Drinksgiving 2019: Part IV - I Got a (Johnny) Fever, and the only prescription is more beer!

Baby, if you've ever wondered,

Wondered whatever became of me,

I'm drinking all the beer in Cincinnati,

Cincinnati, travelin' with my Pleeps.

Sunday began with a relatively short drive to Cincinnati, the last of the big "C" towns we'd yet to visit in Ohio (the others being Cleveland and Columbus). In retrospect, I'm glad we decided to roll through this often overlooked beer city, because all three breweries we visited were top-notch and all quite unique in their own way. 

First up was Urban Artifact. Of the three Cincinnati breweries we'd visit on this day, it was the only one with which I was familiar. Urban Artifact celebrates Wild Culture through its artfully crafted beers as well as its brewery experiences. Focusing on sour and wild beers, you can rest assured you'll find many unique and flavorful beers for even the most discerning palates. Deuane spoke highly of this place, so I knew we'd be in good company. 

First off, the building alone is quite impressive. The taproom is built in the lower level of the historic St Patrick’s church in Cincinnati's Northside neighborhood, while the brewery resides in the old church gymnasium building just behind the church. The space also boasts a courtyard between the buildings, which I imagine must be quite popular during the warmer months. For a cold, breezy first day of December, we appropriately huddled indoors in the taproom to enjoy our beers. 

Urban Artifact - praying at the altar of wild ales.

As anticipated, the beer selection was rife with an assortment of tantalizing fruited sours and wild ales. Urban Artifact applies the descriptor of "midwest fruit tart" to many of its beers, and I decided I wanted to try at least three of them, with Pleeps wanting to sample a fourth. I reckoned a flight was in order, and here's the low-down: 

• Bathysphere - tart ale brewed with 2,400 lbs. of black raspberries
• Gramophone - tart ale brewed with 3,000 lbs. of nectarines per 30bbl batch
• Operation Plowshare - tart ale brewed with 2,600 lbs. of blackberries and 60 g. of vanilla beans per 30bbl batch. Described as a "liquid jelly donut." 
• Pachycephalosaurus (2019) - A blend of wild-caught cultures, curated to highlight the terroir of the Ohio River Valley, then aged on marionberries (i.e. blackberries) in neutral oak.

Pleeps is about to take flight at Urban Artifact.

A beer like Pachycephalosaurus is one that I simply had to try. You can really get a sense of time and place by sipping and savoring a wild ale. It can capture your environment in liquid form. Bacteria and other fun little critters indigenous of a particular region might just float on in, giving it a distinct flavor or aroma profile. I often think of Allagash "Coolship" series; when I drink one I am transported back to that little shack in Maine where the brewery ages some of its finest wild ales. While I'm not familiar with the Ohio River Valley from a geographical perspective, I feel I was able to experience a slice of its natural environment in liquid form.

Our vantage point at Urban Artifact.

Pleeps also had to try Landline, a tart ale brewed with 2,000 lbs. of bananas and 1,000 lbs. of red raspberries per 30bbl batch. Any time we encounter a beer with bananas, Pleeps simply goes bananas! While he loves his stouts, he can't resist when his favorite food collides with beer. He was a happy camper after sipping this one. 

Overall, the beers here were exceptional and a true joy to drink. Urban Artifact has definitely settled snugly into its niche of creating complex and expressive wild ales and sours. I left with a 4-pack of Bathysphere cans, which was not only a favorite of our group, but also a popular choice among other customers during our visit. All in all, Urban Artifact offers a world-class craft beer experience. 

After consulting my trusty vinyl app, The Vinyl District, I found a record store called Everybody's Records, which turned out to be literally right across the street from our next brewery stop. I decided to make a quick pit stop and dig through a few bins of LPs before rejoining the group. Among my finds was a nice clean copy of King Crimson's Lizard album. 

Across the street, everyone had already begun digging in at Nine Giant. Immediately, I was impressed with the vibe of this place. Being a beer marketing guy, I was also taken by the brewery's story and - for lack of a better term - "branding." I particularly loved the brewery's logo and this little story that was printed out on the wall for all of the patrons to enjoy:

I was skeptical about my first selection, ImPeachMint, an apricot peach mint Gose. Apricots and peach... SOLD! But mint? Hmmmm... I was burned in the past with beers featuring mint. It's a strong, piquant flavor that, if used to haphazardly, can really dominate the flavor profile of a beer. I had a mint beer many years ago that tasted like I'd swallowed a glass of Scope mouthwash. Yes children, it wasn't a pleasant experience. However, this beer was eloquently balanced with equal parts of its ingredients. The mint mingled quite nicely with the sweet nectar of the fruit; a hint of mint, if you will, which didn't detract from the flavor. Working at Tröegs, I'd learned that peach doesn't really come across in the flavor profile like other fruits, so apricots are often used to bolster the peachy, tree-fruit character of a beer. This beer was refreshing and immensely enjoyable, and it enticed me to take a deeper dive.

Pleeps at Nine Giant.

Once I settled in, I realized the tasting room was quite small. It's basically just a square room with a short bar area and some high top tables strategically placed around the floor. However, Nine Giant's branding gave the space lots of character despite its diminutive size. Since I was running a bit behind, I finished my first beer rather quickly and moved onto a second.

Enter Grounded, a West Coast Style Rye IPA featuring classic Northwestern hops. Yeah, this sucker was old school, baby! Bitter notes of grapefruit, pine, and orange zest tickled my tastebuds, then finished with a spicy note only rye beers can deliver. It's nice to see breweries still brewing IPAs that are actually bitter. This one had some grit and balls to it. So this place was two for two, making Cincinnati two for two as well. I wish I had a little more time to dig into some other beers, but sometimes I can't resist the beckoning call of used records.

