Last month I took a trip back to various Midwestern cities and towns I love and miss. Because I did not have consistent net access, I kept a print journal. (I kind of miss doing that...) I'll reprint here some of the beer-related stuff from that diary.
First off, a note about the places I went:
Bloomington, Indiana, where I lived from 1991-2000 while pursuing 3 graduate degrees, 2 of which I finished. I met and married Thomas there. I miss the Upland Brewery and to a lesser extent the Bloomington Brewing Co.
Overland Park/Mission, Kansas, in the greater KC area, where I lived from 1972-1986 and again in 1990-91. My mother and aunt live there.
Lawrence, Kansas, where I did my undergrad from 1986-1990. Some of my high school/college friends still live there. I miss Free State Brewing there.
Lincoln, Nebraska, where I lived from 2001-2004 when I worked at UNL. The brewpubs there aren't that great - Lazlo's is OK but Misty's Steakhouse and Brewery is crap, I'm afraid. Was better when it was Crane River. What I miss there is YiaYia's beer bar.
On with the excerpts:
From Saturday, April 11, 2009:Upland's tripel, which one of the brewers shared with me, is 9.5% and (to me) after a while in the bottle, noticeably hoppy. He said he used Strisselspalt and Saaz. I could definitely taste the noble hops of some sort. I was surprised when he said the Helios was a Belgian pale ale and had some pepper to it. I'll have to try it out of the bottle - I got 6 packs of it and of the Dragonfly.
There are also big bottles of Strawberry Lambic, one of which I'll probably pick up tomorrow. (ETA: I didn't. I was feeling cheap.)
Anyway. The Brugge Brasserie Tripel de Ripple is definitely funky and Bretty compared to the Upland triple.
From Sunday, April 12, 2009:Caught an
Ard Ri at the Upland and a Java Porter and a Ruby Bloom at
Lennie's. At Lennie's I had a salad and a bowl of white chili. First chicken I'd eaten in almost 2 months (I gave up land animal meat for Lent).
I love and miss this place and can find my way around it very easily. I wish there were some way I could get a job here or at least retire here. I guess I could retire here, nothing stopping me.
They were having $2 pints at Lennie's! I wish I'd had Thomas with me and I wish we'd been on foot. Not that any of their beers are exceptional - just decent. I miss Thomas already.
From Monday, April 13:Nice of
Bottleworks to be closed today. I might have seen that on their website but who knows, it might not have even been on it. After following Google Maps' crazy directions that didn't warn me that highway numbers would change and that the whole thing would look like a roller coaster that didn't run on rails, I get there - in a
very unpresupposing neighborhood - only to discover it is closed.
I tried to call Thomas, only to find my TracFone reading "No service." For the entirety of Missouri. So. Cell-phone-less, directionless, I proceeded to Columbia, which took a couple hours, getting hungrier, eating too many almonds. Finally in Columbia I got off at the wrong exit and got to drive past payday loan places and Dollar General stores before backtracking to the neighborhood of MU and thence to its business district. I did not find the Flat Branch Brewery [ETA: I was 4 blocks away!], but I did find a bar/deli called Quinton's and had a veggie sandwich and a
Fat Tire.
I don't think I've ever had Fat Tire on tap before. It was
really good. I'd never been that impressed with it before, my least favorite of the New Belgium lineup.
Anyway I now have cell phone service again. I went to Lukas Liquors in far south KCMO, per aspera (=through difficulties, part of the Kansas state motto), and picked up some Boulevard and New Belgium offerings I couldn't get elsewhere - including one Boulevard Smokestack offering - actually two - and then got yet another veggie sandwich at
Barley's Brewhaus, which is now an amazing taproom, but apparently started in the early 90s as a brewpub, according to a regular who was sitting next to me. [ETA: the website mentions no such early history.]
This entire hotel smells of chlorine.
From Wednesday, April 15:I discovered that the
Lunar Ale from Blvd has a little bit of that Belgian funk. [ETA: maybe more like, that wheat beer cloviness, since it's an American dark wheat ale, apparently.]
From Thursday, April 16:Well, this is the night
Beer Wars showed. I didn't see it. I was with my old friend Delana instead.
This morning my mother and I walked about 3 or so miles on a trail in the Streamway Trails system out in western Shawnee near the Kansas River. It wasn't as picturesque as I'd hoped. However I did learn something. The Shawnee Indians were relocated from Missouri and Ohio (?) to what became the town of Holliday, Kansas and the government gave them a mill in 1836 which was flooded in 1844. 8 years of a mill, big whoop. Anyway, we got a walk.
Then I went back to her place for coffee. After that, I went to Lawrence and had lunch at the
23rd Street Brewery, which is an extension of the 75th Street Brewery in KCMO. Service was iffy, beer was pretty good, chicken gyro was yummy and came with garlicky green beans that were, if anything, undercooked.
After poking around campus for a few hours, I walked to meet Delana at
Free State. I had an avocado chimichurri, a Belgian pale ale I could barely tell was Belgian, and a barleywine with some age on it.
We went to Henry's (Delana's favorite bar - they had New Belgium 1554 on tap but I indulged in mixed drinks, something I rarely do) where I called Thomas and found out his car was towed and it's $180 at least to get it back. We may end up ditching his car, if such a thing is possible.
Oh yeah, Delana thought my tale of mouse breeding in my house to be Sedaris-level funny.
From Saturday, April 18:I really enjoyed the
Bread and Cup yesterday and
YiaYia's. I'd forgotten what an amazing beer selection YiaYia's has - that's where I really got into Belgian beers beyond Chimay (not dissin' on the Chimay, that stuff is awesome).
I went to
3 Floyds tonight. Fabulous lineup of guest beers, including Kasteel Rouge, Klokke something that's a strong dark amber, and Monk's Cafe sour ale.
3 Floyds had on the Pride and Joy, Gumballhead, Robert the Bruce, Alpha King, Dreadnaught, Hyena (a Belgian pale), Rabid Rabbit (a strong Belgian golden), Behemoth (a barleywine), and Omeganaught (the second runnings of the Dreadnaught). I had the Gumballhead, the Hyena, and the Dreadnaught (in a half pint). I also had a reuben. They had very few food offerings. The only vegetarian offerings they had were a grilled cheese sandwich and some veggie pizzas. Good thing I was being flexible. Anyway I was there for the beer. I took home some 6 packs and bombers. One of the bombers is for our friend Eric, who was kind enough to give Thomas a ride to go retrieve his towed car.