Cocktail Confessions

Well, anyone up for another foodie review?  Good.  This past weekend I had the pleasure of getting out of the house with my buddy Jon, and we decided to head just slightly out of our geographical comfort zone and head up to the city of Orange.  There’s a lot of interesting restaurants of all ethnic varieties scattered throughout Orange and some really interesting digs in Old Town Orange.

Well, I had a hankering for some BBQ this summer evening, so I suggested to Jon that we open the sunroof up on my Ford Edge, crank up the tunes, drive up HWY 241 and head into Orange the back way and mosey into old Johnny Rebs’.  I’ve been to Johnny Reb’s a handful of times now and it is an interesting place to say the least, and I’d suggest it to anyone who wants a little something different in the barbeque experience.

There are 4 Johnny Rebs’ locations in CA and you can visit their main page and click on the ‘locations’ link to see them all in case you ever make it out to the Golden State.  Personally, I think the one located in Orange is the nicest looking of the bunch.  It has a very unique street facade, that while looking slightly out of place in a somewhat modern city, brings a down south charm to the neighborhood.  It often reminds me of a themed ride you may find at Knott’s Berry Farm or some other Californian ghost town like Bodie.

Red Trolley Ale served here.

Rebs’ was established in 1984 and tries to bring in the influences of Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina to the forefront in it’s aesthetic style, food choice, and hospitality.  According to their own website, it was Zagat rated as the Best BBQ Restaurants in Southern California (2004), although its not clear which location.  To be blunt and honest though, a lot of BBQ joint have sprung up in the last few years and I daresay I think I’ve had some better BBQ in 2010 such as Bad to the Bone in San Juan Capistrano, CA amongst a few others as well.

Speaking of hospitality though, Johnny Rebs’ does excel.  Everyone there is extremely nice and helpful and I find the staff generally chatty and pleasant, often coming around the table more than a few times to check on your meal, your satisfaction, or if you need anything else.

Johnny Reb's, Orange

The place itself is a site to behold, both inside and out.  As I mentioned earlier, it has a really nice ‘rustic’ vibe, both inside and out, and the setting and decor itself transports your mind back in time.  I think older folks and kids alike will enjoy the ‘log-cabin’ feeling on the inside, the swamp inspired waiting area outside, and of course the covered patio room located on one side of the building.  It was packed this particular night with a waiting list outside.  They also cater to parties as well and we witnessed the ritual “pig-kissing” and dancing for some old coot’s birthday that the whole place gets involved in as well.

There’s a small bar located centrally within the restaurant, which allows standing or seating for a good 6-8 people and they serve various beers on tap, some common and some uncommon ones as well.  This day, Jon and I both had a large schooner of Red Trolley Ale and it just seemed perfect for the setting.  While the beers are nice and cold and the staff friendly, I was discouraged to hear that the lemonade was actually from concentrate.  WTF?  Concentrated lemonade at a BBQ joint?  That just seems sacrilege and wrong and not an area a fine BBQ joint should be cutting corners on.

There’s tons of peanuts on the floor as well.  It’s one of those places you can get your own roasted peanuts, shell ‘em, and then toss them on the floor.  It’s fun and adds to the charm as well.  But the one bone I have to pick here is that the peanuts aren’t always fresh.  Sorry, but I’ve seen them toss new peanuts on top of the older ones in the barrels there, meaning the older ones never get rotated enough and thus just get older.  Not just this time, but other times my party has commented that we’ve always gotten more than a few stale peanuts, and there just really isn’t an excuse for that either.

For openers, Rebs’ has a really nice lineup of down south appetizers.  I’m not going to list them all here, but you can’t go wrong with their cornmeal dipped fried green tomatoes, hush puppies, sweet potato french fries, fried okra, or my personal favorite: fried dill pickles.  Yup, everyone looks at me sideways at least twice when I order them, but I think I have converted quite a few.  These dill pickles are sliced like a quarter, then breaded in cornmeal, deep fried, and served with a side of ranch dressing.  Yum!  Oh, and I may as well mention here they make their own biscuits and cornbread as well.

Between us, we split an order of the fried dill pickles and an order of sausage.  The pickles were as ever good as I recall, and ths sausage was moist and peppery.  Although when I think BBQ sausage, I think we were expecting more of a traditional hand made sausage, and this was more like a kielbasa link served with BBQ sauce.

