Major League Soccer in Music City! Cheers!! And so is the Coronavirus...BOO!!

2/20 - I headed over to the Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet tonight to exercise my Regal Unlimited account and checked out the new comedy, Downhill.  I kinda liked the movie although it was really more of a drama than a comedy, and the story was somewhat uncomfortable, but interesting.  I took a coat-pocket beer with me as usual.  This time it was a pint can of  Mustang Oil,  a terrific milk stout from Homeplace Beer Company in Burnsville, NC.  This beer was from my variety-pack purchase in Asheville, NC, a few months ago.

2/23 - I finally got to check out the new Top of the Rock Restaurant and Brewery up on Jasper Mountain just off the interstate in Kimball, TN.  This is the first craft beer in Marion County where I grew up.  I was very satisfied with their Stout (photo above) and their IPA.  The food was great too.  We will be back here for my birthday weekend in April looks like (Editor's note:  or not, eff you, coronavirus!).

Not a lot of moola, but still quite an achievement.  I won my first-ever "Buckament" tonight on Global Poker tonight.  As the name indicates, it's a NLHE tournament that costs a buck to enter.  There is no guarantee added, so the prize pool remains small.  However, I did defeat 75 other players and turned my dollar into just under $18 in profit.  Not too shabby, and I really needed a win since I have not been running very well online recently.

2/26 - I had dinner at Catch 22 in Mt. Juliet with my old friend since grade school, Mick, who was in town for business.  (Photo above : Just a couple of O.G's PCES representin'! )  I had a couple brews with my dinner, of course, and chose to start with the outstanding French Toast Bastard Scotch ale from Founders Brewing (MI).  I finished with the decent Happy Amber red ale from MadTree Brewing (Cincinnati). 

2/27 - I took another "sick day" today before they took the hours away from me, and I decided to head east instead of west into Nashville as usual. I had three unique places I wanted to check out and scout out for future visits possibly.  After a leisurely breakfast at a Waffle House in Gordsonville, my first visit was actually a repeat, but one of my regional favorites, just off the interstate in Crab Orchard.  Lovely Ozone Falls was flowing well thanks to all the rain recently and I had it all to myself for my brief visit there.

As I headed back east through Crossville, I stopped for a quick look at the interesting  and historical Cumberland Homestead Tower there.  Built in the 1930's, it and scores of the surrounding houses in the planned New Deal community all made of the beautiful "crab orchard sandstone" are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

My first of the three unique places I wanted to visit came next at the fairly new Head of Sequatchie State Park well north of Pikeville.  This tiny outflow pictured above is the source of the long, wide and meandering Sequatchie River which I grew up near about 60 miles or so downstream.  I got lucky to see this since the park is actually closed in winter except on the weekends, but the gate was open and by the time I parked, a kindly caretaker gentlemen allowed me to have a quick look and take a few pictures.  My good luck continued as the day continued.  This beautiful area is definitely a place to return to and explore in the future.

 The second unique spot I visited was the amazing Isha Institute USA, an inner -sciences retreat near McMinnville. I only stopped long enough to snap this picture of their Adiyogi:  The Abode of Yoga, a 30,000 square foot structure costing millions of dollars.  It even had a little snow still on it from last night.  I definitely would like to return here to explore some more since it is open to visitors and you can even stay overnight.  They own a large amount of surrounding land also with hiking trails that include waterfalls.  

My next stop was not new, but it's been a helluva long time since I have been here and I forgot what an amazing place it is.  Twin Falls in Rock Island State Park north of McMinnville are incredible and it was a perfect day for a visit.  Although technically "man-made" by a dam's construction upstream forcing excess river flow through caverns and dumping out back downstream, it's still an awesome site.  I definitely want to return here sometime and maybe try my hand at fishing for walleye and muskie in the beautiful Caney Fork River that the falls flow into or even rent a cabin for an overnight stay. 

My last unique stop was The Burlap Room Beer Garden and Taphouse in Smithville.  I have heard about this beer bar located in a long-standing tree and plant nursery for a while now and have been wanting to visit.  It is also the home tap-house for the nano-brewery, Von Seitz TheoreticAles.  The only Von Seitz brew that they had on tap, pictured above, was the very good Flanders sour called A Moment in Time.  Aging it in cab sav wine barrels gives it a sweeter less harsh taste than most sours I have had...and disliked.  I finished with a half-pint pour of Farmer Dave's White Winter Wizard Wit from nearby Calfkiller Brewing over in Sparta.  I only had a half-pint since I poured it myself (badly) while the barkeep was busy working in the nursery.  He left me in charge and I welcomed another beer-traveller and UNTAPPD disciple, Robert, from over at Cookeville where he teaches at Tennessee Tech.  We became fast friends in person and on UNTAPPD and he has an impressive number of check-ins like moi.   I feel lucky to have met Robert and luckier still when the barkeep gave us each a free bomber bottle of Von Seitz beer to take with us.  Thanks, man!   I will definitely be back here as soon as possible.   

