Happy New Year!

To all of the beer lovin lovers and my friend Dave, who have enjoyed 2009 and plan to stay in touch with this new little blog. I hope everyone will have a great and safe New Year's Eve and tomorrow we will start a new year with a quest to change the beer world, or the beer panhandle.

Have a Happy New Year!

Tuesday Night Tasting

Another night of fun and great beer. We gathered at about 6PM at The Panama City Beach Wine World and I sincerely apologize for not mentioning that on the FaceBook invite, for those who saw it. I did not think of the people in Destin that might be coming.

We started the night with a little pale ale action and wasted no time getting into some beers not from this area. Interestingly, one of the sales reps from Lazy Magnolia sat in with us and we thank Patrick for coming. He promises to come more. He brought with him a bottle of Lazy Magnolia 'Reb Ale'. This is one of their newest creations and I really liked it. As we started tasting, Patrick noticed another familiar bottle on the table. It was the Back Forty Brewing 'Naked Pig' that I brought. He recognized it because Lazy Magnolia brews it. Yes, they are the contracted brewer of Back Forty Beer Co. It is a common practice for small breweries to start up with someone else brewing their beer for them, just ask Sam Adams.

After the 'Naked Pig' was tasted, we tried the New Belgium '2 Below'. This is basically their winter ale.Next we tasted 'Racer 5' and 'Blind Pig', both California beers, and Saint Arnold's 'Divine Reserve 6'. Saint Arnold releases the Divine once a year, but it is not always the same beer. The 6 was a barleywine and a very good one I must say.

After tasting some of the lighter beers we move onto the darker and heavier stuff. We tasted a couple of bottles Matt brought back from Indiana. Both were brewed by Three Floyds. One of the beers was called 'Fantabulous Resplendence' and we had no idea what kind of beer it was going to be. Michael looked it up on BeerAdvocate and it called the beer an American Strong Ale, which means whatever. The other beer by Three Floyds was called 'Black Sun' and it had a slight smoke texture to it, not bad though.

Now that we are into the heavier stuff, Jeremy suggest we open the Terrapin 'Gamma Ray'. He pours everyone around him a taste, but not himself. Everyone looks at him with a little confused almost a look of disbelief. Jeremy holds his hands up and says, " I don't want any, that stuff is gross!", so we drank without him. I personally didn't think it was terrible, but was more of an sweet beer. Matt and Patrick loved it and got a couple extra samples from people who thought it was gross.

Last, we opened up the richest, most robust, blackest, thickest beer on the table. Michael brought a bottle of Avery 'Mephistopheles' Stout. Weighing in at 15.1% and 107 IBUs, this one will make you cough. Not a lot of people were going back for seconds of this one and for a reason.

Well, I said the Avery was last, but then Dan brought over to us a couple of Founders beers. 'Dirty Bastard' and 'KBS' were our nightcaps. The 'Dirty Bastard is good, but it is way too Bourbon flavored. Might be a problem if you age your beer in Bourbon barrels, huh? And The 'KBS' was as delicious as always.

Well, that concludes our Tuesday Night Tasting and if you were not there, come next time. The point of this tasting is for people who want to drink good to actually get to drink good beer. We will be at the PANAMA CITY BEACH Wine World next week with whole new line of beer. Will you be there?

Last reminder for Tuesday!

One more reminder for tomorrow's little beer tasting. So far, here's the line up...

1. Russian River, 'Blind Pig', IPA
2. Bear Republic, 'Racer 5', IPA
3. Back Forty, 'Naked Pig', APA
4. Founder's, 'Dirty Bastard', Barrel Aged Something, I think Scotch Ale?
5. Founder's, 'KBS', Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

That is a good little line up so far and not a single one is available in this area. Or this state for that matter.

Anybody else got anything they want to bring?

Merry Christmas to Me!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend lots of time with the people that make them happy. I know that I did. Amy and I spent the day in Alabama, then returned at about dusk. When we got home, we thought we would drink some spirits and relax a bit. She uncorked some wine and I popped a open bottle that would be perfect for the occasion.

