Bourbon Street Bound

So Kid Rock sings about The Big Easy in his aptly named song "New Orleans"...

A jukebox shakin' and breakin' down in New Orleans
I'll be the highest hillbilly that Bourbon Street has ever seen

Perhaps he had me in mind? He might as well have, because I'm making my way down there later today with food, fun, beer and sightseeing all on the list for 3 days. I've been before, a few times actually, but my last visit was over a decade ago so I think it's time to reacquaint myself with the area. And when I go somewhere to visit I want to make sure I soak it all in. I start early, sometimes months in advance, reading about the area and history and looking for places to go and things to do.

For this trip I've watched some movies based in the area like 12 Rounds, Deja Vu, Double Jeopardy, King Creole, The Reaping, The Skeleton Key, Hatchet and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What did I learn? Well, nothing I guess really that's usable.

I've also made a CD with some songs for the drive to get more geared up, from Fats Domino's "Walkin' To New Orleans" to Down's "New Orleans is a Dying Whore" and plenty in between like "New Orleans Ladies" by Le Roux, "Queen of New Orleans" by Jon Bon Jovi and "Ghosts Of Jackson Square" by Edwin McCain . So what did I learn from this? Well, again... nothing. But hey I'll have some songs stuck in my head as I walk around.

The top of my list of restaurants... Tujague's, Acme Oyster House, Superior Grill and Jagerhaus.

The top of my places to get some brew... Crescent City Brewhouse, Erin Rose, The Avenue Pub and Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.

I plan on hearing some tunes at The Bombay Club and Famous Door, drinking a hurricane from Pat O'Briens and soaking up some jazz at Preservation Hall.

I've created a couple of walking tours from our hotel to take in plenty of touristy sites, starting with a morning cup of chicory coffee from Café du Monde, followed by a walking tour of the quarter, St. Louis Cathedral, a giant muffuletta for lunch at Central Grocery, a stroll down the Moonwalk and some shopping in the area before dinner. Probably on the 2nd day we'll take the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar over to the Garden District for some sightseeing, including a walk around Lafayette No. 1 Cemetery. Somewhere in there we'll probably squeeze in Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.

Whew. I'm tired and I haven't even left yet. New Orleans is a different, unique city and I plan on having a unique time.

Back From Vegas

Yes I made it back from my 11th trip to Las Vegas all in 1 piece, but I gotta say I'm really beat. We had a helluva time though, maybe the best ever. For a change I wasn't even ready to come home on Monday and had plenty of money left. Shocker.

We saw 5 different bands during 3 different shows... Sin City Sinners on Friday night at Fremont Street... Foreigner, Kansas and Styx at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night... and the awesome Steel Panther at the House of Blues on Saturday night after the classic rock triple header. All shows were great. I had no idea Steel Panther was playing there until we were walking by on the way to Burger Bar and I saw a sign. We instantly grabbed tickets and squeezed in to a packed house around midnight for a killer show. Hands down one of the raunchiest and most entertaining bands you will ever see. Highly recommended.

Back to the classic rock show, the only bad news was that for Foreigner, founding member Mick Jones was a no-show. In his place though was Doug Aldrich, so despite the fact that is technically not really a Foreigner show but a (very) talented tribute band, they completely rocked ass. Kelly Hansen is an awesome vocalist and the band was really tight. They played mostly their massive hits in their 1 hour set, like "Urgent", "Juke Box Hero", "Hot Blooded" and "Double Vision" but they also dropped a couple of songs from their new CD.

Wanna talk about my love for the 80s type bands... on the weekend as a whole between all the bands I got to see Brent Muscat (Faster Pussycat), Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith), Kelly Hansen (Hurricane), Tommy Shaw (Damn Yankees/Styx), Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Dokken) and Rob Cournoyer (Raging Slab). Also we went to Sammy Hagar's restaurant so that's something, watched a KISS video tribute on the ceiling of Freemont Street and a saw a band that's straight-up hair metal Steel Panther.

