6/11 - I had a date-night with my sweetie tonight and we decided to go over to Catch 22 in Mt. Juliet since we've actually never been there together for dinner. The food was excellent as always and during my time there I logged in three more new-to-me brews on UNTAPPD. I started with the light and tasty Pride and Joy 3000 English mild ale from 3 Floyds Brewing (IN). Next up was the decent Summer Break session IPA from Sierra Nevade Brewing (CA). I closed the night with a boozy and decadent Barrel Aged Vanilla Absentium imperial stout from Scofflaw Brewing down in Atlanta.
6/12 - I stayed overnight in Chattanooga tonight working on the AirBnB house and rewarded myself after a long day with a few craft brews. I set out for Wanderlinger Brewing, but couldn't find any damn parking. The place was packed! Bad for me, but good for them. I slipped over to MLK Boulevard instead and found parking right across the street from Odd Story Brewing. I settled into the bar and had a couple of excellent pours. First up was their excellent Belgian blonde (one of the best of this style that I've had in a long while) called Day Sway. I finished my visit with a their very good German pilsner called Forgotten Fortress. Man, has this town got some great little breweries!
6/13 - Pool day!! I got home from Chattanooga and a belated birthday brunch with my nutty sister for an afternoon of pooling. Hey, it wasn't a total bust with her at least. We did go to Top of the Rock Restaurant and Brewery in Kimball and I had their pretty good Red Ale Top of the Rock with my tasty meal. And crazy Melinda even had a mimosa!!
I stopped by Red Silo Brewing in Cookeville on the way back and grabbed some freshly bottled brews for pool time with Ashlee. I made sure to get a few Belgian styles (her favorites) and a couple others that I had not had before. We don't do glass around the pool, so this posed shot above was for a social media photo contest they are having about summering with Red Silo. My order of consumption was as follows: the light and easy drinking Lime Lite Belgian blonde went down quick. I shared The Farmer's Daughter Belgian blonde with Ashlee. We both really liked it. I finished with the smooth and easy-drinking German pilsner they call The Yednocker Cookeville Pils. It's actually a Christmas brew of theirs, but I thought it was great for the summer pool as well. We didn't crack open the fourth bottle yet, since I got it mostly for Ashlee. It's the Belgian Thong, another blonde ale that I've had before and loved it and I think Ashlee will too.
6/17 - I headed up to Hendersonville tonight to the Regal Theaters at the Streets of Indian Lake to catch a showing of the action/comedy sequel The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard in IMAX. I never saw the original in the theaters, but caught it on a streaming service and thought it was pretty good and funny. This one was equally fun with over the top action that made it a silly, mindless ride. Before the show, I grabbed dinner and a couple craft beers at my old favorite, Blossom Thai and Cellar Door Craft Cavern. I haven't been here since the Covid crap started, so it was great to be back. And the place was packed. I barely found a place to sit at the bar. Good for them!! With my tasty meal I started with the excellent Coyote Tactics IPA from Blackberry Farm Brewing over in Maryville, TN.
Since Covid and now with working from home, I've been doing a lot of bird-watching in my backyard along with my cats. Byron and Dudley. Our interest in said birds is quite different, of course. I want to watch them and photograph them. They want to maim and kill them! Yesterday, I saw this big beauty which my birding friends told me was a yellow-hammer or Northern flicker.
As I was aiming to get another shot of him, he suddenly flew off and my IPhone caught this pretty cool shot of him in flight. Of course, now in hindsight, it kinda looks like Byron and Dudley got to him and did some massive maiming for sure! lol
I was happy to earn this UNTAPPD badge on my second beer at Blossom and Cellar Door Craft Cavern tonight, an excellent NEIPA from one of my local favorites, Southern Grist Brewing, over in Nashville called Always Something. There is "always something" good at SGBC!
6/18 - We had a fun and relaxing weekend in and around the pool. I ran over to Lebanon Wine and Spirits for a variety six-pack and a couple of half-growlers to get me set. Today I watched my beloved Nashville Soccer Club take it on the chin in New York, two-zip. At least I was cool in the pool watching it and sipping on some tasty libations. I started with the excellent triple NEIPA from Bearded Iris Brewing here in Nashville called Reverse Reverse (photo above). I continued the BIBC love with a pint can of their Double Kick imperial IPA that was also fantastic.
