A Whole Lot o' Travelin' and a Whole Lot of Good Beer! (Northern Indiana)

Saturday, 8/27/16 - I flew up to Chicago's Midway Airport this weekend while Ashlee was on a girl's trip to play some tournament poker and check out a few breweries in the Northern Indiana region.

Indiana has become quite the craft beer state and I have several of these already marked off the list and will continue to check them off on this trip.  

I played in my first Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) tournament today at the Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, Indiana, and while I didn't make a deep run, I did enjoy myself and was impressed with the set-up and structure.  I will definitely be trying my luck with the HPT again.  I stayed at a nice Raddison in nearby Merrillville, Indiana, which had a decent Irish pub attached to it called T.J. Maloney's.  With dinner there that evening I had a Bad Elmer's Porter from Upland Brewing from over in Blommington, Indiana, and then the Gumballhead pale wheat ale from the legendary 3 Floyd's Brewing over in Munster, Indiana (more on them later).

After dinner, I drove just a couple miles from my hotel in Merrillville to The Devil's Trumpet Brewing Company.  These guys have solid beer, but weren't the most friendly folks I have run into in the craft beer world.  Plus the death metal they had playing in the background (ironically?) was kind of annoying.  I had a few half-pints including the Juice Farm double IPA, the My Ghetto IPA and the Space Caravan IPA.  

Sunday, 8/28/16 - Since I was out of the projected two-day poker tournament, my day-two back up plan included some sight-seeing and some beer, of course.  My first morning stop was in Michigan City out on the lake with a beautiful, fun walk out to their tiny harbor lighthouse.  My reason for visiting Michigan City was two-fold since they also have a couple craft breweries I wanted to visit.  My first stop was the tiny, but impressive, Burn Em Brewing (named after a take on one of the brewer's dad's first name who originally owned the building where their brewpub is now located).  I had their Troll Serum English pale ale which was cask-conditioned and really good.  I finished with the Cuke NUKEM IPA that is brewed with peeled cucumbers for a very unique (and refreshing) taste.  This was probably my favorite beer of the trip.

Also while in Michigan City, I stopped at the much-longer-established Shoreline Brewery for lunch and a couple more half-pints including the Shoddy Dock Session IPA and the Singing Sands oatmeal stout.

I spent the rest of the afternoon burning off some calories climbing the sand and exploring the beautiful Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

On my way back to the hotel I stopped at the small 18th Street Brewery in Hammond, Indiana, where I tried the super-hoppy Sex and Candy IPA and the equally hoppy and delightful Jade pale ale.

Monday, 8/29/19 - It was fly-home day for me, but I had a little time to kill before going to the airport, so I stopped by the legendary 3 Floyds Brewing in nearby Munster, Indiana, for lunch and a couple excellent pours.  Ashlee and I stopped by here 5 years ago on a road trip to Chicago and these guys were locally-loved then and starting to get a broader appeal, but now they are the big-boys in the region and are considered one of the best microbreweries in the country.  With my tasty lunch I had the War Mullet double IPA and the FloydDivision 3 IPA.  Both were excellent!

One last stop on the way to the airport was the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL.  This is the LARGEST arcade in the U.S. filled with classic video games and where a one-price fee lets you play all you want for as long as you want.  Remember this one from way back?  Yep, I still suck at it, but man is it fun to play!

What a fun little trip, but sometimes you gotta just get back home because your cat needs you...

A Wee Bit o' Travelin' and a Wee Bit o' Good Beer

We took a trip down to beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia, for a weekend of tubing on the Toccoa River and relaxing at a beautiful riverside cabin we rented.  I had to have some good beer for such a trip, right?

Salute to the beautiful Toccoa River with a Landmark helles lager from Mill Creek Brewing in nearby Nolensville, TN.  Other brews I  brought and tried over the weekend  were the Briney Melon Gose from Anderson Valley Brewing (CA), the Blue Paw Wild Blueberry fruit beer from Sea Dog (ME) and the Silo farmhouse ale also from Mill Creek.

9/5/16 - At dinner this evening in Blue Ridge at Chester Brunnenmeyer's Bar and Grill (best wings on the planet!) I had a Freak of Nature double IPA from Wicked Weed Brewing over in Asheville, NC.

I tried a couple sips of the Campfire Pancakes cider from Woodchuck (VT)  that my friend, Wayne, was drinking down on the river in Blue Ridge.  I thought it was good and not too sweet, but this butterfly here thought differently I think.  Great pic, Wayne!  

Blue Ridge also has a great little beer store called The Bearding Bottle Shop and I procured a six-pack of the Finestkind IPA from Smuttynose Brewing (NH) which I enjoyed at home over the next week or so.

  Hillary at a craft brewery.  Wonder who I am voting for? - Photo courtesy of 3 Daughters Brewing Twitter Account

Friday, August 12, 2016 - I had the day off today and took a little solo road trip down to Chattanooga to pick up my mother-in-law and bring her back to our house for a visit and on the way I made a couple of stops to places I have been wanting to visit for a good while now:

I was surprised at how really rural the Calfkiller Brewing Company location is in nearby Sparta, TN.  They can only do samples here so I tried and bought a half-growler of the delicious Blueberry Harvest Trail Ale.

When I got to Chattanooga I decided to stop by McHale's Brewhouse for a couple of their made-in-house beers.  I had half-pints of the Mudslinger brown ale, a sip of their GABF gold-medal winning Scottish Pride ale, a sip of their impressive Imperial Scottish and finally The Apollo pale ale (my favorite of the bunch).  I love the beer here, but the place is a real turn-off IMO...it's a former "beer joint" and I guess to appeal to former clients, it remains that in look and vibe.  They allow smoking inside too which really sucks and doesn''t make me want to come back.  Their beer is served in other outlets, so I guess I will have to look for it off-site until they change their ways here.

8/16/16 - I returned the favor to my friend, Quentin, with a free movie pass to see Hell or High Water with amazing performances by Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster and Chris Pine.  It's easily my favorite film of 2016 so far.  Before the movie, I stopped by the 12 South Taproom  and had a couple half-pints that included Milchkaffee stout from Bell's Brewery (MI) and the really good Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout (2016) imperial stout from Stone Brewing (CA)...yes, they are still my favorite brewery of them all.

8/20/16 - Back in Chattanooga, I ordered a Black Mocha Stout from Highland Brewing (NC) with lunch at Tony's Pasta with Ashlee.  Not a bad combo with pasta! 

Woody says we need to drink more beer...