Styx was great as well. I guess it's the first time I've seen them in over a decade, but I saw them 3 times in the early 80s alone. They sounded good and had a great stage show. Tommy Shaw has always been one of my favorite musicians. Here's their setlist from the show:

Borrowed Time / Mr. Roboto / Rockin' The Paradise
The Grand Illusion
Too Much Time On My Hands
Lady
Lorelei
High Enough (Damn Yankees cover)
Suite Madame Blue
Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)
Miss America
Come Sail Away (dedicated to Ronnie James Dio)
* Encore Break *
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
Renegade

We spent most of Sunday just wandering around the strip shopping and gambling. We watched the fountains at The Bellagio and drank beer at both Sin City Brewing locations while working in some blackjack and slots, which I actually did well at both. It was a bit chilly out and we found a nice bar with some outside tables that had fire going in the middle, so we hung there a bit away from the gambling. The Suns beating the Lakers on Sunday night topped my winnings for the weekend off.

Many more stories and much fun to go into, but I'll spare you and just drop a few photos.

Viva Part 2

Good first day in Las Vegas after a pretty bumpy plane ride (one of the worst I've been on it some time... really windy out here). We started out at the newest Sin City Brewing location inside the Flamingo and played some video blackjack, then walked all the way down the strip sightseeing a people watching until we grabbed a cab at the Riviera.

We got down to Fremont Street and caught a couple of sets by the Sin City Sinners (Jimmy Crespo from Aerosmith sat in on guitar) and watched some cool video shows on the ceiling, including a great KISS themed one and a couple more from The Doors and Don McClean's American Pie. I love those video shows. Bought the new Sin City Sinners CD after one set.

We at some dinner at Triple 7 Restaurant and Brewery in Main Street Station and had some awesome oysters and sushi (great combination aye) while I washed them down with a Blackjack Porter from their microbrewery, which I must say was excellent. We got a couple to go even (the beer, not the sushi) and closed out the night on Fremont before cabbing it back to the strip to close it out with some one-armed bandits. Somehow I won, which I never do on slots. I usually just play to kill time and get free drinks. I ended up just clowning for a bit for drinks and pocketed a few extra 20s before it was over.

Somewhere in there we had a huge stack of pizza nachos at The Burger Joint and were talked in to "Washington Apple" shots by girls in skimpy outfits.

Excellent kick-off to the weekend. More Sin City Brewing today along with a trip down to New York, New York and Mandalay Bay. We've decided to go to the Styx, Foreigner and Kansas show tonight, so it should be another great day.

Viva Las Vegas

Looks like a beautiful day to fly to Las Vegas. So I will.

Nothing really concrete planned for today after we arrive. Probably go see Big Elvis at Bill's Gambling Hall for happy hour, then hit Sin City Brewing and finish the night off at Freemont Street Experience watching the Sin City Sinners. All tentative I guess, because well, ya never know out there.

We're thinking about catching Styx, Foreigner and Kansas tomorrow night at Mandalay Bay though. Classic rock me! The same venue I saw Metallica and Machine Head last December when I was out there. I'm guessing there won't be as much head-banging this time around.

New Orleans: Sightseeing

So I've told you of Lord Chaz's tour and various beer and food tales, now here's the rest of it. Well, most of it I guess. We had a long and wild 3 days so there's no way I can cover it all (actually I could... but you don't want to see that), but I took a lot of pics of various New Orleans sights and I'll just share some of them right here. Starting with the awesome crossing of Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on the way into town:

And our hotel which we stayed in. What I liked about it was that it was sort of in New Orleans style, with balconies all opening up to the inside and a beautiful courtyard with a nice fountain and swimming pool. Too bad it wasn't really swimming weather, but it was a very nice courtyard to sit and have a drink by the pool or just chill out and get out of the room.

