I-P-A RIVER: Frost on the pumpkin (ale)

10/11 - A shout-out to a boyhood hero of mine, the mighty. Joe Morgan, second baseman for the prolific Big Red Machine in Cincinnati who passed away today at the age of 77. I always loved watching his double-clutch elbow twitch right before he swung the bat. I have owned a replica of the jersey shown above for many years. It's from when he was first drafted into Major League Baseball by the Houston Colt .45's (who then became the Astros). I will always think of him as a Red, but, man, that's one cool logo!

10/13 - There was a rare Tuesday night NFL game tonight involving my beloved Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills. The strange game day was all because the Titans organization had a flurry of positive Covid-19 tests recently and had to delay playing the game for safety reasons. They haven't been able to practice together for almost two weeks and yet they came out tonight like buzz-saws and spanked the then-undefeated Bills 42-16. So much for shaking off the rust!! TITAN UP!!
During the game I enjoyed a bottle of very good Salmon Fly Honey Rye from Madison River Brewing (MT) that my pal, Craig, traded with me from his online monthly craft beer order. Thanks, bud!

10/14 - I took down first place again tonight in a small regional tournament against 12 other players on PokerStars. It was turbo-style which I am not a fan of really, but I am adjusting my game accordingly to it since they mostly play these types of tournaments on here. I made $80 in profit. It would have been a $100, but I suggested $20 off the top prize for the fourth-place bubble boy and the other three agreed.

10/15 - It was Throwback Thursday as I located my old Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday paper insert circa 1991 when the the Atlanta Braves went from worst to first by beating the LA Dodgers for the NL West title, their first after many woeful years (as long as I had been alive and a fan) of being just awful. Since that fateful year when they roared through the National League playoffs only to lose a memorably great (but heart-breaking World Series to the Minnesota Twins...I still hate you, Kirby Puckett!!). The paper sign's took a beating over the years in our damp garage.
I was being nostalgic today because currently the Bravos are up 2 games to 1 over those damned Dodgers again, but this time for the NLCS title and another shot at the *World (Pandemic) Series. I settled in to watch a few innings tonight...I admit I don't really know a player on the current Atlanta team right now because I stopped following MLB for the most part a while ago. But I did crack open a brew and enjoyed watching the game thinking back on great memories from this team over the years after that fateful 1991 season when they became an elite organization from then on (although confoundingly still with only one World Title). I remember with fondness things like slow-ass Sid "Wheels" Bream legging out an extra base on a dramatic hit; Ronnie Gant's ass...yep, best looking ass you will ever see on a man or a woman!!; the Dynamic Trio pitching rotation of Avery, Glavine and Smoltz; and then much farther back a toast to the long-suffering superstar Hall of Famer on those woeful teams of the 80's, the one and only, Dale Murphy.
I opened a big, fat crowler of tasty Blindhawk ESB from TennFold Brewing over in Donelson that I picked up recently and finished the whole thing.
Here's to you, boys. Let's go BRAVOS!!!
(Editor's note: Sadly, the Dodgers rallied from a 3 games to 1 deficit to take the series in seven games. BOO!! And then went to win the World Series over Tampa Bay.)

While watching the Braves game, I also won a small $25 turbo sit-n-go on PokerStars vs. 6 others for $80 in profit.

10/16 - Ashlee and I headed to The Smokies for a long weekend today and stopped in Knoxville along the way at Printshop Beer Company. We both had flights out on the sunny patio and enjoyed watching the Tennessee River drift by across the road. It was an IPA Kinda Day for me as my flight was L to R as follows: the excellent Venus in Berries milkshake IPA; the solid Tropical Lullaby - DDH Cashmere and El Dorado double IPA; the very tasty and very hoppy Karmic Rap Sheet - DDH Galaxy and Citra NEIPA; and finally the lovely Tears of Rage - DDH Strata and Eldorado and Idaho 7 NEIPA. I also had tastes of all four of Ashlee's flight as well that were: the nice Southie cream ale; the really good Rye-No-Mite! red ale: the solid Baker Creek brown ale; and finally the fantastic Hedonistic Tendencies - German Chocolate Cake pastry stout. We bought a crowler of the pastry stout to take with us for the weekend plus a couple more of their wares to have at our cabin since the craft beer choices in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area are not the greatest.

Our cabin in Gatlinburg was actually a treehouse, and it was very cool and located on an awesomely quiet dead-end road with Norton Creek babbling beside it. Perfection!

