Rugged One

Wow, what am awesome BTR Justin! Most definitely worth the wait! Thanks again for the hook up and hopefully we'll catch up with ya' sometime this summer up in Portland.

This past Friday Derek came over for our first tasting in a while. Luckily we had been stockpiling some pretty darn good stuff in the meantime. So begins the first edition of Friday Night Pints of 2008! This guy had lots going on with it, including dark fruits, heavy malts, and a yeasty chalkiness to it. Quite interesting and a nice sipper to end our night with. Until next time! We finish up the only way we know how. With another special beer. Actually anything from the Lost Abbey is pretty darn special. In this case, it's the Ten Commandments, a Belgian Strong Ale. This was another fine beer and a great example of a Coffee Stout. Just a ton of coffee notes with espresso, burnt coffee ground bitterness, and a nice creamy body. Definitely a breakfast for beer champions! We keep the top 100 rolling with #93, a bottle of Beer Geek Breakfast. This is an Oatmeal Coffee Stout brewed by Mikkeller, one of the best breweries in Denmark right now. Wow, I think this is seriously the best fruit beer we've ever had. Just tons of sweet Raspberry goodness that is offset by a almost perfect amount of tartness. And then as if that wasn't enough, it even ends with a little bit of hoppiness. We loved it! We get things back on track with the #62 beer in the world. The Raspberry Tart from New Glarus. I believe this is our first beer from these guys. It definitely left a favorable impression! Actually, it wasn't bad with some nice citrus and hop character but like most of these blended beers, it's like, What's the point? Especially if your going to wax top the bomber like it's something special. So what poor beer is going to have follow up that awesome beer drinking experience for us? Something some Southern Tier of course! The Gemini, a 50/50 blend of their Hoppe Extra Pale Ale and Unearthly DIPA. Needless to say, you would have to wipe the smiles off our faces right now. This beer just doesn't have balls. It has big ole' hairy balls! I swear they must ferment this stuff with testosterone instead of yeast. The Dark Lord IS that damn manly! And probably the most impressive aspect of this beer is the body. Just as thick as can be with the consistency of motor oil. After we poured, there was still this Hershey syrup type sediment in the bottom of the bottle. After pouring that out into our glasses, this was what showed up in Derek's glass. An evil grinning skull face. Awesome! For us at least this beer totally lived up to the hype. Just huge awesome notes of chocolate, coffee, espresso, dark fruits, and burnt malt. It's the biggest and baddest beer on the block. The Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout! Released only one day every year. Big props to Deuane for hooking us up! TA-DA! Instant #2 beer in the world! Hmmm. What could be in the bag? Being our first tasting of the new year, I decided to break out something special for us... It was decent. Lots of typical witbier characteristics. Bread, yeast, orange zest, coriander spices, and honey but then that 9% had to rear it's ugly head. We're glad to have tried it though. We start out with something light. OK, if you consider 9% light. It's the latest commemorative batch from Bell, Batch 8,000. A jacked up Imperial Witbier.

Something to help me warm me up on a cold and bitter evening last night. Very strange. Lots of the typical Imperial Stout notes like chocolate, coffe, and burnt flavors but this also had an extreme taste of fresh citrus blended in with it. Nice! The Nogne 0 Imperial Stout. A product of Sweden!

