Drinksgiving 10: Day 3 - Gulp Fiction?

Saturday was probably our most ambitious day of the trip and, therefore, the drunkest. Allow me to provide the "Tarantino Effect" for this particular blog entry by starting at the end of the day. This is me at Back Bay Brewing, our last stop (you know, the place a few blocks from Kelly's apartment):

My typical drunk selfie.

Here's a random picture I snapped with my phone outside of Back Bay when we left. Please note that I have no recollection of taking the following picture:

I call this one "Spray-painted TV screen through inebriated eyes."

Kelly definitely seemed amused by my shenanigans, as illustrated by this photo:

Our DD with the DDs... actually triple Ds!

Aaah, the joys of having a designated driver for Drinksgiving. She loves me. Anyway, let's get back to the beginning of the day, shall we?

Things got off to a rocky start at our first stop, Bearded Bird. We arrived to find some sort of artisan market taking place, which was actually kind of cool. Most of the dozen or so vendors were still setting up their tables and displays, but we moseyed around for a bit and chatted with some of them. These friendly folks were peddling everything from hand-made jewelry to soap (Kelly purchased some of the latter). After a quick stroll around the perimeter of the tasting room, we decided to grab a few barstools and peruse the beer menu. While the chalkboard boasted about a dozen beers, we decided to share a sampler flight. As you will soon find out, I'm glad we did. Before we go any further, here's the low-down:

• Sweet 16 - homebrew collaboration ale brewed with sweet potatoes
• Ginga Ninja - honey ginger saison
• Experiment X727 - "kind of sour" amber ale. Hmmmm... 
• Neon IPA - American IPA (no details provided other than 5.6% ABV and 92 IBU)

Bearded Bird sighting at the bar.

Back in my early twenties when I worked at Boscov's, I had a friend named Dan who would always preface a negative comment about someone with, "Nice person, but..." I couldn't help but think of him and chuckle as I was forcing these beers down my gullet. The people were indeed friendly. The artisan market offered a nice connection to the local community. The beer? To be brutally honest, it was a chore to drink. To offer some constructive criticism: If you brew a beer and it's infected or clearly displays "off" flavors, don't release it to the public and try to pass it off as a "sour" beer. I feel this was the case with the Experiment X727 "kind of" sour amber ale. I know ingredients are expensive, especially for tiny mom and pop breweries, so dumping beer might not seem like the practical thing to do. Ten years ago, there weren't a dozen or more breweries all within a stone's throw of each other. Folks searching for good local beer now have the luxury of driving a few miles down the road (or in some towns, walking a few blocks down the street) to visit another brewery. This is your reputation. Don't put out something sub-par (or worse) just so you don't take a loss. Believe me, it will help you in the long run. There are breweries that I simply won't re-visit because I've been burned too many times. I used to employ the standard "three strikes and your out" rule of thumb. Nowadays, a brewery pretty much has one shot to impress me. Hell, a glimmer of promise is all that I require. And overall, I feel I'm fairly easy to please.

So I'll spare you all a critique of the beers here and just say they were "inadequate." Just thank your lucky stars that I'm writing this blog and not Brewslut. 'Nuff said, right? To put a positive spin on our visit, I kind of enjoyed the Sweet 16 sweet potato ale. Ironically, it wasn't an actual Bearded Bird beer, but rather a collaboration with a local homebrew club called Tocorzic Twin Screws Brewing. Other than a few listings on Untappd, I couldn't find any information about them at all on the interwebs. And with that, we were off to stop #2.

Outside Rip Rap Brewing Company.

Not much was happening at our next stop, Rip Rap Brewing Company. This was a typical "garage" situated in an industrial park setting. When we arrived, there were three guys who were glued to the popular sports program on TV. We snagged part of the long, wooden picnic table near the bar and plunked down our flight featuring the following offerings:

• Marlin Spike - Berliner Weisse
• Bilgewater - coffee stout
• Weather Helm - IPA hopped with Cascade, Citra, and CTZ
• Southern Cross - Belgian-style Quad

Overall, the beer was an improvement compared to Bearded Bird, but nothing was what I'd call "memorable" either. We stuck to our shared sampler flight and moved on, especially since all of the customers and staff were more interested in the game than beer chat. 

Pleeps is Rippin' and-a Rappin', sippin' and-a slappin'!

