Supporting the ladies, exercising my rights, quoting The Raven...and drinking some beer...

I was proud to join my wife, Ashlee, and two of her childhood friends, Dianna and Starling, as well as Startling's husband, John, along with several of their friends in the Women's March on Washington.  It's an awesome feeling to know we were part of this historic day in our nation's capital.

Friday, January 20 - We flew up to Washington D.C. today and met up with our friend, Dianna, who flew in from Austin.  We drove up to John and Starling's house in nearby Jefferson, Maryland to hang out and make some signs for tomorrow's march and get our game-plan worked out.  I grabbed a six-pick for the evening of The Truth double IPA (hoppy and delicious) from Maryland's own Flying Dog Brewery at a gas station on the way.

Saturday, January 21, 2017 - With expectations of 250,000 in attendance, the crowd swelled to well over a half-million and what was to be a march became an occupation of a large part of our nation's capital.  There was a distinguished list of speakers at the rally before the march including the lovely and eloquent, Scarlett Johannson, giving a very personal account of her life and its affect by Planned Parenthood.

After the long day at the rally, we rode the subway back toward Starling and John's home near Frederick, Maryland, and had dinner at a  BJ's Brewhouse  there where I had their very good session double IPA called Committed, along with their acceptable Tatonka imperial stout.  Back in our Hampton Inn hotel in Frederick I actually found good craft beer in their snack store (a true miracle) and was able to enjoy an excellent bottle of Bloodline Blood Orange Ale from the local Flying Dog Brewery while watching Duke beat up on Miami on the hardwood.

Sunday, January 22, 2017 - With the better part of day to kill before our flights home, Ashlee, Diana and myself, decided to do a quick tour of nearby Baltimore.  The Inner Harbor area is very nice and I especially enjoyed checking out the relocated Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse (even though upstairs access to it was closed today) which was built in 1855 and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland.

Our next stop was the very old and very beautiful Westminster Presbyterian Church Cemetery in downtown Baltimore whose most famous occupant is author/poet Edgar Allen Poe.  Such a quiet historic spot in the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Our next two stops had to do with beer....much thanks to Ashlee and Dianna for rewarding me for supporting their cause (which is really everyone's cause, isn't it?) by supporting me in my cause....('cause I wanna drink good beer).

Our next stop was the Snake Hill bar in the neat little Highlandtown neighborhood of downtown Baltimore.  They have a great beer selection and a cool bar covered in Scrabble pieces.  They also have unique sausages of which I had the rattlesnake/rabbit which was tasty.  As far as beer goes I had the excellent Creator/Destroyer brown ale from Oliver Brewing here in Baltimore.  I followed that up with a Blanche de Chambly witbier from Unibroue Brewing (Quebec).

We then moved on a short distance to quench a little seafood craving we were having since we were in a harbor-town to Lee's Pint and Shell.  This loud, hip joint had an excellent beer list (and some kick-ass fish tacos).  With my meal I had the tasty Union X Ocelot Black IPA  from another local producer, Union Craft Brewing.

We had a plane delay at BWI which allowed me to nurse a Peg Leg imperial stout from Heavy Seas Brewing (also in Baltimore) at the Silver Diner there in the airport.

Happy New Year (of Beer)!

Cheers, Mr. New Year.  This one's probably gonna be a weird one with our new goofy prez.  Let's just hope for the best and just press on!  

12/31/16 -  I began celebrating the new year back at the Homegrown Tap Room today with a few brews along with an early dinner including a decent Louisville Lager from Goodwood Brewing (KY), a tasty Young Hickory porter from nearby East Nashville Beer Works, and a pretty good Ginger Brau lager from Devils Backbone Brewing (VA).  

1/1/17 - Thanks to my pal, Wayne, I got to walk on the field with him today at Nissan Stadium pre-game between the Titans and Texans as we helped unfurl and hold the huge "TITAN UP" flag in south end-zone.  A very cool experience! Too bad the game didn't mean more for the season but we did get the W.  