The other "lucky" find while at The Burlap Room was a TV show that was on starring a beautiful and impressive young lady known as, Darcizzle.  Yes, her blonde hair and amazing body got my attention at first, but then what was equally beautiful to watch was here deep-sea angling ability,  deft filleting of what she caught, and just overall toughness out on the ocean.  She's not just there to be pretty.  She handles her own rod (insert tasteless joke here), reels  in the sometimes massive fish on her own, unhooks them, and prepares the one she keeps!  A little more research finds that  her actual name is Darci Arahill and that I am woefully late to the Darcizzle Party as she is a well-known YouTube (and now regular TV, I guess) star worth millions and with tons of followers on Instagram. 

OK, one more silly stop on the way back home was to grab this shot of the somewhat famous (hey, it's mentioned in Wikipedia, so it's gotta be important, right?) Allen Bluff Mule in Liberty.  This way I have record of it in case it ever goes away, although according to local legend it's been there for well over 100 years.  Who knows, but it was a fun way to cap off a secret, fun day to myself.  Cheers! 

Lebanon Poker Night, I had to cover for my partner, Chip, who couldn't make it for the game tonight.  I got a variety 3-pack at Providence Wine and Spirits to take with me.  I toasted all of them to our poker friend, Richard Whitener, who we sadly lost last year.  We miss you, Rich! First up was a tasty and refreshing pint can of Stillwater's World Famous Pilsner (NY).  Next up was a can of the excellent double IPA called Galaxy High (2019) from MadTree Brewing (Cincinnati).  I finished the night with another pint can.  This was the very good oatmeal stout called Even More Little Tiny Baby Jesus from Evil Twin Brewing (NY).  I finished 5th which kept our team in the lead in points, but those behind us did gain ground.  So, it's down to the last 3 games to see who goes to Vegas with Chip playing two of the remaining games and me one.

2/29 - It was a historic day here in Music City today, as our brand new MLS team, Nashville Soccer Club were taking on my current favorite MLS team, Atlanta United, at Nissan Stadium for their first-ever regular-season game.  I bought two tickets from my friend, Nate, who has season tickets, but couldn't make this game.  Bad for him, good for me!!  My friend, Danny, went with me since Ashlee had a scheduling conflict. There were over 50,000 tickets sold before today!

I met Danny early for some pregame libations.  After parking at the stadium, we took an Uber over to East Nashville from the Quality Inn nearby.  I had to take a look at their "famous" indoor guitar-shaped pool while waiting on our ride.  Does it remind you of anyone else's outdoor backyard pool?

We headed over to Smith and Lentz Brewing in East Nasville for some pre-game party libations.  The place was packed and we were lucky to find a table open up. I started with their excellent IPA (photo above) called Melanie, From Cali.  
(Editor's note:  a few short days later Smith and Lentz suffered severe tornado damage, but no loss of life thankfully.)

Oh yeah, Happy Leap Day, everybody!  My second beer at Smith and Lentz Brewing earned me this rare UNTAPPD badge.  I had their solid oatmeal stout called You've Changed.  

Back at the stadium before the game, the tail-gaiting was large and flowing with brews.  I don't remember them letting you have these much beer out in the open at Titans games.  Cheers!  

Nate's seats are pretty good in the north-end goal.  It was a great, competitive game with Atlanta eeking out a 2-1 win on a controversial second goal.  There was a pregame mini-concert with Judah and the Lion.  The national anthem was sung by Chip Eston of the "Nashville" TV show fame. Nashville's own, Fat Bottom Brewing, has two new beers dedicated to the new team and I had one of them, a pint can of Pitch Invasion Lager (Nashville Soccer Club) and it was pretty good despite the biting cold temps during the game.  More history was made tonight also as it was announced that the attendance had swelled to a final count of 59,069, making the largest crowd to ever see a soccer game in Tennessee!  The only downer of the night came later when it was reported that my favorite player, Josef Martinez, of ATL UTD has suffered an ACL tear that would keep him out for a good while.  Get well soon, Viper.  

3/1 - I am kinda proud of my first week fully using the new Mirror Interactive Fitness Device that Ashlee invested in recently.  I am just in the beginner classes, but a start is a start.

I had a pretty successful night in online poker tonight with my first-ever double-cash in the nightly crazy pineapple tournaments on Global Poker.  I got fourth in the early game, and an improved 2nd place in the late game vs. 40 other players and turning my $5 investment into $40+ in earnings.  

3/1 - I took a half-day off today and headed to Opry Mills to catch the new horror/thriller film, The Invisible Man in IMAX.  I am not much into horror movies and wasn't super jazzed about this movie, but it was getting good reviews and it was kind of my only new option to see with my Regal Unlimited membership.  Plus, the director is  Leigh Whannell who directed one of my favorite films of 2018, the highly underrated Upgrade.  This movie was fine, but didn't do much for me overall.  The invisibility special effects were great as was the story of how it was created, but it was basically just a stalker/jump-scare movie...whoopdee-do.  I also don't care for the lead actress much either although she's very popular.  There will definitely be a sequel which I might have slight interest in.  We shall see.  

