I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

Yet another egregious assault on the United States by the communists in China was divulged this week.  Daily now, we get stories of traitors spying for China and even Chinese spies being caught, but in the last week we have had an admission by the Chi Coms that they were behind cyber attacks on US infrastructure in reaction to our support for Taiwan and now something I'm sure they didn't want to admit.  We've caught them giving the Houthi's real-time satellite data in hopes that the Houthi's would sink a US warship.

Most people my age have at least heard of Gilgamesh.  The youth of today, robbed of true education, have no idea who he was.  A lot of you might need a refresher.  We've been told that Gilgamesh, sometimes known as Nimrod, was a mythical king in ancient Mesopotamia.  I believe there are even cartoons made of Gilgamesh and perhaps this was your introduction to him.  For those a little more learned, the Epic of Gilgamesh is panned as an ancient poem about a Sumerian King of the City of Uruk, which is in modern day Iraq.  He happens to be a giant who descended from the gods and is almost always depicted in sculptures as holding a lion in one hand and a snake in the other.  He goes on a journey with a friend to try to find immortality.  The story is fraught with danger, combat, gods and demi-gods.  His friend, Enkidu, is killed as punishment by the gods and the person he seeks to discover the story of the flood and immortality from is called, Utnapishtim, but is really Noah.  Gilgamesh is a hybrid human, with a mother that is a god and a father who was human.  Because he was not a true god, he could not be immortal and he dies in the end.  The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered the first book in humanity as it was written around 1800 BCE.  Written is wrong, it was etched in cuneiform onto a clay tablet, which remains today in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  The tablets were derived from 5 poems written about Gilgamesh several hundred years prior and combined into the epic we now know.  You should read the book because the story is much more involved than the less-than Cliff Note version I just gave you.  I've been thinking about rereading it because I'm positive the version I read as a kid was not the book version written by historians.  Nevertheless, Gilgamesh is intriguing for many reasons.  

 Last week perhaps the biggest story of human history was revealed.  Not that you'd know.  The information must be peer reviewed and verified, but the machinery of deception has been hard at work since the March 15 press conference to deny everything.  The usual suspects are all working hard to suppress the story.  The mainstream media is not picking it up, but it is everywhere if you watch any podcasts and listen to bloggers.  

Canada has become ground zero for our adversaries making inroads into destroying democracy from within.  It is really stunning how much Canada and it's Liberal Party has eroded trust in the US and its own citizens by slipping into control of the socialist globalist movement.  China, of course, is the leader in this movement.  It has quietly, but uber successfully managed to get the fools in the West to buy into globalism and the one world governance idea.  Its done this through the lies of climate change, social justice, DEI and undermining the ideas of freedom.  China, however, believes in none of this and doesn't implement any of these things in their own country.   They realized a long time ago that they can weaken democracies by fostering these ideas, all of which bankrupt the West both economically and morally. Canada is a full blown utopia of all of these false ideas.  They over tax their citizens and push all of these things, but it's far worse than that.  They have allowed international criminal drug cartels, led by China and Iran to influence policy, use their financial institutions to launder money and corrupt their politics.  Trudeau and Mark Carney, the illegally installed temporary prime minister, are true globalists, pushing for zero personal car ownership, censorship, refusing to use Canada's resources to enrich the country and worst of all, have compromised the country's security.

Canadians just voted for their own demise.  Mark Carney or Mark Carnage as he's known in England, is a freedom destroying, country wrecking, elitists of the highest order.  It is worse than I'm making it sound.  Good Lord is this guy bad.  He's a Bilderberg, a great friend of Ghislaine Maxwell, Blackrock's Bankruptcy Trustee, worked for Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the architect of the great swindle of personal wealth during the 2008 crisis, leading a campaign for a "green" digital cryptocurrency to replace the US dollar, a member of the Group of Thirty, he's on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and was the leading voice in punishing the truckers during the trucker protest, which also froze Canadians bank accounts.  He was the man behind the curtain during Trudeau's entire tenure, literally running everything in Canada straight into the ground.  In case you don't know, Canada is near economic collapse and the reason why Canadians were so happy, for a brief moment, when Trump got Trudeau to resign.  However, Canada's parliament was abolished after Trudeau announced his resignation, leaving him a de facto dictator as their was no checks and balances.  

I could write a new story of betrayal, espionage and failure just about every day.  The US is in a cold war with China and is on the verge of a hot war with them at any time.  China has been working day and night to subvert the US in every way possible.  In eras gone by, espionage and subversion were usually constrained to military targets, but China is attacking in every facet of your life, so much so, that you probably wouldn't believe it.  This latest example is military-related, but you and I are in the databases in China and if you're unimaginative, you'll say so what?  They can't do anything to me.  Hmmm, don't be stupid.

