Loving Deuane

Let me take a moment to express my thanks to all of our friends and family for coming out to Bullfrog Brewery for the debut of Deuane (the beer), and also to Terry for making it and Cori for being such an excellent waitress during all of our shenanigans! I’m sitting here right now enjoying another glass, along with the lunch special – Deuane (the sandwich) along with a glass of Deuane.

So, yes, we’re loving Deuane. And we’re loving Terry for brewing this magnificent beer. Described as a double nitro IPA, Deuane is currently being served in a 14-oz tulip-shaped goblet. The beer is golden copper with a thick, foamy white head that lasts throughout consumption. There is a slight malt aroma, but it is otherwise heavily scented with sweet citrus from the dry hopping.

Spoken like the true wife of Deuane, I’m finding it to be sweet to the tongue, and slightly bitter. There is a total of  54 pounds of hops associated with the ale – 34 pounds in the boil, which were primarily Horizon (also Centennial and Amarillo.) Then it’s dry-hopped with Chinook, Centennial and Amarillo in three different additions. Yup – this is a real hop bomb! Served on nitrogen, Deuane is extremely smooth with a medium body and pleasant balance. It’s so citrusy and smooth, which makes it extremely drinkable for the DIPA fan.

Deuane is currently available by request on CO2 for growler fills (oops – I spoke too soon…it just kicked!), so I tried a glass of that, too. I’m actually preferring the version served on CO2 simply because it’s even more biting with citrus (although I’m not sure I could drink as much this way!) but I’m not sure a more common palate would enjoy it nearly as much. [Note to my dearest friends, I am not in any way suggesting you are common!]

Paired with the Deuane sandwich (special for the weekend) – grilled multi-grain bread, extra sharp cheddar cheese, ham, and a fennel and cumin mustard – Deuane/Deuane is such a treat!

Tapping Deuane

[No, Vickie – not poking Deuane. Tapping Deuane.]

It’s possible that you read my post that Deuane (the beer) was brewing at the Bullfrog. If things went as planned, today brewer Terry Hawbaker transferred Deuane to the clarification tank, where it will stay for about a week before going on nitro. 

So it looks like Deuane (the beer) will go on “officially” Friday, March 19 at 6 PM at the Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport, PA. Of course, we will all be there to support Terry on his latest creation, and the beer’s namesake on his… well… his bitter and pretentious presence.

This beer is a Double IPA, made with over 40 pounds of hops in a 10 barrel batch, and has brewed out to about 8.5 barrels after the dry hopping. It weighs in somewhere between 9.5% and 10% ABV and is reported to be “tasty”!

If you plan to come out on Friday, give me a shout here or on Facebook!  Get to town early, and visit Bavarian Barbarian to try the new 2×4 IPA (bring your own growler to take some home.) If you plan to stay in the area, the Harmonious Wail CD release party (The Vegan Zombies Lament) will start at 9 PM at the Bullfrog. Or if you’re in the mood for something different, I recommend the $5. martinis at Barrel 135 from 10 – midnight!

HopFest and StoutFest

Two private tasting parties yielded a great weekend beer list! Some of the things we pulled out were pretty amazing, and our party hosts provided an outstanding setting for tasting.

The HopFest

On Friday night, a small group of us gathered to share growlers. Hops were out in full force to make up this list.

We started with Rock Bottom Sub Zero IPA, which Ffej and Brandi picked up earlier in the day at King of Prussia. It’s a Simcoe-hop-based IPA, and had a really nice balance of piney and citrusy hop flavors. As one of the Brewmaster’s specials, it doesn’t appear on the website, but reviews can be read at Beer Advocate.

Next it was Pure Hoppiness from Alpine Beer Company. Alpine uses hops in the boil, runs it through a  hopback, and also dry-hops this Double IPA. This was a brighter, sweeter IPA. Both Ffej and D mentioned tropical and citrus fruit overtones; I thought the pine-sap sweetness and light malt flavors were in perfect harmony.

For our third offering, we opened a growler of Surly Grit 16. This is a Double IPA which was released as a growler-only special in recognition of loyal customers during the last days in which Surly was allowed to sell growlers due to current MN law. (In 2008, Surly sold over 3500 barrels of beer; MN law only allows off-sale licenses for breweries producing less than 3500 barrels. They can’t get the license in 2009 without cutting production, so no more growler sales, no more Darkness Day, and no more SurlyFest until/unless the law is changed.)

