MARCH GLADness

3/5 - I attended a Preds game tonight with my honey and we got to see a thrilling back-and-forth street fight with the pesky Minnesota Wild that ended with a 5-4 victory in an overtime shoot-out.  During the game I had a tasty Southside Blonde from Perennial Artisan Ales (St. Louis).  I especially like the GOLD labeling.  GO PREDS!!

It was also Fat Tuesday tonight and I got a cool badge for it from UNTAPPD.  Of course, every Tuesday is FAT for me, but I am starting to do something about that...without sacrificing craft beer hopefully.  

 3/6 - I headed over to Opry Mills tonight to catch a showing of the Apollo 11 documentary in IMAX on its last night showing there.  It was pretty good, although the promised "never before seen footage" wasn't as stunning as I was hoping for, but still an interesting behind-the-scenes account of an event that happened when I was two years old.  Before the show, I stopped at Homegrown Taproom for a light dinner (awesome roast beef quesadillas) and a couple craft brews.  I even saw my beer pal, Nate, there. I started with very tasty German Chocolate Cupcake 10W-40 stout from Hi-Wire Brewing (Asheville, NC).   I finished with an even more decadent Liquid Truffle stout from Smith and Lentz Brewing here in Nashville.  It was great, but so rich and full, I couldn't even finish it!   Needed some ice cream to cut the sweetness! 

3/7 - I met my pal, Wayne, in Hendersonville, to catch opening night of the new Captain Marvel film in IMAX at the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters there. Before the show, I stopped by Growler USA for a light dinner and a libation, of course.  I started with a pricey (I was warned at least) pint of the High West Barrel-Aged Victory at Sea imperial porter from Ballast Point Brewing (CA).  It was extremely good, but, man, that price hurt.  I balanced the overall cost and caloric-intake with a follow-up of two 5-ounce pours of the solid 400 red ale from BriarScratch Brewing in nearby Gallatin, TN; and the very good Knowledge double IPA from Rhinegeist Brewing (Cincinnati, OH).  

3/8 -  We met our friends, Chris and Tarryn, who moved to Indiana a few years ago, but were back in town for a visit at the fairly new, Catch 22 gastropub in Mt. Juliet for a late-night snack a few libations.   I started with the outstanding Enter Night Pilsner collaboration from Arrogant Consortia (CA), an off-shoot of my favorite brewer of them all, Stone Brewing.   I had a taste of Ashlee's pretty good Hollywood Vampire English mild ale from Smith and Lentz Brewing here in Chattanooga.  I finished with a heavy, but tasty, Coffee Copra Kai stout from Southern Grist Brewing which is also in Nashville.  

I unlocked a pretty cool badge on UNTAPPD tonight as well with my beer check-ins.  Here's to you, ladies! Salute!! 

Chris and Tarryn got me a great pair of craft beer socks that I have already worn proudly! 

3/10 - Since Ashlee and I are self-proclaimed "crazy cat people" we just couldn't miss a showing of the SOLD OUT Cat Video Fest 2019 at The Belcourt Theaters in Nashville.  It was hilarious and I enjoyed a nice Longfin Lager from Ballast Point Brewing (CA) during the show.    We met Chris and Tarryn again afterwards at The Ryman Auditorium to catch a show by Amos Lee that was really good.  I picked up a draft pint of the East Nashville Honey from East Nashville Brewing during the show.

3/15 - I took a rather forced day off today to help out my crazy sister down in Whitwell.  It was, at least, a beautiful day for a drive down Hwy. 111 through Cookeville, where I stopped for lunch at the always-good Father Tom's Pub.  I had a decent Blood and Honey pale wheat ale from Revolver Brewing (TX) with my tasty quesadillas.  In Sparta I took a brief detour east on Hwy. 70 to check out the roadside cataract known as Wildcat Falls.  I figured it would be flowing good with all the recent rains and it was flowing at good rate.  The wind blowing the water into mist even before it fell was a pretty cool effect as well.

On my way back I stopped again in Sparta at one of new favorite regional breweries, Happy Trails Brewing, and had their outstanding Pleasant Hill Porter (photo above) and also their tasty Montgomery Bell-gian pale ale with an orange slice.  Isn't their handmade bar the coolest?  

