New Autumn Brews

I am having a great fall so far this year and much of that happiness comes from some good, new (to me) seasonal beer that I have been having. Here's a quick run-down:

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale: I had this at WOW Wingery in Mt. Juliet as part of their "Drink the Wall" quest that I am currently on (see previous blog). They served it in a glass rimmed with brown sugar and the results were phenomonal. The brewers from Maryland do it right again.

I got a growler of Terrapin Pumpkinfest Ale at the Mt. Juliet Beer Company (MJBC). Amazing aroma and taste of all the spices of the season. This Athens, GA, product has been my (and my wife's) favorite so far of the fall brews.

I recently got a growler of Yazoo Fallfest Ale as well from the MJBC. Although not as good as the Terrapin product, it was still a good variation and worth carrying this Nashville-produced product to a BYOB Halloween party that my wife and I attended.

Greetings from the Portland, Oregon Airport

Who says you can't get anything good from an airport gift shop? My wife recently returned from a trip out west to Portland, Oregon, and found some great craft beer for me as she waited to board her flight home. Portland's a great craft brewing town with a couple of well-known producers, Rogue and Bridgeport, as well as several other smaller regional brands. Here's the list of what she brought me (none of which I have had before) in the order they have now been consumed:

Bridgeport Hop Harvest Imperial Ale - this was a pint bottle claiming only a one-hour process from field harvest to brewing. It is triple-hopped and delicious from Bridgeport Brewing, the grand-daddy of all craft brewers in Oregon.

Summer Grifter IPA - MacTarnahan's Brewery - This was a 12 oz. bottle from a small brewery in Portland that I had not heard of before. It was an excellent IPA with nice hoppiness and finish. Probably my favorite of the three I received.

Nice Rack IPA - Great name! This decent IPA is produced by Southern Oregon Brewery (SOB) in Medford. It was also a pint bottle.

IN OTHER NEWS:

This weekend (October 16 to be exact) I joined WOW Wingery's "Drink the Wall and Get Your Wings" Club over in nearby Mt. Juliet - 3 down and 42 0r so to go - New Belgium's Ranger IPA, Stone IPA and a Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale (new to me) in a glass rimmed with brown sugar. The bartender said most folks can't do it in a year....we'll see about that!

My local fav beer store, Mount Juliet Beer Company, is now serving half-size growlers which are a great way to sample a new or beloved draught (works out to about 3 glasses) while limiting caloric intake or worrying about it going flat if you try and space out the five to six glasses you get from a full growler. Mike, the owner, also recently announced eight more taps to be coming in!! It's great to see the MJBC having such great success!!

Havin' a Drinky in INKY

I took a quick weekend trip up north to INKY (that's Indiana and Kentucky to those not in the know) to play some poker at a couple of Indiana casinos on the Ohio River that are sucking money at a steady rate out of Louisville and Cincinnati. Good job Kentucky and Ohio for letting that happen just like stupid Tennessee letting money flow out of both ends of it into North Carolina and Mississippi. Keep trying to legislate morality and keeping losing revenue to your border states. Just plain stupid. OK, I'm getting off my soap box...the poker didn't go real well, but I was able to drown my sorrows at a couple of nice brewpubs in the Louisville area.

Saturday afternoon I stopped in the town of New Albany, Indiana, just across the river from Louisville to check out The New Albanian Brewing Company. The town was holding an outdoor fall festival known as "Fringe Fest." NABC was participating as well at their new Bank Street Brewhouse location with live music, outdoor grilling and, of course, beer specials. They had $4 draughts and I partook in three of their eight choices. I started of with their imperial IPA that they call Hoptimus (great name and logo). It was uber-hoppy just like I love my IPAs, and with an ABV over 10%, it's a powerfully strong and tasty brew. Next I tried the Community Dark. This is a dark-colored, yet light-bodied ale that was pretty good albeit a little bitter in the aftertaste to me. The weak ABV of 3.7% was surprising. My last selection was the Oaktimus: that's the Hoptimus soaked in oak chips as a speciality brew. Wowzers! Great, great beer. Very unique and creative. They weren't doing growlers during the festival, or I would have been bringing some of this stuff home with me. What a great find this place was. I can't wait to try some more of their concoctions. I may be back up this way in a couple of weeks and will hit this place again for sure if I do.

I played poker Sunday morning at a casino right outside Cincinnati in tiny Lawrenceburg, Indiana. No great results but at least I lasted longer than the day before and was just card dead as opposed to taking one horrible bad beat after another like the day before. On my way back down through Louisville towards home I stopped at the original location of Bluegrass Brewing Company in the St. Andrews section of town. My wife and I and our friends, Nate and Ginny, stopped here on the way home a few months ago on a Sunday and they weren't serving beer until 1 PM. Ugghh! Stupid blue laws. Almost as dumb as no casinos in your state that is surrounded by them.

