January 15th, 2009 It’s freakin cold! When is it ever going to warm up? The goof on the roof says it should be above zero again on Saturday but that doesn’t help us today. After spending the day indoors at the world famous (locally ignored) Mall of America we appropriately spend this below zero evening watching a sport played on ice. The Wild are in town which means another night out in St. Paul. The evening started out great, bellied up at Alary’s with Andrew and some of his college buddies. Alary’s is a great place for guy’s night since they are probably most well known for their… ah… pizzas. And what goes better with beer on a frozen day than a slice of frozen pizza. Can’t argue about the two dollar Grain Belt taps either, or “Premos” as the bartenderesses called them. Parking was free as was the shuttle to the game. How can you beat that? I avoided the expensive beers at the arena and saved my pennies and palate for later. After the game we caught the free shuttle back to Alary’s. It was so packed that we turned right around and headed to the newest of the trifecta of Bulldogs - Lowertown. I had heard a lot of great things about this new beer bar so I was excited to try it. At the exact moment that we walked in the Gophers hit a jumper to tie Wisconsin completing the comeback and sending the game into overtime… and boom goes the dynamite! The crowded bar exploded with cheers. Here I thought they were just giving us a warm welcome. I immediately fell in love with this place. I love the big bar in the middle of the room. I love the high ceilings and the old hardwood floors. And I loved the huge windows connecting the two. It felt very New York City to me and I heart NY. I enjoyed many a good beer while here. From Greenwich, England I tried the Meantime IPA. Less IPA’ish than I was expecting. More malty and possibly higher in alcohol but still with plenty of hops. A beer so complex and enjoyable that it prompted ultimate beer taster Michael Jackson to proclaim ”For heaven’s sake, where’s dinner?” It was here that I also had a Two Brothers Cane and Ebel. I’ve always enjoyed this hoppy rye treat. At one point I even thought I could smell rye bread, perhaps it was just my imagination. Finally, before checking out and going home I had a Rush River Bubble Jack IPA. I always seem to like this on tap, but this time it tasted a bit different. One thing I have recently learned is that I am hypersensitive to diacetyl. Diacetyl is a yeast by-product that is produced during fermentation. However, after all the sugars are fermented diacetyl is usually consumed by the yeast leaving imperceptive levels in the beer. It creates a buttery or butterscotch flavor as well as a slickness on the tongue if too much remains in the beer. Much of the time this is considered a flaw but there are times when it is appropriate. I happen to enjoy it, I just don’t if it is supposed to be in Bubble Jack. I personally wish this was how the beer tasted all the time, but most of the time it has a much cleaner finish to it. Right or wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of it. Well it was getting late, it was VERY cold and I had to work in the morning so we called it a night. It was off towards home for us. I will certainly venture back here soon.
January, 17th 2009 I’d love to start out by saying that tonight is our annual trip to Manny’s Steakhouse, but this is even rarer than that. In fact this is only the second time in all my life that I have ever been. The first time was in their old location with all food and drinks paid for by a client. Tonight would be my first trip to their new location in the newly renovated Foshay Tower. Before dinner I wanted to show my family this great new lounge also in the Foshay tower. It’s called Prohibition and it’s located on the 27th floor of the 30 story building. I’ve read that the 27th and 28th floors were to be Wilbur Foshay’s residence and office when he built the building back in 1929. However, he never actually lived there because shortly after the building was completed the stock market crashed, his fortune was wiped out and the building went into foreclosure. To add insult to injury, Foshay attempted a sort of Ponzi scheme to raise capital to save the building, but it was discovered and he spent 1932-1947 in prison. He died relatively unknown in a Minneapolis nursing home in 1957. Today the 27th floor has been remodeled and turned into an upscale lounge keeping much of the same African mahogany woodwork that Foshay installed. The lounge is aptly named because the country was in the midst of prohibition (1919-1933) when the building opened. Well that’s enough history for now, back to present day. We grabbed a drink at the bar conveniently located adjacent to the elevators and went in search of seats. We were lucky enough to find a little lofty corner just above the bar… floor 27 ½ we’ll call it. This is definitely a lounge in every sense of the word. No crowd, no mingling, just small parties quietly conversing over some smartly made cocktails. My brother had what he is calling “…the best Maker’s Mark Manhattan, this side of Manhattan”. My parents and wife went with wine (please excuse the accidental alliteration) and I of course had beer. They don’t have any draft lines but they did have a decent but predictable list of imported and specialty bottles. I decided to go with the always satisfying Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Never disappointing, this hoppy yet refreshing American Pale Ale was just the thing to kick off a family night of social celebration. As our reservation drew near we made our way back down to the main floor where the restaurant was. As both places are owned and operated by the same team we were allowed to bring our drinks down to the restaurant with us. A big plus! However they didn’t carry the Pale Ale so I had to think locally and switch to Summit Extra Pale Ale. This is never a bad thing as this EPA is about as solid as any beer can be. Remarkably consistent just about everywhere. We enjoyed our meals and, of course, over ate but we didn’t over order. We were blessed with great service and a waitress that spoke honestly about the sizes of the side dishes. I must also compliment the wait staff upstairs. I’ve always received service with a smile up there. At $7 a bottle, the prices are as steep as the architecture, but the service is certainly down to earth. While we were up in the lofted area it would be easy to forget about us but we never did have to wait with empty glasses for our server. Some may call the atmosphere pretentious but I found it to be very friendly and inviting. We had a great night and a great experience.
January 18th, 2009 Nothing much going on today. I had to work in the morning at my part time job and in the afternoon we had my brother and a mutual high school friend and his wife over for dinner. The one highlight of the night beer wise was the inaugural pour out of my new altar bar. The only beer I have in the kegerator right now is my Indulgences Chocolate Porter, so I brought it up and hooked it up to the new altar bar. It was fun to finally drink from the new faucets (there I go with the alliteration again). In the long run I plan to refrigerate the altar bar but as of now it is not and this caused a problem. Carbon dioxide will remain dissolved in beer at low temperatures but as the beer warms up it will come out of solution. I have about five feet of hose between the keg and the tap and as the beer in the hose warmed up, the CO2 came out. So every time I went to pour another beer it would start with a lot of foam. It was quite a bit of waste but still fun to finally use the altar bar. I was glad to have my bro home for the inaugural pour. To my surprise, he and Nate had more than one pint a piece. I was thinking it was going to be an all wine night for everyone. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but to brewers… refills are.