Just last week the FBI warned about the Chinese cyber espionage group, Volt Typhoon, was back attempting to infiltrate critical US infrastructure with a new tactic.  Last year, the FBI announced that they had dismantled part or most of the group's botnet, which had targeted our water, energy and telecommunications networks.  A botnet is a group of compromised computers that are connected via the net and are controlled by a third party, in this case the CCP.  The new tactic takes advantage of old out-of-date modems that no longer get updates and can be easily accessed by today's cyber criminals.  Many networks in the world fall into this category and our enemies have access to most of them.  In many cases we know this and in others, we've been hacked for years and they have all the data they could ever want.  Now, this week, the FBI reveals that another CCP hacking group, called Salt Typhoon, has hacked more than a dozen US telecommunications companies to such a great extent that the Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, of Oregon, called it, "the worst telecom hack in our nation's history - by far."   The hack included Donald Trump's and JD Vance's phones, as well as Kamala Harris and other officials in the campaigns and in government.  The hackers are still in the networks and have been for as long as a year.  To get them out would require millions of dollars in equipment upgrades.  They were able to listen in real-time to phone calls and see text messages.  These hacks are pre-positioning for a war with the US.  

The election is over and the best person for the job won.  I think that is really clear.  What is more clear is that it was a total ass-whooping.  I hate to say this now, but I did predict a landslide.  The reasons for that are pretty simple.  Kamala Harris was the worst candidate that the Democrats could have run.  She picked the single worst running mate that she could have and they had absolutely nothing to sell to the American people.  The campaign was one giant lie from the beginning.  I'm not sure if Bernie Madoff was running it, but it was a scheme so fraught with hypocrisy and fraudulence that that even the average person could see right through it.

I've gone back and forth as to which event was the most traitorous event in American history.  To allow a mob of criminals and paid anarchists to burn a police precinct in a major American city and allow them to own the night for three nights without leadership putting a stop to it or to open the borders of this country to anyone and not vet who they are or why they are here...for four years.  If it wasn't for the fact we could lose our nation to sleeper cell Chinese soldiers or be attacked by terrorists, the open border is more traitorous and puts all of us in peril.  However, the sheer hatred for the police and rule of law that Tim Walz showed in letting the 3rd Precinct burn to the ground and the police to have to run the gauntlet of rock throwing rioters as they were forced to abandon their post is definitely grounds for impeachment.  If Minnesotans would have a state legislature with a spine, Walz would've had to atone for this embarrassment.  Of course, he wasn't embarrassed.  He had sympathy for the mob and many people who were there recount that Walz wanted to have philosophical debates on the merits of the rioters.  He openly complained that the police and National Guard didn't have DEI training, so he did nothing.   He showed zero leadership, and 1,500 buildings burned.  Looting was widespread and 3 people were murdered.  Then, Kamala posted her support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund on twitter.  That fund paid to bail out the arsonists, looters and even murderers.  It wasn't a moment of weakness from a radical leftists because she still supports the fund today.  I remember driving to my father's gravesite a few weeks after this debacle and driving through an area we call Up Town.  Seeing all the burned out buildings, the windows of every retail store broken out and boarded up and just a trashing of a once-proud neighborhood.  Seeing it in person was a serious wake up call.  I have not gone to Minneapolis since then, except for one foray to the convention center.  Minneapolis is a no-go zone for most Minnesotans, especially at night, even today.

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that. 

I rarely critique a non-brewery establishment, but I was duped by Google Maps.  I despise Google for hundreds of reasons, but I digress.  So, I searched for breweries and The Flying Saucer showed up.  Great!  I love flying saucers and they served food.  I ventured into downtown Raleigh and suffered the frustration of one way streets, traffic, masses of people and having to pay for stupid parking.  The place was on a corner with an outside and covered patio.  It was 80 degrees and my son wanted to sit inside, where it was dark and cooler.  We sat ourselves in the back and I did my best old guy routine of using the flashlight on my phone to view the menu.  Did I mention it was dark in there?  I looked closely and could not find any of their own beers, which I must try, if it was a brewery.  So, I asked and was unhappy to hear they were not a brewery.  I felt stupid for a second.  Then, just dealt with it.  

After spending some time at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Visitor Center, an absolute must-see in Kill Devil Hills, I knew where my next stop was.  I flew to Outer Banks Brewing Station.   Established in 1992, the building represents a turn-of-the-century Lifesaving Station from the beaches of the Outer Banks and the bar is a lifesaving boat.   I believe it is one of only two breweries on the OBX, a number far below what it should be.  That's my opinion, but I'm never wrong. 

I finally got out on the road and did some traveling.  I has been a long cold winter.  My son and I were in North Carolina, which is a hotbed for breweries.  Since the trip wasn't about breweries, I have just a few reviews, but my kid is pretty forgiving for my penchant to try beer here and there.  On a long drive we were on, we stopped in Zebulon.  My son says Zebulon sounds like either an alien race or the planet they are from.  I can't disagree with that.  Zebulon was born out of a railroad land purchase in 1906.  It is  named after Zebulon Baird Vance, the Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  Zebulon is a beecentric city with a host of beekeepers.  Also of note, it is the home to the only bagpipe manufacturer in North America.  Who knew?  For being a small town, the traffic there was annoyingly bad.  We hit the city at lunch time and I was immediately drawn to a brewery named Norse Brewing Longhouse.  It was right on the main street and unfortunately, not in a longhouse.  