Annnnnnyway, I planned better this time and arrived at about half-time of the early NFL games and bellied up to the bar to check out some scores and fantasy football team updates as well as try a few brews. Their selection was fairly familiar to me, but one speciality brew with a clever name that caught my eye was the Card Strong U of Ale in honor of the hometown University of Louisville Cardinals. Unfortunately, the name was about the best thing about this rather ho-hum brew. The rest of the line-up was either ones I had already had or just didn't do anything for me, so I opted for their "guest tap" and selected the Three Floyd's Scottish Ale. TFBC is an award-winning Artisinal brewery in northern Indiana (the town of Munster) just south of Chicago...yes, there is a casino south of Chicago in Indiana...those Hoosiers are smart enough to know there's more to state revenue than corn. Even when the bartender, adorned in his BBC shirt, sat the draught on the bar in front of me, he couldn't help but say...."this is a great beer." He was right. Spectacular beer! Thanks BBC for brewing good beer and not being snobby enough to recognize that others are doing the same (if not better).

The Key West 6 and a Double D

My wife and I went to Key West for a long weekend where we rented a house with my brother and sister-in-law. The great thing about this house besides its privacy and roominess is that it has a huge fridge where I could keep some great beer during our visit in and around the pool and hot-tub (photo below). Since I am cutting back on calories as much as possible, I decided to limit myself to a six-pack, or basically two beers a day...granted a couple of them were full pints....so sue me. I found a great little liquor store with a very nice high-gravity selection of beers on the "new" side of the island. Here's the line-up:

Ringwood Brewing's Old Thmper Ale (pint) brewed by permission by Shipyard Brewing, Maine - excellent body and taste. I was a bit skeptical since English-style ales aren't always my favorite, but this one was great.

Victory Golden Monkey Tripel Ale - not bad for a Belgium Style ale, but Victory Brewing out of Pennsylvania always strives to create good beer.

Full Sail Pale Ale - a nice pale ale. I have never heard of Full Sail but they are out of Oregon, one of my top 5 favorite craft beer states. Those states, by the way, in order of my favorites are CA, CO, NC, OR and PA.

Full Sail IPA - a decent IPA although not as hoppy as I prefer.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA (pint) - Rogue Brewing is the real reason Oregon makes my Top 5 States list. Awesome brewers. Awesome IPA, and what a great name.

Two Hearted Ale - Bells Brewing - This Michigan-based brewer has put out some pleasing beer that I have been discovering over the last year or so as their distribution moves into our area. This one's right up there with a smooth finish and good hoppy aroma.

Besides "The Key West 6" I also had a great beer-drinking experience during our dinner the first night on the island. We went to a dessert-only restaurant called "Better Than Sex." How could you not go check out a place called that? Their menu included cocktails that were also dessert-inspired including the "Double D" - a pint of Rogue Chocolate Stout served in a tall glass that's rim was dipped heavily in milk chocolate. All their drinks are served this way and they call them...are you ready?...."rim jobs" of course. Yep, it was real damn good. But better than sex? Well, no comment.

16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival - Chattanooga, TN

My wife and I and some friends attended the 16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend and had a great time. We stayed right near the festival on our friends' (Tiff and Brenda) boat. There was great music by Big Head Todd & the Monsters. And, of course, there was a lot of great beer.

We opted this year for the "Party on the Pier" (photo above) VIP passes that promised us unlimited food, beer as well as beer-garden-style seating at the festival, private restrooms and close access to the music stage. It was a good deal overall. My only hesitation was that the "unlimited beer" was being provided by Gordon Biersch Brewing, the sponsor of the "Party on the Pier." My past dealings with Gordon-Biersch beer have not been too great. What little I have had of their offerings (a lame airport bar, Big River Restaurant brands, Sin City Brewing in Vegas) has been ho-hum at best. But, I figured if their beer selection wasn't great, I still had plenty of microbrewers to choose from at the festival.

We still only got one sample token with our ticket and I spent it quickly on a mug of Sierra Nevada Tumbler Brown Ale. Delicious. The folks at Sierra-Nevada hardly ever disappoint and even though they aren't a "Southern" brewer, I was glad they were there. After that great start, we ambled on to the pier to see what the unlimited beer and food consisted of. The food was impressive with a good spread of eats including grilled brats, Kobe burgers, salad, cookies, etc. As far the beer went, I first thought they only had two offerings which were listed on a tap station near the food - Gordon Biersch Rodenbier and Gordon Biersch Czech-style Pilsner - definitely nothing to get excited about, but I had not had either from G-B, so I give them a try. The pilsner was actually decent, but I didn't car of the Rodenbier at all. Can't find out much about it. It translates "Clear Beer" in German. Beats me. It wasn't clear but it was quite bitter. I asked for another pilsner at a different tap station. I figured I would have one more "freebie" and then go buy some tokens and have some good beer. The lady behind the tap said she didn't have the pilsner. She had a lager and a stout.

