The Beer Traveller

We decided since the weather still sucked & it was early to stop into another pub before heading back stateside. I believe the phrase was we’ll just stop for one. I should have known things would be a little weird when the pub named the Speckled Hen was out of…you guessed it, Speckled Hen! No worries, they had a wide array of English, Irish, & Belgium Beers on tap. I ended up doing a Smithwicks, Kilkenny,& Hoeegarden. The Hoeegarden coming in the form of a 23 oz fishbowl.
The real entertainment came from a newlywed couple, Scott & Shauna, who were on their honeymoon & staying across the street. They apparently decided to stop in for one also. But from the looks of things Scott had been having 1 every 1/2 hr since breakfast. We weren’t part of the tab;e that they had joined & it’s a little tough to describe unless you were there so I was just give you some quotes that we heard:

Scott: I’m trying to make you more palatable to the female species.
Female (non-bride): Make the male species more intelligent.
Scott: The male species are idots!
—
Male: Even a stray cat will drink tainted milk.
Female: Stray cat or stray pussy?
—
Scott: Meowwww!
Female (non-bride): We’re Lions!
—
Shauna (wife of Scott): If it makes you feel better I married that god-damn thing!
—
Scott (to female non-bride, in front of bride): I should have married you in the 1st place.
—
Scott (to female non-bride): If you would have said I want a German beer, I would have put things in your mouth that I wouldn’t put in my hand.
—
Scott (to female): Best of luck finding a man to eat.

The night than ended with me getting lectured by the US customs agent about not having my passport. When I say lectured, stern talking to about not having my passport. I mean I realize you have a job to do, but I’m in the car w/ my 2 parents & sister…all with the same last name.

Due to the weather or lack there of, Dad wanted to take the family over to Kingston Ontario.  It was a good excuse to hit their local brewpub.  I had left my passport back on the left coast to keep from losing it on my travels.  Due to our evil Canadian neighbors, you now need either a birth certificate or passport to travel across the boarder.  We figured we would try anyways & I could always play the stupid one from out of town; this role actually comes quite naturally to me.  Getting into Canada was quite easy.  I was asked why I didn’t have a passport & responded with I forgot it.  No worries!
It was than off to Kingston…actually off somewhere else…than my parents who have been over there numerous times realized things didn’t look as they had remembered.  Yep, wrong turn! 
It was a dreary day, but actually decent weather for sitting outside on Kingston Brewing Company’s covered patio.  The 1st shock to my system was the waitress informing me they don’t have a ‘sampler’.  How the hell does a brewery not provide a sampling to the discerned customer.  My father, w/ his “it’s good enough attitude”, said well looks like you won’t be able to try them all.  I, with my it’s never good enough attitude, started the hamster wheel in hopes something would happen.  They had 7 beers, no way I could pint them all.  But, they did serve 10 ouncers. My mom than came out of no-where & ordered Framboise Royale from the waitress while the hamster was still getting up to speed.  See she’s never been a beer drinker, but I turned her on to Linderman’s Framboise.  She recognized that funny Belgium word & was in the game before anyone knew what was happening.  It than occurred to me the ol’ man could do 3 ten-zees & I would do the other 3 ten-zees.  Than we all could do a little family style beer tasting.
The Kingston Brewing Company was est in 1986 & they know their shit.  Both the flagship Dragon’s Breath Pale Ale & their Whitetail Cream Ale ranked Exceptional.  Dragon’s Breath Real Ale was a little too watery & was given a Drinkable.  Both the Dunkelnacht Dark Lager & Pooh’s Brew (Speciality honey lager) were graced with a likable.  Service was just ok, but both the food & Beer were excellent.