O'Connor was on my list as one of our Black Friday stops, but we changed things up a bit and did VA Beach on Friday. I'll admit I'd never heard of the brewery before, but once we arrived, I was fairly confident that we'd just landed at the biggest and perhaps longest-running brewery in the area.

Outside O'Connor Brewing Co.

I was glad to see O'Connor still had plenty of its Ibrik Imperial Turkish Stout available (leftover from its Black Friday release), as well as a few of the limited variations. This was also a stand-out of the trip, and I purchased a bottle of the bourbon barrel-aged variation to take home to share with Team D(r)INK.

We also were able to try the Ibrik variation with vanilla and coffee beans, which was quite heavy on the vanilla character. I believe there was a cacao version (which we didn't try) and a maple syrup version we would have loved to try but was sold out.

Rounding out our visit was a pair of tasty IPAs: That New New, a hazy NE-style IPA, and Muy Guapo, a DIPA version of El Guapo, which I'd just had the previous night. (Remember the piano bar? I sure do!)

Our winning streak continued at our next stop, Coelacanth Brewing. This place definitely reminded me of the various small breweries in San Diego. I immediately dug the vibe of this place, and I was intrigued by the name of the brewery. I quickly learned the correct pronunciation of the brewery's namesake: SEE'-la-canth. I'll spare you the lesson in Ichthyology and simply say that a coelacanth is basically a big ugly fish. Feel free to check out the Wiki entry. Intriguing name aside, I also appreciate the brewery's philosophy:

We're more than just another Brewery. We focus on creating unique takes on classic styles - crafting well-designed, balanced ales and authentic lagers. We don't make a bunch of hoppy beers. We don't make Pumpkin beer. We don't follow the crowd. We make our own path.

Outside Coelacanth Brewing

I started off with a sampler flight of the following four beers:

• Passion Fruit Gose - tart ale brewed with passionfruit and Hawaiian sea salt
• My Lady - tart Belgian ale with sour Montmorency cherries from Michigan
• Caramel Apple Pie Porter - collaboration with Parkway Brewing using apples from Bold Rock Hard Cider
• Kopimanis - cold-steeped coffee milk stout brewed with organic, direct trade Sumatran beans

While I enjoyed some more than others, there wasn't a dud in the bunch. The gose was super-tart and fruity; I enjoyed these beers enough to warrant a full pour of something else. Hmmm... a 10.5% barleywine, you say? I was thinking the same thing. Enter Gorgon. This bitch was as nuanced as the mythological labyrinth, an elaborate structure brought to fruition by Daedalus, the skilled craftsman and father of Icarus. (I use the term "bitch" because Medusa was a Gorgon, and who else was a bigger bitch than her? Well, maybe my sister-in-law.) OK, you might want to brush up on your Greek Mythology so you can follow along. In a nutshell, this beer was COMPLEX! To be quite honest, I'd never had a barleywine that tasted like Gorgon in all of my travels. Flavors and aromas of apple brandy, tobacco, earth, peat, butterscotch, and cocoa (just to name a few of the more prominent characteristics) came to life in this beer. Was it my favorite barleywine ever? Probably not. But was it the most complex? I could definitely pose the argument in favor of this statement. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. You know a beer is good when you can still remember how it smells after trying more than 100 beers over the course of four days. 

Happy Ffej at Coelacanth!

Next stop was Bold Mariner. I couldn't help but get "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden stuck in my head for a bit. Good thing it wasn't the entire song, which runs in excess of 13 minutes. After enjoying that pour of Gorgon at Coelacanth, I think I was just at the point where I needed some good music to accompany my moderate drunken state. What does that mean? Cue up the Rush, folks! I prefer playing Rush not only because they are my favorite band, but because you can really get your money's worth by playing side 1 of 2112 or Hemispheres AND piss off at least two or three hipsters or 22-year-old "Woo" girls in the process. It's also important to point out that this place liked wood, which is good. I like wood too. Wood is good. See?

Wood, Jerry... WOOD!