After our quick visit to Nine Giant, we still had time for one more stop. Founded in 2013, MadTree is an up-and-coming midwest production brewery with quite an impressive facility and tasting room. Surprised by the size of this place, I later learned that in addition to distributing its beers throughout Ohio, they are also available in Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Outside MadTree's impressive facility.

The beer list here was pretty ridonkulous! There must have been about 30 beers on tap or in bottles (although the majority of the selections were draft). It was hard to narrow my selection, but I eventually landed on a Peach Berliner Weisse. I'm sure you know the story of me and peaches by now! It's hard for me to resist a beer brewed with peaches. This tart wheat beer is part of its "304 Series." Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information at all about MadTree's "304 Series." It's definitely not the area code in which the brewery is located. At any rate, this was a fine peach-infused ale with a pleasantly tart finish.

Beer coolers at MadTree.

Meanwhile, I was pretty impressed by the size and scope of the brewery. The spacious tasting room boasted a very long bar, merch shop, and plenty of seating. The tree theme was incorporated throughout, creating the illusion of a lush green, forested area. There was also an adjacent event space in the form of a heated pop-tent area, which ran the length of the main tasting room and had its own bar. Visitors can also get a visual into the brewhouse, which looked quite large, perhaps a 50bbl or even 100bbl system. You can take a cool virtual tour of the entire building, which I recommend.

There is unrest in the forest...

Up next, it was time for something dark and decadent. Brewed in collaboration with a local vegan dessert maker, Grateful Grahams, S'More Gratitude is a rich yet balanced stout inspired by the classic (but messy) campfire treat everyone loves. To achieve its S'Morey goodness, vanilla beans, lactose, cocoa powder and cacao nibs from local chocolatier Maverick Chocolate are incorporated into the recipe. Chocolate-forward with a hint of smoke and graham cracker crust in the finish, this beer went down far too easy, much like its solid marshmallowy counterpart. I'll take one of these around the campfire any day!

Pleeps and S'More Gratitude.

Somehow we missed an IPA called State of Mine, a collaboration with two favorite OH-based breweries, Fat Head's and Jackie O's. The beer itself features an experimental hop variety known as HBC 637. HBC stands for the Hop Breeding Company, a leader in hop research and development responsible for breeding the Citra and Mosaic hops varieties, among others. Theses are actual copyrighted names, unlike many of the old guard hop varieties such as Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, etc. The numbered hops are often referred to as "experimental hops" and, once they latch on (if in fact they do), they are given an actual name. This beer definitely had a Fat Head's flair, as two of my favorite East Coast IPAs are Headhunter and Hop Juju. However, this wasn't quite that good. Still, it was an enjoyable take on the West Coast IPA style.

Pleeps experiencing a new State of Mine.

Deuane decided to plow on through to Columbus in order to have a shorter drive home on Monday, so we acquired accommodations for the evening and set our sights for the destination of last year's Drinksgiving adventure. Since we'd visited recently, I recommended a stop at Wolf's Ridge. You may remember that my "beer of the trip" last year was from this brewery. The beer was Terre Du Sauvage Green, a dry-hopped farmhouse saison fermented and conditioned in oak with a mixed culture containing Brett and saison yeast. I hadn't forgotten about this beer. The food menu also features a bit more upscale fare, which made it an easy choice since we'd also be eating dinner.

I could tell Deuane was beginning to fade, so I decided to make the best of our visit. I figured Columbus would be a one-and-done stop before turning in for the evening. I started off with a pour of Tropical Terre Du Sauvage, a barrel-aged, dry-hopped sour ale brewed with pink guava and passionfruit. While this wasn't as memorable as last year's beer, it was still on-point. Brewslut opted for Costa Del Sol, a key lime gose, which was pretty tasty as well.

However, the good stuff was quickly coming 'round the bend. Grandma's Cookie Dire Wolf, a holiday variation of its Dire Wolf Imperial Stout, was a no-brainer for me. Brewed with walnuts, dates and spices, this 10.3% heavy-hitter was smooth, rich and, indeed, cookie-like, with a festive spicy note of cinnamon and nutmeg in the finish.

"Yeah, I got this!" - Pleeps

You'd think it would end there, but I was able to coax a few more minutes out of Deuane. Although he was done, I managed to suck down a pour of All the Breakfast, an 10.7% ABV Imperial Cream Ale brewed with a ton of ingredients including a malt bill of rice, oats, corn, barley, and smoked malt, plus Ohio maple syrup and lactose. Oh yeah, plus they conditioned the beer on vanilla, cacao, coconut, cinnamon, coffee, and orange peel. Whew! That was a mouthful... both literally and figuratively. Might as well go big for the last beer of the day, right? And with that, it was off to the hotel.

We spent the majority of Monday on the road heading home, but we managed to work in a stop in West Virginia at Berkeley Springs Brewing. Located in the town of Berkeley Springs, the brewery's beers utilize mineral water from the local Warm Springs. Originally incorporated under the name Bath, it has been known by name of its original Virginia post office, Berkeley Springs, since 1802.  The region contains mineral water springs frequented by Native Americans indigenous to the area. After settlement by Europeans, the mineral springs drew many visitors, including our nation's first president, George Washington. We actually visited Berkeley Springs State Park and got to see George Washington's "bath," where he apparently bathed in mineral water from the springs. The town is also known for its famed Apple Butter Festival, founded in 1974, which continues to this day.
Appropriately, it was Berkeley Spring Brewing's Apple Butter Ale that drew us here.

Tap handles at Berkeley Springs Brewing Co.

