I-P-A RIVER: MAY your beers always be fresh and craft-brewed

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!!

5/6 - I have been wanting to see Avengers: Endgame again, and thanks to my buddy, Wayne, we found an interesting way to do that, and yet add to the experience even more.

4DX is a brand-new movie format (at least to Nashville) now available at the Opry Mills Theaters where you go beyond the 3D visuals and actually feel movement, vibrations, weather elements, and even smells, choreographed with the movie's action. Ashlee and I experienced this once before at the WWII Museum in New Orleans for a short historical narrative and loved it, but I wasn't sure about a 3-hour epic. And, it's dang pricey! But, hey, let's give it a whirl!

The experience was fun, but a little distracting to be honest. The jerky movements of the seats made you laugh at times in the film when it was serious and "weather" you kept the water on or not at your seat, you were getting hit by some spray including during fight scenes to imitate blood spattering...gross. I don't seeing us doing this again unless it's a repeat we wanna see again like tonight. Not sure this fad will last for Hollywood movies to be honest...

Beforehand, I stopped at Homegrown Taproom for dinner and a couple brews and found someone had made a larger doorway there thanks to their giant pick-up truck's ass...OK, they've gotten big enough I think! They were still open for business, just not on Mondays, which I forgot about, so I had to move on. My little miscalculation actually helped me discover a pretty good new-to-me place. I stopped by Scoreboard Bar and Grill on Music Valley Drive near Opry Mills after seeing they had a pretty good beer list on UNTAPPD. Their food was surprisingly good and there was no smoking which I really liked. I had a bottle of the decent Lombardi Golden Ale from Sand Creek Brewing (WI) with my meal. Sand Creek was a new brewery for me to try and earned me a new Brewery Pioneer Badge for 245 different breweries checked in on UNTAPPD. Salute!!

5/8 - I went solo tonight to catch a showing of True Grit for its 50th Anniversary, and the first time for me seeing it on the big screen at the Hollywood 27 Theaters (recliners!). Despite the fact that it looks like John Wayne was an old racist prick, the movie is still a classic although I actually think I like the sequel, Rooster Cogburn and the Lady, even better.

I stopped by the Black Abbey Brewing Company beforehand for a few brews. I started with their terrific Corsair Ms. Adventure Barrel-Aged Special Belgian dubbel. Next up was my favorite of the visit, their outstanding 5 Points With Lemon and Lime Peel (Cask Conditioned). 5 Points is their flagship IPA which I have had before, but this is a whole new ballgame! I ended with a nice pilsner called the SMaSH Pils II that is a second collaboration with Hi-Wire Brewing out of Asheville, NC. The interesting photo above is a shadow pic I took of their glass front door to the taproom reflecting onto a large cooler inside the brewery at sunset. I went black and white for artistic effect.

5/16 - My pal, Wayne, and I attended John Wick 3 - Parabellum Opening Night tonight at the Hollywood 27 Theaters in Nashville (recliners!). This awesome fan-art poster above by Eileen Steinbach, is better than anything Hollywood has produced. Beforehand, I stopped by the fairly new Jackalope Brewing location in Wedgewood known as The Ranch for a few brews:

My first pint at Jackalope was their whopping 8.8% ABV doppelbock called Gator. This German-born American was impressed and can't recall ever seeing a German-style beer with that much ABV punch. We just do it better here! What better brew to earn me a badge on UNTAPPD in honor of American Craft Beer Week. Cheers!

. Next up was a Jackalope pint was their red IPA called I Like It, I Love It which I did very much. I hit an UNTAPPD milestone with this one as my 300th beer checked in with a high IBU level. Salute to the hops!!

I ended with their low-gravity (but high quality) English bitter they call Leyak since I needed to drive a short distance to the movie theater. Three great beers for eleven bucks! THIS IS WHY AMERICA IS GREAT!!

