Ah, you didn't think I'd given up gaming entirely did you?

Gone (and gladly, to be honest) are the days of logging in immediately on arriving home from work (and rushing home to boot) and staying on until sleepytime, but I still do game, and lately, I've been playing SWTOR.

All throughout the development process, I was very skeptical of Bioware's claims that they were going to bring hardcore, deep story to the MMO genre. I couldn't fathom how they'd do it - and their main marketing claim was that it'd be done by making every single quest dialog fully voiced. That didn't seem like it would "do it" to me.

Then I got invited to one of the late-stage beta weekends and the doubt all dissolved. I can't really convey in text how well it worked out. Just try the game!

I'm also very impressed with how well done the Sith side is done. So many MMOs and even single player RPGs really sugar coat "evil" character. Yeah, not here. Some of the things you can do as a Sith are truly horrifically evil. They pull no punches. You really are evil - and sometimes I find myself needing a break from it!

The voice acting is top notch, though if you've played any of Bioware's single player RPGs you know what to expect.

The mechanics are very good - nothing super new or innovative, but definitely good, standard MMO type stuff. The classes are well done and fun and different enough to make trying other things worthwhile.

The UI needs work. It's a totally standard MMO UI like you've seen in every other MMO you've played. But you can't change it. There's no user-skinning. Almost none of the elements are moveable or resizeable. There's definitely no plugins. But, it's instantly familiar and useable - so at least it's not some weird, unfamiliar, hard to use, fixed UI. :)

I can't say enough good about this game. I'm late to the party in blogging about it, so just go read other blogs and reviews, and you'll see - you need to give it a try.

This morning, during my shower, while I was getting dressed, and riding in the car on the way to the office, I rough-drafted a post in my head. It was going to talk at length about how the rise of mega-chains has killed diversity and local flavor in pretty much every sector of America - from the megatropolises all the way down to "small town America." Everything's the same everywhere you go blah blah blah.

Then I realized - the reason for that post is that I want to encourage people to support local, independent restaurants and shops instead. And then it came to me that the best way to do that is to focus instead on the positive: why these places are good.

The first reason is simply monetary. When you eat at a locally owned restaurant, all of that money goes to the owner and the staff of the shop. There's no Superbowl ads to pay for, no CEO, CIO, CTO, CXX, CZZ, and so forth, huge salaries to pay. You're more directly improving your local economy by letting more of your money stay in your area - and your local economy is far important than the economy of a city 2,000 miles away from you. I'm not anti-corporation; not at all. I work for a corporation. Many, or even most, people do. But, when you patronize a very, very large corporation, such as a megachain restaurant, most of your ticket goes to feed that huge "machine."

Food quality and freshness is one big reason to eat at independent restaurants. Most of them actually prepare and cook the food they serve. Very little is pre-prepared, pre-portioned, and shipped from a huge central warehouse. In general, they purchase basic ingredients such as meat, vegetables, spices, and so on, and then turn those into the dishes they serve you. You're paying a premium to have food cooked and served to you - don't you want it to actually ... be cooked for you rather then essentially reheated and assembled? I know I do! Plus - many indie restaurants now locally source some (or even all!) of their ingredients - increasing freshness and benefit to the local economy.

You're also more likely to have a good experience at an indie shop or restaurant. You may hear from your server the wonderful story of how the owner learned to cook with his Grandfather and always wanted to open a restaurant, and finally did... and here you are eating there. Or you may ask about a dish on the menu, one you've never seen or heard of before, and you'll hear how it's a generations-old family recipe. Or you may not. You may just hear how the server is working her way through college but likes the family that owns the place, and that's cool too.

Indie shops are generally the same way. Go to an indie comic or game shop - and you'll find the owner and staff are just as geeky about those things as you are. The big box places? "Derp, what's that?"

I think another big thing I'm trying to convey is that indie business owners (and usually their employees) usually care more, and about more than just their paycheck, or what job they'll be at in 6 months. They generally want to build a lasting relationship with their patrons. They want to be the place you go first when you think of whatever it is they sell - be it Mexican food or Magic: The Gathering cards. The chains/big boxers? Meh, there's 1000 other people shopping there and they're all the same. "NEXT!"

I suppose another problem may be that people don't even know where to find the indies. The commercial/retail districts in most cities, from the largest to the smallest, are pretty much laid out exactly the same way, and it's all big box stores and megachain eateries. You've got to get off the main drags.

One big help can be review apps/sites such as Yelp. Most of the reviews on these services are of indie business, and can be a huge help in finding places that are off the beaten path. Plus, you can read what others have said about them, and decide if it sounds like something you'd enjoy. (Full disclosure: I am a reviewer on Yelp [it is a free service, though, and no reviewer is paid], so that's why I mentioned it by name. It's not the only restaurant/business review site/app/service, though.)

Sometimes, though, taking a chance is just fun. Driving around town, and see a Mexican restaurant with a sign in mostly Spanish? It's probably good. Step inside, take a look at the menu. Does it have things such as al pastor, lengua, menudo, caldo de res, or even cabeza on it? It's mostly likely a very good Mexican place. Eat there.

The same goes for anything, really - look for a place that's obviously independently owned and check it out. Even the slickest megachain-pretending-to-be-indie is fairly easy to suss out. The main thing is you have to look away from the "main drag" retail districts.

So, I've been editing, adding to, and re-wording parts of this post for a little over an hour now, and it's still not "perfect" and I feel it's still too negative in parts. I'm so excited about supporting indies, and really just want to convey why it's so important, but it's so hard to convey!

We're still alive. It's just that it's Winter and there's very little opportunity to do much of anything that's "blog-worthy." I'm sure once warm weather returns we'll be posting like mad again!

Lizz and I decided not to finish the long series of entries about our Michigan road trip. The next entry would have covered the Ann Arbor portion of our trip, and the problem is there's no way to convey in text how special Ann Arbor is to us, and without being able to do that, we both felt there wasn't a lot of point in finishing the series.

Suffice it to say, the rest of the trip was hella-fun and leave it at that!

Until next entry... Have fun! :D

Yesterday was "learn to brew" day, and as planned we brewed our first all-grain batch during this event.  Everything went exactly as planned and all gravity and yield targets were met or slightly exceeded and the beer is happily fermenting at home in our hobby room.

Before brewing this beer, I read, and read, and read, and read some more on the all-grain process, until it seemed very boring.  I really wanted this first batch to go very smoothly, and all the reading definitely paid off.

The main thing we learned about brewing "in the wild" (at a club member's house, instead of at home) is that it's probably a good idea to keep a checklist of everything you might need.  We only forgot one thing - a lighter to start our burner.  Luckily other club members had them - but next time, we'll make a checklist so we have everything.

All-grain brewing is fun - even more fun that brewing with extract, even though it's more work.  You definitely get more of a sense that you're creating your own beer.

Our next batch, a Berliner Weisse, is planned for 11/18!

The next equipment purchase for our homebrewery is likely a new kettle - one with a ball valve and perhaps a sight glass as well.  The kettle we have is fine for capacity - it'll hold about 7 gallons - but it doesn't have a ball valve, so we have to use a siphon to transfer the wort into the fermentor.  A valve would just make everything easier and more efficient.  Kettles are expensive though, so we'll have to plan the purchase.