Speaking of wood, I was giddy to see a gin barrel-aged beer on the tap list! So much so that perhaps the sight of this gave me wood. This particular nugget was a blended whiskey and gin barrel-aged imperial coffee milk stout. That's a lot of ingredients, eh? Coincidentally, this one was named Whiskey/Gin Barrel Imperial Coffee Milk Stout. Clever, right? It was pretty tasty, but the gin presence was a bit too prominent and, as a result, the other flavors got kind of lost in the shuffle. But I'm always stoked when I see a gin-barrel aged beer on tap. I really think the botanical qualities of gin work well with specific hop varieties. The best gin-barrel aged beers I've had have all been IPAs. (That's something for all you brewers to put in your pipe and smoke. i.e. get a gin barrel!)

The other beer we tried, Shellback Coconut Stout, was a collaboration with Young Veterans Brewing, a brewery we'd be visiting later. Lots of breweries are making coconut stouts and porters (and even cream ales) these days, and this one fell somewhere in the middle of them. It was nice to try but didn't wow me as much as some others I've sampled in our travels.

Inside Bold Mariner Brewing. More wood.

Smartmouth Brewing Company, our next stop, was pi-dacked! Inside, the place had a modern German beer hall vibe with long, communal tables and a high ceiling. We found a few spaces at one of the tables near the back of the room. Up front, a solo musician playing an acoustic guitar was performing. He was quite enjoyable and played a nice version of "Eyes of the World" by the Grateful Dead, a song I regularly play in Think Tank. I found this to be tip-worthy and placed a few shekels in his tip jar. I also saw he was selling CDs of original material, which was cool. 

Enjoying the tunes and beer at Smartmouth.

For our beers, we opted for half pours rather than a sampler flight. After a pair of stouts at Bold Mariner, it was time to bask in the hoppy warmth of lupulin. I always prefer a hoppy exchange after drinking something malty, so I decided on a pour of 12 Days of Dry Hops, an IPA continuously dry-hopped for 12 days. That sounds like a lot of hops. An obscene amount of hops. Dare I say it, a ludicrous amount of hops. Well, bring it on, I say. Brewslut opted for Nonchalant Hoppy Peach Saison, which boasted equal parts citrusy hops, juicy peach and spicy, peppery yeast. Yup, there's nothing nonchalant about that combination. I decided Smartmouth was worthy of an additional libation, so I followed up a hoppy beer with an even hoppier beer, a DIPA called Notch 9 featuring citrus and pine notes. The beer takes its unusual name from the eight different notch positions on the throttle of a locomotive, each one delivering progressively more power. My palate must have been slightly out of commission after the 12 Days of Dry Hops, because I don't remember this being anything out of the ordinary. Still, I was impressed with Smartmouth, and they definitely had the best crowd of the day. (Of course, it was peak drinking hours by then... at least for most people. You know, not everybody starts drinking at 11:00 a.m. I love when places open before noon.)

We finished up our day at Back Bay. You may remember we'd previewed one of its beers on Thanksgiving evening when we first arrived to Kelly's for dinner. She was thoughtful enough to procure a 6-pack of Atlantic Ave. IPA, which both Brewslut and I enjoyed quite a bit. Of course, by the time we arrived at Back Bay, I was pretty schlitzed from a productive day of Pour Traveling. (Whoa, did I just invent a new gerund?)

Anyway, the atmosphere inside Back Bay was dark and crowded, yet somehow I felt like I was at the beach. It's hard to explain, especially with a 10-hour drinking haze wrapped around my noggin. Case in point, this picture:

My aim was a bit off, wouldn't you say?

I hadn't seen many if any smoked beers thus far on the trip, so I was immediately drawn to Toby's Dream Smoked Ale. This was a dark base beer (perhaps a Schwarzbier rather than a porter or stout, as it was a bit thinner) and the smoked malt was fairly restrained compared to more traditional rauchbiers I've encountered. Still, a smoked beer on tap means it goes into my gut.

Brewslut opted for the appropriately named Coconut Chocolate Stout. It's coconut, it's chocolate, it's delicious! We did enjoy it a bit more than the one we had earlier at Bold Mariner, but it still didn't moisten our underpants as some have done in the past.

Beer aside, I would be remiss if I didn't divulge a fun little tidbit that occurred during our visit to Back Bay. Two very attractive female servers were working the bar that evening, and I was surprised when neither of them charged me for our beers. I had thought that perhaps Kelly had picked out our tab covertly, but she vehemently denied this multiple times. I wasn't satisfied. I then came to the realization that maybe these sexy ladies thought I was just a hot piece of ass that deserved a few free rounds. Of course, that wasn't anywhere near the realm of possibility, so I remained quite perplexed. Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that we must have crashed some kind of private party Back Bay was having with an open bar. That seemed like the only plausible answer. But hey, FREE beer, right? I win! (Editor's note: My diary entry got the "hot piece of ass" story.) 

