Week of 5/27

Tonights tasting, - Tart Lychee from New Belgium Lips of Faith, Great Divide Hercules DIPA (taken off), and 4 beers from Full Sail; LTD Lager, Amber, Pale Ale and IPA.  Tonight, I was not impressed with any.  Boo.  

 

Labor day, we went to Stacked in Cerritos.  I got the Mana Wheat (brewed with pineapple) and the Stacked and Blue burger.  It had a basalmic glaze, blue cheese, bacon and onion straws.  The burger was good but sooooo gluttonous.  I felt sick after.  It was very greasy.  

Although I was full, we did fit in some Yogurtland Fro yo.  Yum!  and so colorful!

Week of 5/20

Traveled up to Seattle this week.  When in Seattle and near the airport, I like to hit up La Estacion.  It's a great little Taqueria.  I enjoy the guayava dulce (guava candy) and then I hit the huarache, and I hit it hard.  It is a corn cake / tortilla bed, beans, I chose carnitas, lettuce, cheese, SC, etc.  So tasty but massive.  I could only eat half. Their red and green salsa are also delish and muy caliente!

While in Yakima, we hit the local Safeway for some "groceries".  I was so excited to find these bombers.  I have had Irish Death before.  Good stuff.  The High Five Hefe is made with ginger and honey.  Yes, please.  The Stumptown Tart is brewed with marionberries, strawberries and raspberries.  The Rogue Mom is a hefe brewed with rose petals. 

The Bevmo tasting tonight was not too exciting.  I liked the Julian Cherry Bomb the most (tart cherries).  We also tried the original Julian Cider, Pyramids summer seasonal, Curve Ball (a blond) also good, Mendocinos summer seasonal, Bock, Speckled Hen and Verloren from Sam Adams. 

Week of 5/12

We hit up Manhattan Beach Brewing Company. They have a great beer selection for most people. Unfortunately I had a hard time finding something. Ended up with a Karl Strauss Red Trolley. We shared a pretzel. Meh. I had the Mediterranean chicken skewers appetizer as my dinner. It was tasty; cous cous chicken veggies, olives, pita and tzaziki.

Afterwards we hit up a local ice cream shoppe. I heard fabulous things about their maple bacon crunch ice cream. It was good! I also had some salted caramel. That was also very good.

5/15 hit up Freedoms Edge Brewing Company in Cheyenne, WY. Tried the Tivoli House Ale, Stormy Weather wheat, Wrangler Red and Midnight Ride Stout. I like the red so far.

  5/17 - headed to Hops and Pie, one of my favorite places in Denver.  I wasn't as familiar / keen on
their draft list this time.  It rotates so sometimes that happens.  The cute server recommended the Smoke Jumper.  I do enjoy a smoky beer.  It was amazing!

 My friend and I shared the caesar salad and each had a piece of their daily pie.  This one had pulled pork, jalapenos and pineapple.  It was really good.

After Hops and Pie, we headed to a nearby bottle shop where I bought the last bottle of Smoke Jumper...

 ...

Some Shiner summer seasonal made with red grapefruit juice and ginger, yum and...

 

some Alaskan Birch Bock made with birch syrup.  It was tasty but definitely had a high alcohol taste.

Then off to a new stop for us, Denver Beer Company.  I saw it in a Beer Advocate magazine.  I had to try it out when I saw Kaffir Lime Wheat.  We tried 5.  I loved the kaffir and the Misseur Flaeveur? which had a ton of basil in it.  Great place!

5/18 - tasting at Bevmo!  The Honey Basil was very good!  Magic Hat is tasty as well.  I enjoyed the Tempestuous Ale from Lightning in San Diego too.

Florida

We headed over to the Mansion, a renovated restaurant near old town Melbourne. They have 60ish beers on tap, which is unheard of in my hometown. I was happy To find Tangerine Wheat, from Lost Coast, I believe. Yummy. I rarely see this on draft. I suggested a Kona Brewing Koko Brown (coconutty) for my friend. She didn't appreciate it because it still tastes like beer. Ha. So, I has to finish it. Sigh. Kidding. I love that stuff. My friend suggested the chicken tortilla salad. It was tasty.

Saturday - a gift from my friend Sage, a Cigar City Brewing Maduro Brown from Tampa. Not bad. I love unfiltered beers.

Tuesday we hit a local Cuban Restaurant. El Ambia Cubano. I enjoyed the tostones, yucca and mass de puerco fritas.

Baltimore

Started off with a delicious Chimay and a mushroom Swiss burger. Both very tasty.

