Maryland - September 2012

We usually take a trip to the Wisconsin Dells with our church in late September but Tony had some meetings to attend in Gaithersburg, MD which conflicted.  So, I decided to take the time off anyway and go with him.

We stopped at Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church, VA

We tried samples of Molotov Hoptail (Double IPA) Defender APA, Dingo IPA and Renegade Imperial Red IPA.  All of them were delicious.

We split an eggplant and roasted garlic pizza.

Another special destination on our list was Dogfish Head.  Although Tony has been quite a few times on previous trips to Gaithersburg, this was my first trip.

Tony started with an Alehouse 75 (a mix of the 90 minute and 60 minute IPA) on the right and I had the 60 minute IPA.

I had scoped out the food menu before arriving and decided that being in Maryland, I needed to try some fresh crab items.  So, we started with the warm three cheese and crab dip.  It was fantastic.

We moved onto the next beer selection.  I had the Shelter Pale Ale and Tony had the Burton Baton. 

Next we ate some Jerk Rum Wings.  I'm not a huge dry rub fan, nor am I a huge wing fan, but they were crispy and tasty.

Reading the description of Theobroma, I had to try it.  Their website says, "Theobroma is a celebration of chocolate, the food of the gods. This Ancient Ale comes from a recipe dating from 1200 B.C., based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras that revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. It is brewed with Aztec cocoa power and cocoa nibs, honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seed)."

I expected it to be a darker beer but was pleasantly surprised to see it be a caramel color. It was delicious.

Next, we ate the crab cakes.  Honestly, if I'd known crab tasted so good I would have been eating more of it.  Of course, maybe it is only this good on the coast.

We were fortunate enough to be there on a night when Bitches Brew was on tap.  This beer is part of their music series honoring Miles Davis and is described as "a bold, dark beer that's a fusion of three threads of imperial stout and one thread of honey beer with gesho root."  It was a great way to end the evening at Dogfish Head.

We always meet great people when we're traveling or visiting microbrews and this visit was no different.

We met a Darren, his wife Lisa and Lisa's Mom, Karen.  Hopefully Lisa has decided to let Darren start home brewing!  If so, post a comment and let me know how it is going!

We also spent time getting to know Chris.  Originally from Boston, Chris has his own I.T. consulting company.  Chris was such a friendly young man.  We spent time talking about our families, brewing, work and lots of other things.

My first trip to Dogfish Head was memorable, and full of great beers, delicious food and great new friends.

Yikes

I've got some catching up to do.  So, this may be rather incomplete because a lot of my notes are missing (I need ONE notebook - not many).  But, the log of the travels is important as are some of the pictures.

So here goes...

Way back in November we did the Circus Trip and followed the Chicago Blackhawks to California for the Thanksgiving weekend.  We had to stop back at Stone Brewing...

I don't know what these are (probably Ruination and Sublimely Self-Righteous).  We sat at the bar this time around (we sat outside last time) and also went on the tour when we were done.

I love this hanging bar decoration.











.

We also stopped at the famed Pizza Port in Carlsbad.  This is a picture of the samples we tried.  The pizza was fantastic.











We took a trip to Detroit to watch a hockey game and stopped at Original Gravity in Milan, MI. 

We were very happy with the beers and the food.  It was a cute small town.  The place was spacious and the staff were friendly.

We tried a sampler but the Southpaw IPA was great.  This is one we will visit again.


Fast forward to June, 2012...  We took a trip around Lake Erie through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario and Michigan.  We Yelped and found a great place for lunch in Wauseon, OH  - Sullivan's

Sullivan's was a beer bar / restaurant.  We were very pleased with the food and the beer selection.  Tony had the Cobb Salad and I had the Southwest Chicken Salad.  Our waitress / bartender, Brenda, was friendly and knowledgeable about the beers.  We tried a Lake Erie Monster IPA from Great Lakes.

Next we headed to Fat Heads in Cleveland.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from Fat Heads as I realized (once we go there) that I left my camera at Sullivan's.  However, we samples Head Hunter IPA, Bumbleberry Honey Blueberry Ale, Sunshine Daydream Session IPA and Rocketman Red.  We ate cheese and potato pierogi.

Back to Milan for my camera - Mac and Tong's restaurant for dinner.  The food was delicious but the restaurant was very dated and smelled like a funeral home.  We spent more than three hours looking for a hotel after dinner and ended up driving about 200 miles to Ashtabula, OH.  Breakfast at Lakeway Restaurant the next morning was quaint as we sat at the counter.