The the rest of these are just various sites from around New Orleans, one of the most unique cities in America. We did one of the guided bus tours, so we got to see some of the very different cemeteries (since the ground is basically a swamp, they're buried above ground... sometimes whole families in a tomb), some of the gorgeous architecture in the French Quarter and Garden District, unbelievable old churches, some of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in the lower 9th Ward (which was just unreal and gut-wrenching), celebrity homes (Nic Cage, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Archie Manning, Anne Rice and others) and plenty of other sites. We also did a carriage tour around the Bourbon Street area pulled by a mule (too hot and humid for horses), which was pretty cool. Then of course, there are just some pics of Bourbon Street itself in all it's sinful glory. Enjoy.

New Orleans: Beerin' & Munchin'

So when I travel, I always try to hit all the local watering holes and sample all the local brews. The New Orleans trip was no exception and in fact probably one of the best examples of it. Sure, I love the food and all the tourist sites and local flavor and such, but beer is a big part of it too. Here's a bit on the trip from the beer goggles view.

We stopped on the way down in Abita Springs, La, which is a little out of the way, but allows you to drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which is a pretty cool 20 mile long bridge over the massive lake. Abita Springs in right next to Covington and the area seems like a really nice little suburban type place full of strip malls, restaurants and stores. The part of Abita Springs that the brewpub is in is an older, quainter part of town and it really adds to the charm of the place. There's a little neighborhood bar (Rosie's Tavern) and a grocery/deli right across the street with a park and bike trail sitting right next to it. The Abita Brew Pub actually used to be the Abita Brewery building itself until their production got too big. The brewery is now down the road a bit (we didn't visit it) but the pub is great, with a little white picket fence out front and huge old oak tree hanging over the front patio area. It's gorgeous and very inviting. The inside is just as nice with antique collectibles everywhere and cypress paneling.


We had the Andygator Crawfish Cake (with Turbodog Remoulade sauce) with some fried tomatoes to get started with an Abita Golden and an Abita Restoration Pale Ale, before following that up by splitting a huge Catfish Po-Boy and fries. Excellent food, good beer and good service make it a place I highly recommend. I grabbed a 12 pack mixer on the way out to take a bit home with me even. Yes, I paid for it.


In the days wandering the streets of New Orleans, we mainly stayed in the French Quarter District, with only 1 afternoon trip to the Garden District. Bars are definitely plentiful, but good beer wasn't really. I did find some places with Abita and NOLA brews though and since I was looking for these local products I was happy, but if you want a big craft beer selection I don't know where to tell you for the French Quarter. Most of the bars are more about partyin' and have much more of a drunken frat boy type crowd than craft beer lovers, so it's really not something they probably want to waste their time on. Why get a huge assortment of good craft taps when you can just shell out keg after keg of cheap stuff? Wouldn't be a good business move I guess.

While in the French Quarter we hit too many places to name probably, but some of my favorites among them were Johnny White's, Lafittes Blacksmith Shop, Three Legged Dog, Razzoo and Famous Door.

Now over in the Garden District I found a couple of good places for craft beers. First is The Avenue Pub. It's a cozy little neighborhood bar that has a killer beer selection. They've got 31 rotating taps and dozens of bottled brews and they know their beer. Myself, I had a NOLA Brewing Co. Hurricane Saison, NOLA Brewing Co. Hopitoulas IPA and a Mikkeller Single Hop Nelson Sauvin IPA as we watched the first game of the Final Four. It was heavenly. Also there's a place called The Bulldog which isn't too far away and has a pretty wide variety of craft beers but lacks the more "extreme" beers like The Avenue Pub. Also, it was extremely crowded so we ended up on the patio and were having to wade through people to get to the bar or bathroom and no chance to get food. We didn't stay long, but on a slow afternoon this might be a fun place. The only really good thing that came out of it for us was that we found a place nearby for dinner called The Rum House that was really good. Their specialty was a bunch of different kinds of tacos. Very good.