6/19 - The pooling continued today and a weird thing happened with Ashlee's six-pack of Adios Pantelones. Four of the six almost blew up on me as I removed them from their plastic holder. I sent a message to the folks at Rahr and Sons Brewing about it over social media, but no response yet. At least the beer was salvageable! As for me, I continued a bottle of tasty Honey Orange Tripel from New Belgium Brewing (CO) and a half-growler of the solid Wild Honey Wheat from Yazoo Brewing here in Nashville.
6/20 - Our pooling weekend concluded tonight with a long day (and night) in the water. I started the day with a half-growler of Rising Haze IPA from Highland Brewing (Asheville, NC) that was really good. I moved on to a extra-tall pint can of Tropical Beer Hug that was decent from Goose Island Brewing (Chicago). I went over my proposed limit and also had a can of Farmhouse IPA from Crane Brewing (MO) and it was worth it because it was mighty fine!
"Lacey, lace, lace, I love lace" (think "scotch" from Anchorman) - seemed funny at the time while at dinner the other night at Blossom Thai and the Cellar Door Craft Cavern up in Hendersonville.
I reached a cool UNTAPPD milestone over the weekend as well. Keep those imperials coming!
6/21 - Today was my first day of new salaried role with Aptive Environmental - executive resolution specialist. It went well, and I hope this might turn into a long-time gig. We shall see. I toasted the success after work with a bottle of Hanalei Island IPA from Kona Brewing (HI). It was tropical and smooth.
I caught another bird in flight on my IPhone camera over the weekend also. Check out this pretty cardinal taking off from one of the old clothes-line poles we still having standing out back.
6/23 - I attended tonight's NSC game vs. Toronto with my beer buddy, Nate. In glorious news, they are allowing tailgating again at Nissan Stadium, so we kicked back before the game and had some cold ones to celebrate. I brought three from my recent Lebanon Wine and Spirits variety pack. I started with a pint can of the very good double IPA from Bearded Iris Brewing here in town called Logic. I continued with another BIBC product, a solid NEIPA they call Chasing Rainbows. I concluded with an oldy, but a goody, a Scottish Ale from Belhaven Brewing (Scotland). I am sure I have had this smooth and tasty import in the past, but this was my first check-in of it on UNTAPPD.
Now as for the game itself...WOW! What a thriller! We came from behind twice and then won it 3-2 in the closing minutes of the second half! Great showing by our boys in gold! And our mascot, Tempo the Coyote, was looking pretty good too (photo above). With a crowd of over 17K on a Wednesday night, it was a great showing in Music City!
6/24 - More backyard nature coolness. Found this beauty sun-bathing on our pool shed this morning. I got a real problem with a lot of organized religion, but I got no problem accepting a higher power creator (who uses evolution as his/her "magic" - hey, why not, right?). I mean, how else to do explain all the perfect symmetry in nature.
I headed up to Hendersonville tonight to catch opening night of the new The Fast and the Furious 9 in IMAX at the Streets of Indian Lake Regal Theaters. This isn't my favorite movie franchise by a long shot, but they are always fun to see on the big screen and knowingly stupid (like a Ford Fiero in space stupid). Before the show, I stopped by Half Batch Brewing. Man, haven't been here in a while! I had their very good SumCo Tripel and then finished with their solid summer brew, Big G, a light Belgo-American pale ale.
6/25 - More backyard nature! New fawn, who dis!!
6/26 - It was sure nice to get home from working in Chattanooga today and jump in the pool with a cold one. I bought a 4-pack of Blue Foot cream ale when I was at Half Batch Brewing in Hendersonville the other night. I figured Ashlee would like them since they are brewed with blueberries. I thought it was a great beer myself, but the blueberry hint is very, very mild and it took a few sips before I caught it a little in the aftertaste.
 6/27 - I finally found a cause that spoke to me for some of my previous 10% of poker winnings donation. I gave $45 (40 plus tip) to sponsor this little cutie in her bid for the high school national championships in fishing. My alma mater, Whitwell High School, has a fishing team now, so I think it's pretty cool. I would have liked to have been on an organized fishing team. Plus, the nationals are being held in Dayton, TN, on the Tennessee River lakes and sloughs I assume. Maybe it will help me with my poker luck too...it's been woeful as of late. Go get 'em, Cricket!
6/27 - Ashlee and I went to Publix this morning for some grocery shopping and I was impressed with their craft beer selections. In fact, I got a four-pack and a six-pack of some new-to-me brews to enjoy at the pool this afternoon and for next week's Christmas in July Pool Party we are hosting. I started with the very good Dr. Dank, an IPA from Wicked Weed Brewing over in Asheville, NC. I noticed on the can (photo above) that this is a malt beverage and not a "beer" because they added flavoring instead of brewing it all in. I kinda like knowing there are rules as to what can be called a "beer." Hmm, a malt liquor with hemps seeds...I bet Snoop Dogg would like this one! Fo' shizzle, my nizzle!! (I am so old...but,then again, so is Snoop!).
Next up was another solid NEIPA called Xanadu Hazy IPA from the folks over at Wiseacre Brewing in Memphis. I loved that it came in a 4-pack! I finished the day with a boozy and heavy Barrel-Aged Narwhal imperial stout from Sierra Nevada Brewing (CA). Thanks to my beer pal, Nate, for hooking me up with this one in trade the other night.
Man, when it rains, IT POURS!! That's right, Wilson County is FINALLY getting a craft brewery!! Welcome, Cedar City Brewing Company. And it's in walking distance and right around the corner from the new beer bar that's coming as well. Oh, happy day!!!! More news to come soon (I hope).
6/28 - Finally back in the winner's circle! It has been a pretty DRY spell to say the least in online poker as of late, but tonight I did win the nightly Crazy Pineapple tournament vs. 50 other people for $150 in profit. The best thing this did was get me back above my $300 in losses over the past month or so. It took a while, but I slowly got it back. Now I just have to keep moving forward. In the background I had on a new Netflix Liam Neeson movie, The Ice Road, that was much better than I expected it to be. Liam is a world treasure.
6/29 - I ran down to Murfreesboro today to drop off some retirement paperwork to those backstabbing SOB's at MTEMC (hey, at least I'm not bitter), but beforehand I had lunch and a couple of brews there at Jack Brown's Burger and Beer Joint on the square. Despite my ill-will about losing my old job, I never got to have a couple beers at lunch while working there. So thanks for that, Aptive. Gotta focus on the good things now: like in this photo above of the excellent Scottish Ale from Czann's Brewing in Nashville, the tasty "Greg Brady" burger and fries, and the pretty decent butt in shorts of the lady barkeep in the background! Hey, I'm old...but not blind. My "dessert" beer was a 10 oz. pour of the decent Oval Beach Blonde ale from Saugatuck Brewing (MI).
While I wasn't super-jazzed to have get dressed up in a coat and tie to go check out the pricey House of Cards restaurant and magic parlor in downtown Nashville, I did end up having a pretty good time. The speakeasy vibe was cool, the food was outstanding, the magic was pretty amazing and they even had a good craft beer list. I have had almost everything they had listed except for the heavy, but enjoyable, Bourbon Barrel Ale from Good Wood Brewing (KY). I finished it off after dinner out on their cool sunken patio with a 30' waterfall.
7/1 - Despite it being the first day of July, my new Beer Drop for June finally arrived today! Just in time for the 4th of July pool party we are having this weekend! It's a nice selection including a wheat, a vanilla porter, a light pilsner, a Mexican-style lager and a lime ale. Looking forward to consuming these very soon! CCBC!!I had a meeting today with Cody Lannom, the owner of the new Cedar City Brewing Company coming soon here to Lebanon to discuss me doing some marketing/PR work for them! I just reached out randomly to them via email and Cody responded back fairly quickly wanting to meet and discuss some ideas. The meeting went great and I thought we hit it off pretty good. He showed me some designs and logos they are working on and they look fantastic! The restoration of the old building on the square is gonna take a while, but when it's done it will be amazing! More updates to come!!
7/2 - Looks who's open for business!! Ashlee and I stopped by the brand new Prost and Riot Beer Haus in Mt. Juliet today on our way to a concert in East Nashville. We had some terrific food and I had nice big pint of Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier (Germany) out of their back lawn with some amazing low humidity temps for early July. Welcome and we will definitely be back!!
Speaking of the concert at The Basement East, it was amazing!! We saw 16 different East Nashville artists take the stage including our beloved Will Hoge and Butch Walker as they all did tributes to the The Traveling Wilburys and individual songs by the members of that supergroup. What a night! How do get to see this much talent for $15?? Only in Nashville, baby! I also had a really good beer while there (photo above) called The Beast Blonde by Tennessee Brew Works here in Nashville. Weird thing is I can't find out anything about it online and it's not on UNTAPPD. I will try and ask about it when I plan on going by there next week for lunch for day.
OK, I am finally caught up on my 10% of poker winnings being given to charity. I gave my pending $17 (rounded it up to $20) to my friend, Starling, (she goes by Jo Marie on Facebook...don't ask) and her birthday fundraiser for the Equal Justice Initiative. Now it's time to win some more big payouts at poker so I can give some more money away!! Hear that, Poker Gods? Enough with the bad beats and coolers already!! 7/3 - In the immortal words of musician Todd Snider, "B-double E-double R -U-N...Beer Run!!" Salute to National Independent Beer Run Day today. I did a beer run to Lebanon Wine and Spirits today, of course, in preparation for our pool party tomorrow. I picked up a couple of six packs of some local craft light beers that I thought some of the folks who don't like heavy beer might enjoy. Plus, they were new to me and I needed to check them in too. But when I got back for some pool time after our party prep, I was met by Ashlee's cousins, Leslie and LeeAnn, down from Cincinnati for the party and the weekend. They promptly presented me with a six-pack of Hustle, a fairly new (and tasty) IPA from Rhinegeist Brewing back in their hometown. Thanks, ladies! I continued my pool time with a smooth and easy can of Lowrider Lime Lager from Berthoud Brewing (CO). This was my first beer from my newest Beer Drop delivery. I finished the evening with a sensational Lost Lands: Winter Wheat farmhouse ale from Oxbow Brewing (ME) that was also from my Beer Drop order.
7/4 - Ashlee and I hosted our Christmas in July Pool Party today to celebrate our nation's independence, let Ashlee put our her tons of Christmas stuff more than once a year... and to drink good craft beer. I started early starting with the two light craft beers I bought yesterday on my beer run. First up was the OK, Premium light lager from Mill Creek Brewing in nearby Nolensville that I thought tasted a lot like Budweiser. The next was one was much better. The Naked Light Czech pilsner was very good and smooth. It's from the Naked River Brewing folks down in Chattanooga. I finished off my Beer Drop order in quick succession including the very good Astro Blaster Pils from Spangalang Brewing (CO); the outstanding Vanilla Porter from Dry Dock Brewing (CO); and last, but no least, the solid Cityscapes Mexican Lager from Ratio Beerworks (CO). My craft beer pal, Nate, who always comes through with some good stuff gave me three new-to-me beers in exchange for some of mine that were new to him. I finished the night with the wonderful Triple Hazy NEIPA from Brew Dog Brewing (Scotland and Ohio).
Ashlee even encouraged a mini-beer tree at the Christmas in July Party. I obliged with one with some of my newer "ornaments" from the last couple years.
7/5 - We finished off the long weekend with a quiet Monday off from work cleaning up a little from the party and then lazing around in the pool. I played some online poker and made a final table. Nothing much to report since it just helped get my bankroll back where I started it a few days ago, but it's still progress. I had Nate's two other gift beers including the tart, but enjoyable, Dragon Weisse fruited sour from Harpoon Brewing (Boston). The best thing about this beer was seeing the "Independent Brewer" label on the can. Harpoon Brewing was one of my very early on favorite craft brewers, and I thought I had read they got bought out by a larger conglomerate, but evidently not. Craft on, folks!! I finished the afternoon off with the delight Frost Proof Belgian wit (photo above) from Cigar City Brewing (FL). | 