January 19th, 2009 As they say, all good things must end and today is the end of what has been a great extended week. As we celebrate King and his Dream, the four of us gathered for one last meal together. Being a fan of other restaurants owned by the Blue Plate Restaurant Company I was excited to try the Longfellow Grill. As a biker, I would ride by the place while biking along West River Road but never made a stop. Groveland Tap impressed me last summer and my wife and I always enjoy the Edina Grill so my expectations were elevated. After being told we’d have to wait a while, we were seated rather quickly. It was only 11am but it was a holiday so I justified the Summit Winter Ale. I’ve got to get as much of this as I can before it’s gone. There are a lot of seasonal beers out during the winter but this one can be found on tap at many places and is welcomed any time of day. I enjoyed all the food we had and was especially impressed with the Meatloaf Hash & Eggs. They tell you to only eat your mother’s meatloaf, but who are “they”? The Breakfast Tostadas were out of this world as well, crunchy, spicy and succulent. As Guy Fieri would say… “Off the hook!” I would recommend this place for breakfast any day. After breakfast, I wished my brother well and mom and dad ran him to the airport. I went home and brewed. This time an IPA with Simcoe hops. Looking forward to trying it.
At eleven days this was one of the longest trips home for Andrew and we still didn’t find time to do all the things we wanted to do. Probably just as well, it will give us that much more to look forward to next time and it stopped the wallet bleeding before it got any worse. Now that Andrew is back in New York I feel like the holiday’s are finally over. As the days get longer and February just around the corner, we are reminded that winter doesn’t last forever in this state. It comforts me to start thinking about my other great love… baseball! After all, pitchers and catchers report in just 17 days! BEER THIS!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Two Brothers - SPECIAL EDITION Part I
No, this isn’t going to be a post about Two Brothers Brewing Company – although we do review one of their beers here. This is a post about a different two brothers. Me and my brother Andrew. Andrew lives in New York City and recently came back for 11 days in good ole Minnesota. Of course he picked the coldest week of the winter, but if that ain’t good beer drinking weather, then I don’t know what is. In this special edition of BEER THIS! I will be posting more than the usual one week of beer. I will be posting all 11 days of hijinks that ensued while Andrew was in town. And if that isn’t enough, I’ve got some exciting homebrewing news and some beer judge news as well. We did a lot so let’s get started.
Like I said in my last post, I have been working on a project for a while and I have finally completed it. My father, who is a Lutheran pastor, had in his possession an old wooden altar that had been removed from an old country church. It was being used as a workbench in their garage. They've recently moved but the altar never made it to their new house. Instead, it went to mine. It was my intention to refinish the old thing and retrofit it with a few draft beer faucets and turn it into the Altar Bar! Well, my ambition quickly faded once I got the thing disassembled and it nearly became firewood. After sitting in the garage untouched for over a year I got back on the horse and resumed the project. When I found out Andrew would be in town I told myself I would finish it by the time he arrived. Five months later I realized that goal just in time. Eventually, I am going to refrigerate the thing and it will be one heckuva kegerator. Until then I will just use it for special occasions. Pictures of the project can be seen here.
January 9th, 2009 Andrew arrives. Where’s the first place we go after he steps off the plane? Beer bar! That’s right, the whole family heads to St. Paul and the Muddy Pig. The place is just packed, in fact all of Cathedral Hill is packed tonight! We were fortunate enough to find parking and also three places at the bar while we waited for our table. I got a Left Hand Warrior IPA. As I suspected by the name this beer uses exclusively Warrior hops for its bitterness and flavor. It poured a nice orange color with a very frothy head. It smelled magnificent, full of floral earthy hops. One taste and I was convinced this was fresh/wet hopped. It reminded me a lot of Sierra Nevada’s Harvest Ale. Very earthy or grassy hop flavors. I had ordered this beer off the chalkboard but once we were seated I was able to take a look at the beer menu. Confirming my suspicions I read that this is indeed wet hopped. I am really starting to enjoy all these wet hopped beers. This was a good beer, but I am curious how old it is hops are harvested in the fall in the northern hemisphere and in the spring in the southern. I am not used to seeing a wet hopped beer this late in the year. Regardless it seems to have aged well as I found no distracting flaws. After this beer I had to settle a dispute with myself. As you may recall from an earlier blog I had an experience with a Victory Stout (literally two blocks away) that was just a little off. I checked the world wide net for information on Victory Stout and found no mention it even existed. The closest thing I could find was Victory Storm King Imperial Stout. Well they had this on tap at the Pig so I ordered it. I had to know if this is what I was drinking last month. I’m pretty sure it is although I liked it much better today. I could taste more of the roasted malt and sweetness. Nose was the same though, beautifully hoppy! After our meal which was delicious we had an Eel River Organic Triple Exultation Old Ale. Although our brains kept telling our mouths to say ELK River this beer was very good. We could definitely smell molasses or brown sugar. There was also a nice burnt raisin aroma. I would certainly order this one again. This is the first I have heard of Elk, er… Eel River, I will certainly look for more of their stuff.
January 10th, 2009 Not much to report today except that I did have a new, rather good beer today. But, before I get into that I have to give props to one of my favorite diners, the Town Talk Diner in the Hi-Lake neighborhood of Minneapolis. My family and I have been coming here for a while and are always blown away by the quality and inventiveness of the food. I had the peanut butter and jelly pancakes. Sounds interesting right? Almost sounds gross? That’s what I thought, but I’ve never had any bad experiences here and my curiosity got the best of me. The pancakes were awesome! Just enough peanut butter so you knew it was there and topped with strawberry jelly. Mmmm, my mouth is watering again. Of course you can never go wrong with the pulled pork pepper hash. That is fantastic. And so, like any good Scandinavian, while enjoying this fantastic brunch, I had to have coffee… Coffee beer! Today I tried for the first time the Lagunitas (LAH goo KNEE tuss) Cappuccino Stout.
It poured a dark amber color not quite opaque. A little tan head that dissipated quickly and left little lace. At first pour the coffee smell was prevalent but towards the end it was barely discernable. You can tell there is some brown sugar or molasses in there, too, probably to boost the ABV. At 8% this is no breakfast beer, but I won’t tell anyone. I could taste the coffee in the first few sips but not much after that. The molasses and raisin qualities really dominate. It was a very good beer but not really a stout and not really a coffee beer. Maybe I am a product of the American bigger-better-faster-more mentality, I like a lot more coffee in my coffee beers. Still a great beer, loved the flavor, just wasn’t what I was expecting.