^ Nice pics Bubba. If you think that the Wipeout tastes like a Double IPA, wait until you try one of their actual Double IPAs. I'm glad to see that you had a good time in Vegas. Time again for another crazy trip. Around this time every year, Portsmouth Brewing, in Portsmouth, NH releases their very highly touted (BA Magazine recently listed it as the top North American beer) Russian Imperial Stout called Kate the Great. The only place you can naturally get it at is at the brewery and they do some limited to go bottles out of their retail store. Naturally a top beer and limited availability equals a huge demand. Kim and I are always of the notion that if it's good and within 8 hours of us than have car, will travel. We left Friday morning at 2:30 am and got back Saturday night. Quite the whirlwind trip but it was so worth it. Plus we got to visit some cool places on the way up and back. Enjoy the pics and Merry Christmas everyone! After some shopping, we stop back at the brewpub for one more growler of Kate to go. Quite the whirlwind trip but definitely fun. Portsmouth is a great beer town and we look forward to getting back soon. Thanks for reading. Back in downtown Portsmouth and how do we know that we're in NH? Because we get to witness Hillary Clinton do a campaign stop. I finish up with a Nitro Porter. This was definitely a pretty cool place and we look forward to stopping back sometime in the future. What's cool too is that since we are at the brewery, they will occasionally have on small batch stuff like their own Barleywine called Treblehook. They sell 4-packs of this just around Southern NH so I picked one up. Look for a review sometime soon. ...like this years Winter Hook. I've had this in the past and always enjoy it. Plus a couple of extra Red Hook brews.. Decent selection of Red Hook (and now) Widmer on tap. This place actually had a pretty cool atmosphere. Kind of a corporate brewpub. I like the hooks hanging from the ceiling. The brewing facility is home to it's very own Red Hook Chataqua Public House. From a regional craft brewery to a national one, Portsmouth is also home to the East Coast Red Hook brewing facility. I'm sure some of you may have heard of this brand. It's everywhere! I guess much like Sam Adams, you could call it a Macro-Micro as it started out small and blew up on a national level. And I couldn't leave without a shot of Smutty1 parked along side us in the parking lot. A great brewery with great beers and run by some really great people. I know that I'll continue to support their product and Make Mine a Smutty! They told us though that they are pretty maxed out on space and will have to relocate in the next couple of years at the rate they are growing. Sounds like a good type of problem to have. They did a pretty fun but fairly brief tour. They did 18,000 bbl this year and I was surprised at how they crammed everything into the space that they have. ...as well as free samples! Here I try a Smuttynose IPA while Kim tried their Winter Ale. They've even got a fooseball table and dart board to keep you occupied... Pretty laid back tasting room. There were only a few of us that were there to take the tour. Once we saw the basketball rim attached to the grain silo, we knew that this was going to a fun place. Done with Portsmouth Brewing (for now) we decide to check out some of the other beer happenings around town. First, it's a stop at one of the larger regional breweries on the East Coast. Smuttynose Brewing. And here it is, the infamous To Go cooler at Portsmouth Brewing. One of the most coveted bottled beers in the world is dispensed 12 at a time (they only hand bottle 2 cases at a time) for a few weeks at $10 a pop. Quite the crazy situation as it's a total crap shoot as to if you can actually score some. Now that we know what the deal is, we'll be better prepared for next year! Kim waves from the attached gift shop. Unknownst to us, it opened an hour before the brewpub did and cost us our shot at a few bottles of Kate to go. It's always nice to see a place like this get involved with the community. We may have been denied bottles but luckily they will do growlers here so naturally some Kate went home with us. And because we drove the whole way up here, I get another Kate on draft. Why not! Kim tried a glass of their Winter Rye. It was also great. Fairly light and drinkable with some fantastic rye notes. This was a good time of the year to be at the brewpub as they also had on their Imperial IPA, which was very good, and IMO probably gets way overshadowed by Kate at this place. The food here was very good as well. Here I had a cup of their New England Clam Chowder and a gigantic roast beef sandwich, called appropriately enough, The Beast! They had plenty of great things that Kim liked too. Like their recently tapped Winter Weizen. And there she is! A #1 beer in the world? Honestly, I don't know but she was definitely very, very good. Much sweeter (and less burnt and bitter) and more drinkable than many of the other top RIS that I've had. Here's what's on tap. It's funny, that nowhere at the brewpub (not on the board, tap handle, from the servers) does anyone call this beer Kate the Great. It's always referred to as just Russian Imperial Stout. A look at the bar from where we were sitting. It's rather on the small side. Here's a shot of the main area of the brewpub from the back looking towards the front door. Definitely a nice place and good atmosphere. And here it is, the home to her Royal Majesty, Portsmouth Brewing. We're finally in downtown Portsmouth, NH. It had just snowed a good bit the day before but no worries, they know how to clear roads up here. This was quite the quaint little town with a really cute downtown shopping area. We came back later in the evening to poke around. I just wanted to throw in a quick shot of one of their state liquor stores (liquor is state run in NH while you can get beer at anyplace you can buy a morning paper). Quite impressive and this one even had it's own exit ramp. I think this pic pretty much sums up the place. Just an outstanding hit list of great breweries from around the country. They also have a tremendous selection of local New England brews and don't even get me started on their Belgian selection. We actually stopped here again on the way back down through. Our first stop on our way through Mass was the much ballyhooed Julio's in Westborough, MA.