Next up I had to wet my whistle with a lovely dirty, beefeater martini. Glorious!

Golden Road Brewery

Headed up to Golden Road Brewery on Sunday.  I tried the hefe (left).  It wasn't awesome.  I ordered the pulled pork sandwich.  It was also "okay".  It seemed kinda small compared to other places.  We also shared some croissant bread pudding.  It was tasty but ridiculously tiny.  I was hoping they had the Valentin beer made with blood oranges.  They did not have it.  Overall, it was okay.  There are better places around here. 

This weekends activities

Friday nights tasting included Angry Orchard Crisp Apple Cider, Anderson Valleys Summer Solstice, Hanger 24's DIPA, Maui Bikini Blonde, Pigskin Pale Ale and Firestone Wookey Jack.  Because I'm a malt fiend, I love the Summer Solstice.  The Bikini Blonde was also quite lovely.  The others, meh.  I also picked up some Abita Strawberry Harvest, one of my favorite summer seasonals and Saison du Buff from Dogfish et al.  The Saison was okay.  Great herby nose.

Afterwards, we headed to Select Beer in Redondo Beach.  I enjoyed Moylans Kilt Lifter, a Scotch Ale.  Yum.  I also picked up some Colette from Great Divide, to go. 

Saturday night we ventured to Ocean Bar which I believe is part of Abigaile.  I tried the Orange Honey Blossom and brown sugar porter (brown sugar, chocolate wheat malt) abv 6.8 / $7
bourbon barrel strong ale (honey, vanilla beans, charred oak) abv 10.2 / $9 (10 oz).  The strong ale I enjoyed.

Denver

 

We started out at Vine Street Pub and enjoyed some Mountain Sun brews.  We really like the Annapurna Amber and the Blackberry Wheat was okay. 

Then we headed to the Three Lions Pub.  I liked it.  It was a British soccer bar.  I enjoyed a local brew from Great Divide, Collette.

The next night we headed to Hops and Pie for dinner and beer.  Great place.  We started out with a bomber of Brainless on Peaches from Epic Brewing out of Utah.   

We shared a yummy caesar salad and their artisan pizza.  The pizza had "

Citrus Miso Glaze, Korean Style Pork Bulgogi, Cotija Cheese, Kimchi, Spinach finished with shaved daikon.












Then we headed to Strange Brewing.  


























we got the sampler but we were most excited for the Cherry Kriek and Cherry Bomb stout.  We loved the stout.  Soooo good!

Lastly, we stopped at Sweet Action for some ice cream.  Found this place in Sunset magazine.  We tried 4 flavors; salted butterscotch (our favorite), Stranahan's whiskey brickle, Grand Marnier, I think and one more that I've forgotten.  It was odd that the ice creams werent colored.






Sunday morning we headed to Snooze.  Love this place.  They always have great food.















 my friend got the breakfast pot pie.  yum.












 I got the panckae sampler.  One sweet potato, one pineapple upside down and one red velvet.  "
Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes Buttermilk pancakes with caramelized pineapple chunks, housemade vanilla crème anglaise and cinnamon butter
Sweet Potato Pancakes Our signature sweet potato buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade caramel, pecans and ginger butter.
Red-Eye Velvet Pancakes Red velvet buttermilk batter topped with espresso infused maple syrup, a touch of cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans. Wake up and feast!"

1321 Taproom

After a hard day shopping, my friend and I stopped by 1321.  Although this place is close, I don't go by very often.  Usually the bar service is bad and I'm not a huge fan of their food but we were in the area and were parched.  There are about 20 beers on tap.  Two caught my eye; the Bootleggers Black Phoenix, a coffee chipotle stout and Old Chub, A Scottish Ale from Oskar Blues.  I chose the Chub after I tasted the Phoenix and didn't get any chipotle out of it.  We decided to share the pork fries (shredded pork over fries).  They were tasty although a little confusing.  There were 2 cream sauces, one seemed like a bechamel or country gravy.  I dont think it was disclosed in the description.  We made it for happy hour which was very nice.

The delicious cake I made.  Angel food mix and a can of sugar free apple pie filling.  One layer I added cinnamon and the other I added ginger.  The frosting is fat free Kool Whip.  Tasty!

Last nights tasting was all pale ales.  I enjoyed the Butte Creek  and the Knee Deep.  The others (Drake's, and Karl Strauss were mediocre.  The Green Flash Rayon Vert was horrible.  It had the distinct finish of formaldehyde.  Don't ask me how I know that.