Clarks-Vegas, DUKE @ UNC, and geauxing to la LA Land

Must have been a Miller Lite.  No one would waste good craft beer on that POS (and, no, that was not a typo for POTUS).

1/26 - I headed over to the Hollywood 27 Theaters in Nashville (recliners!) today to catch a showing of the Vietnam War true-story-based film The Last Full Measure.  It was fantastic and I even teared up more than once.  Why are movies this great and stories this important marketed so poorly?  Why waste money marketing the next Marvel movie out the wazoo when everyone's going to see it anyway?  So frustrating. Before the movie, I stopped by The Black Abbey Brewing Company for a couple of of libations.  I had their terrific Brigit's Flame strong ale. It's a brown ale aged in Jameson Irish Whiskey barrels for 10 months.  I followed that up with the decent limited series small batch blonde ale called Coconutty Life of a Brewer's Wife which I thought could have used a bit more "coconutty" flavor.  

1/28 - I had my first rather large online win of 2020 on Global Poker tonight with a first-place finish in a No Limit Hold Em tournament with one rebuy and an add-on vs. 72 other players.  I did add-on, so my $6 investment banked me around $130 in profit.  

1/29 - I headed over to Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet tonight to catch a showing of the new British crime comedy, The Gentlemen.  Thanks, Regal Unlimited!  I really enjoyed the film.  Witty, fast-paced and well-written and acted.  I took a coat-pocket brew with me, naturally.  It was a pint can of the very good double IPA called Wide World from TrimTab Brewing (Birmingham, AL).from my Andy's Christmas Variety Collection. 

1/31 - I had a legit day off today and headed into Nashville to the Hollywood 27 Theaters (recliners!) to catch a matinee showing of the new action thriller, The Rhythm Section, starring the luscious Blake Lively. The movie was OK, but kind of forgettable in terms of characters and story.

My first stop of the day was a leisurely breakfast at Waffle House.  Afterwards with some time to kill before the movie, I sought out the very little known West Meade Falls west of downtown Nashville.  It was a rainy day, and the small stream was trickling, but it will have to be after near flooding to see this baby actually flowing.  I will keep it in mind for the next ideal conditions because it is easy to access.

Since I was on the west side of town I decided to stop at the Southern Grist Taproom in The Nations for my first libation of the day.  I started with the Chatty Night dark lager which I didn't notice was actually from Heaven and Ale Brewing, one of my favorites down in Chattanooga.  A very pleasant mistake!  I looked more carefully at their draft list next and chose their own Meddling in Minutia double IPA next and it was solid as usual.  These guys do some of my favorite local IPAs.  

I also stopped at the always-dependable Craft Brewed tap room before the movie and had time for one super-hoppy and delicious beer called Tears of Rage - DDH Mandrina Bavaria + Amarillo + Idaho7 session IPA from Printship Brewing up in Knoxville. Ding! Ding! Ding!  This is another new-to-me regional brewery that I will have to seek out next time I up in Big Orange Country.  It's kind of looking like a brewery crawl of Knoxville might be worth a look as well like I am about to do in Clarksville.

After the movie I finished up the day the Catch 22 Gastropub in Mt. Juliet  where I had the excellent Coffee and Milk Pinstripe Stout from Blue Pants Brewing (AL) which UNTAPPD says is no longer in production...lucky me! I finished up with a decent Garage Beer light lager from Braxton Brewing (KY).  I love Catch 22's catering van which is an homage to the classic TV show, "The A-Team."

2/1 - I drove up to Clarksville today to participate in a weekend brewery tour with my friends Craig, Barry and Barry's daughter, Meghan.  Surprisingly, this smallish Tennessee town has a half dozen craft breweries within the city limits.  Having a college in town as well as a huge military base just to the north probably attributes to this fact.  I have had a few of these breweries' wares over the years in and around Nashville, but have never visited any of them in person.  In fact, I can't remember every visiting downtown Clarksville either.  They did have seven breweries, but one called Gladiator Brewing closed down recently.  Word is a couple more are opening soon as well.  

We all met up at our first stop, The Star Spangled Brewing Company which is out by the interstate in an industrial area.  As the name implies, this brewery was started by a military veteran and has a lot of ties to nearby Ft. Campbell.  In fact, Meghan, said the recently lost their head brewer to deployment!  Meghan lives here in Clarksville and loves craft beer, so she is in the know and was great to have as a guide.  She actually thought we should avoid this one since they had lost their brewer and quality had been down recently.  But, I wanted to visit them all, so we knocked it off early.  I had a rather decent New England IPA called Pineapple Express.  

This ladies pouring the beer at Star Spangled heard we were doing a brewery crawl and showed us this brand-new brochure the city of Clarksville just put out.  They stole my idea!!  