D and C had conflicting opinions about this place, so I decided to tread lightly and dip my toes into the unknown waters. I decided my best bet was to go with a flight rather than get burned with 16 ounces of a sub par or flawed beer. Here's the skinny:

• Coolfont Cream Ale - a limited edition, easy-drinking cream ale celebrating the rebirth of the nearby Coolfront Resort. 
• Apple Butter Ale - ale brewed with apple juice and allspice. A nice alternate to a pumpkin ale during the autumn months. 
• Stonewall a la Mode - a white IPA with lactose and vanilla (if my memory serves me).
• Tiramisu Stout - variation of its standard oatmeal stout with flavors of the Italian dessert.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the beer here. Carolyn also seemed to enjoy her beers more than I had anticipated. I liked the Tiramisu Stout quite a bit, so Brewslut and I split a full pour as our final beer. It seemed to be the clear winner for all of us, actually. And with that, it was time to hit the rocky road back to good ol' Pennsyltucky. 

Pleeps representing at Berkeley Springs.

We arrived safely in PA at around 6 p.m. and ended up, of course, at Pizza Boy. This place typically serves as a postscript of sorts to many of our westward trips, and this time was no different. During our visit, I enjoyed a pour of Simcosis Neurosis, an IPA hopped exclusively with Simcoe. This was one of my favorite IPAs from Pizza Boy in recent history with its notes of pine, mango and citrus fruit. We were a day early for the draft release of a new fruited sour called Ice Dreamz, but Nate grabbed a few cans for us to enjoy while we were there. This particular version features cranberries, cherries and tangerines, with cherry being the dominant flavor. It's always a pleasure to swing by Pizza Boy for a beer or two at the end of a trip.

Well folks, stick a fork in another Drinksgiving. All in all, I was consistently impressed with the quality of the breweries we visited this time around. The ratio of very good to forgettable was very skewed to the "very good" side of the spectrum. I always expect a few duds and one or two completely abysmal experiences, but Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati all really delivered, making this one of the most enjoyable Drinksgivings since its inception. Until next time...

Drinksgiving 2019: Part III - Louisville and a dip into Indiana

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like a bag of assholes. In addition to exceeding my typical daily alcohol intake by about 40%, I also forgot to pack our white noise fan. This combination led to a night of tossing and turning and, as a result, little sleep. I had the proverbial "gut rot," something no good professional drinker wants on the most important day of just about any beer trip we take - Saturday. So, unfortunately, I got off to a slow, rocky start. However, I managed to pull it together and recover pretty quickly. After all, this may well be the only time I get to visit Louisville.

I was in a pretty bad mood when we arrived at our first stop, Goodwood, which was one of the places I was most looking forward to on this particular day. One of our beer geek friends, Kramer, said Goodwood was his favorite place he visited on a recent trip to Louisville. However, when we arrived, the televisions were blasting - what else? - SPORTS! Actually, it wasn't even sports; it was pre-game sports commentary. There were a few cantankerous patrons sitting at the bar as well, gearing up for the big sporting event (likely college football... 'tis the season, I suppose). I would have liked to enjoy the scenery at the bar area, but between feeling like said bag of assholes and the noise factor, I suggested we sit in the quieter albeit aesthetically challenged adjacent room.

"Wood is good." - Jerry Seinfeld

Despite my gurgling stomach and queasy uneasiness, I managed to force one beer down my gullet while we were at Goodwood. The beer, Spruce Tip IPA, is obviously a spruce-tip infused IPA packed with plenty of piney hops. In addition to spruce tips sourced from the Great Pacific Northwest, the hop bill features a combination of Zeus, Centennial, El Dorado, Comet, and Simcoe hops. I wish I had felt better during our visit because this beer offered a lot of things I love about the style. I even remarked that it was similar to Selin's Grove's Olde Frosty IPA, one of my favorite beers ever. Also, it was a welcome diversion from the barrage of NEIPAs with which I'm constantly bludgeoned when we visit breweries, so much so that I've pretty much decided to boycott the style. It's amazing... I used to really enjoy NEIPAs, but after some contemplation, I equate it to something I'll call the "How I Met Your Mother Theorem." When that show first debuted, I loved it. I mean, really LOVED it! It was probably my favorite sit-com on Network TV at the time. However, over the years, it trudged on... and on... and on... until I eventually became so sick and disgusted with it that I didn't even watch the last few episodes out of spite. I couldn't care less with who ended up with Ted. He started to grate on me from season to season until I just couldn't take it anymore. That's how I view NEIPA's these days. All of these tiny breweries too busy chasing the dragon and trying to be the next Trillium or Tree House. Honestly, you probably have a better chance of being struck by lightning while evading a T-Rex after winning Power Ball. Seriously, with the exception of a few stellar beers, THIS STYLE NEEDS TO GO THE FUCK AWAY!!!

My apologies for that little rant. It comes with age, I suppose. GET OFF MY LAWN! Sometimes I wish I was more like Pleeps... right, buddy?

Pleeps. Chillin'.

OK... back to our regularly scheduled program.

After getting our Goodwood on, it was time to head over to Against the Grain for lunch and a bit of pre-gaming before our Angel's Envy experience (more on that in a few shakes). Against the Grain was the only Louisville-based brewery I'd been familiar with prior to the trip. I'd had a few of the brewery's beers at Imminent Liquidation and various Team D(r)INK bottle shares over the years, and had always enjoyed what I sampled.

Inside Against the Grain.

After a quick perusal of the colorful beer chalkboard, I settled on Fairy Nuff a dark, luscious Imperial Stout brewed in collaboration with Trilha Cervejaria from Sao Paolo, Brazil. The beer features Ambruana seeds, an adjunct ingredient with which I was unfamiliar. Turns out Amburana is a deciduous tree that is indigenous to the forests of South America. So I suppose it makes sense that a Brazilian brewery brought this ingredient to the table. The seeds themselves lend a unique woody aroma and spicy kick to this dark chocolatey, boozy brew. While this beer wasn't quite up to the beers I'd experienced at Ethereal and West Sixth, this was still way above average.

