We salute Alec Harvey at the Birmingham News for his fantastic coverage featuring The Happy Hour Guys’ recent stop in that town. Video is below. And thanks, Alec, for running it on St. Paddy’s Day!
http://blog.al.com/aharvey/2010/03/webs_happy_hour_guys_feature_f.htm
Downtown Columbus, early Spring. 161 North High Street.
elevatorbrewing.com
The Elevator Brewing Company and Draught Haus, which makes its home in the historic Columbia building, built in 1897 by the Bott family to house the Bott Brother’s Billiards and a Gentleman’s Saloon. The hand-carved Phillipine Mahogany bar (which won the Blue Ribbon for craftsmanship at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago) is absolutely stunning - in the early days of the club, it served whisky that was distilled on the second floor. The stained glass windows, and original mosaic tile floor are in pristine shape. Down by the brass rail on the floor, there is the old-school ‘trough’ by your feet, so that you could spit (or whatever, should you not want to lose your seat!) There was a bordello on the second floor, and between the first and second floor sits a ‘managers table’, or an open area that looks down on the floor below. This structure is the original ‘birdcage’, where the girls would hang out to advertise to the gentlemen below. Ah, the good ole days. Kidding.
As with most places like this, they did a brisk business until Prohibition in 1920. Post Prohibition, for years it was known as the Clock Bar, complete with a murder and a haunting.
The building is now on the National Register of Historic Buildings, and has been restored to its original glory. Elevator, an innovative local brewer, took control of the space 7 years ago, and is brewing both in the space itself and in warehouse space across the street. The brews are solid and original, including a mocha plum stout that made us wish we could stay longer.
The fact that such a gem popped up in downtown Columbus only continues to prove to us that there are amazing bars, spaces and stories EVERYWHERE. Cheers!
There was SO much to do in Nashville... that we forgot to shoot any video. Well, we shot video, but not enough video. Well, let’s just say the Honky-Tonkin’ was CHOICE. Nashville, or Music City as it is popularly called, is recently turning into a Brew City - thanks to Yazoo Brewing.
Started in 2003, after the owner gave up his ‘first life’ as a banker and begged the folks at Brooklyn Brewing for an unpaid summer internship, our intrepid hero pooled his resources and started this fantastic place on a shoestring. And goodness, are we glad he did.
Many of the beers we sampled as Yazoo were memorable, but for our money we really enjoyed the Dos Perros, modeled after a Mexican Ale, and the Sly Rye Porter.
Deep in the wilds of Austin, Texas (actually, the only thing wild about Austin is the night life....) Okay, I’ll start over. Deep in the newly refurbished WAREHOUSE DISTRICT of Austin, a bustling node of coolness rife with new bars and restaurants, lies FRANK.
One could best describe FRANK as... well, a very cool bar, restaurant, and sausage emporium. Yes, I said sausage emporium, and I wasn’t being ironic in any way. The subtitle of the place is “Purveyors of Artisan Sausage”. The designer sausages available on the menu here are many, tasty and varied including Jackalope and beer soaked Brats, and they are all complimented beautifully by a wonderful variety of local craft beverages, from wines, to a local vodka, to many craft beers, both local and from favorite popular craft brewers nationwide.
There are wonderful happy hour deals, daily specials, and side dishes like beanie weenies and waffle fry nachos. Mouth watering yet? And any place that has a huge dachshund mural on the wall can’t be all bad, can it?
Learn much more about FRANK as well as the warehouse district of Austin here:
Place: close to Newberry, Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Pickelman’s gas & truck stop & subway & eatery.
These days, with all the miles we’re traveling, The Happy Hour Guys make a regular practice of scoping out beer coolers in local truck and gas stops. Most of the time it’s a disappointing exercise, a macro-beer and wine mess featuring nothing local or interesting.
But things seem to be changing.
In a truck stop in the Eastern U.P., Jimmy wanders back toward the beer cooler and finds a veritable cornucopia of local and small craft brews on display and ready for purchase. Great Lakes Brewing out of Cleveland, Arcadia from Maine of all places, Dogfish Head, and a new big favorite of ours, Founders Brewing out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In an earlier entry we found an incredible stock of New Glarus products at a small gas station in the middle of Nowhere Wisconsin.
So what does this mean? Truly, the craft beer movement in the US has reached a kind of critical mass if owners of small mom and pop gas and go places find it profitable to feature these kinds of brews. There is a market for them, an audience!
Have you seen great craft beer in unexpected places? Email us and let us know!
Great craft/local beer: IT’S NOT JUST FOR BEER GEEKS ANYMORE. Woo Hoo!
In keeping with our heavy diet of ROAD INFO, we’ll continue with a quick stop in the great state of GEORGIA! We rolled through Atlanta for a little less than a week, and while our schedule was too crazy to get any video, we did spend some museum time one day, (the Georgia Aquarium, which is truly jaw-dropping) and what’s gotta be the best many-millions ‘o dollars marketing pitch of all time, theWorld of Coca-Cola, or the Coke museum. Wow. But the best part of the whole day was our introduction to theMellow Mushroom Pizza chain! Mellow Mushroom started in Atlanta, specializing, in their words, in “the two food groups known as pizza and beer”.
The pizza was - in a word - mind-blowing (a hyphenated word, but whatever). They are franchising now, and our spies tell us that they make a special effort to feature LOCAL BREWS in each of their restaurants. Go Mellow Mushroom! We’ll be back, and we’ll be ordering whatever’s local. In this case it was several brews from Atlanta’s ownSweetwater Brewing Company - we loved their Georgia Brown Ale, of course their IPA, and were struck by the fruityness and rewarding finish of the ‘Motorboat’ ESB. Keep an eye out for these brews, AND the Mellow Mushroom!
Cheers!
To begin with, we’re predisposed to like any book that supports our belief that civilization and fermentation go hand in hand. Give us a book called “Alcolholica Esoterica: A Collection of Useful and Useless Information as it Relates to the History and Consumption of All Manner of Booze”, and we’re in Happy Hour Guys Heaven. Ian Lendler has done a remarkable job of distilling some of history’s most amusing and interesting pieces of trivia in one easy to use, 264 page volume.
Every bottle in the liquor cabinet has a chapter devoted to it, as well as chapters that take the reader through mankind’s history from a yeast’s-eye perspective. How did the monks begin to brew? What were the after effects of Prohibition? Why did absinthe get such a bad rap? Does Mexico really have a Ministry of Tequila? (Yes.) Also included is a series on some of the most notorious imbibers ever, called Mount Lushmore. Humphrey Bogart, Dorothy Parker, Winston Churchill and others are all included in the dubious category.
Information is doled out in easily digestible nuggets, so the book moves quickly. Did you know that “bar” is short for “barrier”, as in keep away from the booze? That Winston Churchill’s mother invented the Manhattan cocktail? That the Jell-o shot has a pedigree stretching back to the mid-19th century? That Johnny Appleseed was planting trees so folks could make hard cider? All these and so many more are contained in this completely delightful addition to anyone’s library.
Don’t worry that the book takes itself too seriously, either. The first chapter is a warning on the possibility of releasing your inner Cliff Claven if you don’t proceed with caution. On the bright side, you’re sure to win a barroom bet or three when armed with the trivia provided. Rather than try to “review” this book, we simply call your attention to it. The joy is in the reading.
Whether you’re a historian with a sense of humor, a comic with a sense of history, or someone who’s just plain curious, this book will quench you thirst for knowledge. (Sorry, had to.)
Available at Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Alcoholica-Esoterica-Collection-Information-andConsumption/dp/0143035975/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
And most large bookstores.