So we haven't brewed much lately.  Our Secret Project IBA is in secondary and will be kegged soon, and thus revealed to the unsuspecting world.  Er, at least homebrew enthusiasts in our area, anyway.  We'll be brewing our first all-grain batch, an ESB, at Learn to Brew day this coming Sunday.

What we're most excited about, though, is our upcoming collaboration brew with Kopacetic Beer Factory!  We'll be brewing a nice big Barleywine on Kopacetic's jealousy indudcing custom-built 15 gallon keggle system.  It will be fun, and it will be soon!

Short update for today - I just wanted to let our tiny audience know we're still alive and still brewing!

In non-brewing news, well, there isn't much.  Motorcycling season is pretty much over here in Indiana, so no bike road trips to report on.  We don't travel much during the cold months, so, no othe road trips to talk about either.

Mainly we've been baking (or, she has, anyway - I watch and help), enjoying craft beer, working on small home projects, and hanging out at our local publick haus. :)

We'd been anxiously awaiting Valpo Brewfest for months!  We got VIP tickets which meant we'd get a neat Tshirt, early entrance and access to some food/beer pairings.  Huzzah!

It was a cold and rainy morning the on Sept 24th, so when we set forth for Valpo Brewfest.  Since we don't have much in the way of wet/cold weather gear for being on a bike for long distances, we opted to take the Kia Soul.  No big sacrifice =)

Semi-trucks exploding on the interstate seems to be a big trend right now.  We saw 3 in various stages of cleanup on the way up.  I'm voting a way thumbs-down to this new trend.  I don't like it one bit.

We rolled into Valpo around half an hour before the event started.  Anyone that's been around us for any amount of time knows we like to stroll/walk/amble/shamble around so we shambled around Valpo a bit and then said "ehh, close enough" and made our way to the entrance 20 mins early.

So we're in line, we actually *are* the line at that point. Chatted with entrance-guy about Harley's and the risk/reward factor of riding outside of your hometown.  We're pro, he's a bit con.

And then yes! Check in time!  Woohoo!  Our ID's are checked, we wait more, then our tickets are scanned.

*b'deep*

Scanned again

*b'deep!!!*

Seems the clock on the scanner wasn't informed they were starting to scan a few minutes early!

We get our leet VIP badges on a lanyard and wait in line for our pint glasses.   I then spy the most beautiful sight in the world:

Yes! The restrooms!

Er

I mean the Left Hand moomobile!

Mootooth - a Left Hand Milk Stout/Sawtooth concoction is served from this here ve-HICKLE.

Mmm... I'm salivating a little.

We commence the Running of the VIP Bulls and head to the swag/pairing tent where we grab our Tshirts (mine too large, sigh, makes a nice minidress though) and try our first beer/food pairing.

I'm ashamed to admit that I got no photos of it, nor do I remember what it was.

But it was good =)

The thing that I was disappointed about with the pairings is this, and I know, they're on a budget, I *do* understand.

If your beer is good, your pastry/cheese/meat had BETTER be equally as good.

Sadly this wasn't the case for many of the pairings.  But free meat and cheese is still good! /nodsnodsnods

Off to Mootooth!

Yes, Mootooth is everything you've dreamt about and more.  I highly recommend seeking out the mobile and getting one, or making your own at home.

Frankly, I don't have a lot of photos, and the official site has really good ones.

Here's the standouts from the event:

-As always we love Figure 8's beers as well as the owners/brewers.  We spent time enjoying their Black Corridor (Imperial Chocolate Stout, oh goodnesss it was tasty!) and voted for them for the Hoosier Brewer Award.  So did a lot of other people, because they won!)

-Devil's Trumpet is not yet open, but they are going to be a brewery to watch for and stalk at festivals whenever possible until they open their doors.  Pink Nightmare was an excellent excellent sour, Black Mastermind was an excellent darker beer, and because I have no list I can access of their other beers, I can't name any others.  The 2:00 special tappings went out right-quick. Jon and I weren't the only ones impressed by them. Keep your eyes on them folks, especially if you like sours and interesting beers ala Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan.

-I got to have more Dark Horse and New Holland beer =D

-The beer/food pairings were a great step in the right direction!  More, and I'll pay for better quality food to go with the beer!

-The setting for this couldn't have been better.  No long hiking, but enough walking to kind of 'work it off' a bit =)  Nice variety of food available, though we did not eat at the festival.

Bummers from the event:

-Despite rumors, too many tables not staffed by people from the breweries.  I'm really disappointed about this.

-Some breweries on the list didn't attend.  That's fine though because we loved the ones that did =)

The best part of this festival that you missed if you didn't go

If you take nothing else from this rambling post, take this from it:

The people at this festival were by and large REALLY into their beer.  Names of beer websites, photos of booths, photos of beer, and people 'checking in' the beers they drank were the norm rather than the exception.

As opposed to, yes I'm going to name names, Broadripple Brewfest, the main point for attendees here didn't seem to be to get smashed. The point was to experience new/favorite beers (and get some merch and have fun of course).

This is the fest that will get our money next year, no doubt about it.  If you're a brewer/brewery that didn't attend, make it happen next year. This is your beer-appreciating audience right here.

Post-fest we had a bit of coffee at Cornucopia Coffee and ate at the always fabulous Pikk's Tavern.  I way over indulged and we split their frites, a scotch egg (2nd best anywhere), a gorgeous 21 day aged 16oz steak, and my indulgence mainly was their bread.  Holy god their bread is good.

And then my eyes wandered near where we parked. Should we? Yes we should!

Off to Valpo Velvet.  My dear friends, I'm going to confess to the salad, but not to my dessert. What happens at the Velvet stays at the Velvet.

We had a need for pinball that could not be quenched other than by going to Figure 8 Brewing and finally playing the Addams Family pin.  The first time we went to F8, some guy named Tom (kidding!) was on the machine and it didn't seem right to bump him off, the second time the machine didn't want to take money.  But ahhh this trip was the payoff!  We split a Raven Tor and played the pin!  Lynne Uban told us a bit about this particular pinball machine's history and though Mike Lahti admired my playing I just knew that post-festival post-sugary desserts I saw way too many balls drain way too fast.

My friends, if you made it this far though the entry, you love beer too.  Go to the Valpo Brewfest next year.  This is a place for others who truly love beer in all it's glorious permutations!

Just a hint of one thing that's been (happily!) taking up a bit of our time...

Just a quick note to let readers know I'm not dead, and everything's ok.  There just hasn't been a lot of time to blog lately.  I (or Lizz!) will get back to it soon, I promise!

And so with this post, I risk alienating or even offending 50% or more of my readers.

A month or more ago, I made a post about the original purpose of this domain, and mentioned I may be recovering the magazine's issues from archive.org.  Well - I can't.  It's not all there, and archive.org isn't spiderable anyway.  I'd have to manually download all the HTML files and graphics, and then painstakingly hand-edit all the HTML to make it work outside the archive.org world.  It would be too much work, and SoD tradition is a total reboot anyway, so I won't be undertaking the recovery.