2000 JW Lees 'Harvest Ale' is the beer of the night. I picked this up in Charleston at the Charleston Beer Exchange. If you remember, they have several vintage beers and this one was right up my alley. It poured a robust brown and very clear. I guess nine years is plenty time to clear a beer. I tried to show how clear it actually is in the picture.
It smelled very sweet and also tasted sweet, but not overwhelming at all. It had a very smooth maple syrup/brown sugar quality that hide the 11% alcohol very well. I am going to find another one of those. The Charleston Beer Exchange does ship, so if you want one, call them up. This bottle was not very expensive, only $11 and that is really a great price for a nine year old bottle.

Well, after that one was gone, our friend Dave stopped by to return the dog he borrowed, I mean he was dogsitting for us. We opened up a couple more bottles of great Christmas beers including my favorite, St. Bernardus. While we drank, Amy gave me my last Christmas present on the day.
That's right! She got me a 20 liter (5 gal) American Oak Barrel, so I can oak age some of my homebrewed beers. I have been eyeballing one of these for a while, but never actually bought one. Amy is the best!

I can't wait to use it and I was rambling last night about what I was going to put in it first. Does anybody have any ideas?

Well, I will leave you with a little reminder. Tuesday, we are doing our beer tasting thing again. We still do not have a name, so I will just call it The Tuesday Kick Ass Beer Tasting and Talking Extravaganza! OK, it starts at 6PM. I am going to bring a bomber of 'Racer 5' and Jeremy said he's got a bottle of Russian River,'Blind Pig'. And I have one other small surprise bottle, nothing special.

See you there!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to tell everyone to have a very Merry Christmas. There are lots of people out of town for the holidays and I wish everyone a safe return.

And don't forget, Tuesday Night Beer Tasting, this Tuesday, December 29 at Panama City Beach Wine World. Starts at 6:00 PM. I am going to bring a bomber of Racer 5.

Merry Christmas!

Allagash, Curieux

Today, my friend Dave came over and joined Amy and I for a bottle of beer. I found a bottle of Allagash with some added flavors. This brewery is 100% American(Maine), but produces Belgian style ales. This special Beer is one of akind. Story has it, this is the brewery's normal Tripel recipe. But one of their batches had no bottles. They had 150 gallons of beer in the fermenter and the bottles were running late, so they stored the beer in some Bourbon Barrels for the time being. The Barrels were meant for a different beer, but they needed to move the Tripel out of the fermenter. I do not think Belgian Tripel is a type of beer I would normaly think of Barrel aging, even though I love barrel aged stuff! Little did they know, they were creating great beer!
As I poured this beer into the brand new snifters that my girlfriend's parents gave me for Christmas, I noticed the color was a nice hazy/yellow color that had good head retention, but faded fast. This beer was tasted like a normal Tripel, but had a nice oak/bourbon finish, which is not typical with the Belgian style.

I have to say, this is a nice/easy drinking beer that should be fun for everyone. I found mine at Beach Liquors for about 10 bucks and well worth it.

-enjoy!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Just shaping up the beard for the Holidays. Tell me what you think!

Christmas is right around the corner!

I guess the News Herald doesn't want free stuff. I sent this in last week and got the decline email. But at least I can put it on the Forum, right? Here it is...

Christmas Ale
By: Jeremy Myers

This time last year, I was reading an article in a magazine about Christmas ales. The story told of a man named Fernando in a far away country that did not have the luxuries of buying beer at a store. At the beginning of December, he and his friends would brew their own beers using recipes their fathers taught them. Only using ingredients found locally, they would each brew their special recipe and bottle them in old soft drink bottles.

Christmas Ales are nothing new and have been on the market for several decades. Whether you are into locally brewed beer or exotic imported beer, there is a Christmas Ale for you. Some breweries that are known for their hoppy beer typically will carry the hoppy flavors into their Christmas Ale. But most Christmas Ales have a malty character and have some spice added to the mix.

