PUBlin, Ireland

I took a rather quick trip to Ireland with my wife, Ashlee, and besides a whole lot of Guinness (16 pints if I counted right) I found some pretty good less known Irish beers and microbrews along the way.

The first came while still in the U.S. at the Newark Airport as we awaited our flight to Dublin. I had a Brooklyn IPA 20 oz. draught that was excellent. Brooklyn's a strong contender in the U.S. microbrew market and I have been pleased with their product in the past and they did not disappoint with their IPA.

Of course, no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit to the amazing Guinness Brewery. The story of the Guinness empire is great, the tour was great and the beer is great (sorry, I didn't taste a real difference between a pint in Ireland vs. a pint in the U.S. although it may be a just a hint more watery here, but that may not have anything to do with the brewing process). I highly recommend a visit and a tour and will probably do it again if I get a chance because jet lag kicked in during our tour and I do feel I missed a few things because the place is enormous. It was also cool to visit the brewery during their 250th Anniversary...not that they are making a big deal of it or anything (ha ha).

Also while in Dublin we had a great pub crawl thanks to a little research on the internet by yours truly before our trip. Our first stop was The Bull & Castle - a pub, German-style beer hall and restaurant all rolled into one. They specialize in microbrews including several Irish brands. I started with the Galway Hooker IPA draught. It was extremely good with great body and finish, but not chock full of hops as I was hoping. Although it's named after the famous Irish fishing boats of the port city of Galway, it's always fun to order up "a hooker."

Next I ordered a small O'Hara's Stout draught. This dark and yummy concoction is heavier than Guinness and with less carbonation. It is made my Carlow Brewing and their motto is that O"hara's is the way beer "used to taste in Ireland" - an obvious dig at the worldwide monster that is Guinness.

We moved on to The Brazen Head Pub, one of Dublin's oldest pubs (Est. 1198). A very cool, charming place. Here I ordered a Macardle Ale draught. It was dark red and good to the last drop. Macardle's was an original Irish brewery that I have since discovered was closed in 2001. It was swallowed up by the Guinness empire in the 60's and is still produced by them I suppose.

Next stop, The Porterhouse. This place has no history to speak of. It's a fairly new microbrewery chain actually. However, they are producing some tremendous beer. I started with their Hop Head Ale draught. It was very hoppy as the name promised and I loved it. I deemed it best of the trip up to this point. Next up was the high-alcohol brew, Brain Blasta (photo above). It had a good taste, but my memory seems a little foggy after drinking it.

We finished our crawl at Messrs. Maguire, an excellent three-story pub overlooking the River Liffey. They also brew their own beer and I started with the Rusty Ale draught, their version of a red Irish ale. I had recovered enough from the Brain Blasta to recall that this was a good tasting beer, but nothing to go on and on about. I finished with their Bock which was also had a good taste and body.

During a day trip to the famous Blarney Castle we stopped in the village of Bunratty and I was able to try Kilkenny Smooth Ale (photo below) at the original Durty Nelly's Pub. This was a very rich orange in color ale that I enjoyed very much and would currently rank a close second in my "Best of Ireland" ranking.

On our last full day in Ireland, we went back to The Bull & Castle not only for the beer, but because it was where we had our best meal of the trip as well. I switched to some of their bottled brews on this visit and started with the Chotworthy Dobbin, a dark, bitter from Whitewater Brewing. It was OK and there was plenty of it since it came in a true pint bottle. I turned next to Belfast Ale also from Whitewater Brewing. I enjoyed this dark ale more than the Dobbin and again it came in a huge pint bottle.

My first trip to Dublin was everything I was hoping for in terms of being a tourist and a beer drinker. I hope to return someday and continue being both again.

FOOTNOTE: Back in Nashville: I had an Amarillo Pale Ale draught from Yazoo at La Paz Mexican Restaurant. It was served with a lime. It had a beautiful copper color and good clean taste that complimented the south of the border fare just right.

Southern Brewers Festival

I made it down to the 15th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend with my wife, Ashlee, and my brother-in-law, Andy, a budding beer snob. This event has really grown from the small gathering of just a few brewers setting up on the corner of the host, Big River Brewing and Restaurant, located downtown. It was so small when it started out in fact that they would run out of beer within a couple of hours of starting. But, with steady growth each year it has become what it is today, a large and anticipated downtown event held on the river at Ross' Landing with at least a couple dozen brewers from mostly around the south as the name of the festival would imply, but even some of the bigger boys from across the U.S. like Sierra Nevada and Yuengling.

