Triangle Beer

Tuesday, February 25 - I took a solo trip to Raleigh/Durham today to see my beloved  6th-ranked Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team take on the Virginia Tech Hoakies in the first ACC home game at the beautiful and historic Cameron Indoor Stadium (74 years old this year) that I've ever seen live.  My wife was scheduled to go with me, but a last-minute "important" work meeting got scheduled that she felt she couldn't miss...when it wound up being cancelled last-minute, boy, was she hot, and I can't blame her!  Sorry, hon.  I still had a fun time and even found some good beer while I toured around The Triangle.

DURHAM

Wow! Has it really been over 14 years since I've been inside Cameron Indoor Stadium?  

Before the game, I had lunch at Bull City Burger and Brewery where I had a draught pint of their Single Hop IPA: HBC462 (SHIPA # 3) which was OK.  English-style IPAs just aren't hoppy enough for me.  I opted for a hot dog instead of a burger and it was tasty, especially with their home-made spicy mustard.

Tyler's Restaurant and Tap Room has an impressive array of beers to choose from and they do half-pints which as I have said before in this blog I am a big fan of for several common-sense reasons.  I started with the Seeing Double IPA from Foothills Brewing over in nearby Winston-Salem, NC.  This is how an IPA is done!!  Hoppy to the max!  Per the knowledgeable bartender's advice I tried the Jade IPA next which is also made by Foothills Brewing.  This was one of the best beers I have had in a while.  Very unique with the hoppiness of a true American IPA but with a surprising citrus finish and lightness.   It was hard to stop at a half-pint on this delicious brew.  I finished with a "dessert" of Fat Charley's Raspberry Chocolate Stout (my wife would have loved this one) from Double Barley Brewing over in Smithfield, NC.  This imperial double stout was ultra-smooth with a nice finish.  Another great recommendation from the barkeep (to someone else, but I listened in).  Tyler's is definitely my favorite place in Durham to have a cold one.

It was on to the game and my long-awaited returned to the beautiful confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium on the elegant and impressive Duke University campus.  My hotel was only a mile away and the weather was tolerable enough for a walk there and back without any difficulty.

Krzyzewskiville was in full gear outside Cameron Indoor Stadium as students endure the cold, damp winter conditions for precious tickets to tonight's game and the upcoming regular-season ending showdown with those Baby Blue Tar Heels from UNC just eight miles away in Chapel Hill.

My seat behind the goal was perfect not only to take in the game,
but to see the antics of the Duke students (Cameron Crazies) as well.

Did I mention there were antics?

A post-game victory stroll was allowed on Coach K Court.  This was a very special experience for me because I don't remember being allowed to do this after games I have been to in the past and if so I missed out on it until now.

I stole this image from Duke's Facebook Page after the game.  This was the boys' fourth game in 11 days.

Wednesday, February 26 - I had most of a day to kill before my evening flight back to Nashville, so I decided to check out the rest of The Triangle...and, of course, some beer along with it.

CHAPEL HILL

I stopped by Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery at lunch time.  I didn't eat because I was still full from a huge, delicious chicken and cheddar biscuit at  the nearby Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen, so I had a couple of their half-pint concoctions instead.  I started with the Big Bertha Brown which was good and moved on to their award-winning Ram's Head IPA which was impressive.  This is a beautiful facility and Chapel Hill is a lovely little town.

OK, we got it...you hate Duke....why not just pull for your own team and move on?  While I enjoyed my Chapel Hill beer and the town itself, the venture into "enemy territory" sure felt like that and I was ready to leave soon after arriving.  But, hey, if we are gonna sling hate I just want all Tar Heel fans to know that I drove around your campus and took a look at The Dean Dome and had a good laugh.  WHAT AN UGLY MONSTROSITY!!! LMAO!!!  It looks like it was pieced together out of spare materials!!  I mean, seriously???  Brick walls, metal roofing and a stupid white mini-dome top??   What a joke!  You should be embarrassed to put a team on the floor in that laugher of a facility.  What a bunch of tools!

RALEIGH

I moved on to Raleigh next to finish the afternoon since I was flying from there later that day anyway.  This was my first time touring around the smallish state capital downtown, but it seems like a nice town.  That's my kinda silly-looking little rental car (a Chevy Sonic which actually drove pretty good) in front of  the huge cool globe at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  I had to settle for a couple beer stops at two local draft houses.  I wanted to stop by a local brewery called Big Boss Brewing, but their tasting room didn't open until 4 PM.  I had a full pint of Hoptimist IPA from White Street Brewing over in Wake Forest, NC, with my lunch of Carolina BBQ sliders (yum!) at The Sawmill Taproom.  It wasn't bad.   I finished with a Deadeye Jack Porter that was smokey and delicious.  It's made by Lonerider Brewing here in Raleigh. Over near the airport later on I stopped at the Leesville Tap Room for my last pint of the trip.  It was the Peacemaker Pale Ale from Outlaw Brewing in Belgrade, Montana.  Not bad, but not my favorite of the trip.  With Southwest Airlines flying directly here now from Nashville, I definitely don't plan on waiting another 14 years to return to this area of great basketball and beer.