Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Fly the friendly skies... and drink a few good beers!

Back from the Bay Area. Unfortunately we didn't have any free time so we weren't able to scoot by Third Street or Russian River. Looks like we'll be going back there in the not too distant future (for one of the upcoming holidays) so we'll be sure to make some time then.

However, that doesn't mean I didn't get a chance to try out a few new brews during the trip! In fact, I may have found a new favorite (until it turns full blown winter and I'm sucking down vats of my winter fave - Widmere's Snow Plow) in Lost Coast Brewery's Great White Beer. This unfiltered ale has a citrusy smooth taste and is made with two-row unmalted barley, unmalted wheat, ale yeast and a secret blend of Humboldt herbs (Humboldt + secret herbs = Cannabis?). Whatever! It is damn tasty!

If you haven't see 'em yet, microbreweries are starting to set up shop inside airports now. The Colorado Springs airport recently got a Gordon Biersch restaurant to compliment the handfull of other breweries in the city. Being the Barnstorming Beer Hounds that we are, we of course partook of a few brews before catching our Express Jet flight (beers for a buck - granted, it's Foster's, Miller and Miller light, but - BEERS FOR A BUCK!) to Cali. I sampled the auburn hued Marzen (which one most have during the Septembeer/Oktobeer time frame) as well as their black Scwarzbier - both were absolutely delicious. The Marzen - a slightly sweet, smooth lager sitting at 5.7% - is GB's most popular brew. the style originates from Bavaria where it was brewed in the month of March ("Marzen" in German) and stored until the end of September where it was consumed during Oktoberfest.

At the Sacramento airport we mistakenly stumbled upon a Pyramid Alehouse. I knew about the GB in CS, but a Pyramid in Sac?! WOOOHOOO!! Needless to say we went in and grabbed a few cold ones. I'm a long time fan of Pyramid's Hefe and Apricot Weizen, but up until yesterday had never guzzled their Amber Weizen. It is delish! There has yet to be a Pyramid beer that I haven't liked.

Since we're talking about locations to have a good beer... AOL recently compiled a list of America's Top Beer Gardens. Check 'em out while the weather's still good enough to sit outside and suck down a brew!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We really like this blog about our favorite subject. microbrew beer at the airport is awesome, now lets get good beer on the plane.

Eli the Mad Man said...

Thanks for the props Phillip! Here and on your site (http://your-relevant.com/). MUCH appreciated.

Ya, I agree about the beer selection on planes. The airline we were using on our last trip was Express Jet. It's new to Colorado Springs and I have to say is one of THE single best flight experiences I've had in a LONG time. They actually served us REAL FOOD on both legs of the journey. At no extra cost! Free XM radio and what's more... the beers only cost $1 (mixed drinks $3). Granted, it's not the best selection - OK, it's terrible - Fosters, Miller and Miller Lite (I think it was Miller, I don't drink domestic swill so it all looks the same to me), but hey... what do you expect for a buck, right?!