The Other Beer Coast

With great travel experiences comes great opportunities to try new beer. I recently had the opportunity to visit both California and Arizona for what seemed an all too short trip to visit family. One of my cousins lives outside LA and helped to introduce the local craft beer scene to me. However, on the second leg of my vaca, I got to see that Arizona does have a few local brews worth a mention, although none of them had catus juice on the menu.

My recent trip was my second time visiting the sunshine state and first time that I got to explore options for one of my favorite beverages. One thing I recently learned that, according to the Brewer's Association, California is number one in the country for number of craft brewers in the US with 438. That is a lot of breweries and, unfortunately, I don't have enough vacation time to visit all of them in one go. However, I did get to visit a few.

The California Leg:

El Segundo Brewing Company:

The first stop of my beer tour was  the El Segundo Brewing Company. It was not only a cool place to hang out but had one other interesting character (other than your's truly) that is supposedly Steve Austin. I didn't get to see him but pictures of one or two of his visits plus an action figure modelled in his honor decorate the bar.

While at El Segundo,  I figure it was worth wrestling a flight to try not only my preferred style of brew, stouts, but a couple others.

The first that I was drawn to was the Hyperion's Vanilla Stout. This seemed to be a marriage between an Irish dry stout and a vanilla stout with much success. It was smooth and not too overly sweet.The others of the flight that was of note was the Pine Tar Incident (Black IPA) and Power Plant (Triple IPA). Normally I am not an IPA guy but something about both of these two drew me in and were quite tasty.

King Harbor Brewing Company:
The next place we drank was at King Harbor. It is a casual place to chill. The guy behind the counter that night reminded me a little of one of the members of the band The Swingin Utters for some reason, or at least a fan. The brew I tried was the Swirley. It claims to be a swirl of chocolate and vanilla but tasted more of a coffee brew.

Rock and Brew:
One thing the missus always mentions is that I should try a sample before I get a brew. Mind you I am a bit of a sucker for anything with an amusing or interesting name. Dragonstooth stout is one of those that caught my eye when we visted the Rock and Brew for a bite to eat, an establishment owned in part by Gene Simmons. The Dragonstooth turned out to be quite rich and heavy but delicious.

Later in the evening I decided that I wanted to get my hands on the following t-shirt:

The missus did not get the Pink Floyd references and felt quite embarrassed for her comment of "You know it has a rainbow on it, right?" I had to explain I like beer, Pink Floyd and remind her I like gay people.

The Dudes:

For anyone who is a fan of a good beer and the Big Lebowski may enjoy a trip to The Dudes Brewery. Though it did lack in a stout or porter selection, my go to's, it did have a good alternative with Gandma's Pecan Brown Ale.

It was a sweet beer that was flavorful with notes of pecans (of course) and smooth finish. The only thing that could have been better was a carpet to tie the room together.

The Strand Brewing Company:

The last brewery we tried was the Strand Brewering Company. When we visited, the brewery recently relocated and looked as if it had plenty of room to grow.

Their stout, Batch 100 was good, but on 1st taste, it was not clear as to what kind of stout it was trying to be and took a moment to see where it was going.

The Arizona Leg:

Barrios Brewing:

Often times a hole in the wall, or a place that seems unsuspecting is unsuspecting good. Barrios Brewing is such a place. It had an industrial facade but was comfortable inside.

I was worried that we had trouble getting there because, at one point it rained. And when it rains, the roads do get flooded. Fortunately, we got there safe. I got to share a flight with everyone and found a couple of brews worth a note.

On occasion, I do like to indulge in a fruity beer. T'aylor Jayne's Raspberry Ale hit the spot and was quite refreshing. I followed it up with a Mocha Java Milk Stout with lunch and it had the right balance between a coffee taste and smoothness.


BJ Brewhouse

The last leg of brews was at BJ's, apparently a nationwide chain. We visited the Mesa location and had myself a Tatonka Stout. I figured why not have for my last beer an Imperial. Was quite tasty although the food could have been better. Then again, it could be the fact it was a chain.

Brews: A couple hits and a miss

As seen in my last post here, I had an adventure in other states and came across a few interesting brews. As a follow up, I was considering a few brews I would think overall personal hits, and a couple misses. These can be from my trip and a few that would other wise be worth mentioning.