Melissa picked me up in from Stuckey’s & we were now headed up to our family’s camp on the St. Lawrence. A quick stop in our hometown of Syracuse so she could replenish her supplies (hair I’m guessing) & we were on our way.  Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance (or really want to) hit any breweries before leaving.  The weather was fairly shitty/rainy which provided my lil’ sis with the opportune conditions to snooze most of the way.  Hopefully she’d be sobered up by the time we met up w/ Mom & Gram.  We arrived at camp just in time for dinner. After being on the road for 2 weeks straight & driving most of today, I was asked to cook the hamburgers.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but I definitely had this routine down by now. 
Camp is where I spent 2 months out of every year growing up.  It consisted of eating, being lazy, fishing, swimming, eating, getting into trouble, drinking, cutting grass, eating, being grounded, sitting by campfires, hide & go seek @ night, & eating.  Did I mention I was a fat kid?  As you can imagine, it’s still great to come back & not have to worry about a thing (thank God for parents).
The weather was not the best, but it felt good to be anchored for a while & enjoy the family time.

I wanted to extend a special thanks to Stuckey & Kate as they were the most gracious hosts.  They had a 3 wk old baby & were still willing to put me up for the night.  Kate waited until we got home from the Pearl Street Grill, which allowed me the opportunity to see their beautiful baby, James Steven.  She had mentioned he had been good all day, but that soon changed when Stuckey put his paws on him.  Ever heard the term “cry like a a baby”?  Needless to say it was now time for Kate & lil’ Steven to hit the hay.  Stuckey proceeded to feed me with more beer, music, & various other forms of entertainment until I too was pooped.
Next morning found me pillaging Stuckey’s vast CD collection so that I could ‘borrow’ some music onto my MacBook.  I was in no real hurry to get going & Stuckey actually whipped up a pretty mean breakfast.  Sis arrived & was chomping at the bit to get back on the road.  May have had something with me sending her a wake-up text that I was ready whenever she was.  After arriving, she patiently (not) waited for me to burn several more hours of music.  She had had a rougher night than I, the night before & was not in the best of shape.  Thanks again Steve-O & Kate!

Good news was I was now going to hit a brewery & both my ride & my roof would be taken care of. This translated to a more thorough sampling of this establishment’s beverages.  Pearl Street was hopping, probably at least partially due to the fact that it was Saturday night. Overall their beers were about average with an Undrinkable (Lighthouse).  Usually a light beer doesn’t have enough flavor to be bad, but this was an exception.  Canal Lock Bock, Don Cherry, & Lake Effect also ranked towards the bottom with a Drinkable. Their better beers included Obstructionist, Street Brawler, Train Wreck, & Wild Ox Wheat. Food was decent, atmosphere was great, & Sean the bartender was knowledgeable.  Other than that, things were a little foggy.

I wanted to extend a special thanks to Wally & Shannon, who have recently donated to my cause.  They seem to be the only ones who have found the “Donate” button.  For those of you who are still clueless, it is a orange button in the upper right corner of every page that reads “Donate“.  Press it…fill in some bank/credit info…& see what happens.

Just a reminder I’m unemployed & am working on mooching as much as possible.

Dad, John/Danielle, Stuckey/Kate, John/Kathy, Bob/Amy; y’all are all exempt due to providing me with a roof & booze!

Thanks!

Yep, finally updated (i.e. added) some new photo albums.  Take a look.

More like Hiding Bison.  This place in located on the back side of what looks like an abandoned warehouse.  I don’t believe there was a sign out front either.  Luckily Stuckey called to give me a heads-up.  It was only about the 5th time the PITA had called me in the last 20 minutes (just kidding, we love ya Stuck). Stuckey (good friend from college) had arrived early & had been giving the lay-up to Tim (brewer).  Tim was more than accommodating & a great guy as well.  He gave a tour to Stuck, Melissa, & myself. Flying Bison isn’t exactly a brewpub, but they have a mini-bar & taps in the back of the brewery & they don’t mind doling out some free samples.  Great group of regulars & completely laid back atmosphere. 
The Dawn Patrol Gold was a golden Kolsch that did not fit the mold of the Kolschs I had been drinking along the way.  It was golden in color & had a lot more flavor than my other Kolsch experiences.  The Buffalo Lager was a little plain for my tastes, but the Blizzard Bock was Exceptional.  Literally bursting with the perfect balance of flavor.  Barn Stormer Pale was a Likable pale w/o the usual bite that some Pales have.  Blackbird Oatmeal Stout was a good stout, but boilerplate with nothing truly unique about it. 
Tim gave me another surprise when he packed up a sampler 6 pack for my travels.  Thank you Tim!  Flying Bison is not exactly a place to bring the wife for dinner, but they made some good beers & it’d be a great stop after work w/ the boys.