Things are looking up for Pleeps!

We also had some lunch, which included some bangin' black bean chili and a "dirty" vegan burger. I'm glad to see more and more veggie and vegan options at breweries these days. The food was quite good and gave us ample filling in our bellies for what awaited us across the street. By this time, I was starting to feel better and was ready to shift into at least second gear. We settled up and headed across the street for arguably the highlight of the day.

Yes indeed, it's time for some bourbon. I mean, we're in Louisville, right? How could we not experience bourbon at some point? That's like being in Dublin and not drinking a Guinness, or even visiting NEPA and not drinking biolo. So, let's go on a quick bourbon tangent, shall we?

Deuane made prior arrangements to schedule a tour at Angel's Envy distillery, one of the premier spirits-makers in the country. It is also a third generation family owned and operated business, which is a huge plus in my eyes. I've had its flagship spirit, a port cask-aged bourbon, which of course is delicious, so I was familiar with the brand. But this was no ordinary tour; this was the Mac Daddy deep dive tour. Dubbed "Inside the Barrel," this hour-long adventure taught us about the science of barrel-aging and blending, the "finishing process," and how their master distillers utilize secondary barrels to create a unique finished product. We got to sample the aforementioned bourbon finished in port casks and the excellent rye finished in rum barrels at the "tasting log" following the tour, and we even had the rare opportunity to taste unfinished rye straight from the barrel. This is a nice little touch that reminded me of our own tour at Tröegs, where we allow tourists to sample unfinished "green beer" straight from the fermentation tank. The tour ended with a visit to the exclusive VIP cocktail bar, where we each purchased a signature drink from a menu featuring about 15 signature cocktails featuring a variety of Angel's Envy spirits. Since this is a beer blog, I won't go into all of the specifics of the tour. This time, I'll just let the pictures do all of the talking. Enjoy some photos of our visit below!

It was decidedly convenient that Against the Grain was catty-corner from Angel's Envy, so we stopped back in for another beer. Our previous waitress was still on the clock, so I hooked her up with a pair of beers. We also returned to the same table we'd occupied a few hours earlier. This time, I was craving something a little smokey. Best known perhaps for its Imperial Smoked Porter called Bo & Luke - a nod to one of my all-time favorite childhood TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard - someone at Against the Grain must also be a big fan of the show, because they brew a beer named Rosco & Enos. Like its bigger brother carrying the Duke boys' namesakes, this lighter smoked porter gets its flavor from house-smoked malt using oak staves from the barrels that once had aged Bo & Luke. Boasting hints of chocolate, smoke, caramel and roast, Rosco & Enos has a much lighter body and loses the boozy bourbon tang of its big brother. It's a bona fide beer for dipsticks everywhere.

How beer is made... graffiti style!

Deuane noticed that Against the Grain had a small bottle shop and merch store next door to the brewery and tasting room, so we decided to check it out. This turned into a pretty lengthy visit once we got talking to the two guys manning the counter. In addition to a well-stocked bottle and can collection for take-out, they also had four experimental taps for sampling and (presumably) growler and crowler fills. These four beers were not on tap next door in the tasting room, so needless to say I felt obliged to try them all. Two of them were variations of Against the Grain's smoked imperial stout, Bo and Luke. Here's the skinny:

• 11 Minutes of Jazz - oak-aged Biere de Garde with rich notes of baked bread and caramel and hints of vanilla and light spice. Sadly, I didn't  pick up on the Tenacious D reference of the beer's name, which is a nod to an 11+ minute track on a limited edition EP titled "Simply Jazz." Shame on me.  
• Cellabrations Baldivis - "Soup of the day" bourbon barrel-aged Baltic Porter with maple and coffee
• Bo and Luke Pumpkin Spice - pumpkin spiced variant of Bo & Luke
• Bo and Luke Orange Marmalade - orange marmalade variant of Bo & Luke

This was one of those visits when it's great to be a part of the craft beer industry. Sometimes just conversing and sharing beers with people from another brewery is the highlight of the day. It's also one of the reasons why I like to travel with an assortment of beer indigenous to PA, because you never know who you're gonna meet. Of all the samples, I have to give the nod to Cellabrations Baldivis with its blend of maple and coffee flavors, which seems have become the leitmotif of the trip for me.

After an enjoyable visit to Against the Grain, it was time to head to our next destination, Bluegrass Brewing. I was hoping there would be food, because I was starting to get a bit peckish. Turns out they do, in fact, serve food, as Bluegrass follows the brewpub model. One of Louisville's "old guard," Bluegrass opened its doors in late 1993, which makes it the oldest brewery in the city.

The Dank, a classic West Coast-style IPA weighing in at 6.5% ABV. While I'm not a pot smoker, I do love a good dank, weed-like IPA with a strong ganga aroma. With that said, I'd be more inclined to call this beer "The Somewhat Dank." It was drinkable, but not as crunchy as I was hoping. Still, it definitely beat Brewslut's beer, which was undrinkable. It was a straight-up "butter bomb" with a prominent diacetyl character.

Food-wise, I was happy with my tofu stir-fry. It was pretty cheap and did what it was required to do - fill my gut. But the beers left a bit to be desired, so we decided not to stick around for the second set. Instead, we closed our tabs and moved on.

After a pretty disappointing visit to Bluegrass, it was time to hit one of Deuane's recommended stops, Michter's Distillery. OK, we didn't actually visit the distillery. This was The Bar at Fort Nelson, a high-end whiskey and bourbon bar operated by Michter's. I had never heard of Michter's before, but I suppose I should have because its history is steeped in the Lebanon Valley. I'll give you the brief Wiki version:

Michter's Distillery (more recently Bomberger's Distillery) is a non-operating distillery facility that was, at the end of the twentieth century, believed to be the oldest remaining such building in the United States. The distillery closed in 1989. Although there are whiskey products currently on the market using the Michter's brand name, they are more recently introduced products that have no direct connection to the old distillery. The original distillery, located near Schaefferstown, PA, represented the transformation of whiskey distilling from an agricultural enterprise into a large-scale industry. The surviving still house, warehouse, and jug house date from about 1840, but the site has a documented history of spirit production since 1753. In 1975, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1980. The facility was America's smallest commercial distiller at the time of its 1989 closure.

