My latest featured article for RateBeer’s The Hop Press… posted on Saturday, May 22th.
My wife and I have been in Myrtle Beach for the last week. The place we have rented is very nice, right on the beach and the weather has mostly been perfect for relaxing in the sunshine. Its a much needed rest for the both of us after a very hectic fall, winter and spring. Being the beer lover that I am, one of my favorite things to do while traveling on vacation is to sample some of the regional beer offerings.
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written by VTHopHead
\\ tags: Beer Quest, Featured Article, Hop Press, HopPress, Travel
My latest featured article for RateBeer’s The Hop Press… posted on Saturday, March 27th.
I have talked before about the planning work being done for my May vacation this year. Work has been super busy for the last 9 months or so and I am really looking forward to the break; though it is still about 6 weeks away. As we discussed what might be on the travel itinerary this year, all sorts of thoughts spun through my head about where we might go for this vacation. It should probably come as no surprise that “beer” was, at least initially, part of the discussion.
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written by VTHopHead
\\ tags: Event, Featured Article, Hop Press, Travel
I have been wanting to visit the Bobcat Cafe & Brewery for a long time and I was not disappointed. The brewpub is located right on the main “drag” in downtown Bristol, Vermont. We arrived a bit before the dining room opened and were immediately “assigned” a table for when we were ready to eat and we sat at the bar while waiting. The decor is old, warm and homey… lots of real wood everywhere. The bartender was very social and quite knowledgeable about the beer that they were serving. They had 12 taps with their own beer that night along with a small selection of “foreign” taps. I also noticed that they have a “mug club” here and the tender told us it was fully subscribed… a good sign. Since 4 oz. beer “samplers” were only $1 and I had a designated driver with me, I was able to sample all 12 of their in-house selections. While I definitely felt that some of them were better than others… several were very good, one was not good at all… the brewer clearly knows what he is doing.
When we did get to dinner, I was pleasantly surprised to find much more than just the standard pub fare… in fact some of their offerings were down right unusual… Vermont venison/chorizo meatloaf, for example. I had a nice salad and an order of something they called a “pecora” (batter fried slivered vegetables), which were both very tasty. The traffic through their door while we were there was busy (a Saturday night), but the staff efficiently moved them through. As with the bartender, the wait-staff was knowledgeable and very friendly. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and will hope to get back there sometime soon.
written by VTHopHead
\\ tags: VT Breweries
My wife (Candy) and I recently took some time to return to one of our favorite regions… the Greater Portland Maine and Portsmouth NH areas. The weather was not that great, so we “had” to spend some time in some of my favorite watering holes… not that I’m complaining, mind you. On the list were the Great Lost Bear and Three Dollar Dewey’s in Portland as well as the Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth. All off these establishments offer many taps (GLB has 65), plenty of local beers (Portsmouth is all their own, of course) and offer “sample paddles”, to reduce the collateral damage of trying so many new brews… I have fortunately married a “designated” driver, thank goodness . They all three also have great food to go along with the beer! Below are pictures and links to their sites…
- Three Dollar Deweys In “Old Port”, Portland, ME
- The Great Lost Bear
- The Portsmouth Brewery
written by VTHopHead
I spent the better part of last week in Las Vegas at a conference. During the few days that I was there, I was able to add an incredible 16 new beers to my Ratebeer ratings list. Almost all of these new beers were sampled at the restaurants and bars in and around the Mandalay Bay property. The new additions to my list can be viewed at http://www.ratebeer.com/user/10669/ratings.
written by VTHopHead
\\ tags: Article