Real quickly… went to supper at Masa in downtown Minneapolis tonight. I would definitely recommend this place, fantastic contemporary Mexican food. But what would you expect from the people who brought you D’Amico & Sons and Campiello? Just a quick note about the beers. I started with a Dos Equis Amber, a nice brownish easy drinking beer which has very little malt and even less hops. But what really piqued my interest was a nice little pilsner (?) that my wife ordered. Bohemia from Mexico was a nice light straw color like just about every other pilsner but the taste was significantly different. I got a nice little creaminess out of it. Hard to explain, but it was more in the taste than the mouthfeel. I’d like to try another one of these some day, but with so much better beer out there it may be a while. If you get a chance, check out Masa, but go for the food, not the beer.
January 13th, 2009 Tonight we had another fantastic family dinner, this time at home. We dined at my parent’s house in St Paul and as I’ve mentioned before my mom is a wonderful cook. I can still almost taste the Swedish meatballs and creamed green beans. Yum. It was nice family time; even Grandpa and Grandma were there. Well, we finished dessert, we loosened up our belts, we got the dishes all cleaned up. And like most eighty-somethings the sandman came early. Grandpa’s tail lights were barely out of view by the time we got our coats on and were heading to The Happy Gnome. The cold wasn’t going to stop us. It was Tuesday night and the temperature was -17 so we thought the bar would be quiet. Wrong! The bar was completely full and we got the only open table in the dining room. I decided tonight would be a tour of IPAs. I started the trip off with Tyranena Scurvy. This beer is part of their Brewers Gone Wild series and is made with Orange Peel – hence the name. This came out in a bottle which I immediately poured into the glass that accompanied it. It all happened so fast that I didn’t realize the glass was warm and wet. Fresh out of the dishwasher. The first whiff of Scurvy was all detergent – yuk. I got through it and enjoyed it anyway. I remember this one from last summer so thankfully it wasn’t my first taste of this beer. The next two were firsts for me. The second beer I had tonight was Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA. Had this one on tap and it came out with no head and had very little lacing as I drank it. This one could have also been victim of freshly cleaned glass syndrome. It tasted and smelled just fine though. I got a great citrus aroma, mostly grapefruit out of it. And the taste… wow was this one bitter! There are a lot of hops in here, kinda reminds me of the same hop profile as Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. I really liked this one. Finally I finished off the night with a Lagunitas IPA. This one was also exceptional. It poured a nice dark orange caramel color, got a thick one finger head that dissipated slowly and left serious lacing. I’m getting some good malty and hoppy characteristics out of the taste. More malt than I am used to in an IPA but I like it. Bitter like an IPA outta be but not over the top. In fact the malt almost dominates. In addition this has a nice creamy mouthfeel to it. Very nice.
January 14th, 2009 This was an especially interesting day. Today was my first BJCP class. BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. Their website puts it best… “The purpose of the Beer Judge Certification Program is to promote beer literacy and the appreciation of real beer, and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. We certify and rank beer judges through an examination and monitoring process.” What I am doing now is taking a class offered by my local homebrew club the Minnesota Home Brewers Association to prepare for the exam in April. It’s a 14 week course and if I pass that test I will achieve the rank of Recognized Beer Judge. After that I can accumulate experience points by judging in BJCP sanctioned competitions. The more experience points you accumulate and the higher your score on the exam (you can retake it if you want to) the higher your rank as a beer judge. Training for the exam is rigorous… today we drank a lot of beer! It is actually about as cool as it sounds, but the exam is very tough. Passing means a score of at least 70%. Wish me luck!
After class I picked up Andrew up from the folks' house and we headed to Buster’s on 28th. Things were hopping (no pun intended) when we got there at 10pm but we were able to find a spot at the bar. I got the wings which were tasty; I would recommend them and certainly order them again. These were no “wild” wings, these were actually big enough to see without a magnifying glass. A heaping pile, not sure how many, but they were good and plentiful. I started with a Coffee Bender and was pleased to finally see these mugs everyone has been talking about. Surly began distributing coffee mugs for use with their Coffee Bender a while back but I’d never seen them yet. They are shaped like a coffee mug, short and wide and complete with a handle, but they were clear like a pint glass. Now we’re percolating! The Coffee Bender was great as usual and the coffee mug just made it all the more enjoyable…
Good News! Coffee Bender is now available in cans. That’s right; the company that made canning beer cool has just released its famous Coffee Bender in cans for the first time.
…now back to your regularly scheduled program. After finishing up the mug o’ mud I switched to another favorite I’ve drooled about here, Bell’s Best Brown. This one went down pretty well as usual. I just love those malts. We enjoyed good beers, good food and good conversation. One of my favorite places in the world is bellied up with my brother.
Like I said in my last post, I have been working on a project for a while and I have finally completed it. My father, who is a Lutheran pastor, had in his possession an old wooden altar that had been removed from an old country church. It was being used as a workbench in their garage. They've recently moved but the altar never made it to their new house. Instead, it went to mine. It was my intention to refinish the old thing and retrofit it with a few draft beer faucets and turn it into the Altar Bar! Well, my ambition quickly faded once I got the thing disassembled and it nearly became firewood. After sitting in the garage untouched for over a year I got back on the horse and resumed the project. When I found out Andrew would be in town I told myself I would finish it by the time he arrived. Five months later I realized that goal just in time. Eventually, I am going to refrigerate the thing and it will be one heckuva kegerator. Until then I will just use it for special occasions. Pictures of the project can be seen here.