Our hotel bar had Abita beers and also Dixie Blackened Voodoo, a nice dunkel I'd had before and like:

For food, a place we found that we both really enjoyed was Cajun Cabin on Bourbon Street. It claims to be the French Quarter's only authentic Cajun restaurant. I'm not sure if that's true but it's the only we saw and it's the only one we needed as they had an excellent menu and were very reasonably priced. You could also sit on their balcony overlooking Bourbon Street and watch the "entertainment" stroll by. They've got an oyster bar so we started with some on the half-shell, followed by a sausage trio of alligator sausage w/ sauce piquant, boudin w/ Creole mustard sauce & crawfish andouille sausage w/ honey mustard. Oh my.... delicious. Goes well with the beer too I must say (Abita Mardi Gras Bock for me). If that wasn't enough (and trust me, it probably was) we also had their plate called "A Taste of New Orleans" which is a cup of red beans and rice, a cup of shrimp creole, jambalaya and shrimp remoulade. Let me tell you folks, if you like Cajun food and you leave this place hungry, you've got nobody to blame but you and your stupid diet. Pig out here. Typing this paragraph actually just made my mouth water.

Also, we were told that Acme Oyster House was THE place in the quarter to get chargrilled oysters, but we noticed every time we went by there was a huge line (a good sign, but I hate waiting). We found a local that told us we should try Deanie's Seafood Restaurant for chargrilled oysters and seafood. This turned out to be an excellent tip as we got a table right away, without a reservation, and had some delicious food which was reasonably priced. It's just off Bourbon Street on the corner of Dauphine and Iberville.

So we also had one of their signature sandwiches, the muffuletta, a couple of different times from different places and enjoyed them. We also ate at several more places and drank at plenty more I'm sure, but these are some thoughts from the places we enjoyed more than others. One of the great things about this city and the French Quarter area in general is that I'm sure you could stay for a month or so and not eat at the same place twice, there's so much to choose from. A good excuse to go back and explore more I guess.


So I tried 10 beers that I haven't tried before and rated them on BeerReviewsOnline.com and here they are in order of ratings:

Mikkeller Single Hop Nelson Sauvin IPA (9/10)
NOLA Hopitoulas IPA (9/10)
Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager (8/10)
NOLA Blonde Ale (8/10)
NOLA Hurricane Saison (7/10)
Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit (7/10)
Abita Mardi Gras Bock (6/10)
Abita Restoration Pale Ale (6/10)
Abita Golden (5/10)
Abita Light (4/10)

The Mikkeller is the only one not from the area. You can see I like IPAs better just from this list if you didn't know already... and light beer the least. The most surprising for me was the Abita Strawberry, as I'm not a big fan of fruit beer usually and this was really tasty. I probably couldn't have more than a couple in a row though... too sweet for me. Overall, Abita has bumped up into my list of favorite breweries as I've got some memories to go with some of their beers now and they make plenty of very drinkable beers. Somewhere over the 3 days I worked in their Jockamo IPA and Turbo Dog as well. Looking back at the list, I'm not sure where or when. Not surprisingly actually.

New Orleans: Lord Chaz

The creepy looking cat below is known as Lord Chaz (in the middle, that's me on the right jerks) and we went on his guided ghost/vampire tour one night while we were in New Orleans. I thought it was very entertaining. We were just sitting in Johnny White's on Bourbon and saw him setting up with a sign outside so we thought we'd check it out and for a mere $20 a piece we had a great time for a couple of hours visiting several "haunted" sites and hearing tales of the goings-on.

He starts with the real history of the location, then tell the supernatural stories. The guy was fantastic with his story telling and actions. He had Deanna scared out of her mind (he picked on her the whole tour) as he had her check his pulse... then apparently made it stop as she was checking. He also "cut himself" with his long nails at the end of the tour enough to draw blood, then healed it before our very eyes. Of note... he never blinks. Great guy, highly recommended tour, money well spent if you feel like being entertained by something different for a few hours.