After the movie, I stopped by the Catch 22 gastro-pub in Mt. Juliet for some tasty wings and a couple of brews.  I started with the solid and tasty stout from Rhinegeist Brewing (Cincinnati) called Moose.  I ended with a light and interesting witbier on nitro called Limoncello First Impressions (photo above) from 4 Hands Brewing (St. Louis). It was a great combo of lemon and vanilla.

3/3 - I usually avoid talking about work on here since most of these entries involve me getting away from it, but the next few days will become my most memorable working at Middle Tennessee Electric.  Our county (as well as East Nashville and Cookeville on either side of us) were ravaged early this morning by some of the worst tornado activity I have ever witnessed.  I got the call to come in at 2 AM and didn't leave until 17 hours later.  I spent most of the day drawing jobs from one end of service area to the other where poles and line had been completely destroyed.  The damage assessment points are shown on the map above in almost perfectly straight line across northern Wilson County.  How we only lost 3 people in this chaos is beyond me.  Our home was unscathed and we are extremely grateful and humbled by that fact since so many others were not spared.
When I finally did get home, I cracked open a well-deserved pint can of a deliciously hoppy pilsner called Sonnenaufgang from Foreign Objects Brewing (NY).  A solemn toast to those who lost so much.

3/4 - Today I moved outside and into the devastation to help out where I could.  Two other guys and I drove through a large fairly-new subdivision and pulled over 70 meters from homes that had been totally or significantly damaged enough that they would either need to be rebuilt from the ground-up or have massive restoration before power could be back on.  I was proud of my work today, but it was nothing compared to our linemen, plus many other contract and utility crews who were out there rebuilding the miles of line that were destroyed.  Thanks to my company's Facebook page for the photo above.
While I only clocked in 12-hours today, this was my most significant and affecting day seeing all the damage up close and personal.  It was rather overwhelming at times and I will never forget what I saw.  I cracked open a pint can of an outstanding New England IPA called Powder Dreams (Dry Hopped w/Mosaic Lupulin Powder, SImcoe and Ella Hops) when I got home and raised it to all those dedicated linemen out there and everywhere keeping the lights on for us.
Even though I probably should have been in bed, I eeked out a late-night second-place finish in another Crazy Pineapple Tournament on Global Poker tonight for about $50 in profit vs. 49 other players.

3/5 - I logged in 13.5 hours today doing an array of tasks including more meter pulling, delivering materials to crews on site,  designing and drawing jobs, etc.  I also got to walk through the home (or what was left of it) of one of my co-workers whose house took a direct hit and they survived by laying in the central hallway of the small structure.  Truly incredible.  We made great progress today restoring power to what was 20,000 meters after the tornado hit to just under 2,000.  It's a great feeling.
When I got home I happily popped open another pint can from the old RCC, Refrigerator-Crisper Collection.  It was another solid New England IPA called Specter from Fulton Beer Company (Minneapolis).  I snapped the screen-grab photo above the night of the tornado and I think I basically captured the tornado cell.  The width shown in pink is pretty close to the size of the large damage-path that tore through our county.   As devastating as it was here, the death toll and destruction was much higher in Cookeville (one of my favorite little beer towns) to the east.  I raise this one in honor of the 20+ killed in that area, most probably while they lay sleeping.  

3/6 - "Let the clouds roll away, it's time for some blue skyyyyyy!" - Queensryche "Jet City Woman."  That song has been on my mind recently since I am seeing lead singer, Geoff Tate,  perform it solo next week, but even more with the events of this week where we've been blessed with blue skies and mild weather to get most our downed power lines and snapped poles back up and humming with power.  I put in another 12-hour day today, so I deserved a brew tonight, plus it's Friday and let's face it...it's been a helluva week!  I dipped into the RCC again and fished out a pint can from Clown Shoes Brewing (Boston) called Don't Fear the Blender # 2.  It's a fantastic milkshake IPA made with strawberry and raspberry puree.  

3/8 - I headed over to the Opry Mills Theaters this afternoon to catch a showing of the new film, Seberg, based on the life of actress, Jean Seberg.  It was an interesting look at how the FBI n the late 1960's harassed this poor woman to death (literally) for her association with "radical" groups like The Black Panters.  It was very well done with Kristen Stewart in the title role.  And, yes, I do like that haircut!  As a bonus, I also got to see the Oscar-winning and very sweet animated short, Hair Love, before the film.  Afterwards, I headed over to Various Artists Brewing and enjoyed a pint of their IPA called Baby Pigeon out on their deck under warm sunny skies.  

3/12 - I braved the coronavirus scare and went back to the late 1980's/early 1990's tonight with a show at the historic Exit/In  featuring Geoff Tate, formerly of the heavy-metal band, Queensryche, performing the band's entire 1990 album, "Empire" (one of my favorites) for it's 30th Anniversary plus their earlier second album from 1986, "Rage for Order" in its entirety also..  God, I feel old!  Joining me was my friend, John, who is one of the few people I know who still likes and clings to heavy metal music even more than I do these days.  We had dinner beforehand at O'Sake Sushi just down the street.   Before the show and dinner, I also stopped by the Hurry Back beer bar next to the Exit/In.  It's good to see this place back in business after a recent fire and now connected to Exit/In...literally...you have to walk thru Hurry Back to enter Exit/In now.  I started with the solid Cloud Harvest 01 New England-style IPA from Rhinegeist Brewing (Cincinnati).  Next up was the excellent Horchata 10W-40 Imperial Stout from Hi-Wire Brewing over in Asheville, NC.  After dinner, I picked up a lovely Cake Therapy pastry stout from TrimTab Brewing (Birmingham, AL) to enjoy during the show which was excellent by the way.

