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| Hey, it's a legit question! |
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| 7/6 - I was in downtown Nashville to meet Ashlee and some friends tonight and stopped by City Tap for a couple of brews. I started with an excellent smoked rauchbier called the Blackstrap Ale (Flynn on Fire Smoked Beer Initiative) from Switchback Brewing (VT). Next up was the deceiving looking but great tasting Coffee and Cream ale from New Heights Brewing here in Nashville that looks like a pale ale, but tastes like a coffee stout (photo above). I finished strong with a solid Good N' You IPA from Springdale Beer (MA). |
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| Ashlee coerced me (and bought me a ticket) later that night for an Off the Wagon tractor tour of downtown Nashville with our out-of-town friends which I have to admit turned out to be a lot of fun. Best thing was it was BYOB, so I stopped by Frugal MacDoogal earlier in the day and got a pint can of the tasty Remix IPA from Green Flash Brewing (CA). It was pretty cool to be able to sip good beer in the traffic on Broadway being tugged around by a John Deere. |
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| 7/7- We threw a pool party today and the theme was Mermaid/Merman and the mermen contingent was small, but strong, with my friends Charlie on the left and Nate on the right. (It's about time my beer buddy, Nate, got a picture in this blog!). I got a variety six-pack for the day from Lebanon Wine and Spirits that included the tasty Hitchhiker IPA from Good People Brewing (AL), the equally good Hop-On IPA from Abita Brewing (LA), the decent Linkin' Up IPA from Boulevard Brewing (KC) and the excellent Double Trouble imperial IPA from Founders Brewing (MI). |
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| Speaking of Nate, he, of course, came through with some tasty libations as well. He gave me a can of the surprisingly good There Gose Rita sour beer from New Heights Brewing in Nashville that had a great lime kick to it. He also gave me a couple swigs of the very dry but flavorful Bilberry Mead from Grimfrost Meadery in Sweden. He also gave me a good sampling of the outstanding and very limited Tennessee Whiskey Barrel Aged Navel Gazer imperial stout from New Heights Brewing. Nate's a great guy...have I mentioned that before? |
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| My fifth beer from the variety back was a repeat on UNTAPPD but still delicious, the Oatmeal Porter from Highland Brewing (Asheville). Last, but certainly not least was the interesting and unforgettable Original C Cave Creek Chili Beer - Cerveza Con Chili from Tecate Brewing in Mexico. |
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| No, seriously, there was a CHILI IN THE BEER! |
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| I enjoyed this great World Cup badge from UNTAPPD that I earned today even though none of my teams (Germany, Mexico, Iceland and Belgium) made it to the final. It has been an exciting tournament despite the USA not being in it. |
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| 7/8 - We had a Sunday Funday back in Nashville today with our friends from out of town. One of our first stops was The Filling Station on 12th Avenue South where I had a pint of the solid Channel Orange IPA from Gravely Brewing (Louisville). Next up was a stop at the ultra-cool Marathon Village (photo above) where we stopped in to the Corsair Brewing Beer Lab and I had a half pint of the Smoked Pecan Altbier that wasn't too bad. |
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| We headed to west Nashville to the neighborhood known at The Nations where this cool 150' mural on the side of an old abandoned concrete silo depicts local legend and resident, 91-year-old Lee (LD) Estes. Nearby I noticed that my favorite Nashville brewery, Southern Grist, has opened their new location here. I have got to get back by here and check that out ASAP! |
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| We ended the day with dinner at the Frothy Monkey in The Nations. Dinner was great and their beer list, as always, was interesting. I had the beautifully colored beer with bright can art it came in, the Basil and Cranberry Gose from Collective Arts Brewing (Ontario, Canada) hat was more tart than sour and wasn't too bad. |
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| 7/12 - Back in the First Place Saddle again! I got first place again in the same small 4-handed online poker tourney that I won the other night. This time it was against 58 other folks for a nice $90 profit. |
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| 7/15 - I made a kind of last minute trip to Chattanooga today to help out my friend, Tim, and his trivia team fill out a five-person roster for the Chattanooga Trivia League Summer Finals. We did OK, but not high enough to score the win. I helped as much as I could with movies and sports which they were weak on. Before the trivia which was at The Honest Pint, I stopped around the corner at Hutton and Smith Brewing for a couple of warm-up libations. I have forgotten what a great little brewery this is! I started with their solid Bowline Brown ale. I finished with their fantastic Pro-Am Ginger Saison which was so good I got a crowler of it for Ashlee who loves saisons and ginger. |
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| I made a long round-trip back home and stopped for dinner and a couple more beers at the always-good Monkey Town Brewing in Dayton. I started with their tasty Watch, This 360 Dunkel Be Insane and ended with their cirtrusy New England style IPA, the H'oat'el M'oat'el Hopiday Inn. I cruised on back home with beautiful weather and good tunes on the stereo thru Crossville and on I-40 I caught the fog rising off the Caney Fork River after sunset. Sunday, Funday!! |