I am doing my review of Modicum some time after I actually went there.  I have never gone back more than a few days, but there is no reason to skip it.  I was in Eau Claire for a Board meeting, and I had a bunch of free time.  I did a quick search for nearby breweries and found this one.  I had not heard of it before, so made the short drive to Modicum.  There is a sign outside, but when you walk in, you are in a neat market-place/coffee shop, called the Coffee Grounds.  It took me a minute to find the brewery, which is back in the corner of the building.  This exemplifies their purpose statement of doing things in a modicum.  I use the word "modicum" all the time, which is more than the word should be used as it stands for a smaller, measured amount.  A conundrum.  

It rained the whole way to New Bedford and most of the time we were there and the whole way home.  A cold front came with it and temps were in the 60's where they had been in the 80's and 90's prior to that.  Perfect, I didn't have to drink a lighter beer this time.  It's not like I woke up and thought, "I can have an amber or a porter today", but when I sat down at Moby Dick Brewing, this crossed my mind.  We had been at the Whaling Museum, which is across the street.  The whole little area around the museum was cobblestone streets with small shops, cool restaurants and old historic buildings.  Bring some quarters because a lot of the parking was by meter only.  The museum was really cool actually and we spent two hours there.  New Bedford was the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century and the museum does a great job on the history, people and result of whaling on the community and the world.  I recommend it highly.

I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in.  Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did.  My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm.  I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion.  I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.

Red Lodge, Montana should be on your bucket list.  It rests just below the Beartooth Pass and is one of those cool mountain towns that is a prelude to ski resorts and outdoor magnificence.  The Beartooth Pass is one of the coolest mountain passes in the nation and I implore you to drive the switchbacks and vistas.  You will not be disappointed.

I like themed breweries for some reason.  It's something that differentiates you from the crowd, usually has some attachment to the owners and gives you something to talk about.  Launch Pad started when a home brewer and a friend combined talents to build a brewery.  Both Air Force veterans, worked in aerospace after their service and had flight in their blood.  With the rocket theme, things really took off and from the looks of the crowd in there when I popped in, LPB is doing pretty good.

My son and I ventured to Colorado over Break.  Too bad I didn't pay as much attention to the weather as I should have.  Six hours after landing a massive snow storm overtook the state, dumping 20+ inches of snow across much of the state.  Before it hit, we stopped at Six Capital Brewing in Aurora.  I'm glad we did.  The name is a little odd, but the food and the beer were excellent.  The name is an homage to the six prior capitals of Texas before Austin finally became the last and final one.  I figured maybe the owner is from Texas, but no.  Who cares, I guess.  You can name your brewery anything you want for any reason.  Colorado is home to the fourth most breweries per capita and I knew it was going to be a good place to find good beer.

Sometimes Maps can be deceiving.  When looking up breweries in St Augustine, it looked like getting to Dog Rose was quite the jaunt through historic downtown.  As I was walking around exploring, I literally went one block off the main drag and found the brewery.  Well, no need to look around further, so I sauntered in.  The building is pretty new and roomy.  They had a nice wooden bar with plenty of other seating and some shuffleboard games and darts.  I sat right on the end of the bar with all the brewing vats and equipment off to my right.  Of course, I tried their red as I had just drank one at Ancient City Brewing a few minutes before.  This one was one of the best reds I have ever had.  Called, Rhapsody in Red, it is an American Amber that has an unusually high IBU of 42 and a 5.2% alcohol content.  I say unusually high only because reds are normally in the 25 range and even though it isn't always true that IBU relates to an actual bittererness taste, it does usually follow that way.  This drank more like a 25, with no bitter hint, but I sure could taste the caramel malt and chocolate that I was looking for.  it was smooth going down and flavorful.  IBU calculators are made to take a bunch of factors into account, like the grains used, boil gravity, boil volume, alpha acid content and bunch of things beer drinkers just take for granted.  It can depend on your own palate and what you've eaten in how you feel about it, but scientifically, something with a higher IBU should be more bitter.  I felt none of it in this beer.  I'm curious as to why and it could be because of the centennial hops they added in.

It's been awhile since I have blogged, so I apologize for that.  I recently took a business trip to Florida and hit a few breweries.  Ancient City was one I had on my list.  Right in the heart of old town St Augustine, I stepped in as a brief rain shower hit.  It was just before lunch, so the crowd was small and I got a table in the middle of the room.  Like normal, I gravitated to my go-to's and decided to have a red ale called Matanzas River Red Ale.  At 6.2% alcohol and an IBU rating of 26 I expected it to be smooth, but my first sip was more harsh and bitter than expected.  It smoothed out after that.  Now, I had not eaten anything at that point and had brushed my teeth about a half hour before that, but it caught me off guard.  As I took a few more swallows, I could get some of the chocolate notes, but not the pecan.  They state it has a dry finish and it does.  So, not a normal red, in my book, but not bad either, just different.  I used to not think of pairing my beer with food, but some people are religious about it.  Ancient City says it goes good with barbeque and I can totally see that.