Tag: blogging

Beer in Amish Country

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

I went down to Amish country on Saturday where I gorged myself on four plates filled with fried chicken, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, noodles and enchiladas at Mrs. Yoder’s kitchen. Surprisingly the Amish like Mexican food. Did not see that one coming.

After that, we stopped at Millersburg Brewing Company. Located in downtown Millerburg, which for those that don’t know is the county seat of Holmes County Ohio. Knowledge is power.

The brewery is in an old brick building and maintains a lot of the building’s character from the exposed brick to the old bar top. The food menu appears delicious but after my Amish buffet destruction I don’t think I could fit any more food in my belly. However, we always have room for beer.

I went with a beer flight to give myself a good variety since I knew I was not going to be able to down multiple full beers at this point. All 4 tastings were very good, but I have to say the Edgy Elf was my favorite. A sweet winter warmer beer that they even put cinnamon on the beer flight glass. That was a nice touch.

The other beers I tried included Belouded (NEIPA), Jolene Jolie (Red Ale), and Haskins 1819 (Blackberry Tart) and were all really solid beers that I would have again. It’s a bit of a drive for me from Cleveland, but I would definitely go here again and would like to sooner rather than later.

Wuh-Ster Day Trip

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Distillery, Restaurants, Trips, vacations, whiskeyLeave a comment

Personally, I think this pronunciation of Wooster, Ohio is idiotic. It should be Woo!-Ster like a drunk girl shouting at a bar. However, the locals prefer the WUH so I’ll roll with it.

This past Saturday we took a day trip down to Wooster and walked around the town, had a burger and indulged in some beverages. Traveling during the Covid, is weird. A day trip is easy enough and Ohio has a lot to offer.

First off we visited Muddy’s where I had the cheesiest of cheese burgers. If you have a lactose sensitivity, stay away.

After Muddy’s, the main reason for this trip was to visit the JAFB taproom. Just Another Fucking Brewery, is a pretty spacious taproom and I was able to try several brews. My favorite of the ones I had was the Hefeweizen, though the Summer Forever (New England IPA) was very good as well. The Hefeweizen is a good solid rendition of this beer style with just enough banana taste. I really enjoyed this one. I was told after that I need to try the Apricot one, so next time I’ll give that one a taste.

After the brewery, we had two more stops to make. First off was Minglewood Distilling Company. I am by no means an expert on bourbon but I’m starting to get into it more. They had a variety of alcohols and I did a tasting. I wish the tours were open but again the virus got in the way. I picked up a bottle of the bourbon to take home. Then one last stop at Hartzlers Dairy Farm for some ice cream. Perfect dessert to end the day.

Brewery 33

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

This will be a quick post. I really don’t have a lot to say because I wasn’t there long and only had one beer. Took a few days to head down to Hocking Hills down in Southern Ohio. I love a good hike and with all the craziness out there in the world, it was good to get away from it all.

It wasn’t my first trip to Hocking Hills but it was my first visit to Brewery 33. Named after the main road through Logan, Ohio. I stopped in for a growler and went with the Gateway Gose. It was a solid beer and nothing spectacular. Wasn’t bad, just seemed to have almost no carbonation.

The brewery itself was small inside from what I saw, but that could have been I just didn’t walk around enough. They did look to have a nice little outdoor spot. Bartender was great, very friendly and helpful. I would like to get back there at some point when I can actually sit down and enjoy the place.

Covid Brewery Trips in GR

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

Did I travel during a pandemic? Bet your ass I did. Took a trip up to Grand Rapids this past weekend to visit a good buddy of mine. On Friday, before meeting up with him I stopped at two Breweries in town.

First up was Brewery Vivant. Now this place had the smallest food menu. A regular burger, a veggie burger and some appetizers. They would only cook the burger well done too. Honestly, I am not a fan of red meat unless it’s bleeding. The sauce they put on the burger (a chipotle type sauce with more of a hearty kick) was delicious though and they had some good beer. I really enjoyed the Straw Barb, a strawberry sour. I just wish the food menu had a few more items. Throw a chicken sandwich on there.