Back Bay's Bar. Sorry, no shots of the bartenders.

I ended the evening with a pour of Duck Call, because what better way to end a full day of drinking than with a DIPA? All the pros do it. This massive 100 IBU treat was concocted with Warrior and Equinox hops and did a fine job at putting the final nail in my palate's coffin. And with that, folks, it was time to stick a fork in me.

I think we got a pizza afterward, but it's pretty foggy from here on out. Pleeps definitely fared better than me, that's for sure. (If you need a reminder, simply scroll back to the top of this page.) Gulp Fiction or Gulp Non-Fiction... you be the judge. Stay tuned for the final two days of the trip, where - you guessed it - more drinking ensues. Until then...

This is Pleeps signing off!

Drinksgiving 10: Day 2 - The largest isogrammic number in the English language plus other hits!

We got off to a good start on Black Friday at our first stop, Wasserhund Brewing. It was here where I reached my benchmark 5000th unique beer check-in on Untappd. I knew it was going to happen on this trip, so I wasn't too concerned about saving a special beer for such a monumental occasion. I'd started using Untappd in November of 2012, so it took me 5 years almost to the day to hit 5000 beers. I'm no mathematician, but that's like 1000 different beers a year. Thankfully, many were shared pours or sample size servings. With that said... hooray me. Now let's move on.

Wasserhund's logo. Gotta love dogs!

Wasserhund is situated in a shopping center in VA Beach. It didn't look like much on the outside. However, the interior kind of reminded me of Pizza Port OB, so I was hopeful for good beer. We perused the menu and made our selections. I noticed a few off-the-wall offerings that sounded interesting, and I'm always up for the challenge. Brewslut and I each ordered our own sampler flight of three beers. Here's my run-down:

• Haywire Husky - Wasserhund's signature coffee lager
• Hop Hund - DIPA brewed with Germany's new guard of hop varietals: Hull melon, Saphir, and Mandarina Bavaria
• Black Shepherd - porter brewed with Merlot grapes. This sucker's aura was purple!

Wasserhund brews German-style beers "with a kick," and I'd agree with that statement. The beers were experimental enough to appease more jaded craft beer fans and approachable enough for the "common man." With that said, I found all of the beers to be well-done. I've had coffee blonde ales before, but never a coffee lager. This was a bit more crisp and the coffee nose was quite pleasant. But the Black Shepherd took the gold (and turned out to be one of the most memorable beers of the day). Since it was my favorite of the three, I chose it for my 5000th Untappd check-in. We were indeed off to a good start on our first full day. I'd also like to point out that Kelly, while she wasn't partaking in any drinking, has quite a developed palate and was excited to sniff each beer we sampled on the entire trip. She was also able to offer some great insight and notes on aromas for the various beers without even tasting them. Now them's some impressive olfactory observations, right Pleeps?

Pleeps... drinkin' some fuckin' Merlot!

Our next stop, Home Republic, was right downtown in the midst of the tourist section of town. Inside, it reminded me of countless other chain brewpubs I've encountered in our travels. While it isn't part of a chain, it did have that feel - large and expansive inside with high ceilings, visible brewing equipment and an outside patio area. Once I perused the beer menu, my hopes had elevated a bit. There was plenty available, too. We decided to split two sampler flights, which afforded us the opportunity to try eight beers.

Our female server was young and "didn't really drink beer." This is a somewhat troubling statement I'm always surprised to hear uttered by a bartender at a brewery. I will go on record and reveal that one of my favorite aspects of visiting breweries is speaking intelligently about beer with the folks who brew it, serve it, and drink it. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. Sadder still was when she served us our flights in plastic 4oz. flutes. I can't recall EVER getting a sampler flight served in plastic. Granted, these weren't plastic cups (think mini solo cups), but they didn't elevate the beer at all. It came across as cheap. Pleeps, what do you think?