Next - a brewery that was on our list of destinations - Southern Tier in Lakewood, NY.

We tried Hop Sun (L) and Phin and Matts (R).  Phin and Matts was very light, lager-ish.  Hop Sun was mild but less lager-ish)

We went with pints of Unearthly IPA and Iniquity Black IPA.  To help pass the time, we picked up some sea salt and cracked pepper peanuts to nibble on.

We went to Toronto and watched the NHL draft on television.  We tried Gretzky's but it was pretty quiet there.  So, we headed to Real Sports.  It was huge, crowded and loud.  But, the atmosphere was more of what we were looking for.

On our way home, we stopped in Flint, MI at Redwood Steakhouse.  We sampled the Pale Ale, American IPA, Porter and Brown.  They were decent beers and we split a wedge salad to hold us over.

We continued on to Grand Rapids and ate dinner at Hop Cat - which is always a treat!

The next day we stopped for lunch at New Holland Brewing Company.  We sampled Rye Hatter (L), Black Hatter, El Mole Ocho and Envious (R).

Tony liked the Rye.  The Black is very smooth.  The El Mole Ocho was a little spicy and fruity.  Apparently I failed to mention what we ate in my notes... I swear, we did eat something.

And, to cap off a wonderful trip, we stopped at the Livery in Benton Harbor on our way home.  I saw a post on Facebook that they were tapping a firkin of Double Dry Hopped Anvil IPA in the middle of the afternoon so we high-tailed it to the pub.  It was fantastic.

It was too hot to sit outside in the sun at the picnic table and drink so we headed inside to the downstairs bar.  We sampled a few more and had a good one called String of Ponies - pale ale.

Catch Up Posts - Wisconsin Dells - October 2011

Our Church's Annual Conference is held in Wisconsin Dells. 

We heard through the grapevine that a Sprecher's had opened in town.  We went for lunch one of the days.

Visiting Wisconsin Dells also gave us an opportunity to visit the Grumpy Troll again.  We went on Saturday, October 1st for dinner.  As is our way, we ordered a sampler of beers.

We have yet to be disappointed at the Grumpy Troll.  We took several bomber bottles home to drink and share.

We loved the chili last time and got it again this time.  It is really good.


On the way home on Sunday, October 2nd, we stopped at two places in Madison, WI.

We, yet again, got the sampler at Vintage Brewing Company.  We also ate the chicken nachos.  They were delicious!

 We talked to several people at the bar and told them we were headed to Ale Asylum next.  The folks we spoke to, and then later, we agreed... Vintage Brewing was the better of the two stops.

Ale Asylum was cute inside but the beer just didn't hold up to what we had at Vintage.

The Hopalicious was good but still didn't have enough body to make it worth going back.

Catch Up Posts... Michigan in late August

The first weekend after classes started this past Fall semester, Tony and I decided to get out of town and get up to Southwest Michigan.  We did a couple of old standby favorites but tried a few new places, too.

We started off on Friday, August 26th at The Livery in Benton Harbor.  We decided to get the sampler and try as many as we could.

Saturday, August 27th we hit quite a few.  We tried a new place called Paw Paw Brewing (in Paw Paw, of course).

The bar was pretty new and very cute on the inside.  A little rustic, although in the summer with the doors open and all, it might feel different in the winter.

Again, there were so many things to try, we got a sampler.

We tried everything they had... they had just run out of the stout.  The beers were good, but compared the rest of the trip, it was probably our least favorite.  We will go back and see how they've progressed.















Next, we stopped at Arcadia Brewing in Battle Creek, MI.  We had tried Arcadia back in November of 2007 but we had heard that they had made some significant changes over the years.  We were more impressed this time than we were last time (and we liked them then, too.)

We probably didn't need another sampler, but we did it anyway. 

We also got some food.  We shared the quesadillas and smoked wings.

We were so impressed with the beer, we brought home a few six packs.
























Off to the bed and breakfast for a quick nap before dinner at Dark Horse in Marshall, MI.

We only got pictures of the food... not the beer.  But, chances are if you're reading this blog - you've seen a Dark Horse brew or two in your lifetime.

We got bread and oil to start. 

Tony got a pizza...

and I opted for a Greek salad.

Sunday, August 28th was our day to head back home.  But, not without one last stop to a new brewery in Sawyer, MI.

Greenbush Brewing Company is not only gorgeous inside but the beer is outstanding.

picture from Greenbush website

We started with a few samples...

and then had a few more samples and a pint (or two).

We were pleasantly surprised and anxious to visit again.