Taco – Page 29

Back in the Boston Groove

August 17, 2015 by Taco

Hey all,

The boys were pretty happy to be reunited all together in their own home.

As a way of celebrating our return, we went out to Boston Beer Works, which is part of the “Beer Works” chain (such as the Salem Beer Works we visited while in Salem). Like when we visited at Salem, we had to go for the Watermelon Ale, but this time we also tried out their Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale.

1. Watermelon Ale – Beer Works

2. Bunker Hill Blueberry – Beer Works

The Watermelon Ale was just as good as I remember, and the Blueberry Ale was pretty good as well (bonus points for actually putting watermelon and blueberries in the beer!). The food was also tasty.

However, the service was lackluster and the place was pricey, so overall we won’t be in any rush to return (we liked the Salem location more), but the beers were good. As usual, I’ve also been trying out some new beers at home:

3. Fresh Slice – Otter Creek Brewing

I’m really liking the IPAs from Otter Creek, such as Fresh Slice (a white IPA) and the Backseat Berner I also had recently.)

I also found a squirrel beer. Yes, seriously.

4. Light – Mighty Squirrel Brewing

Sadly, it wasn’t very good. The “Mighty Squirrel” brewery, found right here in Massachusetts, focuses on making low carb, high protein beers. It’s an interesting concept. Because I’ve been having heartburn pretty bad lately, I opted for their “Light” version, which was a mistake. It was pretty low quality. I’ll have to try the regular version before I give a final verdict, because I really would like to like a squirrel beer.

5. Live – Southern Tier Brewing Company

Live, a session pale ale, is yet another strong showing from Southern Tier, I’m enjoying exploring their selection lately.

In addition to the fruit beers from Beer Works, SB saved me some strawberry lager she got while I was gone (yay SB!).

6. Strawberry Harvest Lager – Abita Brewing Co.

I wasn’t as big of a fan of this brew as the Beer Works fruit beers, something about the strawberry flavor tasted “fake.” It was hard to put my finger on it, but I’m not sure I’d seek this beer out again, at least not in a six pack, I’d probably give a single another try.

Beyond beer we’ve also kept busy, such as venturing out to Watertown for the first time ever.

The cool thing about Watertown is that it’s entirely submerged in the Charles River.

While in Watertown we went shopping at Target, which was packed and basically a Wal-Mart. We also tried to eat at place called Friendly’s (think DQ) that has adorable commercials. But we didn’t, because they completely ignored us and were in no hurry to you know, actually serve customers. So Friendly’s sucks and is blacklisted, sorry cute baby on the commercials. Overall the trip to Watertown did not please me.

What did please me was my “Welcome Back!” cake I made for myself. Well, it was supposed to be cake, it ended up looking like someone mashed cupcakes onto a plate and then put mayonnaise on them.

But it tasted good, which is what matters. It was loaded up with fresh blueberries too, much to Valentino’s enjoyment.

And as if cake wasn’t enough, we celebrated National S’mores Day (August 10th) with a S’mores bar from none other than Hammond’s Candies!

While of course not as a good as a real S’more, it was a nice stand-in. So far I’ve been fairly impressed by Hammond’s chocolate bars (I’ve had the S’mores and Red Velvet varieties).

This past week saw us eating even more food, as on Thursday we went out with one of SB’s friends to the North End to an Italian place called Al Dente.

The North End has a cool “old city” feel to it.

Long story short, I was not impressed by Al Dente, it was stupidly expensive, it was way too loud, the service was crappy, I got heartburn from my salad, and yeah, that’s really all I’ll say about that. Truth be told, I’ve realized I’m not a huge Italian restaurant fan anymore. It’s not that I don’t like the food, it’s that somewhere along the line someone decided that it was ok to charge 25$ for a plate of fucking noodles. Yeah, no thinks, it’s called Ramen and it costs like 50 cents.

The next day, we had a much better dinning experience when we went out with Aunt Train to an Irish Pub in the Back Bay called MJ O’Connors. On the way there we saw a castle, oddly placed in the middle of Boston.

It took all of 3.5 seconds for Tristen to claim it.

Aunt Train had originally given us two options, MJ O’Connors and another Irish Pub (notice a theme?) however, I decided on MJ O’Connors without even looking at their food menu. Know why?

This is why:

That dear friend, is a genuine on draft Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, my first Dogfish on draft, ever. It was glorious. It was all that was good and holy in the bottled version of the 60 Minute, which an extra touch of Baby Jesus magic. It was the best IPA I’ve had in a good bit and I’ve had a lot of IPAs lately. In addition to the Dogfish I had a Stella Artois, another Fresh Slice, and Wormtown Be Hoppy IPA, all of which were good, which isn’t hard when you’ve drank four beers. 🙂

Aunt Train was having them mix lemonade and Stella, for a makeshift shandy (or radler if you prefer the Deutch), which was actually pretty good!

The food was good too.

Mmm buffalo mac n’ cheese and a shepard’s pie.

Of course we don’t just eat out, sometimes we make things ourselves! (Ok almost all the time, but what fun is a cup of cereal to blog about).