Anyway - the time is now to make a post about where things are going in this arena for us.  If you're likely to get offended by alternative spirituality practices and the like, you may want to skip this post.  We still love beer and "real food" and traveling and the like and you will still see posts about that stuff.  But this one's a little different.

I'm inserting a pagebreak to give people one last chance to easily skip this post...

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Armed with some interesting directions, we head out to Stella's Lounge.

To get to it, we walk past Hopcat.

We, well, we get a bit turned around and lost.  Jon knows where it is, sort of, and I'm floundering but frankly when you have blue hair people notice you, so when I flounder I try to do it with purpose and style.

"She says its down an alley"

Sounds promising!

We peer down this rather *large* alley.  All along the side of one building is a Little Shop of Horrors-esque mural of plant life taking things over.  I didn't get a photo of that as I was kender distracted by:

Classic Arcade games.  A pile of skulls on the outside of the building.  It's black and looks inviting and dark.   This is looking very good indeed.

We enter, and hear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqDCfof4FQ

Yes, The Ramones Beat on the Brat. "Oh yeah, Oh yeah, uh-OH!"

This is looking and feeling great!   Nice and dark, with a long bar.   We slide up to it.

In addition to a great looking food menu they have the largest selection of whiskey that I've seen anywhere yet.

Clearly fate has brought us here, and I'm getting really Nacho-Night happy.  We both order 21 year Bushmill's and settle in to study the menu and the decor.

The decor:  The bar has encased in acrylic concert tickets. Bauhaus. Love and Rockets. The Ramones. The Doors.  Pretty much any interesting band that fits the vibe has a concert ticket on the bar.

On a board to the back left of the bar are all sorts of interesting vintage/psuedo vintage flyers announcing all sorts of interesting concerts.  To the left of that were what seemed like 20+ interesting video games. All operational - and a board over the machines listed high scores.  There's some sort of contest regarding scores that the whiskey made it a little bleary to remember.  But they're very keen on their video games and pin ball machines.

The jukebox is playing a steady stream of dark wave/garage punk-rock-things/classic weird rock and other things that basically mirror the deconstructed nitty-gritty parts of Jon and I's music library.  Morrissey comes on.  Bam, it changes.  Bartender would have none of it while he was on duty ;).  Jon and I nod - we like M and The Smiths but the whining has to go.  Especially when we're sipping on good whiskey.

We make our food selections and choose the D&B to start with - fried pickles and olives.  *happy sigh*  I already knew the joys of fried pickles thanks to our friend Danyel, but I never knew deep fried olives were an option.  I highly recommend them.. Just go ahead and buy some olives, batter those suckers and deep fry them. You will thank me.

The main course was their Stella Blue Stuffed Burger.  We separated it from the bun and forked it down.  *eyelids flutter*  Yes its as good as it sounds like it would be, if you love blue cheese and bacon.

Have I mentioned before that it would be pretty much impossible for me to be whatever-weight-I'm-at-right-now if I lived in Grand Rapids?  They have some sweet food here.

Most of the menu is vegan. Not vegetarian, but vegan.  And, important!, vegan in a way that's tasty to carnivores.  The meat menu is called Pet Cemetary.  Really if you want a good giggle you must check out their menu linked above on their website.  Great names.  Good food!

I haven't mentioned their beers yet.  Well, they have 6 taps, I think one that day was a Founder's we'd had the day before and I just wasn't feeling the rest.  The bartender chatted with us for a bit and found out we, like many other making the pilgrimage to Grand Rapids, were there for the beer.

"Oh!  We also own Pyramid Scheme!  They have a ton by Shorts Brewing on tap, you ever tried their beer?"  We shook our heads "You *have* to go there next, it's just down a side alley"

We linger a bit to soak in the atomosphere more.  We'll be back here for the food next time we're in Grand Rapids. It's not gourmet high-class food, but it's our kind of food.

The Pyramid Scheme

We duck down the alley and get to Pyramid Scheme.

We walk in. Lots of taps.  Mostly a huge room with movable tables and around, hm, 5+ pinball machines in the right hand corner.  Ahh, pins.  As much as we love them though, we never did end up playing one there!

The bar has a *ton* of shorts beers on tap.   When the bartender hears we're beer-touring, he says:

"You ever tried Short's Key Lime Pie?"

O_o

Nooo, we hadn't.  He got us a sample.

Though we brew what I'd call 'weirdo beers', we don't generally seek out intense novelty beers.  We tried this one.  Yes, it does actually have every single Key Lime Pie ingredient in it.  I wouldn't drink this with food, and I wasn't in the mood for it right at that moment - but it was very well done.

He lines us up a few more samples and I settle on The Magician by Shorts.  It's a very nice Irish Red Ale.   I take notes on it.  You may have noticed that I'm not linking to Beer Advocate right now.  Well, that's because my red notebook has gone AWOL again. I really need to put a belled collar on it or something.

Jon's not really into any of the beers, so I'm somewhat self-consciously drinking The Magician alone and chatting with the bartender.  I've got my Three Floyds workshirt on, because I'm part of the cult and like their tainted Kool-Aid.  He asks if I work for them, and I state that no, I don't, but wouldn't that be fun!?

He hasn't been to The Mothership so we tell him to get his butt to Three Floyds already since he loves their beers.   We talk about IPA's for awhile.

We are, at this point, pretty much guaranteed to get to Short's Brewing Company soon.  Well, as 'soon' as a trip to the very north of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan can be planned out =)

We wander back to the parking structure, pay the fee and head back to the hotel for a little regrouping before we figure out what to do next...

In the past, I've had stretches of maybe a few weeks, a month or so tops, where I haven't gamed much or at all - but as of right now it's been several months since I've done any gaming.  I did convert my main machine to Linux a month or so ago, and did test some games under it, but it was just testing; I didn't play.

Why?  Well, as you can see, we've taken a lot of road trips so far this year, and that's been extremely fun and exciting.  There's also the brewing we've been doing, and brewing/beer education when we're not brewing, plus the food stuff (the chicken group, etc) and just other stuff that happily takes up my time, so gaming just hasn't been on my mind.

Another reason is that the games themselves and the way they are played have changed a lot.  I don't mind the focus on easier content ala WoW and the rest.  I do mind the evaporation of community, though.  Unless you have a large guild of friends, you don't get much "community experience" in most MMOs nowadays.  It was normal to have open conversations in pick-up dungeon groups or zone-wide chat back in earlier days.  Now, not so much.  A RDF group in WoW is silent.  Zone chat is nothing but Chuck Norris jokes and [Anal] links.  And it's not just WoW - that's just an easy example.  Ah well, things change!

I still follow the industry in a general way via Twitter and blogs and such, but I haven't had the desire, much less the time, to actually play anything.

It may be that I'll take up single player games, which can be taken in much smaller doses, instead of MMO gaming in the future.  Lizz has always enjoyed watching the more "cinematic" games as I play them - Dragon Age, Bioshock, and the like.  That may end up being a good winter pasttime when we have to hole up inside much of the time.

So, have I retired from MMO gaming after nearly 14 years?  I don't know.  If I ever get a desire to play heavily again and the time to do so, I may pick something up.  For now though, both the time and the desire to invest that much in a game are just not there.