Hits:

Duck Rabbit Milk Stout

One of the first beers I had in North Carolina was Duck Rabbit's Milk stout. It had a hint of sweetness and went down smooth. It went fairly well with the meal I had at the Hibernian Pub of Bangers and Mash and did stand up well with standard burgers and fries at Black Finn before we went home.

Sweet Baby Jesus

To be honest, I am a sucker for a funny name. Ask me about Clown Shoes sometime. Although I did not have a religious experience for this beer, I was slightly hesitant at first. Reason? A chocolate and peanut butter flavor beer. Sounds great for some kind of snack or desert, but for a beer? Fortunately it did deliver and was quite tasty. Granted it maybe best as an after dinner treat but worth a try.

Banana Seat
Brewed by a company by the name of Crank Arm Brewing, it sounds more like something involving bicycling or things best not discussed in proper company.

Miss:

Chocolate Mint Stout

One of the few  that was a disappointment while visiting North Carolina was that Crank Arm was also serving a stout. It was a variation on a typical chocolate stout with a hint of mint that just didn't do it. Maybe I was expecting this brew to be an ode to Girl Scout cookies but the mint flavor seemed either artifical or just off. However it appears that they have other stouts and porters that could be worth a try.

Let me know what you think and what are some of your hits and misses.

Adventures in Beer

I figured to take a detour and write (or rant) about another favorite topic: beer. I have been accused of becoming a bit of a beer snob over the last couple years, and not without reason. I used to be mostly a lager drinker but moved into mostly stouts or porters.

But what prompted this admission is another part of my visit to the Carolinas. I hail from Massachusetts, home of Sam Adams and Harpoon. (if you are fans of these beers, you’re welcome) Although Boston does host many craft and a couple bigger named beers, Raleigh NC was a pleasant place for a beer connoisseur to get away.


When me and the misses landed, got the rental and checked into our hotel, we met up with a gentleman named Chuck. He is a network contact of the misses, and showed us a couple of good places. First stop was an Irish Pub named Hiberian Pub on Glenwood Ave. Chuck was once part owner of the pub but recently retired. His partner Nial, an actual Irishman who lived in Boston for a few years, runs the establishment.

Grabbing a plate of Irish fare seemed like a must. I got a plate of Bangers and Mash that was not only delicious but was enough for two people. The beer to wash my plate down? Duck Rabbit Stout! I have found that I am partial to milk stouts and this beer, although bottled, was smooth and satisfying, with a touch of sweetness.

Next up, Chuck was gracious to show us what could be described as a near Mecca of Beer in Raleigh. The Beer Garden in Raleigh serves over 300 beers, including over 200 local draughts. Yes. 300 plus beers. I don' usually say this but I can’t even….

The establishment had a layout of 3 floors to grab a seat at the bar or a table with friends. The 1st floor had the local brews with a glass door to sneak a peak of the kegs and hoses for the taps. Floor 2 had a selection of macro brews while the 3rd floor only had a handful of national beers and more limited seating. We decided to hang out on the first floor and sample the local. I thought out loud that with such a selection, a flight of beers would be a smart way to try different beers. I was not disappointed and had a fine mix of porters and a local stout, which was not bad.

Chuck had to take off. The misses and I headed back to the hotel but found a neat little find. We came across The State of Beer, a craft beer store with a few beers on tap. I confess the place had a hipster vibe, but I figure check it out before deciding if it was cool. To add atmosphere, they were playing some alternative, on vinyl of course. We browsed and decided to have a round. I got Kalamazoo stout by Bell's Brewery, a licorice flavored stout. It was actually quite good. I know some of you who maybe reading this might be turned off by bad experiences of Jägermeister in days gone by but I assure you it was worth a try.

But one thing did blow my mind. While we drank and listened to some Modest Mouse, we witness another patron grab a beer, purchase it and consume it in one sitting. Now, mind you the concept of having a beer store with beers to purchase on tap is cool as is. But the idea of “Hey I want a bottle of this or that” and just buying it and drinking there and then was awesome. Mind you, I haven’t seen anything like this in Massachusetts so the idea was something to get used to.

We didn’t stay for much longer in Raleigh since we were heading to South Carolina to visit friends. On our way, we visited the town of Apex, North Carolina. One place to note was another craft beer shop of The Beer Dispensary! Similar to The State of Beer, it had a selection of great craft beers and a place you could grab a draft or bottle to drink right there. The selection had not only a good selection of local brews but even had a few familiars including Arrogant Bastard Ale and others.