30 bbls of 16 Grit were brewed, but a couple were sucked up during the dry-hopping process. 901 growlers were sold on the first day.  16 Grit was kettle hopped with Warrior, Amarillo and Glacier hops, then dry-hopped twice with Glacier and Amarillo. It came out to 9% ABV (110 IBUs), and the folks at Surly described it as well balanced, caramel-oat malt flavors and huge orange lemon aroma finishing with a pithy bitterness.

D and I had a growler lined up for ourselves, but it slipped away. Luckily, Dain was able to score one and kind enough to share it. (There is a video of someone – not us – enjoying a growler…it picks up after minute #2.) It was a real treat just to get a glass.

Finally, we had Hopsickle Triple IPA from Moylan’s, which D picked up in a swingtopbottle. Brewed withTomahawk, Cascade and Centennial hops, this is a potent beverage with incredible hop stickiness.

I must make a special note here to say that we were pleased to see Troeg’s Nugget Nectar on tap at The Old Corner Hotel in Williamsport on Saturday night. Unfortunately, the staff there don’t seem to know what a great beer they’ve got (it doesn’t even have a unique tap handle.) But we did!

The StoutFest

Our friends David and Sarah hosted a Sunday stout tasting as an opportunity to clear out their beer cellar a little bit. It was a really fun event because they organized the afternoon as a blind tasting. We started with the line-up of five Coffee Stouts and one lone doppelbock, followed by 16 Imperial Stouts. I know this sounds like a lot, but the servings were very small with such a nice group of people doing the tasting.

David masked the bottles well, and poured a small amount for each person, and then we were asked to rate the beer on a scale of 1 to 10, as well as name the beer (it was a multiple choice test.) What an interesting experiment – a test of our own senses and perceptions. When the real names of the beers were revealed at the end, many of us were surprised at our guesses as well as our ratings.

Finally, the scores were averaged, and we were all sent a copy of the scored results. Here they are, scored from highest to lowest:

Coffee Stouts

1. Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast (1st bottling); Overall score of 7.73
2. Pisgah Valdez; Overall score of 7.5
3. Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel Péché Mortel; Overall score of 7.32
4. Alesmith Speedway Stout; Overall score of 7.08
5. Ithaca Kaffinator; Overall score of 6.7
6. Deschutes Black Butte XX; Overall score of 6.25
7. Mikkeller Black Hole; Overall score of 4.93

Imperial Stouts

1. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2008 ;Overall Score of 9.0
2. Foothills Sexual Chocolate; Overall score of 7.63
3. Amager Bryghus Hr. Frederiksen; Overall score of 7.44
4. (tie) Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout (2007); Overall score of 7.08  and Pennichuck Pozharnik Whiskey Barrel Aged Brewers Reserve; Overall score of 7.08 (more higher marks)
5. Three Floyds Dark Lord (2007); Overall score of 7.04
6. (tie) Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2008  Overall score of 7.0 and Deschutes The Abyss (2006); Overall score of 7.0 (more higher marks)
7. Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout; Overall score of 6.73
8. (tie) Stoudt’s Barrel Aged Fat Dog (2008 whiskey); Overall score of 6.54 and Oskar Blues Ten FIDY; Overall score of 6.54 (more higher marks)
9. Left Hand Imperial Stout; Overall score of 6.42
10. Highland Imperial Black Mocha Stout; Overall score of 6.23
11. Odell Imperial Stout; Overall score of 6.12
12. Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout (2007); Overall score of 6.08
13. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout 2008  Overall score of 6.0

At some point I may go back and add links to these, but it’s another one of those nights where I stayed up too late.

Many, many thanks to our hosts for providing such a nice selection of beers, an interesting event and great food and coffee (fresh from Costa Rica!)

Drinkin’ Hop Juice – Ought’a be Packin’

At the same time I wrote the title for this post, D said, “You know, we really should be packing for our trip!”

Ah…yes…we should, but we received a growler of Two Brother’s Hop Juice today, which means the world has stopped and I am enjoying a pint. 

This is a beautiful double IPA from a family owned and operated brewery just outside Chicago. The growler, which was fairly generic, had a nice foam in the neck, and poured with a head like that of an ice cream float. As I sip this ale, a thick lacing lines the sides of the glass.  The color is a beautiful amber-orange. The big, frothy head is deceiving, because the overall carbonation is actually light in the mouth.