They added a few "new to me" brewers this year while a couple of others I was hoping would be there were sadly missing for some reason or another - Good People Brewing from nearby Huntsville who were announced in earlier festival promotion as gong to be there this year was not to be seen, nor was Duck-Rabbit Brewing out of North Carolina who I discovered at this very same festival a few years ago.

Tickets to the event are $15 and all those proceeds go to the local "Kids on the Block" campaign and includes a commemorative plastic mug to sample beer in and one free token to use to buy one said beer. You can purchase more beer tokens for $3 each and they in turn each get you a generous 10-ounce pour of any craft beer available. Most of the microbreweries bring two or three of their offerings of various styles. There is no chance of beer running out too early nowadays as tractor-trailer loads of kegs stand nearby at the ready. The event lasts all day and into the night with a musical stage for various local bands and even the preliminary round of the World Krystal Hamburger Eating Contest being held during the festival...the winner ate 4 big Angus burgers and 42 of the little ones...wow!

A lot of the usual suspects were there representing great Southern microbrewing - Sweetwater out of Atlanta, Terrapin out of Athens, GA; Starr Hill from Virginia; Foothills from Winston-Salem, NC; Highland from Asheville, NC; and Abita out of Louisiana. A few of the "new to me" brewers that I tried included:

Moon River Brewing out of Savannah, GA - I tried their Slow Vannah Pale Ale and it was very good. Crisp and smooth.

Seven Bridges Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I tried their Sweet Magnolia American Brown Ale. Ashlee, Andy and I all gave this one the unanimous festival grand prize in our opinions. Great brown ale taste with a smooth finish and aftertaste. It's the only one I went back for seconds on.

Bold City Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I had to try their Mad Manatee IPA of course. It was decent, but nothing to blow your socks off. I also tried their Duke's Cold Nose Brown Ale. It was nice, but just didn't compare to the Seven Bridges product. It was good to see Jacksonville having some competing brewers coming out of that area.

A1A Brewing out of St. Augustine, FL - Their Red Rocket Ale was my first purchase of the day (because they were the first booth I came to) and it was a great starter. Nice, crisp Irish-style ale. Perfect for a warm summer's day on the river.

I ended the day with some Sweetwater 420s (in bottles) at the Blue Plate Restaurant adjacent to the festival as we met some friends for dinner, good conversation and a lot of laughs late into the night.

MO fun, MO beer in St. Louis MO

A recent trip to the fine city of St. Louis, MO gives me the opportunity to write another guest blog for my favorite beer blog. Some plans for Memphis were thwarted so on a whim we opted for a first time ever trip to St. Louis. A fine decision it was as we found St. Louis to be a great town.


We arrived AM Staurdayafter spending the night about an hour and a half short of our goal form getting out of town Friday evening from Paris, Tn. Straight to the Arch to get tickets which turned out to be for 1:30 PM so we had some time to kill. A couple of times around the Gateway grounds and "Expansion Memorial" museum still left us short of lunch time so, thanks to some help from a great employee at the Arch, we found Morgan Street Brewery for lunch and a brew.

Boasting 13 regular brews, and five always on tap, I was unfortunate enough to time my visit when there were no Stouts on tap so I opted for the modestly named "Red Lager." Given that they had an "Irish Stout" that they claimed was their version of Guinness Stout, I figured i'd end up with their version of Bass Ale and I wasn' far off.

When I ordered my beer it was five o'clock somewhere, but only about 11:20 AM Central time and since I had the family with me and a great deal of sight-seeing (prefereably sober) to do, I went with the pint rather than the 22 oz size. Not a bad beer at all and I would be perfectly satisfied if I had brewed it up my self, home brew style. I do intend to try that sometime soon. The picture makes it appear darker that it was and in reality it was a tad darker than a Bass and truely red. Their menu said "Similar to a Vienna style lager, our Red is the perfect compliment to a hearty meal. Full body, smooth malt flavor, and subdued hoppiness makes this beer very drinkable." I found it to be less malty (thankfully) and a bit too full bodied. It lacked a definite flavor. A bit smokey, a bit malty, a tiny bit bitter and almost no aftertaste (if I understand that term correctly). Now I am sure that if it were after dark, a live band was playing some smooth blues, and I was surrounded by a group of friends for some good conversation I would be able to drink enough of it to become the conversation, but as it was, one was enough. I finished my beer and on the next trip by, the waitress said that they had just tapped a keg of their Irish.... *sigh* Story of my life. LOL Next time I go, I try the Oatmeal Stout for sure! I love meesa Oatmeal Stout!

Writers note: read about our trip to St. Louis soon on www.molehillgardens.blogspot.com

Did Romeo Drink Beer?

