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Colorado Springs Pub Crawl
Here's the premise: Everyone meets at a particular Colorado Springs bar
at a specified time and drinks/socializes for one hour (or whatever length of time), then everyone migrates to the next bar on the list (or a bar of popular choice), for perhaps a total of four hours (that would be a total of four venues for this example). Everyone gets to visit bars/pubs they may otherwise have not visited. It could be a monthly or quarterly event. There is an open forum set up to discuss this at: http://www.mylifeisbeer.com/forums/i...ct=ST&f=7&t=82 This is just an idea I've had after participating in similar events in Austin, Texas and St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. |
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The only thing wrong with this scenario is that 99.9% of the bars here
in the Springs have the following on tap: Bud, Miller, Coors, token Bristol offereing most likely Laughing Lab and token New Belgium offering Sunshine Wheat or Fat Tire. I've lived here for a year now and outside of brewpubs and breweries you'll find no good beer bars. I've looked and looked although I would be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. _Randal |
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The only thing wrong with this scenario is that 99.9% of the bars here
in the Springs have the following on tap: Bud, Miller, Coors, token Bristol offereing most likely Laughing Lab and token New Belgium offering Sunshine Wheat or Fat Tire. I've lived here for a year now and outside of brewpubs and breweries you'll find no good beer bars. I've looked and looked although I would be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. _Randal |
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So there is no Gingerman-like pub in Colorado Springs? Bummer...
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Nope. AFAIK the only Gingerman-like pub you will find on the whole
front range is Falling Rock in Denver. When I went there it was quite un-Gingerman-like even though it was started by former g-man employees. They were out of a good 1/4 of their 40 or so taps, although they didn't bother to cover the tap handles with anything and the surly bartender grew surlier as I somehow managed to ask about most of the beers that they were out of (the good ones). Last weekend I went to The Yard House in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver. They have 130 taps and make the Saucer look like Applebees. Be sure and go there between 3 & 6 though when all of their beer is only $2.75 a pint. I will DEFINITELY be back, hopefully this weekend! If you are in the Springs be sure and visit Bristol's tasting room and Kinfolks in Manitou. Kinfolks is tiny - it's a mountain outfitter store with a surprise bar in the back with 8 craft beer taps. I find it very relaxing and cozy. _Randal |
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I'll be sure to check those out.
I just moved to Colorado Springs from Austin and figured Colorado would have a much better beer scene. While the store selection is better, or perhaps just different than you might find at HEB Central Market or the Grapevine Market in Austin, the pub scene leaves something to be desired here. |
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In rec.food.drink.beer Randal > wrote:
: be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the : food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon : first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only : places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are : Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at : least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. Old Chicago has over 115 beers available - you call that "ho-hum"? Now I know it's _you_ that has the problem, not the C. Springs beer scene. |
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> wrote:
>In rec.food.drink.beer Randal > wrote: > >: be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the >: food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon >: first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only >: places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are >: Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at >: least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. > >Old Chicago has over 115 beers available - you call that "ho-hum"? Now >I know it's _you_ that has the problem, not the C. Springs beer scene. It's been awhile since I've been in an Old Chicago, but IME he's right-- the selection may seem adventuresome to a beer neophyte but to the exeprience beer hunter it certainly leaves a lot to be desired. -- Joel Plutchak "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes plutchak at [...] your time and it annoys the pig." -anonymous |
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"Joel" > wrote in message
... > > wrote: >>In rec.food.drink.beer Randal > wrote: >> >>: be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the >>: food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon >>: first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only >>: places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are >>: Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at >>: least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. >> >>Old Chicago has over 115 beers available - you call that "ho-hum"? Now >>I know it's _you_ that has the problem, not the C. Springs beer scene. > > It's been awhile since I've been in an Old Chicago, but > IME he's right-- the selection may seem adventuresome to a > beer neophyte but to the exeprience beer hunter it certainly > leaves a lot to be desired. That was my unfortunate experience at the newly opened OC by me. Went in last week with high hopes of a good multi-tap near the house, but out of 40+ taps, there were 6 that were worth the time -- and you guys know me, I'm pretty open-minded -- and the first beer I ordered, a Rogue Santa's Reserve, was stale. Not good. -- Lew Bryson www.LewBryson.com Author of "New York Breweries" and "Pennsylvania Breweries," 2nd ed., both available at <www.amazon.com> The Hotmail address on this post is for newsgroups only: I don't check it, or respond to it. Spam away. |