Okay, so now onto the main fare: Like most BBQ joints you won’t be surprised to find both beef and pork ribs, fried or BBQ chicken, tri-tip and brisket in various forms, and catfish.  They also have pork chops & gravy, Cajun sausage, and blackened prime rib or sirloin steak.  Now since we are going to a BBQ joint, we are going for the ribs.  But give the menu a good looking over, there are plenty of bbq inspired sandwiches, a few salads and fish dishes as well.  Prices are average to slightly below average from what you’d expect in a BBQ joint.  Expect a dinner meal for two with drinks and appetizers to run about $65, and of course it’d be less for the smaller dishes or lunch.  They also serve a pretty exciting country breakfast as well.

I had a 1/2 rack of St. Louis ribs along with a side of mac-n-cheese, Cajun rice, and biscuit.  Jon had a 2 meat sampler of sausage and ribs along with mashed potatoes, biscuit, and something else I can’t recall right now, maybe baked beans.  The one thing you need to know about the sides is that you can request a second helping of any of your ordered sides, at no additional cost when your server comes back on by to check on you.  For me, I had a second helping of mac-n-cheese, although it wasn’t the best mac I’ve ever had.  Many places make gourmet mac with a combination of 2-3 cheeses, or a creamier texture by adding Velveeta.  Personally, Rebs’ came up a bit short in my book as their mac-n-cheese only uses one type, cheddar, and it was a little one-note and dry.  Same for my Cajun rice….it was a bit dry and bland and not what I was expecting or hoped for.  I did enjoy my ribs however, eating every last one and was happy with the amount of meat and taste I got for St’ Louis style (I usually get baby back pork).

Jon didn’t finish his whole meal, opting to take a portion home, but he seemed to enjoy it none-the-less.

At this point we were pretty full from our meal, opting not to have any desert, but here’s the quick rundown on the sweets: drop biscuit peach or chocolate cobbler, southern pecan pie, key lime pie, fried Mississippi mud pie, apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  I did note one special addition I hadn’t seen on the menu: a banana and nilla wafer pudding parfait I imagine was served in a mason jar that I would have liked to have tried but skipped out on it.

This place was tougher than I thought it was going to be to score.  There are some pretty definitive pro’s, yet a few things that after thinking about it a bit more make me want to hold back.  Overall: 3.

Ambiance: 4 – The nostalgic decor, peanuts in the floor, rustic look, and picnic style seating make for a fun and cozy atmosphere for most.  Bathroom could use a little extra love.

Hospitality: 4 – Very friendly and attentive staff who seem to be cheerful and chatty with the customers.  Something you’d expect from the South.

Food: 3 – Decent prices.  Great appetizers and desserts really open and close the show nice.  Main fare was ‘okay’, missing a bit of that smokey element one looks for in BBQ.  Some of the sides were one note and sub standard in some cases, but at least you can get an extra helping if need be.

Freshness: 2.5 – Rice was dry, mac-n-cheese a bit dry, lemonade from concentrate (?), stale peanuts, and ribs missing that ‘it’ factor kinda bummed me out.

Value: 3 – Extensive menu, extra sides, prices are good for the portion size you get

Ahhhh….two of my favorite things are coming together this October 3rd at the Fiesta Gardens just outside Austin, Texas.  The marriage of good ole smokey Texas style BBQ and the sounds of fidgeting pocket protectors of all us techno weenies who are proponets of Google technologies, namely the Android OS.  Unfortunately, and to my utter dismay I will not be attending.

I didn’t want to doctor up their own advertisment too much, so here’s the cut and paste promotion from the dudes over at Android and Me:

This October marks the two year release of the G1, the first Android device many of us came to know and love. Soon, it will also mark one of the largest, wildest, most beef-fueled, community-organized gatherings of Android fans ever attempted. The Big TX Android BBQ will be thrown on October 3rd, at the Fiesta Gardens in Austin, Tx. The event is being hosted by the likes of Android Swag, Android Guys, @thedroidguy, @bigkeivan, and of course, Android and Me. 

For a measly $25 (until Aug 15) you get all-you-can-eat BBQ, a totally rad free tee (designed by our own Angie Strickland), all the Android fellowship you can handle, and maybe some special guests. Aaron from Android Swag has been wheeling and dealing trying to land solid entertainment and guests for the BBQ but so far has been keeping his surprises close to his chest. 

To make it as easy as possible to attend, Aaron even lined up a discount code for those flying Continental. Using the code ZJE9896123 will get you a cool 10% off flights and we are still working on lining up some hotel (or even some camping) discounts for people who want to spend a few days here in Austin.