5/17 - I had day off today before flying out to south Florida tonight for a much-needed vacation to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful, sunny day, so after completing a few chores around the house, I hit the pool for some floating relaxation. One of my "chores" was to zip over to Lebanon Wine and Spirits and grab a 3-beer-variety-pack to enjoy this afternoon. First up was the very good Tailgate Lager from Tailgate Brewing here in Nashville. I thought their state-shaped bar-code on the back of the can was pretty cool.
Next up was a bottle of golden ale from Abita Brewing (LA) cleverly called the SubtleTea. It definitely was subtle and smooth and perfect for the pool.

I ended my afternoon of relaxation with another golden ale this time in a can and this time from Victory Brewing (PA) called Summer Love...with these warm temps in late May, it was close enough for me!

5/18 - After a delayed flight the night before that squashed a plan I had of checking out a Ft. Lauderdale brewery near our airport hotel, we got up early today to grab our rental car back at the airport and head south thru the beautiful Florida Keys toward Key West. A few stops were necessary along the way, of course...

Our first stop was the well-known Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar in Islamorada for lunch and a brew. We got a waterfront table, some fresh cracked conch, and, man, it was nice to be back in The Keys. I have missed them so. I had a draft pint of Islamorada Ale (Citrus Ale) from the local Islamorada Beer Company (photo above, talk about a brew with a view). This blonde ale was light and crisp and perfect for the steamy humid temps already here this far south. I followed with a draft pint of the so-so Sandbar Sunday pale wheat ale also from IBC, but the view remained great!

Our next stop was just a hop, skip and jump down the road to the historically famous Tiki Bar at Holiday Isle in Islamorada. This place got the living shit kicked out of it back in 2017 by Hurricane Irma and was closed for almost a year before reopening. We are glad to have been able to visit today, but regret missing the original (built in 1969) during all our previous visits. I had a pint of the really interesting and tasty Iguana Bait Honey Hibiscus Kolsch from nearby Florida Keys Brewing. I also got to toast my first-ever encounter with manatees and two of the gentle giants were floating nearby at the docks next to the bar.

Our next stop was at our beautiful hotel in Key West called The Marquesa. After seeing that we had a fridge in our super-nice suite, we headed over to Publix for some snacks and libations for the days ahead. I couldn't do a craft beer variety pack unfortunately like you can back at the one at home, so I opted for a four-pack of pint cans of the excellent Reef Donkey pale ale from Tampa Bay Brewing (FL) which I enjoyed back at our hotel pool. I hit another UNTAPPD milestone with this check-in of a beer from 250 different breweries. Salute!!

5/19 - Happy Anniversary to my beautiful and awesome wife, Ashlee. It's been a great 18 years (and then some) and here's to many, many more. I do appreciate her tolerating my obsession with craft beer. She's a fan herself although not to my degree. Here's a great shot of my love from the bottom of an empty glass of 60 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head Brewing (DE) at the famous Key West dive bar, The Green Parrot today.

This historically cool bar, The Green Parrot, was a great stop on a muggy day in Key West after a revisit to the awesome home of Ernest Hemingway nearby. I also had a pint draft glass of Monkey Fist IPA from Shipyard Brewing (ME) which I am pretty sure I have had before, but never checked in on UNTAPPD while listening to some great live music.

A cool view of the Key West Lighthouse from the upstairs wrap-around porch of the Hemingway House. Key West at it's best!

We sought out a late lunch next at Garbo's Grill which serves amazing food from a tiny air-stream trailer. In front of the trailer is Hank's Hair of the Dog Pub where I got one of my favorite beers of the trip, the Session IPA from Veza Sur Brewing in Miami. I was so busy enjoying it that, in fact, I forgot to check in on UNTAPPD until days later...doh!!

We tried a lot of new places on this trip to Key West, but we also visited a few former loves including the always-great, Blue Heaven, restaurant for dinner tonight. I had a can of the decent Poolside kolsch from JDub's Brewing (Sarasota, FL) with my meal.

5/20 - We signed up for an afternoon snorkeling trip today to the coral reefs out near the Sand Key Lighthouse. It was a beautiful day on and in the water. Before the boat left, we had a few minutes to kill and stepped into another former Key West love, the Waterfront Brewery, for a drink. I had their pretty good light lager, Island Life, and a sip or two of Ashlee's good witbier called the Pudgy Pelican.

