The Cedar Tap! The Indy Trip! And The Double-Cruise Dip!

10/20 - I stopped by Providence Wine and Spirits on my way to pick up my beer pal, Nate, for some tailgating before the Nashville Soccer Club game tonight vs. Columbus.  After some static from some new guy there about filling my two half growlers, I finally got the really good Kveik IPA from Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City), and the decent pale ale called Jucee from Flying Tiger Brewing (LA).  The game was pretty dull compared to Monday night here. In the second half the action revved up as we had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 tie and add another important point in the standings to keep us in second place in the MLS Eastern Division.   The NSC coyote mascot for the team, Tempo, was working hard to motivate the 18K-plus crowd just behind our seats in the north end zone.  

10/21 - I made a final table tonight on Global Poker and wound up winning the whole thing.  I bested 199 other players for just under $400 in profit! The final three players were all very good, and I am most proud of beating them.   Half of my winnings will go back into the bankroll for an upcoming tournament series they've got starting next week.  

10/22 -  THE CEDAR TAP IS OPEN!!! We dropped by this afternoon to our town's first craft beer bar on the Lebanon Square, and while the space is sparse and the food was limited and underwhelming,  the beer was top notch! Ashlee and I both started with glasses of the excellent Belgian-style from Black Abbey Brewing in Nashville called the Ancient Ways Quad. I finished with the equally great Sweet Baby Java porter from DuClaw Brewing (Baltimore).

10/23 - I met up with my best friend, Craig, and his wife, Al, at the AMC Thoroughbred Theaters in Cool Springs today to see the new sci-fi remake Dune in IMAX.  It was phenomenal!   Can't wait for Parts 2 and 3 to follow!  Before the show, I stopped by Various Artists Brewing and had their marzen VABTOBERFEST 2021 and it was great.  After the movie, I met up with Ashlee for dinner at the nearby J. Alexander's restaurant and had a surprisingly decent Belle Meade Pilsner from Hap and Harry's Brewing here in Nashville.  

10/24 - We caught the last show of a historic 8-night stand by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at The Ryman tonight.  It was fantastic!  Before the show, we had some equally fantastic pizza at Slim and Husky's at the new 5th and Broad complex across the street.  I had the decent Slim and Husky House Lager along with my dinner.  Not sure who brews it for them

10/25 - I made the final table in a small turbo progressive bounty crazy pineapple tournament tonight on Global Poker.  Coming from behind, I wound up winning it vs. 42 others for about $55 in profit that went right back to the bankroll. 

10/26 -  My October Beer Drop order arrived today. I went heavy on IPA's with three, but they are a nice variety of black, malty and American.  I got a pumpkin ale cause tis the season and a nice-looking hefeweizen to round out the order. 

I snuck in one of the those IPAs called Furious from Surly Brewing (Minneapolis) to a late showing of the new Ridley Scott film, The Last Duel, tonight at the Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet.  It was an excellent IPA.  The film had a great cast and I thought it was very good as most Ridley Scott's films tend to be, but pretty brutal based on the subject matter.  

10/27 - Playoffs!?!  (Jim Mora was the best! lol).  I watched our beloved Nashville Soccer Club tonight streamed telecast from Cincinnati.  The Boys in Gold fell behind early, but came roaring back with a flurry of goals in the second half to win 6-3 and secure a playoff spot and 2nd place again in the Eastern Division.  Now, let's keep winning and get that # 2 seed and some home playoff games!!  I celebrated the night with another can from my recent Beer Drop order. It was the excellent 7-Speed IPA from Living the Dream Brewing (CO).  

10/28 - Man, I loved my first visit to Monday Night Brewing's new digs here in Nashville! What a cool place and a great repurposing of an old Germantown manufacturing area that was just sitting and wasting away.  While here I worked a little with my trusty Aptive laptop in tow and had a couple of their libations.  I started with the excellent Loving Cappuccino milkshake IPA.  I finished with their also tasty Shwaka Pils kellerbier. 

Next, I picked my long-time, best friend, Craig, who also loves craft beer and is finally joining us for a G.A.M.E. trip!  We had some time to kill before we picked up another Turo App rental car up in Hendersonville tonight for the trip to Indianapolis this weekend, so we stopped by Yazoo Brewing up in Madison on our way where I had the light and lovely NSC-super-fan, Soccer Moses,-inspired "Let My People Gold" Lager.  What a hoot and the proceeds from the sale of this beer go to  a local charity as well!  Our next stop was Half Batch Brewing in Hendersonville where I had their solid rye IPA called Play It By Ear.   This beautiful sunset pictured above greeted us on our way in.