The nose is pleasant and light – like the freshness of a forest after spring rains. I’m really enjoying the flavors of citrus, herb and and pine. It has the sweetness of brown sugar and a bit of resin and bitterness from the hops.

The website informs me this is a 2008 seasonal artisan release for February and is brewed to 9.9% AVB, 100.1 IBUs, and dry hopped with a pound of hops per barrel. I’m glad to be enjoying this extremely drinkable ale this from the comfort of my home, as I think I’ll be enjoying another pint while I pack!

If we can’t finish it tonight, we’ll have to find a friend willing to stop by the house to finish it for us…volunteers? Thanks, S-Man, for sending this our way!

Foothills (Winston-Salem, NC)

I’ve found some time to post more notes from Thursday, so here is my report from our lunch at Foothills Brewing Company. There hasn’t been a whole lot of change since our last visit, so I won’t ramble on here about it. As expected, the draft selection was fabulous, but to start our day off slowly:

• I only had one – the Seeing Double IPA(9.5%; 110 IBUs), which is just a wonderful example of a double IPA. Nothing overpowers (other than the fact that it is a double IPA!); it’s just a warm, sweet nectar. It is served in a 10 oz glass, and the deep copper color is just beautiful. It has a light citrus aroma, and a pine hop bite. Cloudiness in the glass adds to the mystery of this double IPA.
• D had the Hoppyum IPA(6.75% ABV) to start, while his Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout had time to warm. This is so different from the Seeing Double IPA. It is a clear copper color with a crisp finish. Simply a pleasant American IPA.
• The Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout (10.5% ABV) was so much better than last February. Last year it was really hot – really to the point that I couldn’t drink it – it ruined my taste buds. This year, it still has an obvious high alcohol burn, but the rich flavors of chocolate and roasted malts, and the sweetness of dark fruits come through well. This beverage has a strong alcohol burn, which will mellow out over time. I believe last year I called the aroma flammable, but this year’s brew is sweet to the nose.

The best thing about our visit was that we got to meet Jamie Bartholomaus, the owner and brewer of Foothills, and a Pennsylvania native. It was so kind of his wife, Sarah, to stop by and check on our table. She talked with us a bit, and picked up on the fact that we were interested in meeting him. He was able to sit down, taking time to chat for awhile.

We learned his interesting history in brewing, and one of his former brewing experiences was at Olde Hickory Brewing Company, and the former brewing facility (now more of a restaurant and small batch brewing facility) was on the way out of town.  We confirmed our suspicion that the Sexual Chocolate was brewed a little earlier this year (October) and tweaked just enough to make it more enjoyable in February (in time for the bottle release, although our bottles will certainly sit for awhile longer!) It sounds like it will be easy to find a glass in Asheville (and other locations for anyone not visiting Asheville!), but he held back at least 12 kegs for aging and release throughout the year. Naturally, Foothills will be at Brewgrass, but also he mentioned a food/beer pairing he’ll be attending called Savor in DC. He gave us a sample of the People’s Porter as well. It would have been lovely to stay longer and drink a whole glass, but we needed to move on.

But I would be remiss in ending this post without talking about the food. Our waiter, Stephen, was quite conscientious despite the busy lunch crowd. He talked to us about some of the menu changes (they dropped the salad with chevre, oranges and snow peas that I loved so much!), but he made other recommendations. I had the Greek salad made with romaine and spinach, topped with balsamic onions, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and feta. The green goddess dressing (made with cream cheese) was a bit too thick for my taste, so I had the balsamic vinaigrette. Along with it, I enjoyed a cup of the creamy She Crab Soup, which had a little zip to it, and small pieces of shell, just so you know it’s authentic! D had the Cuban sandwich, which came with some terrific fries and a wonderful garlic dill pickle spear.

It’s hard not to enjoy yourself at Foothills, but do take quarters for the meter (only 25-cents an hour) and keep it fed!

Papago Hop Father Imperial IPA

A box arrived on our doorstep on Tuesday evening.  It was damp and crumpled – the taped top had collapsed and opened a bit, so I reached in.  Through the peanuts I discovered a bubble-wrapped growler!  Wahoo!  Our second in a series of trades arrived (and I quickly looked at the return address to find it was from Arizona.)