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"Lew Bryson" > wrote in
om: > know me, I'm pretty open-minded -- and the first beer I ordered, a > Rogue Santa's Reserve, was stale. Not good. Yup, same experience here. At first glance, a seemingly beergeek-friendly place, but a lot of the good stuff is old and/or served ICE cold, and in a frosted mug, no less. Even had a fruitless argument with an OC bartender about the beer being served much too cold...he was convinced that was exactly how it should be served, despite my pointing out that no one in England, Germany, or Belgium serves it at such a tasteless temp. And I've had many an import in bottle that had the telltale cardboard waft of oxidation. So, no...not worth your time if there's a decent brewpub around. I applaud OC's effort to offer a good selection, but they need to work harder on insuring the beers are in good condition. I'd rather have things be out of stock occasionally than expect what I'm getting is going to be nearly undrinkable. I just don't patronize them anymore, it's not worth it. Cheers, Ern |
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"Lew Bryson" > wrote in
om: > know me, I'm pretty open-minded -- and the first beer I ordered, a > Rogue Santa's Reserve, was stale. Not good. Yup, same experience here. At first glance, a seemingly beergeek-friendly place, but a lot of the good stuff is old and/or served ICE cold, and in a frosted mug, no less. Even had a fruitless argument with an OC bartender about the beer being served much too cold...he was convinced that was exactly how it should be served, despite my pointing out that no one in England, Germany, or Belgium serves it at such a tasteless temp. And I've had many an import in bottle that had the telltale cardboard waft of oxidation. So, no...not worth your time if there's a decent brewpub around. I applaud OC's effort to offer a good selection, but they need to work harder on insuring the beers are in good condition. I'd rather have things be out of stock occasionally than expect what I'm getting is going to be nearly undrinkable. I just don't patronize them anymore, it's not worth it. Cheers, Ern |
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Dan Iwerks <dan_iwerksatyahoodottcom> wrote in
: > 115 crappy beers available is still 115 crappy beers. It's not the > number, it's the quality. -- You have to keep perspective, though...how many other chain restaurants give you a choice like that? Granted, a lot of them are crap lagers, but I at least give them credit for offering something better than Rolling Rock and Fat Tire. There are reasons to knock OC (the fact that a lot of it is stale and ice cold), but I don't think we should be comparing them to the Toronados and Falling Rocks either. My local OC offers Celebrator and Fullers London Porter among other things, which I wouldn't call crappy personally. Try getting either of those at another restaurant. Granted, they're not served properly, but that wasn't the issue. ;^) Cheers, Ern |
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: 115 crappy beers available is still 115 crappy beers. It's not the : number, it's the quality. -- Pilsner Urquell, Pyramid Apricot, Lindeman's Kriek are crappy beers? You must be a Bud drinker... |
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> wrote:
>: 115 crappy beers available is still 115 crappy beers. It's not the >: number, it's the quality. -- > >Pilsner Urquell, Pyramid Apricot, Lindeman's Kriek are crappy beers? You >must be a Bud drinker... PU is OK if it's not stale. The other two are adulterated overly sweey plonk. -- Joel Plutchak "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes plutchak at [...] your time and it annoys the pig." -anonymous |
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"Expletive Deleted" > wrote in message enn.edu... > > > On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 wrote: > >> In rec.food.drink.beer Randal > wrote: >> >> : be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old Chicago where the >> : food is barely edible and the beer selection seems pretty good upon >> : first inspection but is really just a lot of ho-hum choices the only >> : places I can think of that do not fit my initial description are >> : Kinfolks in Manitou and The Stagecoach which only has three taps but at >> : least they are Oasis instead of Bristol. >> >> Old Chicago has over 115 beers available - you call that "ho-hum"? Now >> I know it's _you_ that has the problem, not the C. Springs beer scene. >> > > C'mon. > Old Chicago sucks ass. It's virtually the only "show in town" for me, other than the Sanford's Grub and Pub and the Wonder Bar.(That's my pub of choice: 12 pumps: Bass, Newcastle Brown, Guinness, Bud light, Boulevard Wheat, O'dell's 90 shilling, Fat Tire, PBR, NB's 1554, Breckenridge Hefe, Blue Moon, and one other that I can't remember) > 115 beers, 85 of them are variants of the same old light lagers, but ooh, > there's one from China! True dat. > The rest are very commonly available things like Samuel Smiths, Sierra > Nevada, Anchor, etc. I'm thankful that Sammy Smith has returned to Casper after a long hiatus. Same goes for Rogue. Not to say those beers are slouches, but when you go > into a real beer bar, you often find yourself gasping at seeing a few > things on tap that you've only read about, and never thought you'd get to > drink. I haven't been to one of those yet but our buddy Randal found one in Lakewood called The Yard House. I'm gonna mosey on down there in the not too distant future. > Not to at Old Chicago. (not to mention their ice cold servings and frosty > mugs) I've trained the bartenders to know better than to serve me with a frosted glass!! lol Best regards, Bill |