With the rental car safely home, I talked Craig into walking with me for the first time to our local craft beer bar, The Cedar Tap.  Boy, it's nice to say that! I had the impressive White Russian Nitro imperial stout from Left Hand Brewing (CO).  Yep, the photo above is correct. It was worth the maybe a little longer than a mile each way walk!  And, hey, it was Craig's birthday!! What a fun afternoon and evening with my best friend! 

10/29 - The drive up in the sweet Subaru Outback rental via Turo to beautiful Brown County in Indiana was smooth and easy.  Craig, Danny and I stopped in Louisville for lunch at Against the Grain Brewing where we had some great BBQ and I had their interesting and delightful Evil Queen Kentucky common.  Don't let the apple taste throw you!  Man, we scored a sweet cabin in the woods and the libations were flowing once everyone arrived.  We were missing a few folks, but had a few new faces as well, and it was great to be out from under Covid's grip.  

The local IGA Supermarket had a pretty darn good craft beer selection including regional stuff and in no certain order I had the following at the cabin over the weekend: the nice Tangerine Cream ale from Station 26 Brewing (CO) - this was a Craig contribution from his recent Beer Drop order.  Yep, he's in the BD fold now!   The solid Dragonfly IPA from Upland Brewing over in nearby Bloomington was next.  The Busted Knuckle porter from Quaff ON! Brewing right here in Nashville...Indiana was excellent. We will be visiting these guys this weekend too. The Ruby Bloom Amber ale from Bloomington Brewing was decent. The Old Crown Ale from Summit City Brewerks up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that Chris brought was solid.  Chris also brought a couple from Hop River Brewing which is also in Fort Wayne where he now lives and drove down from for the weekend.  Their Kolsch was tasty and the cool-can-wrap-labelled (photo above) IPA called Lasers in the Jungle was outstanding.  My only negative was a fruited gose sour called Pinkalicious from High Hops Brewery (CO) also from Craig's Beer Drop order.  And that's why there will never been any sours ordered by me through Beer Drop.  Count on it!  Yuck! 

10/30 - We did an impromptu tour of the IU campus in nearby Bloomington after breakfast this morning, and we were all impressed with its beauty and tons of green space.  This old gym reminds me of Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke.  Almost round-ball time! I can't wait!  

I was also able to check off  another AtlasObscura.com location at the IU Campus. This giant Indiana limestone carving of the anatomically accurate brain outside the Psychology Building is the world's largest weighing in it at 5 tons.  

The Hoosiers football team were away today playing at Maryland.  They lost, but put in a good game looks like.  By the way, there is no actual definition for a "Hoosier" - weird. 

Fall is a great time to visit the IU campus with all its trees and green space.  We were lucky the rain held off while we were walking around the beautiful grounds. 

This afternoon we visited Quaff On! Brewing and Hard Truth Distilling here in Brown County.  I had a delightful Peanut Butter Busted Knuckle porter while we waited on our distillery tour and our wild woodsy tour!  Quaff On and Titan Up!!  

Here's the whole goofy Indiana G.A.M.E. gang on our ATV tour at Hard Truth Hills.  Our driver and guide was Whistler, and he was awesome.  The ATV never went over 12 MPH....we promise!! 

My favorite stop on the awesome ATV tour around the Hard Truth Hills property was, of course, Beer Bluff, where we did some "swangin' " and some tastin' of two more of Quaff ON!'s brews.  I thought their pumpkin beer called Put A Fork In It was really good.  And their Blood Orange Yellow Dwarf wheat beer was equally tasty. 

Later on we stopped at maybe one of the worst sports bars I've ever been in called The Old Hickory in downtown Nashville (IN).  Nice tiny TVs, folks.  WTF?  Food was OK and they had a somewhat decent beer list.  I had a can of the Wee Mac Scottish-Style Ale from Sun King Brewing up in Indianapolis with my Hoosier tenderloin sandwich.  

10/31 - Titans v. Colts in Indy.  Let' do this!!  

The House that Peyton Built and it's a beauty.  Puts Nissan Stadium to utter shame. 

Before the game we were able to slip in to the Slippery Noodle Inn (bar) where I had the very good Dis-is-It IPA from Metazoa Brewing  here in Indy.   