Once again I lost some points w/ sis for showing up @ the bar before they opened.  What can I say…I’m passionate about my work.  Luckily for us there was a motorcycle rally in town. Evidently the night before was a good one b/c the crowd was a little thin & those there were moving a little slow.  There was a beer tent in the middle…& they had bud & bud light.  I didn’t stop. 
We finally made it over to the Brewerie & were extremely impressed w/ the atmosphere.    It was an old train station that still had the looks of the original stop.  I thought this was rather unique, but Gino (bartender) informed me that there are a handful of brewpubs that have chosen to take up in vacant train stations.  The inside was roomy & painted as if the station was still in full swing. He also informed me of the struggles that a brewpub has in a blue collar town.  I don’t want to paint broad brush strokes here, but blue collar usually equates to macro American piss beer (i.e. bud).  See ‘Craig the Asshole’ blog entry for further proof.  There were many humorous stories of bikers/etc. coming in & asking for bud.  After being told this establishment doesn’t serve macro brews, they proceeded to ask for a Labatts or Heineken. Some people just don’t get it.  The great news is this pub not only represents their own brews on tap, but they also have a great assortment of other local craft breweries in the bottle. 
Unfortunately their beers were not quite as good as the stories.  Three our of five ranked Drinkable.  I was happy w/ their Half Wit (Belgium wit) & gave it a Likable.  The one that was completely unexpected was Uncle Jackson’s Blonde.  I’m usually not a fan of Blondes (beer anyways) due to their lack of flavor, but this one was Exceptional.  They were out of the Major McNair’s Nut Brown (named after Erie’s 1st brewer) & Apparition Amber.  AA was named in honor of a young girl named Clara, who had fallen down the back stairs back in the 1900’s & died.  Apparently there is some weird shit that happens in this place. Both Gino & the cook mentioned that they have personally witnessed some strange things including cold chills, wind from nowhere, noises, flashes of people, etc.  If it was later in the night I may have blamed the booze, but both gentlemen were completely sober & sincere.

Cleveland ChopHouse & Brewery is actually part of the Rock Bottom family of restaurants.  For the Cleveland location, the same brewer brews for both ChopHouse & Rock Bottom.  It was a beautiful night & Melissa & I decided to drink outside on the patio. The inside was that of a typical steakhouse; dimly lit w/ slightly more elegant decor.  Our table was outside by the front door & provided a night’s worth of entertainment as we watch patrons come & drunks leave.
Beers were what you would expect from Rock Bottom, decent but safe.  Unlike Great Lakes, they has beers on both end of the spectrum. The Seasonal Wheat was a sweet wheat & ranked Exceptional, while the Cleveland Comet (seasonal) had a vinegar flavor & was ranked Undrinkable.  Our waitress Stephanie was a cheerful young lass that was willing to help with all my needs & even offered up a brewery tour.  Manager Jaime later fit me in for a tour while juggling her many other duties. 
Some interesting quotes from the patio included “Is that our girlfriend” one guy to another.  Also “Hey sweet lips” from an 80 yr man yelling to his wife at the front door as he was standing by his car.  We also became acquainted with Cleveland’s safety ambassadors.  Ours happened to be a 300# gentlemen w/ a voice of a southern blues man; he was also on a bike that he probably should have been on.  He stopped by to inform us to move both the camera & purse (sister’s) away from the edge of the table.
ChopHouse had a great atmosphere; probably best to skip the birks & T-shirt if you decide to stop.