PITTSBURGH BOUND!!

10/28 - My friend, Houston, and I got an early start on this year's G.A.M.E. trip to Pittsburgh today as we drove up to Lexington for the UT at Kentucky game tonight. Our first stop inside Kentucky was at the quirky and fun Paradise Point Marketplace for a late breakfast. Our first G.A.M.E. sticker of the trip was also left behind.
The night before we hung out on our patio in the mild temperatures and I enjoyed a pint can of the Two Pump Chump, a coffee porter from Angry Chair Brewing down in Tampa where Houston is living and that he brought to me as a gift. Thanks, bud, it was tasty! I also enjoyed a very good DIPA called Hop Excavator from Our Mutual Friend Brewing (Denver) from my own beer stash.

We got a nice AirBnb close to the stadium and booked it a couple nights so we could do some Bourbon Trail on Sunday as well. Before the game, we stopped by The Thoroughbred Restaurant (it's really just a bar) and had some excellent burgers, and I enjoyed a tasty West Sixth IPA (2023) from West Sixth Brewing here in Lexington.
I also picked up a couple craft 4-packs at a local beer store here in Lexington called The Beer Trappe to enjoy tonight and throughout the trip. First up was the hoppy and enjoyable pilsner called Speed Castle (2023) from 3 Floyds Brewing (IN), and the sweet, heavy, but solid Cookie Exchange Milk Stout from Great Lakes Brewing (Cleveland, OH).

Houston found us a couple of great seats at Kroger (aka Commonwealth) Stadium (where neither of us had been before) for the game, and we were in good company as a large section of UT fans were in attendance and seated around us. I was impressed to find at least one local craft beer on tap here, the fairly common, but enjoyable, Cougar Bait Blonde ale from Country Boy Brewing here in Lexington. I've had it before, but it was nice to check it in here on UNTAPPD...hear that, Neyland Stadium? I'm talking to YOU!!!

The Vols held on to a nail-biting 33-27 win over the Wildcats to push their record to 6 and 2. It was nice to get any kind of win on any day of a G.A.M.E. trip, because they just don't happen very often. The 3-mile walk back (traffic sucked) to our AirBnb from the stadium through the foggy night was made a little easier with a W in our pocket and fairly mild temps again.

10/29 - We kicked around the idea of going back to Nashville for the Titans game today against the Falcons (and it was a big win for our boys under a rookie QB, Will Levis, from UK ironically), but we didn't want to have to repeat coming back up this way afterwards, so we decided to hit some of the nearby Bourbon Trail instead (this is not the first time the Bourbon Trail has factored in to a G.A.M.E. weekend either). We slept in a bit and listened to the gentle rain coming down outside (just happy that it didn't come last night during our long walk back), and then fueled up for the day at the amazing Biscuit Belly where I got the massive Mama's Boy Biscuit which had fried chicken, a fried green tomato, roasted jalapeno pimento cheese and spicy pickles!!

Houston, the whiskey thief!
Our Bourbon Trail choices were a bit limited since some are closed on Sundays and several other popular ones had tours that were already sold out. We settled on a small operation neither of us has been to before since they had openings for a tour and tasting. It's called Whiskey Thief Distillery over in Frankfort, KY. Now they make bourbon despite the moniker which is actually the name of the tool used to remove bourbon from barrels and which Houston is seen doing in the photo above. While the tour and tastings were short and sweet, the experience of being able to pour your own bottle right there at the distillery from barrels that won't be sold to the general public was pretty damn cool! We both got a bottle of the 5 Year Rye at 131.9 proof (whooo!!), but I let a staff member pour mine since my poor eyesight and left-handedness would probably spell disaster and spillage of this pricey brown liquor!

Our second and final tour and tasting was at the much larger, much fancier, Bulleit Distilling in Shelbyville, KY. The facility and tour are on a much grander scale and pretty enjoyable. The tasting was interesting as well, and incorporated mood lighting and scent containers...OK? Bulleit is distributed and known worldwide and their products must be selling well because this place is fancy!

Beer before whiskey - have no fear...isn't that how it goes? All whiskey is beer first we learned on our Bulleit tour, but not the kind you want to drink. As far as beer I wanted to drink, they had it at Pies and Pints back in Lexington where I had an excellent Atomic Amber ale from Apocalypse Brew Works over in Louisville, and then a solid Double Ghost Games DIPA from Ethereal Brewing here in Lexington. I finished with the decent flagship IPA of Monnik Beer Company over in Louisville. The "pie" part of this place was great too as their pizzas are top-notch!

I had such a good buzz going I even thought Rupp Arena looked pretty in the rainy night. As a Duke and UT basketball fan, that is pure blasphemy.

Our final stop of the night was at Country Boy Brewing here in Lexington where I had their sensational Bumpkin Ale pumpkin beer. Now if we can only find the Uber home....
...found it, he was in front, we were in back...when we got back to our AirBnb, I dug out a can of Country Boy's Nacho Bait Habanero Blonde Ale that I actually bought at Whiskey Thief Distilling earlier today. It was spicy and full!!