I opened my first Printshop Beer Company crowler tonight to enjoy out on the "tree-hugging" deck. It was the extremely good Illogical Forms Vienna-style lager.

10/17 - After a fun (and crowded) day in Gatlinburg, we headed back to our treehouse and I cracked open my second Printshop Beer Company crowler, the impressive Hop Pusher IPA, and enjoyed it out by the community firepit. I also had a decent brew at dinner at the Cherokee Grill in Gatlinburg. It was the Black Bear Ale -- it's a brown ale so not sure about the name?? -- from Smoky Mountain Brewery, a brewpub over in Knoxville.

10/18 - On the way home from our long weekend in Gatlinburg today, we stopped in Knoxville again, but this time at the Pretentious Beer Company where I had the solid Will and Al Face the Music IPA. Unfortunately, their cool glass-blowing studio next door was closed and they were only serving beer in plastic cups (thanks a lot, Covid).

10/20 - I sent in my absentee ballot today to avoid the crowds of early voters and probably bigger crowds on election day coming up soon. I know you are not supposed to say who you are voting for, but I think my "from" sticker kinda gives it away. Save the Redwoods! And SACK TRUMP!!

10/20 - It was good to see my signature hand, a set of treys, back on the screen tonight, and while this particular hand didn't win me a big pot, I was able to chop first place with another player in a turbo tournament on PokerStars tonight for $115 in profit vs. 12 other players including my Lebanon pal, Richard, who I missing playing live poker with on a regular basis (thanks, Covid).

10/21 - My October Beer Drop order arrived today. It's a nice mix of beer styles including an Irish coffee cream stout, an APA, a California common a marzen (since it's October) and an IPA, of course. Looking forward to all of them!

I had a bachelor night tonight, so I played some online poker and watched a movie while I cracked open my second crowler from TennFold Brewing over in Donelson that I picked up a couple weeks ago. It was their light and fantastic Easy Day Stout. I also earned this badge on UNTAPPD celebrating their upcoming 10th Anniversary this week. Cheers!

10/23 - Ashlee's got a co-worker who's really into beer and is visiting Nashville for the weekend. We met Andrea at the Mt. Juliet Beer Company after work today to sample some of the wares from Calfkiller Brewing over in Sparta who were hosting a tap takeover. CKBC is one of my local favorites, and I had already actually had all they were offering tonight before except for a Belgian blonde called Golden Calf. It was light and fantastic!

Here's one of the CKBC Sergio brewer/owner brothers himself serving us some tastings.

We continued our evening after the MJBC tasting with dinner down the road at Homegrown Taproom where I had their daily special, Cajun turkey soup, and it was awesome. I had a couple of beers too from New Heights Brewing here in Nashville as well. They were the Yin NEIPA that was really good, and then the Yang American IPA which was a notch below the Yin, but still decent. I finished dinner (and we waited out a nasty thunderstorm) with a light and crushable pint of Los Bravos Mexican-style lager from Terrapin Brewing (Athens, GA).
OK...about the photo above. This is Andrea's sister, Christie, who we picked up before our next stop in East Nashville, Living Waters Brewing. Both sisters were in town visiting Music City. Yes, this was a sneak photo at Living Waters and she doesn't know I took it, but I simply had to. This beautiful woman loves IPAs, waterfalls, and even got my Houndmouth band reference joke...oh, and she's the mother of two 20+ -year-olds...yeah, 20+!! And I truly believe she's been mistaken for Scarlett Johannsen...not even her story. So, it's really not even a "dirty old man" thing since I am really not that much older than she is! I simply enjoy beauty and beer and I like to remember such things with photos on here, so call me a perv, that's fine. I apologize to Christie for taking this photo, but you have to admit...it's a damn good picture! And if Ashlee ever reads this which I doubt she ever will since it's a blog about beer, I apologize even more, and continue to profess that you are the only true love in my life and I accept that you don't like IPAs...no matter how much that hurts me...
Oh yeah, I had two beers here as well! Their Highgate double IPA was outstanding. I finished with their solid and tropical Burgess (Pineapple and Passionfruit) milkshake IPA.

10/24 - I earned this cool fan-designed UNTAPPD 10th Anniversary badge today by checking in a can of tasty Copper Ridge Cali Common steam beer from Storm Peak Brewing (CO) from this month's Beer Drop order during the virtual anniversary party that was going on this afternoon. Congrats to UNTAPPD and here's to many, many more years! Cheers!

I also got second-place tonight in a PokerStars regional tournament vs. 10 other players and cleared $85 in profit for my efforts.