1/5/17 - It was poker night in Lebanon again and as my newly-formed habit, I stopped by the new Lebanon Wine and Spirits to peruse their great beer selection and got a variety four-pack for the night including a pretty good Sidecar Orange Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada (CA), a nice Brown Shugga' strong ale from Lagunitas Brewing (CA),  my favorite of the night (and the best bottle art, see above) a Voodoo Ranger IPA from New Belgium Brewing (CO), and finally a tasty Special Double Cream Stout from Bell's Brewing (MI).   I am glad the beer was alive, because I was card-dead all night, and eeked out a 5th place finish.

1/7 - Ashlee and I spent this brutally cold Saturday at the Belcourt Theater  in Nashville seeing a double feature of Manchester by the Sea and Jackie, both of which were excellent films.  In between shows we slipped across the road to Cabana for a couple drinks and I had a tasty Mocha Porter from Rogue Ales and Spirits (OR) and the decent Easy Goer Session IPA from Falls City Beer (KY).

1/10 -  I had a bachelor night tonight as Ashlee was hosting her bunco group at our house so I headed down to Murfreesboro for another visit to the awesome Flashback Arcade who I am happy to report have finally added Ramage (the greatest video game ever IMO).  Before burning a few hours there I stopped for dinner and a couple of craft beers at The Green Dragon Public House, a small  Lord of the Rings-influenced pub with delicious food and an impressive beer list.  With my tasty pastrami on rye sandwich I had a great MECHA double IPA from NOLA Brewing (LA) and the strong but smooth Bomb! imperial stout from Prairie Artisan Ales (OK). 

1/13 - It was poker night at The Barn again for me, and I got a four-pack of new beers from the Mt. Juliet Beer Company to take with me including the tasty Death by Coconut porter from Oskar Blues Brewery (CO), the decent Backpacker Brown ale from Tallgrass Brewing (KS), the interesting Hazelnut Brown Nectar ale from Rogue Ales (OR) and my favorite of the night, the Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA from Uinta Brewing (UT).  I wish my AK had held up as good as these beers vs. JJ, but it was "Goodnight, Irene"  for me after three hours of solid, patient play.

1/15 - Ashlee and I stopped by yet another new Nashville craft brewery tonight on our way to a show downtown.  New Heights Brewing has a nice location and some great creations.  I had a dark and tasty Navel Gazer imperial stout and a taste of Ashlee's Nothing Fancy fruity cream ale.  At the show at City Winery I also had a decent DayTime Fractional IPA from Lagunitas Brewing (CA).

Finally, a new year's resolution I know I will keep!!

Be of good holiday BEER, I mean cheer..no, I still mean beer

Gonna try my best!!

Wednesday, 11/23 - I had an Art of Neurosis IPA from 2nd Shift Brewing (St. Louis) with dinner tonight at Butcher and Bee in East Nashville followed by a Moonstruck pale ale from nearby Bearded Iris Brewing.

Saturday, 11/26 - I happened to be in Cookeville yet again today and had time to stop by Red Silo Brewing yet again for another new brew.  I chose their delicious Wild Corgi Brown Ale aka #2.  

Sunday, 11/27 - I finally got Ashlee to Czann's Brewing in downtown Nashville tonight as we took advantage of their unofficial "free parking for a beer" deal for a show we were attending at the Bridgestone Arena.  We each had their new Pecan Porter which was outstanding.

November 30 - December 1, 2016:  I took an overnight trip up to Cherokee, North Carolina, to play some tournament poker at the Harrah's Casino for a WSOP Circuit stop.  While my poker efforts were dashed pretty quickly, I did find a nice little bevy of good craft beer in the area that will definitely have me coming back here again as soon as possible!