Spices have been a part of brewing for centuries and still have a great impact on brewing today. Usually, spices that are used in Christmas Ales are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, coriander or a combination of them all. Many breweries use spices to show they have distinct flavor that cannot be duplicated and to show that they use ingredients indigenous to their area. There is nothing wrong with that, I actually support these breweries for using locally grown ingredients and I wish more breweries would follow this practice.

One of the most famous beers known for their Christmas Ales is Anchor Steam Brewing Company. This year marks the 35th anniversary of their Christmas beer. While the recipe differs every year, it has become one of the beers everyone looks forward to tasting. This year, their beer has the same dark malt character, but with a sweet licorice taste. It is actually very interesting. Another famous ale on the market is Sierra Nevada’s ‘Celebration Ale’. This is one of those breweries that is known for creating hoppy beers and carries this into their seasonal beer. This beer pours relatively light but will have a very strong overwhelming hop aroma that will immediately tell you there are a ton of hops in it. I like this beer, but some will argue it is more of an acquired taste.

Besides American Craft beer, there are a few other countries that make festive ales. If you search around town you will find a couple of Belgian selections on the shelves. One in particular is Scaldis Noel. This beer is new to me, but has climbed into the top ten of all time. It has a very well rounded malt character and you will taste hints of caramel and vanilla. Another great Christmas Belgian beer is St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. This is a classic Abbey Style Ale spiced with some of the traditional Christmas spices.

This time of year is a great time to venture out of the normal routines that bind us all year. Whether you are celebrating with some friends or relaxing after a long hard day of shopping, a Christmas Ale is available at your local store. Sometimes we take for granted that beer is full of history and culture and dates back thousands of years. History that surrounds us every day and cultures that teach us who we are.

As for Fernando and his friends, they gather every Christmas night with their homemade ales to celebrate another year of friendship. They share memories, sing songs and enjoy the season that is meant for fellowship.

That sounds like Christmas to me.

Merry Christmas!

A couple new ones

Recently, my friend brought back a couple of beers from Virgina I have never seen before. He was up there visiting his family during Thanksgiving and grabbed me a gift in the meantime. I highly recommend this practice and suggest everyone try it.

The first one I tried was called 'Hop-ocalypse', which is made by a brewery named Clay Pipe Brewing Company, in Maryland. When I first saw the label, I expected the beer to have a large explosion of bitterness, this did not. My friend said this was a good beer, but just ok. I agree with him, but just because it is a very mild IPA and did not live up to the label's expectations. Anytime you relate anything to an apocalypse, which I think they were, it should be good. I think it may have been an old bottle. As many of you know, IPA's do not age well because they start to lose their hop character. Not that this did not have hop character, just not up to 'Hop-ocalyptic' standards. The picture below is not that great, but you can get the point.

The next one one the a list was named 'Jefferson Reserve, Bourbon Barrel Stout' brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company, in Kentucky. Where else would you expect a beer with that name come from? This one poured as expected Dark, with a tan head and a bourbon/oaked aroma. It was a likable beer with bourbon undertones, blended well with chocolate flavors as well. The 8% alcohol was also hidden nicely.

As mentioned before,I am always available for a beer from a far off land. Next time you're seeing the world, think about me!

Tuesday Night Tasting

For those of you who elected not to attend the Tuesday night event, you missed out!In attendance were myself, Jeremy (The Beer Buddha), his friend Michael and Michael's girlfriend Meredith. We actually had enough beer for a couple more people, but we managed.

We started the night with a beer Jeremy brought named 'Jubelale', made by Deschutes Brewery. This is a Winter Warmer that can fill any malt cravings you may have. Good one. Next, we jumped into the Belgian beers. Michael brought a bottle of Saison DuPont, which is considered by most as the flagship of the Saison/Farmhouse style. Also, Jeremy brought a Belgian Pale named 'Inferno Ale' made by The Lost Abbey. This one I could not put down. We tasted through all of the beers and I had to taste this one again. It was a great Belgian Pale. After the Belgians were tasted we opened a bottle I brought named 'Cold Mountain Winter Ale'. I picked this bottle up at Highland Brewing when we were in Asheville. Jeremy nearly choked on all the caramel flavors, but he really enjoyed it. Next in line was another bottle Michael brought, and it was the highlight of the night. Check out the picture below and see if anything looks good.