And time for some Southern Christmas beer goodness too... I liked the side of the bottle. Peace, love, and suds everyone! This wasn't bad. A kind of muddled mess of flavors with chocolate, cherries, spice, and nuttiness, but somehow it all worked in the end. 2007 Sweetwater Festive Ale.

Time for some Midwestern Christmas beer goodness... And wow, it does taste like Christmas! Sweetness, spices, easy drinkibility. No wonder their going nuts for this stuff out in Ohio. Great Lakes Christmas Ale. A handcrafted ale brewed with honey and spices.

Tried a couple of beers from this years Sam Adams Winter Classics 12 pack that's currently in stores. Next up is the Old Fezziwig Winter Warmer. It wasn't bad. Sweet and very spicy. It was nice to try once but I don't think it's one that I would go back to anytime soon. This was very good. Nice notes of roasted malt, chocolate, and caramel. A fine sipping holiday Porter! First up, the Sam Adams Holiday Porter.

Time for some West Coast holiday goodness. As for the beer, it was just as tasty as last years. Lots of burned coffee, chocolate sweetness, cherry tartness, and tons of alcohol heat. Truly a beer worthy of Black Santa. Nah, it's just Pizza Port bowing down to those that don't believe that you can show Santa enjoying a cold brew. Although we all know that he does! Here's last years label for proof. Something seems weird about this year's label. OMG! Has Santa Claus been taken over by a alien symbiote costume that can drastically increase his speed, strength, and ability to deliver Christmas gifts on time to the world's children? This year's edition of Santa's Little Helper. An holiday Imperial Stout from Port Brewing.

Well it's mid December and that means that it's time for another run down to Sly Fox for their annual Project IPA. On this trip, we had myself Deuane and fellow BAs Andy and Jeff. They had a much bigger crowd than last years and it never really seemed to let up, even though we were there almost 5 hours during the afternoon. It was well worth it though, with another record setting number of IPAs to be had. ...and then we all finished up with our favorite of the 11 varietals. And with that another successful Sly Fox IPA Project is in the books! They would do regular fills of anything they had on, so I checked out a full glass of the 2007 Odyssey on cask... They had a special IPA chile on the menu for the day. It was very spicy and maybe even a little hoppy... Andy and Deuane get ready to rip into their flights. This year's version of Odyssey. It was very nice! This was Jeff's first time at the Project and he didn't know what to do with all these IPAs. Better double fist them! And there they are in 3 different flights of 5 each. 11 different hop varietals, 2007 Odyssey Double IPA draft, both 2006 & 2007 Odyssey on cask and then finally their Rt. 113 IPA on cask as well. Holy hop overload! Welcome back to Sly Fox and this years edition of their annual IPA Project. This years was the biggest one yet and they broke their own record with an amazing 15 different offerings of their own IPAs on at one time.

One of my favorite Holiday beers from last year. Very nice. Notes of dark malts, fruits, spices, bread, and warmth. Perfect for sipping by the fire. The Gouden Carolus Noel. A Belgian Strong Dark Ale brewed for the Holidays.