Michter's Distillery. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Deuane and I shared pours of the standard bourbon and rye. Both were of superior quality and enjoyable to swish around. It was a relaxing visit to a more upscale establishment to which we're not typically accustom. We just sat back and enjoyed the moment.

After our quick bourbon detour, it was back to beer. We decided to dip up into Indiana for a quick stop at Flat 12 Bierwerks. The place was pretty beat when we arrived, save for two couples who looked like they were visiting from Jersey and were ready to get on with an evening of drunken love-making in a cheap hotel. Sadly, there were only two house beers on tap; everything else was a guest tap, which was disappointing. Of course, this was only a satellite pub and not the actual brewing facility (which is situated in Indianapolis). As it turns out, Flat 12 isn't even called Flat 12 anymore. Recently, it changed its name to Rad Brewing Company. Rad... really? Perhaps they're going to cater to the tiny cross-section of craft beer drinkers who are into 80's BMX bike-racing.

That sign is pretty rad, isn't it?

Anyway, onto the beer. Sour Raspberry Blonde ended up being my 7000th unique beer on Untappd. If my math is correct, I've been hitting about 1000 beers each year. I quickly recalled my 5000th check-in occurred during Drinksgiving 2017 in Virginia Beach. The other beer I shared with Brewslut, Psycho Gose Beast, was a straight-up unfruited Gose with a distinct tangy character and a hint of sweaty feet. This may have been the only dud brewery of the trip. The beers weren't undrinkable, but they were forgettable, and so was the taproom. We finished up our short pours and exited nonchalantly. Off to the next place!

Flat 12 was a bit, well, flat.

Our situation dramatically improved at Akasha. Upon entering, I noticed a good dozen or so beers on the chalkboard. I was intrigued by many of the beers, which included everything from classic and mundane (brown ale, Marzen) to hip and trendy (NEIPA, sour IPA) to experimental (English mild with Brett, sour "smoothie" ale).

Eventually, I settled on a beer called Whip It!, a sour IPA with vanilla and pineapple. I love me some Devo, and I love this beer equally as much. Crack that whip! Mosaic and Idaho 7 hops lay down a sticky tropical and citrus canvas, but the icing on the cake is the fact that they condition the beer atop pineapple puree and vanilla bean. This beer was pretty friggin' awesome, and it piqued my interest and enticed us to stay for seconds.

Meanwhile, Brewslut was working on a thick, decadent sour called Black Razz Delight, a German sour ale loaded with massive amounts of black currant and raspberry. Described as a "smoothie style Gose," this heavily fruited beer was reminiscent of the frozen smoothie-style beers we experienced at The Answer a while back when we visited Richmond, VA. The beer is heavy on tangy berry character, let me tell you.

I liked Whip It! so much that I decided to order a small pour of Tea Time, another sour IPA with the same hop bill of Mosaic and Idaho 7. However, instead of pineapple and vanilla, this beer is steeped with black currant tea leaves. This one definitely had more of an earthy berry character compared to the juicy, tropical-forward Whip It! Still, it was nice to try and overall this place was high on my list of places we hit during the trip.

Inside Akasha Brewing Company.

I stumbled onto a cool little fact about Akasha while researching the brewery post-trip. Turns out Akasha unearthed an original recipe from a Louisville brewery known as Fehr's City, which was founded in 1872. From its modest beginnings of producing just 593 barrels its first year, the brewery expanded 120,000 barrels by 1903. It's award-winning lager, Fehr's XL, was said to be the most widely consumed beer throughout Louisville. Unfortunately, like so many other small, independent breweries in the mid-Twentieth Century, Fehr's folded in 1964. Akasha decided to resuscitate the crisp, clean flavor of this simple beer by using Fehr's XL (a simple pre-prohibition lager) recipe for Louisville beer drinkers to enjoy once again. Now that's a pretty cool story, eh? Sadly, I didn't know about this while we visited the brewery, so I was unable to try the beer. But at least now I know for the next time we visit.

And now for the descent of Pleepleus...

Whoa, little buddy! Are you OK? 

Easy little fella! 

...aaaaaand, he's out. This might have been the first time Pleeps was out of commission before the final brewery. Tea Time turned out to be "Sleepy Tea Time" I suppose. See ya in the morning, little buddy!

Falls City, our final stop of the day, was a fun time. Despite it being a fairly big place and also a Saturday, the room was sparsely occupied save for a few twenty-somethings at the bar and the equally young bartender. Turns out one of the guys at the bar also works there, and sure enough, we all got to talking. We got sucked into playing a card game with the handful of kids at the bar. It was a pun-based game whereby someone read a phrase and you had to respond with the appropriate word. It may have been called Punderdome, but I can't recall. At any rate, hilarity ensued, and the game definitely helped pass the time in an enjoyable way.

Falls City's old school beer logo.

It was the end of a very long day of drinking, so I may be as verbose in describing these next few beers or elaborating on their characteristics. That's the price you pay when it's an all-day drink-a-thon. With that said, I opted to kick off with Eleven's Waffle Stout, an imperial stout with maple syrup and vanilla. (See, it's become a trend!) I had to think about the name for a minute, and then it hit me: it's a reference to the Netflix original series, Stranger Things. The character Eleven loves Eggo waffles. Well played, Falls City. Well played.