That's right, second from the left, it's Pliny the Elder! Pliny the Elder was this Naturalist guy that happened to invent hops. Well, he didn't invent hops, just introduced them to beer(kinda). Anyway, this beer is rated as one of the best in the world and I have been waiting patiently to try it. The aroma of this beer was hands down the best smell I have ever smelt. For the homebrewers out there, do you know the smell of real hops when they are still in the bag? When you cut a bag open and you stick you nose in there to get a whiff? This is what the beer smelled like! Fresh, well blended and ready to drink hops in a glass, is what it was. I loved it and I can not wait to go to the brewery next summer. OK, enough drooling over that beer.

When the pliny was gone, I had a surprise for everyone. When I arrived, I stuck a bottle in the freezer to chill. It was one of my homebrews. It was the 'Quercus Grandaevus' that I made with rosemary and lavendar. Everyone seemed to like it. Last, but not least, we opened up a bottle of Depth Charge that Michael brought and we finished off the night with a nice coffee/milk Stout.

We decided not to do a little tasting nest week because of Christmas and to resume the week after, December 29. I will post a reminder next week for all to see.

I hope to see more people there.

Another Tuesday Night Event

This is just to announce that we will be meeting at 6:00,Tuesday December 15 at Panama City Beach Wine World for another little Beer Hangout. Nothing fancy, just bring a special bottle to share or don't. Also, remind everyone that PC Wine World will be doing their Christmas beer tasting on December 16. I have heard Christmas beer and also Belgian beer, so I am not sure which it is, but there will be Live Music and people.

That's all I have to say about that!

See Ya Tuesday at 6:00

Jeremy

Beer Picture of the Day!

enjoy.

Impromptu Beer Tasting at Wine World

When we got back from the Carolinas, I started to look at the selection of beer I brought back and one of them looked a little different. I picked up a bottle of New Belgium's 'La Folie', wood aged beer. It is technically labeled as a Flanders Red Ale, aged for one to three years in French Oak Barrels, but is called a Sour Brown Ale on the bottle. Whatever it is, it is casually known as a 'wild ale'! This beer was made with wild yeast that produce a very sour puckering taste. Not to be confused with a bitter beer, this one is like a sweet tart.

So, I have this beer that I am not even sure I am going to like and I think, who else in the world would want a taste? My first thought was The Beer Buddha! Not only is he a sour ale lover, but he could also teach me a thing or too about this beer. After contacting him, via Beer Advocate, he was excited and said he would bring a beer too. After we decided to meet at the Panama City Wine World, I thought about asking another friend to come and Jeremy (The Beer Buddha and Destin Wine World) mentioned it to Dan (PC Wine World), now we have a little event.

I ended up with two beers in hand when I walked into the store because I wanted everyone to taste another one I picked up at the Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, NC.



photo courtesy of The Beer Buddha, click photo to enlarge

When all was said and done we tasted four beers. First one was a bottle of Cigar City 'Guava Grove' that was a Belgian style ale brewed with fresh guava. This was a delight to all of us because of the easy drinkability and the great flavors. Next, we tried my sour and it poured a red color, so I am going to say it is a Flanders Red Ale. To be an aquired taste, it was not bad. Very sour, almost has a sour apple taste, and Dan mentioned the fruit roll-up finish (he was right, though). After the sour, we tasted a strong English Barleywine, named 'Decadence', made by the California brewery, Alesmith. This is my first taste of any Alesmith beer and it was not bad, strong sweet/malt character, but not bad. Lastly, we ended with a bottle of Highland 'Imperial Black Mocha Stout'. I have had the regular 'Black Mocha Stout' and it was great. While at the brewery in Asheville, I grabbed a bottle of this and I expected it to be a little more flavorful. It was not terrible, just thought the regular stuff was just as good.

