Fat
Head’s has always been a great bar; with over 40 taps, cask ale, a bottle shop
and fantastic sandwiches. A few years
back they bought their own brewery and serve their own award winning
beers. I started with a Dark Horse FF
Dekoorc Eert (Crooked Tree IPA spelled backwards, with FF standing for Falconer’s
Flight hops) on draft while I reviewed the menu. It was wings night, so I tried one each of their
6 hottest wings (only the Killer made me sweat, but I really liked the flavor
of the Spicy Parmesan) with a local beer, East End’s Pedal Pale Ale on
draft. I was glad for the food, and the
AC since it was sweltering outside, and ordered a South Shore Steak and Egg
(Philly cheesesteak with a fried egg on top, delicious!) to go with a variety
of Fat Head beers. Tonight I was able to
enjoy their #1 Saison (hate to find out what the #2 Saison was) and a Hippy
Sippy Imperial Stout. We could have stayed later, but we needed to get to the
hotel for our next day’s meeting, so we called it an evening.
The
next night we had decided to take it a bit slower, so we went to Matt’s
favorite destination, Mitchell’s Fish Market.
I don’t typically associate Pittsburgh with seafood, but I have to admit
that my Shanghai style cod was pretty good.
Besides, Matt promised we’d go over to Rock Bottom brewery
afterwards. Rock Bottom was offering
some decent brews, so I sat down and enjoyed an Agave Blonde on cask while
watching the All-Star game (how about some batting National League). We were sitting at the bar (a Matt chosen
trend for the week), and Greg found out that the bartender was a fellow
ex-bubblehead. I volunteered to drive
(it was ok, I’d had already tried the rest of the beers), and both Greg and
Matt enjoyed themselves. On the way back
to the hotel we stopped by Dad’s Pub (formerly D’s Six Packs and Dogs second
location) for a Philly brewing Bitter Canadian.
Matt and Greg were both tired (guess those Rock Bottom beer were
stronger than they thought), so we called it a night and got ready for our next
day’s activities.
We
finished our meetings and headed to the airport. We have our own tradition of stopping for a
late lunch / early dinner at Bocktown Beer and Grill (http://www.bocktown.com), a place with a
good bottle selection and 16 drafts close to the airport. I was excited to see that they were having a
tap takeover, with over half of the taps being dedicated to New Holland brewing. This Michigan brewer has wonderful brews, but
typically I’m only able to find them in the bottle. So with such a selection on draft, and
Bocktown offering 4oz pours, I was all set for a little food and drink. I started off with pickled beets and eggs,
and followed with their delicious BELTCH (bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, and
cheese) sandwich. I tried the Farmhouse
Hatter, their Rye Hatter, an Oak Aged Hatter, and the Four Witches Saison (guess
they ran out of Hatters). I picked up a
couple of their specialty bottles; taking home the Charkoota Rye aged in brandy
barrels, and sharing their Blue Sunday Sour (not Matt’s or Greg’s favorite). A good rest stop.
I
made it home safe and sound (so did the bottles), unpacked, and got ready for
bed. Jenn and the kids were out of town,
so the house was pretty quite. Oh well,
after two nights of hearing the trucks hit their jake brakes on the nearby highway,
the silence and sleep was a welcome change. - 6327/14316
“I drink to make other people interesting.” - George Jean Nathan
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