I placed the box in the sink, not knowing how much liquid was loose in the box.  It really wasn’t too much – it got soaked up by the cardboard box, the enclosed coasters, and was all over the bubble wrap.  The growler cap was taped (not super-taped, though), so I rinsed the clear growler and placed it in the fridge – not fair to drink it without D!

When the cap label dried, I was able to read that our beer is Hop Father from Papago Brewing in Scottsdale, AZ.  Yeah!  New to us!  It is a Double IPA, and I’ve found conflicting reports that it is anywhere between 7% – 8%  ABV, and in excess of 100 IBU’s.

Despite the spillage, it poured nicely tonight and still had significant carbonation.  It had a nice orange bronze hue, and fairly floral, hoppy aroma.  The flavor was more malty than I prefer, but certainly the hop characteristics came through – especially on the finish.  It seems a little thin for a double IPA, but I do admit that earlier in the evening, I had two glasses of Devil’s Milk and tasted Black Jack Imperial Stout at DuClaw’s.  The Hop Father’s finish was really nice, and it got better as it warmed.

I’m glad I got to try it, but I think D will be the one finishing it down…

Countdown to Christmas – Introduction

Give it to D to find a creative way to clear out some of the inventory…  How about a new and/or different beer each day between December 1 and 25?  He calls it his Advent Calendar of Beer.

Instead of little candies, we get little beer surprises each day.  I’m not exactly sure what the rules are – perhaps he’s making them up as we go along – but it’s been fun trying.

We kicked it off with a weekend away on December 1 and 2, joining up with friends and traveling the “golden triangle of PA beer,” which includes Otto’s Pub & Brewery in State College, The Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport, and Selin’s Grove Brewing Co. in Selinsgrove. 

In addition the the three brewpubs, we enjoyed several additional stops including Zeno’s Pub in State College (where I picked up my St. Nicholaus Brewer’s Reserve in the pretty velvet bag!), a private tasting with the Ferry’s, and an extra visit to Bullfrog for Sunday Brunch (yummmm – beer and eggs – the last time I did that was at Holy Cow in Las Vegas.)

Over the course of the trip, we consumed the brews below.  I know the list looks long, but remember that there were 4 of us traveling, 8 of us at the tasting, and the three brewpubs all offered half-pints. 

At Otto’s – they had 10 beers on tap plus 2 on the handpump

• Arthur’s Amarillo Pale Ale on cask
• Mom’s Elderberry Stout
• Ottonator Doppelbock
• Apricot Wheat
• Jolly Roger Russian Imperial Stout on cask

At Zeno’s – so many taps and bottles, we can’t count that high…3 cask beers (there is a good reason this place was placed in the Top 50 Places to Have a Beer (#41))

• Arthur’s Amarillo Pale Ale on cask (again!)
• St. Nick Bock – Penn Brewing
• Gouden Carolus Ambrio
• Bell’s Two Hearted – featured on the TODAY show this week
• St. Bernardus Christmas Ale – this is the first year available in US in bottles, and was the honorary first beer on the Advent Calendar.

At Bullfrog – they had 12 of their own (2 on cask) and two guest taps; unfortunately the Hop Harvest kicked the previous day.

• Blue Collar Brown on cask
• Wolfsblood Scotch Ale
• Lights Out Imperial Stout
• Edgar IPA
• Inspiration Red

In bottles at the Ferry’s house (I think more were consumed – these were just for the tasting; many more were not consumed!)

• Strawberry Creme Ale – Brutal Deluxe Brewery (our homebrew)
• Mount Desert Island Ginger Beer – Atlantic Brewing Co.
• Black Raspberry Reserve – Sly Fox
• Christmas Ale – Great Lakes Brewing Co.
• Old Man Winter – Southern Tier Brewing
• Scratch Beer #4 – Troegs Brewing
• Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2006 – Anchor Brewing Co.
• 2007 Smoked Porter – Alaskan Brewing Co.
• Hibernation Ale – Great Divide Brewing Co.
• Old Abominable Barrel Aged/Bottle Conditioned Barleywine – Stout’s Brewing Co.

At Selin’s Grove – there were 8 beers on tap and 2 on the hand-pump

• Pumpkin Ale on nitrogen
• Mud Puppy Organic Brown Ale on cask
• Mud Puppy Organic Brown Ale on nitrogen
• India Pale Ale
• St. Fillian’s Scotch Style Barleywine on cask; the second beer on the Advent Calendar

Thanks to Heath and Kim for keeping a great pictorial diary of the trip (most of the photos I’ll use in this post are his…they still need to be edited before they get added…)  It was great fun to travel with them. 