That is a homemade, whole-wheat pizza with uncured pepperoni slices, goat cheese, and fresh squash. All of that is to say, it was yum!

We of course paired on pizza with beer, though the beer came later and wasn’t really paired with the pizza at all but pizza is an excuse to buy beer.

7. Take 5 Session IPA – Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall

While I was quite sad to leave Odell behind, It was nice to get back into Harpoon territory. As usual, Harpoon didn’t fail to impress and this was a solid Session IPA that even SB enjoyed! We actually had some of it and some popcorn while starting a puzzle with the boys last night.

We finished it this afternoon, and it is actually the second time we’ve done this puzzle (those green grassy areas are a bitch).

And that pretty much closes out my first almost-two weeks back in Boston, it’s been a bit of fun, but a lot of work as well. I’m still in my Business School classes (final exam is on August 25th), I’m back in physical therapy, I have law school stuff piling up already (such as an ultimatum I was given to either “Accept a promotion [Increasing my work about three fold] or quit the journal.” I was not pleased), an I have a myriad of other appointments, tasks, and duties on top of that.. oh and I have to start applying to job for next summer, yes already. So I haven’t had as much video game time as I wanted, but c’est la vie. The cool thing is that we are taking a mini-vacation, partially with Aunt Train, out to Lexington and Concord next weekend, so that is pretty exciting!

Until next time,
-Taco

1L Summer – Denver – “Things I Learned”

August 13, 2015 by Taco

So I was ruminating about how to best “wrap up” my time in Denver, now that I’ve finalized the “Denver Check-in” series. At first I thought some sort of broad wrap up post was in order, but then I realized that it wasn’t really necessary as the ten check-ins pretty much covered everything about my specific experiences in Denver and that writing a post about them would be redundant. So, I decided to change course.

So, is a list of things I “learned” while I was in the Mile High City. Some of these are more “affirmances” than they are actual “learning,” but nonetheless all of these things kind of “popped up” during my 10.5 week-long stay in the Denver. As you will see, some of them aren’t related to law school or my internship at all, but this whole experience was actually much bigger than those topics. So, without further ado, here is the list:

Things I “Learned” in Denver:
aka, what I discovered while peaking into the window of life, just like Big Blue Bear

1. I am a not a “big city” person. Which is weird because my “home” is in an even bigger city. This doesn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t work in a big city, it just means I don’t actually want to live in the metro-center of it, as I did in Denver.

2. I am not a “small town” person either. While I have no desire to live in a big city, if I am going to shirk-off people, I’d rather live in the woods than in a small town. If you are trying to avoid people, you might as well do it properly and it’s not like a small town provides any entertainment you’d lack living in the wilderness.

3. Colorado does have the legendary blue skies everyone says it does, but it also rains a lot more than I was lead to believe.

4. The Rocky Mountains are amazing.

5. South Park depicts Colorado’s problems fairly accurately, even if satirically.

6. Left to my own devices I would probably be one of those people who dies a millionaire with little to show for it aside from being a millionaire. I spend very little money. This was true in Denmark as well, where I came in at a whopping 1/3 of my budget. I am very much a scrooge when I am by myself. But that doesn’t mean I don’t do things, I will buy experiences, I just won’t buy things.

7. Except beer. I could drink a beer every day for the rest of my life and be a happy camper. If you look at beer, on a per-drink scale, I spend more on beer than I do on food, which isn’t really saying much, because I don’t like to “Go out for drinks” – I’d rather buy the 6 pack and drink it at home, for only twice the cost of one beer out.

8. I value a good living environment over just about any other amenity. Because I am a homebody, and not someone who is out and about, I want a good home, at the exclusion of other things if necessary. This does not mean I want a large, or a fancy home, just a good one. In fact, I could live in a very small space and probably be quite fine. My Denver apartment was not a good one, despite having some amenities, most of them were dated (internet, *cough*), and really the building was home to people I’d mostly rather not live around.

9. I have to have good internet. I actually don’t need to use the internet as much as I thought I would (excluding classes). That said, when I need it, I want it to work. I don’t necessarily need super-fast internet, I just need reliable, working internet. My Denver apartment had internet so bad it shouldn’t exist in the mainland United States.

10. I really don’t care about law school, I care about what role it fills in my life path.

11. I know I want to work with environmental issues. I do not know exactly what role I want to play. But this is my “area,” even if I don’t end up a lawyer.

12. On a similar note, I sometimes worry that I’m on the wrong path entirely to reach my environmental goals.

13. However, I do know that I at least have the capacity to be a lawyer, come what may.

14. Trains are vastly preferable to buses, even when you are a sardine and the bus is cheaper.

15. I need to live someplace where I can exercise. Be that access to a small workout room, a full-scale gym, or just an area conducive to outdoor activities (without a heightened risk of being mowed down by a car or shot, preferably).

16. Some people will hate you because of Harvard, others will think you are better than you actually are. Few will understand that Harvard doesn’t increase, or decrease, a person’s worth in and of itself.