January 9th, 2009 Andrew arrives. Where’s the first place we go after he steps off the plane? Beer bar! That’s right, the whole family heads to St. Paul and the Muddy Pig. The place is just packed, in fact all of Cathedral Hill is packed tonight! We were fortunate enough to find parking and also three places at the bar while we waited for our table. I got a Left Hand Warrior IPA. As I suspected by the name this beer uses exclusively Warrior hops for its bitterness and flavor. It poured a nice orange color with a very frothy head. It smelled magnificent, full of floral earthy hops. One taste and I was convinced this was fresh/wet hopped. It reminded me a lot of Sierra Nevada’s Harvest Ale. Very earthy or grassy hop flavors. I had ordered this beer off the chalkboard but once we were seated I was able to take a look at the beer menu. Confirming my suspicions I read that this is indeed wet hopped. I am really starting to enjoy all these wet hopped beers. This was a good beer, but I am curious how old it is hops are harvested in the fall in the northern hemisphere and in the spring in the southern. I am not used to seeing a wet hopped beer this late in the year. Regardless it seems to have aged well as I found no distracting flaws. After this beer I had to settle a dispute with myself. As you may recall from an earlier blog I had an experience with a Victory Stout (literally two blocks away) that was just a little off. I checked the world wide net for information on Victory Stout and found no mention it even existed. The closest thing I could find was Victory Storm King Imperial Stout. Well they had this on tap at the Pig so I ordered it. I had to know if this is what I was drinking last month. I’m pretty sure it is although I liked it much better today. I could taste more of the roasted malt and sweetness. Nose was the same though, beautifully hoppy! After our meal which was delicious we had an Eel River Organic Triple Exultation Old Ale. Although our brains kept telling our mouths to say ELK River this beer was very good. We could definitely smell molasses or brown sugar. There was also a nice burnt raisin aroma. I would certainly order this one again. This is the first I have heard of Elk, er… Eel River, I will certainly look for more of their stuff.
January 10th, 2009 Not much to report today except that I did have a new, rather good beer today. But, before I get into that I have to give props to one of my favorite diners, the Town Talk Diner in the Hi-Lake neighborhood of Minneapolis. My family and I have been coming here for a while and are always blown away by the quality and inventiveness of the food. I had the peanut butter and jelly pancakes. Sounds interesting right? Almost sounds gross? That’s what I thought, but I’ve never had any bad experiences here and my curiosity got the best of me. The pancakes were awesome! Just enough peanut butter so you knew it was there and topped with strawberry jelly. Mmmm, my mouth is watering again. Of course you can never go wrong with the pulled pork pepper hash. That is fantastic. And so, like any good Scandinavian, while enjoying this fantastic brunch, I had to have coffee… Coffee beer! Today I tried for the first time the Lagunitas (LAH goo KNEE tuss) Cappuccino Stout.
It poured a dark amber color not quite opaque. A little tan head that dissipated quickly and left little lace. At first pour the coffee smell was prevalent but towards the end it was barely discernable. You can tell there is some brown sugar or molasses in there, too, probably to boost the ABV. At 8% this is no breakfast beer, but I won’t tell anyone. I could taste the coffee in the first few sips but not much after that. The molasses and raisin qualities really dominate. It was a very good beer but not really a stout and not really a coffee beer. Maybe I am a product of the American bigger-better-faster-more mentality, I like a lot more coffee in my coffee beers. Still a great beer, loved the flavor, just wasn’t what I was expecting.Real quickly… went to supper at Masa in downtown Minneapolis tonight. I would definitely recommend this place, fantastic contemporary Mexican food. But what would you expect from the people who brought you D’Amico & Sons and Campiello? Just a quick note about the beers. I started with a Dos Equis Amber, a nice brownish easy drinking beer which has very little malt and even less hops. But what really piqued my interest was a nice little pilsner (?) that my wife ordered. Bohemia from Mexico was a nice light straw color like just about every other pilsner but the taste was significantly different. I got a nice little creaminess out of it. Hard to explain, but it was more in the taste than the mouthfeel. I’d like to try another one of these some day, but with so much better beer out there it may be a while. If you get a chance, check out Masa, but go for the food, not the beer.
January 13th, 2009 Tonight we had another fantastic family dinner, this time at home. We dined at my parent’s house in St Paul and as I’ve mentioned before my mom is a wonderful cook. I can still almost taste the Swedish meatballs and creamed green beans. Yum. It was nice family time; even Grandpa and Grandma were there. Well, we finished dessert, we loosened up our belts, we got the dishes all cleaned up. And like most eighty-somethings the sandman came early. Grandpa’s tail lights were barely out of view by the time we got our coats on and were heading to The Happy Gnome. The cold wasn’t going to stop us. It was Tuesday night and the temperature was -17 so we thought the bar would be quiet. Wrong! The bar was completely full and we got the only open table in the dining room. I decided tonight would be a tour of IPAs. I started the trip off with Tyranena Scurvy. This beer is part of their Brewers Gone Wild series and is made with Orange Peel – hence the name. This came out in a bottle which I immediately poured into the glass that accompanied it. It all happened so fast that I didn’t realize the glass was warm and wet. Fresh out of the dishwasher. The first whiff of Scurvy was all detergent – yuk. I got through it and enjoyed it anyway. I remember this one from last summer so thankfully it wasn’t my first taste of this beer. The next two were firsts for me. The second beer I had tonight was Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA. Had this one on tap and it came out with no head and had very little lacing as I drank it. This one could have also been victim of freshly cleaned glass syndrome. It tasted and smelled just fine though. I got a great citrus aroma, mostly grapefruit out of it. And the taste… wow was this one bitter! There are a lot of hops in here, kinda reminds me of the same hop profile as Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. I really liked this one. Finally I finished off the night with a Lagunitas IPA. This one was also exceptional. It poured a nice dark orange caramel color, got a thick one finger head that dissipated slowly and left serious lacing. I’m getting some good malty and hoppy characteristics out of the taste. More malt than I am used to in an IPA but I like it. Bitter like an IPA outta be but not over the top. In fact the malt almost dominates. In addition this has a nice creamy mouthfeel to it. Very nice.
January 14th, 2009 This was an especially interesting day. Today was my first BJCP class. BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. Their website puts it best… “The purpose of the Beer Judge Certification Program is to promote beer literacy and the appreciation of real beer, and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. We certify and rank beer judges through an examination and monitoring process.” What I am doing now is taking a class offered by my local homebrew club the Minnesota Home Brewers Association to prepare for the exam in April. It’s a 14 week course and if I pass that test I will achieve the rank of Recognized Beer Judge. After that I can accumulate experience points by judging in BJCP sanctioned competitions. The more experience points you accumulate and the higher your score on the exam (you can retake it if you want to) the higher your rank as a beer judge. Training for the exam is rigorous… today we drank a lot of beer! It is actually about as cool as it sounds, but the exam is very tough. Passing means a score of at least 70%. Wish me luck!