The Great Carnac holds the sealed envelope to his head and ponders about what's inside. After a few second he flatly says, "Mount Juliet."

He tears open one end of the envelope, blows it open and extracts a slip of paper with a question typed neatly on it. He reads the question silently, smirks and then reads it aloud.

"What did Romeo do on his wedding night."

The audience erupts in laughter.

Does anyone else miss Johnny Carson like I do? Besides that, does anyone know why the little town in western Wilson County is called Mt. Juliet because there sure ain't no mountain anywhere near it and it's a long way from "fair Verona" where Romeo and Juliet did their dirty deeds?

I guess it really isn't important, but what is important to note is that Mt. Juliet (and Wilson County) now have a HUGE new beer store called the Mount Juliet Beer Company!! And I mean a real beer store dedicated only to real beer...ok, they do have domestics, but they are in the minority in terms of inventory and I guess a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to scratch out a living among the uneducated masses, right?

The vast selection includes the option to do variety six-packs from their wares as well. And those selections come from most of what they offer, and not just old beers that have sat around for months and not sold -- like at another giant beer store I USED to frequent in Nashville.

I have been tardy in posting this entry since the Mount Juliet Beer Company opened, and in the meantime have made two different "shopping sprees" there. Here's a quick run-down of what I have gotten there so far.

My first variety six-pack included:

1. Dundee Pale Bock - very good German brew, light in color - made in Rochester, NY
2. Dundee Honey Brown Lager - not bad for a lager. The honey infusion certainly helps.
3. Sweaty Betty Blonde - a wheat beer with good flavor. Love the name. Another great product from one of my favorite craft brewers, Boulder Brewing in Colorado.
4. Hop Project from Yazoo here in Nashville. I have had this before and love its hoppiness so.
5. Harpoon Summer Beer - it was a kolsch that tasted like Budweiser to me. Not impressive even though this Boston-based brewery produces one of my favorite bottled IPAs.
6. Victory Sunrise Weissbeir - an extremely wheaty unfiltered beer that was a little overpowering to me in terms of wheat taste, but not an awful choice for a hot summer day. Victory's out of Pennsylvania near Philly and have just started entering the market here with a wide variety of interesting brews.

I also bought an individual 6 pack of Karma Ale from Avery Brewing in Colorado which was very enjoyable. Avery produces a great bottled IPA and this lighter ale was extremely smooth.

A couple of weeks later my next variety six-pack included:

1. Victory Prima Pils - a hoppy pilsner? very unique and definitely an A for effort. The taste was of decent hoppiness but the aroma was still pure pilsner.

2. BBC American Pale Ale - decent pale ale from our neighbors to the north in Louisville (Bluegrass Brewing). I may have had this. before.

3. BBC Amber Ale - nice, and a bit smoother than the pale ale

4. Dogfish Head - Festina Peche' - peach-flavored malt beverage...completely gross...terrible...had to pour it out. Enough said. These craft beer pioneers from Delaware ought to be ashamed of this product. Yuck.

5. New Belgium Skinny Dip - This craft brewery juggarnaut's new summer beer was pretty good especially ice cold.

6. Stone Pale Ale - perfect and smooth. The boys at Stone just keep on keeping on out their in northern San Diego. By far my favorite craft brewers who are putting their product in bottles.

Again, I also got an individual 6 pack of Pass Time Pale Ale from the great folks at Boulder Brewing. A great summer ale that I have enjoyed one of every evening over the past week.

The owner of the Mount Juliet Beer Company - who's name has slipped from me - also promised a future of kegged beer to be available to fill growlers with like the my favorite beer store down in Chattanooga. Oh, what a happy day that will be here in Wilson County! Definitely worth the climb up fair Juliet!

BEER Chere 2009

If there's a better "beer town" in the U.S. than Asheville, I sure would like to visit it, and if there's a better free music and arts festival than Bele Chere in downtown Asheville, I would sure like to attend it. My wife and I "discovered" Bele Chere four years ago (it's been around for 31 years) when a band we really liked was slated to perform there. We have went back the last three years for the festival itself no matter who was playing because it's just such a great event. One of the best attributes to Bele Chere is the amazingly cheap beer for sale at different locations throughout the festival. And I am not talking about the cheap-tasting (and usually over-priced) domestic swill served at most outdoor festivals. I am talking about high quality microbrews from local brewers (Asheville boasts seven microbreweries at last count) but also from around the country as well as excellent imports. This year was no exception as I was able to try a bevy of new brews. Here's a breakdown of what I had and where I got it during the festival as well as the great price:

Pyramid Thunderhead IPA - bought at The Winehaus - an independent wine and liquor store in downtown Asheville. They were selling a selection of four different bottled microbrews and imports for $2 each ([see photo above of dead soldiers from The Winehaus) right out of their storefront and you could wander around with your beer inside the festival area (as long as you poured it in a plastic cup). The IPA was great and ice cold. Pyramid is out of Washington (state) and is best known for its Apricot Ale (also available at The Winehaus for $2)

Leinie's Berry Weiss- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing - My wife chose these bottled fruity summer treat at The Winehaus also for $2. It's from an old Wisconsin family brewery and was infused with honey and blackberry juice. I had a few sips and found it to be pretty darn good especially as a summer brew. From the research I have done, it looks like this one-time independent brewery has been absorbed into the Miller Brewing Company conglomerate

Warsteiner Radler Premium Lemon - this lemon-infused pilsner import from Germany started out at $3 according to the hand-drawn sign where we bought it from a street vendor, but had been reduced to just $1! This wins the prize for cheapest beer ever at Bele Chere. Not my favorite beer in the world by far, but it was cold and again...only $1.

Green Man Ales - Summer Wheat -on tap at The Laughing Seed Restaurant. It comes from the brewpub located downstairs from the restaurant called Jack of the Wood. This was my wife's choice with dinner (photo above) and I liked it from the few sips I had. $3.50/glass.

Green Man Ales - IPA - This was my choice with dinner (naturally) and wins the prize for best beer tried by me at Bele Chere. Excellent body and hoppy aroma/taste. $3.50/glass.

The next day for lunch we sought another of Asheville's great brewpubs just a couple miles from downtown - Asheville Pizza and Brewing (photo below). This quirky little independment establishment has been an Asheville staple for many years. The pizza was delicious as was their brew. I started with their Scottish Ale which was smooth as silk depite a fairly heavy body. Next I tried the Houdini ESP - Extra Special Pale - this was my favorite of the two and although it did not have the super-hoppiness of an IPA that I like, it still had enough aroma and taste to satisfy me, and it went great with the pizza. Yes, they have an IPA here (Shiva) which I have had before at a beer tasting and really liked (that's why we sought out this place while in town).

ChattaBREWga

I was in Chattanooga for the weekend visiting the inlaws and attending a concert and was able to try a good selection of new (to me) beers at three different locations around town.

The first was at the Market Street Grille downtown next to Miller Plaza. I was actually looking for another new place called Deluxe Grill and Tap Room (supposedly 40 beers on tap was what drew me to it) located across the street. It was after lunch and Deluxe wasn't open until dinner, so I was walking back to the car and the meter that I had just pumped a dollar worth of coins into and passed by the window of the Market Street Grille and noticed on the hand-written marker board above the bar saying that they had Highland Cattail Peak on tap. I knew Highland was a great microbrewery over in Asheville, NC, but had never heard of Cattail Peak.


It was a wheat beer. Enough said. Not that great...to me, but not awful. The Market Street Grille was a fine little pub with some decent beer selections, but I decided to move on down the street a few blocks and return my new favorite Chattanooga haunt, The Terminal Brewhouse. These guys brew their own beer in a great little historic building and I had saw on the website recently that they had a new hoppy beer they were brewing called the Magnum PA - a combination they describe as "west coast double IPA meets English IPA." It was delicious. Just a hint of bitterness but great hoppy flavor and finish. I decided to give the beer menu a look for my second pint and landed on their Belgian White. The Belgian style of beer has been documented frequently on here as not being my favorite style of brewing, but it was a hot day and ice cold orange-infused draught sounded pretty good...and it was pretty good. Hats off to The Terminal House for again delivering the good in terms of real craft beer in Chattanooga.


Later that evening my wife, Ashlee, and I strolled downtown to stretch our legs after dinner and when she asked for a destination I asked if she would mind checking out the Deluxe Grill and Tap Room I had tried to visit earlier in the day. She agreed and after a pretty long walk we arrived at the quiet little place (their location is too far away from most of the walkable nightlife in downtown Chattanooga and parking is very minimal - not sure they are going to survive). Their claim at having 40 beers on tap looked pretty close to being the truth. They had a wide selection to choose from including a vast array of Highland Brewing products. I chose St. Terese's Pale Ale which I have had before in a bottle, but never a draught. Very close to perfection. Light and smooth. Perfect for a summer's night. Ashlee ordered the Star Hill Northern Lights IPA and found it to be a bit heavy for her so we switched half-way through our pints because she really liked the lighter St. Terese's. I had also had Northern Lights IPA only from a bottle so it was a real treat to get the enhanced flavor from the draught.