Well, that just about does it for my story telling and the next time we try to do an unannounced taste, I will announce it. There were a couple of curious people walking by that were Eye-Balling our bottles and they graciously deserved a taste. Also, there were a couple of regular Wednesday night beer tasters there that joined in on the fun.

It was fun to be able to taste a couple of beers not for sale in this area and share them with others that have a taste for what is on the horizon. I had a great time and hopefully we can do it again really soon!

Oh, I got the hang of this link adding thing!

BrewDog Paradox Speyside

Hello all, Amy and I are back in Panama City and back to work. I got a chance to open up one of the beers I bought in Charleston and thought I would share it with you.

BrewDog is a Scottish Craft brewery that has only been open since 2007. Wow, going international after a couple of years in very impressive. They take traditional beer styles and put their own little twist on them. For example, this is the brewery that makes an 'Imperial Mild Ale', which is a 3.5% ABV. Mild ale with 200 IBU's. If you are unaware of what an IBU is, it stands for International Bitterness Units and the human palate can only detect up to 80 or 90. This is also the same brewery that just released 'Tactical Nuclear Penguin', the world's strongest beer, at 32% ABV. To say the least, they are a very creative brewery.

This is a bottle of BrewDog 'Paradox, Speyside', Batch #5. The Paradox is their Imperial Stout series that is aged in a Scotch Malt whiskey Cask. There's that word again, cask, aka barrel. The other strange name, Speyside, is the name of the Scotch distillery in which they acquired the casks. I like stuff aged in barrels.

After our long journey back from the Carolinas, I needed a reward. I put this beer in the fridge and chilled it for about 15 minutes. I didn't want it to be ice cold so I could taste the beer. As I poured it into my little snifter, it was dark brown in color. I expected it to be pitch black because of the reputation of the brewery. The first smell was really great! Smells of dark malts, sweetness and scotch whiskey. My first taste was not overwhelmed by whiskey flavors, but chocolate and vanilla. I know, strange, but the scotch barrel flavors came at the end. I really enjoyed this beer and might buy another one, if I can find one. This was a Limited Release and was only brewed once.

Anyway, stay in touch, I think Chan's Wine World is doing their Christmas Beer tasting tomorrow, December,9. I will confirm that tonight.

-Bye

Update: Christmas Beer Tasting is December 16, for those interested.

Charleston, Final Day!

Did not do much because of the rain. Toured a couple of historic houses and watched the SEC Championship at The Giffon, which is still great(the restaurant/Bar, not the game, Amy is sad).

Be back in Bay county tomorrow. See ya then.

Charleston, Day 2

Being today is my birthday, Amy really wanted me to have a great day. I started the day opening a wonderful present. Amy gave me a Camel Hair Blazer that I have been Oooing over for a while. We signed up for the shuttle to go downtown and found some breakfast. After eating at some little cafe in the market area, we went to an area that we remembered hosting a walking tour. The tour we found was for an Architectural tour, but we were really wanting a history tour.

Wondering where we could find another tour, we stopped by the Charleston Place Hotel(a very extravagant hotel). We used the concierge station like it was our own. We were blending like Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones Movie. After telling the concierge our intentions, he was more that happy to assist us. He set us up with a tour leaving about ten minutes later. We were happy and took the tour.

I am not able to upload pictures with this computer, but I will have some to share in the future.

The name of the tour company was Charleston Stroll's and was led by a woman named Ruth. Ruth is the oldest walking tour guide in the city and has been giving tours for 30 years. She started the company 30 years ago, but sold it five years ago. She is still doing tours because it keeps her walking. Very nice woman.

While on our tour, we got to participate in a more organized tour of Charleston. The day before, we were just walking around reading stuff, but did not really have a feel for the timeline of the city. Ruth showed us the differences between the areas of the town that were Pre-Revolutionary War and the areas that were Civil War era. We have learned Charleston is more of a Colonial city than a Civil War City. But, there is great history either way.

After going on our tour, Amy set us up for a cooking demonstration at Charleston Cooks. They showed us how to cook some southern grit recipes and how to make a cake. It was great.