3/14 - It was a very surreal weekend and the country as the world are self-enforcing social distancing to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.  We stayed at home the entire time and I cracked open a free bomber bottle of beer I got recently called Mollys Gruit, an ancient herbed ale from Von Seitz TheoreticAles over in Smithville.  The barkeep at The Burlap Room gave me and my new UNTAPPD friend, Robert, each of bottle of it on our way out on a slow weekday.  Now I know why.  It just wasn't that good.  Very earthy and hard to finish honestly.  

Might as well have some beer humor through these hard times...

3/15 - Stuck at home, I played online poker most of the weekend and besides these two almost back-to-back full-houses with my favorite treys (neither of which netted me much of a pot), I took some of the worst bad-beats I have ever endured.  Oof!  What a forgettable weekend!  

3/16 - If you can't go to the movie theaters, might as well do a little pay-per-view.  I missed Black and Blue in the theaters a while back, and had heard good things about it, so I cued it up tonight.  Good flick and well worth the seven bucks!   My favorite character in the film was Mike Colter's portrayal of menacing drug kingpin, Darius Terrow.  

3/17 - It was a fairly silent and surreal St. Patty's Day today with everything that's going on.  I did crack open a bomber bottle of beer at home from the Refrigerator Crisper Collection for the occasion.  It was the excellent Whiskey Barrel Aged Diatomaceous Irish dry stout from Hutton and Smith Brewing down in Chattanooga.  This was hand-bottled # 56 of this limited edition seasonal that was aged five weeks in a Chattanooga Whiskey barrel.  

3/21 - Ashlee and I just had to get out of the house today after a couple weeks of social distancing.  We decided to head east to some places without a lot of people.  We had a fun day-trip that culminated at Lily Pad Hopyard Brewing across the road from the Obed River, a national wild and scenic river, in Lancing, Tennessee.  I brought a couple half-growlers along and filled them with Ginga-cocoa Ale (Ashlee loves ginger-flavored beer) and their Ferocious IPA.  I sipped both on the way home and enjoyed them very much 

Whoa!  Talk about "the circle of life!" This keg urinal at Lilypad Brewing is awesome! 

I usually don't report a fourth-place finish on Global Poker, but this one's definitely worth noting based on the severe bad beats and coolers I have experienced over the last couple weeks online.  This one had a bunch of players with 154 registered with unlimited rebuys and add-ons.  My $6 investment added up to over $90 in profit.  

3/22 - I had some more online poker success today.  This time it was on Poker Stars and a local home-game $100 stuck-at-home-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic tournament arranged by the host of the WSOP online series that I won a seat at recently.  I was able to do a 3-way chop for $400 in profit!!  I happily forwarded 10% of my winnings to the Mewsic Kitty Cafe which had to shut down recently due to the Covid-19 virus and is running a GoFundMe campaign to take care of the kitties that are there.  The organizer is going to run more of these tournaments, so I hope I can have some continued success with them since they have great structure.  

3/23 - I got my favorite hand of quad treys on Global Poker again today, but they didn't lead to any overall success unfortunately.  

3/25 - Well, I didn't get to see the new comic book based film, Bloodshot, on IMAX as planned thanks to this crappy virus pandemic, but the studio did release it to stream and own earlier than anticipated because of it.  So I bought it in HD today on Amazon Prime to watch on my computer since it was about the same price as an IMAX ticket.  And since I am working from home right now, and there's not a lot going on at work, I needed the time-kill.  The movie is decent and was worth my time in this unprecedented situation. I especially liked some of the supporting characters because Vin Diesel will always be Riddick to me.  

3/26 - I rented another new film today in HD on Amazon Prime that I originally wanted to see in theaters, but missed it.  I am not a huge fan of the slow, plodding style of Terrence Malick as a filmmaker, but A Hidden Life seemed like an intriguing WWII/Nazi Regime story and also looked beautifully shot from what I had seen in the trailer.  It turned out to be (surprise) slow and plodding, but it is based on a very important and true story and was, yes, shot beautifully.    

Woof!  To say the least! Nearly a month without any sports has been weird enough, but why did it have to be in March!!  .

3/29 - The weather was just too nice not to sit out on the patio and look at our freshly-opened pool with chilly, chilly water in it, and not crack open a brew or two.  I raided the RCC again and dug out this fantastic bomber bottle of  Dead 'n' Dead, which is Rogue Ales' (OR) flag-ship Dead Guy Ale aged in Dead Guy Whiskey barrels.  Social distancing ain't that bad if ya got good beer! 