Here's a bit of what his MySpace site says:

I am Lord Chaz. First and foremost, I am an entertainer. I am an actor, musician, illusionist and storyteller. I am most well known for being the creator and host of Vampire Street Theatre, the original nightly Ghost and Vampire Tour in New Orleans. We call it "street theatre" for a reason; it is far more than a typical tour.

I host and entertain brave souls on journeys through the darker streets of the French Quarter and share stories of murder, suicide, vampirism, and other tragedies that make up some of the city's most macabre history. These are the tales that have inspired famous authors such as Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, and Robert Lynn Asprin. Come walk with me and ponder the timeless questions; What is a ghost? What is a haunting? What is the difference? Do vampires really exist? I will let you come to your own conclusion regarding that final question.


He also claims that over 100 people have fainted during his tour, and 1 guy had a heart attack.

The only strange thing that happened during our tour actually occurred during the break. We stopped at LaFitte's Blacksmith Shop for a potty break and of course some drinks mid-tour and a couple that was with us was snapping a few pics of a pretty fountain and something really strange turned up on only 1 of the pics... sort of a floating mist. It was really odd. Add that to the fact that LaFitte's is actually over 200 years old and supposedly haunted and we all had a blast with it. The couple said they were going to send the pic to Lord Chaz, so I'm watching his site to see if he posts them and I'll share them sometime. We'd actually been in LaFitte's already the night before for a few brews and I had a weird sort of feeling myself when I went back to the dark, creepy bathroom area as the place wasn't very populated that night. Fun stuff!


Lord Chaz Official MySpace Site

Summer Days

So yeah, it's hot here. Every day. Really though, I've lived in this great state for quite a few decades now and this isn't far from the norm. Hot, humid as hell, no rain... welcome to Summer in the south. It hasn't kept me from my (sweaty) morning runs or going to the ballgames or the lake, all of which keep moving right along. We've been to the lake about every weekend for at least 1 day.


Indoors, I've got some good shows on the calendar coming up too. Tomorrow night is Sevendust with Adelitas Way and Seven Day Sonnet here in Little Rock. I'm not even sure what time this is for me seeing Sevendust, but I think around 6? Maybe 7. I love Sevendust. Looking foward to them once again. We've got tickets in hand for 2 upcoming Keith Urban shows as well, in Nashville and Jonesboro, both in August. In September we have tickets already to see Journey, Night Ranger and Foreigner over in Memphis. That's 3 of my very favorite "classic rock" bands, or whatever genre you put them in I guess. I have all of their new CDs and play them regularly so I'm not going to exactly say they're out of date for my tastes, although I spent many a night cruising dirt roads around my hometown while I was growing up listening to these 3.

Lots of good new music out lately. I've been spending a lot of time checking out the new CDs from Queensryche, Burn Halo, Theory of a Deadman, Pop Evil, Limp Bizkit, Bad Meets Evil and Egypt Central. So much good stuff out lately it's almost hard to keep up.

Upcoming road trips... I'll be in Jackson, MS in 2 weeks for Top of the Hops, yet another beer festival. Hey, I like beer, sue me. After that we'll have a long weekend in Nashville to start August and we'll end the month with a week in Galveston. Plenty of good beers to be found I'm sure. Here's what I look like when we find a good beer store on the travels where I can build my own six-pack (or 3):


Yeah, a kid in a candy store indeed. Replace the word "candy" with "beer" and replace the word "kid" with... well, you can just leave that word I guess. All of the great purchases pay off with beer tastings with my beer brethren coming over and also just smaller tastings like the other night when my lovely best beer buddy and I tried all 4 Tin Mill beers we'd picked up in Missouri with some cajun grilled shrimp and boudin sausage. Very nice evening. Our last big group tasting was this past Friday night. Check out this bad ass line-up:

* Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
* Dupont Bière de Miel (Biologique)
* Weston Brew Labs #1 IPA
* Weston Brew Labs Prototype Stout
* Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale
* Dogfish Head Red & White
* Surly Bender
* Surly Coffee Bender
* Broederlijke Liefde
* Lakefront Bridge Burner
* Southern Tier Mokah

Yeah, that's a damn good tasting. Several new favorites there that I'll be seeking regularly, love the Surly Coffee Bender but especially that Southern Tier Mokah. Oh man, it's a big ole imperial stout that's chocolately sweet, creamy and smooth. One of my all-time favs I think. I'll let you know after I find about 5 or 6 more bottles.