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"Bill Becker" > wrote in message
... > I haven't been to one of those yet but our buddy Randal found one in > Lakewood called The Yard House. I'm gonna mosey on down there in the not > too distant future. I've been to several of the Yard Houses in southern California. They are better than OC, but they suffer from some of the same problems. The variety is better, but there's nothing truly unusual or exotic. Lots of SN, Rogue, Anderson Valley, Full Sail, etc. - stuff that's good, but that I can get a fair amount of already. Most of the time things are in pretty good shape, and they've typically been good about giving me a free replacement beer if something's off. Yard House food is rather good as well. And at least at the southern California ones, the eye candy is outstanding. -Steve |
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Steve Jackson > wrote:
>"Bill Becker" > wrote in message >I've been to several of the Yard Houses in southern California. They are >better than OC, but they suffer from some of the same problems. The variety >is better, but there's nothing truly unusual or exotic. Lots of SN, Rogue, >Anderson Valley, Full Sail, etc. - stuff that's good, but that I can get a >fair amount of already. I guess that's true for people who live near one. When I visited the one in Long Beach several years back I found a lot of offerings that piqued my interest that simply weren't available in downstate IL. Mostly west coast beer but some British and Belgian offereings, too. -- Joel Plutchak "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes plutchak at [...] your time and it annoys the pig." -anonymous |
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And mosey you should, although be SURE and get there between 3 & 6 for
happy hour. A chalice of Gulden Draak on tap for $2.75? Why, I'll TAKE IT! _Randal |
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On 2005-01-21, Randal > wrote:
> happy hour. A chalice of Gulden Draak on tap for $2.75?.... Now, you've got my attention! This is where? Any other Belgians available? nb |
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"dgs" > wrote in message
... >> Pilsner Urquell > > Used to be interesting back in the days of the wooden barrels. Now > being turned by SABMiller into yet another international label. Did you actually ever have any of the wood barrel PU? IIRC, wasn't that change made long before the Iron Curtain fell (I want to say the late '70s) and before PU became widely available in the west? If you have and you can attest to a taste difference, that's quite interesting. Otherwise, a part of your anatomy that shouldn't be capable of speech is doing a lot of talking. >> Lindeman's Kriek > > Nice for beginners who like something sweet. Give me Hanssens or > Girardin or Drie Fonteinen or Cantillon, please. Depends on what you're looking for. If you look at Lindeman's as a lambic, it falls short. If you look at it as a simple fruit beer, it's pretty damn good. BTW, speaking of FG lambics, Drie Fonteinen is now in the States. Picked some up last night in Costa Mesa. I was quite happy. Now, if Girardin made it here, life would be really good. -Steve |
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"Steve Jackson" > wrote in
news:XM%Id.1870$rv.444@fed1read03: > Picked some up last night in Costa Mesa. I was quite happy. Now, if > Girardin made it here, life would be really good. Girardin black label gueuze *is* available in the US now (Georgia, for one), so it may make it to your neck of the woods eventually. D&V Intl is the importer. Cheers, Ern |
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I remember seeing Hoegaarden as well but their list is alphabetical,
not by region or style so I don't recall. I will definitely be back though. They are located in Lakewood Colorado, on the east side of the Colorado Mills Mall. Looks to be very new. _Randal |
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Don "This Butt Plug Doesn't Go to Eleven" Shite: says: >> : be extremely happy to be proven wrong. Outside of Old >> : Chicago where the food is barely edible and the beer >> : selection seems pretty good upon first inspection but is >> : really just a lot of ho-hum choices [...] >> >> Old Chicago has over 115 beers available - you call that >> "ho-hum"? > > Sure do. You got a problem with that? It's not at all > difficult to find a 115-tap bar with an utterly > unimpressive selection. DGS speak truth. The Yard House in Long Beach claims something like "250 Beers on 180 Taps" or somesuch. (Yep, Miller et al is in fact available on more than one tap so that it's always close.) The beer menu is two (used to be three) pages long. If your [sic] lucky, one or two will be beers you've never seen/had before. OTOH, they will bring you a full yard of Old Foghorn. > Add to that sins like frosted mugs > and overchilled, and you'd better believe it's "ho-hum," > with or without the quotes. Ohdontbesuchababy. They serve everything from a downright (technically) impressive "cellar". It all has to be Bud temps, and they make no apologies. I'll take too cold: I can correct for temp in that direction. Scott Kaczorowski Seal Beach, CA |