After about 6 straight months of missing them, we're finally starting to get back to some of these monthly DuClaw beer releases. We can thank the new reopened Bel Air location for that! Cheers! And thanks for reading. And I think that the whole crew agreed that it was still pretty good anyway. Good times! ...and wow, it's vastly different than the previous years! This years had a real smoky and leathery feel to it. Very different. All right, let's try this years batch... ...and the best one....Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. When told that he'll have to be paid in beer he replies "Sh*t Negro, that's all you had to say!" Freaking funny! Mr. T... Their questions were naturally intercut with scenes from the movies of famous black actors like Bernie Mac... The release video was one of the funniest that I've ever seen. As you can see, the DuClaw folks are auditioning for the official Black Jack Stout spokesperson. It's the return of the Serum Double IPA next month. How wonder how this one will be different than previous years? We'll cut straight to the trivia. If you want to see more, look back at last years release. ...for one of my favorites. The Black Jack Imperial Stout. This is actually the third straight release where we've gone to a different location for each one. I guess it's off to Bowie next December! Back again for another release at the Bel Air DuClaw...

Ah, never underestimate Sam Adams Bubba. Never! Time for another Christmas tradition tonight. And it's as good as always. Nice pungent hoppiness with a spicy malt backbone. I think I even picked up a little mint in the aroma as it warmed! Ah, it wouldn't be the Christmas season without a bottle of this years Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale.

^In that case. It sucked! Cubed! With the weather getting colder outside. That can only mean one thing... Time to drink some Bell's Stouts! Mmmmm. I really like this one. Tons of sweet chocolate and mellow roastiness with a silky smooth body. Yum! The Bell's Special Double Cream Stout.

Something I picked up from our visit to Vermont last July. Eh, I'm not too sure about this one. Just extreme flavors of sweet malt and citrus hoppiness that scream for some kind of balance. It seems like it's trying to be an Imperial IPA but just isn't as drinkable as it should be. The Magnumus Ete Tomahawkus ESB³. An ESB squared? How's that going to work out?

Drinking something local tonight. Yum, lots of citrus and light hoppy notes. And being from State College, it's chock full of bitterness and jealousy too! Awesome! Fresh from last weeks trip to Otto's in State College, it's one of their newly available 22oz bombers of Mt. Nittany Pale Ale.

^Yeah, the SN Harvest changed around this time last year too. Gotta drink it fresh! So last night was the night that I officially transitioned from the last of the fall beers into the holiday stuff. No 12 beers of Christmas this year but I've still got a few up my sleeve. Fantastic as always! It's like a big ole' glass of alcohol that's flavored with cherries and honey and it all works oh so perfectly. Cheers! So we'll kick off the holiday drinking season off the only way I know how. With a bottle of this years Mad Elf from Troegs. Blech! What was I thinking? It's got some nice spices but a super weak body and and an almost sour pumpkin taste to it. The last fall beer in my fridge. The Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale. Brewed just north of Charlotte. I remember drinking this guy a lot back when I was still down in Carolinas and wasn't quite into the beer scene yet.

We got our first substantial snowfall of the year yesterday (Boo!) so I figured it was time to break out some weather appropriate Stouts. I think for the most part he's still going strong. Still some big notes of chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, and still a good bit of alcohol. The body was starting to slip a little, as the finish seemed a little flat. Next up is a bottle of Left Hand Imperial Stout. This guy's been sitting around for awhile, having been bottled in April of 2005. And it really doesn't get much better than this! Just tons and tons coffee and chocolate in this guy. Just one of those beers that's a pleasure to drink. The #14 best beer in the world. Founder's Breakfast Stout.

