I-P-A RIVER: OCTOBER-festing

You can't argue with science and history...

10/3 - Even though it's October, I was still in the pool this afternoon (cleaning it mostly), but I did toast the new season while I was in there with a solid Pumpkin Ale from Blackstone Brewing here in Nashville. This was the last of the poker-night variety pack I had bought at Lebanon Wine and Spirits week before last.

Hey, I know that logo...and I love that brewery! RSVP me there!

I stopped by Growler USA up in Hendersonville with my pal, Wayne, tonight for dinner, a few brews and opening night for the Preds (on the road in NYC and on TV, win 3-2). It was Stone Brewing Pint Night there and I had a couple new-to-me ones as they continue to be my favorite craft brewer of them all. I even wore my Stone work-shirt which got my photo taken by their rep. It has the same cool logo as I posed with in the goofy picture above. I started with a pint of their excellent Enjoy By 10.31.18 IPA and closed with their also outstanding ParaXtranormal IPA.

After dinner we took a short walk up the street to catch an opening night showing of Venom in IMAX. My expectations weren't high, but they were pleasantly exceeded as I thought it was a pretty good comic book movie. Of course, I could watch Tom Hardy, one of my favorite actors, paint a fence and be entertained. It set up for a cool sequel which I hope happens. (Editor's note: It went on to break the box office opening weekend record for October...yeah, it's getting a sequel)

10/5 - We had dinner over in the Wedgewood area tonight with some friends and we met up beforehand across the street at the new (2nd) Jackalope Brewing facility known as The Ranch (which I visited for the first time just a short while ago). We sat outside and I enjoyed a tall pint of their Sarka Czech-style pilsner that was smooth and dry. I also had a taste of Ashlee's choice, Drunk Aunt, a sour gose that was tart but not overly sour in my opinion.

10/6 - I have been the co-owner of this beauty for a few months now and finally cracked it open this weekend over at the home of my other investor and friend, Charly. We bought this bomber on a trip we took to Bryson City, NC, at Nanatahala Brewing and didn't get a chance to drink it there, so I held on to it 'til we had a chance to get together and imbibe. What better occasion than to toast to an evening of Midget (sorry, "Micro") Wrestling at the Nashville Fairgrounds!! Yep, that really happened! I have to say this Bourbon Barrel Aged Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout was the highlight of the evening that will be hard to forget.

10/7 - After a looooong gap of frustratingly small cashes or "el zippo," I finally got back on the winning side of online tournament poker with this small $5 entry tonight where I outlasted 54 other players for a tidy $90 profit. (Editor's note: I got 5th the next night in the same tournament.)

10/9 - I was able to grab a ticket for the opening home-game for the Preds new season tonight and even upgraded to a sweet seat about 7 rows off the ice in the defend-twice zone. I also had a great view of the three new banners being raised from our historic previous season. I started the evening with a couple pints (and oh so important free parking downtown) at Czann's Brewing Company. Their Belgian Wit was excellent and the I had the honor of adding their delicious Pumpkin Ale (2018) to UNTAPPD. The beers and the banners were definitely the highlight of the night as the Preds went on to get pasted by the Calgary Flames 3-zip. I stopped by Homegrown Tap Room on the way home to drown my sorrows with a couple of half-pints including the not-so-great sour IPA from Rogue Ales (OR) called the Combat Wombat. At least the sour taste matched my attitude after that woeful game. I finished with a better Darkest Before Dawn dunkel lager from NOLA Brewing (New Orleans). Good name for a beer and an attitude since I know it was only one early-season game and the Preds will bounce back.

Really? No badge for 2,000 beers checked-in, UNTAPPD?? Oh well, let's shoot for 2,500 maybe!? Just for the record, my 2000th beer was a solid pint can of Zwickel kellerbier lager from Urban Chestnut Brewing (St. Louis) that I got during the Preds game in Bridgestone Arena at the Better Beer Bar which always has a great selection.

