- On Tuesday our Dallas Highway store in Marietta is unveiling their 20 new draft lines. That store had previously had 50, and we made some adjustments to the interior and were able to upgrade that system by a whopping 40%. Stop by and check it out. They are bringing in some old standbys and some wackiness too. I am waiting to hear the final list, but I am pretty sure that there will be a Terrapin Big Daddy Vlady Russian Imperial Stout keg and a Southern Tier Krampus on draft. As I said recently, if your plans on Tuesday involve more holiday shopping, skip it. Get in the spirit by getting into some spirits instead. More on this later.
- Our friends at Left Hand in Colorado sent me a package the other day. I opened it, inspected the contents, and put them in the fridge. No big deal, I have a lot of beer at home that needs drinking. It stacks up. Not bragging or anything; beer is my job. So after listening to Jason from The Fred rave about this new Left Hand barrel-aged imperial stout called Wake Up Dead, I opened it last night. As anyone who reads this regularly knows, I don't exactly use this space to tell people what I like or to advocate for specific brands, but holy baby-Jesus-in-the-manger! This beer is out of this world! Left Hand can really make some dark beer, and this one is an instant classic. Push back you chair, close your computer, grab your keys and go find a bottle if this beer now. Buy a few, trust me on this one. Why are you still reading? Go.
- The cask of Peak Organic IPA at Perimeter last night tasted great. One reader named Amber came out to enjoy it on her birthday. Happy belated birthday Amber! Sorry I couldn't stay and talk longer. I wish I had. The traffic leaving Perimeter Taco Mac to get to the highway took 30 minutes. For those of you not familiar with the area, that is about a mile and a half, maybe two. If you were any of those people who were desperately going to or from the mall to finish up some holiday shopping, I hate you. Honestly...poor planning people. On a list of places to absolutely avoid at all costs right now, malls are behind only Afghanistan. Any mall is ahead of Iran, North Korea and Detroit as places that you should try to stay out of at all costs. What could they possibly have inside that mall that you could not find in another store in another place at another time? Here is something you have never heard in a mall, "Oh look, what a unique store!". Never. My reaction to a mall, any mall, is pretty consistent, "Well this looks like the same shit I see everywhere else. Can we leave now?". And another thing: Every store in that mall sells their crap on the internet. Stay home. Stop polluting the environment with your exhaust and stop ruining peoples' days by clogging up the roads. Why would Jesus want to be born at this time of year? It is just crazy around Christmas....
- I am just finishing a ridiculously good lunch at Deckard's American Tavern. I am here planning a beer event for February. I had a pastrami Reuben with a cherry pepper dijonaise. On the side was Matt's incredible macaroni & cheese. Don't tell my cardiologist about this meal, but damn it was good. If I would have had my camera I would have taken a picture of it. Matt also made some of today's appetizer special: House-Made Beef & Sausage Meatballs in marinara with smoked mozzarella. There was some super-crusty garlic bread thing on the side with the meatballs. It rocked my world. Last week I had an order of Deckard's meatloaf, which pretty much redefined what meatloaf should be from now into eternity. I don't know what the spicy glaze was, but I was a big fan of it. The people sitting next to me ordered one almost immediately after seeing mine. Mashed potatoes, green beans, all of that. (For attentive readers, you may recall my adoration of the meatloaf at Sierra Nevada's pub at the brewery in Chico. I can't compare the two at this point, having not had the Sierra Nevada meatloaf since 2008. You can't lose with either one, really, but you should seriously stop by Deckard's for a beer and a bite. That is all I am saying.) In case you are curious, the beer event under discussion involves Valentine's Day weekend. Cancel whatever plans you may already have for a restaurant you probably don't really want to go to anyway. A romantic, beer-centric opportunity is about to manifest itself. Your welcome. Remember, I provide you with alcohol related social events. The rest is up to you slugger. I can't get the fish the into your boat. All I can do is bait the hook.
- After getting this Valentine's thing planned, Matt & I just hatched another idea. Deckard's has a firkin of Terrapin Wake & Bake. All we need now is an opportunity to start drinking early to make sense of the "Wake" part....hmm....And Matt can certainly "Bake" something....New Year's Day! That's right, you can watch the Florida/Penn State or Alabama/Michigan State games at Deckard's with a pint of locally-brewed hand-drawn coffee-oatmeal imperial stout in front of you. Matt is going to have a special brunch menu, complete with some traditional New Year's Day dishes, plus brunch favorites. You can nurse that hangover the old-fashioned way--a little hair o' the dog that bit ya. They have a full bar too if Bloody Marys are your thing too.
Note: Why is it correct to spell "fridge" with a "d" when "refrigerator" is spelled without a "d"? I demand to find out who is responsible for this. Just add a "d" to refrigerator and nobody will notice.