Some pics from this past weekend. So when we first met our new friends Deuane & Carolyn, they couldn't believe that we had not yet been up to State College to check out the beer scene up there. Once everyone was able to find a free weekend to do it, they invited us to go on a weekend trip with them up to visit what they call the "Golden Triangle" of PA brewpubs. Otto's in State College, The Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport, and then finally the SGB in Selinsgrove. Plus a few extra bonuses as well. Special thanks to D&C for driving us around, showing us a good time, and generally just being really cool people. 8) Onto the pictures... We finish up with another Pumpkin for D and a cask St. Fillian's Scotch Style Barleywine for me. This years is very good. Nice mix of hops and alcohol. Until next time. Thanks for reading. Kim takes a break from beer and tries (for the first time) their hot chocolate here. It won't be her last. Just like everything else here, it was awesome! And I can't stay away from their IPA. I'm so glad that this should now be on full time. D has some of the new Mud Puppy Organic Brown Ale while Carolyn can't stay away from the Pumpkin. We can't believe that the World's Greatest Pumpkin Ale is still on tap. In December! All four of us kept going back to this since we knew that it will probably be the last until next Fall. We are finally starting to see the fruits of the much needed brew house expansion from this past summer. 8 on tap with 2 more on cask. Bout time! We end our day with the final side of the triangle. I think you know where. Let me tell you, nothing beast eggs and beer at 11am. I have an Edgar IPA while Kim has an Inspiration Red. It's time for Sunday brunch brewpub style! Sunday morning we were back at the Bullfrog again. Later that night, we attended our first beer tasting dinner with a few other couples. It was a lot of fun and I got to try a bunch of really good new to me stuff. The highlight though was the bottle of Alaskan Smoked Porter that D brought along. It was the best smoked beer I've ever had and tasted like liquid bacon. It was awesome! While D & I get tough with some of the newly tapped Lights Out Imperial Stout. Carolyn has a Blue Collar Brown on cask while Kim has the awesomely named Wolfsblood Scotch Ale. Another great brewpub tap list! And they are even carrying a couple of Victory guest taps now too. We still had a couple of hours to kill before our party in Williamsport, so we made an early visit to the Bullfrog. Back by the pool tables, they have their wall of fame with everyone that has completed their "80 Beer Around the World" passport. I'd love the opportunity to do something like that. All in all, State College was great and we didn't even hit up the local Mad Mex either. I can't believe that we procrastinated for so long getting up here and now we can't wait to get back! It was good too! I just wish that the taste could have lived up to it's spectacular aroma. Shot of the back of the bottle. This has been brewed for several years now but this is the first years that it's been available in the States. We figured that this would be a perfect time to split one of those giant 750ml bottles that you never want to drink by yourself. Time for something that I've been looking around for awhile now for. The St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. I go all Belgian like with a Gouden Carolus Ambrio. A Belgian Pale Ale. Nice... Kim gets herself a Bell's Two Hearted on draft that was OMFG good! D has a Penn St. Nick Bock while Carolyn goes for more of the Otto's Arthur's Amarillo on cask. Tons of cooler space too with all kinds of goodies. D assured me that the cooler wraps the whole way around the back of the bar. All right, enough with the intros...let's get to drinking! Just a small sampling of the tap selection plus the 3 hand pumps they have. But oh, we can't forget the bar! This one looks like it means business too! We pretty much had it all to ourselves during our visit. ...into the equally dark pub. Not much but a bunch of wooden tables and chairs, a place for a band in the corner, and a pool table and bathrooms around the corner. Great atmosphere for drinking. Down the dark staircase we go... Just a short drive later and we're downtown. Home to the State College Institution and #41 Best Place To Have a Beer in America. Zeno's Pub. What can I say? Otto's totally blew away our expectations! A great atmosphere, tasty food, an excellent selection and quality of brews, and road beers make this one of the best brewpubs we've been to in PA. A shot of the tanks on the way out. They have started bottling some of their brews now for take home. Excellent!!! I finish up with their Jolly Roger. A Russian Imperial Stout served on cask. It's a text book RIS and was fantastic! The food here is reasonably priced, generously portioned, and most of all really, really GOOD. I went with the bacon wrapped meatloaf with mashed potatoes covered in gravy made with their Black Mo Irish Stout. Kim's like "Heh, I don't have to drive! Get me an Apricot Wheat!" I next go for their Ottonator. A rather smoky Doppelbock. The ladies in red get in on the action too. Kim with a Mom's Elderberry Stout (which was incredible!) and Carolyn with her own half pint of the Arthur's on cask. D & I go for the Arthur's Amarillo Pale Ale on cask. This stuff was sick! Just a luscious aroma and taste of fresh Amarillo hops. ...and 2 more on the hand pumps. That's where we'll start. Check out that tap list! 10 on tap.. We decide to hang out in the rather cozy bar area. And did I mention that the whole place is smoke free? We're not here for football though. We're here for BEER! And luckily State College is home to one of the best brewpubs in the state. Otto's Pub & Brewery. Established in 2002. I had forgotten how ginormous the 2nd largest college football stadium in the country is. Beaver Stadium... We be in Lion Country...