Chattanooga is turning into quite the little beer town. Did I mentioned I filled two growlers at the Chattanooga Beverage Company with two of my favorites, Moccasin Bend Centennial (another small local microbrewer) and French Broad Alt from North Carolina, to take home with me for the following week?

A Toast to South Florida

During a recent beach trip to South Florida, I got a chance to sample a few new beers with mixed results.

I first bought a six-pack of Wailua Wheat Ale from a Publix near our hotel for consumption in the room and on the beach. Unlike the Publix supermarkets at home, the ones in South Florida, or at least this one, did not have a very good selection of microbrews to choose from in their beer aisle. I am not a huge wheat ale fan, but the fact printed on the bottles that it was infused with passion fruit peaked my interest. Plus it had a waterfall on the label and I am a sucker for pretty pictures. It was actually a pretty good beer. The passion fruit was definitely apparent in the taste and actually cut the sharp wheat taste that usually turns me off to these concoctions. It had a good finish and appealing aftertaste. A very nice surprise. It's a seasonal product of Kona Brewing and as the name implies this small microbrewery is located in Hawaii (although the bottle indicated this particular six pack was brewed and bottled in a new partner brewery in New Hampshire for East Coast distribution).

On our second night in South Florida, we had dinner at a Yard House Restaurant in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. Yard House is easily my favorite "chain" restaurant with over 100 beers on tap and excellent food. If only one would come to Nashville!! My first choice was the exceptional Stoudts Double IPA from Pennsylvania. Full of hoppy flavor and aroma with a nice smooth finish. It was great to see that this Yard House had a few different selections in terms of regional brews than the other one I visited in Las Vegas (out there, they had a double IPA from San Francisco).

Stoudt's has been a pioneer in the microbrewing business and one of the first to open in Pennsylvania. back in 1987. They are located just outside Philadelphia and have a nice range of products according to their website. Definitely might be worth a visit if I am in the area again and I will be on the lookout for more of their products to try in the meantime. My second choice at the Yard House was the Juniper Pale Ale from Rogue Brewing in Oregon of whom I am a big fan and have tried several of their great products. This one was no exception. Full body with a clean, fresh delivery. I do think I would have enjoyed this one more had I tried it before the double IPA. I have made this mistake before and have got to remember that in the future if I want to try more than one selection at a place that has a double IPA I need to hold out to try it last because they are so powerful that they "pale" other ales (pun intended) in taste and aroma.

The third and last evening in South Florida found us driving south a few minutes to downtown West Palm Beach's City Place, a large, beautiful shopping and dining complex. The restaurant/microbrewery there is called Brewzzi (cool name), an Italian-bistro/microbrewery regional chain. It reminded me a lot of the Big River Restaurant/Brewery regional chain we have back at home. The restaurant decor was similar, the menu offerings were similar and the beer was similar. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of Big River brews and in turn was not overly impressed with what Brewzzi had to offer either. The beer that both brew is decent in taste, but is so LIMITED in terms of variety, originality and creativity. In short, the beers they brew are boring and predictable, and I think they do that intentionally. They are going for mass appeal and looking to attract casual beer drinkers who don't want to stray too far from their domestic mass-produced swill. but still want to say they "drank a microbrew." It's a good and albeit successful marketing strategy, but it's fairly eye-rolling to me as a self-proclaimed "beer snob." They aren't fooling me one bit. I asked for their "Reserve" which their menu claimed was for the "beer connoisseur" and was promptly told they were out of it. I knew where this was going. So I had to settle for their boring common offerings. I tried their "Brewmaster's Special" American Dark and it was about as good as what it was trying to be....Michelob Amber Bock. I went next for their darker lager, Black Duke. I liked the name and thought it was a decent but forgettable brew. I also had a taste of their Brewmaster Special Kolsch but it didn't have the hoppiness I was enjoy (kolsch-style brews never do to my experience so far).

ODDITIES AND ENTITIES:

My wife and my friend, Nate, have been yapping about their love for ginger beer for a few months now. I tried it in Australia last year where it's very popular, but it doesn't do a lot for me (but neither does the taste of ginger). To satisfy their longing for ginger beer, Nate ordered a few bottles of ginger extract called Elixir G from California (not available here for some reason). You pour a table spoon into a glass of lager beer and "wah-lah" you have ginger beer. So I gave it a try with a bottle of Victory Lager that Nate brought over. I also had it with Heineken Light Lager that Ashlee bought. OK, not bad on a warm summer evening and probably great with Asian food (I am right - we just tried it tonight). I give all the credit to the extract, however, which has a very pure ginger taste and aroma and pretty much overpowers the weak taste of the lager anyway.