Next, we toured the Original Exchange and Customs House in Charleston and the Provost Dungeon. This building is considered to be one of the top three most historically significant Colonial buildings in the United States. It was one that I wanted to visit and was one of the buildings Ruth mentioned during her tour.

After all the site seeing, we decided to venture out and see some historic pubs, again. With the advise of the anonymous person that posted on the blog, Charleston day one, we checked out the Blind Tiger.

The Blind Tiger had a nice atmosphere and a great slogan, "we separate church from state", but not because of the beer selection, because they are located between Church ST. and State ST. I asked the bartender where would be the best place in Historic Charleston to find their locally brewed Coast Brewing Company beer and he said to check out a place called Moe's near the waterfront park. And to my surprise, he was right! There was a Coast Brewing Company beer on tap. They had one beer on tap named Hop Art and it was very good. Hop Art is an American IPA that tends to have all the classic IPA characteristics blended with a nice little malty finish. Great beer all together.

Next, we took the advise of the anonymous person again and checked out The Griffon, on Vendue Range. Well, we once again ran into some Coast Brewing Company beer. They had a Kolsch on tap, which is a German lager style and it has a sweet crisp taste. While I was enjoying the Kolsch, Amy ordered some fish and chips. The fish and chips were great! The menu said the fish was fresh, but in a pub environment, you do not expect fresh stuff. This was great food with a great beer menu. While enjoying our fish, there was a girl sitting a few seats down from Amy that started to laugh hysterically. She was sitting by herself watching ESPN. Just when we thought she was done she started again. We didn't think ESPN news was that funny, but she did. The bartender guy came from the backroom and also wondered what the deal was. I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. He asked the woman if she was ok and she said that she thought the shirt LeBron James was wearing was fummy. I think she was looney, to be honest. But back to the beer. They had some Bell's brewing, Avery Brewery and some Wells Bombardier on tap. They will see us tomorrow for the SEC Championship game, unless the anonymous guy has another suggestion?

It really started to rain after that and we decided to head back to the hotel. So, here we are...

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow and we will be laying low if it is raining. So, do not expect alot for tomorrow.

Sorry again about the pictures.

-Bye

Charleston, Day 1

Nothing to really report, I forgot my camera again, so no pictures. We arrived about 1 PM and immediately checked into our room. Took a quick glance at the room and went to find Charleston!

We found downtown just where they left it and we started to walk. Reading plaques, signs and whatever we could to learn about the area, we were just wondering around dodging vendors. Trying not to get sucked into a scam.

Finally, around 3 PM, Amy says, "We haven't eaten lunch, and we should eat something". We were conveniently passing Southend Brewery (a brewpub, the only one in Charleston) on East Bay Street, which we later find out is the coolest street in town. I had the O'Ryan's Oatmeal Stout and Amy had the special seasonal beer, which was the Coconut Porter, it was not bad!

After that, we wandered around towards the Battery and the bay. We took some great advise and observed the historic houses during sunset to get the real feel for the era that the houses were built.The Architecture and landscapes were awesome. We plan on getting farther into the history of some of those houses tomorrow.

We eventually found our way back to the tourist part of Charleston and a store called the Charleston Beer Exchange. This store is very small and specializes in vintage beers. I found several interesting beers. I found an Imperial Stout by Brew Dog that is not a Vintage beer, but just supposed to be great. Also I found an English Old Ale named JW Lees Harvest Ale Vintage 2000. I have read that JW's peak after 10 years, we will see what a nine and a half tastes like tomorrow, maybe.

We were in searching mode leaving the store and walked in and out of several small wine bars and pubs, grabbing appetizers and beverage samples. None of which had Coast Brewing, which is a local well known brewery. I wonder Why? Back to the subject, one place in particular, named Hymans Seafood, claimed to have Apalachicola oysters and they were probably the worst I have ever had. The shucker guy gave us a couple more because they were so small, but they did not taste good either. They were not spoiled, just not good tasting.

I have to use the computer in the business center because there is a daily fee for wireless internet in this hotel. So, tomorrow might just be a lot of pictures.