Straw Barb at Brewery Vivant

After Brewery Vivant, I meandered over to ELK Brewing and had a couple more beers. The Mango Summer Wheat and Blonde Express were both solid beers. I would say I preferred the Mango Summer Wheat and I’m not a big mango guy. After that, I wrapped up and went to my buddy’s, but it was a couple good brewery visits for a Friday afternoon trip to the Mitten. Have to get back up there to visit the rest of GR. Maybe I’ll wait for this Covid stuff to pass to really enjoy the city.

Mango Summer Wheat from Ell Brewing

Yee-Haw Brewing, Nashville part 5, and a Quick Weekend Write Up

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Distillery, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

This marks the 5th time I’ve been to Nashville. Been for business and pleasure. This was a pleasure trip. Regardless of the reason, I always love this city. Mainly driven by the amazing music you hear in the city and the food I consume. One of those cities I love visiting, but would die of a massive coronary if I lived there.

Brunch at Gray’s on Main

While we were just in town for a few days, we jammed a lot in. Something that not a lot of people see when they visit is the town of Franklin. Venture a way from downtown and grab some food at all the different restaurants in this city that was a key place of the civil war. It’s a cool little town.

Well now to the beer. I’ve been to a lot of other breweries in Nashville. This was my first trip to Yee-Haw Brewing. I’ll be honest the beer was average but it’s a cool spot with tons of games and activities to get drunk to. Plus they have an Old Smokey Distillery location on site. I’ve checked out Old Smoke’s Gatlinburg location last year. They have tasting of the numerous varieties of whiskey they make. One of which you’re bound to enjoy. Beer and liquor, always a great combo. Till next time Nashville.

Indians 26 man 2020 Roster

On By Chris ElliottIn baseballLeave a comment

Well, the Indians missed the playoffs, my postseason ticket refund took forever to arrive and the Indians cut payroll. Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. Spring Training is starting so why not do a 26 man roster projection?

I’ll start with a few assumptions. Tito is the manager so we will carry 5 SP, 8 RP, 2 Catchers. The toss up is the extra spot on the bench. Here we go.

Lets start with the rotation. I think Cookie is able to get back into SP form and Civali shows he is major league rotation material. The 5th spot comes down to Adam Plutko or Zach Plesac. Plutko is out of options but there is room in the bullpen. Plesac gets the spot.

SP:

  1. Mike Clevinger
  2. Shane Bieber
  3. Carlos Carrasco
  4. Aaron Civali
  5. Zach Plesac

The bullpen is interesting. Lot of overhaul over the years here. I think the first four are pretty easy. Clase is too electric to not be here as is Karinchak. I think Hunter Wood and Plutko start out here but there is potential for some guys like Jefry Rodriquez, Scott Moss, James Hoyt and Phil Maton to take a spot. None of the non-roster guys this year intrigue me.

RP:

  1. Brad Hand
  2. Oliver Perez
  3. Adam Cimber
  4. Nick Witgren
  5. Emmanuel Clase
  6. Hunter Wood
  7. Adam Plutko
  8. James Karinchak

Catchers are easy. Nothing to say here.

Catcher

  1. Roberto Perez
  2. Sany Leon

The infield is up in the air. First four are locks but what else they do is unknown. I think Chang finally gets his shot and makes the roster.

IF

  1. Francisco Lindor
  2. Jose Ramirez
  3. Carlos Sanatana
  4. Cesar Hernandez
  5. Yu Chang

The outfield has some decisions to make and Domingo Santana is likely to sign soon and make this team. Reyes, Mercado and Luplow are locks in my opinion as well. I think Deshields makes this roster out of spring because of his speed and defense. Tyler Naquin will be hurt to start the season, otherwise he would be on this team.

OF

  1. Franmil Reyes
  2. Oscar Mercado
  3. Jordan Luplow
  4. Domingo Sanatana
  5. Delino Deshields

This leaves one last spot. The new 26th man. My options here are Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer, Mike Freeman, Christian Arroyo, Andrew Velazquez, Daniel Johnson and Bobby Bradley. These last two will start in AAA. Team doesn’t need them yet. No room for Arroyo and Velazquez yet. Zimmer needs some time on the farm after his injury too. This leave us with Allen, Bauers and Freeman. Allen’s role is filled by Deshields for now. Freeman had a fantastic year but we can’t expect that from him. Jake Bauers makes this team as a DH/OF/1B/PH. Welcome back to the show Jake.