10/30 - After another nice sleep-in, we left the Bourbon Trail today in rainy weather and headed for the New River Gorge and another nice AirBnb in the small mountain town of Fayetteville, West Virginia, for a couple nights to explore the area.

Our little house in Fayetteville, West Virginia, was cozy, yet roomy, as the weather turned cold all throughout the day. We found some good Mexican food just around the corner from the house and settled in pretty early due to the rainy weather.

Settling in early was fine with me as I found some regional craft beer at a gas station near the house and enjoyed a light and tasty Country Roads Pilsner (seems appropriate for West Virginia drinking) from Smoketown Brewing (MD) to watch NSC in their first MLS playoff game against Orlando City. It was a disappointing 1-0 loss in the first game of a best of three series.

Having some West Virginia craft-brewed beer earned me this new UNTAPPD badge after I checked in the very nice Almost Heaven Amber Ale from Mountain State Brewing over in Thomas, WV.

10/31 - Happy Halloween from the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia!! We started our day with brunch at the unique little Cathedral Cafe - yep, it's a former church building. I had a giant 3-egg omelet, but it was just late enough in the day to also order a solid Logger Lager Pils from Big Timber Brewing over in Elkins, WV. Cheers and amen!!

Another Bucket List item goes "CHECK!" I've been wanting to see this engineering wonder for a very long time, and it did not disappoint. The New River Gorge Bridge is the biggest in the western hemisphere at just over 3,000' in length. Simply amazing.

We missed the leaf-peeping peak by a week or two looks like, but the New River Gorge is draw-dropping in any season. Wow!

If you squint, you can see the second G.A.M.E. sticker of the trip on the guardrail underneath the massive New River Gorge Bridge.

Nearby, but not in the national park, is Cathedral Falls which is the tallest waterfall in West Virginia, and today about one of the driest. Not the best time of year to go chasing waterfalls I guess, but it gives me a reason to come back, and she's still a delicate beauty today. AtlasObscura.com has published this picture of mine to alert future travelers about the risks of a drier than usual falls possibility if there hasn't been a lot of rainfall in the area. Thanks, folks!

Driving back from the slight disappointment that was Cathedral Falls, I did spy this pretty little jump on Laurel Creek, and Houston was kind enough to pull over and let me road-hike back a quarter mile or so and get a shot of it. Thanks, buddy. There's also a small drop above this one as well.

We're back! The food at Don Rizo Mexican Kitchen and Cantina in Fayetteville, WV, was so good (and so close to our house) that we hit it TWICE for dinner...and I'd go again right now if I could!!

11/1 - Thanks to the always-interesting Atlas Obscura website for clueing me in on the only working lighthouse in West Virginia...yes, working, yes, West Virginia. The story of its creation is almost as interesting as it is itself especially with a little dusting of snow that they got here at Summersville Lake just down the road from where we were staying last night (which got none). I am proud to say this picture I took is on the AO website now as well!

Our only other fun stop today as we pushed on into Pennsylvania so we could arrive in Pittsburgh by midafternoon, was breakfast back in Fayetteville at the Wood Iron Eatery where I had a giant, and tasty, breakfast burrito.

Our giant AirBnb house on bumpy and bricked Wynoka Street in the diverse neighborhood of Carrick on Pittsburgh's south side was three stories, old, and a bit weird (no bathroom on the main floor, wow!), but was affordable, clean, roomy and worked out pretty good for the six of us.

It's a quiet, working-class neighborhood, and we appreciated that and toasted it as often as we could! I started this evening with a gift beer from my buddy, Chris, who gave me a pint can of the excellent Wicked Ex IPA from Big Wood Brewing (MN) that he picked up on a recent trip to Minneapolis. Thanks, bud!

Four of the six total G.A.M.E.rs were in town tonight and we headed (UBERed) to nearby Fat Head's Saloon where I had this bourbon flight that was pretty good and a couple of craft beers as well. The Wet-Hopped Head Hunter IPA was said to be an award-winner, but I found it to be just OK. It's made by the Fat Head's Brewery down in Ohio. I found their Hop Marauder DIPA to be much better (and hoppier). We did some more bar-hopping after dinner including a round of weird $5 "Stong Island" ice teas at Casey's Draft House (yep, no drafts, just this swill), and then finally another good craft beer at Dive Bar and Grille. It was the excellent 18-Watt IPA from Singlecut Beersmiths (NY).

Back at the house I "unwrapped" another gift beer from Chris: the Cabin Daze NEIPA also from Big Wood Brewing. It was quite good...and I was quite drunk...Thanks, Chris, and goodnight, Irene!

11/2 - I should have known by the fancy sign that Pete's Beer Distribution near our AirBnb was going to be a bit of a bust. No beer sold in supermarkets here, so it's dedicated beer stores instead. There was not much craft beer at all here, and more about quantity than quality. We settled on a 24-pack of Straub American Amber Lager from Straub Brewing, a regional brewery over in St. Marys, PA. They weren't bad, and we killed all but one before leaving Pittsburgh.
Joe and Danny were the last to arrive today and our full sixsome was here and ready for the game tonight. Joe brought me a few gift craft beers as well. My friends know me so well! I enjoyed the nice NEIPA called Lil' Dipper from Union Craft Brewing (Baltimore) in between Straubs.

