Milwaukee

This year I was much more limited in my choices for my annual baseball trip. My only two requirements for the trip are that I visit a stadium that is new to me and that it occurs in April or May.  The last couple of years the Pirates have had extended west coast trips which opened up a lot of new stadiums to visit.  This year the schedule wasn't as kind. 

I've been to a lot of the east coast stadiums so my best options were Miami, Milwaukee and Philly. Milwaukee was the winner since it was a weekend and weather wasn't a concern because of the retractable roof. 

Overall we had a great time. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and the Milwaukee fans were very friendly.  The only negative aspect of Miller Park is that even though or hotel was close it wasn't an easy walk.  Plus there isn't much in the way of bars and restaurants by the stadium. This really wasn't a big deal for us as Ubers were cheap and many of the bars offered shuttles.

Here are some photos

 This is Third Space Brewing.  Of the two breweries we visited it had the best beers.

 Delicious barrel aged beer in the background.

 Jenga is an underrated drinking game.

 Our seats are Friday were legit. The season ticket holders were surprised we got three tickets together at such great prices on a Friday. The Pirates won this game which also featured an inside the park homerun by Starling Marte.

 We visited Third Space Brewing right before the Friday game.  I tried everything on their menu besides this pale ale.  The beer gods were on my side when I found it in cans at the park.

 We went to City Lights Brewing on Cinco De Mayo.  They had a Mariachi band come in and play for about 45 minutes which was a nice touch.  While I liked the Third Space beer better the atmosphere was a little better here at least on this day. 

 This was the best beer at City Lights in my opinion.  Nitro Coconut Porter.  Tons of flavor even with a lower abv. 

 Our seats on Saturday.  It was kind of weird as it seemed liked the least attended game all weekend yet we had the most trouble with tickets.  Either way these were just fine.  The Pirates had a mini bullpen letdown which cost them the game late.

 Our seats Sunday.  The game was pretty enjoyable at the Pirates crushed the Brewers.  Also most fans left early which made for an easy ride back to our hotel.

 I wanted to go to the Lakefront brewery but time just didn't permit. 

 Our last beer oriented stop was a craft beer bar called Sugar Maple.  It was awesome! Tons of choices and a very friendly staff.  Plus being that it was a Sunday evening it wasn't that crowded.

 Here is the front entrance.  It is kind of tucked away in a neighborhood. 

 Delicious Beer!!!!

Devil Horns!

Milwaukee's most famous residents

Thanks for reading

In Transit (Lord Beer me Strength)

I've been logging a lot of miles this past month and still have a couple trips on the horizon.  This coming weekend I'll be in Milwaukee for my annual baseball road trip.  These trips are always fun, but I tend to not have much luck getting to see wins.  The last two years the Pirates have only won twice out of the 6 games I've attended.  For years I've avoided Milwaukee because it was always a house of horrors for the Buccos.  The past couple of years they've seemed to exercise those demons so I thought I would give it a shot.  Fingers crossed....

How about some beer.  When I'm on the road I usually try to visit a brewery or two.   

 Modern Times is out of San Diego.  When I visited their brewery a few years back it was my favorite stop. That is saying something considering that San Diego is probably a top 3 beer destination.  Since my initial visit they've blown up and have added some distribution to the east coast. I purchased this in DC and drank it on my porch last weekend.  It was awesome. While I love all beer, I tend to enjoy stouts and porters the best.  This one had such a unique flavor.

 Two weeks back I was in Lexington KY to visit my brother in law.  Ethereal Brewing was a fun visit. I love breweries that experiment will all styles.  The oatmeal stout was my favorite.

 The Bruery is based out of California, but just opened a store in DC.  For those not familiar with The Bruery, they specialize in "big beers" and sours.  Many of their beers check in at crazy abv's, but pack crazy amounts of flavor.

 Of the two I've had recently this was my favorite.  Melange checks in at 16%, but was sooooo good. Obviously these beers are meant to be shared.  If you drink one by yourself you will probably end up in a ditch somewhere.

 I'm a frequent visitor to the DC area and about every other visit I'll make a stop at Ocelot Brewing. For one they have a big WVU connection as some of their brewers are grads.  They even name some of their beers after areas in Morgantown.  Also, their beer is awesome.  Pretty important detail when opening a brewery.

 Outside beer always tastes better.  My buddy gave me this beer from Commonwealth Brewing out of Richmond VA.  A low ABV pale ale that packs big flavor.

 When I'm in town I often have a beer tasting at my house on Fridays.  One of the last ones I did was trying three different years of KBS.  It's a coffee/bourbon barrel aged stout.  One of my favorite beers that I always keep in stock at my house.

Last, but not least is a barrel aged saison from Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church VA.  When I go and visit my friends this is often one of our first stops because they serve great food and always have unique beer.

Cheers! Thanks for reading!

Concerts, Beer, Mail, Trolls and Contests

So I went to the Creed Bratton concert on Friday with my wife.  It was a good time.  Most of the music he played was original spanning from his time in the band The Grass Roots and various solo albums he came out with over the last 10 to 15 years.