Dave and Pascha went out of their way to make our trip complete by hosting the tasting, providing a nice assortment of finger foods, and allowing us to sleep over (and Pascha sent me home with a great reading list!)  Thanks SO much to them, and their entertaining children. 

Mary and Steve were delightful company for the tasting, plus I got to see Mary’s Galapagos program, which was cool.  It was really fun to see them again.

What a nice way to kick off the month!

Giving Thanks

Many blessings fill our lives, and we use this time of year to recognize those gifts and give thanks for what we’ve been given. 

I’m sure many of you reading this have some of the same things to be thankful for that I do, so you probably aren’t interested in hearing about mundane (yet very meaningful) things I am thankful for.  So here are two very new things that have come into my life, for which I am very thankful!

  1) My Mayflower Martini

After we got the dressing and sides made, the turkey in the oven and the table set up (it was so lovely, we ate outside!), I decided to get my shower.  Finishing up, there was a knock on the door…”Mayflower Martini?!?!”  My sister found this fabulous recipe, and treated us all to a most wonderful holiday beverage. 

I am not a fan of gin, but the juniper is balanced by the sweet white cranberry and/or the vermouth.  The flavor is earthy and gentle – the beverage is smooth and easy to drink.  I liked it so much I’m going to post the recipe here in case the link ever dies…

2 teaspoons sweet vermouth
Ice cubes
1 part gin
2 parts white cranberry juice
Whole cranberries on toothpicks, to garnish

Pour 1 teaspoon of sweet vermouth into each martini glass; swirl glass to coat and pour out excess. Set aside.

Fill a martini shaker with ice cubes.

Pour 1 part gin and 2 parts white cranberry juice. Shake vigorously. Pour into martini glasses.

Serve chilled with a garnish of whole cranberries.

Thanks to my sister for this wonderful discovery.  Perhaps it’s a new holiday tradition? 

My big surprise of the night was D showing up!  He was working, and not supposed to be at our Thanksgiving, but he traveled for almost two hours (round trip) before going in to work the night shift, and it wasn’t just for the stuffing…  The first in a series of growler trades arrived on Wednesday night, and he was so thoughtful to bring it to share with me.

  2) Hollister Hip Hop DIPA  

This was an easy-drinking beer for 8.9% ABV.  It came out of a beautiful rounded glass growler and poured an orange-golden color (side-by-side with Hop Wallop, they were the same hue!)  It had a bright flowery nose and a piney citrus flavor.  This was a lovely IPA, and I was sad to see the last drops pour.

Thanks, again, to D for making such an effort to share it.  True – I wouldn’t have known what I was missing, but now I have even more to be thankful for!

Cleaning Out the Basement

We’ve had a friend in town for the week, and on Thursday evening, while sitting at the Brewhouse Grille enjoying Russian River Pliny the Elder, D turned to me and said, “Let’s have a party – tomorrow night!”  And so we did…

We called a few friends – some who were free and unfortunately, some who were not – and picked up the worst of the clutter.  Jerry brought veggies from his organic garden in Venango County (romaine, celery, shallots, red onions, acorn squash), so D whipped up a salad and put together a great stew in the crockpot (I turned the squash into a fabulous soup for Saturday at the hawkwatch.)  

We thawed out a loaf of Zingerman’s farm bread.  D went to Wegman’s for cheese, olives and the like, and he scoured our basement looking for a few prize bottles of beer, as well as a few certain to please the palates of our intended guests.

This resulted in a great group of friends from birding, beer drinking and concerts gathered around our table for hearty food and a lengthy tasting.  Below is a complete list of the bottles opened for the table tasting:

• Russian River Brewing – Damnation
• Brouwerij Het Anker – Gouden Carolus ~ Carolus D’Or– Grand Cru Of The Emperor(brewed once a year, on the 24th of February, birthday of Charles the Fifth)
• Alaskan Brewing Co. IPA
• AleSmith IPA
• Butte Creek Organic Revolution 10th Anniversary Imperial IPA
• Moylans Hopsickle Imperial Ale (Triple Hoppy)
• Cisco Celebration Libation (no year at the moment…no active website found)
• Alaskan Brewing Co. Smoked Porter * (2006; yummy with nova lox and bread)
• AlesSmith Speedway Stout
• Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout

The only disappointment of the night was Victory V-Ten (brewed and bottled September 12, 2002) – this beer was corked, caged and carious (I know…that word applies to teeth, but it sounds good here!)  This was, unfortunately not well aged, which resulted in a big bottle of vinegar.