The last leg of our Carolinas trip took us back to our old stomping groups of Florence and Myrtle Beach SC. After finally getting to eat again at Roger's, our favorite barbecue place in Florence (it was closed for renovations when we last came through), it was off to the shore for visits with beer establishments both old and new. I finish up our visit here (and our trip) with a glass of the brand new Saranac Imperial Stout. Much like the earlier released Imperial IPA, this was much better than any of their regular offerings. Maybe they need to stick with the heavy hitters. Thanks for reading. I couldn't believe how empty the place was at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe because they don't have any TVs playing football. If I lived near here, I'd be here every Sunday afternoon! We went with the bacon and smoked gouda combo and they were delicious! As far as food goes they have a pretty good selection of moulles here. Kim stuck with tea but they had quite a selection. Impressive! I've gotta first go with their 10 Anniversary Weizenbock that was brewed for them by Legend Brewing. This was a very good Weizenbock! Uh oh, it's once again me and the beer bible. And today (like every Sunday) is American Craft Beer Day. All pints are $2-3! Then it was off to the Capital Ale House for some lunch. Finally, on the way home Saturday, we just had to stop off in Richmond for some final bits of beer business. First stop Corks & Kegs for some final beer purchases (like I hadn't all ready bought enough)! My good buddy Josh even stopped by to visit with us, while I had an Unfiltered Wheat. These beers held up better for me the last time we were here. I think that my palette just wants better now. But heh, it's $2 beers during happy hour, so I can't complain too much! I will give Liberty an A for presentation as the serving tanks are impressively displayed right about the bar. Jeff & Lori stopped by since they were in town visiting with the folks. Jeff gets himself his good ole' reliable Liberty Lager while I had a Clydes Pale Ale. Light beers are right up Kim's alley though and she has no problem enjoying a White Ale (ie. Blue Moon clone). I can't say that I've had their C.W. Porter before but unfortunately it was fairly watery, weak, and forgettable. Lots on tap but it's still the same light styles that they've brewed all along. I was hoping that since SC popped the cap earlier in the year, they would maybe get a little more adventurous with their offerings. *Sigh* Onwards to Myrtle Beach and my original brewpub haunt, Liberty Steakhouse & Brewery at Broadway at the Beach. I finish up with the real gem of the group. The Peach Wheat. This was an excellent fruit beer with a fantastic peach taste and aroma. Shot off the back deck. As you can see the brewpub is located in a brand new country club style division complete with man made lake. It definitely adds to the outside atmosphere at least. I next grab some of their Porter that is so new, it doesn't even have a name yet! It was very nice as well. Some fine roasted cocoa notes with a nice medium body. I start out with the Swamp Fox IPA. This was pretty darn good considering that I'm drinking a hand crafted beer on the SC shore. Nice selection with six on tap. They aren't doing a sampler yet but they will sell 8oz half pints to you. As you can see from the bar area the place is still breaking in as far as atmosphere is concerned. Still kinda plain. Just south of Myrtle Beach off of Highway 17 in Pawley's Island, lies a relatively new (I think it just opened earlier this year) brewpub. Quigley's Pub & Pint.

^All right man, whatever you say. Another fall beer tonight and it's a good one. ...I can't wait for the next one! Sure you don't like coffee Joe? And it's just as hoppy, malty, and beefy as I remembered it. As much as I like this seasonal... Terrapin's fall seasonal, the Big Hoppy Monster.