Yup. Thought so, buddy. With that said, it didn't surprise me either. Perhaps they suffer from theft or excessive breakage of sampler glasses. Who knows? But it did strike me as more of a "tourist" brewery in that it lacks a regular crowd in lieu of one-time business from vacationers passing through looking for local beer. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's what my gut was telling me. It doesn't fib too often, either.

But I digress. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. Believe me, there were plenty of other places we visited that fell below our expectations. Here's everything we sampled out of our little plastic vessels:

• Salted Caramel Ale - brown ale with sweet caramel notes and a hint of sea salt
• Galaxy Pale Ale - single hop Pale Ale brewed with Galaxy
• Juice Sea Fruit IPA - IPA with fresh citrus juices
• Azacca Rotator IPA - single hop session IPA brewed with Azacca
• Cup of Joe - brown ale brewed with local cold brew from Lynnhaven Coffee Roasters
• Dark Side Imperial Stout - brewed with cacao nibs.
• PB & Oats - oatmeal peanut butter stout
• Slightly Sour Ale - not sure what this mess was, to be honest.

I enjoyed the Salted Caramel Ale quite a bit. Kudos to the brewer for his or her ability to capture that flavor in liquid form. I thought it tasted pretty authentic. Also, Juice Sea Fruit was a pretty good citrus-forward IPA, apparently blended with various juices. The other hoppy offerings were kind of non-descript, and the dark beers were a bit too thin for my liking. Even the Imperial Stout wasn't as thick and chewy as I'd hoped.

Look at that face!

Commonwealth Brewing, on the other hand, was stellar. It turned out to be another one of those places where I wanted to try EVERYTHING! But even with a DD and an experienced liver, there were simply too many beers (around 20) on tap to try them all. Plus we still had two more breweries to hit today. So, we chose wisely. While the majority of these were sample size pours, I did get a few half pours toward the end of our visit. I couldn't help it. I just loved this place so much. Here's the run-down of everything we tried:

• Trouvaille - Saison aged in white wine barrels for more than a year, then dry hopped with Hallertau Blanc. Nice effervescent farmhouse ale with notes of Chardonnay and barnyard. 
• Halcyon - Blond sour ale with passionfruit and apricots
• Sophrosyne - Saison aged for 6 months in a foeder fermented with an airborne wild yeast strain.
• BA Dysphotic - Rich, bready dark Saison aged on wood. Spicy and tingly with a bone dry finish.
• Big Papi - super juicy DIPA and big brother to Papi Chulo IPA. I snagged a 4-pack of these cans!
• Marvoloso - bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout on nitro.
• Marshmallow Eyes - hazy, super soft wheat IPA made with wildflower honey and a boatload of marshmallows. Yes, marshmallows! 
• Wapatoolie - IPA with hints of pineapple, mango and tropical flavors courtesy of a carefully selected house Brettanomyces yeast strain. 

Pleeps amid greatness at Commonwealth Brewing.

Even for VA Beach, it was unseasonably warm outside for November. We decided to sit outside at one of the wooden picnic tables in the beer garden since the sun was shining brightly and provided some additional warmth. It was still a little chilly, but no matter, because the beer kept us warm and tingly on the inside. The three saisons were fantastic; some delicate, some complex, and some quite intense... or even all of the above! Brewslut and I both enjoyed the Halcyon (the fruit sour) quite a bit as well. I had noticed a handful of IPAs on the menu as well, so I asked the server for his recommendation. Without hesitation, we was quick to blurt out: Big Papi. This sucker was so good that I had to take some home with me to share with my Team D(r)INK peeps. Its awesomeness prompted me to order half pours of two other interesting sounding IPAs: Marshmallow Eyes and Wapatoolie. Both were indeed tasty but ultimately fell short of Big Papi. With that said, these IPAs were better than most we encountered during the trip.

Inside Commonwealth Brewing.

As I'd mentioned before, I typically reserve funds for a single brewery shirt purchase during a trip since I have so many (remember... beer and band shirts, folks). I made the decision (albeit a tipsy one) this early in the trip to plunk down the cash for a Commonwealth shirt. I dug the logo, which reminded me a bit of Hill Farmstead, and it was dark gray and black (my team colors) so it was a no-brainer. Here's a pic of Commonwealth's logo in "metal sign" form above the tasting room bar:

A wealth of not-too-common beers.