For more attendance info, go ahead and check out the offical site here.

If any of you do attend, I’d love to see some pics.  Feel free to send them to me here: cocktails1@hotmail.com and I’ll post them and give you credit as well (.jpg format please).

Oh, and by the way, there is official rumor that the long awaited Adobe Flash 10.1 will be available sometime today (Aug. 24th) for Android based smart phones.  You may have to do a search over at the Android Market Place for “Flash 10.1″, but it seems our wait is just about over.  But don’t yell at me if it is delayed a day or two,…they’ve done it before, but this time looks like it is legit.

Clank
Take this quiz

Over at Escapist Magazine (online rag sheet on electronics, gadgets, and games) they are sponsoring a fun little quiz on what sidekick you would be.

After answering a 10 question, multiple-choice quiz, it appears that authors of cyber-space deem me ‘Crank’, thus gadget carrying, smart-ass, comedic foil to Ratchet. Not too shabby actually. Thank goodness I didn’t come up as ‘Knuckles’ or ‘Yoshi’.

Anyway, if you have any hankering on who Clank, or for that matter who Ratchet is, here is a Wiki entry. And God help you, because you must be as bored as me then.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately for Five Guys Burgers and Fries establishments. With President Obama proclaiming this one of his favorite burger chains, their positive reviews in the esteemed Zagat guide (since 2001), and it’s 2010 trumping of previous champion In ‘N Out Burger in California (Los Angeles) as the best and freshest burger in the state, it was time I checked this out myself.

As luck would have it, my friend Brian mentioned that he and his business partner were going to try it out today for lunch and there was an open invitation for anyone in the area. Thankfully Google Maps pins the Orange location as only 6.9 miles from my job, so I agreed to meet them there at 11:30am.

Wow! The line was huge. It was out the door and down the sidewalk at least 60 people deep and then some. It took us almost 25 minutes just to get to the ordering counter, and the line never let up the whole time we were there. Another friend of mine chimed in that the line is like that starting at around 7:30pm every night!

Well, once we placed our order, it only took about 5 minutes for us to hear our number called out. We also lucked out in that we procured an inside table as the current outside temperature was in the 90’s, and the outdoor tables were metal to boot with no real shade!

Like In ‘N Out burgers, I think the key to 5 Guys success is pretty self-evident….keep the menu simple. It’s one of those cases where ‘less is more’, and when you keep the menu limited to only a few choice items, this allows for a greater concentration of quality on your product.

They serve burgers, hot-dogs, and a few select sandwiches (such as grilled cheese or veggie) and fries. The burgers are $4.99 and by default are two-patties. If you want a smaller burger, order the ‘junior’ for a buck less, and you get 1 patty. You can also add cheese and bacon.

All the condiments are free. They include the traditional ketchup, mustard, lettuce, pickles, mayo, relish, and grilled onions. Premium additions include jalapeños, mushrooms, green peppers (not Ortega), hot sauce, bbq sauce, and A-1 sauce. All of these are free, and according to their website this allows for 250K unique combinations. I’ll take their word for it.

Regular & Cajun Fries

Fries are just as simple: Large or regular sized, plain or Cajun. These are fresh cut fries cooked in peanut oil and guaranteed no trans-fat. We opted for the Cajun style fries and we all agreed the spice was perfect. It may not have been the crispest fry out there, but for sure they use something akin to a sea salt, and when lightly dusted with the combined garlic, paprika, and other spices, it makes for a pretty damn good fry.

Five Guys doesn’t use any freezers. All their meat is fresh and stored in coolers prior to cooking. They cook them one way: well-done, and no one seems to complain. All the other ingredients are just as fresh.

My burger with green peppers

I myself ordered a cheeseburger with the following: grilled onions, ketchup, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and green peppers. It was wrapped in foil upon arrival and gorgeous. The green peppers were crisp and bright, bun was fresh, the onions grilled to caramelized perfection, however, my cheese wasn’t as melted as those of my peers. In the end, though, it was great and I can now understand all the hype surrounding this joint.

Inside, the place has stark white walls with red accents, very similar to In N Out as a matter of fact. I noticed the place was pretty clean, actually surprising clean for the amount of foot traffic inside. While we were there I noted employee’s just dedicated to cleaning tables and doors, sweeping floors, and taking care of the trash. Despite the cleanliness, it is pretty plain and non-descript and seems somewhat loud and chaotic inside. It doesn’t help that the line weaves right next to the tables in which you eat as well.