Next stop was the Tennessee Valley Brewing Company which is located in a strip-mall outside of downtown Clarksville.  It's location in a shopping area made their sign out front all the funnier.  The place was hopping for early on a Saturday afternoon, but we were able to squeeze in and I had a pint of their very good Bastogne Brown ale.  The name comes from the 1st Brigade Combat Team out of Ft. Campbell.

I found us a great Airbnb house rental in Clarksville for me and Craig and Alison.  It was the entire bottom-half of a split-level home in a nice, older neighborhood with huge wooded lots and deer everywhere!  It was roomy and had a cool ping-pong table plus a nice sitting area and two large beds.

It was on to downtown Clarksville now where we would finish out the day,  Strawberry Alley Ale Works is a super-nice (and new) restaurant and brewery located in where else, Strawberry Alley!  Their Belgian Golden (photo above) was probably my favorite beer of the day.  And the food was fantastic.  This place would definitely get me to come back or stop by at another time.

Our next stop was the oddest of the day.  Tiny nano-brewery, Evill Nash Brewing, is a one-made operation set up in a former rib-joint restaurant.  Only open since May, this little place may not be here in a year, but I hope they are.  The brewer, who trained in the beer-rich San Diego area. told us that he had his sites set on Nashville. Hence, the play on "Nash Vill E" in the brewery name, but then found it much more budget-friendly in Clarksville.  He's doing some unique stuff here, but man, it was dead on a Saturday night.  Since we were now Uber-ing, I could switch to flights and tried the following:  the OK Evill Dubbel (it was so new I had to add it to UNTAPPD); the best of the lot, the Ryeonheart Scotch Ale, the decent Peppermint Mocha Black Lager and the solid Lil Vixen Dunkelweizen.  We did have a fun time here as I got to, surprisingly, introduce everyone to the bawdy and hilarious game, "Cards Against Humanity."  I wish this guy luck in his endeavors.  

Our fifth and final brewery of the day was Kings Bluff Brewery over near Austin Peay University.  Unlike our last stop this also-small place was booming and we were lucky to get a table to sit at.  I went for a flight again, of course, and here's how they went down:  their Austin Peaylsner was light and tasty; the Customs House Red Ale was OK; the Black Feather IPA was pretty good: and the sweet and tasty, Bun and Cream Stout was a great closer.  .

We took a short walk afterwards for a late-evening bite to eat at a long-time Clarksville staple, Johnny's Big Burger where the burgers are big, tasty and CHEAP!  Yummers!!  What a great way to close out a fun day in Clarks-Vegas!  This little city on the Cumberland River is definitely doing it right! 

2/2 - We slept in today and headed our separate ways.  The subdivision where our rental house was located directly across from Dunbar Cave State Park, so I took a nice stroll around to start my day.  This cool shot above from inside the entrance was as far as you can go in the cave without a tour guide.
  I planned on having lunch and another brew or two in Clarksville before heading home at the sixth and final brewery there, the Blackhorse Pub and Brewery.  I did have lunch there and it was good.  I could have had all the booze I wanted too...but no beer til noon??  WTH?  Stupid Tennessee laws.  Well, I have had some of Blackhorse's wares before, but I wasn't waiting around an hour to try more, so I headed back south instead.  

I did stop at one of my favorite new Nashville breweries on the way home, Living Waters Brewing in East Nashville is creating some great stuff.  This was the fantastic Alsea  IPA named after a waterfall in Oregon.  Man, look at that lacing! 

I did unlock a fun badge with my check-in at Living Waters since it was Super Bowl Sunday, but since I didn't have any skin in the game, I didn't even have a brew while watching it.  I am happy for the KC Chiefs for taking it down since it makes my Titans look even better in their run this season.  

2/6 - I went to opening-night of the new DC Comics movie, Birds of Prey in IMAX at The Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville tonight.  Before the movie I stopped by my usual haunt, the Blossom Thai and Cellar Door Craft Cavern for dinner and a craft beer.  With my tasty meal of beef rama,  I had a can (their draft taps weren't working) of the very good Dulce De Leche Stout from Untitled Art Brewing (WI).  The movie was great and moved fast.  I was glad it was rated R, or it might have just been silly.

2/7-  I celebrated 20 years at Middle Tennessee Electric today and was blessed with a beautiful snow day.  This shot is from Cedars of Lebanon State Park.  I toasted my two decades at MTEMC when I got home with my last special-release bomber bottle from New Heights Brewing in Nashville.  It was the boozy and tasty Wild Turkey Barrel Aged Navel Gazer (Blended) stout.  It was blended with their Gobsmacked Barley Wine and then aged for 20 months in a Wild Turkey bourbon barrel.

