visits included the powerful new Martin Luther King Memorial, the FDR Memorial (below) and the fairly new World War II Memorial where we had the honor of visiting it at the same time as a large crowd of veterans from the war.  Thank you, good sirs!

We walked A LOT (over 10 miles) in DC and here my aching dogs are getting a break as I crack open a Sister of the Moon IPA from Mother Earth Brewing (NC).  We had a great little convenience store a few blocks away with a very nice craft beer selection (MUCH more on that later).

We also got some inexpensive tickets to a MLS match-up between DC United and the Chicago Fire at the old RFK Stadium near our rental house.  It was a thrilling game with DC scoring an amazing winning goal right in front of us.  The crowd was decent-sized and very raucous.  It was a great time.

At the soccer game (and back at the house) we tried a few good, local canned brews by DC Brau including The Corruption IPA and  The Public APA.

As mentioned before, the Titans chalked up another road loss as Washington's third-string QB came in the game the second-half and we made him look like the second-coming of John Elway.  Our seats were high up, but dead center, and we had a good time despite the outcome of the game.  The DC fans were pleasant enough (since their team kinda sucks right now too) and FedEx Field is a very nice venue.  The weather also continued to be perfect.

Did I mention we had a pretty good selection of craft beer near our house?  Well, 58 beers and 6 ciders later, they were all dead and on display in our rented living room.  Here's a quick list of what I had:  Loose Cannon's Heavy Seas IPA (Baltimore), Lakefront Brewing's IPA (Milwaukee), Double D Imperial IPA from Dominion Brewing (Delaware), and Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing (Michigan).

More dead soldiers from the 58 Beers Campaign...

We had much better success with beer at the house than we did out and about other than the outstanding  aforementioned Blue Jacket Brewing.  Just for listing sake, I will mention a few others I had.  I had a Heroes Never Die IPA from Beer Army Combat Brewery (NC) at a place called The Ugly Mug.  It was buttery in taste and maybe one of the worst IPA's I have ever had.  I had a good Two Hearted Ale (IPA) from Bell's Brewing (MI) at a place called The Hawk and Dove...which might have been a gay bar...not that there's anything wrong with that...For our last night and dinner in DC, we sought out the Heavy Seas Alehouse in downtown DC and while we had enjoyed their beer up to then, the service and food here SUCKED out loud.  Very disappointing.  While there I did have a guest beer on tap, the Hoppacalypse Imperial Red Ale from Apocalypse Ale Works (VA)..very underwhelming and  a Peg Leg Imperial Stout from Heavy Seas themselves which was the lone bright spot of the evening.

And then...

The following weekend, Ashlee and I took a quick trip up to the The Smokies for a few days.  We happened upon a place that finally has some good beer on tap in this area that has been woefully lacking in the past.  It's definitely worth a mention here.

Despite getting a bit of grief from the barkeep when I walked in with my Predators pullover on (he's a Red Wings fan), the English-style pub in the woods near Gatlinburg  called The Fox and Parrot Tavern is pretty cool.  I had a draught of the Rocky Hop IPA from Saw Works Brewing in nearby Knoxville (that's a new one to me) which was nice and hoppy.  I followed that up with a Vanilla Cream Ale from Blackhorse Brewery in Clarksville, TN.  Their authentic pub food was good as well.  We shall be back to this great place on our next visit this way!

Colorado PLUS

A quick trip out to the craft-beer mecca of Colorado, 

plus some other good beer encounters

8/22/14 - I split a Circumsaison from my favorite local craft brewery, Cool Springs, with my friend, Danny, and my wife, Ashlee, at Watermark Restaurant in Nashville.  Yep, it was a $25 bottle of beer, albeit a bomber in size.

8/24/14 - Today, Ashlee and I had a Sunday, Fun-day that included a few new beers and a few new local watering holes.

I started with a Man-mosa at brunch at M.L. Rose Craft Burger House in Nashville made with Miller High Life.  Not bad.  I moved on then to a draught of a Son of a Peach from RJ Rockers Brewing (South Carolina) and a sip of Ashlee's Sofie (saison) by Goose Island (despite my personal protest of them because of their purchase by "The Empire" aka InBev.

I had a Guinness at this dive bar  called the MT Bottle in Murfreesboro that has been on the "Bar Rescue" TV show and then an Evil Octopus (black ale) from the local Mayday Brewing.