Despite the ridiculous line at the time we went, I give my experience at Five Guys a solid 4 out of 5 (breakdown):

Ambiance: 2.5

Food: 4

Freshness: 5

Value: 4

*Santa Fe burger courtesy of FoodTV

So I realize I’ve been a little light on the recipe’s this summer. Not much of a cocktail and grilling blog if you don’t have the content to back it up once in a while. I’m still working on some “how-to” video’s for smoking a brisket…it takes a lot longer than you think, but I made some good headway this past week and I should have the first one posted soon.

Anyway, the kids should be headed back to school soon (if they haven’t already) and summer is starting to wind down, so I think this recipe will fit in nicely. It’s relatively easy, yet looks and tastes like it may have taken some real time and effort, and could be the star of the last summer hoorah.

I give credit to my wife for finding the basis of this recipe from her own online searches. It’s basically a Bobby Flay inspired recipe that stands out great on its own, but like most things, I like to make my own adjustments and spins on discovered recipes and try and make it my own.

This cheeseburger has it’s flavors rooted in the Southwest, a favorite of mine. The queso sauce is rich and spicy and replaces the traditional ‘processed slice’ we’re usually accustomed to, and allows a platform for the roasted pablano chili’s to cling to. Some blue corn chips give the burger an unexpected textural surprise along with their salty crunch.

Ingredients

Burgers

• 1 large poblano chile
• 2 1/2 TBS canola oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5 LBS ground chuck (80% lean) or sub 90% lean ground turkey for healthier alternative.
• 4 large gourmet burger buns, split & toasted. (Check local bakery for fresh goods like a nice ciabatta or potato bun.  Try and avoid the generic burger buns)
• Handful of blue or yellow corn tortilla chips

Queso (cheese) Sauce:

• 1 TBS unsalted butter
• 1 TBS all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups whole milk. (*sub 1/2 cup milk with heavy cream if available for a richer, creamier taste)
• 8 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups).  (*Sub Monterrey Jack for a slightly milder, not as spicy alternative if desired).
• Dash of dried chipotle powder for earthy, smokey flavor (*optional)
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Directions

1. Coat pablano chili with 1 TBS of canola oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place on grill, medium heat, and turn every few minutes until skin begins to char and bubble on all sides.  Remove chili and place in paper bag or bowl covered in plastic wrap and allow to steam for 15 minutes.  Peel, stem and seed chili at this point, then coarsely chop and set aside for now.
2. To make queso sauce, melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk/cream, increase heat, whisk constantly until slightly thickened (approx 4-5 minutes).  Remove from heat and then whisk in cheese, a little at a time, until melted.  Season with salt, pepper, chipotle powder.  Keep warm.
3. Divide meat into 4 equal portions.  Form into 3/4″ thick patties and make small depression in the middle of each with thumb.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.  Using remaining oil (or cooking spray), coat grill and cook burgers over medium flame until desired doneness.
4. Place burgers on toasted bun bottoms, top with a few tablespoons of cheese sauce, a few chips, some of the pablano, then of course, toasted bun tops.

So now the beer pairing:  Personally, I really enjoy Mexican lagers with my Southwestern food.  For me, Negro Modelo is a no-brainer.  Maybe even Modelo Especial or Dos Equis.  Make sure you have plenty of sliced limes nearby.  If Mexican beer isn’t your thing, how about other domestic lagers or an ale?  These pair very well with summer beef dishes.  Try a Fat Tire amber ale, or maybe even Land Shark or Long Board lagers.  They all have a crisp and clean taste in my opinion.  And you can’t go wrong with any of the seasonal summer crafts from Sam Adams.

Now here’s a college art project I can get behind and study for!! 

Just enlist one weed smoking artist with unkempt hair, one mechanical engineering major that needs to get out and breathe some fresh air, and a fraternity (or two, or three) to volunteer their resources, and voila…

BOXEL was created by some University of Applied Sciences students in Detmold (Germany) over one week, tasked with the challenge of creating a summer pavilion in 1:1 scale. Apparently, the beer boxes are not merely stocked on top of one another, but “freely organized,” with slats, screws and bracings holding it all together.

Now hopefully the tear down wil be just as fun.  Maybe some extreme sports enthusiasts who like demolition stunts?