After a wonderful visit to Commonwealth, I felt pretty confident that I'd already found our best brewery of the trip. Bold words, I know. I mean, we still had three days to go! But it was one of those rare finds for us, one that we're lucky to find each time we take a "beer-cation." I mean, where can you go from here?

Enter Pleasure House. Let me tell you, this place was definitely not on any list of my favorite breweries. Disappointing, because I love the name Pleasure House. It sounds kind of dirty in a sexual way, like the kind of place you'd go to get a "happy ending" after a massage. With that said, I'd like to offer my exemplary beer-naming services to Pleasure House "quia gratis" and suggest the name "Sucky Sucky Five Darrah" as a Gose. Because, you know, taste kind of salty. 

Welcome to the house of... pleasure?

Pleasure House actually did have some pretty cool beer names. I'm thinking of one in particular: Squirrel Shot, which was a Belgian Quad. Not sure about its meaning; I just like squirrels. We have one that lives in a tree in our yard. I named him Dig Dug. Unfortunately, none of the beers here were memorable.

Shore Drive Dortmunder Lager - German-style "export" lager
Worthy Sir - citrusy "West Coast" style DIPA
3025 Shore Drive - straight up American Pale Ale
Tricks - pumpkin ale brewed with French saison yeast, cinnamon, ginger, and random pie spices

I seem to recall thinking the Dortmunder wasn't so bad, but perhaps it's only because I seldom see them on tap. I appreciate the style quite a bit. Even one of my early favorite Scratch Beers at Tröegs was #6, a Dortmunder lager. Like Rauchbiers, I'll typically order one when I see one on tap. Tricks was drinkable, but the others were forgettable in the grand scheme of things. Brewslut wasn't as kind, but since I write the blogs that make the whole world sing, we'll leave it at that. So, what now? Off to another brewery, of course!

Our situation improved at Deadline Brewing Project, our final brewery of the day. Not only was the beer tastier, our company was superior. The bartender (a younger guy) was quite friendly and talkative, and the slightly older couple occupying the barstools next to us were really into beer and pretty knowledgeable about the local scene. The guy in particular pulled no punches and was quick to praise (or smote) a number of breweries in the area.

Deadline sample flight (thanks Google!)

Deadline's tap list was small compared to a few of the places we'd visited so far, we decided to share a sampler flight of all four of the following beers:

• Orange Vanilla Milk Blonde - light blonde ale brewed with lactose. Think orange creamsicle!
• IPA - no frills, straight up IPA
• Milk Stout - your average, everyday sweet stout
• Maple Cranberry Stout - stout with the pleasant combination of sweet maple syrup and tart cranberries

No clever or witty names, but the beers were pretty solid here. Nothing boner-inducing; just good solid beers with a touch of experimental aptitude. The IPA was probably the weakest one. With that said, it seems like sweet beers are in Deadline's wheelhouse. From the looks of it, they are a pretty new operation, but they had a decent crowd for a Friday evening and seem to be on the right path.

Since we were enjoying the company of our bartender and new beer friends, we decided it was an opportune moment to crack open a bottle of Tröegs' recently released Mad Elf Grand Cru, a "director's cut" of the original brewed with tart Balaton cherries from Michigan. It was a rousing success and everyone enjoyed it (including the recent addition of the couple's young daughter, who'd joined us when we moved to a larger table). It was one of those times when conversation trumped photography, so sorry to say we didn't snap any pictures at Deadline. 

Afterwards, we briefly met up with Kelly's friend, Dave, and his party at the piano bar attached to Il Giardino Ristorante Italian Restaurant, which is basically right on the beach. They were just finishing up some drinks, but Dave was nice enough to offer to buy us a round. I quickly perused the tiny beer menu and we both decided on El Guapo IPA from the local O'Connor Brewing. They were on our list for another day, but it was cool to get a sneak peek at one if its flagship beers. Although Kelly's friends left after a few minutes, we decided to stick around and enjoy the evening's live entertainment. Entertainment comes in all shapes and sizes, and I'm pleased to say that we hung out just long enough to have this guy etched into our brains for all eternity.