We decided that Madcap coffee was well reviewed and may have appropriate coffee for us.

As we've said before, when we travel, we bring our own homeroasted pre-ground coffee and our Melitta cone brewer.   Most industrial coffee makes me very sick to my stomach.

We walk in, and I'm greeted with this sign:

In case you can't read it in the image, espresso and macchiato are marked 'for here only'.

Yes. This is correct.  They are not meant to be nursed.  They are meant to be drunk very soon after they're created.

I see to my right a lot of pourover cone brewers.

I sigh happily and choose one of their coffees to drink.

Not much seating, but we take a seat around the counter, near the espresso machine.  The espresso machine, it comforts me.

I sip it, black.  Jon looks at me quizzically.  I shut my eyes and savor.  Though I generally like some small amount of dairy fats as a flavor vector (since some compounds in coffee do not come fully forward without fats as a carrier) even black this coffee is exquisite.

I breathe a huge sigh, letting out the tension from the Place That Will Not be Named and offer some to Jon.

He smiles.

We both approve.

We discuss the coffee, how wonderful this place seems, and relax a bit more.

I get an espresso.

*happy smile*

Sweet, rich - still a dark Italian style while I do prefer a more carmelly espresso, but oh so perfectly done.

We do what we have done on roadtrips this year - we ask the staff where we should go next, specifying that we want to go to a place that is to beer and maybe food as they are to coffee.  We mention proteiny things and I go to use the restroom.

I come out, we're told to go to Stella's.  I don't know what a Stella's is, but the Yelp rating looks good, and we're shown a take out menu from them.

Yes! Seems promising!  We get vague directions and are planning to mill around and head that way.

During our milling around, I am glomped.

A rather intoxicated rather homeless person who is walking with two friends comes up to us and .. I can't really make out precisely what he's saying, but he's saying something about my hair and that it's really great and awesome and Jon is wonderful too, because we're both really cool!  Then he does the semi-drunken thing of putting his arms on our shoulders and hanging between us.

"I love you guys!!1.1..."

I pat his hands/arms.   He loves a lot right now, but seems to love the concept of people who don't look like everyone else.  His two friends, more sober than he, are hanging behind giving Jon and I the look of  'He's OK, just humor him'.   I'm not going to be mean to him, he's had an interesting life that led him to this point, and maybe two people being nice to him that day will be a good memory for him when he wakes up the next day.

His friends gather him and he stumbles off.

So do we. We're Stella bound.

One thing we've always noticed about our local food business community is that, at least to us - admittedly outsiders, not employed in the business - it seems that the businesses are very friendly and supportive of each other.  There does not seem to be any of the hyper-competitiveness you see and read/hear about in other areas - and that's a very cool thing to see.  We've even seen a restaurant stop selling a certain type of dish that was a new restaurant's specialty.  That was truly wonderful to see.

Now we're being offered the opportunity to collaborate with a much more experienced homebrewer, who also happens to be employed at a brewery.  It's an amazing opportunity, and we're both kid-at-Christmas excited about it.  Just another example of the food/beer community around here!

So now of course we have to decide what style to brew for this project, as that was left up to us.  Assuming the system can handle the grain bill, we're currently thinking of an American Barleywine.  It's a style that everyone involved enjoys, and something Lizz and I wanted to brew anyway, so it should be a good choice.

Speaking of brewing - we have numerous beers planned for the future, including a Coconut IPA, a re-tooling of Fucking Ball ov Sunshine, among other things.  We're also planning to brew a Kolsch.  Yes, just a normal, unadorned Kolsch.  We typically don't "dream" up "normal" beers, as we certainly share FFF's motto, "It's not normal!", but sometimes, a nice, easy drinking, low ABV brew is needed and Kolsch fits the bill perfectly.

For those waiting on the edge of their seats for Lizz's next travelog entries, fear not, they are coming!  She's been ultra-busy with work and keeping the house guest-friendly, so hasn't had a ton of blogging time.  She will not disappoint you though, and the entries will come soon.

We head out to The Place Which Will Not Be Named.

And this is where the entry gets a bit reflective.

To malaprop-paraphrase the late great Bill Hicks - if you're here for beer chat, we're getting to that.  I got a *lot* of that.  But this is good too, so hang in there.

We get to the dining establishment and are seated.

This is a non-chain establishment, and it's around late-lunchtime.   I've checked reviews on Yelp and the majority of reviews are that the food is a bit overpriced for what it is, but generally good.  I'm sharing this so you know where maybe my expectations are when we enter.

We're seated by the window. The sun has finally come out, a relief as we were ducking absolutely pouring rain going into Hopcat (karma for the giggling at the rained on club girls the night before?  Probably!).

The server comes up.  Young, attractive, no body art, 1 unusual adornment.  Over-made up for the weather outside.  Over-made up compared to all the places we have been in Grand Rapids.

(We all profile by appearance, even when we try not to, so no judging for me trying to describe her so you get the mood of the thing.  If it makes you feel better, she probably profiled us too.)

We study the menu.  We order 2 things that seem rather proteiny and filling to people who are used to splitting entrees.  They're appetizers, but sound promising.  We're pretty excited at this point!

At our usual places in Lafayette/in Indiana, the staff knows us and I know that all waitstaff has their mask/barrier up.   It's part of survival.   They're not acting, they're not being fake - they're being who they are while in the role of service-industry.   I respect that, I have to do that in my business too to a certain extent.

Some people are more willing to share their selves with you than others are.  This is true within a service industry/customer relationship and out of it.    Everyone has a different set of social barriers.  Things one person shares readily, another may never share except with their most intimate friends.

This server felt very..   angry.  Her body language and the way she moved wasn't just matter of factly, it was as if she was angry at the water.   Angry at the floor that she had to walk on.  Angry at the staff, angry at the customers.

This was swimming under a very lovely but very 'over produced' facade.  She's conventionally lovely and the role she chose is a 'cute wait staff that dots her I's with flowers' kind of person.  But her entire being doesn't match it.

My lower, middle and upper systems of interpreting emotions are a little overloaded.    The lizard, child and higher being are trying to figure this stuff out and it's a little too much for my brain to deal with.

Did we do something wrong? Is she angry at us?  Is she angry that she's working?

Jon and I dig into the food, which is a *lot less food* than expected in all cases.  The first course was good, but not exceptional.  I don't usually mind restaurant tricks to make things look larger than they are, but today I resent what they've done.

The 'main' meat course comes out and is smaller than expected.  It was good, but Jon and I have done similar things to both courses at home and been much happier with it.  I've now had maybe 3 oz of protein total and I'm not a happy woman.

I believe people probably like this eating establishment, but the wait staff is really confusing me, and I'm not happy with the food.

I have no unrealistic expectation that wait staff be thrilled with their job or with serving me.

I do my best to make the experience generally pleasant, as I don't view staff as machine-like things that are meant to serve me.  I view them as people, and I try to treat everyone well.

I don't feel like we were treated well.   We were treated as 'things' not as people.  Since I do my best to not treat people as machines or things, I felt a bit put off and slightly offended.

We pay, and leave.  I'm really bummed out at this point.

I won't tell you about my mini breakdown, but it involved cheese, and a nice but confused person who wanted to make my day brighter, but could see that probably the best thing to do was disengage.

We decide to go to a place that may or may not feel like home.

A good friend of Jon and ours commented thusly on my Facebook wall:

"Thanks for all the commentary from the road. I enjoy your ramblings. It makes me think I may have missed something - not having drunk any beer since college. -)"

The thing is that the roadtrips aren't really about the beer.

That's just The Man Who Travelled in Elephants 'hook' to make the road trips possible.

• It's about finding something, anything, to get your mind working in a different direction.
• It's about looking around the world a bit
• It's about meeting new people.
• It's about "Getting out of Dodge" and experiencing new things.
• It's about shaking things up a bit.
• It's about learning about new cities and states.
• It's about seeing someone's passion for their job shine through.
• It's about learning to literally or metaphorically taste new things in life.
• It's about firing up your creativity (ask us how many beers we now have planned? *grin*)

When you come back home, it's about appreciating where you live, who you are, and how you got there.

It's not all about the beer.  It's about us all.

I call Hopcat, and I imagine that I'm sounding a little weird.  I had my potatoes thankfully, but I'm a little edgy when I lose things, especially important things.

Me: "I left my red notebook there last night and all my beer tasting notes are in it"

Person_on_phone: "If I had known that, I probably would have read through it! It's here behind the bar, just ask about it when you come"

Back to the scene of The Crime

Indeed they did have my notebook and I thank them profusely.  I know most bars take their lost and founds rather seriously - since one person's written on dirty napkin is another's plans for world domination, but I appreciate it.

And, holy "Bob" Dobbs, the person that was behind the bar was the beer buyer! He introduced himself and shook my hand and asked me what I was planning to drink. I told him honestly that I had no idea.

That wouldn't do, not at all, nosirree - so he lined me up some samples.  I'm always so very thankful to get to try samples before I commit to a full pour, so I thank him probably 10x more than I need to and start sipping.

Two were from Atwater Block Brewery in Detroit.  One was Grand Circus - a lovely pale, and Teufel Bock.  I liked them both, but Teufel Bock gets my most excited noises between the two.  Molassses and earthy tones, picking up the wood of the Hopcat bar.  Yes!  We will be visiting Atwater on our next SE Michigan trip.

I mentioned my sour beer obsession.   Oh, the buyer knew exactly what I'd like

"Have you heard of Jolly Pumpkin?"

Heard of them, we had vague plans maybe of going there.  They're kind of the 'sour and interesting beer people' and since we tend to like sours, and we're both vaguely interesting maybe we were pretty keen in getting to know them and their beers better.

We knew Hopcat had quite a few on by them so were going to sample their lineup there and skip the trip this time. Maybe.

He lines up three for me: Madrugada Obscura, Bam Noir, and Bam Biere.

Bam Biere is a good Saison.   Bam Noir knocks my tastebuds into high 'must have more' gear.

Madrugada Obscura gets its own paragraph.  Imagine a rich very sexy stout.  Because stouts are sexy, what with all the body and lovely rich malty notes.  But, there's a sour tone to it, and it's a rich sour.  A rich sour that somehow goes with and contrasts the malt at the same time that it's making friends with it.  It's a sweet courtship ritual in your mouth and you're lucky enough to witness it.  Finishes beautifully.

Yes. That is coming home with us in a growler.  We think of Danyel who loves malty beers like Jon and I do - and also loves sour beers.  This is the beer she's going to try from the trip.

In the meantime, I'm going to make friends with Bam Noir.  I get a full pour and start enjoying the wonderful sour notes of this beer.  It's making me miss baking bread, since it reminds me of the sour rye starters that the wild yeasts in our kitchen are happy to help us produce.

A palate cleanser?  You bet.

"Crack Fries, please!"

Were they as advertised?  I think you'll have to see for themselves, but yes we did want more... =)

Down the bar arrived two other travellers.  I always eavesdrop so I heard that they'd travelled from up the coast of MI down to Hopcat and were 'going home'.

I'm part kender.  I swear to you, minus the topknot.  I always play a rogue in online and role playing games, and I have the somewhat charming propensity to just start randomly talking to people.  A bar is a nice place for that, since it doesn't seem unusual.  I don't think.

So I strike up a conversation.  They're from Dayton, OH and went to Traverse City (to Shorts Brewing, if I remember correctly).  We talk about the beers they've met along the way.  A really nice couple - they're witnessing a revitalization of Dayton, OH that sounds exciting.  Independent bars with craft taps are opening and the music scene is being expanded.  They take their leave soon and he leaves me with his card, which I'll pass on to you in digital form here: http://ghettoblastermagazine.com/.  I wish them all the luck in the world in Dayton - I really think that the city is due for some more indy love.

I get back to talking to Jon and enjoying Bam Noir.  At this point in the trip, I'm already starting to have the odd reaction that I get to industrial oils.  As if you didn't think I was odd enough already, my mouth gets absolutely inflamed and painful after I've had fried food or a lot of chips.  The Crack Fries are actually fine, in fact they're helping me in many ways!, but the oils from the day before are punishing me.

Girl needs protein, badly, frankly.  I've been slacking on it, because it's hard to get lean protein without any wheat and adjustable carbohydrates/fat at restaurants.  To say I'm a little of a nutrition geek may be an understatement, but when the atmosphere allows, I'm happy to just nibble and have a good time.  It was time, though, to start listening to my macronutrient hunger signals.

I admit to the lovely bartender (the buyer has moved on to buying) that I'm about to break a golden rule, but I'm looking for protein in the fair city of Grand Rapids that doesn't come in the form of a sandwich or can be wheat-free.  Her and two regulars down the bar from us think about it, and ask us a few questions.  They make A Recommendation Which I Won't Name Here for Purposes to Become Clear Later and Jon and I figure it's worth a try.

We nab the growler of beer and thank the bartender and the local people.  We head out to the Place Which Will Not Be Named.

Yesterday we brewed the last of 2 Great Fermentation kits we've got; we're finishing these up before moving on to the wild world of All Grain Brewing. During the process, Lizz had a food idea involving beer ingredients, and so she went and worked on that while I finished the brew. Her idea involved spent specialty grains and 2 kinds of hops.

I'm not sure if the project is out of "secret" status yet. I'll let her guest-blog on it if so. I will say though, that for a "beer ingredient dessert food," it is everything I'd even imagined such a thing could be. You can definitely taste the beer ingredients, and they work amazingly well with the dessert item too.

A couple of nights ago, we built our mash/lauter tun so that we can move onto all grain brewing - the next logical step in a homebrewer's evolution. We also bought a couple of things at Tuxedo Park Brewers over the weekend. Firstly, a used propane burner, so that we can brew outside, and get our water up to temp a lot faster. The second item was a stir plate, so that we can make yeast starters. It'll will be fun to play with yeast, for sure; we need the "Yeast book" soon.

Lately, during our walks, and dinners, and, well, a lot of the time, we've been theorizing and talking about various beers we want to make. It seems our "house style" is going to follow the motto of FFF ("It's not normal!") We like normal, beer flavored beers, of course, but every time we talk, we come up with new twists for beers.