After class I picked up Andrew up from the folks' house and we headed to Buster’s on 28th. Things were hopping (no pun intended) when we got there at 10pm but we were able to find a spot at the bar. I got the wings which were tasty; I would recommend them and certainly order them again. These were no “wild” wings, these were actually big enough to see without a magnifying glass. A heaping pile, not sure how many, but they were good and plentiful. I started with a Coffee Bender and was pleased to finally see these mugs everyone has been talking about. Surly began distributing coffee mugs for use with their Coffee Bender a while back but I’d never seen them yet. They are shaped like a coffee mug, short and wide and complete with a handle, but they were clear like a pint glass. Now we’re percolating! The Coffee Bender was great as usual and the coffee mug just made it all the more enjoyable…
Good News! Coffee Bender is now available in cans. That’s right; the company that made canning beer cool has just released its famous Coffee Bender in cans for the first time.
…now back to your regularly scheduled program. After finishing up the mug o’ mud I switched to another favorite I’ve drooled about here, Bell’s Best Brown. This one went down pretty well as usual. I just love those malts. We enjoyed good beers, good food and good conversation. One of my favorite places in the world is bellied up with my brother.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Rock Bottoms Up!
Well, another week has passed and what was looking to be a quiet beer week has turned into some pretty decent hauls. We visit Rock Bottom Brewery (twice), Mackenzie Pub, The Muddy Pig and Town Talk Diner. We’ve also got an exciting bit of news for you as well. A long time project comes to an end… and the fun is just beginning!
January 7th, 2009 Today, my beer drinking friend Sean Callahan and I visit Rock Bottom Brewery. This is one of our favorite places for happy hour as it seems the beer menu is always changing. Brewer Bryan Tonnis and Company seem to push out at least two different beers a month in addition to their satisfying line up of year round beers. Today we enjoyed two special releases. First I had the Silver Mullet Oatmeal IPA. Traditionally when thinking about Oatmeal in beer, you think about Stout. But, American brewers have become so adventurous in recent years that they will blur the lines and try just about anything. And we’re all the better for it. I remember this one from last summer. According to reviews I found it was also available last winter at this time. It was so smooooooth. I know that Oatmeal is used to create a smooth texture and mouthfeel in beers but this was also served on nitrogen which also adds smoothness. Wow! Take a beautifully bitter beer like IPA and smooth it out with nitro and oatmeal and you get a blissful combination. This beer still packed hoppy bitterness but the flavor was more subdued. It was a pleasure drinking this. After “the Mullet” I went to their winter seasonal, Old Curmudgeon Winter Warmer. Even Ebenezer Scrooge would enjoy this beer. This sweet beer is packed with spices and malts and perhaps currants or some dried fruits. It was a nice variation of flavors new to my palate. Either that or my palate is becoming more refined and I’m more able to identify or perceive certain favors. Either way, I really enjoyed the new flavors on my tongue.
Since it was only Wednesday we called it a night and headed home after just two beers – albeit 23oz beers. Sean was lucky enough to catch his bus, but I missed mine, or it was late or early or who knows. It was snowing and it was freezing and the traffic wasn’t even moving, so I thought screw it, back to the bar for me. Bummer. Near 10th and Hennepin there is a pub which I often forget about. I don’t know if it is location or proximity or what, but I never seem to think about Mackenzie Pub. One of this city’s original beer bars, this nice little pub boasts a healthy tap list and great bottle list of local, regional and national craft beers. I tried a couple of beers for the first time on this trip. After a brief hiatus, Dark Horse Brewing Company out of Marshall, Michigan is finally back in Minnesota. They brought with them a stellar lineup of beers. Tonight was the first time for me to try Scotty Karate. This highly acclaimed cleverly named beer is their version of the classic style Scottish Ale. What I notice most about Scottish Ales is the light smoky flavor. This beer has that, but that is about all that is Scottish about it. What an extreme beer packed with flavor and one hell of an aroma. You could definitely smell the alcohol and lots of brown sugar. The flavor was very nice as well. In addition to the faint smoky malts there was lots of residual sweetness. I’m not sure if the yeast adds to the flavor profile or not, but there was a lot going on in here. I thought it was really good and I look forward to another sometime. With its alcohol content being 9.7% it would make a nice let’s-get-this-party-started beer. Finally, before venturing back out in the cold I ordered a Left Hand Milk Stout. Milk stouts aren’t something I am very familiar with. I haven’t drunk many and I’m not sure what makes a milk stout a milk stout but I am learning it has something to do with lactose. I will make sure to learn more about this style as I was quite impressed with this beer. The smell was like a stout, plenty of dark roasted malts but I also picked up a… sour aroma? I don’t want to call it sour milk because it was pleasant but that’s what I immediately thought. It was not daunting but inviting rather, curious, I asked myself what will this taste like? I could not wait, I had to dive right in. What I got was not sour at all, but sweet instead and very creamy. Almost refreshing. I know you can’t taste colors but this did not taste dark at all. It tasted light, but not Bud Light. This may leave you scratching your heads… what the hell is he talking about? For that I apologize. I just love experiencing new beer flavors, but have a hard time putting it into words. I will certainly research milk stouts and their origins and how they’re made.
I wanted to have this posted on or around January 11th and as you can see time has escaped me. I did eventually make my bus and as so, I did eventually make this post. It did not include my second trip to Rock Bottom, the Muddy Pig or Town Talk as I mentioned in the opening. And it did not make any mention of the project that has come to a close, but rest assured it will all come out in the next (Special) Edition of BEER THIS!
January 7th, 2009 Today, my beer drinking friend Sean Callahan and I visit Rock Bottom Brewery. This is one of our favorite places for happy hour as it seems the beer menu is always changing. Brewer Bryan Tonnis and Company seem to push out at least two different beers a month in addition to their satisfying line up of year round beers. Today we enjoyed two special releases. First I had the Silver Mullet Oatmeal IPA. Traditionally when thinking about Oatmeal in beer, you think about Stout. But, American brewers have become so adventurous in recent years that they will blur the lines and try just about anything. And we’re all the better for it. I remember this one from last summer. According to reviews I found it was also available last winter at this time. It was so smooooooth. I know that Oatmeal is used to create a smooth texture and mouthfeel in beers but this was also served on nitrogen which also adds smoothness. Wow! Take a beautifully bitter beer like IPA and smooth it out with nitro and oatmeal and you get a blissful combination. This beer still packed hoppy bitterness but the flavor was more subdued. It was a pleasure drinking this. After “the Mullet” I went to their winter seasonal, Old Curmudgeon Winter Warmer. Even Ebenezer Scrooge would enjoy this beer. This sweet beer is packed with spices and malts and perhaps currants or some dried fruits. It was a nice variation of flavors new to my palate. Either that or my palate is becoming more refined and I’m more able to identify or perceive certain favors. Either way, I really enjoyed the new flavors on my tongue.