2/8 - I took advantage of a ho-hum under .500 basketball season by the North Carolina Tar Heels to grab a reasonably-priced ticket to my beloved 7th-ranked Duke Blue Devils vs. UNC game tonight at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC.  This has been on my bucket-list for a very long time, so this last-minute decision and long weekend road-trip seemed to be a must.  And, it paid off in spades!!  

I headed out early and with only a stop for breakfast outside Knoxville, I didn't stop again until I got to just outside tiny Claremont, NC, to take a look at the historic Bunker Hill Covered Bridge, one of only two surviving covered bridges in North Carolina.  Built in 1895 and spanning Lyle Creek, she's a little beauty that the local historical society have done a great job saving and restoring.  The short walk from the parking lot to the bridge felt good on my legs after such a long drive.

The long round-trip of around 1,000 miles went by easier thanks to a pretty good audio book I bought called "The Churchgoeer" by Patrick Coleman.   I got a great rate on a rental car from Hertz at the Nashville airport.  I chose a new Honda Civic that did a fine job.  

My next stop wasn't very far in the pretty town of Statesville, NC, for a brew at the relatively new Red Buffalo Brewing.  I had their Clock Tower 1892 IPA which was superb.

Once I got to Chapel Hill I checked into my hotel (a decent La Quinta Inn and Suites for a great price per Hotwire), I headed toward the UNC campus on to the small bordering town of Carrboro, NC, where I parked in a public lot across the street from Steel String Brewery.  I had their very good Up On the Hill session IPA before calling an Uber and heading over to the Dean Dome.

My front-row mezzanine seat was awesome for the game in the Dean Dome. Despite their record, UNC played out of their minds with good defense and white-hot shooting throughout the game.  They jumped out to 10-point lead early on and never relinquished; pumping it up to a 13-point lead with about 4 minutes left in the game.  THEN DUKE CAME TO LIFE AND THE GAME BECAME AN INSTANT-CLASSIC!!  After cutting the lead to just three with seconds remaining, Duke's outstanding point-guard, Tre Jones, was intentionally fouled by UNC and went to the line where he sank the first free-throw, and then pulled off a perfect intentional missed free throw that came back to him where he sank a two-point shot as the buzzer sounded, sending it to OVERTIME! 
BONUS BASKETBALL!! - Duke got down again in overtime after giving up an early 5-point lead.  Tre Jones was at the line again and tied it with his first free throw at 96-96.  He missed his second shot, but the ball got tipped around and then superstar freshmen, Wendell Moore, tipped in a missed shot as the buzzer expired again to give Duke a stunning 98-96 win.  One for the ages and I WAS THERE!!  I feel so blessed to have made this decision to buy a ticket and make the trip.  What an experience!! 

After the game, I wandered down to a corner of the arena near the court where a nice little contingent of Duke fans were gathered and celebrating.  The security wouldn't let you on the floor like I have experienced at Cameron Indoor Stadium and at Hinkle Fieldhouse, but I did get to touch a corner of it to make this victory shot.  Although not historic, I will give the Dean Dome credit as a good place to watch a game.  Great site lines and set-up.  Seeing their 7 National Championship banners and Michael Jordan's retired jersey number hanging in the rafters is impressive and even though I hate them, I liked UNC Coach Roy Williams' quote from the after-game press conference projected in the arena:

"If you don't care who won the game, you had to enjoy that as a big-time college basketball game,  I care who won the game, so I did not enjoy the final outcome."

Here are two fun Facebook links about the game (from a Duke perspective, of course) with the top 5 plays including the two buzzer-beaters and then the celebration in the locker room afterwards:

TOP FIVE DUKE PLAYS

CELEBRATION AFTER THE INSTANT CLASSIC

After the game it took a while to get an Uber even though a lot of the crowd was gone by the time I went outside, but eventually I did get a ride back to Steel String Brewery.  I was going to go to a different brewery, but I was tired, it was late and it was a pretty long drive to it, so I decided to just have another one or two here.  Another great decision!  I had two excellent brews and met a nice couple of Duke fans from Pennsylvania who were doing the same thing I was with a long weekend road-trip to see our boys play here in enemy territory.  I started with the fantastic Schwarz Hole Sun (I get your Soundgarden reference there) schwarzbier.  I said in my UNTAPPD entry for it that it was "as dark as a Tarheel's mood tonight. GO DUKE!!"  I finished with their equally great IPA called Dodging Lions before heading back to the hotel for a blissful sleep of victory! 

2/9 - The choice was a  free hotel breakfast or a chicken-n-cheddar cat-head from Sunrise Biscuit Company in Chapel Hill?  It's really no contest.  The only GOOD thing in Chapel Hill!!  

Before hitting the road west, I stopped by the quiet and beautiful Duke University campus for a selfie with the Duke Chapel.  Man, what a gorgeous place.  Four years is way too long between visits.  I can't wait to come back again!  