After our snorkeling trip, we had a late lunch at another historic Key West staple that we've actually never been to called Pepe's Cafe. I had an awesomely fresh and tasty mahi-mahi fish sandwich along with a pint of Channel Marker session IPA from Islamorada Beer Company.

After resting up a bit, we headed back north before sunset to try and catch a glimpse of the endangered Key Deer on Big Pine Key. We had a lot of success seeing several of the little beauties and from very close up. We also had success in finding the notoriously hard-to-find No Name Pub at the end of Big Pine Key before the bridge to No Name Key (where we also saw more deer and a young couple catch a good-sized dogfish shark). I had two pints of their signature No Name Pub Amber red ale along with some tasty pizza. I had a weird feeling I was very close to a lot of money while drinking this brew...hmmmm.

I took a late-night stroll a short distance from our hotel to check out the relatively-new Glitch Cafe and Game Room since it was our last night in Key West. The place is small, but pretty cool. I had an excellent Sunrise City IPA from Sailfish Brewing (Fort Pierce, FL). In my mind I poured a little out for The Porch, a great beer bar here in Key West that closed its door since my last visit. Evidently one of the owners of The Porch opened this place which seems about right since they had a great list of beers on tap.

5/21 - We drove back north today to catch our evening flight home and made a few stops including a brief one at the Florida Keys Brewing Company in Islamorada. I had their tasty Run Aground Brown ale and admired some of their eclectic decorating including the cool sign above made of beer bottle caps. I also toasted all the sea turtles on the mend at The Turtle Hospital in Marathon that we saw during our tour there earlier today. Get well quick, fellas.

5/25 - As we prepped for our Inflatathon 2019 Party tomorrow, I was also able to enjoy the pool and some brews around and in it while we worked. I went to Mt. Juliet to grab some new-to-me growlers of beer for tomorrow and stopped by Publix also to get some "beer for the masses." Along with some Miller Light (sorry to say) I also found an interesting 15-can-pack variety suitcase from Southern Tier Brewing (NY). Of the five varieties I had only had one, so I grabbed it. It was already cold, so I popped the first one as soon as I got back. I started with their Lakeshore Fog IPA which was very good. Next up was their Nu Juice IPA that was also outstanding. The Live Session pale ale was bit of a let down after the first two, but still decent. I finished with their fair-to-middlin' 8 Days A Week blonde ale.

5/26 - Just for the record, my wife posted this pic above first, so hold the angry feminist emails please. Inflatathon 2019 was a ton of fun and as I mentioned above I got three growlers of new-to-me brews from Providence Wine and Spirits to enjoy during the festivities. First up was Citra High IPA from Mad Tree Brewing (Cincinnati) and it was really good. Next was the super-boozy and sweet (12.9% ABV!) Rye on Rye 6 from Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City). The "6" signifies that the Templeton Rye Whiskey had been aged 6 years in the barrels that were used for this awesome concoction. The finale was another IPA from Flying Tiger Brewing (LA) called Final Resting Place that was also damn good. The growlers were very price, but the beers were all terrific.

Our friend, Nate, made it to the Inflatathon party and, as always, came bearing good craft brew gifts. Thanks to him for sharing his growlers of the Wallonia Woods saison and the Cordoba lager which are both from Nashville's newest (and closest to me!) craft brewery, Various Artists Brewing, over on Elm Hill Pike. Both were tasty and unique. I can't wait to visit these new kids on the block hopefully next week.

5/30 - Tonight I attended Godzilla: King of the Monsters Opening Night at the Hollywood 27 Theaters (recliners!) in Nashville with my pal, Wayne. And, yes, Ghidorah is my favorite monster, sorry, Zilla. The movie was pretty good and I plan on seeing it again this weekend in the new wrap-around screen theater here at the Hollywood 27.
Before the show Ashlee (who dropped me off and went shopping while I was at the movie) and I stopped by The Black Abbey Brewing Company for a brew or two. I started with the interesting-concept of their flagship IPA The 5 Points with Tequila Oak Chips (Cask Conditioned). I thought the beer was good and smooth, but I neither tasted nor smelled any tequila or oak in the brew. I finished with their excellent Irish Coffee Brown ale.