A Pint Half Full

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday.  For dinner, I made a pork loin roast, corn bread stuffing, miso codfish, wintermelon soup, and my sister made garlic mashed pototoes.  Everything turned out well for the most part.  My pork was dry, though.  That's ok, I had enough beverages to wash it all down.

Other fun activities was going to sing karaoke, seeing Chanticleer - an all male acapella group - sing unnaturally high (falsetto or castrati?!), and spending the rest of the time giving my sister a hard time.  Just like the old days.

Back to the food and drink: on the table this weekend was the Southern Tier Harvest Ale, the Stone Double Bastard, and some Otter Creek Pale Ale that I got earlier last week.  For you wine drinkers, we also got some wine on my sister's recommendation - a 2006 Masciarelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a red wine from Italy.  Impressions after the jump.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Hope you are all enjoying time with friends or loved ones and sharing some good food.  Oh, and beer, of course.

As I went food shopping, I picked up a couple fresh brews that I'm pretty excited to try over this long weekend.  The first is a big bottle of Stone Brewing's Double Bastard Ale.  This looks like a beast of a beer at 10.5% ABV with potential of awesome flavor.  Looking forward to it.

 
Second, I picked up Southern Tier's Harvest Ale. I've tried their Pumpkin Ale offering and really liked it so I thought to give this a try with dinner.  I will post my impressions next week.

So, what are you all drinking and eating? Feel free to leave your impressions in the comments.

Had a nice weekend, spending time with a bunch of friends, sharing good food, and drinking great beer.  I love the fall due to the fact that the food and beer around this time all become hearty, with big, warming flavors and spices - it's just straight up COMFORTABLE.

So we ended up in Philadelphia on Saturday, to visit my wife's friend, and had dinner at Lolita, a "modern Mexican" restaurant with a melt-in-your-mouth beef tenderloin, and drinks at Continental.  The Continental had some nice beers, all bottled.  They had one I didn't recognize which was called Kenzinger, which looks like it is a local PA beer (something other than Yuengling??).  I ended up going with the Lagunitas IPA which I've had before and enjoyed alot.  Will have to go back and try that Kenzinger sometime.  I'd recommend both of those places to check out next time you are in Philadelphia - especially the rooftop bar at the Continental (heat lamps FTW!).  Ended up back in VA Saturday night, I know crazy, whirlwind trip.

Sunday, there was a wine festival in Old Town Alexandria that we were planning on hitting up and at least walk around and take in the brisk fall weather.  I think the travelling on Saturday pooped us out so we ended up not getting to Old Town until dinner time (and I got to watch football instead!).  We went to Columbia Firehouse.  It was decent New American style food - I got mussels which were very good and fresh.  The restaurant was also supposed to be participating in the wine festival but I didn't see any specials on wine offerings - strange.

I was impressed, however, with their beer list - a hefty mix of local craft brews.  Off the top of my head - and I know I'm missing some - on draft, they had St George Lager, Dominion Octoberfest (tapped out when I was there :( ), Flying Dog Gonzo, Southern Tier Pumking Ale, Victory Hop Wallop, Starr Hill The Love, Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA, Guinness Stout, and at least 5 more.  Also like 20 different bottles available - pretty ridiculous.  I was able to try 3 different ones, all unique and brilliant in their own way: Southern Tier Pumking, Victory Hop Wallop, and Flying Dog Gonzo.  Impressions of the beers mentioned after the jump.

Ah Labor Day weekend. Had a good time this weekend relaxing and having fun with some friends - and of course, drinking a few beers! First up was the Maryland Renaissance Festival (Renny Fest). You get all the campiness that you'd expect: turkey legs, miscellaneous meats on stakes/sticks/lances, fat guys posing as knights in shining armor, and impossible carnival games (those crossbows do NOT shoot straight). In addition to exceeding the expectations for festival cliches, the Renny Fest offered a decent selection of beer. On tap was Sam Adams Octoberfest and Cream Stout, Killians, Coors Light, and Hardcore Cider. I was excited about the 2 SA offerings and mainly sampled those during my afternoon in the mediaeval times.

Sunday, the merriment continued as my wife and I went back to Rustico for the second time. This restaurant has a HUGE beer selection with about 15 beers on tap and a whole book of bottles. Food is better than the usual new american and their woodfired pizzas are quite good with a tasty dough. They sort their beer by flavor (crisp, hoppy, roast...). I was in the mood for something hoppy and crisp after the cream stouts I had on Saturday and tried the Southern Tier Harvest Ale and Dale's Pale Ale. Both delicious with pizza and fries.

Impressions of all beers after the link.