I guess this "location" tag has become very used on UNTAPPD lately.  

I continued the good times and good drinking with another bomber bottle from the RCC.  This time it was the awesome Reboog Roadtrip 2: Are We There Yet?, an interesting and creative collaboration between Nashville's own Southern Grist Brewing and the Garagiste Meadery in Tampa, Florida.  360 pounds of wildflower honey, peanut butter and the largest dose of cacao nibs they've ever used resulted in a sweet and smooth super-dark product that will be hard to forget.

I enjoyed my second bomber of beer kicked back in the hammock by the pool (even with my old pal, Zippy, for a while who hasn't laid on this with me in years) playing online poker on my phone.  The world may be closed, but the pool and our backyard oasis is open for business!!  

I had some pretty good success with the online poker.  I cashed in a big $22 tournament on Global with over 1,400 people in it and tripled my money.  Later on, I got fourth in the same $100 online home tournament on Poker Stars that I chopped last week.  This week it was vs. 22 other players, and I doubled my buy-in.  I took the 10% of winnings I always give back and bought a couple of $10 Beer Bonds from The Picnic Tap in Nashville to be redeemed when they open back up after all this Covid-19 madness.  Hey, just doing my part for the "war effort."  

Clever joke...and, hey, it's a rabbit with a beer!  Cheers, Hazel-rah! 

Clarks-Vegas, DUKE @ UNC, and geauxing to la LA Land

Must have been a Miller Lite.  No one would waste good craft beer on that POS (and, no, that was not a typo for POTUS).

1/26 - I headed over to the Hollywood 27 Theaters in Nashville (recliners!) today to catch a showing of the Vietnam War true-story-based film The Last Full Measure.  It was fantastic and I even teared up more than once.  Why are movies this great and stories this important marketed so poorly?  Why waste money marketing the next Marvel movie out the wazoo when everyone's going to see it anyway?  So frustrating. Before the movie, I stopped by The Black Abbey Brewing Company for a couple of of libations.  I had their terrific Brigit's Flame strong ale. It's a brown ale aged in Jameson Irish Whiskey barrels for 10 months.  I followed that up with the decent limited series small batch blonde ale called Coconutty Life of a Brewer's Wife which I thought could have used a bit more "coconutty" flavor.  

1/28 - I had my first rather large online win of 2020 on Global Poker tonight with a first-place finish in a No Limit Hold Em tournament with one rebuy and an add-on vs. 72 other players.  I did add-on, so my $6 investment banked me around $130 in profit.  

1/29 - I headed over to Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet tonight to catch a showing of the new British crime comedy, The Gentlemen.  Thanks, Regal Unlimited!  I really enjoyed the film.  Witty, fast-paced and well-written and acted.  I took a coat-pocket brew with me, naturally.  It was a pint can of the very good double IPA called Wide World from TrimTab Brewing (Birmingham, AL).from my Andy's Christmas Variety Collection. 

1/31 - I had a legit day off today and headed into Nashville to the Hollywood 27 Theaters (recliners!) to catch a matinee showing of the new action thriller, The Rhythm Section, starring the luscious Blake Lively. The movie was OK, but kind of forgettable in terms of characters and story.

My first stop of the day was a leisurely breakfast at Waffle House.  Afterwards with some time to kill before the movie, I sought out the very little known West Meade Falls west of downtown Nashville.  It was a rainy day, and the small stream was trickling, but it will have to be after near flooding to see this baby actually flowing.  I will keep it in mind for the next ideal conditions because it is easy to access.

Since I was on the west side of town I decided to stop at the Southern Grist Taproom in The Nations for my first libation of the day.  I started with the Chatty Night dark lager which I didn't notice was actually from Heaven and Ale Brewing, one of my favorites down in Chattanooga.  A very pleasant mistake!  I looked more carefully at their draft list next and chose their own Meddling in Minutia double IPA next and it was solid as usual.  These guys do some of my favorite local IPAs.  

I also stopped at the always-dependable Craft Brewed tap room before the movie and had time for one super-hoppy and delicious beer called Tears of Rage - DDH Mandrina Bavaria + Amarillo + Idaho7 session IPA from Printship Brewing up in Knoxville. Ding! Ding! Ding!  This is another new-to-me regional brewery that I will have to seek out next time I up in Big Orange Country.  It's kind of looking like a brewery crawl of Knoxville might be worth a look as well like I am about to do in Clarksville.

After the movie I finished up the day the Catch 22 Gastropub in Mt. Juliet  where I had the excellent Coffee and Milk Pinstripe Stout from Blue Pants Brewing (AL) which UNTAPPD says is no longer in production...lucky me! I finished up with a decent Garage Beer light lager from Braxton Brewing (KY).  I love Catch 22's catering van which is an homage to the classic TV show, "The A-Team."

2/1 - I drove up to Clarksville today to participate in a weekend brewery tour with my friends Craig, Barry and Barry's daughter, Meghan.  Surprisingly, this smallish Tennessee town has a half dozen craft breweries within the city limits.  Having a college in town as well as a huge military base just to the north probably attributes to this fact.  I have had a few of these breweries' wares over the years in and around Nashville, but have never visited any of them in person.  In fact, I can't remember every visiting downtown Clarksville either.  They did have seven breweries, but one called Gladiator Brewing closed down recently.  Word is a couple more are opening soon as well.  

