Naked City Cigar Smoke

Hump day, half way through the class and my current beer adventure.  So tonight was low key, with Kevin and I hitting 2% of the top bars in the country according to Draft magazine.  So for dinner we headed over to the Naked City brewpub (http://nakedcitybrewing.com/). 

Naked City brews their own, concentrating on big Belgian beers, while offering a great local microbrew selection.  I ordered the Jersey DevAle, a Belgian Tripel, to go along with the German pretzel.  The pretzel was the perfect snack, and the beer was delicious.  They didn’t do samplers, but I didn’t mind.  They gave me a taste of any of the taps for free, so between ordering and sampling, I got to try quite a few.  I got the veggie chili with a Painted Hills pastrami reuben, and then ordered the Black Maria, a dunkel made with Cascade hops.  Everything was delicious, and the vibe in the restaurant was excellent, but we needed to go to hit the next Draft magazine recommendation, Uber Tavern. 

The Uber Taven (http://www.uberbier.com/) is located right next to Green Lake, and didn’t offer much seating.  The logo was cool (enough for Kevin to by a T-Shirt), and I got to try a Ninkasi Glen’s Best Bitter.  Ninkasi is a real popular brewery from Oregon, and their bitter was top notch.  The bartender was again very knowledgeable, but we wanted to try another location so we walked down the street to the Duck Island Alehouse.  Both bars had a little step out section that you could stand on the street and watch the cars go by, so I picked up a New Belgium Ooh La La! (a raspberry ale that was part of their Lips of Faith series) and we got to talk.  Kevin had just left my group for a new opportunity, and we talked about our successes and struggles from the past two years.  I have it found that it is best to reflect over a beer, but apparently Kevin didn’t think so.

We headed back to the hotel and went for a walk down to the river.  Kevin is a part time smoker, so I tried my first cigar in 20 years (an Acid Blonde, apparently a beginner’s choice), didn’t get sick (although I had forgotten how atrocious the aftertaste was), and we had our chat.  Different strokes for different folks.  This travelling thing is starting to get old, so I’ll be happy to get home. - 5785/10983

"People who drink light ‘beer’ don’t like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot." – Capital Brewery