Matt, Stub and Herb

Last night was a night of firsts for Mag and I- our first visit to Matt’s for their legendary Jucy Lucy and our first visit to Stub and Herb’s. Over the weekend we apparently planted a Jucy Lucy seed in Kat’s head so upon deciding she needed to enjoy one, called us to join her and Scott at Matt’s. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve driven by the joint but this was our first step inside and it was just about what I expected. For anyone else that hasn’t been there, this is a no frills joint (menu on the wall- all prices including tax, pop in cans only and dessert consisting of candy bars or M&Ms) but I don’t mean this in a bad way. They have about 10 taps, with more macros than micros but they offer pitchers at a reasonable price and they have both Summit and Sierra Nevada. Our pitchers were filled with Sierra Nevada’s Seasonal, described to us as an early spring beer, and were enjoyed by all. After filling our bellies with some good beer and a good Jucy Lucy we were ready to find a place that had a greater selection of the micros we so love. So it was on to Stub and Herb’s for us, noticing on the way the lights were on at Acadia (not sure if they’re open or just testing the electrical system out). It’s not hard to find something good on tap or in a bottle there and I almost had to get some Two. However right before I ordered, I noticed they had Flat Earth’s Warlock Winter Barleywine and it was too much to resist. It wasn’t as sweet or as overpowering as some barleywines tend to be and was thoroughly enjoyable. I don’t recall what everyone else had other than a Furthermore Knot Stock Pale Ale which is apparently out of Black River Falls, WI that got two thumbs up. Being a Monday night it was pretty quite in there (guess all the kids were still recovering from their weekend partying) which was good so there were few around to witness my horrendous dart and pool skills. Not a bad way to start off the week!

It's ok...we're still here

For those of you that may have been faithfully logging on and wondering why we haven’t posted any new drinking exploits, well there are a couple good reasons. #1- Mag was sick all of last weekend which, seeing as how Kris is such a good wife, curtailed the drinking for the both of them. #2- Kris has to be in New Orleans, hell hole of the South and a virtual wasteland of craft beer, for a good chunk of the week for work.
However, trying to make the best of the situation, I scoped out the beer situation at the Atlanta airport where I will be stopping both to and from New Orleans. Last time I was through that airport I stumbled across SweetWater Brewery and found that there are a few good brews coming out of the South. I had hopes of being in the same terminal (B- near gate 12 in case it matters) or if not there at least knowing other places I might find something beyond one of the big guys (Sam Adams has locations in C and A). As luck would have it, my 2 hour layover on Tuesday landed me in terminal E but I was able to find “The Bar” that was pouring SweetWater’s 420. My hotel in New Orleans, while quite close to the Convention Center, is located in the aptly named Warehouse district. The translation is: extremely limited facilities from which to purchase or drink beer at…polar opposite to the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. The one corner market within reasonable walking distance didn’t have a huge selection but there was enough Abita (tried quite a few from their line the first time around and as with SweetWater, provided a pleasant surprise) including Jockamo IPA to suffice. Needless to say, there isn’t much beering to report…at least until the coming weekend if all goes well. Until then, if you’re drinking something lovely, think of me and drink an extra one in my honor.

Busy weekend...good weekend

Once again it’s been a busy weekend for the Eaganites. Friday was our Anti-Winterfest outing. Due to some unavoidable circumstances there only ended up being five of us partaking, but nonetheless it was a good time. We started off with some beers at Buster’s, headed north to Mac’s Industrial, stopped off at Town Hall, attempted a stop at Blue Nile and finished up at Buster’s. Buster’s was busy both times we were there, which is great for them. When we first started going there things tended to be slow but no doubt due in part to their great beer selection more people have learned about this little gem. Friday marked our first visit to Mac’s and it lived up to what Lori and Paul told us about this place. Yes, when you walk in it looks like your typical sports bar but sit down, check out their beer selection and order something to eat. I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Town Hall was as usual a great stop for some local brew and after a couple we were on to the Blue Nile. Unfortunately by the time we got there, a $5 cover was required. There’s no doubt they’ve got a great tap selection but so did every other place on the agenda for the night so we decided to keep on trucking. As a final stop we headed back to Buster’s and ended the night with more good beer. Sure, we might have missed out on some special releases at Winterfest but we had a great night surrounded by good friends and good beer.
Saturday I was a bit bummed when I had to decline an invitation to check out St. Cloud’s newest brewpub, McCann’s. With my cooking club meeting that night there was no way I was going to be able to do both so I wished Mag happy drinking and off he went with Kat and Scott. I found out later that I didn’t miss all that much (the attached picture explains it all) except for the stop on their way back at Barley John’s.
With the weekend winding down, Comedy Central is playing “Office Space” and what better way to get ready for the coming week than to sit back, have some beers and think about how great it would be to “just not go” anymore. Here’s to a week of working only enough not to be hassled and the quick arrival of next weekend.

Reason #1 not to drink wine

You might end up coming home in something like this. Last night was Gene & Jeff’s annual Wino & White Elephant Party and as was expected it was another great party involving plenty of wine and some “great” gifts. I suppose I shouldn’t admit this but in all fairness I wasn’t actually drunk when the stealing of this fine coat happened. In my defense I already had 1 gift but since there were more gifts than people some of us got a second one and I decided that I should be the one to go home with this. This won’t be heading to the local thrift shop as you might be expecting but will instead be revisiting the house from which it came next Halloween. Not sure exactly what type of zombie would be wearing this but I do know I won’t be a zombie freezing her tush off.

Crap, our glass is empty.

Damn it. We lost our beer. The glass is empty. I know next to nothing about html and generally need to muddle my way through doing anything creative with this blog or other websites if the tool doesn't come prepackaged for me. I worked so hard to get the cool little beer border and now it's gone. The only way I knew how to do that was to direct the blog to some image on out the interwebisphere. I'm sure that is somehow frowned upon, but whatever. This isn't a commercial venture and it isn't exactly well read. Maybe I should just breakdown and get a book-for-dummies on html or something? Oh well. My fridge still has plenty of beer even if the blog doesn't.