A beer judge recently told us that during a competition, he judged IPAs and found all of them very uniform; nothing stood out. Well, when the emphasis is on near-slavish style adherence, with everyone aiming for dead-center of the style parameters, what can be expected? It seems people either do that, or go for the EXTREEEEEEEEEEEME hoppiness of the American IPA substyle.

So, with our beers, we will try to make good, balanced beers, that taste good, but have something a little different about them. Even if it's just slightly different malt or hop bills.

Our beer, Fucking Ball ov Sunshine, by the numbers, did not do well in the Brewer's Cup. By our reckoning though, it did perfect. ;) This beer came about by Lizz and I lying in bed, and her blurting out "we have to make a beer with lemon and basil!!!!!!!!!@@@!" Rather than, "let's brew an IPA, and add lemon." The latter is what the judges were wanting: a totally identifiable, normal beer, with a small addition of something. FBoS is not that. It literally a fucking ball of sunshine. It has a lot of lemon character. That's its raison d'etre. And that's what the judges found. It's just not what they wanted. Oh well. The notes were very constructive though, which I'm thankful for.

So soon it's onto all grain brewing and probably better beers!

New Holland Brewing Company

Almost immediately after we arrived, the threatning rain finally arrived.

Like a 'we promise you you WILL get wet' water ride at an amusement park, the rain just fell and fell.

We were inside and had the promise of great beers in sight.  The bartender gave us the sampler tray menu and asked us to choose our beers.  We did:

We tried Full Circle (kolsch), Golden Cap (saison), Dragon's Milk (strong ale), Charkaoota Rye (smoked goodness), Black Hatter (black IPA) and El Mole Ocho (yum).

I didn't have my notebook with me, so I took no tasting notes whatsoever.  Which felt very liberating.  I was still a bit... well... off from so little sleep and non adequate nutrition, and I don't think my evaluation skills would have been that great.

We sampled and enjoyed.  Our favorites were the El Mole Ocho and the Charkoota Rye, both of which came home with us in bombers.

I had been on a quest for potatoes the night before.  Preferably with the skins on.  They say that drinking depletes potassium, and whether or not that was the reason, I needed potatoes badly.

After the denial of the Crack Fries at Hopcat, I decided to indulge my potato-age here at New Holland:

Much like the nachos from the night before, they filled a deep need in me and I declared them the perfect fries of the moment!

They also have a distillery.  We did sample the gin and the rum but they didn't make rum in the style we prefer (we're big Rhum Barbancourt 5 star fans) and it was going to be hard to unseat my unholy love for Magellan Gin

We headed back towards Grand Rapids.

Friday morning came early.

No matter when we get to sleep, we seem to be incapable of waking up later than 6 or 6:30.

Rise and shine, said my internal clock.  I made us our usual roadtrip coffee  in the hotel room, thanked Jon for the nachos last night and his kind babysitting of the me that didn't pace too well, and vowed to do better.

We planned to go West, young reader, to New Holland Brewing Co this fine morning.   There was a chance of thunderstorms, as would follow us through this whole roadtrip, but that never seems to stop us.

I get my Timbuk2 bag set up for the journey:

Michigan breweries book - check!

Sunglasses - check!

Payment forms - check!

Tattoo balm - check!

Tasting-notes notebook....

.....

.........?

My tasting notes are gone.  My red spiral notebook is on the lam somewhere in Grand Rapids.

Jon and I focus - where did I last physically touch it at?

Hopcat

Well, this is never a bad thing.  It's a nice place and more beer is there.

We focus.

A Nice Town with One Rude Person

I'd been to Holland, MI ages ago when my mom and I used to take roadtrip vacations up and down the coast of western Michigan.  So some parts looked familiar as we drove into town.

The main part of the downtown had lots of interesting shops - a really nice mix of seemingly upscale places and smaller mom-and-pop owned establishments.

Perfect!  We can walk around downtown until New Holland Brewing Company opens.

We stopped into the Alpinerose restaurant (web link omitted, since they push music).

O_O

What's a girl to do?

I resisted though, as on roadtrips a rule *generally* is 'no dessert'.  Alcohol + dessert = a morning of large amounts of regrets.

I'm 40.  This morning I felt 80.  Whatever I had done to myself the night before, it had given me veins under my eyes that looked marker-drawn, and a sort of weak-kneed walk, punctuated by the fact that though Alpinerose had coffee, it was not what I consider good coffee.  So coffee, denied.

But they had some Tazo herbal tea.  That would work.

We made our purchase and I asked the person at the cash register and by default the gentleman helping her what interesting things were around / what nice places there may be to walk before New Holland opened.

Well, the gentleman asked, what *kind* of interesting places were we looking for?

"Maybe someplace that tourists tend to miss"

"CityVu bistro, two blocks down thataway"

Cool - food is good (made a mental note).

The lady behind the cash register let me know about some local places to see - meanwhile a woman to Jon's left was really excited that we wanted to walk, and had just the place/places for us to see.

I'm trying to follow 3 conversations at once, luckily one is about my hair and I'm used to that.   But generally I'm failing. The Nachos last night were magical, but not magical enough for this.

We sit down and I let Orange Herby tea work its mojo on my tired brain. Thank you Tazo.

The Nice Woman sits down with us and we chat. Her and her husband are dining outside, she will make notes and tell us exactly where the cool park/walking stuff is and be right back.

This could not be better.  Being active while you roadtrip is crucial to keep your brain sharp and the liver functioning correctly.  Second only to proper hydration.

Jon and I chat, use the restroom, chat more.  We figured she was going to make a couple of little notes.

She came back, and sat down.  We got a really nicely detailed guide of where to find the walking paths she talked about, rainy day stuff to do in Holland,  a concert in the park that night, and where the state park was and how great it would be to watch the impending storm roll in from the park.

Good people exist. =)

She also raises some of her own meat, has a small garden and supports local foods. So Serendipity again raises her beautiful face towards us.  We talk for awhile, and she excuses herself to go out and eat with her husband on the patio.  Thank you again to her - you are a bright spot of sunny goodness  in Holland.

We amble down the row of shops and pick up some interesting candy bits from Fabiano's Holland Peanut Store.  Jones Soda fizzy candy, REAL black liquorice cats, 2 truffles.  They make it difficult to choose just a few things...

We see that it's about to pour, but we also know that we Really Must Walk.

I divest of everything that can be damaged by rain, and we head off a couple of blocks thataway to the park.

We've both got our raincoats on, and we find the park and walk.  I didn't have my phone, so I can't post the photos, but part of it has a boardwalk that goes through cattail reeds and through a small forest.  A gorgeous walk on a pretty-but-gonna-storm morning.

Time passes and we're on the main strip of downtown Holland again. New Holland is about to open.

My friends, I'm used to some weird comments - because I don't look normal.  If you take one part of how I look, you can make a judgement on me based on that, but you'd be totally incorrect.

This is around, hm, 10-11am.  The town is filling up, mostly with polite sane looking people.