Stouts seemed to reign supreme at Falls City, so up next I dove right into the whimsically named Fluffy, a bourbon barrel-aged stout with peanut butter and marshmallow. Fluffernutter, anyone? I'm more of a PB&J guy personally, but I'm not opposed to a big of Fluff either.

Inside Falls City Brewing Company.

I needed a snack, and luckily for me there was a bangin' taco joint right across the street. Conveniently, Falls City had a menu, so I placed an order for some chicken and black bean tacos, which hit the spot.

The stouts seems to be up to snuff, so I carried on with the aptly named Coffee Stout, a bold and dark vanilla coffee stout brewed with local 78 Coffee Co. coffee from Louisville. Everyone seemed to like it. I was honestly too caught up in conversation and the pun game to really recall details about the beers. They must have been good, though, because we stayed for a while. So it was a nice cap on a well-spent day of traipsing around Louisville.

We ended the night at Falls City.

Before we left, we exchanged beers (more people who hadn't heard of Tröegs) and retired for the evening. Stay tuned for more hijinx including the return home with a layover in Cincinnati and Columbus. Until next time...

Drinksgiving 2019: Part II - The 5-hour piss break and descent into Louisville

Other than being in a bit of a sleep-deprived haze from the previous night's shenanigans, things got off to a great start on Friday morning. Our hotel amenities included a nice hot breakfast buffet, which I always like to take advantage of so we don't need to be bothered with things like lunch. I also find that a good, hearty breakfast provides an ample base on top of which to lay lots and lots of beer. And that's the reason why were traveling, so we might as well put our best foot forward.

After breakfast, we got cleaned up, checked out of the hotel, and set the coordinates for Louisville. All was going as planned, until we got about an hour away from our destination (our Air B&B). Turns out some of our party needed to relieve themselves (I'm sure one of them was me). Deuane suggested stopping at a brewery in Lexington, which happened to be the next exit off the Interstate. Sounded good to me! To reiterate one of my favorite Ricky-isms, "get two birds stoned at once!" I'll never turn down an offer to stop at a brewery that's new to me.

Well, our quick piss break turned into an enjoyable five-hour romp around Lexington to three different breweries. Sometimes you gotta just go with the flow and call an audible from time to time. After sampling my first beer, I was unequivocally certain that we'd made an excellent decision.

Outside West Sixth Brewing. It's on West 6th Street, of course!

I'd never heard of West Sixth Brewing prior to this trip, but it shall be a name I never forget after our fantastic experience at its impressive brewery, even though I usually suck at remembering brewery names with numbers in them. The brewery takes its name from its physical location, which is situated at 501 West 6th St in Lexington. Sometimes you need not look any further than your address when naming your brewery. Seems like it's worked out for West Sixth.

Like many other breweries across the country, Black Friday has become a popular release date for imperial stouts (for good reason, I suppose... imperial stouts are the darkest of dark beers). The style is also right at the tippy top of my "favorite beer styles" list. West Sixth's imperial stout is named Snake Eyes, and of course they entice their fans with a number of variations of the base beer. The one that struck my fancy was German Chocolate Snake Cake. This variant of Snake Eyes has been aged in bourbon barrels with coconut, pecans, cocoa nibs, and vanilla. Sometimes you have a beer that is so wonderful in all its complexities, it stirs the loins into a frenzy. This was one of those beers, people. It was like licking the batter from cake mixer beaters at a Belgian chocolatier's shop in Brussels. Everything about this beer was stunning: it's decadent aroma with dark bitter cocoa, baker's chocolate, high-end espresso and shaved coconut; its luscious, silky mouthfeel; it's spot-on chocolate cake flavor with an amazing balance of all the adjunct ingredients; and it's dark, ominous presence. It's like, where do you go from here when this is the first beer of the trip?! Needless to say, I bought a bottle of this to enjoy at home. I probably won't share it with anyone other than Brewslut (and Pleeps), thought... not gonna lie to ya!

Pleeps loves his stouts.

What a way to start the trip! Granted, we kicked off Drinksgiving the previous night, this was the official first beer at a brewery. German Chocolate Snake Cake set the bar ridiculously high for breweries to come, and turned out to be my second favorite beer of the trip by such a minuscule margin that I'd almost call it the "co-best beer of the trip." I made sure I didn't vacate the premises without obtaining a bottle of this liquid gold for future consumption at home.

Lots of beer flowing during our impromptu visit to West Sixth!

Since the space was fairly large, I decided to meander around a bit and capture some photos for the blog when I stumbled into the adjacent barrel room. Turns out they feature a number of different barrel-aged beers available on tap at a separate bar area. Score! As a reward to myself for unearthing this nugget of information, I ordered a pour of Barrel Aged Burley Barleywine. This meant that the first two beers of the day exceeded 10% ABV. This heavy-hitter weighed in at a whopping 15%, but it concealed its boozy warmth quite well. While not as mind-blowing as its predecessor, I did appreciate the subtle complexities of this one. The beer itself possessed a number of scotch-like qualities including a hint of smoky peat, tobacco leaf, and rawhide, which mingled with dark caramel, stone fruit, and toffee. The bourbon presence was pretty muted despite the hefty 15% ABV tag.

Inside the barrel room at West Sixth.

Meanwhile, we were also enjoying a pour of another barrel room exclusive: a tart cherry variation of West Sixth's flagship cocoa porter, Pay It Forward. The name of the beer is derived from the fact that the brewery donates fifty cents of each six-pack sale to a non-profit organization. The version we enjoyed is the sixteenth release of its Sixfold barrel-aged series. I enjoyed this one a bit more than the barleywine, surprisingly. The flavor of this beer features a surge of tart cherry bliss followed by deep, rich notes of cocoa and vanilla with a splash of coffee. The tart cherry character returns to finish with a wash of cherry pie-like flavor that was delicious. This beer was pretty damn impressive!

