Tag: brew

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

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.

I love Boston (despite Tom Brady)

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

As I sit here on the stationary bike, trying to burn off the 7.3 lbs I gained this weekend and sweat out my disappointment that tribe playoff baseball doesn’t exist this year, it is a challenge to describe how awesome Boston is. Cleveland will always have my heart but Boston has so much to offer. Easy to get around, clean, a lot to do no matter your interest. It’s New York without all the terrible aspects of New York. Only downside is they allow Tom Brady to live there.

Now, I have been to Boston before but this time I visited a bunch of new places and walked the whole freedom trail. Drinking a beer in the Green Dragon Tavern evokes a sensation knowing that some of the most important decisions and conversations in American history were had there.

And have I mentioned that Boston has such good beer. I’ve wanted to go to Trillium for years and finally made it. The variety of sours they have is splendid. The Sour Cherry Soak was my favorite there. Just around the corner from there was Hopsters. Another cool Boston brewery right in Seaport.

My favorite beer of the trip though was a can I had at Bell in Hand Tavern. Another revolutionary era bar. The 617 Title Town Hazy IPA from Lord Hobo Brewing Co. was so delicious. Perfect New England style IPA. I just wish it had a different name in stead of honoring all those damn championships. Have I mentioned I hate Tom Brady?

On the last day, we also visited the Fenway area. Boston Beerworks has a good IPA as well and the area was full of energy as the Pats played and the last Red Sox game of the year was about to start. To finish her off we grabbed food and drinks in the Bleacher Bar. This is a bar like no other as it’s located under the stadium and literally looks out to the field. During warmups the players can look right into the bar in outfield. I can only imagine a guy like Manny Ramirez slamming a beer out there. It’s an experience like no other and Boston is a town like no other (despite Tom Brady).

In West Lafayette…

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, TripsLeave a comment

In West Lafayette born and raised, on the playground…ok I’ll stop. I took a work trip last week to Indiana to the home of Purdue University. Boiler Up! While I was only there for just over 24 hours, I did manage to make a stop into downtown Lafayette and visit Lafayette Brewing Company.

Now, I know this is a college town and the school year hasn’t started, and this was a Wednesday night, but downtown was dead. More dead than a Clinton opponent (cough Jeffrey Epstein).

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed a great dinner at East End Grill and then a delicious EZPZ Lemon Wheat beer. This was like drinking a large lemon drop shot or maybe a better version of a summer Shandy. I enjoyed this one.

The city looks like its downtown area could be a great Thursday night drink spot in college and I’m sure the place comes alive for college football Saturdays. It just was not doing much on an early August Wednesday. But if you find yourself in this little part of America, there is good food and beer to be had.

Royal Easter Beer

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

This weekend I was up in Michigan for Easter or Zombie Jesus day, whichever terminology you prefer. While I may have grown up in Michigan, I honestly don’t know the area that well. We tended to stay in my West Bloomfield bubble. Now, I like to try out the different breweries in the area when I can.

Saturday night we grabbed a few at The Royal Oak Brewery. This place has been around since the mid 90s. The taproom reflects the working class vibes Royal Oak tended to have till it became a millennial hotbed. The brewery makes really solid beers. I went with the Royal Pride IPA and the Northern Kolsch. Both were good beers. Nothing crazy or spectacular that stood out but both good beers that I would have again. Having been around for much longer than many craft breweries, it is clear that they know what they are doing. Sometimes just doing the little things is enough to be good. Credit to The Royal Oak Brewery for recognizing that.

Vermont and the Search for the Holy Grail

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

I know I should have written this sooner. Whatever, I have a life (I don’t have a life, I am just lazy). So here is my recap of the beer I drank in Vermont.

How could I not talk about Heady Topper. The Holy Grail (one of them at least) for beer nerds. It was good but that beer was destined to not live up to the hype same as In’N’Out doesn’t live up to the hype. Yeah California, your burger is not that good. You talk about something so much that you think it’s literally birthed from God’s nuts and then it cannot possibly meet that expectation. Nothing against the Alchemist. Their Stowe location was great and I still bought $100 worth of beer. It’s just not the Jesus juice it was talked up to be.

Now, the beer & cider in Vermont is good. Lots to choose from for such a small state. Stowe Cider has some awesome selections and interesting takes on Cider. Same with Woodchuck Cider. The Raspberry Hard Cider was my favorite of the ciders. So drinkable.

I went to several other breweries as well. Ottercreek, Trapp Family, Idletyme, Vermont Brewery, Zero Gravity, Foam, and Lost Nation. Plus, I grabbed other local beers while eating out throughout the week. I drank a lot for 7 days. 2000 vertical climbs though justify this consumption. Each of these places had some great beers. I think though Zero Gravity and Lost Nation were my favorite of these bunch. The Wind (Sour) at Lost Nation was a great beer. Highly recommend that one.

Overall, it was a great trip and I drank some really good beer. Thanks VT. Cheers!IMG_4595

Whiskey and Beer in Cle

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

The Cleveland Brewery Scene is growing rapidly. Cleveland Scene just wrote a large article about it. It’s a well done article you can read here. While there may or may not be a bubble, it is great for the beer lovers of Cleveland that so many places keep popping up. A few weeks ago I visited Portside Distillery and Brewery for the first time. This place has been open since 2015 but I had yet to stop in.

What makes this place unique in Cleveland is that they not only brew beer but they are a distillery. Not many places out there do both. That is a nice addition to the traditional brewery. They have a good variety of beers and the pretzels were pretty good as well. This location near the water is pretty spacious and when I went on a Sunday afternoon provided a good laid back spot to have a Sunday Funday. Once thing I do regret not trying was the whiskey but it does give me a reason to go back and try it again.