While still in Murfreesboro we moved on to the wonderful O'Possum's Irish Bar for dinner where I had a great dark IPA made by them called the Hop Swami.  We ended Sunday Fun-day at Brew U also in Murfreesboro which despite being sort of a dump had a great beer selection and good prices.  Here I had a Whiplash White IPA by Sweetwater

8/27 - I won season tickets to the Tennessee Titans earlier this year.  Too bad they suck out loud this season.  I sold several of my games for a tidy profit and one of the first was to a nice family out of Canada that had never been to an NFL game.  I met them at the airport to sell the Craigslist posted tickets and then offered them a ride to their hotel (this sounds like a bad movie plot, doesn't it?).  Well, I didn't murder them and afterwards went over to The Hop Stop in East Nashville for a 1/2 pint of  Spare Pair APA by Blue Pants Brewing (Alabama) and another half-pint of Helles Lager from Rivertown Brewing (Ohio).  I finished with the wild and woolly Casper the Friendly Gose (2014) by Jackalope Brewing here in Nashville which is made with coriander and sea salt...very interesting.

8/31 - I had a Hill City IPA from Chattanooga Brewing at Taco Mamacita with dinner

I had this pint can from Nashville's own Fat Bottom Brewing at Drifters BBQ in East Nashville on 9/4/14

9/6/14 - We attended a couple days of Live on the Green in downtown Nashville and I had a few cold Kolsches by Schafly and Harvest Pumpkin Ales by Blue Moon which were included along with good food with our VIP tickets.

Our long weekend trip to Denver, Colorado (9/19 - 9/22) to catch a show by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater was great.  And despite traveling with a couple of non-beer-drinkers, they indulged me in a few stops for craft beer (and good food).

9/20 - My first beer stop was at Colorado Plus Brew Pub in Denver.  I had a great flight including Papa Smash - Caution Brewing, Alpha Maiden by Renegade, Modus Hoperandi by Ska, the Tempter IPA (Nitro Infused) from Telluride Brewing and finally a Big Shot Espresso Stout by Twisted Pine.  They had a very unique way of doing flights where you write what you want on the tray from their huge list of Colorado beers plus some other select ones.  Also had a sip of  some of Ashlee's flight that included a Spiced Apple Pie made by this brewpub,  a Little Mo Porter by Elevation Brewing, a Big Ben Brown by the Bull and Bush Pub located here in Denver, the Punktoberfest by Big Choice Brewing and a Ginger by Black Bottle Brewing over in Ft. Collins, CO.

I had to have one of my Colorado-made favorites while at the show at Red Rocks.

9/21 - Before our late afternoon flight, we did an early-morning 5+-mile hike at Eldorado State Park that was great.  Afterwards we stopped at Southern Sun Brewing in Boulder, CO for lunch and some beer, of course.

Lovely half-pints of the Illusion Dweller IPA (left) and Resinous Rye by Mountain Sun Brewery in Boulder, CO.

I saw a couple of good movies in IMAX as well during this time.  Nothing to do with beer, but what the heck...
                        

9/27 - I had a can of Vanilla Java Porter by Atwater Brewing (Michigan) at a party thrown by our friends, the DeGroffs.

My four favorite things: live music, waterfalls, tournament poker and good beer!

Is that....???

July 31, 2014 - I had a  Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale with dinner at The Red Pony Restaurant in Franklin, TN...no biggie...had it before, love it...oh, and then I went and met Kevin Bacon!

August 2 - We returned to the Inn at Fontanel for an overnight stay after a concert there and this time I made a  beer run to the Mt. Juliet Beer Company for some new-to-me brews to try while hanging out there.   In no particular order I had the Witty Twister witbier from RJ Rockers (SC), Liquid Bliss chocolate and peanut butter porter from Terrapin, Hop House Belgian pale ale from Ommegang (NY), a full bottle of Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale (had a taste of this while at Bonnaroo recemtly) from Terrapin, the Elder Betty fruit-flavored wheat beer from Magic Hat and finally the Rubaeus raspberry-flavored beer from Founders Brewing (MI).

Since I was attending a show at 3rd & Lindsley tonight, I figured it was the perfect time to check out Nashville's newest brewpub, Czann's.  The place was quiet for a weeknight and at one time it was just me and three ladies alone in the brewery (insert best porno ever joke here).  The beer was excellent.  I intended to only have one, the Old School IPA, but a heavy storm popped up and the rain was pouring down outside and the staff gave me free queso and chips, so I had to imbibe another pint and went for their Pale Ale.  I finished the visit with  the lighter Belgium Blonde.  I am definitely adding this place to my must-visit list when downtown.  Welcome to Music City, folks!