While Deuane and I were perusing the merchandise, we got talking to a couple who were visiting from Michigan, if I recall. The guy mentioned he visits Louisville frequently, and highly recommended a tour of Angel's Envy distillery. Coincidentally, Deuane had already made arrangements for us to take the "deep dive" barrel tour the following day. The guy also mentioned two other worthy Louisville breweries - Country Boy and Ethereal - so we decided to call an audible and check out these two places. I mean, we were already in Lexington, soooooo...

It's early to rise, early in the sack...

First up was Country Boy. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't think it was a big, gray rectangle of a building. I was thinking more along the lines of a farmhouse or old barn. Aesthetics aside, it turns out this little places makes some solid beers.

When we entered, we surveyed the scene and the small room was fairly full. The bar was mostly occupied, but there were a few random vacant tables throughout the place. (Eventually, we decided to set up shop at a small round table in the back of the room.) I was pretty excited to see a dozen beers on tap at Country Boy. Turns out, they had TWO beer boards each sporting twelve different beers (so that's like a total of 24 for my mathematics-impaired readers). One board featured staples and year-round beers, while the other boasted seasonals and one-offs. There's definitely something for everyone here. 

Just half of the beers available at Country Boy.

Despite having an assortment of styles to which I tend to gravitate, I threw caution to the wind and decided to take a chance on an Oud Bruin called Living Proof. Described as a "brown ale aged in oak barrels with wild yeast," I must admit this was a pretty impressive interpretation of the classic Belgian style. I'm glad I argued with my better judgment, because I was certain that a place named "Country Boy" couldn't possibly have a very good Oud Bruin. It's good to be wrong once in a while; it keeps life in perspective. This beer had a nice tart cherry-like pucker with a complex, funky finish and plenty of dark fruit notes and dry, woody appeal. I dug this one quite a bit, actually.

The wheel of tap handles at Country Boy.

I honestly have no recollection of my next beer, which was apparently Laid Back Lager. Perhaps I just tried a bit of Brewslut's beer, or perhaps I was entering a brief imperial-stout-and-barleywine-induced memory lapse. Either way, I checked it in so I must have tried it. By this time, I seemed to be more occupied with Pudding. Let me explain. Brewslut happened to find a little figurine of a horse and decided to name him (or her... not sure of the gender) Pudding. Pudding ended up making the trip back home with us, and we consider this little guy (or gal) a cool little bonus memento of our visit to Country Boy.

Brewslut found this little guy and named him Pudding.

Next up was our third and final stop in Lexington, Ethereal. I'm grateful that we decided to take such a lengthy piss break, because this place turned out to be my favorite brewery of the trip! Situated on a sprawling 25-acre property known as The Distillery District, Ethereal shares its address with a myriad of other local artisans including two distilleries, a pizzeria, restaurant, ice cream lounge, music venue, arcade, and even an on-site doggie daycare. And that's just scraping the surface! Seriously, we could have spend an entire day here. We didn't even realize there was another brewery - Fusion Brewing - on campus. Carolyn and I did, however, hit up Crank & Boom Ice Cream Lounge for a sweet treat before heading out to Louisville.

Ethereal: Blurring between science and magic.

After checking out the beer menu, I noticed a trend beginning to form. Like West Sixth, I decided to explore the imperial stout path once again and ordered a beer named Breakfast Baba Yaga. This Russian Imperial Stout features maple syrup and local espresso from Nate's Coffee. It's also a heavy-hitter at 14.25% ABV. If I had a gun to my head and was asked what my favorite beer of the trip was, this would be it. The flavor of this beer was perfectly balanced with just the right amount of maple and coffee character. The mouthfeel was spot-on for the style: luscious and smooth with ample viscosity. As Linda Richmond would say, "Like buttah!" It was, by all accounts, a perfect beer. I'm still salivating about this beer as I write this.

What's pouring at Ethereal?

Up next was Bellerophon, a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine aged in Four Roses bourbon barrels. By this time, I was thinking: Man, what's up with me and high-gravity beers this trip? Oh yeah, I'm not driving! It made sense to me. Plus who doesn't love a good barre-aged stout or barleywine? I have a weak spot for both styles. Really, anything barrel-aged always seems to pique my curiosity.

Anyway, this one is a more traditional English style than the one we'd experienced at West Sixth. Bellerophon boasted thick notes of bourbon-soaked caramels, French toast, vanilla, and butterscotch with traces of dark fruit around the edges. It was pretty freakin' delicious. Curious about the name, I decided to consult my good buddy Google for answers. Turns out Bellerophon was a famous Greek hero, mostly known for defeating Chimera, a fire-breathing mythical monster. He is also known for riding Pegasus, the winged horse given to him as a gift from Athena. Shame on me for not knowing that bit of mythology. I'm surprised Brewslut didn't make the connection, as she's been teaching Greek and Roman Mythology for years. So shame on both of us, really.

Inside Ethereal.

All in all, Ethereal just has its shit together. I loved everything about this place: the beer, the atmosphere, the service. The whole vibe was aligned with what I love about traveling in the name of beer. I shared some beers with our sassy little pixie of a bartender, and she reciprocated with a pair of shirts for Brewslut and I, which was a nice surprise.

Me and my beer of the trip: Breakfast Baba Yaga!

After an amazing visit to Ethereal, it was time to hit the rocky road and finally get to our REAL destination, Louisville. Since we were a bit behind in our schedule, we decided to head straight to the Air B&B, get situated, and head back out for an evening on the town.

Our first Louisville beer experience took place at Monnik. Taking its name from the dutch word for "monk," Monnik embodies the intense focus and diligence of the monastic brewers of Europe. The beer selection was well-curated, with about 20 beers on tap featuring a mix of flagships, seasonals, and one-off brews. Plus the food menu looked fantastic, and we were pretty hungry by this point in the day.