Since it was only Wednesday we called it a night and headed home after just two beers – albeit 23oz beers. Sean was lucky enough to catch his bus, but I missed mine, or it was late or early or who knows. It was snowing and it was freezing and the traffic wasn’t even moving, so I thought screw it, back to the bar for me. Bummer. Near 10th and Hennepin there is a pub which I often forget about. I don’t know if it is location or proximity or what, but I never seem to think about Mackenzie Pub. One of this city’s original beer bars, this nice little pub boasts a healthy tap list and great bottle list of local, regional and national craft beers. I tried a couple of beers for the first time on this trip. After a brief hiatus, Dark Horse Brewing Company out of Marshall, Michigan is finally back in Minnesota. They brought with them a stellar lineup of beers. Tonight was the first time for me to try Scotty Karate. This highly acclaimed cleverly named beer is their version of the classic style Scottish Ale. What I notice most about Scottish Ales is the light smoky flavor. This beer has that, but that is about all that is Scottish about it. What an extreme beer packed with flavor and one hell of an aroma. You could definitely smell the alcohol and lots of brown sugar. The flavor was very nice as well. In addition to the faint smoky malts there was lots of residual sweetness. I’m not sure if the yeast adds to the flavor profile or not, but there was a lot going on in here. I thought it was really good and I look forward to another sometime. With its alcohol content being 9.7% it would make a nice let’s-get-this-party-started beer. Finally, before venturing back out in the cold I ordered a Left Hand Milk Stout. Milk stouts aren’t something I am very familiar with. I haven’t drunk many and I’m not sure what makes a milk stout a milk stout but I am learning it has something to do with lactose. I will make sure to learn more about this style as I was quite impressed with this beer. The smell was like a stout, plenty of dark roasted malts but I also picked up a… sour aroma? I don’t want to call it sour milk because it was pleasant but that’s what I immediately thought. It was not daunting but inviting rather, curious, I asked myself what will this taste like? I could not wait, I had to dive right in. What I got was not sour at all, but sweet instead and very creamy. Almost refreshing. I know you can’t taste colors but this did not taste dark at all. It tasted light, but not Bud Light. This may leave you scratching your heads… what the hell is he talking about? For that I apologize. I just love experiencing new beer flavors, but have a hard time putting it into words. I will certainly research milk stouts and their origins and how they’re made.
I wanted to have this posted on or around January 11th and as you can see time has escaped me. I did eventually make my bus and as so, I did eventually make this post. It did not include my second trip to Rock Bottom, the Muddy Pig or Town Talk as I mentioned in the opening. And it did not make any mention of the project that has come to a close, but rest assured it will all come out in the next (Special) Edition of BEER THIS!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy Birthday… and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and your families. I hope you survived the Holidays and wish you much prosperity in 2009. I have decided that I am going to blog once a week, Sunday. It will be a “Weekly Beer Review” so to speak. I realize this blog, the first under the new schedule, is already late.
December 27th I love birthdays! I love my birthday and I love other people’s birthdays, I love having a reason to get together with friends. Nothing makes me happier than enjoying some social lubricants with my best friends. But, as we get older (birthday’s will do that to you) we find it harder and harder to get everyone together at one time. Birthdays are the one time when most people try the hardest to get together. Why? Is it guilt? Do we feel ashamed for missing birthdays? I don’t know. I don’t care. Whatever gets us all together is what’s most important. And that's why I love birthdays!
I especially like my birthday. I’m not really sure why. Many people I know actually try to avoid their birthday. Maybe they don’t like getting older, maybe they don’t like being the center of attention. I love mine. Maybe it’s because it falls between Christmas and New Years and often gets lost in the shuffle. Whatever the reason, it’s the one day of the year when I can be selfish. I get to say what we do, I get to say where we go. My wife lavishes me with attention. What’s not to like? Sure another year has gone by, but that’s a good thing. Considering the alternative, I’ll take it. My birthday is December 30th and this year I decided to team up with a good friend whose birthday happens to fall on December 28th. So we had a two for one sort of deal. We picked Saturday, December 27th at Jake O’Connor’s for the festivities. There were about sixteen of us and we all huddled together downstairs around a bunch of tables nestled in front of the fireplace. It was a cozy little scene and we all had a wonderful time. The beer scene wasn’t much to write home about but I’ve seen worse (see: sports bar). I certainly wasn’t complaining as I enjoyed my “English” and “Irish” beers. I put those in quotes because all of them were undoubtedly brewed somewhere on this continent. Probably Canada and shipped across the border so the product can still read Imported. While a little deceiving, this is not a bad thing. Beer is one of those products that doesn’t ship well. It doesn’t like excessive handling and/or temperature changes. If you have ever been to Europe, most likely the Budweiser you had (or saw) was brewed right there in Europe as well. This is common, practiced the world over. But enough about beer production and distribution; on to consumption. Since there was nothing at Jake O’Connor’s that I hadn’t tried before, I went with a variety of old standbys. I enjoyed one of each of the following; Smithwicks, Boddingtons, Harp, Murphy’s Stout and Guinness. Now, I am not an advocate of binge drinking so I must note these were consumed over the course of many hours. Having had all of these brews before, I wasn’t terribly excited by any of them but that didn’t stop me from enjoying them. Truth be told, many of these beers were my gateway beers. You know, the ones I enjoyed while converting from a light beer drinker to the full flavored craft brew I enjoy today. I was pleasantly surprised by the Murphy’s Stout. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before but I do believe this one was not on nitrogen. It was a nice change of pace, very warm and toasty, perfect for a cold night by a fire.
December 30th My actual birthday. It has become tradition to visit one of my favorite bars every thirtieth of December - Sweeney’s Saloon in St Paul. I’m not quite sure how it all got started but I believe it had something to do with visiting an old friend. He lives in St Paul and I think my birthday was the only day we could get together. It was either 2001 or 2002 and it was my first visit to Sweeney’s. I’ve been there on my birthday every year since. This year it snowed… again… as it has done often this December. My wife reluctantly picked me up at work after unsuccessfully lobbying to skip Sweeney’s this year *gasp*. I know, I know, this qualifies me for worst husband of the year, asking her to risk her life so I can go drink beer. But hey, I looked at the radar, the snow had almost passed. Besides, she would have felt horrible for my having missed one of the days I look forward to most. I saved her that guilt. This year it was Carolyn and I and both our parents. We played a little bit of musical tables, moving three times before finally settling into one of their church pew booths. It was a nice relaxing time in that warm old pub with some of my favorite people. It wasn’t until after I got home that I realized all my beers were dark, very dark. I kicked the afternoon off with a Summit Oatmeal Stout. I remember when this beer was first brewed. It was intended to be a limited release that would only be available for a short time.