^^Nah, I'm just going to pot shot you with "Where's the New Glarus pics! What did your camera "break" again?" ^ Awesome Rick! And Bubba! Ahhhh, it's great when the Beer Thread brings people together. Part deux of our trip down South. So we ended up spending the majority of our stay in Charlotte visiting first with our friends Jeff & Lori and then with Greg and his girlfriend Jenny. Charlotte is definitely one of our favorite US cities and that's not just because we used to go there all the time when we lived in SC. It's clean, bright, modern, and laid back. I wish I could say the same about the cities around here. Onto the pics! It was fantastic too! Tons of chocolate, sour cherry taste, and Belgian funkiness. Good stuff! Back at Greg's place we bust into something that he picked up at Brawley's. The Fantome de Noel. This place was great! A fun, rowdy atmosphere and great beer selection is all it takes to make me happy and the Flying Saucer delivered in spades. Greg and I finish up with a couple of Bell's Stouts. He the Double Cream and I the Expedition. Best dessert I can think of! They've got these plates all around the top of the place that it looks like patrons can buy to commemorate stuff. I still haven't figured it out yet. I figure that with the imminent hop shortage, I better get some Rogue Hop Heaven Wet Hop Ale just in case it isn't around next year. They also had a pretty good food menu that nicely complemented the beers they serve here. You've got to have your assortment plate of smoked meats and cheeses. All right, I'm set with a Cottonwood Endo IPA. Brewed just north of the city in Mooresville. Did I mention that that they call this place the Flying Saucer for a reason? Check out all those plates! Come back to me in a minute, I'm still looking... While Greg goes for the Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar. Jeff enjoys a Carolina Blonde Ale. Here's a closer look at all that awesomeness on tap. Actually there wasn't much on tap here that I hadn't had yet but it was all pretty good stuff. Kim shows off her root beer and the rather large bar behind her. Yeah, I'm going to like this place. By the way, see that little short skirt up in the top left corner? That was our waitress. This place was like Hooters for Beer Nerds. I love it! For dinner the four of us met up with Jeff and Lori at what is hands down the best place to have a beer in town. The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. This is actually a chain throughout the South and Texas. I wish I had one near me! And lo and behold, it's the first TPR sighting of the new Bell's Two Hearted mini kegs. North Carolina Matt... North Carolina!!! The walk in freezer holds a ton of unique and rare beers, especially of the Belgian variety. Here Greg shows off a beer made with seaweed. Speaking of glassware. Check out that selection! Tons of great stuff! The place is just jam packed with all kinds of hard to find goodies. Not only from the South but other areas as well. The owner, Mike Brawley, is a hell of a good guy too. He was busting our balls one minute about PA case laws and then giving us glassware for free the next. He seriously knows how to make good customers. Ahhhh but if you want the really good stuff, there's only one place you can go. Brawley's is only a few years old but it's quickly establishing itself as one of thee go to places in the South for those hard to get beers. And they had a really nice selection of stuff too. Nice mix of generally more available craft beers and Belgians. Friday was about the beer. Starting out first with a little beer shopping at Total Wine. Greg wanted to bring me here first since I could stock up on singles on a bunch of Southern brews that I needed to try. And Kim and myself, enjoying their fall seasonal, the 20oz Slice of Pumpkin Pie Ale. Sadly, the name was the only thing that was a mouth full. Pretty light... Lori and Jeff, who's enjoying a Southern Flyer light lager. Ah well, at least they still brew some beer here. I seriously think that the logo was the only thing that this place had in common with the Rock Bottom Restaurants up here as it had an even more bland atmosphere then even them. If you can believe that! Our first night in town, we went with Jeff and Lori to Rock Bottom Charlotte. This and Rock Bottom Atlanta are both owned by the same company that owns Gordon Biersch, Big River Brewing, and a bunch of other Southern based brewchain style restaurants.

