Beer + Bacon = Heaven

And our high school math teacher said we would never get word problems.

You know the Heavy Seas Beer & Bacon Festival is well planned when you find them handing out strips of bacon at the merchandise shop bar.  A slice of bacon and a glass of Small Craft Warning is a nice start to the day. We also hit the Prosit, Red Sky at Night, Pale Ale, and the bourbon barrel-aged Great'er Pumpkin - flowing through a carved out pumpkin.  Among our favorites was Red Sky and the Small Craft Warning.  The food was great too, particularly the duck bacon, but we'll leave it to Bacon, Baking & Everything in Between to fill in the details.

Saturday's event was more about the bringing together of two beautiful dietary creations - beer and bacon.  Heavy Seas showed us a good time with plenty of grub and plenty of swill. We're still dehydrated but it was worth it. 

A few pics from the afternoon:

Bacon and Beer and Everything's Nice

Just roll these out to my car, please.

For dessert, I'll have the antacid.

Pumpkin keg stand anybody?

For us, this is the equivalent of a bank robber finding the vault.

DB's San Diego Beer Week Continues

So, on Thursday we finished off a long day with some brews in the Gaslamp Quarter (again) when we stumble upon the Lost Coast Downtown Brown. We found it at one of the local Irish pubs and we might add that Irish pubs are becoming a theme on this trip.

Downtown Brown is described as a "smooth, full bodied nut brown ale" and that's pretty much accurate. There's something about this brown ale that is unremarkable yet once you get a taste for it you just can't move on to other brews. That really is the sign of a great nut brown - it is full bodied and brings you back for more yet isn't filling like a stout. At the bottom of each glass you really only have one option - get yourself a refill.

Today, after pulling the work equivalent of a college all nighter, we ate with friends at the Yard House. This place is not for the elder statesmen. It's loud, roucus, and focuses on the younger crowd. That said, they have something like 250 brews on tap. There is no age restriction for that kind of aesthetic draw. We settled on Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA - based on input from the knowledgeable wait staff. If you land on the left coast you need to find this beer. While not as hoppy as many IPAs, it's full bodied and has a very nice clean finish. The aroma is what gets you. Take a quick sniff before you drink and it will remind you of your first grade crush. We have one more night here and if Racer 5 is on the menu it will be hard to find a reason to experiment.

Day Tripping at Troegs

If you have 90 minutes to kill in Harrisburg, PA there are a few options at your disposal. You could: 1) tour the beautiful Capitol building, 3) shop and dine in the quaint downtown, or 3) visit Troegs Brewery.

Such was our dilemma today and it should surprise nobody that we decided to visit one of the finest breweries in the mid-Atlantic region. Never high on drinking alone we were joined by our old friend "naked man brewing" (for the record Troegs requires full clothing for all visitors). We spent the bulk of our time roaming the gift shop and tasting room while enjoying the samplers platter of 7 Troegs brews. You can hang out in the bar area for food, drink (by food we mean frozen pizza - if you're lucky they will cook it for you), and good conversation.

If you need to walk about, head over to the gift shop to collect your wares. They have t-shirts, hats, stickers, and belt buckles. Yes, big Troegs belt buckles that are only missing one thing - an attached bottle opener.

The folks were quite friendly. Most importantly, they kept us happy by pouring brews. However, when it was time to leave the staff spent several minutes taking our feedback and answering questions about upcoming products. We were really struck by the small batch soaking in oak barrels that's soon to be released. Unfortunately, it will be hard to come by if you can't make it to the brewery.

One Regret: Today was not a brewing or bottling day. Well, our late arrival makes it likely that they brewed or bottled earlier in the day. The brew house and Gift shop/Tasting Room areas are separated by wide, tall glass windows. If we had better timing we could have watched the Troegers brew their magic. Apparently we have a reason to take another trip to the Pennsylvania state capital.

Texas: Don't Mess with Shiner Bock

Yesterday we went on a work bender, day trip to Houston, Texas. The cab picked us up promptly at 5:30 am for a 7:30 am out of BWI. By mid-morning we were in Texas where remarkably few people wanted to discuss the possibility of secession. Back at the the George Bush Intercontinental Airport by late-afternoon we decided there is no better state than Texas to introduce our 50 Beers in 50 States agenda.

Councourse E of GBI Airport has Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen, which we understand to one of the gem's of Houston. You can't always find a local restaurant in an airport so we ponied up a seat and quenched our thirst with Shiner Bock. Shiner is not hard to find in our part of the country but it's a brewery worthy of kicking off this tradition. The Spoetzel Brewery has been in Shiner, Texas since 1909 and even today it's a small town of around 2,000 residents. Shiner Bock is a smooth beer (the brewers appropriately call it mellow) that's highly drinkable. It would make for a good, everyday beer for any self-respecting Texan.

You will not find a lot of details on the brew itself as this series is more about the beer complimenting the atmosphere. Drinking Bock in Houston - even if it's only in the airport, in a seafood kitchen rather than a steakhouse - makes you feel like a Texan. After several Bock's we took a long nap on the flight home dreaming of F-150's, ZZ Top, and our next trip to the Lone Star State.