Unibroue La Terrible

I know I haven't posted in a while, but wjat a way to get back in the swing of things! Had a change to enjoy a pour of this tasty brew at Tyler's in Durham after a work meeting got out a little early this week. At 10.5% ABV, I expected a taste typical of a high alcohol content brew. However, I was pleasantly surprised by that fact that the taste of the alcohol was very well masked, and the dark, sweet, fruity flavors were the first to emerge. It finsished with a brown sugar and pepper taste, and was very drinkable. As a high gravity choice, it is one i will need to be careful of. This can also be found on tap at the Flying Saucer as well, so I encourage you to partake at your leisure!

Clipper City Firkin @ Flying Saucer

Tuesday, May 19th, the Flying Saucer is going to be tapping a firkin of Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA! Pours begin at 6, hopefully I'll be able to make it all the way across the street after work...If you don't know I do work literally across the street from the Saucer, I know, it's rough.

Friday Lunch - Tobacco Road Sports Cafe

I was debating places for my Friday lunch and was considering Tobacco Road Sports Cafe. I'd only been twice, and once was just for an after work beer. After Hallertau forwarded me a Greg Cox review of Tobacco Road (http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1516503.html), I figured it was meant to be.

After perusing the menu I went with one of Greg's recommendations - the Tarheel Ram Wrap. Since this is a beer blog, I won't get too detailed, but it was excellent and came with a heaping portion of my side choice - sweet potato fries. I paired it with a French Broad Wee-Heavy-er, which turned out quite well.

Their beer selection is adequate - certainly not Tyler's, but you will get no complaints from me. They had many local taps - Big Boss, French Broad, Highland, CBC, Lone Rider, among others. Their many, large HD tv's are certainly a great way to watch a game. A nice touch is their outside seating, which features TV's facing Glenwood Ave. so you can enjoy the weather and the game at the same time!

I walked out with a free 850 The Buzz Canes t-shirt too!

If you're looking for good food, beer and sports, this place is very hard to beat.

Thoughts on Cask Ale in Raleigh

After thoroughly enjoying the Raleigh Times "Super Duper Cask Party" last night, I think it is time that a local bar step up and offer Cask beer as a regular part of their lineup. It is quite obvious that Cask ale has quite a following locally, as every special event is packed. While the fact that the events are bringing out a big crowd is great, the Casks often get drained very quickly (1 hr) and it causes a couple of problems in my opinion. It promotes drinking faster than normal if you want to have more than 1 glass of the special offering. It does not promote a full appreciation of the beer and all of its flavors.

Now, yes, of course I could get my one pint, and sit and enjoy it as slowly as I would like, there is certainly nothing preventing me from doing that. The event and the beer would be much more enjoyable if it was possible to have a few pints over a few hours.

The bigger issue is simply that I really enjoy Cask Ale and it is frustrating having to attend special events to drink some. Then the Cask gets kicked so quickly and the wait for the next event begins.

There are plenty of bars in other locations that have a Cask in their regular lineup. We have some great breweries in the area that are obviously committed to producing Casks. I believe this has the potential to be very popular, and would definitely separate a bar from the rest of the crowd if they were to offer Casks regularly.