10/10 - I had another mid-week day off today and made the most of it with a jaunt into Nashville. My first stop was on the west side of town in The Nations area at the new second Southern Grist Brewing Company location. These guys are my favorite in the Nashville area and while I am glad they left the original East Nashville location open since it's closer to home, this new locale is super-nice! I got my sweet-tooth on today with their new incredible vanilla stout called The Snuggle is Real. I followed that with the even richer and sweeter Over Stuff stout that is chock-full of Double Oreos. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have been awesome in this one.

Nashville is so very lucky to have The Belcourt Theater which is the only place in town showing the well-done and important independent film, Monsters and Men. Before enjoying an afternoon showing, I had a great lunch at Vui's Vietnamese Kitchen and then stopped by 12 South Taproom and completed the craft brew "sweet-trifecta" with a refreshingly nice Peppermint Bark Porter from Two Brothers Brewing (IL). I stopped by the new East Nashville fun-spot called No Quarter on the way home. The deal here is that if you buy a craft beer, you get tokens to play their dozen or so pinball machines. It was "happy hour" so I got 4 tokens instead of two for my order of a Teal Skies fruit sour from, who else...Southern Grist Brewing. It was more tart than sour and I actually liked it a lot...no big surprise since it was made by SGB.

10/11 - I was my own solo date for opening night of the new film, First Man in IMAX at Opry Mills. It was a much more intimate look at Neil Armstrong, the man, than the historic mission to the moon itself. I really enjoyed it. Beforehand, I stopped by the Bavarian Bierhaus for a tasty (but overpriced) tall draft of Weihenstephaner Festbier (Germany) to celebrate it being Oktoberfest time.

10/13 - I took an impromptu trip to Cookeville today to get our Honda Accord checked out which turned out to be a quick fix and decided to do an impromptu brewery crawl while I was there because someone's turned into quite the little beer town!

I started at Red Silo Brewing in the historic downtown section of Cookeville. Their Cucumber Saison was outstanding..if you like cucumbers, which I do.

Just a little over a thousand feet from the large (and loud) Red Silo Brewing is the tiny and much more quiet Hix Farm Brewery. I started with an ultra-smooth and creamy Papas Peculiar Percolation (nitro) coffee stout (photo above). Since the company was good here (and I needed a little time for the third brewery to open to complete my trifecta) I had a second round that consisted of a pint of their Roll in the Hay Honey Blonde Ale. They have two versions of this one made with local honey and another sweeter one made with out-of-state honey, but I chose to stay local and enjoyed it a lot.

I hit for the "Cookeville Cycle" with a final stop at Jig Head Brewing to try their very-limited release, Ralph's Twisted Ale. Made with generous portions of cinnamon twists from local legend, Ralph's Donut Shop, this sweet and savory mix was my favorite of the day and their super-nice outdoor area was a perfect place to sit and enjoy it under blue October skies Thanks, "Cooke-vegas", for a fun afternoon of libations. Keep up the good work!

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018: A historic day for me and craft beer...possibly
I never mention work in this blog except when I am off from it and imbibing in craft beer, but I got a work-related call today from a realtor looking at commercial buildings here in town for a craft brewery! It's still kinda hush-hush, so I don't have details yet, but fingers crossed that Lebanon is HOPEFULLY and FINALLY getting it's own microbrewery!

The historic day continued on in to tonight with my first check-in on UNTAPPD of a new-to-me beer on the square in Lebanon at the new restaurant, Town Square Social. I had a pretty good draft pint of the Nashville Festbier, a seasonal marzen by Nashville Brewing Company (brewed at Blackstone Brewing's facilities). Even better were the incredible smoked wings I had for dinner! Cheers to decent craft beer on tap on my town's historic square for the first time ever!!

10/18 - I took a nice two-mile hike during my work lunch today at the Counchville Cedar Glade State Natural Area over near Mt. Juliet. It's a level one-mile loop that I did twice in the nice fall weather.

Today ended kind of great too as I turned an $11 investment into an $800+ profit with a 3rd place finish in the huge nightly Global Poker online tournament with 630 other players including rebuys.