We all met up at our first stop, The Star Spangled Brewing Company which is out by the interstate in an industrial area.  As the name implies, this brewery was started by a military veteran and has a lot of ties to nearby Ft. Campbell.  In fact, Meghan, said the recently lost their head brewer to deployment!  Meghan lives here in Clarksville and loves craft beer, so she is in the know and was great to have as a guide.  She actually thought we should avoid this one since they had lost their brewer and quality had been down recently.  But, I wanted to visit them all, so we knocked it off early.  I had a rather decent New England IPA called Pineapple Express.  

This ladies pouring the beer at Star Spangled heard we were doing a brewery crawl and showed us this brand-new brochure the city of Clarksville just put out.  They stole my idea!!  

Next stop was the Tennessee Valley Brewing Company which is located in a strip-mall outside of downtown Clarksville.  It's location in a shopping area made their sign out front all the funnier.  The place was hopping for early on a Saturday afternoon, but we were able to squeeze in and I had a pint of their very good Bastogne Brown ale.  The name comes from the 1st Brigade Combat Team out of Ft. Campbell.

I found us a great Airbnb house rental in Clarksville for me and Craig and Alison.  It was the entire bottom-half of a split-level home in a nice, older neighborhood with huge wooded lots and deer everywhere!  It was roomy and had a cool ping-pong table plus a nice sitting area and two large beds.

It was on to downtown Clarksville now where we would finish out the day,  Strawberry Alley Ale Works is a super-nice (and new) restaurant and brewery located in where else, Strawberry Alley!  Their Belgian Golden (photo above) was probably my favorite beer of the day.  And the food was fantastic.  This place would definitely get me to come back or stop by at another time.

Our next stop was the oddest of the day.  Tiny nano-brewery, Evill Nash Brewing, is a one-made operation set up in a former rib-joint restaurant.  Only open since May, this little place may not be here in a year, but I hope they are.  The brewer, who trained in the beer-rich San Diego area. told us that he had his sites set on Nashville. Hence, the play on "Nash Vill E" in the brewery name, but then found it much more budget-friendly in Clarksville.  He's doing some unique stuff here, but man, it was dead on a Saturday night.  Since we were now Uber-ing, I could switch to flights and tried the following:  the OK Evill Dubbel (it was so new I had to add it to UNTAPPD); the best of the lot, the Ryeonheart Scotch Ale, the decent Peppermint Mocha Black Lager and the solid Lil Vixen Dunkelweizen.  We did have a fun time here as I got to, surprisingly, introduce everyone to the bawdy and hilarious game, "Cards Against Humanity."  I wish this guy luck in his endeavors.  

Our fifth and final brewery of the day was Kings Bluff Brewery over near Austin Peay University.  Unlike our last stop this also-small place was booming and we were lucky to get a table to sit at.  I went for a flight again, of course, and here's how they went down:  their Austin Peaylsner was light and tasty; the Customs House Red Ale was OK; the Black Feather IPA was pretty good: and the sweet and tasty, Bun and Cream Stout was a great closer.  .

We took a short walk afterwards for a late-evening bite to eat at a long-time Clarksville staple, Johnny's Big Burger where the burgers are big, tasty and CHEAP!  Yummers!!  What a great way to close out a fun day in Clarks-Vegas!  This little city on the Cumberland River is definitely doing it right! 

2/2 - We slept in today and headed our separate ways.  The subdivision where our rental house was located directly across from Dunbar Cave State Park, so I took a nice stroll around to start my day.  This cool shot above from inside the entrance was as far as you can go in the cave without a tour guide.
  I planned on having lunch and another brew or two in Clarksville before heading home at the sixth and final brewery there, the Blackhorse Pub and Brewery.  I did have lunch there and it was good.  I could have had all the booze I wanted too...but no beer til noon??  WTH?  Stupid Tennessee laws.  Well, I have had some of Blackhorse's wares before, but I wasn't waiting around an hour to try more, so I headed back south instead.  

I did stop at one of my favorite new Nashville breweries on the way home, Living Waters Brewing in East Nashville is creating some great stuff.  This was the fantastic Alsea  IPA named after a waterfall in Oregon.  Man, look at that lacing! 

I did unlock a fun badge with my check-in at Living Waters since it was Super Bowl Sunday, but since I didn't have any skin in the game, I didn't even have a brew while watching it.  I am happy for the KC Chiefs for taking it down since it makes my Titans look even better in their run this season.  

2/6 - I went to opening-night of the new DC Comics movie, Birds of Prey in IMAX at The Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville tonight.  Before the movie I stopped by my usual haunt, the Blossom Thai and Cellar Door Craft Cavern for dinner and a craft beer.  With my tasty meal of beef rama,  I had a can (their draft taps weren't working) of the very good Dulce De Leche Stout from Untitled Art Brewing (WI).  The movie was great and moved fast.  I was glad it was rated R, or it might have just been silly.