No Dixie updates tonight as something came up. I should have part two up tonight though. Continuing to wrap up the Fall beers with a couple from one of my favorite breweries. Saranac in Utica, NY. Yes, I am being facetious Eh, this was definitely better. It's definitely got a nice pumpkin spice aroma and the taste wasn't half bad either. It's just that these Saranac beers always seem to have overly fizzy bodies. All right, so we'll give their a Pumpkin shot for the heck of it. And there's a reason for that! Overly sweet with some funky sour fruitiness and a weak body. Next! The Saranac Octoberfest. The last Octoberfest still sitting in my fridge.

^You would have liked it. Jamie's originally from Chadds Ford and we had a discussion about Iron Hill. I'm suspecting that the place may have drawn some influence from there. Tme to finish out the Fall beers this week before December arrives. I really liked this one too! It's much more subtle than some of the others with a more subdued but still very fresh hop character and a sweet and citrusy underlying maltiness. That is a pretty sweet label! Who wouldn't want to surf a tidal wave of hops?! The High Tide. A Fresh Hop IPA from everyone's favorite, Port Brewing.

Allright folks, its time once again for yet another fast and furious round of beer adventures, as only H&K can bring you! Look for updates over the next couple of nights. Kim and I had only been down once to visit the Carolinas since we moved back here to PA almost 3 years ago. It had been way too long, so when an extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend presented itself, we figured that it was time once again to head down to Dixie, visit with some old friends, and oh yeah, DRINK LOT'S OF BEER! The first order of business was to of course find somewhere good to stop for lunch and get some tasty beers on the way down to Charlotte. Luckily one such place came with outstanding recommendations... What can we say? Foothills rocked! Great beer, a great atmosphere, and great people made for a great brewpub experience. We will most definitely be back soon! And here's the man himself. Owner and brewmaster Jamie Bartholomaus. He's a hell of a nice guy and a fellow Pennsylvanian to boot. Keep up the great work Jamie! If you keep brewing these great beers, we'll keep coming back to drink them! Shot of the brew system in the back. They are going to be expanding very soon with bottling hopefully not too far down the line as well. ...but that doesn't mean the drinking has to stop. I finish up with a full glass of their Seeing Double IPA. Very nice! The samples may be all gone.. They even make their own ketchup. What don't they do here!? The food here was really good as well. I tried an ostrich burger for the first time. Very tasty! Nice size samples here too. None of that wussy sampler size stuff! ...and their latest seasonal, the India Brown Ale, which was fantastic! ...the Hoppyum IPA... ...Kim really enjoyed the Torch Pilsner... Some of the standouts included the Total Eclipse Stout, nice and roasty... ..which means that it's sampler time! Full slate of awesomeness with 8 beers on tap... Nice long bar and more spacious seating in the bar area. I really liked the atmosphere here. Kind of upscale yet still laid back and very approachable. The brewpub is housed in what used to be a department store and you can definitely tell from the high ceilings and general all around spaciousness of the place. Foothills Brewing in Winston Salem, NC. Only established in 2004, it's quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best brewpubs in the South.

^^ Well you see Bubba, before I was into rollercoasters or beer, I was really into hockey. So I've got a bunch of jerseys hanging in the closet that I pull out once in awhile. Thanks for the Eagles representation though. They'll need all the help they can get on Sunday night. No updates until next week. Kim and I are hitting the road tomorrow for a nice long holiday weekend down South and I'm sure that we'll be hitting some beer stops along the way, both old and new. In the meantime, something new from what is quickly becoming one of my favorite small breweries, Hoppin' Frog in Akron, OH. They've starting distributing in PA now, which means a better shot of grabbing some of their new brews. Wow! Nice blend of citrus and resinous hops nicely blended by a beefy caramel malt backbone? I think we're almost in West Coast Double IPA territory with this guy. Very nicely done. My mouth is watering just thinking about the next bottle. The Mean Manalishi. A Double IPA. Now there regular IPA, the Hoppin' to Heaven was pretty decent. How would this Imperial version compare?