For lunch, we grabbed lunch at the Salem Street Pub, where we shared a flight and a bite.
The food was good and a good selection of beers to choose from. The service was uneven since the waitress seemed very distracted while one of the managers was helping out with drinks and questions. One drink that was a pleasant surprise was The Sweet Baby Jesus chocolate and peanut butter porter. Yes, that is a real beer! I am a sucker for a crazy sounding beer but the taste was in fact a blend of chocolate and peanut butter and tasty.

The trip was by far not long enough but I am looking forward to visiting once more!

A walk in the Arcade

Recently my lovely significant other and I visited Raleigh, NC and found a bit of nostalgia. Back in the day, a person could go into an arcade with a fist full of quarters and play either for the fun of it or to show their dominance with a controller. For the most part, these days are gone for the stand alone arcade.

Enter the arcade hybrid. While figuring out which restaurant to grab dinner at, we stumbled across a place called Boxcar Bar and Arcade. The place had a range of video games such as Aliens, the first few Mortal Kombat titles as well as ski ball and various pinball games. Additionally, the place had, as the name suggests, a bar as well to grab drinks or a bit of popcorn.

Although we didn't indulge in a beverage, I can see where a big source of income would be drawn from in terms of a bar or restaurant. Most games were only a quarter or 50 cents, which a player had to use tokens instead of tokens. None of games generated tickets redeemable for prizes. As a gamer, although winning a prize can be fun but there is almost a certain purity to the game without a prize carrot.

The crowd was predominantly a college crowd with the occasional over 40 something or kids tagging along. With a couple games, people politely offered a 2 person challenge without copping an elite attitude. One woman seemed to be a pinball enthusiast and was open to challenging me to a round or two of Dr. Who and was critical of one person being rude for being in the way of other players. The highlight of the time spent at Boxcar was challenging the misses to Air Hockey and Ski Ball.

However, we had to call it quits and head over for food. I look forward to visiting again for round 2.

http://theboxcarbar.com/

Funny post found on Reddit.com

How I see one scene that is missing from Star Wars episodes 1-3 that is found in Disney's Infinity:

Adventures in Screenwriting

So my humble apologies for not posting in a while but I figure a good spot to pick up is on my current writing project.

A while back I wrote a short story and published it here

I decided to take the challenge to turn it into a screen play and figured give a few thoughts about it.

-Formating: Since a screen play, or any script for that matter, follows a specific format. To help with this, I am using https://writerduet.com/ as a means to write the script. I could go on and on about the virtures of this service but I will keep it short. 1) The tools available in the site make it very easy to format. 2) It is free to use but could upgrade to get more bells and whistles. 3) Since the service is web based, if my computer decides to crash, I am not completely up a creek without paddle.

-Translating from one writing mode to another: With writing a short story, novella or novel, it lends itself access to the inner mind of a character and can have a third person narrator to describe things that are abstract. A screen play does not lend well to such things. Having to convert certain sections to a more visual means, adding dialogue or finding other ways to convey a certain thought is certainly a creative challenge. Granted, some things do not translate well and may end up on the proverbial cutting room floor, unfortunately.

-Length of the screen play: I understand that a typical screen play for a full length movie is between 90 to 120 pages (about a page a minute on average). 1st draft of my script was about 37-38 pages. I am in the process of editing this 1st draft and so far have lengthed things by clarifying certain things, fleshing out dialogue, adding visual actions for characters, etc. I am also working on adding a narrator to help with guiding the story along. Whether this gets me to 90 plus pages remains to be seen.

-Oh, look, shiny: Oh the challenges of keeping focused. Life often interfers. Interests in other hobbies, having to have a day job, wanting to spend some quality time with my cats and lovely girlfriend (not necessarily in that order all the time) do demand time and attention. By no means is this complaining, it is honesty. But when I do have the time, getting into the writing mindset is often a challange in and of itself. To help combat distraction, sometimes I use a change of scene and editing on a hard copy print out helps a lot.

-The next step: My goal after getting at least one round of editing done is hopefully getting others to provide feedback. Fortunately there are editing services out there and hopijng pick the brains of others who have experience in screen writing. I think this would be the toughest but very useful part, since as a writer, I want the reader to enjoy but know I cannot get better without revision.

I will keep you posted.