2/7-  I celebrated 20 years at Middle Tennessee Electric today and was blessed with a beautiful snow day.  This shot is from Cedars of Lebanon State Park.  I toasted my two decades at MTEMC when I got home with my last special-release bomber bottle from New Heights Brewing in Nashville.  It was the boozy and tasty Wild Turkey Barrel Aged Navel Gazer (Blended) stout.  It was blended with their Gobsmacked Barley Wine and then aged for 20 months in a Wild Turkey bourbon barrel.

2/8 - I took advantage of a ho-hum under .500 basketball season by the North Carolina Tar Heels to grab a reasonably-priced ticket to my beloved 7th-ranked Duke Blue Devils vs. UNC game tonight at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC.  This has been on my bucket-list for a very long time, so this last-minute decision and long weekend road-trip seemed to be a must.  And, it paid off in spades!!  

I headed out early and with only a stop for breakfast outside Knoxville, I didn't stop again until I got to just outside tiny Claremont, NC, to take a look at the historic Bunker Hill Covered Bridge, one of only two surviving covered bridges in North Carolina.  Built in 1895 and spanning Lyle Creek, she's a little beauty that the local historical society have done a great job saving and restoring.  The short walk from the parking lot to the bridge felt good on my legs after such a long drive.

The long round-trip of around 1,000 miles went by easier thanks to a pretty good audio book I bought called "The Churchgoeer" by Patrick Coleman.   I got a great rate on a rental car from Hertz at the Nashville airport.  I chose a new Honda Civic that did a fine job.  

My next stop wasn't very far in the pretty town of Statesville, NC, for a brew at the relatively new Red Buffalo Brewing.  I had their Clock Tower 1892 IPA which was superb.

Once I got to Chapel Hill I checked into my hotel (a decent La Quinta Inn and Suites for a great price per Hotwire), I headed toward the UNC campus on to the small bordering town of Carrboro, NC, where I parked in a public lot across the street from Steel String Brewery.  I had their very good Up On the Hill session IPA before calling an Uber and heading over to the Dean Dome.

My front-row mezzanine seat was awesome for the game in the Dean Dome. Despite their record, UNC played out of their minds with good defense and white-hot shooting throughout the game.  They jumped out to 10-point lead early on and never relinquished; pumping it up to a 13-point lead with about 4 minutes left in the game.  THEN DUKE CAME TO LIFE AND THE GAME BECAME AN INSTANT-CLASSIC!!  After cutting the lead to just three with seconds remaining, Duke's outstanding point-guard, Tre Jones, was intentionally fouled by UNC and went to the line where he sank the first free-throw, and then pulled off a perfect intentional missed free throw that came back to him where he sank a two-point shot as the buzzer sounded, sending it to OVERTIME! 
BONUS BASKETBALL!! - Duke got down again in overtime after giving up an early 5-point lead.  Tre Jones was at the line again and tied it with his first free throw at 96-96.  He missed his second shot, but the ball got tipped around and then superstar freshmen, Wendell Moore, tipped in a missed shot as the buzzer expired again to give Duke a stunning 98-96 win.  One for the ages and I WAS THERE!!  I feel so blessed to have made this decision to buy a ticket and make the trip.  What an experience!! 

After the game, I wandered down to a corner of the arena near the court where a nice little contingent of Duke fans were gathered and celebrating.  The security wouldn't let you on the floor like I have experienced at Cameron Indoor Stadium and at Hinkle Fieldhouse, but I did get to touch a corner of it to make this victory shot.  Although not historic, I will give the Dean Dome credit as a good place to watch a game.  Great site lines and set-up.  Seeing their 7 National Championship banners and Michael Jordan's retired jersey number hanging in the rafters is impressive and even though I hate them, I liked UNC Coach Roy Williams' quote from the after-game press conference projected in the arena:

"If you don't care who won the game, you had to enjoy that as a big-time college basketball game,  I care who won the game, so I did not enjoy the final outcome."

Here are two fun Facebook links about the game (from a Duke perspective, of course) with the top 5 plays including the two buzzer-beaters and then the celebration in the locker room afterwards:

TOP FIVE DUKE PLAYS

CELEBRATION AFTER THE INSTANT CLASSIC

After the game it took a while to get an Uber even though a lot of the crowd was gone by the time I went outside, but eventually I did get a ride back to Steel String Brewery.  I was going to go to a different brewery, but I was tired, it was late and it was a pretty long drive to it, so I decided to just have another one or two here.  Another great decision!  I had two excellent brews and met a nice couple of Duke fans from Pennsylvania who were doing the same thing I was with a long weekend road-trip to see our boys play here in enemy territory.  I started with the fantastic Schwarz Hole Sun (I get your Soundgarden reference there) schwarzbier.  I said in my UNTAPPD entry for it that it was "as dark as a Tarheel's mood tonight. GO DUKE!!"  I finished with their equally great IPA called Dodging Lions before heading back to the hotel for a blissful sleep of victory! 