Then -- I'll warn you, this is not family friendly --

A young bro-loooking teen drives by, full car, window down, and informs me that:

"Your hair looks like a smurf came on it"

O_o

My jaw tightens.  I've heard that line before.  Some lame comedian, and this bro thinks he's being clever.  But he's just being judgemental.

I want to go all Tank Girl on him.  But it's not worth it.

My point of anger is mostly that this is in the middle of a Nice Place, with Nice People - and he's more out of place than I am.  *smile*

On to more plesant things as the day continues...

This one's about first impressions and the old adage "don't judge a book by its cover."

We were at a pub in the early night, and I noticed a girl.  She was fairly pretty, with an "alt" look - and happened to have some very nice tattoos, including one with an element very similar to an element in one of mine.  Since both of us have tattoos, and Lizz's look is generally pretty "alt" - we both consider that attractive/a good thing.

So, on first impression/judge a book by its cover, I figured this girl would be very nice and friendly and cool.  She was with a few male friends/new acquaintances, so I figured I'd wait for an opening, and then ask her about the tattoo, since again, it had an element similar to one of mine - and it's not an overly common tattoo element.

Over the course of the night, while watching/waiting for said opening, I realized I'd violated the "don't judge a book by its cover" adage - in the opposite way it was meant.

Usually, that adage is trying to get you to judge someone in a negative light just based on appearance/first impression.  But in this case, I'd assumed someone would be nice and friendly, based on her appearance and first impression.

From listening to her conversation, I heard her brag of using her look to mooch free drinks off guys, and then just ignore them.  All the while she was detailing her exploits, mind you, talking to two male companions, she was using a flirty tone and body language with them, as if she was so sure of herself and her ability to wrest drinks from any male, that even though she was telling them what she did, she expected them to fall for it as well.

Luckily it seemed the guys were having none of it, one of them even basically asking if she put out, her saying "Never! I don't have to!" - and the two guys sharing a knowing look as if to say "Yeah, right... suuuuuure you don't."

I never got my opening, nor did I care, after learning her true nature.

I'm sad that what was probably originally some very meaningful tattoos are now just part of a "free drink magnet" look.  I wonder what happens to a person that causes that.  She has a lot of very detailed, high quality all-black tattoo work, none of which is flash or even common symbols/designs.  It must have been meaningful to her when she got it.

Don't judge a book by its cover, or a person by how they look.  You could be wrong either way.

We walk off into the Grand Rapids night from B.O.B.  We've got GPS up, and our destination is in sight.

Z's Bar and Restaurant

I have no fancy title, nothing clever - because at this point in the night, I'm needing food. I'm not stomach-hungry, but my brain is rattling around in my head.

"If you don't feed me, I will make you wish you had never been born in the morning"

Who am I to argue with that sort of biochemical logic?

We walk into Z's.  It's filled with 2-3 ambitious karaoke singers, and a lot of people like us.  Folks who are drinking or who have *been* drinking and must eat or they will be roundly punished in the morning.

A singer is doing a respectable version of Pink's "Who Knew" and she gets roundly applauded, mostly by me.  I'm pretty enthusiastic about it, and right now, this is the greatest bar that I've ever been in.

My notes of the night say "NACHOS!!!!" all in caps, with exclamation points and all.  Jon and I get the Super Nachos .

I decide, because I'm brilliant that way!, that I need more beer.  I hear Jon's palm meet his forehead, but I'm not dissuaded.  It's fate that I'm here, and they have nachos, and Pink's "Who Knew" and two wonderful singers.

I get a pint of New Holland's Mad Hatter IPA, and it is the best beer I've ever had.  I'm singing along, I'm drinking the beer, I'm guzzling water.

The nachos come, and I swear I hear a choir of karaoke angels singing just for me, telling me to eat the nachos.  They are the best food I've ever had.

Jon, bless his heart, keeps me from going up and drunkenly wailing into the karaoke machine, and bundles me back to the hotel.

His report is that we tuckered into bed and he said "I love you!".

I responded back with a snore.  *looks a bit ashamed*. I fixed my reply in the morning, but love is when you respond with a snore and that snore means "I love *you* too!" to the asker.

And thus day 1-and-into-2 of our roadtrip ends.

When we last left our story, we were headed to see Parsifal, who resides outside of

The B.O.B.

The Bob is a 77,000 sq ft building that houses a bunch of stuff.  Here's the list from their website:

Judsons Steakhouse, Gills Blue Crab Lounge, Monkey Bar Resto Lounge, Eve Lounge
Crush Nightclub, Bobarinos, Dr. Grins Comedy Club, B.O.B.'s Brewery <-- they brew too!
Gilmore Collection Catering.

There's not many clubs that have a downloadable directory so you can find what floor your thing is on.

So, we head out post-2300 to The Bob.  It may have been later than that.

We get to the door, please let them have food.  We get carded and tagged like baby cockatiels.

"Are any kitchens open"?

"No."

Crud.  That's not what I said though.

I'm nothing if not stubborn and determined, so in we went!   We went up a floor to a quieter section of the hubbub and I got one of Bob's own beers.

The tap was labelled Rye.  But I don't see that listed on their website.

At this point, I'm not taking notes.  I hear thump-thump-thump coming from Crush on the first level and I'm swaying to the euro-Trance/House remixes.  It's a beer, we're sitting on a faux leather club chair in an empty part of the complex and Life Is Good.  If I had a cigarette and if Grand Rapids allowed smoking indoors, I would have been quite happy.  Jon, nice couch, beer and cigarette.  Life is Good.

In time, the restroom calls and I ask the worker that's in there who has food in the area. Sometimes there's a hot dog vendor out on the corner (she points out the window). Cool, we'll look for them.  I'll ditch the bun and eat the dog, no problem!

I come out and Jon has gotten asked about his shoes.  Again.  Whether it was honest interest or a clever opener (I suspect the last from his description of it ;) ), travelers that like to chat would be well-advised to wear Vibram Five Finger shoes.

We walk around more - it's a very cool club concept!  I know Jon's not Of The Dancing Tribe, so we're not going to go to Crush, which is OK at this time.  Plus, we see the people coming out of there. Most of them are heavily intoxicated, more so than I am at this point, and they're swaying on high heels, clutching onto each other and handrails trying to hobble up the steps to the restroom.

Dancing there, at this time, on this day may not be fun.

Anyone who has met me face to face knows I don't blend.  In The Bob, I *really* don't blend.  Everyone has blonde or black hair.  Everyone has very straight hair with chunky highlights. Everyone is wearing heels.  Everyone has very tight things on.  Everyone probably has their highlight person high up on their cell phone list.

I have teal hair, a Woot shirt with a rabbit eating another rabbit and a gaggle of bunnies looking at him in horror, a teal dotted skirt on and my Vibrams.  And my huge Timbuk2 messenger slung on my back like some odd punk-meets-50's-housewife combination that was beamed in the middle of the club.

No one's right or wrong here, and I'm pretty accepting of different looks - it sort of goes With The Thing.  But I'm starting to feel like a stranger in a strange land, and I hadn't had enough beer for that.

I like it there though.  A few ladies seemed to be not having the best time due to a lot of drinking, but mostly everyone's smashed and happy.  A nice combination.  Any other night or earlier on that night, the stars may have aligned for a more tribal-feeling experience.