10/25 - I drowned my sorrows after a tough loss to the hated Pittsburgh Steelers today by my beloved Titans who rallied back from 20 points down only to miss a game-tying field goal as time ran out
. I cracked open a delicious can of Witoberfest marzen from Wibby Brewing (CO) from this month's Beer Drop order and looked forward to the rest of the season where I think we can play with anybody in the NFL and may meet the hated black and gold again for a chance to go to the Super Bowl this season. TITAN UP!!

10/28 - With some recent success in poker, I gave a little more than 10% of my winnings in a donation to UNICEF USA in the amount of $50 today. Gotta help those kiddos when you can.

Thanks to the misfortune of others tonight (the subsequent losses of Atlanta and Miami), the Nashville Soccer Club have qualified for the the playoffs in their very first year of existence. Not too shabby considering they started this wonky season out of the MLS is Back kickoff tournament with too many Covid-19 cases. And they've still got three regular season games left to move up even higher in the table for a better seed in the playoffs. Go NSC! NGUOY!!
On the poker front, I got second place tonight in a PokerStars regional turbo tournament vs. 13 others and made $75 in profit.
To celebrate both positive results, I cracked open my third brew from this month's Beer Drop order, a solid can of El Dorado APA, an IPA from Finkel and Garf Brewing (CO).

10/30 - I had the day off today, but got up early to watch the first episode of The Mandalorian 2nd season. It was great as expected. So glad it's back!

After spending way more time that I wanted at the Honda dealership in Mt. Juliet getting the CRV's oil changed, I finally got to do something fun on my day off after lunch. I headed down to the Tullahoma/Manchester area for some hiking and to check out a new brewery there. My first stop was in the Short Springs State Natural Area that has 3 waterfalls. I got to the small cascading Busby Falls first after a quick half-mile hike from the parking area to the overview shot above.

Machine Falls was next and at 60' in height, it's the pride of the natural area. What a beauty! The mile-and-half loop in an out was a little tough, but I was happy I did it to see this one which has been on my to-see list for a long time. I didn't make it to the third falls here, Adams Falls, which is a wet-weather one. Maybe next time. I wouldn't definitely like to come back sometime. I racked up well over 2 miles of hiking here this afternoon.

On the way out I stopped at Rutledge Falls which I've never seen from the base. She's a beauty as well, and I feel fortunate that with it on private land, the owners graciously let you visit.

Before heading home, I made it to the brand new Common John Brewing in Manchester. Beautiful facility and the two beers I had were tremendous. Being so close to the interstate means I am coming back here as much as I can! I started with their Allegedly...IPA (photo above) that was hoppy and crisp. I finished with their light and roasty Deeper Purpose porter.

10/31 - It was a beautiful Halloween Day as we headed to Kentucky for some spooky fun. On the way (as Ashlee drove) I cracked open a pint can of Hisolda Irish coffee cream stout that was very good. It's from Woods Boss Brewing (CO) and was the fourth of my Beer Drop order this month. Thanks to the holiday I also earned my Witch's Brew badge from UNTAPPD.

After a fun day in Kentucky we stopped for dinner in Bowling Green at a great little gastropub called Novo Dolce 2.0 where we had a tasty dinner and I enjoyed this sharp and hoppy Cart Horse NEIPA from Old Nation Brewing (MI). We will have to come back here sometime. The food was great and they have a solid beer list. I am sad to report that one victim of Covid-19 is White Squirrel Brewing here in Bowling Green which had to shut down recently. I visited WSBC a couple times when in the area (2018 was the last time) and their beer was good. Another craft brewery called Gasper Brewing is opening soon here in Bowling Green, but I hate to hear of any small business (especially a microbrewery) going under.

Our main purpose in Kentucky today was to go "ghost-hunting" at the historic and unique Octagon Hall house near Bowling Green. Unfortunately, the hunt was a bust - not blaming the ghosts, but blaming everyone on and conducting the tour for not wearing masks and for smoking - yuck and double yuck. We did get some cool shots outside as the blue moon (of Kentucky keep on shining) was rising and Mars was gleaming in the night sky.

Well, Regal Theaters are closed again due to the continuance of Covid-19 and a lack of new releases coming out from Hollywood - time to ramp up the streaming rentals again I guess:

The Trial of the Chicago Seven on Netflix was great with an excellent cast. Aaron Sorkin does it again as not only writer, but director on this one also. This one's definitely an Oscar contender.