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| 7/18 - Winner! Winner! Thanks to our local independent radio station, Lightning 100, for hooking me up with a couple tickets to see the British singer/songwriter known as Passenger, tonight at The New Era Ballroom at Woolworth's on Fifth which I have also wanted to check out. Unfortunately, Ashlee was out of town, so I took this one solo. |
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| Passenger creator and singer-songwriter, Michael Rosenberg, put on a great show with his hauntingly beautiful voice and deeply personal and moving songs. This new music venue, the New Era Ballroom, is great as well with good acoustics and sight lines throughout. Before the show I stopped at HQ Beercade for a couple pre-show brews (and some free Galaga play. of course) including the tasty and fittingly-named Go Play IPA from Avery Brewing (CO), followed by a solid Foggy Geezer IPA from War Pigs Brewing (Denmark). During the show I had a Portly Stout from Turtle Anarchy Brewing here in Nashville which I noticed I last checked in on UNTAPPD almost 5 years ago. Happy Anniversary! |
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| Since I was walking by the new restaurant/bar, The George Jones, on my back to the car after the show, I decided to stop in. This is where we had dinner the other night with some friends, but missed going up and checking out their roof-top dining and bar. It was worth the stop with an incredible view of Nissan Stadium and the General Jackson making a turn on the Cumberland River at sunset. |
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I parked across the river from downtown for free and not only did that save me money and give me some exercise, but it allowed me some great twilight views of Music City on the way back after the show. This town sure knows how to pretty itself up sometimes. 722 - We saw the moving and well-done documentary early today on Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" called Won't You Be My Neighbor? up in Hendersonville. After the show, we had salad lunches (dieting, ho-hum) at Growler USA where I also had a pint of Grand Design Belgian Tripel from Black Abbey Brewing in Nashville. It was decent. |
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| 7/24 - I drove back up to Hendersonville this evening to catch a showing of "Denzzzzelll" in Equalizer 2 at The Streets of Indian Lake Theaters (recliners!) . Before the show, I stopped by Growler USA again for dinner and a couple beers. I started with the Juicy Bunny Version 2.0 New England style IPA from Straight to Ale Brewing (AL). It had an interesting and pleasing creamy texture that I wasn't expecting in an IPA. I finished with a terrifically good Brown Sugar Brown Cow ale from D9 Brewing (NC). The movie was surprisingly good for a sequel. Denzel delivers again. |
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| 7/25 - I had a enjoyable mid-week day off today that started with an early matinee of Skyscraper at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in Lebanon. It was a little far-fetched as expected, but overall a pretty enjoyable flick and better than some of the reviews I've heard about it. |
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| I headed to East Nashville next for a late lunch at the Riverside Grill Shack. Their namesake burger and fries combo was good albeit a bit pricey considering their modest digs. Note the "luxurious dining area" in the background of the picture above. I began a mini East Nashville beer crawl after that to take care of the rest of the afternoon. My first stop was Southern Grist Brewing that is just around the corner from the burger joint. I am so glad to see that this original east-side taproom is still open since they have a larger, newer taproom (and all of their brewing facilities) now out on the west side of town. I had their hazy and delicious Turn Radius double New England-style IPA. |
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| My next stop was to check out the pretty cool Cornelia Fort Airport section of Shelby Bottoms Park. They have turned this small now-defunct airport into a walking/biking park including the old runway. I thought the the cloud that looked like a boot was kinda cool too. My next beer stop was a new-to-me visit to the Village Pub and Beer Garden, a super-friendly place, but their draft beer list was a little limited to call themselves a "beer garden" in my opinion. My only new-to-me choice on their list was the Disco Lemonade shandy/radler from Smith and Lentz Brewing also here in East Nasty. It wasn't bad and made sense on a hot summer day. I moved on to the great facility that is the East Nashville Beer Works next, and had a half pint of their Coconut Creme Pie cream ale. Glad I only had a half pint. I was not impressed with the ho-hum flavor and was expecting a lot more. I closed the afternoon out on a higher note at Homegrown Taproom with a tropical Mai Tainda IPA also from Smith and Lentz that was very tasty. I chose Homegrown last because it's near the airport where I picked up Ashlee from a business trip and we headed immediately downtown for an O/A/R show at The Ryman. Not a bad hump-day Wednesday at all! |
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| 7/28 - Ashlee and I and a couple of our friends, Wayne and Danny, checked out Titans practice today and afterwards headed over to the nearby Old School Farm to Table Restaurant for brunch. With my delicious omelet of the day made mostly of products from the adjoining farm, I also had a Travelin' Light kolsch (well actually I had two since they made a mistake at the bar and poured two instead of the one I ordered and I got the second one free...score!) from Left Hand Brewing (CO). They were ice cold and refreshing. |
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| Sometimes the right answer is easy... |
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