The Survivor Nicaragua cast has finally been revealed.  Supposedly it’s the ‘young’ versus the ‘old’. meaning that one tribe will consist of players over 40 while the other tribe consist of players under 30 years of age.  I’m not sure I like this seasons gimmick as I did the “heroes vs. villains” angle they did last time.  It just seems inherently unfair from the get-go, and while you could argue that there are some whiny and weak players in the past there were younger, I think Survivor history has shown that the older players (with very few exceptions) last very long.

I still not so secretly wish that they would ditch the tropical settings they’ve done for so many seasons and go with some new surroundings.  I’d personally like to see something in the mountains and higher altitudes such as the Rocky Mountains or something like Yosemite, or maybe even a colder place like the Alaskan tundra or way up in northern Canada where contestants may have to deal with the cold and maybe even snow and grassy plains than the typical tropical beaches and rain.

Onto Big Brother, episodes 13 & 14:

During the eviction ceremony we learn that Kristen in fact has a boyfriend back home.  *Gasp*  The boyfriend is shown watching BB at home, and he’s not to happy that Kristen and Hayden are making out.  He comments that if she comes home, their relationship is most likely over.

Kristen is infact voted out.  Julie Chen then questions Kristen about her boyfriend back home, and Kristen just says “I may need time for myself” and won’t go into any further details.

The new HoH competition finds Kathy being out first thus becoming the only ‘have not’ of the week.  Brendon falls out early on to a disappointed Rachel.  Britney ends up throwing the competition herself as she feels that she is safe enough and doesn’t want to be in a position where she has to decide people’s fate.  Sounds a little chicken-shit to me, but I kinda understand her thinking on this.  She’s pretty confident that everyone else is gunning for Rachel and Brandon, and she’s pretty much correct by most accounts.  Anyway, it ends up coming down to Matt and Ragan and Ragan finally slips up and Matt is the new HoH (2nd time).

The last two episodes sees Kathy trying to melt back under the radar, and while still considered a ‘floater’ by some, she’s managed to stay low and out of trouble thus far.

Ragan

The Brigade is ecstatic that Matt has won and they are all pretty sure it is time to get rid of Brendon or Rachel.  Rachel senses this and really tries to pitch an alliance of some type, any type, to save her and Brendon.  However, when she approaches Matt (while he and Ragan are talking) she of course makes some dumb-ass comment that sets Ragan off.  Ragan is a little perturbed by these series of events and before you know it, he and Rachel are now arguing as Matt just sits back and watches it unfold.  Soon enough, the rest of the houseguests are made aware of the current argument.  Brandon then walks in out of left field, not knowing how it all started, and opens his big mouth to Ragan trying to defend Rachel, but really only succeeds in making him looking very stupid.  This isn’t lost on anyone and I think Brendon figures this out a bit too late; the damage is done, and he’s trying to save face but just can’t recover at this point.

Meanwhile Pandora’s Box is once again let loose on the house and Matt decides to open it, taking the newly revealed ‘diamond veto’ for himself, and thus also introducing a new saboteur into the mix.  America has chosen to elect Ragan as the new saboteur and he must last 2 weeks.  If he does, he collects $20K.  He does a fantastic job of not arising suspicion when the other house guests learn there is a new saboteur.  The houseguests also learn that former contestants and showmancer’s Jordan and Jeff will be dropping by for a visit.

Okay, kinda a mish-mash here of quick things:

My next Droid may not be the Droid X or Droid 2 afterall.  With Droid 2 coming in the next 2 weeks (and a $199 price tag to boot), I was seriously considering an upgrade to my smartphone.  My Droid turns 1 in November.  However, those chaps over at Android and Me are hinting that a new ‘rumor’ may infact be the unofficial leak of the Droid Pro.  So, what are the hilights of the Droid Pro? I’m glad you asked:  Could be boasting a new 1.3GHz CPU (fastest yet), a 4 inch screen, and global roaming (taking advantage of the LTE Verizon network perhaps?)!  No other details at this time, other than it may be debuting in November, 2010.  I’ll share more as more info becomes available.

It’s also being reported that Netflix has signed a deal with EPIX, Lionsgate, and Paramount meaning that very shortly a whole new library of movies and television shows will be available via Netflix streaming.  I use this feature on my XBox 360 all the time.  I’ve recently been watching Sparticus, Weeds, Dexter, and many other shows through my Xbox and loving it. 

Speaking of XBox, I’m not overly “wow”-ed by yet by the newly announced MS Kinect.  It’s listed at a street price of $149 and will launch with 11 titles.  I just read a synopsis of the titles in the Sep ’10 issue of OXM, and none of them really stand out for me.  This may be one of those things where I’ll have to wait and see the reviews and reception of the titles first before I’m an andopter of the peripheral at all.