Salue to the beautiful Harrah's Cherokee Casino.  While this was only a Samuel Adams Winter Lager I had at a break during the poker tournament there was much better craft beer very close by and at least this one was cheap (by casino bar standards).

My first craft beer stop after busting out of the poker tournament was at Nantahala Brewing in nearby Bryson City, NC.  The little city was decked out in its Christmas best included the cool little brewery.  I had their great Noon Day IPA and their pretty good 8 Foot Drop Double IPA.

I skipped the night poker opportunities and headed over to nearby Sylva, NC, for a visit to Innovation Brewing.  I had their Santa's Sleigh Red IPA, their Gingerbread Brown (kinda disappointing) and their terrific Cucumber Mint Ale (my fav of the entire trip).

One of my favorite parts of the trip was listening to the Sirius XM Radio in my rental car plus a couple of good audio-books coming and going.  And as I tweeted while listening to this song, "Bruce Springsteen is goddamn national treasure!"

On the way home the weather had improved greatly from the rainy drive in the day before (although it was welcome due to the destructive wildfires that were ravaging nearby Gatlinburg).  It was rather eerie looking east at the tranquility of Maggie Valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway with all the devastation behind me to the west.

I stopped in Waynesville, NC, on the way home for lunch at the Boojum Brewing Company tap room in their lovely little downtown area.  My Cuban sandwich was delicious and I had their very good Dark Zone Milk Stout with it.  By the way, a Boojum is a mythical mountain creature that collects gemstones in the area (thanks Google).

Another quick stop in Knoxville on my way back found me at the Blackhorse Pub and Brewery where I had their solid Mild APA.  

I celebrated the 83rd Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition here in the good ol' USA at poker night in style with a variety four-pack that included the Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat stout from Tallgrass Brewing (KS), an Icelandic Doppelbock from Einstok Brewing (Iceland), a Dragon's Milk double imperial stout from New Holland Brewing (MI) and a Wrought Iron IPA from Abita Brewing (LA).

12/9 - Had a day off today and stopped by Smith and Lentz Brewing in East Nashville for a couple of cold ones including their Black Ale with Coffee dark beer and the Smith and Lentz Stout Nitro.  Both were excellent!

12/10 - The 2017 Beer Tree got Zippy approval and was much-appreciated at our Christmas Party this year.  I got a varied collection of beers for the party that included the (Ben and Jerry's) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale from New Belgium (CO), the Bourbon Barrel Stout from Goodwood Brewing (KY), the Peanut Butter Pinstripe Stout from Blue Pants Brewing (AL) - which was my favorite of the group - and a Shiner Holiday Cheer (2016) from Spoetzl Brewing (Shiner, TX).  

12/15 - It was time for some Rogue One opening night in IMAX at Opry Mills for me and seven friends.  Beforehand, my friend and co-worker, Casey, and I stopped for dinner and a beer at the Homegrown Taproom where I had a tasty Huginn Porter from the relatively new Asgard Brewing over in  nearby Columbia, TN.

12/21 - We had dinner at Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint in Nashville tonight and I had an Ode to Mercy imperial brown ale from Wild Heaven Beer (GA).   Then I had a Twice as Nice  double dopplebock from Hi-Wire Brewing (Asheville, NC).  I also had a sip of my friend, Wayne's, Original Sin Pear Cider (NY).  

12/22 - I've made a huge mistake...it's Mexican clamato...yuck...but, yeah, I drank it all and the Predators still sucked and got shut out by the LA Kings.  Thanks for the ticket anyway, Quintin.

12/24 - You gotta love the Lutherans...so glad I went to church tonight!

12/28 - Went and saw Rogue One in IMAX again tonight.  I think it was even better than the first viewing!  My friend, John, and I had dinner beforehand at Homegrown Taproom where I had a pint of King Chestnut brown ale from Nashville's own Tennessee Brew Works and a half pint of the Christmas Bonus Belgian-style pale ale from Calfkiller Brewing over in Sparta, TN.