I am not going to say the weeknight crowd to see Scott Miller was small, but his best line was, "Thanks, everyone,  for being here....Uh, Did ya'll all come in one car?"  The show was excellent, as usual, despite the numbers.  I had a couple pints of Guinness during the show...just for the record.

August 9 - We journeyed over to the neighboring Dekalb County to the Evins Mill Resort tonight for a couple nights' stay and a beer tasting and pairing dinner with Calfkiller Brewing out of Sparta, TN.

We tried all four of the Calfkiller selections on-hand including the Wizard Sauce pale ale, the Smokey Treat fruit beer, Ye Old Calfkiller Quazi (an American pale wheat ale) and the Belle Meade Private Reserve Bourbon Barrel Smokey Treat.  All were tasty and the brewers, the  Sergio Brothers, were on-hand explaining their creative concoctions and pouring healthy samples of each throughout the night.  Dinner was excellent and abundant and ended with an amazing beer sundae (photo above) consisting of vanilla ice cream and the Smokey Treat fruit beer.

We took a swim below Carmac Falls the next day at Evins Mill Resort (video below).  It was a great weekend overall.

August 14 - Before seeing and old heavy-metal fave from my younger days, Queensryche, play live in downtown Nashville tonight, I did a quick three-stop pub crawl to some familiar downtown haunts.  The first stop was The Pour House where I had a delicious pint of the Hop Head Red Double IPA from Green Flash Brewing out in California.

Since I was wearing my favorite Stone Brewing work shirt it seemed only fitting at my next stop, Hops & Crafts, to have the Stone Go To IPA which was amazingly hoppy.

The always-impressive beer list at Hops & Crafts easily makes it my favorite beer bar in Nashville.

Despite being the lightest beer of the night, the beautiful lacing of the Picnic English-style pale ale at Blackstone Brewing reveals the true quality of the beer made here at my third and last stop of the night.

The band was sounding great tonight despite their age.  Original lead singer, Geoff Tate, that you hear in the short clip below has had a nasty falling out with the rest of the band and an ugly battle for the name "Queensryche" has ensued.   But that hasn't stopped this talented guy from assembling an amazing backing band that includes former touring members of Quiet Riot and AC/DC to put on one hell of a show.  This could be one of the last times Geoff sings this song live since after this tour, from what I understand, the courts have said he can only perform Operation: Mindcrime songs and not ones such as this one," Jet City Woman" from the Empire album. Strange, but true.

This should really have the word BEER underneath it, don't you think?

This isn't a great picture due to the graininess, but it shows the amazing "Super Moon" that was out tonight before the show in downtown Nashville.  That huge lighted ball on the left is a street light  about 20' away.  That huge lighted ball on the right is the moon about 240,000 miles away....  

August 16-17 - I took a quick trip to Memphis and Tunica this weekend to play a poker tournament, check out some history and maybe even find a little beer.  I placed 18th in the tournament out of 151 entrants and doubled my entry fee at least.

August 17 - The only craft beer I could find available on a Sunday in Memphis was at Boscos Squared where I had the Sticke Alt and the BBR, an American pale wheat beer, with brunch.  I love the Nashville location of Boscos and this one is just as cool and located in a neat little, eclectic area of downtown Memphis.

After brunch I cruised by the famous Sun Studios to see if the ghost of Elvis was hanging around.

I have been wanting to visit the National Civil Rights Museum at the infamous Lorraine Motel for a long time now.  I am glad I finally got to get here.  It's an amazing place and definitely worth a visit.

Since the beer is not flowing readily on Sundays in Memphis,  I cruised on back eastward and made a stop in Murfreesboro before heading home to check out O"Possum's Irish Pub.  I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised at the cool little establishment that even does a small amount of craft brewing.  They are a one-batch operation and I had what was available:  the Chocolate Caramel Porter.  It was fantastic!  Well-done, little guys!  I wasn't hungry and didn't eat, but the place was busy with food patrons and the dishes looked good.  I will definitely be back here with the wifey in tow for some dinner sometime soon.  What a great find!

late summer beer update

AT THE LAKE:

We spent a weekend up on Center Hill Lake and I took with me a pint bottle of Hop Session Ale (more birthday presents) from White Birch Brewing (NH) and an Imperial Stout from Smuttynose Brewing

AROUND TOWN:

Note the business to the left.  Now that's all about location, location, location!

