CUBA beer

We took a quick cruise out of Tampa to visit Cuba while we have the chance as Americans.  I didn't encounter a lot of beer there, but did get to add at least one Cuban beer to my collection.

2/16 - I planned on hitting a Tampa craft brewery or two tonight  after we flew in, but proceeded to leave my wallet on the plane and blew the rest of the night tracking it down which we thankfully did thanks to the great Southwest Airlines staff there.  Maybe next time, Tampa breweries.

2/17 - I got pretty excited to see that they had automated "Beer Stations" on the Carnival Paradise cruise ship we were on, but that excitement waned pretty fast when I learned the only two choices were Miller Lite and a Thirsty Frog Red ale from Anheuser-Busch that was just so-so.    They did have a decent craft beer selection at the bars around the ship including an Angel City IPA from Angel City Brewing in LA which is one of my top ten favorite breweries that I have visited.

2/18 - Our first stop on the cruise was Key West and I made a bee-line from the ship to The Porch, my favorite craft beer bar here.  I had a Strawberry Beret fruit beer from Barrel of Monks Brewing (Boca Raton, FL) that was excellent.  We sat out on the porch waiting for the rain to end and I also had a couple sips of Ashlee's Monk Saison from Inlet Brewing (Jupiter, FL) that was pretty good too.

The rain didn't let up in time for our  scheduled snorkeling trip to be cancelled, so we ambled around the Key West harbor area eating and drinking.  One of our first stops was the fairly new Waterfront Brewery where I had their solid Chocolate Milk Porter.

2/19 - As we cruised into Havana Harbor this morning, I started the day with a Sea Cow Milk Stout from Saltwater Brewery (Delray Beach, FL) on the back of the boat in the adults-only Serenity area.  It was a great way to say hello to Cuba.

Port of Havana

My first and unfortunately only Cuban beer I had was a Bucanero Fuerte lager made at Cerveceria macro-brewery in Holguin, Cuba.  It was decent and went well with the fresh lobster they served us at the Don Cangrejo restaurant in Havana.

Cuba's not known for their beer anyway, so I don't think I missed a lot, but they are known for their cigars and this Romeo Y Julieta stogie was excellent!  And, I was at least rockin' a Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City) shirt while I was there.

The classic cars were the best thing about Havana.  They are everywhere.

2/20 -  My only other new-to-me beer I had on the ship heading back home was a Pilsner Urquell 1842 from the Czech Republic in a piano bar.  It was good and cold at least.

Poker, movies and a wee bit o' beer

I've been dieting a little, so that means a slow-down on the beer consumption for a while...and only for a while...

Another great Christmas gift from Ashlee was Brew Candy from swagbrewery.com  Surprisingly, my favorite was the honey ale flavor and not the hoppy IPA.  The roasty stout was good as well.

1/25 - I finally got off the snide and got another small online poker tournament win tonight (my first of the new year) turning $3.30 into $81.18 by outlasting 81 others.

1/26 - On a roll!  Got an interesting 2nd place chop in a larger online poker tournament tonight for a good score.  I rebought once and added on for a $9.90 investment and a $120.71 return.  I got another second place on 1/28 in a smaller tourney for a decent profit of about $60.

1/28 -  We were in Chattanooga today and met up with our friends, Tim and Lavonda, for dinner at Mayan Kitchen, a fairly new upscale Mexican restaurant.  The food was excellent and maybe that helped with the taste of the beer because I ordered a Carta Blanca cerveza lager that  I thought was very good.

1/29 -  I checked out Hostiles at the Roxy Theaters here in Lebanon with my friend from work, Casey, tonight  It was a little slow, but not a bad film.   MoviePass got us both in at no extra cost.

2/2 - With a Friday off and Ashlee working I decided to catch an afternoon movie and the one I wanted to see at the optimal time was up in Gallatin so I decided to stop by the Prince Street Pizza Pub for a beer before the flick.  As you can see by their beer board, they always have an impressive draft list going including most products by the nearby nano-brewery, BriarScratch Brewing of which I had the Pop's Hops # 24 which was pretty good.  The service and food was not so good, but hopefully I just caught them on a bad day because I will be back thanks to this kick-ass beer list and good pizza we've had in the past..

I went for my first-ever visit to the impressively nice NCG Theaters in Gallatin since they were showing Den of Thieves at an early enough time that I could get back home for a planned trip to Chattanooga this afternoon.   Thanks again to MoviePass for this very discounted show price.  The movie was pretty good, but borrowed from great films like Heat, The Town and The Usual Suspects a little too much to stand out on its own very much. 

As I mentioned above, Ashlee and I headed down to Chattanooga afterwards to catch a show with Scott Miller at the new Songbirds Guitar Museum venue.  After the great show, we went around the corner to the Frothy Monkey for a late night snack and a drink.  Although it's mainly a coffee shop, they had a decent beer list and I had a decent Red Jam red ale from Garr's Beer Company out of Nashville.

2/3 - So I got stuck at Northgate Mall in Chattanooga today while Ashlee, her mom, her sister and her niece were doing girly-stuff.  Out of desperation, I decided to check out the fairly new Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom there at the mall even though I swore off this chain almost ten years ago due to their bogus craft beer menu ( https://seerobsbeerblog.blogspot.com/search?q=old+chicago).    Well, it looks like they finally got their shit together here at Old Chicago...at least at this one.  They had an excellent craft beer selection including a lot of local stuff and even an accurate menu.  With Duke on at TV  in front of me at the bar...the diet was getting blown a bit today.  I started with a solid Belayer's Blonde ale (photo above) from Chattanooga's own Hutton and Smith Brewing.  Next up was the nice and hoppy, Cloud Walker Pale Ale from another Chattanooga microbrewery, Odd Story.   I finished with an OK Fumble Brewski lager from Oskar Blues Brewing (CO and NC).  I did stick with just a half-salad to eat with the dressing on the side.  Duke lost to an un-ranked, 13-loss St. John's team that played out of their minds in MSG, so it wasn't a totally perfect afternoon, but it sure beat sitting around a nail salon!!

Cool logo.  Tasty brew.

2/5 - Since I am seriously trying to diet, I got only two new beers from Lebanon Wine and Spirits tonight for this month's poker night here in town.  I had a can of tasty Old Chub Scotch ale from Oskar Blues Brewing (NC and CO) which I had had before but never checked in to UNTAPPD.  I finished with a pint can of Irish Channel Stout from NOLA Brewing (LA) that was smokey and had a strong coffee finish. but overall was pretty good.  I did get second in the 9-man tourney and was able to chop for $300 before my pal, Quinton, dropped a bad beat on me during my comeback heads-up.  Take some of that luck to the WSOP Main Event, Q!!

2/7 - Ashlee and I slipped over to 3rd and Lindsley tonight to check one of our favorite voices in music today, Dan Layus (of Augustana).  I wasn't going to drink anything, but they had added a Vanilla Porter from Breckenridge (CO) Brewery that I hadn't had before.  It was very good as was the music!

2/11 - It was a rainy, ugly weekend and we had nothing to do, so it seemed perfect for some online poker. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like a complete bust of a weekend after not cashing in about 10 different tournaments before I finally hit late tonight  with a final table and a 3rd place finish for my biggest cash yet ($307.50) on Global Poker vs. the biggest field (400 with rebuys) I have faced on there as of yet.  Not a bad return for a $6.60 investment!

2/15 -  I took in a solo viewing of Black Panther in IMAX tonight and it was terrific!  Just another gem in the Marvel Universe treasure chest!