I still have a video I need to edit and post here on preparing a beef brisket, and I still have 2-3 podcast episodes saved on my hard drive I also need to edit and post as well.  I really need a day off in my normal life to work on this.

American wheat ale, or American light wheat as it’s also known, is perfect for the hot summer months

This all-American version of a German-style hefeweizen originating in the Pacific Northwest ranges from pale to golden in color and can be quite hazy if not filtered. It has a long-lasting head with a crisp and refreshing taste, and somewhere between a light to medium body.

Unlike their German weizen counterparts, you will not find the telltale flavors and aromas of banana and clove because they are fermented with normal ale yeast. Still, there might still be some fruitiness in the aftertaste coming from ale fermentation.

This style is often served with some kind of citrus fruit wedge to cut the wheat or yeast flavor but is not really needed to enjoy the style.

Its average alcohol by volume (ABV) range is 2.8-7.0 percent

Topher Tastes It

1. Bell’s Oberon Ale from Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, Michigan
(5.80 percent ABV; Available: Summer Seasonal March 30th till October. Current Distribution Area: AL, FL, IA, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, OH, PA, VA, WI Available in Bottles and on Tap)

Loved it.

I poured it from a 12-ounce bottle into a regular old American pint glass, and the first thing I noticed is that it had a nice, thick, almost eggshell-color head and stayed on the beer till the end. There was a hazy pale yellow color to the body of the beer.

Next, it had a somewhat sweet smell that reminded me of the smell of homemade wheat bread. It wasn’t overpowering, but it was there.

The taste … now, this is where this beer shines. There is a defined crispness to with a citrus flavor and a little bit of that wheat beer flavor in the end.

2. Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier from Boston Beer Co., Boston, Massachusetts
(5.50 percent ABV; Available: Year Around. Available in Bottles and on Tap)

This one’s from the kings of the craft beer movement.

I had this beer on tap, poured into a American-style pint glass.

The beer had a nice straw yellow color, with the creamy-looking head that did not last long on the two pints I had. That was OK, because I did not let this beer stay that long in the glass.

Yes, there are blackberries in this beer. You can smell them the second you get it in front of you. There is also a slight spicy scent mixed in with the blackberries, but I was not sure what spices I smelled.

The taste was a bit malty on the first sip, but again, the blackberries showed through and gave the beer a light but distinctive fruit flavor that I quite enjoyed – very light and easy to drink.

3. Terrapin Rye Pale Ale from Terrapin Beer Co., Athens, Georgia
(5.50 percent ABV; Available: Year Around. Current Distribution Area: Ga, Fl, Tn, Al, Va, Pa, Nc, Sc Available in Bottles and on Tap)

This is the beer that launched Terrapin. Back in 2002 the Rye was the first beer John and Spike brewed…at the time it was only available on draft only in our hometown of Downtown GA. That year it won the gold medal for American Pale Ale at GABF.

They brew this beer with 10 percent rye, but it is good American pale ale all the way!

I had this poured from a bottle in to the standard American pint glass, and it had a great honey yellow color that almost bordered on copper at times. The head was a cream color and was not as thick as I would have liked.

I smelled the hops and some spiciness right off, and there was also a hint of citrus in there to round it all out.

The rye is there, full and up front in the flavor of the beer, and a bit of sweetness also. I had an ending of the hops coming through as an aftertaste, but it was all well-balanced and really a great-tasting beer.

It was a very good beer that puts a different twist on the standard American pale ale style. It’s very drinkable, and I would not have a hard time sitting around and drinking more than one in a row.

There you go, some good beer and some good info.  As always, go out and try some new beers (in moderation) and remember that the best beer in the world is the beer you like to drink!

So I came across a new app today for my Droid phone.  Well, it’s ‘new’ to me, but I am to understand this app has actually been out a while now.

Iheartradio is a ‘free’ application you can download from the Android Marketplace and allows you to stream live clearchannel stations directly to your smartphone.  Since I live in the Los Angeles market, that means I can turn my phone into a virtual AM/FM tuner and get hundreds of stations, not just here, but all over North America.

It’s really great for those that like AM radio.  It streams stations directly from the source and it sounds just like a podcast of FM station, meaning, it’s crystal clear and sounds so much better than what yoru car radio can supply.  So within just seconds of downloading and installation, I am currently listening to the John and Ken show, from KFI, AM640!!

Awesome!