I-P-A RIVER: Screw low-carb dieting...I'm back with my beloved beer!! (in moderation, of course)

That's it! Diet's Over!

If the weight's not gonna just drop off by low-carbing, it's not worth giving up my beloved beer!

March 6, 2015: My wife and I took a quick trip to New York City and a couple of new brews came my way.

The Big Apple was looking good with it's snowy coating.
That's a helicopter blade in the top right corner. Very cool ride.

It was cool to see Jake Gyllenhaal in person
after his terrific show, Constellations, on Broadway.

At The Beer Authority in NYC - I had the Enjoy by 3/14/15 IPA from my favorite brewery, Stone in California, and The Calling IPA by Boulevard Brewing (KC) (oh, and a Guinness for brunch the next day). It's good to be back in the carbs!!

3/10 - I Saw Chappie in IMAX tonight with my pal, Wayne. Ignore the critics, it's not that bad.

3/14 - Took a quick trip out to Memphis this weekend with my wife and some friends to catch a Grizzlies game. I had a Golden Ale by the local Ghost River Brewing while having ribs at the famous Rendezvous Restaurant. We stopped by the Flying Saucer locale and I had a White Hawk IPA from Mendocino (CA) Brewing, a taste of the terrible 1887 IPA from Ghost River (thanks helpful and honest waitress), and a Devil's Harvest pale ale from Southern Prohibition Brewing (MS).

This is a great stolen pic from my friend, Danny, during the Grizzlies game
of a Ghost River's Riverbank Red ale.

3/21/15 - I had a "bachelor day" in Nashville today and took full advantage of it with a hike around beautiful Radnor Lake to welcome spring to Middle Tennessee. I had lunch at a new place in nearby Brentwood called Murff's. They have great food and a pretty impressive beer list and I partook of the local Ruby Red by Fat Bottom Brewing, and then a Red Dawn pale wheat ale from Carson's Brewery (IN). I moved on after that over to West Nashville to the brand new Tailgate Brewing which transferred here from California. They have set up shop in a former Moose Lodge which is pretty funny-looking right now, but it does have potential to be a great place. I had their Session IPA which was OK. I moved on to a taste of a guest tap, the Hop Quake IPA from RJ Rockers Brewing (SC) which was far from the hop explosion its name implies. The big hop pop came next from the Pinner Throwback IPA from Oskar Blues Brewing (NC location). That's more like it! I ended the day with dinner with some friends before a Preds game at the Pour House in downtown Nashville where I had a couple more, but nothing new for my collection.

Good luck, newbies, to the now-very-crowded Nashville beer scene.

3/21/15 - It was a beautiful day and a sold-out crowd to see the Nashville Predators
rout the Buffalo Sabers 3-0 tonight in Bridgestone Arena.

3/24/15 - Speaking of SOLD OUT Preds games...I saw another one tonight with my pal, Wayne. It was an exciting 3-2 win in overtime over the league-leading Montreal Canadiens. We had great center ice club level seats for free! Thanks Predators' Organization!

Very punny, Jumbotron Man!

3/26/15 - I had a rare mid-week day off today and ran some much-needed errands. One errand took me to Murfreesboro and that meant I JUST HAD TO have lunch at O'Possum's, my favorite Irish-pub-with-southern-flare/small microbrewery. Unfortunately, I stopped by in between batches of their own brew, but thanks to their top-notch guest-tap list I got a couple good ones with my meal. The one new one I had was the Dirty Bastard Scotch ale from Founders Brewing (MI).

Pastrami on rye with a good cold craft beer. I love me some O'Possum's!

I dropped by the 12 South Tap Room in Nashville later in the day and had the incredibly unique Chai Spiced Imperial Russian Stout (2015) by my favorite guys out in California, Stone Brewing. That was a half-pint of heavy ABV (10.6%) brew and since I was driving, I figured I better level off with a follow-up of the rightfully named Half Ale by Brooklyn Brewing (3/4% ABV in comparison).

3/28/15 - I had yet another bachelor-Saturday and again stayed local with a few cool plans that, of course, included beer.