26th Man: Jake Bauers

Saturday Brew Quest

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, BreweryLeave a comment

Well winter is here and now I dread that 15 minutes each morning while my dog decides where to take a shit. While that is miserable, one way to pass the winter blues is to drink.

Saturday my girlfriend, myself and a few of her friends hopped around Ohio City knocking some of the various breweries off the Cleveland Brewery passport. Now, I have been to most of them before but our second stop of the day I had not been to prior to this day of alcohol bliss. Bad Tom Smith is actually a Cincinnati brewery and the Ohio City location is just a taproom, but it still counts here.

The location is right at the northern end of that strip that is populated by more breweries now than hipsters. Bad Tom Smith has a few solid beers that I tried. The Jackson Hustler was my favorite there that day. A delicious, easy drinking Belgian Wit. The taproom is a nice little spot, quieter than most of Ohio City which can be a nice change of pace. Plus, with cold dreary weather in full force here why not have a few more beers. Got to get that hibernation weight up.

New Year’s Vacation

On By Chris ElliottIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Florida is well known on the internet for “Florida Man”. Sometimes, the place gets a bad rap for that. While the inland areas may have some questionable residents, I’d argue the coasts are some of the best places around for a relaxing getaway. The past week, I vacationed in Siesta Key with my girlfriend’s family. Now, I consider myself the leading expert of Sanibel Island and I have been to Orlando and all over the Palm Beach area as well as Panama City Beach (PCB13!) but this was my first time to the Sarasota area.

Most of my time was spent crushing Corona Lights on the beach, but I did try a couple breweries out and had a few beers at various restaurants.

On Wednesday, as the slices of bread on either side of my dinner at Brick (fantastic BBQ by the way) we visited JDub’s Brewing Company and Calusa Brewing. Calusa leaned towards having a lot of high alcohol content IPAs, but it definitely had some solid beers on their list and the tap room was pretty busy. The best beer of the trip though was at JDub’s. Brad Popped His Berry was so good. This Blueberry sour was jammed full of flavor. Loved this beer like seagulls loves bread crumbs.

For a beach town, the beer overall was pretty good. But of course you have to have a daiquiri or two (or three). Which I did. However, it’s back to work this week. Monday after a vacation is definitely a level of hell. Just imagine if you had to relive that type of Monday for eternity. How far off is retirement?

San Diego Round 2

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

I’ve been out there before, but I was in town for work and I got to explore a few more places.

San Diego never has rain and it decided to rain the three days I was there a few weeks ago. Not sure who up top I pissed off, but come on you couldn’t give me a little sun shine?

San Diego is a truly beautiful area. I really enjoy La Jolla. We grabbed dinner one night at George’s at the Cove. Amazing short rib.

Also had the chance to visit a couple breweries too. I checked out Karl Strauss and 32 North. The bartender at Karl Strauss was fantastic and the beer was good but the food kind of reminded me of food from the frozen aisle. At 32 North, I enjoyed a good Hefeweizen but I was the only patron in the place. Damn you rain.

My last night I went down to the little Italy area to meet up with a former coworker that was also in town for work. We grabbed drinks at the Waterfront, this old navy bar. Then we proceeded to have dinner at the Kettner Exchange. Thanks to my company for the 75 dollar dinner of duck meatball, Philly cheesesteak toast and fried turkey leg. Corporate travel ain’t bad and San Diego never disappoints.

The Burg

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment

Again I’m late on this like a girl who forgot to take her birth control. While I still hate their football team, I have to say Pittsburg was a fun time. About a week ago, we spent a Saturday across the border bouncing around from different bars. Shoutout to Mark and Katie for being great hosts and tour guides.

We hit up quite a few bars and I even had Pittsburgh’s version of bud light, IC Light. I’ll pass on that next time. We stopped at the Sly Fox, a Philly based brewery and I had a delicious IPA, Route 113 IPA.

While the beer was good throughout the city, I had to satisfy the belly too. The full size wings, you know the kind with both parts, at Coughlin’s Law were some of the best I’ve ever eaten. The banana bread French toast for brunch the next day at Urban Tap was a nice twist on a classic. Despite the questionable actions of their QB, Pittsburg had quite a lot to offer.