And I have finally returned to the theaters after a long layoff! Yay me! I've been 2 weekends in a row actually to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I'm going to try to keep the momentum up and catch Captain America: The First Avenger this coming weekend and Cowboys and Aliens after that. Maybe I'm back in the groove?

That's about it in my world I guess. Cheers.

The Hills Are Alive With The Taste Of Beer

OK I promised a post about some other brewery stops across Missouri last week so I guess this is what you get. Hooray! Try to contain your excitement.

I already told you about all the beer I stockpiled while in Springfield at The Brown Derby liquor store and the awesome visit to Piney River Brewing near Houston, Mo so after that we paid a quick visit to a little brewery called Little Yeoman Brewery just outside of Cabool, Mo. Yes, these aren't exactly huge cities I'm telling you about, but these are the types of places you find great beer made by beer lovers (and it's absolutely beautiful scenery). One could argue they have nothing else to do, but I would argue what else would you rather be doing? Don't be afraid to get off the beaten path my beer loving buddies. The road we travel is a thirsty one, but always enjoy the hunt.

I've probably blabbed too much already about this road trip (it was only a couple of days for the love of hops) so I'll just say we followed the signs and found Little Yeoman Brewery down a dusty road and the guys were super nice as we drank some of their Vienna style ale and also a Pale Ale. Both were fine brews (I loved the pale ale actually) and the hospitality and beer talk is well worth the trip to this very unpretentious little building with some tanks and such. They have a nice shaded area with picnic tables to swap beer tales at while you sample so you could probably take a sammich with you and be all set. We grabbed a shirt on the way out even. A sexy shirt at that, once I cut the sleeves off and tie it up in the front it will be I mean.






An hour later, give or take, we hit Springfield. Brian from Piney River Brewing had told us about a bar called Farmer's Gastropub in the downtown area where we might find plenty of Mother's Brewing Company products, and he was right on. They're another Springfield brewery who just got rolling a few months ago but are already turning out some damn fine beers from what I tasted. Their Towhead Blonde, Sandi Wheat, Lil' Helper IPA and Three Blind Mice Brown are all readily available there and the food was very nice as well. A highly recommended stop on your road to buzzville.


Then it was just a few blocks walk over to Springfield Brewing Company, who make Mueller Ales and Lagers. It's a very nice older 2-story bar with a lot of woodwork and a pleasant atmosphere. The bartender was pretty beer knowledgeable and I got a small sampler of each of 6 beers (Lager, Pale Ale, Black Sheep Dry Stout, German Hefe, American Wheat and Little Piney Copper Ale). I'll say that while none of them blew my pants off or anything (and who doesn't want their pants blown off) none of them were bad and all were fresh and clean. I thought the copper ale and the dry stout stood out the most among them and I would revisit those 2 with no worries, but I wouldn't smack a fool for giving me any of the other 4. They do bottle so you can find their product around town at grocery stores and such.







So now I'll shut-up and just say that combined with Piney River Brewing, this made for a helluva beer day. Lastly, a small shout out to S & S Package Liquor in Houston who had a really good selection of beer (including Missouri brews from Tin Mill Brewery) and let you build your own six-packs. Go there on your trip to Piney River, cause I know you're going there.

Upcoming brewery visits: Jackalope Brewing, Yazoo Brewing and Jubilee Brewing... all in Nashville. You see, that's because I'm going to Nashville. For reals. Takin' my little yeoman with me. Until then keep your whistles wet and your pants dry.

Show Me Your Hops!