Black Abbey Brewing in Nashville has become very popular in a short amount of time.
The tasting room was packed when I stopped by early in the afternoon.
This is The Rose, their Belgian blonde which has just a bit of a sour taste to me,
but is a popular year-round product of theirs.

OK, that's two. I now have two pictures of babies at breweries.
Is this a thing now?? Later on, this one was allowed to crawl around the floor as well.
Granted, good microbreweries are some of the cleanest places around,
but on the floor of a tasting room?...probably not.
Hipsters with kids...whathca gonna do?

I had dinner at P.F. Chang's because I was craving their awesome lettuce wraps and had a gift card to burn. I was surprised to see several local brews on tap at this chain's bar where I sat and ate my dinner. I had an Angry Redhead ale from nearby Mayday Brewing with my meal. Nice job, corporate-America!

I had time to kill before the big event of my evening, seeing Bob Seger (finally!) in concert!! I stopped by Czann's Brewing downtown and tried their Blonde which was good. I moved on to Pub 5 (evidently housed in the oldest building in Nashville...that's kinda cool!) across from the Bridgestone Arena where the concert was being held. I had a pre-show libation, the Brooklyn Brewing Dry Irish Stout there.

Well,, it only took me 39 years to see Bob and the boys live...
he hasn't lost much as you can see in the brief video below that doesn't do his great show justice.

3/29 - Come on, Flaaaames!! It was a tough 5-2 loss for the Preds to Calgary today. I still had fun with several friends in the all-you-can-eat section, and had some pre- and post-hangout brews at nearby Czann Brewing. In fact, I got free beer just for bringing a few of my friends by for a visit. Thanks, barkeep! I had the Oatmeal Stout (2014) and several pints of the outstanding Dunkelweisen stout
.

3/31/15 - My friend and co-worker, Casey, and I took in a showing of
the 30th Anniversary restored-version of The Breakfast Club tonight
at the Opry Mills theaters. What a classic. and still so funny and poignant.

4/1/15 - I flew down to Pensacola, Florida, today after work to join my wife and her family for a few days of Spring Break on the beaches of Destin. As I waited for my flight I had a Goose IPA from Goose Island Beer Co. in Chicago with dinner at the Noshville Deli. Not bad for a corporate sell-out craft beer.

On the beach in Destin we had a nice couple of ice-cold Icelandic White Ales
from Einstok Olgerd Brewing in Iceland before the cop busted us
with glass on the beach...doh!! What were we thinking?
At least he was nice about it and didn't slap us with a fine like he could have.

This is our third time down here to Destin in the past few years and one of my favorite reasons for returning beside the nice beaches, the good restaurants and the fair weather is the outstanding beer selection at Kelley's Beach Liquors including their huge beer cave. I got my usual variety 6-pack that included the Wrought Iron IPA from Abita (LA), the Sidekick Pale Ale (can) from Two Brothers Brewing (IL), the Artic Berry Ale from Iceland's Einstok Olgerd (can) - I had two get two of these since Einstok is my wife's favorite brewery and she would definitely want to try it, so technically it's just a five-pack -, the Islander IPA from Coronado (CA) Brewing and the Bouncy House IPA from Smuttynose Brewing (NH).

now THAT'S a mermaid, Starbucks!

I also returned to The Craft Bar for a delicious dinner and had a three-sampler flight of the Choklat double stout from Southern Tier Brewing (NY), the Franklin County Stout from Grayton Beer Company in nearby Santa Rosa Beach, FL, and the Consecrator doppelbock from Bell's Brewing (WI). All were top-notch.

It was at The Craft Bar that I had my first encounter with an actual"crowler" -
that's 32 oz. of fresh draught beer canned in front of you and good for up to 3 weeks!
I had heard of these recently, but never seen one. What a great idea!

4/4/15 - We drove straight back from Destin today to downtown Nashville to catch a sold-out show at The Ryman by Mat Kearney. We stopped in at Pub 5 for a pre-show libation or two, and I had the Little Hump Spring Ale from Highland Brewing (NC) and the All Day IPA (Session Ale) from Founders Brewing (MI).