When it rains...

Well it  was raining, not hard mind you, but it was raining.  What was I to do?  I wanted to lay stone but it's not an activity to be done in the rain - when it rains one should find a brew pub.

We took off at noonish for Superior (or Duluth).  I didn't make up my mind till we were in Superior and Deb was at the (damn) quilt shop.  The Thirsty Pagan won out (they had an IPA on tap) - but we will be back and try out Duluth (if we can get past the Pagan).

The bar is awesome - it is the most unpretentious place you can imagine.  They have decorated it with old beer memorabilia.  It was happy hour and I had the India Pagan Ale (IPA) and Deb had an amber.  I loved my beer, but as much as I enjoy an amber there was something about it that I didn't care for.  It wasn't my beer though and Deb enjoyed it.

While paying for the beer ($3.25/pint during a 3 hour daily happy hour) I asked about growlers (I had ice in the cooler - and to think, I was never a boy scout). She said the growler was $5 and $12 to fill it.  I inwardly flinched as this was a tad too much for me although reasonable.  She continued however with the information that Tuesday's special was a pizza (in house) and the growler was only $6 to fill.  That was any pizza - it could have been a small plain cheese.  Well I was kind of hungry.....
We ordered the medium (13") TPB special

	10"	13"	16"
TPB Special Spicy Italian sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and green peppers.	$11.95	$17.95	$24.95

The pizza came and I took one look and thought to myself that this pizza can't possibly taste as good as it looks - it actually was better.  I can only think of one other pizza that I had that was better.  This pizza was unbelievable.   We only ate half of it.  Can't wait till lunch (or my midnight snack).

This place has live music basically 6 nights a week and open mic on Sunday's - aah, to be rich enough to spend the night drinking the beer and listening to live music and then walk to the motel.

On our way home between Ashland and Hurley a bear lumbered across US 2 - and no, it wasn't a figment of my beer.

In the infamous words of Arnold, "I'll be back".

http://www.thirstypaganbrewing.com/

I would be negligent if I didn't mention the staff.  The bartender, waitress and some employee when we entered were great.  I love the Thirsty Pagan:)

Bull Falls Brewery

Yesterday Deb and I drove home and today I headed back (crazy huh?).  Did laundry, shaved and ... yeah.

Today after my run (90 degrees in TR - unbelievable) headed to Sheboygan to visit Dave in the hospital and then headed north.  Arrived in Wausau around  5:30 and found the tap room for Bull Falls Brewery ( http://www.bullfallsbrewery.com ).  I had a .3 liter of their Five Star Ale which is an amber.  It was very (very) good.  The bar was crowded so they must be popular.  Their beer list is heavy on the German type of beers and lagers.  I really was only interested in the one that I had and their red ale.  They do brew an oatmeal stout and an IPA but not available.  I will definitely make a return visit.

Home for a day.

Deb has to work at Silver Lake College today and tomorrow so we headed home from the cabin (I'm going back today).  We (I) decided to go through Marinette to visit the Rail House Brewery.  They have been around for awhile.  We took US-2 across the UP and dropped south at Iron Mountain on US-141 then headed east on Highway 180 (scenic).  It took us almost 5 hours to go 204 miles - yikes.

The trip did have the added advantage of going past the Riverside Liquors in Spread Eagle.  Riverside is one of the few establishments that sells beer from the Black Husky Brewery in Pembine.  Sadly they only had the wheat beer and I wanted their pale ale.

At the Rail House I had the Big Mac IPA and Deb had her usual nut brown.  The beers were good and I would go back if I was in the neighborhood but wouldn't make that trip again (we still had 95 miles ahead of us).  Surprisingly their pints were only $3.50 and it was happy hour (2 for 1).  If I lived in the area it would be a place to stop after work:).  Unfortunately due to the distance left (and time of day) I only had a 12 oz. for my second beer and Deb had none.  It's still a damn good deal.

Gotta run.

A Valiant Attempt

On Wednesday it was supposed to rain.  The plan was to use rain days for beer and visiting art stores.  We decided it was the perfect day to go to Duluth.  There is a brew pub there and in Superior along with several micro brewery's.

We left and the weather was beautiful.  We stopped at a quilt shop in Ashland (ugh) and Deb came out saying that she heard on the radio that there was flooding in Duluth and travel there was strongly discouraged.  I laughed thinking that Americans have become weak - the least little thing and we panic.  We left and headed north taking the scenic route - we then stopped in Bayfield at another quilt shop (why me?) and while Deb was in the shop I went to the weather channel and checked out Duluth - and I felt foolish.  This was really more than a little flooding - this was a 100 year type flood.  So much for micro brews.

We head back to Ashland and stopped at the South Shore Brewery and had lunch and a pint.  I had an American Pale Ale and Deb had her usual Nut Brown.  I told the bartender to let management know that they should bottle the Pale Ale and she said she would pass the word.  I was also told that they bottled some of the Pale Ale in 22 oz bombers and that I should be able to find them across the street at the liquor store.  They had 2 left and I bought 1 (It's still in the fridge).

I guess we still have to head to Duluth:)

Brew Fest

Well I guess it's time to report on the Brew Fest.
We arrived in Eagle River around noon and checked into the motel.  At 1:30 we went downstairs to wait for the bus.  There was probably 15 people from our motel that were going.  Half of them had bag chairs, 'were they going to drink or sit?'  We arrived early and checked in and waited.  Before they dropped the rope separating the thirsty crowd from the beer the band played the old standby, In Heaven There Is No Beer, and we were off.
I made two mistakes.  The first was my lack of foresight to bring pretzels.  Many people had pretzel necklaces.  Without something to cleanse the pallet between samples it all started to blend together.  Of course to be honest I'm not sure how much cleansing the pallet would have helped after the first 15 samples.
The second mistake was the same one novice runners make when running races.  They tend to be so pumped up that they start the race too fast.  Well the brew fest was not a race but I sure started out too fast.  Deb told me that, "although we have a bus to take us back you still have to be able to walk".  In hindsight I should have started out slower, drank slower and ate pretzels.  Four hours after beginning I could still walk:)

Ya gotta love the name of the home brewers club:)

Black Husky tapped their IPA at 4pm on the dot.  They were serving so fast they didn't even ask what you wanted - if you were there at 4 you were getting their IPA, which of course is why I was there.  Needless to say, when I went back a half hour later they were out.

Sand Creek Brewery had some cool shirts - this of course being the coolest.

Beer Fest

Next Saturday Deb and I are going to the Great Northern Beer Festival in Eagle River.  It will be my first beer fest.  We will be taking the brew fest shuttle from the motel to the festival.  Can't wait:)
http://www.greatnorthernbeerfestival.com/

Black Husky

Yesterday (Saturday) I left early for the cabin sans Deb.  I went through Pembine since  the Black Husky Brewing Co. (http://www.blackhuskybrewing.com/) sells their beer at the Pembine Food Depot.  All they had in stock was the Big Buck Brown and Honey Wheat Ale.  Since I don't like wheat beers I bought a six pack of Big Buck Brown.  I drove out to the brewery in hopes of being able to buy others but they were closed.  The brewery is truly small - they don't even have a sign out front with the name of the brewery.  They just has a sign by the driveway that said, closed.  It was about 5 miles outside of Pembine - we're talking about out in the boonies.

















The beer is interesting - I've had 2 and am still withholding judgment.
Monday update:
OK, I've had my third and I really enjoyed it.  Can't wait to try more of their beer at the brew fest.