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3/15 - Our friends, Wendy and Charly, invited us over to their house in Donelson tonight for supper and some libations.  They were gracious enough to allow me to watch my beloved Duke Blue Devils and the amazing Zion Williamson take the 2019 ACC Tournament crown with a win over Florida State while we ate, drank and talked.  It's been a real pleasure watching Zion this season.  He's the ultimate one-and-doner and Duke's been lucky to have him even one season.  He seems like a good kid and decent person (he came to Duke didn't he?) who will hopefully not let the growing fame go to his head.  Mark my words he will be in this line of basketball notoriety and world-wide name recoginition fame:  Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron....ZION!

Wendy and Charly just recently visited the beer Mecca, Asheville, North Carolina, and brought back a slew of craft beer with them that they were even more gracious in sharing with us.  Our first share was a bottle of the really tasty Saxy Machismo Belgian quad from Haw River Farmhouse Ales (NC).  Next up was the solid Red Devil Belgian blonde ale  (packed with cherries and raspberries) from Pisgah Brewing (NC).  I also had a sip of the Gatlinburg Cider Blackberry that Ashlee and Wendy were sharing from Tennessee Homemade Wines that wasn't half bad.  

Wendy and Charly's giant (in size and sweetness) dog, Fergie, poses here with our next shared bottle, the awesome French Toast Stout from Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC).  Thanks to Charly for sharing this great picture as well.  We ended the evening splitting the tasty, coffee-heavy Valdez stout also from Pisgah Brewing.  Wendy and Charly have become great friends and we value their friendship greatly....and that's not just the generous shared beer talking!! 

3/17 - Happy St. Patty's Day!!  Let's get our green on!  I got a variety 4-pack from Lebanon Wine and Spirits to celebrate the day.  I started with a Trigo India pale lager from Founders Brewing (MI) that was darn good.

We also celebrated the day with a silly, but fun, birthday party for our new kittens, Doris and Byron, who are turning one this week.  Any excuse to drink I guess!  I toasted our sweeties with a can of the excellent Winter Porter from Yee Haw Brewing (Johnson City, TN).  Thanks to our friend, Wendy, for the great pic above.

My favorite  beer of the day was the Stone Moxee Gold IPA from my all-time favorite brewer, Stone Brewing, out of California.  It's a tribute beer to one of the farms that supplies their own hops to the brewery.  In this case, CLS Farms and their El Dorado hops in Moxee, Washington.  

I also closed the day out with a small online win on Global Poker after a fairly long dry-run.  I turned a $5 investment into just under $95 in profit by besting 72 other players in a 6-handed multi-table NLHE tournament.  With this win I added another $10 to my contribution to my friend, Craig, and his wife, Alison, who are going on a mission trip to Africa next month.  My total contribution was $208! 

3/19 - I saved my fourth variety beer to sneak in the theater while checking out the new sci-fi flick, Captive State, at the Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet today after work.  The movie was pretty "lo-fi" in terms of special f/x.  The story wasn't too bad, but I was expecting more overall I guess.  Even the scene from the cool movie poster above is never shown?  Weird.  The brew I had was a bit better than the movie:  the hoppy Brut Pale Ale from Blue Pants Brewing went down smooth.

3/20 - I was able to see one of my favorite films from last year on the big screen again tonight.  Ashlee and I went to see First Man at The Belcourt Theaters as part of their "Science on Screen" series.  After the amazing film, an actual astronaut, , gave a little insight to his time with a space shuttle mission several years ago.  It was a great evening that started with a tasty dinner at the new restaurant, Pastaria, over off West End.  This Italian joint had an small, but outstanding, beer menu which really surprised me.  I had the heavy, yet lovely, Sump Coffee Stout from Perennial Artisan Ales (St. Louis).  Sump Coffee, also out of St. Louis, has also opened a shop next door to the restaurant in this nice new ONE C1TY development.

300+ porters and stouts?  How am I not 500 pounds??

3/22 - We attended an awesome SOLD OUT Mumford and Sons show tonight at Bridgestone Arena.  Before the show we had a pricey, but outstanding, dinner at The Farm House restaurant near the arena and I had a Purple Haze fruit beer from Abita Brewing (LA) which I have had before, but never checked in on UNTAPPD.  