So yesterday I posted a quick bit about our short Missouri road trip and promised some photos and tales so here ya go.

Our first destination was Piney River Brewing Co. somewhere near the big city of Bucyrus, Missouri. And by "big city" I really mean the middle of the Ozarks, which sort of feels like the middle of nowhere as we wound around gravel roads, through creeks and farmlands and I swear I heard banjos playing. Of course that feels a bit like home to me as I grew up in a small Arkansas town so I actually love that sort of area. It's a beautiful part of the country and a welcome escape from the city I live in.

Finally, just when I was feeling like my Garmin was screwing with me, we came we came upon this sign:



And I got excited like a kid pulling up to an amusement park. Those dusty roads can sure make a guy parched. Notice the sign says closed but the guy running the show and I had been in contact and he assured me he'd let us check it out if we were to swing by. True to his word, we met the owner, Brian Durham, in person finally and he showed us around a bit and let us sample some of the product.

Brian and his wife Joleen started making beer on their kitchen stove and last year decided to revive a 70-year old barn made from red and white oak trees harvested off the farm, and Piney River Brewing Company was born. Now it's called the "BARn" (see what they did there?) and it's being turned into one of the most unique breweries I believe I've seen. Check this out:



Seriously, this is one of the coolest things I've seen ever in the beer world. He took us on a tour and the upstairs is one huge 2,000 square foot room that's going to be made into a tasting room/bar/party room and I can't wait to drive back up and check it out when it's finished. It overlooks a big pasture and pond and is just a gorgeous view. You can actually see cows and such, and they're adding a big deck (Brian and his wife, not the cows) that faces the sunset. Here's the unfinished upstairs with my lovely girlfriend (and beer lover) posing with Brian:



Now technically I believe Piney River would be considered a nanobrewery with some taps to fill pint glasses and growlers but don't expect it to be that way for long. They've got a canning line coming and a couple of big tanks, a 15-barrel fermentation vessel and a 15-barrel bright tank, set-up inside and looking ready to rock. You can see them behind Brian and I in this picture:



Meeting and hanging out with the (co)brewery/owner/brains was great. He's about as nice of a guy as you can find I'd guess and he loves his beer and is extremely knowledgeable, not just about beer and brewing but about how to market it and keep fresh ideas flowing. What I really like is you can just tell he's excited about beer and loves to talk about it and share what he knows. It's infectious to just be chatting with him over a cold pint.

I loved the set-up, the names of the beers, the labels and all the great plans for the future they have. But now that I've told you a bit about that side of it, the biggest and most important thing about a brewery to me is the beer, and we got to try the Missouri Mule IPA and Ozark Firefly Wheat. All of this stuff above would be for naught if the beer sucked... but have no fear. Both of these were solid representations of the styles. I didn't have enough of the wheat to say too much (liked what I tried though and my girlfriend loved it... and she knows her wheats) but I had enough of the IPA to know that it was quite tasty and super easy-to-drink. I believe he told me it was 7.5% ABV also, but you wouldn't know it from a pint. It's smooth and very sessionable. I think he said he used Glacier and Centennial hops, both American varieties. The IBU on it is 70 if I remember correctly, and it packs a very nice punch. I wish I'd have taken a couple of growlers with me to fill with this very nice IPA. Delicious. I look forward to trying all these other brews (click on the photo to blow it up if you can't read the names):



Piney River Brewing Company may be a bit off the beaten path, or a bit out of the way, but it's definitely worth finding and visiting. They're open on Saturdays usually and if you follow their Facebook profile they'll let you know when I'm sure. We're going back on a Saturday this fall when the leaves start to turn colors we think and I'll be sure to take several of my growlers. Hopefully we'll get to meet Brian's better half this trip too. In the meantime, I'll just have to wear my sweet hat, shirt and use my pint glasses as often and remember the excellent visit we had.



I'll post a bit about Little Yeoman and Springfield Brewing Company visits soon.