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...