The drive home was long, but the weather was nice and I just had to get a sniff of the mountains as I passed back through them from North Carolina to Tennessee.  I took an exit of I-40 at the  Harmon Den Wildlife Management Area within the Pisgah National Forest with the intent of possibly checking out Max Patch Bald which was only 8 miles off the interstate, but the road soon turned steep and gravelly, and slow, and since I was a little pressed for time, I had to turn back.  I did enjoy checking out Cold Springs Creek which was flowing well from recent wet weather.  I will definitely have to come back by this beautiful area when I have more time.

My only other stop of real interest was in Knoxville at the relatively new Printshop Beer Company.  I had recently had one of their brews back in Nashville and really like it, so it made sense to drop by and check them out on my way home.  Both beers I had here were outstanding.  I started with their standard rye beer infused with coffee and they call it Gravy.  I was impressed enough with their rye to try another interesting combination of a rye/saison called Stray Coordinates (photo above).  Beautiful color and taste with a saison start and a lingering rye finish.  I will definitely have to come back by here next time I am in Big Orange Country! 

2/11 - It was a little late, but Ashlee and I cracked open the bomber bottle of Delirium Noel/Chirstmas from Huyghe Brewery (Belgium) tonight that she had bought at Christmas down in Destin.  The tasty winter warmer went great with some awesome bleu cheese I ordered from Kenny's Farmhouse up in Kentucky that arrived today.  

2/15 - Ashlee and I scheduled a Louisiana visit over the holiday weekend.  We flew into New Orleans and headed west to Oak Alley Plantation where we stayed overnight in one of their nice cottages on site.  They have a little bar on site as well called "Spirits" and while their beer choices weren't much, I did have my first Dixie Lager which was historically mass-produced over in New Orleans, but is reborn now as a microbrewery there .  It was pretty tasty as a strolled beneath the live oaks of this historic (some of which is very sad) place.

2/16 -  We continued west this morning with a stop in Baton Rouge on the campus of the defending college football national champs, the LSU Tigers.  The stadium and campus are impressive.  It would be awesome to see a game down here some time.  

We continued northwest out of Cajun country and to the charming little down of Natchidoches, Louisiana (that's pronounced "nach-co-dish") where one of our favorite movies was filmed, Steel Magnolias.  A fairly new addition to this historic town is Cane River Brewing which is housed in a historic refurbished cotton gin building. We both did flights of four of their different brews.  In no particular order and off whose paddle we had their:  decent Watermelon Ale; not great Cane River Brewing Burnt Peach; pretty good Cane River Pilsner; excellent Tangerine Ale; ok Cane River Porter; very good Cane River IPA; solid Cane River Brown Ale; and a pretty good Wheat.  

Our reason for visiting this out-of-the-way town was to actually stay in the house used in the filming a lot of Steel Magnolias.  The amazing thing was that we had the six-room bed-and-breakfast to ourselves for the night!   We fired up the movie on DVD in the den and kicked back with pizza for dinner a few more libations from Cane River Brewing.  I started with a can of their very good Cane River APA, followed by a pint can of their tasty Demon Lager (named for the town's college mascot, the Northwestern State Demons).

2/17 - We headed back to The Big Easy today and hit Bourbon Street first and foremost which was just around the corner from our nice hotel in the French Quarter.  We both grabbed a tasty Who Dat Golden Ale from Urban South Brewing here in New Orleans as our "walking beer" from a small corner bar as we explored this fascinating place once again.  

After checking out historic Congo Square we literally stumbled upon a great beer bar called The Black Penny over on Rampart Street.  This place has a tremendous selection of canned craft beer at very reasonable prices.  I started with a hoppy and delicious Voodoo Pale Ale from Tin Roof Brewing over in Baton Rouge.  My next "walking beer" came from this can pictured above with very cool can art.  The Holy Roller IPA from Urban South Brewing here in NOLA was excellent.

We went by Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar on Bourbon Street tonight since it's supposedly one of the oldest bars in the U.S., but it was crowded and the craft beer selection wasn't worth the wait.  I had better luck at dinner at the very cool (and very old, circa 1914) Napolean House where I had a bottle of the solid India Pale Ale from Second Line Brewing here in New Orleans.

2/18 - It was fly-home day, but before we headed to the airport, we had time for a terrific lunch at Cafe Amelie over on Royal Street.  Our table overlooked their beautiful courtyard and my bottle of Envie pale ale from Parish Brewing over in Broussard, LA, went down smooth and easy.  So long, NOLA, we will definitely be back.  I was impressed with your better craft beer availability than I have experienced here in the past.  

Since I started this blog post with kind of a nasty, mean picture, I figured I would end it with a positive picture in celebration of craft beer and of Valentine's Day.  XOXOXO