Customer demand was so great they decided to keep making it. This seems to pop up around town during the winter months and I’ve only ever seen it on draft. I was blown away when I first tried this beer and it still amazes me. Sweet, chocolately and smooth. So tasty, yet so easy to drink. I look forward to a few more of these this winter. I followed the Oatmeal Stout up with one of my favorite Bell’s offerings, their Best Brown Ale. I have always enjoyed this beer. Toasty like a brown ale should be with some caramel sweetness to it and hoppy as well. This was the lightest colored beer I had and it was still nearly opaque. Not uncommon, but on the dark end for a brown ale. Next came the only disappointment of the evening… Victory Stout. I’m not sure if this was the Storm King Imperial Stout or not. It wasn’t listed as such, only as Victory Stout and I didn’t ask. It started out well, with a very nice nose full of hops, but the taste was disappointing and reminded me of lavatory hand soap. Weird, I know. I would like to try this again on a fresh palate as I usually enjoy all of their products. I finished off the evening much how it started… with a Summit. This time it was their Winter Ale. I needed a sure thing after the Victory and this was it. Delicious. Every. Time. Everything a winter warmer should be, dark, malty and full bodied. This beer was what I needed resonating in my memory as we made the 20 mile drive back to Eden Prairie on sloppy roads. That and maybe a catheter.
January 1st Believe it or not New Years Eve was not a big beer night for me. I didn’t have any beer at all in fact. Just a couple of glasses of red vino with my seafood ravioli. I’m not sure but we may have been up late enough for the ball to drop in Times Square but not much later. However, I did welcome the New Year with a couple of new beers. New year… new beer… seems appropriate. After trying out our new skates at Centennial Lakes Carolyn and I stopped by the new Chatterbox Pub in Edina. I did not realize that they had their own house beers. I always get excited when I see something on tap that I’ve never had before. While the commercial tap and bottle list was exceptional, I decided to opt for said house beers. These beers, I was told, were brewed by Point Brewing Company in Stevens Point Wisconsin exclusively for Chatterbox Pub. The Dubbel sounded good, as did the Empyreal Pale Ale, but I went for the Magnanimous Brown Ale instead. The menu defines magnanimous as noble and generous in spirit (or something like that), but I found this to be anything but. The color was a light watery brown, not unattractive but not at all inviting. I took a whiff and nothing. No evidence whatsoever of what I was about to imbibe. I tasted it and again, nothing. This beer was about as blah as any can be. No aroma and no flavor. That’s not to say it was a horrible experience, just disappointing. It was very drinkable, I could easily drink these all night, but I’d rather drink something else. I imagine this beer would be perfect for the light beer drinker looking to establish himself as a sophisticated beer drinker. It certainly looks better than the ubiquitous yellow beer but it won’t shock your taste buds. Dictionary.com defines magnanimous as generous in forgiving an insult or injury. Well, I forgive quickly and forget even faster so on to the next. Being a fan of Belgian Wit beers I had to try the Chit Chat Belgian White Ale. While usually enjoyed in the summer this was a redeeming beer in the heart of winter. A very well done Wit, true to style. I really enjoyed this one, right down to the Curacao orange peel. This particular Chatterbox opened for business only about a month ago and the neighborhood welcome, we were told, is overwhelming. New Year’s Day was no exception. It was much busier than I expected. Everyone’s supposed to be hungover claiming “I’m never going to drink again!” Well, there was one group in the corner who appeared to be still partying from the night before. A lot of weathered clothes, tousled hair and tired eyes. They were still having fun though. Contrasting them was a quiet row of booths filled with families, couples and friends. I saw people ages 10-60 and seems to welcome all ages. If you’ve never been, their niche is games. They have card games, board games and video games. I saw a couple of thirtysomething guys playing Sega PGA Golf and the rowdies in the corner were playing Super Mario Bros. My wife added “This place looks like a living room” and she was right. Game counsels everywhere and couches and art work straight out of your Grandma’s basement. Everyone was comfortable. As we sat there playing battleship and drinking our beers I felt glad. Glad to be there and glad to see such a fun hip place succeeding so near the dining saturated and sometimes stuffy 50th & France district. I would rate this place E for Everyone.
As we welcome 2009 I am excited for what is in store for this year. Every year the craft beer scene seems to expand exponentially. New breweries and brewpubs pop up and new products from existing brewers hit the shelves. I cannot wait to see what happens, it’s going to be a great year.
December 27th I love birthdays! I love my birthday and I love other people’s birthdays, I love having a reason to get together with friends. Nothing makes me happier than enjoying some social lubricants with my best friends. But, as we get older (birthday’s will do that to you) we find it harder and harder to get everyone together at one time. Birthdays are the one time when most people try the hardest to get together. Why? Is it guilt? Do we feel ashamed for missing birthdays? I don’t know. I don’t care. Whatever gets us all together is what’s most important. And that's why I love birthdays!
I especially like my birthday. I’m not really sure why. Many people I know actually try to avoid their birthday. Maybe they don’t like getting older, maybe they don’t like being the center of attention. I love mine. Maybe it’s because it falls between Christmas and New Years and often gets lost in the shuffle. Whatever the reason, it’s the one day of the year when I can be selfish. I get to say what we do, I get to say where we go. My wife lavishes me with attention. What’s not to like? Sure another year has gone by, but that’s a good thing. Considering the alternative, I’ll take it. My birthday is December 30th and this year I decided to team up with a good friend whose birthday happens to fall on December 28th. So we had a two for one sort of deal. We picked Saturday, December 27th at Jake O’Connor’s for the festivities. There were about sixteen of us and we all huddled together downstairs around a bunch of tables nestled in front of the fireplace. It was a cozy little scene and we all had a wonderful time. The beer scene wasn’t much to write home about but I’ve seen worse (see: sports bar). I certainly wasn’t complaining as I enjoyed my “English” and “Irish” beers. I put those in quotes because all of them were undoubtedly brewed somewhere on this continent. Probably Canada and shipped across the border so the product can still read Imported. While a little deceiving, this is not a bad thing. Beer is one of those products that doesn’t ship well. It doesn’t like excessive handling and/or temperature changes. If you have ever been to Europe, most likely the Budweiser you had (or saw) was brewed right there in Europe as well. This is common, practiced the world over. But enough about beer production and distribution; on to consumption. Since there was nothing at Jake O’Connor’s that I hadn’t tried before, I went with a variety of old standbys. I enjoyed one of each of the following; Smithwicks, Boddingtons, Harp, Murphy’s Stout and Guinness. Now, I am not an advocate of binge drinking so I must note these were consumed over the course of many hours. Having had all of these brews before, I wasn’t terribly excited by any of them but that didn’t stop me from enjoying them. Truth be told, many of these beers were my gateway beers. You know, the ones I enjoyed while converting from a light beer drinker to the full flavored craft brew I enjoy today. I was pleasantly surprised by the Murphy’s Stout. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before but I do believe this one was not on nitrogen. It was a nice change of pace, very warm and toasty, perfect for a cold night by a fire.
