Dog Tired in Pittsburgh

Another meeting in Pittsburgh, another chance to sit WAY too long in a meeting room, and another chance to go out and share an evening with some friends.  So I caught the 6AM flight, sat in meetings until 6PM, and then checked into our hotel at Homestead (my new favorite sleep over spot).  We then walked to our dinner spot, Rock Bottom Brewery (http://www.rockbottom.com/).  Rock Bottom is a chain brewpub that provides decent food, has plenty of space, large beers and is in walking decent of our hotel.  It’s an easy place to hang out into the evening, so that’s what we did.  I got the Cajun fish tacos to go along with my IPA on cask, dry-hopped with Chinook hops.  There were other beers (Gulden Slumbers and Shelf Life IPL come to mind), but the place was more about hanging out.  It was a long day so I turned in early (although I stayed up to watch a GOT episode), and tried to get rest for our next day’s meeting.

That meeting was longer than the first day’s, taking use well past 6PM before we were able to get out of there.  My friend Jeff and I were meeting some friends that evening at D’s Six Packs (http://www.ds6pax.com/).  D’s is one of my favorite dive bars, specializing in hot dogs and beer, and having a decent bottle selection for weary travelers to bring beer back to the hotel.  Jeff at first wasn’t keen on having dinner there, until he found a veggie dog to his liking (sacrilege), but I had no qualms.  I started with a Vienna all beef Chicago dog; relish, onions, pickles, tomatoes, sport peppers, and yellow mustard and a dash of celery salt on a poppy seed bun.  Next was their daily special; their Colcannon had a Scorpion-cheddar jalapeno kielbasa covered with mashed potatoes, fried onions, sour cream and cabbage.  And D’s had a great selection of local beer on draft; Helltown Perverse Stout, Full Pint King Kolsch, and Rivertowne All Aboard Stout.  They even had some bottles for my trip home; Great Divide Wolfgang Dopplebock, Stone Enjoy By 4.20.14 IPA, and Mikkeller Milk Stout.  It was a great evening after a long day.

I attended a working meeting the next day, and had lunch with a friend at the Breakaway Grill. The blackened mahi-mahi tacos (fish 2 out of 3 days, I am a health food advocate) went well with a Rivertowne’s Patrick’s Poison, an Imperial IPA that weighed in at 8% ABV.  I headed to the airport and ran into problems due to an accident, but made it to Bocktown for Rivertowne Bourbon Barrel Aged All Aboard Stout (my coworkers didn’t clear the traffic jam in time, and a Rock Bottom Brakeman’s Breakfast Stout at Bar Symon at the airport.

I got 10 hours of sleep over the 3 days of travel.  It is tough making that kind of journey, but meeting up with friends and getting to sample a whole bunch of local beer makes the exhaustion worthwhile.  Good thing since I’ll be able to return 3 times in the next 3 months. – 15493

 
“Some people want champagne and caviar when they should have beer and hotdogs.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower