Gooski’s
is a bar in Polish Hill, a neighborhood near the Strip District. Proudly proclaiming itself as a dive bar, the
area was a bit shady (glad it was still daylight) and I was a bit nervous
stepping into the dark. Boy was I wrong.
There were pool tables and a band stage in the back (the band was arriving and
setting up), and a long bar with a lot of local draft selections. I got the East End Harvest when I asked if
they had some pierogies (what else in a polish area?). I chose the sauerkraut and potato option,
served with fried onions and sour cream (delicious). The people were friendly, offering advice on
local beer stops, but I was close to the Church Brew Works (http://www.churchbrew.com/) and decided to see
what they had to offer. The Church Brew
Works had just been voted Large Brewpub of the Year at the GABF, so I stopped
by to try their Berliner Weisse to go along with a bowl of their Seven Onion
Soup (seven onions in each bowl, or seven different onions?). It was good, but it was getting late, so I
headed over to my hotel to check in.
Monday
was a day of meetings, and then off by myself for dinner. I wasn’t feeling up to a fancy meal, so I
went over to D’s Six Packs and Dogs (http://www.ds6pax.com/) for dinner and a
beer. I got an Angry Tiki dog; pineapple,
bacon, hoison, and Double Dip sauce (sweet, salty and spicy) and an order of
Jamaican jerk wings to go along with my local beers. I got to try two from Roy Pitz, a brewery out
of Chambersburg, their Daddy Fat Sacks IPA and their Lone Soldier Sour
Ale. The IPA was passable, but I really
enjoyed the sour ale. Next I wanted to
try a new place (new for me at least), the House of 1000 Beers (http://www.houseof1000beers.com). This is a bottle store with its own bar, both
extremely well stocked with choices. The
wait staff were knowledgeable and laid back, and I was thankful that Emily
allowed me to sample several of the local beers on the house. On draft, I got a snifter of the Alesmith Old
Numbskull Barleywine while searching through the bottles, the trick being that
I would have to take them home on the plane.
I was impressed with their dated beer selection and chose a Mikkeller
Santa’s Little Helper ’10 that had been aged in rum barrels as well a Hoppin’
Frog Naked Evil Barrel Aged Barleywine.
I plan to cellar both and enjoy with my friends back home.
Tuesday
was another day of meetings, followed by our work dinner. If there is one constant with my meeting with
British it is when given the choice they will always opt for a steak
restaurant. So we went to the Lone Star
in Homestead for some prime rib, not the best choice for beer but still a cool
location. Right outside of the
restaurant are the old smokestacks from the Carnegie steel mills, a bit of history
that the kids and I knew about from the History channel series, “The Men Who
Built America.” The lack of beer was
well compensated for with the fresh horseradish, making my steak eating a
tearful experience. Afterwards, we
headed over to the Rock Bottom Brewery for a few pints. I enjoyed their oak aged High Level Brown ale
while sharing some stories.
The
last day of the meeting was fairly low key, the participants writing up the
meeting notes to get published in the minutes (if it ain’t written down, it
didn’t happen). We finished early enough
that I had time to have a leisurely lunch on a new place on South Side, Piper’s
Pub (http://piperspub.com). Piper’s Pub is a football (we yanks call it
soccer) bar similar to the Biergarten in Albany, opening early on the weekends
so that patrons can enjoy the European matches.
I was hungry, so I ordered the Scotch Eggs with real HP Sauce, a
Helltown Mischievous Brown Ale on cask, and enjoyed my conversation with the
bartender. Piper’s Pub has been around
for a while, but I never really noticed since it is almost directly across the
street from Fathead’s, my favorite South Side establishment. Since that was my next destination, I popped
in and tried the Penn Harvest Rye PA on cask.
I would say that Piper’s was for more hardcore beer drinkers while
Fathead’s is for the masses. Luckily, I’m
able to fit in both categories.
I
drove out to the airport and stopped at Bocktown while waiting for the
opportune time to go check in for my flight.
I sat an enjoyed the New Holland Black Tulip triple, and perused their
bottle selection while I waited. They
had a few different ones, but I was already pushing what I could carry back on
my flight, so I was content. It was a
good trip, and I made it back in plenty of time to get my rest for Jessica’s
field trip to the Bronx Zoo (I was a chaperone) the next day. - 6119/13056
“It is better to think of church in the alehouse then to
think of the alehouse in church.” – Martin Luther (Of course, at the Church
Brew Works you can do both)
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