Occupying the stool at the piano (actually I believe it was an electric piano or keyboard) was a middle-aged bloke with glasses (though definitely older than me... I mean, I'm middle aged!) providing some interesting background music for the two dozen or so patrons in the bar area of the restaurant. Being a musician, I tend to pay much more attention to live music than the average person. After a few classics and holiday numbers, my head spun completely around as I heard the opening strains of "Only Wanna Be With You" from - yes, folks - Hootie and the Blowfish. Except this wasn't the rich baritone vocal range of Darius Rucker crooning us; it was Randy Newman gnawing on some salt water taffy. He even had backing tracks that sounded like 80s synth horns and an old drum machine. In addition to the aforementioned Hootie, he also did a rollicking version of Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat." But Hootie definitely took the cake... albeit a sad, slightly disturbing, half-eaten cake that your 4-year-old grubby little rugrat stuck his fingers in after playing in the dirt for a few hours. I'm definitely glad I snagged some video footage of this. Perhaps it might even make it up on YouTube some day. You never know. I just might get drunk enough to upload it some night.

Stay tuned for Part 3 as we make the rounds in Norfolk. Until next time...

Drinksgiving 10 - Day 1: Chicken chili, shitty beer & one really good brewery!

Sweet Jeebus! Has it been ten years already? Yes, indeed friends. It's been ten years since our maiden Drinksgiving voyage to the nether reaches of Michigan, when we traveled to the tiny village of Bellaire with our Team D(r)INK compadres Deuane and Carolyn for Short's Brewing's stout extravaganza. Since then, we've traversed the Mid Atlantic region (among other more remote destinations) for our annual long holiday weekend of brewery crawling.

Since this blog commemorates our 10th anniversary of these epic beer treks, let's do a quick recap. Here's where past Drinksgivings have taken us (plus who from Team D(r)INK tagged along):

• 2016 - Boston, MA* > Portland, ME > Portsmouth, NH (*Dan, Kristen & Charles)
• 2015 - Cleveland* & Chicago plus a bit of IN and MI for good measure (*Roberts; Nate and Nathan)
• 2014 - Raleigh & Durham, NC
• 2013 - Western PA (Pittsburgh, Erie, etc. plus a dip into NY to visit Southern Tier)
• 2012 - Charleston, SC 
• 2011 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Deuane & Carolyn)
• 2010 - Athens, OH & surrounding area (Deuane & Carolyn)
• 2009 - Asheville, NC (Deuane & Carolyn)
• 2008 - Michigan & parts unknown (Deuane & Carolyn)

This year, we had originally decided to check out Columbus, OH, which has apparently been blowing up over the past year or so. However, when we discovered our long-time friend and former bandmate of mine, Kelly, had recently transplanted to Virginia Beach, we called an audible and decided to visit her instead. Not only had she offered to play the coveted (or not-so-coveted, depending on your liver) of our designated driver for the entire trip, she also opened her apartment and thus guest room to us. What does this mean? More money to spend on beer, of course! Kelly's short list of demands included providing a non-alcoholic drink for her at each stop (she'd soon be drinking an ass-ton of soda and other assorted liquor-less beverages), and me not stinking up her bathroom. She even provided some sweet "Dude Wipes" (yes, that's what they are called; if you don't believe me, Google it) and "Poo-Pourri" (another real item, folks). Trust me, she knows better from past experience. Any musician knows that a lot of unpleasant stuff happens behind closed doors at band rehearsals. When it came to our band, Brazilian Wax, my wretched ass would be one of them.

OK, let's get back on track.

If you've been reading The Pour Travelers for some time, then by now you are aware of our tradition of purchasing and consuming what we deem a "shitty beer" as our first beer of the trip. We stopped at a gas station in VA on Thanksgiving day, and while the selection was, in fact, shitty, it was limited (and therefore lackluster) in its shitiness. Begrudgingly, we decided on a pounder can of Modelo Especial. I kind of expected it to be pretty high on the scale of shititude (probably a 6 or 7 out of 10), but I was hoping for something more regional. Nevertheless, Modelo Especial it was. (Editor's note: Damn! That's a lot of shit references. I sound like my favorite drunk trailer park supervisor. RIP Jim Lahey.) 

Shitty beer #10... how will it rate?

Once we arrived at Kelly's apartment (our temporary residence for the duration of the trip), we cracked this bad boy open. It was actually worse than I anticipated. It tasted like Miller High Life with a packet or two of Sweet & Low. It boasted a saccharine-like flavor (remember Tab cola from the 70s and 80s)? Kind of like that.