The only good thing about dinner tonight before the game was the self-serve beer wall at The Standard Market and Pint House. I wasn't very hungry anyway (hungover), but the food and service were poor. From the beer wall I had the decent Sunset Lager from Winding Path Brewing over in Dallastown, PA.

It was gonna be a cold night for football at Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field), but no rain or snow and a revved-up crowd.

Yep, "here we go!!" Our first Thursday Night Football game on a G.A.M.E. trip!!

Our seats were decent, high up in the north endzone and the Steeler fans were pleasant enough to us. It was another close game (seems to be a trend for us on these trips), but the Steelers prevailed 20-16. Not bad for a rookie QB in a hostile environment on the road. Maybe Will Levis is our future.

11/3 - With the game behind us, we had the weekend to explore the Pittsburgh area and take a few tours as well. First up was a trip back to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater for me. None of the other guys had been here before except Joe as a kid of which he didn't remember much. I am sure some of them had their doubts as we drove an hour from Pittsburgh out into the middle of nowhere for this, but the beautiful weather, the excellent tour and the Bucket List check-off of this historic and amazing place seemed to be worth it to everyone. What a beautiful view and an ugly bunch!

Beforehand, we grabbed some brunch at the Carson Street Deli which had an impressive craft beer list. I enjoyed the NEIPA called Soft Top from Butler (PA) Brew Works with my excellent (and giant) BLT sandwich.

The biggest change from my last visit here with Ashlee (ten years ago) was that photos are now allowed inside Fallingwater. So cool!

Here's an unobstructed view without all the chowderheads.

We got back to Pittsburgh and headed to a walking downtown ghost/history tour tonight. Pretty interesting stories and very mild weather as opposed to last night at the game.

That's the old jail on the left and the courthouse on the right with The Bridge of Sighs connecting them.

The Titans colors showing downtown sure were appreciated!!

After the tour, I had another Joe gift beer back at the house. It was the solid NEIPA called Broken Heels from New Trail Brewing in Williamsport, PA (one of Joe's favorites). Next was another couple more gift beers from Chris, the tasty Hipp Check IPA from Big Wood Brewing (MN) and a nice pilsner called The Dude Abides from Bad Dad Brewing (IN). All these were enjoyed during an impromptu song party (mostly dirty ones) DJed by Houston that went late into the night.

11/4 - We lost Joe today who had to head out, so the remaining five had another day to explore Pittsburgh. We started with an Uber ride over to Mt. Washington for this great view of downtown.

From the overlook, we could see (and hear) the FSU at Pitt college football game going on over at the Steelers stadium today along with the Goodyear Blimp. The G.A.M.E. sticker here was not permanent for respectful reasons.

The shot above this one of the Duquesne Incline was from inside one of the cars, so that's why the sticker was not on there permanently. We have respect for historic things (circa 1877). We rode down to the bottom and grabbed an Uber for our next stop.

It was time to get our wiggle on with a Wigle Whiskey Distillery Tour. While Wigle Whiskey is historic in Pittsburgh, this revived distillery is fairly young, as are their products which were pretty good, but not great. The tour was fun and interesting at least.

Our final stop of the day was for dinner and beers at the iconic Church Brew Works. I have been here twice before: once with Ashlee and another time with Chris of this group as we did a last-minute trip here when the Predators were in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I sure don't remember the beer being so ho-hum here. I had a flight of four and another pint and didn't really like any of them. Wow! At least the food and atmosphere are good. I had some Buffalo sauce perogies that were great.
Here's the disappointing beer list:
Pious Monk Dunkel - taster
Celestial Gold pilsner - taster
MMM - 3000th Batch black IPA - taster
Holy Rakau NEIPA - taster
What the Helles?!? lager - pint

11/5 - We lost another couple group members today when Jeremy had to catch a very early flight back home, and Chris had to leave this morning for some family obligations on his way back to Indiana. So before taking Danny back to the airport for a late afternoon flight, we decided to kill some time with a 30-minute drive south of Pittsburgh to the small town of Perryopolis to check out the kinda creepy house from The Silence of the Lambs where the serial killer, Buffalo Bill, lived and did some really weird shit. Seems pleasant enough in the daytime! LOL. You can also stay here overnight...hmmmm.

Since neither Danny nor Houston had eaten at the long-time, fries-on-your-sandwich, Pittsburgh staple, Primanti Brothers, we decided to have lunch at one of their many locations as our last hurrah. The food was OK, and their Primanti Bros Almost Famous Red Ale was pretty good. It's made for them by North Country Brewing up in Slippery Rock (great town name!), PA.

The drive back south to and thru Cincinnati was uneventful other that this nice sunset and the fact that Sunday Night Football was being held there (we could have done a total of five different football games on this trip!)

11/6 - We got back to Lebanon around lunch time and immediately dug into the amazing Burnt Almond Torte from Pittsburgh's premier bakery, Prantl's, which has been churning these babies out since 1966. This was a specific request from Ashlee, and I was happy to oblige (and indulge)!