And that is Day one in Charleston.

By the way, the hotel is fancy!

Asheville, Final Day!

It is our final day in Asheville and it was a bad weather day all together. It was raining from the time we woke till the time we came back to the hotel. Cold and rain make bad vacation times, unless you are with Amy. She is one of those people that will not allow anything ruin her vacation.

We started off with a great breakfast. We went to little restaurant she read about in a Frommer's travel guide, but also was featured by Rachel Ray on the Travel Channel. The Tupelo Honey Cafe was a nice little cafe located in downtown Asheville that makes great sweet potato pancakes and biscuits with gravy.

Next, we went to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and toured his childhood house. Learning about Thomas Wolfe and his family has been a humbling experience. The house in which he grew up in was fascinating to visit. Very interesting.

After touring the Old Kentucky House (Thomas Wolfe House), we drove North to see the gingerbread house competition at The Grove Park Inn. This historical hotel has been visited by many famous people. The most recent famous person would have been Mr. President Barack Obama himself, he won a Nobel Peace prize. He visited before his inauguration, but whatever. The hotel and the gingerbread houses were fun. Sorry, I forgot the camera for most of the day.

After touring some of the historical areas of Asheville, we went back to the hotel and became lazy for a couple of hours. Around 4PM, we decided to tour a brewery. That was my idea! We showed up at Highland Brewing a little after four and just made their tour. We saw where the beer was brewed, fermented and bottled. Very nice tour and the process was explained in great detail. Grant, our brewery tour guide, told us a small tid-bit about the Cold Mountain Winter Ale. He told us the winter ale is an ale not just made by the Brew Master, but conceived by the entire staff. They would all congregate one day with a clean palate and taste the beer. Next, they all give their opinion of how the six spice combination should be and the Brew Master would remix it for them on the spot. No one would leave that day until the blend was perfect to all the employees. Needless to say, no Cold Mountain Winter Ale is the same and changes from year to year. This year's is great!

This is Grant, the man with all the info!



and here is Amy loving Highland Beer!

After leaving Highland Brewing Company, we headed back toward downtown Asheville and stopped by French Broad Brewing Company. This little brewery has the output of about 3,500 barrels per year and also is the only brewery (that we have seen) with a disco ball. One of the guys that works at the brewery also works at a local beer store called Bruisin' Ales. Great Store and Mike is a great beer talker. Very knowledgeable and informed with beers brewed in our area, like Cigar City, that is not available in the panhandle!

Here is Amy gettin' down with the Disco Ball! She so Bad!


And our last beer stop in Asheville! Craggie Brewing Company, is the newest brewery in the area. They have a couple of kegged beers out at the local restaurants and bars, but other than that, they are brand spankin' new. Only being open for two weeks, we get to taste their first batches. A little on the rough side, their pale ales have an English flavor to them. But, they have a gaming area. This is a plus, two shuffle board tables are all that is needed in a brewery.

Here is a true pro at work!


Well, that is Asheville, the way we saw it. Please comment your all you want. Tell us your stories, or tell us your wishes.

Stay tuned, because we are headed to Charleston next!

Asheville, Day 2

Well, we had another day full of fun! We started our day with breakfast at the greatest McDonald's in the world.

The piano was playing Christmas songs! It was one of those electronic deals, where it plays itself.

Not your typical McDonald's, Check out those ceilings (copper).

That was our introduction to the Biltmore Estate. We spent the next several hours touring the real thing, but we were not allowed to take pictures in the house. If in the area, go see the Biltmore Estate.

After leaving The Biltmore Estate, we decided to check out The Green Man Brewery, which makes the ales for Jack of the Wood Brewpub. We met a man named Mike that knew a lot about beer, the area and gave us a ton of info about the area. Mike, originally from New York and retired from Genesee Brewing Company, told us all the places we should and should not go. He actually took the picture below and introduced me to John, the brewer at Green Man. John gave me a quick lesson on water quality and gave me examples of situations to look out for in Florida. He brewed in South Florida for a while.


Any Hoo, That's day #2!