Note:- most of these websites insist on you keying in your age – there’s plenty of “Prohibitionists” around here still.
#2 Instalment of the Beer Tour of the World
Oak Creek Brewery
Pale Ale. 5% Alc. Very very nice. Low fizz, deep hops. One of the local Sedona micro brews.
Sierra Nevada “Torpedo” Extra India Pale Ale
From California. Creamy head, very bitter hops taste 7.2%
Carta Blanca
A bit like old Moretti. Not too fizzy, hoppy. Good – don’t know alcohol content
Dinner at Battista’s Hole in the Wall Las Vegas.
Limited menu Italian with dozens and dozens of memorabilia photos on the wall of stars from years and years ago. This was a famous hang-out joint.
House wine is complimentary – one carafe of red and one white, a Burgundy and a Chablis. Dinners were pricey for Vegas, $20 - $26 or so, but as usual they came with
1. Garlic Bread
2. Side dish of pasta.
3. The Wine (i.e. two carafes)
You have to be really careful about what comes with what or you order side dishes and then find out you have 5 on your side of the table alone!. There is an ancient accordion player called Gordo who is ultra-famous and appears in the posters for sale – we now know he can play Waltzing Matilda.
Dinner at Max Brenner’s Chocolate Shop
Wyder Pear Cider – very nice. Only 4%. Not sweet and not enhanced at all – subtle pear taste to remind you it’s not apple cider (which they also make).
We both had Blackened Salmon, covered with black sesame seeds with vegetables. Some ridiculously low price for a signature restaurant in the avenues of Caesar’s Palace. The ciders were $6.95 each, the meals about $17.95 each. I had a Mexican hot chocolate for dessert, dark hot chocolate with Chili – Carol didn’t like the taste she had but I would happily go back for more of it. She had a Yemeni cappuchino in a Kangaroo cup (has a pouch in which they sit chocolate squares that melt as you drink the coffee
Sam Adams Noble Pilsner at Hard Rock Café.
Very citrusy but not sweet citrus, more sour. The sour is probably from the yeast more than the hops. 4.9%. It is one of their seasonal beers, only made between January and March and to be consumed within 6 months (there’s a marker on the side of the bottle to tell you when “best before”)
Mexican Cantina at Tuscany Casino
Carol ordered the Flaming Fajitas, beef, chicken and shrimp flamed at your table in tequila (makes the room smell nice as almost every table has someone order it)
I ordered a shot of Patron Silver with lime wedges to start with ($7.95 for a large measure)
Carol ordered the Californian Merlot ($4.00 per glass) which was eminently drinkable.
Excellent meal, though as usual here, we couldn’t finish it.
Nice resort.
More on
a) Dry Pear Cider – bought a 6-pack when we were in our Extended Stay hotel. Very nice in multiples
b) Tsing Tao. Ok but shows a little sweetness that I don’t like
Back to the Mint Indian – another Haywards 5000 then I tried the Taj Mahal a second time – I had this at the India Oven near the Sahara a few years ago. It’s no better this time. Strange that it costs $1 more than the Haywards for a 22oz but the Haywards kills it for taste. (ps – the Sahara closed down while we were there – it opened in ’57. We stayed there one time in Vegas)
Now on the East Coast, where good coffee is easier to get.
Yuengling Traditional Lager
Oldest continuously owned family brewery in America - established 1829 by a German immigrant. They were serving it by the jug at the Crab Deck where we had a seafood platter on Memorial Day. When they serve jugs here, they put in a floating ice container so that the container melts inside but doesn’t add water to the beer – a clear esky brick if you like. Keeps the jug cold. A great beer – look at the others in the range.
Jose Cuervo Margarita Classic Lime
Ok, in a motel you don’t have the luxury of mixing Triple Sec, Lime Juice, Tequila etc etc. So you buy a QUART of premixed Margarita for $18:00. You look at the label and it says 9.9% so you say ah, that’s not even as bad as a classic great red. Then you realize that it’s actually 19.9% when you do the calculation of by volume and that’s why your head’s spinning after drinking half of it at one go.
Gordon Biersch Golden Export Lager
Very very nice – nothing overshadows anything else – extremely well balanced. Crisp and clear.
Very pricey at a GB restaurant - $14 a pint.
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
6.0%
Very strong hops (added continuously over a 60 minute boil period). Very citrusy.
Not a light summer sipping ale – winter with a roast leg of lamb and roast veggies etc.
And they have a 90 and a 120!
and more Corona of course.
Spaten
Sensational beer – classic Munich lager. After the intense hops of the Dogfish IPA60 and the maltiness of some of the Sierra Nevadas, this is great. Not very carbonated so the head disappears quickly. Light and fresh but not a “light” beer – it’s 5.2%. If you see it, buy it.
Buffalo Wild Wings. (it’s a chain)
This place is a blast.
First, when you go in, you have heaps of high tables with stools. You go from the kid-friendly zone to the young-adult-friendly zone to the bar zone.
There are about 20 beers on tap, including Newcastle Brown and Abbots, Amstel, Heineken, the local Yuengling and others. There are about 20 tv screens in the bar section alone – 16 normal house size, 2 wide screens and then two that are comprised of 4 panels each. Most have sport of one form or another. One runs a quiz show – you sign in on your android and play the “quiz night” format of 10-question rounds. Then you get told who the winner is – different bars from the Wild Wings chains all play against each other.
The wings and ribs are joined by burgers and quesadillas, tacos, salads etc. Your sauce comes from the “smilin;” end of the range through the “sizzlin’” to “screamin”. 6 wings plus 6 celery sticks with blue cheese dip sets you back $6.99. A box of fries is another $3.99. Coronas are $4.50.
This is unbelievable. If we had one in Dalyellup, you wouldn’t see me all Sunday, provided you had NFL American Football on half the channels, three Sunday AFL games plus cricket from somewhere and a Big Wave contest from Mavericks. Maybe an ice-hockey game thrown in for good measure.
In the background, they’d got their hands on the classic CD “Australia’s Best Pub Songs” so we had the obligatory Angels, AC/DC and even a full length version of Aqualung.
They run a Kids’ Day for families – 99c kids’ meals with the Cartoon Channel running and colouring in competitions.
There are two tvs over the men’s urinals so you don’t miss any of the major game (behind glass screens). I was reliably informed that there are tv’s over the washbasins in the ladies also, but there are no glass screens?
Let’s not stuff around on dessert – you can have vanilla icecream with chocolate topping or chocolate Fudge Cake. I mean, you’ve got to like one or the other so why muck around with too many choices?
This place rocks. It’s in walking distance of our suite so no drink/drive issues. It’s a Monday night and it was near full – The Canucks are playing Boston in the ice-hockey finals and this game (game 3 of 5) is in Boston. Half the crowd came to watch this, the other half to watch everything, and all the crowd came for hot wings and beer. The start-up guy sang “O Canada” first which got zilch then the “Star Spangled Banner” and that got the bar cheering. Boston went a)one Canuck carted off in the first couple of minutes then
b)two quick goals
and the place was jumping.
Had to go – couldn’t fit any more beer or icecream in.
Hoges in the Chesapeake.
Loving this, sounds like you're enjoying every minute of it! Love the idea of the kangaroo cup with melting chocolate! Have you tried any of the local seafood like the Chix lobsters or the crabs? Having said that, I've just had a thought that perhaps Terrence is allergic to seafood or have I imagined that? :o
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