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Steve Jackson wrote:
> "dgs" > wrote in message > ... > >>>Pilsner Urquell >> >>Used to be interesting back in the days of the wooden barrels. Now >>being turned by SABMiller into yet another international label. > > Did you actually ever have any of the wood barrel PU? IIRC, wasn't that > change made long before the Iron Curtain fell (I want to say the late '70s) > and before PU became widely available in the west? The change didn't come until a couple of years after the end of the Iron Curtain era. The open fermenters were retired in 1995. There is still a teensy tiny proportion aged in some wooden vessels, ostensibly for "quality control" purposes. I also had PU on draught before the Iron Curtain fell, as it was sold in Germany and Austria back then, and available on draught. The stuff was quite good. Wood character was not overwhelmingly evident by any means - IIRC, the vessels were pitch-lined to prevent that - but the PU 12-degree lager of yore trod a fine line between rustic old-fashioned beer and something a little more current and smooth. I think the old-fashioned rustic character is much more subdued. They claim they try, and I believe they do, but ... ah, memories. > If you have and you can attest to a taste difference, that's quite > interesting. I have, and it's too bad that those days are gone forever. The problem is, there's no way now to compare a fresh example of the "old" PU with the modern, cleaner version. Or at least there's no easy way. > Otherwise, a part of your anatomy that shouldn't be capable of > speech is doing a lot of talking. That would likely be true anyway, of course. And that part of my anatomy routinely pronounces words like "spat" and "fit" just fine. It isn't so different from listening to politicians or used-car salesmen. >>> Lindeman's Kriek >> >>Nice for beginners who like something sweet. Give me Hanssens or >>Girardin or Drie Fonteinen or Cantillon, please. > > Depends on what you're looking for. If you look at Lindeman's as a lambic, > it falls short. If you look at it as a simple fruit beer, it's pretty damn > good. This is true. The lambic character underneath that beer is drowned out by the sweetness to a certain extent, but a glass of Lindemans Framboise with a nice little assortment of Neuhaus pralines is not a bad thing, as desserts go. Still, if that's all someone has to hold up as an example of how great a 115-tap bar is, that's kinda stretching. If, out of a ridiculous number of taps like that, I find 11 really exceptional beers, I figure that's about as good as it gets for those kinds of places. But if I go into my local with maybe 20 taps, and find five great beers, I take that for granted. The fact that all of the beers aren't ice-cold and served in frosted mugs or glassware is a good thing, too. > BTW, speaking of FG lambics, Drie Fonteinen is now in the States. Picked > some up last night in Costa Mesa. I was quite happy. Now, if Girardin made > it here, life would be really good. Be prepared to be even happier, then. A distributor of imported beers let me have a look in their book about a month and a half ago, and on the list was Girardin Guezue. Black label, too. *sproing!* Reminds me to go bug the guys at the best beer shop in town. Maybe in a couple of weeks. Drie Fonteinen has been in some U.S. markets for a while, but with typically sporadic distribution and availability. My local managed to lay in a stash of the 1999 and 2000 gueuzes. They also cornered a stash of some Oud Beersel Kriek and Gueuze. (I like my local. A lot.) Good on you that you can get some reasonably nearby (by LA standards, anyway). -- dgs |
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"dgs" > wrote in message
... > Be prepared to be even happier, then. A distributor of imported beers > let me have a look in their book about a month and a half ago, and on > the list was Girardin Guezue. Black label, too. *sproing!* Reminds > me to go bug the guys at the best beer shop in town. Maybe in a couple > of weeks. I'm going to have the bug the buyer at Hi-Time. Girardin ranks as one of the most amazing beers I've had in my life, no question. > > Drie Fonteinen has been in some U.S. markets for a while, but with > typically sporadic distribution and availability. My local managed > to lay in a stash of the 1999 and 2000 gueuzes. You know, now that you mention it, I think I have managed to latch onto it once before, probably from Sam's when I was still living in Chicago and before their beer selection started to slide. > They also cornered a > stash of some Oud Beersel Kriek and Gueuze. (I like my local. A lot.) Hi-Time' always had both of those. Still might be a few bottles left, actually. > Good on you that you can get some reasonably nearby (by LA standards, > anyway). Shit, Costa Mesa's 15 miles from my door. In LA, that's down the block. -Steve |
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I still think it can work out in some modified manner.
Lately I've been frequenting Cleats Bar & Grill, any thoughts on this place? |
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buuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrp
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"Beer Guy" > wrote in message oups.com... >I still think it can work out in some modified manner. > Lately I've been frequenting Cleats Bar & Grill, any thoughts on this > place? > I live near that one, but have never made it inside. What do they have on tap? How's the food? |
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