Inside Monnik.

I kicked off with a pint of Path of Totality, a coffee IPA brewed with Sunergos Coffee & Roastery's Guatemala Los Volcanes coffee. I am always intrigued by this odd hybrid style fusing coffee and hops, and will typically order one if available. The coffee itself lends hints of chocolate, hazelnut and raisin to the hazy orange beer, which boasts a backbone of citrus-forward hops, a nice complement to the chocolate notes of the coffee. This was a very well-done beer, overall. 

Glow-in-the-dark beer.

For dinner, Brewslut and I both ordered the Pea and Smoked Trout Flamee, a puff pastry dish with smoked trout, pea puree, snow pea sprouts, and citrus. It was pretty tasty but not too filling. The puff pastry was incredibly flaky and tasty, however. We also shared some fried smelts and pepitas with D&C.

After dinner, we carried on with more beers, including Ricky's Super Saison, a 9.3% ABV farmhouse ale brewed in the Belgian tradition. Sweeter and fruitier than your everyday saison, this beer boasts notes of tropical fruit, bubblegum, light spice, and pear.

I also tried Tran Sam, a double IPA/Flanders red blend and collaboration with Against the Grain. This was an interesting blend of styles that I'd never really seen before. It came across as a dry-hopped sour, although I'd say it was neither super hoppy nor tart. With that said, I certainly appreciated the experimental nature of this beer.

Tap selection at Great Flood.

Great Flood, our next stop, turned out to be a fairly short one-and-done visit. Perhaps I was trying to bask once again in the glory I'd experienced at Etheral when I ordered a pour of Batch 400: '37 Porter with Maple & Coffee. Turns out this special beer was brewed to commemorate the brewery's milestone 400th batch. (Oddly enough, we're coming up on our 400th Scratch release at Troegs this week!) This special release takes its flagship '37 Porter and adds maple syrup and Elixir coffee from Archetype Coffee Company. While it was enjoyable, it wasn't in the same league as Ethereal's Breakfast Baba Yaga.

Pleeps gettin' his Great Flood on.

In hindsight, I'm unsure as to why I neglected to order the hibiscus and peach saison. I mean, come on... PEACH! Perhaps if they would have named it Peach & Hibiscus Saison, I might have acted differently. Sometimes you need to lead with the better ingredient, and everyone knows that peach > hibiscus. Hell, peach > 90% of adjunct ingredients in beer. Just sayin'.

Pleeps called a huddle for a quick discussion.

I scoped out our next stop, Gravely, ahead of time and added it to our tentative itinerary because of its music-centric bent. As soon as I saw a picture of the bar area, I knew I wanted to check it out. See?

Vintage analog stereo equipment abounds at Gravely.

Even better was the name of its Imperial Stout, Black Sabbath. Weighing in at a massive 15% ABV, this stout is sure to have the Prince of Darkness himself screaming at the top of his lungs for SHARON!!! Overall, it was pretty solid but didn't compare to either German Chocolate Snake Cake or Breakfast Baba Yaga. In all fairness, though, this was pretty complex in its simplicity, with plenty of deep notes of leather, tobacco, cedar, chocolate and coffee. For a straight-up, no frills imperial stout, it was quite good albeit a tad thin. It did, however, mask the boozy heat of the huge 15% ABV tag quite well.

I made up for missing the peach and hibiscus beer at Great Flood by ordering a bottle at Gravely to share with the group. Described as the "second child" in its Sour Note Series, 2017 Pâle (Pale) Sour Ale displayed a bright, golden body and prevalent peachy aroma and flavor with lively carbonation. Obviously, this beer was in stark contrast to my previous selection, but you know me... I'm a sucker for peaches! Of course I had to try it. While it wasn't mind-blowing like Saison de Peche from Selin's Grove, it did have a pleasant peach character and hint of tartness working in its favor. All in all, I'm glad I tried it.

Meanwhile, Deuane was digging a pour of Sprockets, a tasty pilsner with a prominent mineral character... just the way I like 'em! It's favorite beer of Deiter, I presume. Pleeps was enthralled with the glass in which it was served, and kept thinking he was seeing his mirror image. (Would you like to touch my monkey? It was all starting to make sense now... right SNL fans?) He spent a good while gazing into the glass wondering if his tail really was that long. He also needed a break from the barrage of imperial stouts... and all you regular Pour Travelers readers know how Pleeps gets after a few of those.

Who's that monkey?!

Things were starting to get a bit cloudy by the time we rolled into Mile Wide, our final stop of the day. Located in a building that had once housed a biscuit factory and, later, Louisville’s first brewpub, Mile Wide's brewery is nestled among a towering grain silo. It was dark when we arrived, and I don't think I even noticed it, to be honest. I'm not the most observant one of the group, I'm afraid.

Outside Mile Wide Beer Co.

Figuring this was going to be a one-and-done stop since it had been a long day, I stopped reading the beer menu when I landed my eyes on Super Maris, an English-style Barleywine aged for a year in Four Roses bourbon barrels. It was definitely a day of high-gravity beers, and I certainly was glad I wasn't driving. This beer was pretty freakin' delicious, I must say. It's definitely one to be savored. Sadly, it was our last stop of the day and my brain was cloudy. But I must have loved it, because my Untappd check-in was accompanied by three simple letters: FMA! That stands for "Fuck My Ass," and despite coming from a heterosexual man, it's a positive comment. Think of it as another way to say "holy shit!" or, for all you Millennials, "amaze-balls."

Mile Wide provided a nice cap on a wonderful and productive day in Lexington and Louisville. And with that, I'll let Pleeps, Zeke, and Trevor sign off on behalf of the Pour Travelers. Until next time...