I decide I must have some sort of fruity drink.  Don't ask me why, every once in awhile I have to indulge my inner woman with a fruity frozen whats-it.  It was tasty, they do know how to make their drinks.

We're leaving, and I ask - hey, what's a food place that *is opening and actually serving food* time of night.  Then I have to appendix "That isn't a chain" since we don't want to experience chains when we travel.

A destination is given to us, and we head off into the late late night.  Jon pretty sober, me not as much.

Moving on from Founders Brewing Co,  we had some big decisions to make.

Namely, move on to *where*?

Cool for Cats

We decided on Hopcat - they have a huge craft beer list, both taps and bottles.  Plus we'd been salivating a *lot* over their 'Crack Fries'.  OK, so maybe they're glammy named French Fries, but we still wanted to try them.

We headed on over, nicely there was a close parking garage.

Parking?  Yes.  See, our hotel was around 7 miles away from downtown and though we *could* walk that, it may be a little much if we'd had a little too much. So, we initially thought we'd take a cab.  Until we found out 1 way from the hotel would be $21.00.

That's $42.00 round trip.

O_O

Jon took one for the team, again =), and paced himself so that we could save $42.00.

So, yes. Parking.

Headed two blocks from the parking structure to Hopcat.

Imagine a moderate tempo ragtime song.  Here's a aural reminder of what that may sound like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdo-R1qLWuk

Hopcat is very nicely appointed.  Wood everywhere, low table/chair seating, a nice bar and a bar rail for when things get peppy and drinking and standing is the order of the day (and, honestly I think that's my preference as bar chairs are never that comfy)

As you face the bar, you see their fermentation tanks through a window to the left.  I always think the brewers must feel like fish.  Behind glass, going around and around.  I wonder if they get spooked when you tap on the glass?

Straight ahead of you at the bar are their many many taps.

The bar was busy, a lot of the tables were full.  We took a seat near the window.

Their draft list was impressive and featured a lot of Michigan breweries, highlighted in green on their menu.  They made it really easy to pick them out.

Hopcat is known for their interesting beers that they brew on premises, that have some interesting names.

I asked about Sage Against the Machine and the kind waiter brought me a sample of it. Quite good, but wasn't what I was looking for at that time.   I tried some of their Gingervitis, and though good, I found it too sweet for my current taste.

So, I settled on a beer - Jon settled on a beer.

Then we ordered their infamous "crack fries".

"Oh, the kitchen is closed - I can bring you "crack bread" though..."

I bake. I think I'm pretty good at it, and I strive to get better.

But I don't feel well when I eat wheat consistently.  Plus it makes me picky as hell about baked goods.

I also keep added fats to a dull roar. These facts make it *very difficult* to go to breweries and brewpubs as their starters and 'soak up the alcohol' foods are generally wheaty and fatty.  I'll indulge sometimes, and I did on this journey, on the fats, but wheats I try to stay really minimal on.

Not only am I a beer snob and a coffee snob - I'm a baked goods snob as well.  At least I admit it.

We turn down the "Crack bread" and he apologizes many times.  It's fine, if I need a little bit of something, I have rice crackers stashed away in my Timbuk2 bag.

At this point things are getting a little hazy.

My battle plan for Grand Rapids was to get in and hit as much as I could physically handle hitting that night.  Sometimes you have to take really big bites of life.

I'm not quite feeling done yet, but it's intermittantly pouring out.  Jon and I are watching the Ken and Barbies run by with handbags, etc over their heads to shield their siliconed strands from the rain.  I'm giggling a little bit - because people trying to escape something falling from above that's basically inescapable always looks a little funny.

At this point my friends, it's after 11pm.. by how much, I couldn't tell you.  If I'm on my phone, it's generally to talk to friends with Facebook or check Email (or a map... or Priceline for a hotel deal...).  I never checked the time.

We had decided.

It was time to visit Parsifal

And the journey continues.

Having experienced Dark Horse Brewing Co, but having wanderlust in our veins we moved on to Grand Rapids.

American Music

Onstreet parking wasn't a problem in this industrial-going-to-commercial district, but the rain was.  It was threatening rain, which became our theme during this roadtrip.  We parked and speed-walked to Founders

We arrived at Founders Brewing Company and found it completely full.  Well not completely full. There was room for at least 2 more.

The building is flat, and purely industrial.  Which is, to my eyes, beautiful.  It wasn't cold industrial, rather it was warm and welcoming.   Patrons crowded the outer railed patio outside, happily drinking and talking - and a band played inside.

I don't know the name of the band, but they sounded something like the New Heathens (so you could now go listen to, say, Proud Highway from their album Hello Disaster to get the mood of the thing).    We'd lucked out and happened in there on Music Thursdays, and this was a 4 band lineup.  Band #2 was American Rock Music With A Little Twang But Not Too Much.

You know, one thing that trips me up when entering a new place is how things are done.  We entered directly in front of two holes that go to the kitchen, and the bar.   I'm blurry from the road, vaguely blurry from  Dark Horse and had this feeling of this-is-not-what-I-expected.  Which is good.

We sort out and head to the bar.  The kind bartender is happy to give us samples and talk to us about the beer, but we have a crush of people behind us.  I obtain the Cashew Mountain Brown and Jon has the Oatmeal Stout.

Oh and the nosh.  We had nosh:

That, friends, is a basket full of cheesy meaty chippy olive tapanadey goodness (aka the Antipasto platter but my name is more descriptive).  We engaged in toothpick shiv wars over the meat and cheese and hung out, drank and dug the band.

By the way - people are fascinated by Vibram fivefingers shoes.  In the din a yoga instructor was trying to get my attention and we started conversing about my shoes.

I wasn't driving, so my second choice of beer was the Cerise, which Jon and I split (sort of).   Somehow it goes that I'm the woman and not driving, so I get more beer.  He's the guy and driving, so he gets less beer and more food. Well, I try to at least be entertaining when tipsy.

We brought some Cerise home with us, but only because we got it later on at a party store.  The place was kind of crowded to bring more with us, I would have liked to have picked up the Cashew Mountain Brown because it was kind of eye-rolls-in-the-back-of-ones-head good.

The nosh was finished, and the beer was good, so we bid farewell to Founders (home of good music and great beers) and headed onwards.

On our way to Dark Horse Brewing Co we got pulled over by a friendly Michigan patrolman.

When we placed our People's Brewing Company, Figure 8 Brewing and The Tattooed Heart bumperstickers on our car (along with the Subgenius license plate frame, though no one usually catches that) I said "We're going to be profiled".

I can't prove that we *were*, maybe we were just the slowest of the fast moving pack. Maybe the bumper stickers gave the promise of an interesting pullover? Maybe he thought we had already had a few?

If we were profiled, I don't think the officer expected a polite-tattooed-crocheting-sober woman and a well-spoken-very-normal-looking-sober man when he got to the passenger window.

License, registration, and a ticket for 5 over.

He was curious about our destination. "Dark Horse Brewing Co"! We got the tip that it was X amount of miles ahead and we should proceed safely to our destination ... and suddenly I felt a little like Hunter S Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...