December 30th My actual birthday. It has become tradition to visit one of my favorite bars every thirtieth of December - Sweeney’s Saloon in St Paul. I’m not quite sure how it all got started but I believe it had something to do with visiting an old friend. He lives in St Paul and I think my birthday was the only day we could get together. It was either 2001 or 2002 and it was my first visit to Sweeney’s. I’ve been there on my birthday every year since. This year it snowed… again… as it has done often this December. My wife reluctantly picked me up at work after unsuccessfully lobbying to skip Sweeney’s this year *gasp*. I know, I know, this qualifies me for worst husband of the year, asking her to risk her life so I can go drink beer. But hey, I looked at the radar, the snow had almost passed. Besides, she would have felt horrible for my having missed one of the days I look forward to most. I saved her that guilt. This year it was Carolyn and I and both our parents. We played a little bit of musical tables, moving three times before finally settling into one of their church pew booths. It was a nice relaxing time in that warm old pub with some of my favorite people. It wasn’t until after I got home that I realized all my beers were dark, very dark. I kicked the afternoon off with a Summit Oatmeal Stout. I remember when this beer was first brewed. It was intended to be a limited release that would only be available for a short time.
Customer demand was so great they decided to keep making it. This seems to pop up around town during the winter months and I’ve only ever seen it on draft. I was blown away when I first tried this beer and it still amazes me. Sweet, chocolately and smooth. So tasty, yet so easy to drink. I look forward to a few more of these this winter. I followed the Oatmeal Stout up with one of my favorite Bell’s offerings, their Best Brown Ale. I have always enjoyed this beer. Toasty like a brown ale should be with some caramel sweetness to it and hoppy as well. This was the lightest colored beer I had and it was still nearly opaque. Not uncommon, but on the dark end for a brown ale. Next came the only disappointment of the evening… Victory Stout. I’m not sure if this was the Storm King Imperial Stout or not. It wasn’t listed as such, only as Victory Stout and I didn’t ask. It started out well, with a very nice nose full of hops, but the taste was disappointing and reminded me of lavatory hand soap. Weird, I know. I would like to try this again on a fresh palate as I usually enjoy all of their products. I finished off the evening much how it started… with a Summit. This time it was their Winter Ale. I needed a sure thing after the Victory and this was it. Delicious. Every. Time. Everything a winter warmer should be, dark, malty and full bodied. This beer was what I needed resonating in my memory as we made the 20 mile drive back to Eden Prairie on sloppy roads. That and maybe a catheter.January 1st Believe it or not New Years Eve was not a big beer night for me. I didn’t have any beer at all in fact. Just a couple of glasses of red vino with my seafood ravioli. I’m not sure but we may have been up late enough for the ball to drop in Times Square but not much later. However, I did welcome the New Year with a couple of new beers. New year… new beer… seems appropriate. After trying out our new skates at Centennial Lakes Carolyn and I stopped by the new Chatterbox Pub in Edina. I did not realize that they had their own house beers. I always get excited when I see something on tap that I’ve never had before. While the commercial tap and bottle list was exceptional, I decided to opt for said house beers. These beers, I was told, were brewed by Point Brewing Company in Stevens Point Wisconsin exclusively for Chatterbox Pub. The Dubbel sounded good, as did the Empyreal Pale Ale, but I went for the Magnanimous Brown Ale instead. The menu defines magnanimous as noble and generous in spirit (or something like that), but I found this to be anything but. The color was a light watery brown, not unattractive but not at all inviting. I took a whiff and nothing. No evidence whatsoever of what I was about to imbibe. I tasted it and again, nothing. This beer was about as blah as any can be. No aroma and no flavor. That’s not to say it was a horrible experience, just disappointing. It was very drinkable, I could easily drink these all night, but I’d rather drink something else. I imagine this beer would be perfect for the light beer drinker looking to establish himself as a sophisticated beer drinker. It certainly looks better than the ubiquitous yellow beer but it won’t shock your taste buds. Dictionary.com defines magnanimous as generous in forgiving an insult or injury. Well, I forgive quickly and forget even faster so on to the next. Being a fan of Belgian Wit beers I had to try the Chit Chat Belgian White Ale. While usually enjoyed in the summer this was a redeeming beer in the heart of winter. A very well done Wit, true to style. I really enjoyed this one, right down to the Curacao orange peel. This particular Chatterbox opened for business only about a month ago and the neighborhood welcome, we were told, is overwhelming. New Year’s Day was no exception. It was much busier than I expected. Everyone’s supposed to be hungover claiming “I’m never going to drink again!” Well, there was one group in the corner who appeared to be still partying from the night before. A lot of weathered clothes, tousled hair and tired eyes. They were still having fun though. Contrasting them was a quiet row of booths filled with families, couples and friends. I saw people ages 10-60 and seems to welcome all ages. If you’ve never been, their niche is games. They have card games, board games and video games. I saw a couple of thirtysomething guys playing Sega PGA Golf and the rowdies in the corner were playing Super Mario Bros. My wife added “This place looks like a living room” and she was right. Game counsels everywhere and couches and art work straight out of your Grandma’s basement. Everyone was comfortable. As we sat there playing battleship and drinking our beers I felt glad. Glad to be there and glad to see such a fun hip place succeeding so near the dining saturated and sometimes stuffy 50th & France district. I would rate this place E for Everyone.
As we welcome 2009 I am excited for what is in store for this year. Every year the craft beer scene seems to expand exponentially. New breweries and brewpubs pop up and new products from existing brewers hit the shelves. I cannot wait to see what happens, it’s going to be a great year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)