Kelly was also awesome enough to slave over a Crock-Pot® (yes, it is actually a registered trademark) most of the day preparing dinner for us - a most excellent white chicken chili (some of the bangin'-est chili I ever shoved down my gullet, to be honest). It also quickly removed the taste of Modelo Especial that was lingering on my palate. Dinner aside, Kelly also stocked the fridge with two six-packs: DuClaw's Sweet Baby Jesus and the local Back Bay Brewing's Atlantic Ave. IPA. We cracked a few of the IPAs, which were very tasty and complemented the chili quite nicely. This place is so local, it's only about three blocks from Kelly's apartment! More on Back Bay in a few days. 

After a ridiculously delicious dinner, we made the short drive to Norfolk (pronounced nor' fuhk) to get an early start and knock off Benchtop Brewing, which happened to be the only brewery open on Thanksgiving evening. I wish more breweries would open after dinner on Thanksgiving, but I get why most don't. The place immediately struck a chord with me and ended up setting the bar pretty high for the rest of the trip. Right off the bat, the beer menu looked stellar. I literally wanted to try everything... and we did! Why not? We weren't going anywhere else that night and for the first time ever, we had a DD, our long-time friend Kelly, who'd recently moved to Virginia Beach.

Inside Benchtop's tasting room w/ Kelly's future hubby on the left.

Having traveled over the holidays for a decade, I've gotten pretty smart in scoping out places that are open on Thanksgiving. Typically, we luck out and find one place that opens in the early evening after dinner. I'm not sure why more places don't follow this unpopular trend, because Benchtop was hoppin' and boppin'. And let me tell you folks, this place set the bar pretty high for the rest of the trip. Benchtop was easily in my Top 3 breweries of the entire trip, and as you will soon read, we were able to hit eighteen breweries this year. 

Thanksgiving after-party at Benchtop.

The tap selection looked stellar (see pic above) and I literally wanted to try everything! This, of course, means shared flights. The selection featured an array of hoppy to tart, with a stout thrown in for good measure. So we picked out our top eight beers, which was actually the entire tap list.

• Mermaid's Scorn - Oyster gose (the recent winner of a gold medal at GABF. Congrats!)
• Proven Theory - Triple dry-hopped IPA
• Grammy's Famous - Sweet potato gose
• Natural Juicy - "Mega dank" DIPA with Nelson and Galaxy hops
• Silly Thoughts - Pale ale brewed with Nelson hops
• Trial of Dmetri - a beet Kvass, a traditional Slavic fermented beverage commonly made from rye bread
• Oaxaca Milk Stout - a low ABV Mexican mole stout)
• Hazing Face - Pale ale brewed with Galaxy hops

Overall, I was extremely impressed with the Oaxaca Milk Stout. Kudos to Benchtop for brewing a full-flavored, medium-bodied stout with such a tiny ABV. Natural Juicy was pretty bitchin' too. Actually, everything was well done. The beet beer was a bit too heavy on the beets (and I love beets), but I appreciated trying an odd style. Both goses were well done also. Mermaid's Scorn was quite briny but worked well with the salt component of the style. 

Pleeps chillin' at Benchtop.

In addition to enjoying everything Benchtop had to offer, Graham (the bartender with whom Kelly was quite enamored), periodically broke out a few special bottles for the occasion. I mean, it was a holiday, right?  As a matter of fact, as soon as we walked in, he was handing out samples of 2017 Black Forest Resolute, a delicious bourbon barrel-aged stout from Brothers Craft Brewing out of nearby Harrisonburg. I was lucky enough to get the last pour. Sampling this decadent stout had me longing to visit the brewery. But alas, we wouldn't have time. Besides, we had plenty of ground to cover on our ambitious itinerary.

I reciprocated by cracking open a 2016 bourbon barrel-aged Impending Descent from Tröegs, which I shared with Brewslut and Graham. I also asked him to pour some for a few customers he deemed worthy. Everyone really enjoyed it, and it proved a great ice breaker for us to start mingling with some other customers. Later on, Graham shared a bottle of Sixteen Counties from Allagash, an amber-colored ale brewed using ingredients found throughout Maine's sixteen counties. Pretty cool concept, eh? I thought so.

Stay tuned for Day 2. We're just getting started. Until then...