I had a day off and was over in western Nashville and stopped by the Cool Springs Brewery where I had a great Mango IPA and a delish Ginger Bombshell.  I was back at Cool Springs Brewery a week or so later and had a Dew Me Now, an English-style pale ale which actually tasted like Mountain Dew.  How the hell??  I am ready to proclaim Cool Springs Brewery as my favorite local brewery.  And that's up against a lot of stiff competition, but they are doing some really creative stuff there.  During dinner at our local Red Robin. I had a draught of the Country Roots stout from Nashville's own, Tennessee Brew Works. At a show by The Fray at The Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel I had a Long Hammer IPA from Red Hook Brewing.

Beer-flavored ice cream?  Add it to the Beer Bucket List...

AT BONNAROO:

It was that time of summer again and I toted in a 12-pack of cans (remember, no glass at The Roo) of Brooklyn Brewing's Summer Ale (which made a great shandy along with Diet Sprite).   I also bought a couple pint cans of Summer Shandy from Leinenkugel at the festival.  At the Broo'ers Tent I sampled the Pot Belly Porter from Ole Shed Brewing over in Tullahoma, TN (gonna have to make a visit there some time) and also their Southern Pale Ale.  I then moved on to the Dream Machine (an interesting India Pale Lager) from Magic Hat and the Maggie Peach Farmhouse Hale from Terrapin.

What happened next was a first for me.  I actually took a CIDER BREAK from beer.   It just so happened that some folks from Woodchuck were giving free tastings and a talk about their products at the Broo'ers Tent while we were visiting and we thought, "what the heck."  I tried the Amber Cider, the Summer Hard Cider, the Dry Hop Cider, the Private Reserve Barrel Select and the Smoke Apple.  I have to admit they were pretty darn good...but I ain't giving up my hops for apples just yet...

Back at camp I also had a  couple Recreation Ales from Terrapin that my friend, Mike had brought.  I also had a Take Two Pils(ner) from Sweetwater on our last day there during a show.

AT THE BEACH:

Clinking the Kaliks!  We had several different types of Kalik beer while in the Bahamas including the regular Kalik Lager,  the Kalik Gold,  the Kalik Lime and the Kalik Radler (their version of a shandy).  All were exceptional given the beach locale and the warm summer temps.

We took a quick cruise over the 4th of July holiday to the Bahamas.  We decided to drive down to Florida to catch the boat and on the way down my friend, Mike, and I grabbed some nasty domestic beer since it's all we could find while Ashlee drove.  I had a Steel Reserve 211 High Gravity (high gravity, LOL) Pint Can and the regular Steel Reserve.  They both sucked out loud, and I am embarrassed to report them here, but got us the buzz we were looking for at least.  Once the cruise ship, my first libation was a Boddington.

My baby bringing us a couple cold ones from Capt. Danny's sweet boat that we privately chartered for the afternoon.

We ran out of beer (as Capt. Danny predicted we would), but he came to the rescue by finding us another tour boat with more Kalik for sale.

Dead Bahamian soldiers.  A cool shot taken by my friend, Wayne, with his awesome GoPro camera.

ON A ROAD-TRIP:

We took a quick long weekend road trip up north stopping in Louisville for one night and then on to Cincinnati to catch our first Reds baseball game at Great American Park.

In the cool Louisville neighborhood of Clifton we stumbled upon the relatively new Apocalypse Brewing Company where I sampled their Apollo IPA.

In Cincinnati, right outside the ballpark I had a  Northern Liberties IPA from Moerlein Brewing at their very nice Lager House facility.

I am sad to report I did not partake in the Brewery District at Great American Ballpark (since our seats were attached to an an all you could eat and drink (soft stuff) suite, but I was happy to see the large variety of real beer available and I hope to belly up there the next time we come which we will because we had a blast!

A view from our sweet seat at Great American Ballpark.  Go Reds!!

AND HOME AGAIN:

Sunday, July 27 - I went and saw the mind-blowing film, Snowpiercer, at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville.  Beforehand, I stopped at a new beer bar nearby called Hurry Back.

 My first beer from the Hurry Back's impressive list was a Dragons Milk stout from New Haven Brewing.  The friendly bartender also offered me a taste of the pepper-infused Guano Loco from Terrapin which was wild.  I dodged a few storms as seen flickering the photo above on my way home.