Still Sucks

So I was reading about the 25th anniversary of the VT Pub and Brew last week and I started to get a little nostalgic. When I was first able to drink we often went to the sister brewpub the 7 Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon and the craft beers were a revelation. When I moved back to VT in the early 00's the Pub and Brew was our go to spot. The beers were decent and the liquor pours were stiff. Then a funny thing happened... the rest of the world caught up. Craft brewing became a thing and there were delicious beers all over the place. The P&B did not keep up. In fact their beers were often flat, lacked flavor or nuance, and generally gave you diarrhea. Not a recipe for success. We just stopped going. Like the Tavern on Church Street, they still get plenty of traction from tourists, college kids, and morons... the P&B will be fine without me and my boozy buddies. I just miss it. Kind of. So on Friday I had a short window and thought f*** it! Let's hit up the P&B!!! A few of us cruised up and took a look at the bar. It was mostly empty (5PM on Friday) and looked seriously depressing. We ended up at Manhattan's Pizza which has revamped its interior and beer list and generally is a cooler more hip place to be. They got it and updated.

So I was in the Farmhouse last night and they had a collaboration from the P&B and Magic Hat... a sour IPA of sorts. Well, shoot... that is close enough to celebrate all of the things Greg Noonan and the P&B did right not? Wrong. It was flat, didn't have any depth, and was a pretty shitty beer. Well, the P&B generally makes shitty beers these days and so does Magic Hat so teaming up why would I expect two bad brewers would suddenly figure out how to make a good beer? It is too bad but the beer movement has passed these two gray beards, much the same as it once ran over Catamount brewing. It happens. Doesn't diminish the legacy but if they want to stay relevant than it is time to update and move forward. One man's opinion.

Big Day for the Birds

So yesterday was Veteran's Day, a day some people have off... some don't. I do. My special lady decided to also take it off. My children's caregiver did not. So you know what that means... DATE DAY!!!! There is not much in the way of date night these days, just date day. Take what you can get. We went for a walk without a stroller. It was a fast walk! We watched some crazy dudes wield chainsaws like butter knives and cut down our old dying maple. That was sad. As my wife said, the tree grew for hundreds of years, was taken down in 2 hours. Many thanks to you maple... you were a good friend to our home.

Next stop... Tiny Thai in the Noosk for some cheap Thai food. Place was quite when we got there, absolutely packed by the time our food came. It was fast and delicious. I had a cold ginger tea w/ a spicy Tom Yum soup, and drunken noodles. 2 lunch specials ran us $21 w/ tip. I spend $12 for a f*ing sandwich most days. Big fan. We then did some grocery shopping and I almost ruined date day and went mental at the damned auto check out at Hannafords. It is a dumpy grocery store and the thing kept misreading what we had in (or out) of our basket.  The final indignity was the 12 minutes it took me to swipe a container of hummus. I really almost lost it. My wife calmed me down and we cruised to a movie. Pretty slim pickings but we opted for Thor in 3-D. Is it Citizen Kane? Nope. But it was an enjoyable 2 hours. Entertaining, kind of dumb, kind of funny, lots of action. I was a fan and suggest seeing it on the big screen. 1 thumb and a pair of 3-D glasses up!

We finished up w/ a quick antiquing trip and then a beer at the Old Grey Shed in Shelburne. First off, I think I added the "Old", that is not really in the name. Second... speaking of slim pickings, trying to find a beer at 4pm on a Monday is pretty hard. I would say harder than you may think, but YOU, may not have the same instincts as I do and may find that quite above board. In any event. We were greeted by 2 weird old guys smoking in the doorway. Classy place, with greeters and such. Inside there were 3 spots w/ glasses in front of them. Then there was the woman who looked like a normal mom or a teacher or something (as opposed to a train wreck) drinking a Switchback solo and eating popcorn. She was just sitting there quietly drinking, not chatting or reading or anything. Odd combo? Guess I was the freak also there to see it so who am I to judge? We opted for Bud Heavies. Don't f*** w/ taps you are unsure of dear readers. My lady is pretty hardcore no? Meanwhile bartender rushed out to check out a person who had been hit by a car while riding bike. Check please. It was a nice date day.  Even when we saw the very much alive bicyclist laying like a dead person on the ground covered by a sleeping bag w/ just 1 foot hanging out.

2 thumbs way up!!!

Jay About Pizzeria Uno

Yeah, that's f***ing right... Uno's!! So we played our last round of golf the other day and needed a place to have some lunch. Quick tangent, it was like 50 degrees w/ 125mph wind gusts and nobody really working there. On the bright side, at the turn we went into the clubhouse to grab a drink for the back nine. My buddy asked for "your cheapest scotch". The look of shock and disgust on the bartender's face was impossible to explain. He said that the Dewar's was the "least expensive... they did not carry anything cheap". Fantastic.

So anyway, after that tough round we were not going back into the clubhouse to get a burger w/ a side of attitude and over expensive face ripper sauce. So we cruised over to Uno's... why not?! We have known for awhile about the joys of the Uno's bar. It is a big horse shoe bar on Rt 7 across from the Audi dealership. They have decent beers and serve up a nice 20ouncer. What about the food? Well, none of us had ever eaten there so it was a risk. A serious risk. The shit looked like airport fare. I ordered a special. Caesar salad and sliders. The salad was ok not great. Lettuce was a little limp, the croutons were ok. A little under dressed which is unusual for Caesar salads in my experience. It was fine though.  The real surprise were the sliders. This is where I thought I could really be going in the wrong direction. They were good. Very good actually. The meat was of pretty good quality and they seemed like a fresh burger not an old gross fake patty. The bun was soft and not stale. The cheese was decent and the sauce was spicy and pretty tasty. It was just plain solid. I might even go back... but not too often! 1 1/4 thumbs up.

Rented This is the End last night. I had high hopes and they were not met. The funny parts are all in the trailer. It was like an ego project for a bunch of d-bags. Made me really not like Seth Rogen actually. I did enjoy Danny McBride though. I would not recommend it.  I was much happier w/ the Triumph the Insult Dog clip show I watched afterwards on Netflix.

I did my own pic above... copyright stuff.