3/23 - We had some family business down in Chattanooga this weekend and I was able to check out the brand new Wanderlinger Brewing Company over near the Choo-Choo.  The beers I had  of theirs were pretty good.  I started with a solid Saison Flaneur (photo above) and finished with their decent Stumpthumper Pale Ale which they were on their last keg of.   Welcome to the craft beer fray, Wanderlinger! 

The one thing Wanderlinger doesn't have (yet?) is food, and I was starving, so I walked to their nearby craft beer neighbor (and Chattanooga original) Terminal Brew House where I had their solid Catherine's Horse stout with an amazing Philly cheesesteak sandwich.  While they aren't my favorite Chattanooga brewer now, they will always be special to me because they were the first (sorry Big River...you don't count)  and the cool building they are housed in remains one of my favorite beer locales of them all.

3/24 - I scored my first win tonight in a local online WSOP poker league that I am in that uses Pokerstars as its platform. I came from way behind to score the victory over 20 other players including the huge chip leader (and organizer of the league).  This puts me in second place in the league and in contention for one of the two top WSOP packages.  I also chopped a $20 last-longer pot vs. 10 of the players for an $80+ profit.    There are still 8 games left, so I am far from wrapping anything up, but I like where I am at least to this point.

3/25 - I had the day off as we remained in Chattanooga for another day, and Ashlee took a break from working to go with me to have lunch at the relatively new Naked River Brewing.  I have been here before, but just for beer, but their in-house BBQ smelled delicious.  Well, it tastes even better!  Yummo!!  With lunch I had their great Tropic Mann IPA and also a taste of Ashlee's very good Seize the Saison.  I also had a glass of their H20, but I gotta admit, it was a little watery....cue the rim-shot.. We will definitely be back for more food and more beer here!!  

While headed back home I stopped to see an old (new) friend again.  I wanted to see Fallingwater Falls for over 20 years and  now I have seen it in 3 times in the last year.  I was surprised it wasn't running a little harder with all the rain we've had recently, but it was still putting on quite a pretty show. 

Also on the way home, I spotted this cool old trestle bridge over the Sequatchie River just outside Dunlap . Seems in great shape for its age. Too bad someone doesn't fix it up as a pedestrian walkway and small park maybe.  

3/26 - Ashlee and I, and our friend, Nate, attended the Blackstone Brewing Beer Dinner at the Makeready Restaurant in the basement of the beautiful Noelle Hotel in Nashville tonight.  This was the same location of the previous beer dinner I attended with  just Nate back in January of this year that featured Smith and Lentz Brewing.  I gotta admit I think the beer and the food was even better this time!  Listed below are the six courses we had and while all the beer pairings were not new check-ins on UNTAPPD for me, they were all very good.

A couple new Blackstone beers I did have were the solid Chaser Kolsch with the first course.and the 2018 Black Belle with Cinnamon and the 2018 Black Belle Barrel Aged with Coconut.  Both of these very hard to find stouts were served with the last course and were unbelievably good. 

3/28 - It was the end of March Madness with the NCAA tournament going on and the "madness" of cleaning out and reorganizing our garage and pool shed.  I rewarded myself after today's cleaning and the fact the UT was in the Sweet 16 with  a can of the really tasty Radio Zombie Phone-in Russian imperial stout from  Brewdog Brewing (Scotland and Ohio) that my friend Nate gave me.  UT had a great comeback after being down double-digits to take it to overtime, but couldn't outlast Purdue in the end.  It was a great year and run for the Vols.

3/29 - It was Duke's turn in the Sweet 16 today and they squeaked by a very good Virginia Tech team with a little help from a last-minute shot by the Hokies that didn't go in.  I celebrated the game and the close shave with a can of the very good Origami Orangutan double IPA also from Brewdog and also from my pal, Nate. 

3/31 - More garage cleaning today and then Duke in the Elite 8 saw a lot of positive work done, but a tough close loss for my Blue Devils to Michigan State.  It's been a fun tournament and fun year watching Zion Williamson do his impression of Superman (stolen photo above) along with the other talented freshmen in this class.  I hate the one-and-done thing in college basketball, but these kids are so talented, that it's understandable for them to move on and make that dough.   I toasted the season with an excellent can of  Opaque Jake IPA from Brewdog, my last gift from good ol' Nate.