The flow of the show was to play a song and then take a few minutes break to tell some jokes and stories about his time on The Office.

We were off to the side (close proximity to bar!) so the sound might not be perfect.  I've never uploaded a video that wasn't YouTube to blogger so this might not even work.

Here are some pics.

His show ran an hour and fifteen minutes or so.  The tickets were cheap so that seemed about the perfect amount of time. 

How about some awesome beer I've tried recently. 

Modern Times is a brewery out of San Diego. I went there a couple years back and loved it. They have really blown up since then and have added some eastern distribution in the DC and Pennsylvania area.  Good news for me.

Brew Gentleman is based in Braddock Pennsylvania and would get my vote as the best brewery in the area.  They have been winning awards for their IPA's, but they experiment a lot with different styles.  Such was the case with this oak aged ale infused with nectarines.  Kind of gives it a champagne like taste.

Shared this with my brother.  Fifty/Fifty is a California brewery that specializes in stouts aged in high end barrels.  It was good, but these beers carry a hefty price tag.  Glad he bit the bullet and not me.

Victory at Sea is a well known beer if you are familiar with Ballast Point.  This released used that base beer and aged it in High West barrels.  It was awesome and I just picked up some more!

Most people know Oskar Blues beers as they've been around for a long time. Ten Fidy is their base imperial stout, but once a year they break out the barrel aged version.  It is soooo good.

You are probably sensing a theme of the type of beers I've been drinking.  I do love barrel aged beers...

Another barrel aged beer from a well know craft brewery.  Bell's is another member of the old guard and is probably one of the bigger craft brewers out there.

Not for some mail.  I have plenty to catch up on this coming week.  I know I received mail from The Lost Collector, Sportscards from the Dollar Store and Angels in Order.  I'll be posting soon.

Want to see some advanced level trolling....

That is 17 PWE's from a certain Josh Willingham fan in Alabama.  I'll be breaking those open soon as well.  Kids these days.

In case you missed it I'm having a little contest for my 4th birthday.  Join in here.  I'll be closing it down in the next day or two.

Thanks for reading!

Bottoms Up

Fridays always feel like a good day to discuss beer. I've had some good ones recently so I figured I would share a few. 

For the second year in a row my friends and I did a Firestone Walker tasting. Every year they release 6 varieties of barrel aged beer.  It takes a lot of work to find these (and considerable expense) so it is always cool to have an event to celebrate.  The last couple of years I've gotten Firestone Walker to retweet some of my pictures from the tasting and even send a few messages. 

They are all sooooo good.  Hard to pick a favorite as they are all so different.  The must unique is what they call their Anniversary blend where they mix the other varieties.  

 Over Thanksgiving break my brother and I went to Pittsburgh to hit a brewery that has been getting a ton of hype over the last year.  Brew Gentleman definitely delivered on the glowing reports I received from friends.

 Beer distribution is still pretty poor in my state.  The good thing about Morgantown is that I'm only a few miles from the PA border and about 20 mins from MD. Both states have great beer distribution. Lunch from Maine Brewing Company is a beer I had a long time ago on draft and loved it.  A co worker of mine found a bottle in MD for me and it was every bit as good as I remember. 

 Peter from Baseball Every Night and I have an ongoing beer trade.  He always supplies me with beers from Trillium brewery.  Of the last bunch he sent me this was my favorite.  Lately the theme with breweries is to make high abv barrel aged stouts and porters.  Sometimes it is nice to have something a little more sessionable.  This was soooooo good.

 A nice sampling of stouts during my last DC visit.  All delicious.

 Here is the collection of Trillium that Peter sent.

Last but definitely not least are three beers from Hill Farmstead.  They tend to focus more on farmhouse ales which tend to be on the sour side.  They were all outstanding.

Jim aka GCRL recently just sent me a nice sampling of Minnesota beers.  That is what I'm working on the next week or two!

Cheers

A Successful Homecoming

I had a ton of fun this weekend, but I feel like I need to sleep for 3 days. On Friday night we had around 40 people at our house which is fun, but exhausting. We can still party like undergrads every once in a while, but the recovery time has gone up ten fold.

The theme this weekend was Oktoberfest so lets take a look at some of the better beer I tried.

 Fat Heads has long been a favorite brewery of mine so I'm always excited to try any beer I can from them. This one was more on the sweeter side of the Oktoberfest style, but very tasty.

 I didn't know this beer existed. Schlafly is a brewery I've had a ton over the years, but had never seen this release until this year. Most Oktoberfest beers are low abv.....Schlafly decided to pump one up as this one clocks in at 8.5%.  It was amazing. Definitely one of the better beers I tried over the weekend.

 My brother goes to North Carolina quite a bit so over the years I've had him bring me some of the local brews back. Since he took a late trip in September he was able to accumulate some Oktoberfest.  This was my favorite of the NC ones.

Of course no Oktoberfest is complete without a nice sampling of traditional German Marzens. 

WVU managed to get the win on Saturday so that completed the fun weekend. It was looking pretty bad at the half, but WVU managed to overcome an 18 point deficit. 

I celebrated the win with an old fashion

Back to cards tomorrow!

Thanks for reading.