Day 1 Colorado Beer Trip (continued)

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 After the drive from Minneapolis to Des Moines, the Omaha leg of the trip seemed like a breeze. A short two hours after leaving El Bait Shop and we were already approaching the Council Bluffs/Omaha area. Before the sun went down I wanted to check out the Old Market. I had spent quite a few afternoons in the Old Market when a buddy of mine was at Creighton Dental School. I used to go down every summer for the College World Series and I was always impressed with the Old Market. This part of downtown is Omaha’s trendy hot spot. Old warehouses tastefully refinished into gift shops, retailers, bars and restaurants. Of these old buildings, one of them is a renovated firehouse, and creates some pretty tasty beers. The Upstream Brewing Co, from firehouse to brewhouse. The atmosphere is comfortable, very clean and straight lines, almost like you’re in a chain restaurant but with the charming wait staff of an independent. We bellied up to the bar and were treated the way first timers should be treated. Very friendly bartenders, offering to help in anyway possible but not intrusive, hasty or forceful. I knew what I wanted… the sampler, duh. We were brought two tall glasses of water without even asking. I like a place that does that. Too many times water seems like an inconvenience than a service.

No fancy rack for their sampler, just a laminated placemat with descriptions of the beer to be placed on it. Thirteen mini Pilsner glasses to be exact. “Oh how cute”, Carolyn exclaimed! I won’t go into detail on all of them but rather just the more memorable ones. The Dundee Export Scotch Ale was very pleasant. Plenty of malt and a nice easy drinking smoky finish; hints of sweet caramel set this one apart. It was also fun to taste the Blackstone Stout along side the cask version of the same beer. Both were nice and roasty with big body but the cask version was more complex. I was picking up a hint of oak and maybe some bourbon. It definitely seemed barrel aged to me, but the bartended assured me it was not. The only differences are serving temperature, the cask version isn't on nitro and the cask version was dry hopped. I enjoyed them both but more so the cask version. Another couple of beers really stood out. The Oatmeal Cookie Beer and the Blue Mystic Saison. The cookie beer was toasty, creamy, malty, biscuity and all around delicious. The Saison was brewed with ginger which added a nice refreshing twist. This saison was very citrusy already and the ginger added that piney something extra. It's not overpowering, I may not have even noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. It was very subtle but very welcome. After finally finishing them all plus lots of water we headed out. The guy next to us at the bar ordered a flourless chocolate cake and we almost pulled the trigger. Bartender said it would go nicely with a Stout/Raspberry Ale fusion. I bet it would.

We quickly checked into our hotel, dumped our bags and headed for the Crescent Moon Ale House. Omaha is pretty much a beer desert. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy visiting Omaha. There are many fun places to go have a beer, but if it’s a fine selection of craft beer you're looking for, your options are slim. There is one place, however, dubbed “Beer Corner USA” that should satisfy all of your desires. The corner of 36th and Farnam streets plays host to a wealth of beer imbibing opportunities. Under the confines of one roof you will find a Tap House with a wonderful selection, a German Bar with all your favorite German imports, a Belgian Beer Bar and a liquor store with a name all too inviting, Beertopia. What more could you ask for? We could have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on this little corner. It’s probably a good thing the seven hour drive looming the next morning was in the front of my mind or we would have. It was ten o’clock on Thursday night and the place was packed! While researching this trip I had read an article online about bartender Chris Bettini at the Crescent Moon. This guy has a mad passion for beer. We were lucky enough to have him taking care of us during our visit. I told him I was looking for Lucky Bucket, a brewery that I heard two stories about earlier in the day. I woke that morning having never heard of Lucky Bucky and by 10 PM, I had heard two people in two different States talking about it. In Des Moines, Mike from Court Ave had mentioned that Zac Triemert, former brewer at Upstream, ventured off to start his own brewery, Lucky Bucket. He said that I should seek it out while in Omaha. Then, while sitting in Upstream I overheard a bar manager talking about “our side project” Lucky Bucket. I obviously don’t have the whole story but I was intrigued nonetheless.

Crescent Moon had Lucky Bucket’s Pre-Prohibition lager on tap so I gave it a whirl. It was good, no wow factor, but very drinkable. I thought it was a rich creamy fruity lager, if there ever was such a thing. Of course I had tasted 25 beers already that day so my palate was pretty fatigued. I certainly had no problem finishing it. I would love to have another shot at this one. Later I tried the Ska Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter. I had heard about this one and was eager to try it. I knew we weren’t going to make it to Durango while in Colorado so I didn’t find any problem drinking it here. Mmmmmm, this was superb. Thick as tar but drank like silk. A lot of smooth creaminess behind this big bold roasty fella. I even got some alcoholic heat. At 8% it isn’t huge, but it ain’t no slouch either. I had to stop after this one. We had some crazy folks take a picture of us in front of the mural on the wall. This picture (not pictured) looked fine when we took it, but when we got home it was all blurry. Funny how clear everything is when viewed through beer goggles. Ha ha… and off we went into the Nefarious Nebraska night.