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.