"Stout, please!" I replied joyfully.

It seems each of the four tap stations had different beer, but no signs saying what they had except at the first one I went to. The stout was quite decent. The other stations I visited had a CPA (California Pale Ale) and a Roasted Pale Ale. Both were very good. Needless to say, I spent most of my afternoon and evening partaking in the decent, bottomless beers provided by Gordon Biersch.

I was given a token by a friend of ours who isn't a big beer drinker...then why did you come to a BEER festival?? Oh, well, I don't care. More for me! I sampled the Starr Hill Festie with that token. Another excellent brew from the guys from Charlottesville, VA. It's an Oktoberfest-style lager that was smooth going down and finished nicely.

I guess I did miss the opportunity to try a few new beers at the festival (there were only a few I didn't recognize), but bottomless beer at no extra cost is hard to pass up. Another great beer festival in Tennessee. You gotta love it.

The ABCs of A.B.C.

My wife and I went to Atlanta for a concert over the weekend and were able to stop by the Atlanta Brewing Company (ABC) on Saturday afternoon and check out their small tasting room and brewery. ABC touts itself as the "oldest" microbrewery in Atlanta, but this location is actually newer than their competition up the road, Sweetwater Brewing, which I also toured recently (see previous blog). They can claim the "oldest in Atlanta" moniker because they are a rebirth of Red Brick Brewing, an original Atlanta microbrewer that shut down for a while and has now been given rebirth under ABC production.

Their modest operation is also producing rather modest brews as well without much variety in terms of original recipes. I tried their Red Brick Brown Ale, their Red Brick Blonde, their Red Brick Octoberfest (not much variety or originality in beer names either) and their Red Brick Pale Ale. Their only original name (and best beer by the way) is their Laughing Skull Amber Ale which I have also had in the past in a bottle. It's a good American ale with nice body and finish. I didn't have a problem with any of their beers in terms of taste. They just don't happen to be as memorable or bold as some of Sweetwater's concoctions.

B -Double E- Double R- A-N-T...Beer Rant!!

So my wife and I are in nearby Murfreesboro the other night to pick our car up from the service shop at the Honda dealership there, and we decide to have dinner while in town. I suggest Old Chicago Pasta and Pizza, a new chain-style restaurant that's been getting good reviews from some of my co-workers. I also hear they have "over 100 beers on tap." This, of course, intrigues me greatly and as we pull into the parking lot their large sign out front proudly claims "110 Brews." Now I am really intrigued!

Well, that didn't last long.

They only have about 20 beers on tap and most of those are very common and most mass-produced swill. Even the microbrews they do have on tap and in bottles are run of the mill. I search and search the beer menu for something new. I finally settle on a Brazilian black ale called Xingu. It's in a bottle even though our ditzy waitress asked if I want a glass, a pint or a 22 oz. big gulp. Did I mention it was in a bottle like it says on the menu? Anyway, I am kind of over waitresses who don't have a clue about the beer they are serving - that's a fairly common occurrence. I am even over places claiming they have a "great variety" of beer selection and then finding out they basically have 10 different kinds of Budweiser and four different kinds of Miller. Or, if they do have something interesting on the menu, they are out of it when I order it. That's not what this rant is all about. This rant is about the bone-head who came up with their beer menu. Here's a few of the "WTF?" excerpts from it:

1. The "micro of the month" was Michelob Ultra? Dude, really??

2. The "new brews" were two common Leinenkugel's products. By the way, they are the 7th oldest brewery in America.

3. The "local flavor" was the Boulder Single Track - a decent copper ale that is produced in...Colorado....yeah, not so local.

4. Their "No. 2 World Specialty Bottle" was Sweetwater Blue...you know....from the country of ATLANTA!!

Good grief! What a joke! I hit up their website with my thoughts on their stupid menu and have yet to hear back from them. I will update this blog if I do.

The Xingu was a mass-produced soapy bore. The pizza was OK. I am not a big fan of deep-dish Chicago-style pizza anyway. Let's just say I won't be back...unless I get some freebies for my rant on their moronic menu.

PLEASE BRING A YARD HOUSE TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE!! Great food and one hundred beers actually on tap with great variety. Man, I miss Vegas!

EPILOGUE: 8/8/10 - Got a great response from them. Here it is verbatim:

Dear Mr. Fulfer,

Thanks for taking the time to make us aware of our opportunities with our beer menu. We will take a look at those beers and get them correctly identified with the correct terminology or replace them with beers that fit. I will make this a subject at a General Managers meeting on August 17th to ensure we have beers correctly identified and make beer lovers proud. I would love to send you a GC as a token of my appreciation. I just need your address. Thanks!!

Harold Wallace

Old Chicago (OCI Enterprises, Inc.)

VP of Operations

I was sent a $25 gift certificate a few days later. Thanks OCI! Now get to work on fixing that menu!!