And of course, we poured several other interesting things – bottles for individuals to enjoy.  We also tasted boilo (boilo : a popular homemade Yuletide beverage – ingredients include orange and lemon juice, honey, cloves, caraway seeds, and large amounts of whiskey; served hot in shot glasses) from a friend in the coal region, D’Reyes Peach Liquor which we brought back from Mexico and St. Clair Vineyards Port from NM. *There was also Glenlivet Nadurra single malt Scotch which paired so well with the Alaskan Smoked Porter.  Thanks, Dakotablue!!

The “starter” hit food was Nancy’s yummy salsa, and Marcy brought an array of beautiful and tasty desserts from the Pennsylvania Bakery which made a lovely finish to the night.

Foothills Brewing Company (Winston-Salem, NC)

A major accident closing I-81 caused us to reroute our trip, and instead we took the slower but more beautiful trip on US 29 to I-40 into Winston-Salem.  D made our lodging arrangements in advance, so we checked in and quickly headed off to dinner at Foothills Brewing Company (we were pleased to learn that the kitchen remained open until 11, and the place would be open until 2 AM with live music.

Foothills was easily located under the towering GMAC building, and right next to a lunch counter with antique pretzel cans (many from locations near our home) lining the window.  Inside, Foothills, which opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 2004, was a large, open space – very warehouse in appearance with a large brick wall, and lots of open seating.  The bar and band area is tucked toward the back, and with the lower ceiling design, the noise, joyful as it may be, was contained to that area.  We were greeted by an extremely friendly fellow named Ben, who we later learned works in distributing to many areas, including Asheville. Our waiter, Che, was an extremely pleasant and helpful fellow.  We didn’t get to meet the Jamie, the brewer, because he’d gone to
Florida.

We ate well, and we drank well.  I had a beautiful salad of greens topped with soft, fried, cashew-encrusted chevre cheese and garnished with oranges, snow peas on a layer of citrus vinaigrette with rosemary.  I should have stopped there, but I also ordered a cup of chili (very thick and meaty…more than my liking, but oh, so nicely spiced!) and unfortunately for my waistline, helped D with this mountain of beer-battered onion rings.  They were thick and creamy – the kind that just melt in your mouth – and served with homemade catsup.  Additionally, he had a wonderful plate of shrimp and grits.  The shrimp was done in a lovely tomato-based sauce, and the grits were creamed with cheese.  It was a spicy yet succulent dish.

Foothills offers a sample tray of the six regular brews, but I knew I didn’t want anything “golden” or a pilsner when there was a double IPA and imperial stout on the menu.  So I created my own sample tray of four ales (IPA, Stout, Porter and Festive (IBA)), then had a 10 oz of the Seeing Double IPA. D had a pint of the ESB, followed by a 10 oz of the Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout (specifics on the beers follow this posting.)

Everything we had at Foothills was enjoyable.  Everything was well done, and the overall experience at this brewpub was notable.  One of my favorite observations was the staff.  Ben and Che were both attentive and knowledgeable wait staff, but it was after we left our table and went to the bar that they really impressed me. 

They don’t just work at Foothills – they are patrons of the place, and enjoy hanging out drinking the local brew after hours.  And knowing we were out-of-towners, they took additional time to come talk to us about the beers, the town and advise us on the next few days of our trip.  They made us feel welcome, not just as new customers, but as new friends to the area.  And it was obvious that they many of the people were good friends and good customers.

The music was pleasant (single guy with acoustic guitar and vocals), the beers were satisfying (Seeing Double was excellent; Hoppyum was worthy of a shirt purchase for me, while D chose the Total Eclipse Stout shirt for the bird/beer combination artwork.)

Hoppyum IPA    6.75%
Total Eclipse Stout    7.0%;  44 IBUs
Rainbow Trout ESB   4.5%;  38 IBUs
Porter – bitterness from roasted malt
Festive IBA   7% – bitterness from hops
Seeing Double IPA   9.5%; 110 IBUs
Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout  10.5% – aroma is flammable!  This beer is smooth with chocolate, but not ovepowering.