This is not "the fish-eyed lens of tear-stained eyes" as Pink Floyd puts it because WE WON!! WE ACTUALLY WON ON A G.AM.E. TRIP...IT'S BEEN SO LONG!!  I swear I was a little in shock when the game ended in OT with the scoreboard reading Titans 34 - Colts 31. Wow!!  What a game and a what a stranglehold we now have on the AFC South Division! 

(Editor's note:  It wasn't until the next day that we learned our star running back, team MVP and KING OF THE NFL, Derrick Henry, suffered a broken bone in his foot and would miss the rest of the season.  Ain't never easy for a Titans fan...)   

During the game I had an awesome can of Hoppopotamus IPA from Metazoa Brewing.  It went down so good with the taste of victory!!

The Burning of The Shoes last night worked!! Time to start a new tradition!  Burn, baby, burn!  

Hey, Colts! Here's to your punk asses! This Rubicon IPA from 18th Street Brewery in Hammond, IN, went down good last night at the fire outside the cabin.  Thanks, Indy, for a great weekend! 

11/2 - Well, we are off on our first-ever back-to-back cruises today.  Both music cruises nonetheless!  I am looking forward to them, but I am not expecting much craft beer since cruise lines are notorious for not having much selection, if any.  While at the Nashville Airport, I was giving my beloved NSC boys my full-beer support!  This was a Samuel Adams Wicked Easy light lager that I picked up at the 400 Degrees hot chicken restaurant there.  It was actually pretty good.  The team got in the playoffs and are hosting a first-round game!  Can't wait for that!  My North Coast Brewing patch is looking pretty good too! 

Later on tonight down in Miami, I had a bottle of a decent blonde ale called La Rubia from Wynwood Brewing here in town with my late dinner at our hotel restaurant, Catch Bar + Grill. 

11/3 - All together now, "Working at sea! We're working at sea!!"  --- Woo hoo!! This was awesome!!  Every weekday morning during this first cruise, I would grab some coffee and breakfast and take my laptop out on the back deck dining area of the beautiful Norwegian Gem, and log in some work.  I am off next week officially, but on the down-low the rest of this week.  Only thing better would be to have a nice craft beer here with me...but that is not happening on this cruise as expected unfortunately... but still.. "We're working at sea!! We're working at sea!!" 

11/6 - It's a Michael FrantIPA!  My search for real craft beer on the Soulshine Cruise finally got a little break today when I saw another guy ask a bartender for an "IPA" and he got one that was hidden behind the bar - wait a minute...despite having the "all you can drink" package on board there were never any IPA's displayed as a choice!  You sneaky NCL bastards were holding out on me!  Granted it was just a decent-at-best Goose IPA from those sell-outs at Goose Island Brewing (Chicago), but it was better than nothing at least.  I've checked it in before on UNTAPPD, but it was nice to get the use the app somehow on this cruise other than a couple of Coronas I had on the beach yesterday and which I did actually enjoy.  Corona was my first real beer love...and you never forget your first love.   This IPA was great as well only because I was able to toast the cruise's host, and all around great dude and performer, Michael Franti, during his show tonight where he ALWAYS goes into the crowd! 

11/7 - Well, second cruise has started and I finally found a new-to-me craft beer.  Thanks to The Rock Boat's hosts, Sister Hazel, and their hit-song-inspired Ale for You (get it..."All For You"), a ho-hum blonde ale from Rock Brothers Brewing over in Tampa.  But, hey, it was free and better than Miller Lite!  Yech!!  Let's get back to the ocean! 

11/12 - I finally got off the two "cruises of no good beer" today and found a couple of craft beers back at the Miami Airport at a little Irish pub called The Clover. I started with a draft pint of the solid Irish Red Ale from Shamrock Brewing (CO).  I followed that up with a can of the decent Mango IPA from Hollywood Brewing just up the road from here in Miami.  Ashlee  and I (with back to back window seats), enjoyed this cool view of The Everglades as we took off on a rather dreary day in south Florida on our way home late today. 

11/13 - After a woeful start to the day, I got second in a turbo Crazy Pineapple progressive tournament on Global tonight vs. 34 other players to give me a little over $50 in profit which had to go right back into the bankroll.  I had so many knockouts that my second-place payout was almost as much as first!   Back to the salt mines! 

Forgot to add this great sunrise over Biscayne Bay pic I got at our hotel in Miami before we set sail on 11/3 - Happy Birthday to my beloved Mom today too.  I miss you so much!