2/9 - The choice was a  free hotel breakfast or a chicken-n-cheddar cat-head from Sunrise Biscuit Company in Chapel Hill?  It's really no contest.  The only GOOD thing in Chapel Hill!!  

Before hitting the road west, I stopped by the quiet and beautiful Duke University campus for a selfie with the Duke Chapel.  Man, what a gorgeous place.  Four years is way too long between visits.  I can't wait to come back again!  

The drive home was long, but the weather was nice and I just had to get a sniff of the mountains as I passed back through them from North Carolina to Tennessee.  I took an exit of I-40 at the  Harmon Den Wildlife Management Area within the Pisgah National Forest with the intent of possibly checking out Max Patch Bald which was only 8 miles off the interstate, but the road soon turned steep and gravelly, and slow, and since I was a little pressed for time, I had to turn back.  I did enjoy checking out Cold Springs Creek which was flowing well from recent wet weather.  I will definitely have to come back by this beautiful area when I have more time.

My only other stop of real interest was in Knoxville at the relatively new Printshop Beer Company.  I had recently had one of their brews back in Nashville and really like it, so it made sense to drop by and check them out on my way home.  Both beers I had here were outstanding.  I started with their standard rye beer infused with coffee and they call it Gravy.  I was impressed enough with their rye to try another interesting combination of a rye/saison called Stray Coordinates (photo above).  Beautiful color and taste with a saison start and a lingering rye finish.  I will definitely have to come back by here next time I am in Big Orange Country! 

2/11 - It was a little late, but Ashlee and I cracked open the bomber bottle of Delirium Noel/Chirstmas from Huyghe Brewery (Belgium) tonight that she had bought at Christmas down in Destin.  The tasty winter warmer went great with some awesome bleu cheese I ordered from Kenny's Farmhouse up in Kentucky that arrived today.  

2/15 - Ashlee and I scheduled a Louisiana visit over the holiday weekend.  We flew into New Orleans and headed west to Oak Alley Plantation where we stayed overnight in one of their nice cottages on site.  They have a little bar on site as well called "Spirits" and while their beer choices weren't much, I did have my first Dixie Lager which was historically mass-produced over in New Orleans, but is reborn now as a microbrewery there .  It was pretty tasty as a strolled beneath the live oaks of this historic (some of which is very sad) place.

2/16 -  We continued west this morning with a stop in Baton Rouge on the campus of the defending college football national champs, the LSU Tigers.  The stadium and campus are impressive.  It would be awesome to see a game down here some time.  

We continued northwest out of Cajun country and to the charming little down of Natchidoches, Louisiana (that's pronounced "nach-co-dish") where one of our favorite movies was filmed, Steel Magnolias.  A fairly new addition to this historic town is Cane River Brewing which is housed in a historic refurbished cotton gin building. We both did flights of four of their different brews.  In no particular order and off whose paddle we had their:  decent Watermelon Ale; not great Cane River Brewing Burnt Peach; pretty good Cane River Pilsner; excellent Tangerine Ale; ok Cane River Porter; very good Cane River IPA; solid Cane River Brown Ale; and a pretty good Wheat.  

Our reason for visiting this out-of-the-way town was to actually stay in the house used in the filming a lot of Steel Magnolias.  The amazing thing was that we had the six-room bed-and-breakfast to ourselves for the night!   We fired up the movie on DVD in the den and kicked back with pizza for dinner a few more libations from Cane River Brewing.  I started with a can of their very good Cane River APA, followed by a pint can of their tasty Demon Lager (named for the town's college mascot, the Northwestern State Demons).

2/17 - We headed back to The Big Easy today and hit Bourbon Street first and foremost which was just around the corner from our nice hotel in the French Quarter.  We both grabbed a tasty Who Dat Golden Ale from Urban South Brewing here in New Orleans as our "walking beer" from a small corner bar as we explored this fascinating place once again.  

After checking out historic Congo Square we literally stumbled upon a great beer bar called The Black Penny over on Rampart Street.  This place has a tremendous selection of canned craft beer at very reasonable prices.  I started with a hoppy and delicious Voodoo Pale Ale from Tin Roof Brewing over in Baton Rouge.  My next "walking beer" came from this can pictured above with very cool can art.  The Holy Roller IPA from Urban South Brewing here in NOLA was excellent.

We went by Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar on Bourbon Street tonight since it's supposedly one of the oldest bars in the U.S., but it was crowded and the craft beer selection wasn't worth the wait.  I had better luck at dinner at the very cool (and very old, circa 1914) Napolean House where I had a bottle of the solid India Pale Ale from Second Line Brewing here in New Orleans.

2/18 - It was fly-home day, but before we headed to the airport, we had time for a terrific lunch at Cafe Amelie over on Royal Street.  Our table overlooked their beautiful courtyard and my bottle of Envie pale ale from Parish Brewing over in Broussard, LA, went down smooth and easy.  So long, NOLA, we will definitely be back.  I was impressed with your better craft beer availability than I have experienced here in the past.  

Since I started this blog post with kind of a nasty, mean picture, I figured I would end it with a positive picture in celebration of craft beer and of Valentine's Day.  XOXOXO