17. Tristen is an awesome travel buddy. Res.

18. Every town or city thinks it is better than every other town or city in some way, few actually are.

19. I seriously doubt I will ever want human children. Ever. This feeling is only getting stronger as time passes, rather than lessening.

20. I am less angry when I am in the great outdoors.

21. While living away from SB isn’t ideal or desirable, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But when I am with SB I want her to take care of me. 🙂

22. Living with two strangers is one stranger too many (especially when you only signed up to live with one stranger).

23. People in at least one area of the Government work much harder than you give them credit for and their jobs are largely thankless. Hate them all you like, but they are not lazy people. Fighting billion-dollar companies tooth and nail is draining work.

24. A government legal office is a weird environment. Everyone is stressed, but not in the “suicide or drug-addiction” sort of way most Biglaw lawyers seem to exude. It’s like everyone has accepted that they will never make anywhere as much money as their friends who went into private practice, but they oddly don’t care – yet at the same time, the lack of massive compensation makes them take more personal blows in the day-to-day work, even if these blows don’t result in being fired, like in Biglaw.

25. I struggle between despising homeless people and trying to figure out how to best help them and sympathizing with their systemic oppression. While this might sound cruel, you have no say in the matter until you’ve been harassed by them every single day. This is especially true for the mentally unstable ones who threaten you with violence, even if they’ve never acted on it.

26. That said, most city people don’t give a shit about you, and that is pretty cool most of the time. While there is something to be said about small-town folk having your back, I’ve found I prefer people who don’t realize I exist.

27. Getting the top of your feet sunburnt is terrible. Don’t do it.

28. Speaking of feet, my fancy brown shoes are not water proof at all, even when I’ve sprayed them with the Kiwi water protector. It’s because of where the shoe attaches to the sole, it just lets water right in, to ridiculous proportions. Which is really dumb, because the rest of the shoe is highly water resistant.

29. Being a volunteer is liberating in a lot of ways.

30. I like “counting down” to things, often more than I do the actual thing itself.

31. I want to learn how to ski and/or snowboard.

32. I’ll probably never get into cycling because you need to spend 5,000$ to get started properly.

33. Coors is a better brewery than you give it credit for (but Coors Light still sucks).

34. I can play a computer game with my friends for an hour or three once a week, or once every other week, and feel perfectly content with my amount of human contact. [I just need working internet]

35. I’ll probably play video games for my entire life, even if my 17 hour long LAN parties are a thing of the long past (which I really don’t miss that often, to be honest).

36. Somehow I don’t tire of eating the same breakfast and lunch every single day (and I do mean the exact same), but I do want dinner to be different each day.

37. I can go months without watching television and not be bothered in the least (this includes things like Netflix).

38. I wish I read for pleasure more than I do, but it’s hard to motivate myself to read after reading all day.

39. I like making lists of things.

~~~

And there we have it, an incomplete list of things I learned. I could never really recount everything I learned, but I think this is a good start. I think at the end of the day we are all sort of like Big Blue Bear. We are both part of the action, as well as an observer of the action. This was a challenging summer for me in a lot of ways, but the point is that I got through it, even when I was just kind of flying by the seat of my pants. I was very fortunate to have the experiences that I did, both with strangers, friends, co-workers, and family. It’s important while undergoing these kinds of adventures that you always keep in mind just how fortunate you are, after all It’s up to us to make sure that life doesn’t pass us by.

I see what you mean.

Until next time,
-Taco

Denver Check-in #10 (SB Adventures & Farewell)

August 10, 2015 by Taco

Hello again from Denver! (well sort of)

So as I alluded to late time, this tenth post in the Denver Check-in series will also be the last. I’ll probably write up a brief “wrap up” post next, but this will be the final check-in post. I’m not going to even bother with the word limit.

The big highlight was that on the 29th SB finally came out to see me! At 10 weeks this was the longest we had ever been apart. We met up as she came into town (which was just shortly after I got off work) and being us, immediately head over to a brewery. We had decided on Wynkoop, which had previously visited for a tour, but hadn’t ate at. We of course had some beers.

1. Mile High IPA – Wynkoop Brewing Company

2. Orchard Wheat – Wynkoop Brewing Company

We also got some tasty vittles to go with the beer.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment (I had to work a half day the next day) and Tristen and Valentino were reunited! (“at rong rast”)

The next day after I got off work we headed up to northern Denver to check out Hammond’s Candy Factory.

We took public transportation which was a bit of a trip, but nothing too bad. We actually were able to slip in right as they were beginning a tour, thus saving us a 30 minute wait. The tour itself was short but sweet (*ba dum tss*). It was pretty cool getting to watch them make huge amounts of candy by hand though.

The tour of course drops you off in the gift shop. Among other things SB and I picked up a Pumpkin Pie Candy Cane. Yep. It was good.

After Hammond’s we exchanged the sweet tooth for a beer tooth and headed down to Great Divide Brewery.

Their facility tour was pretty interesting since it was a relatively new location (not Great Divide itself, just the building was new). But it wasn’t anything exceptional and there were no free samples of beer, which is odd. So SB and I made up for that and got a beer to share ourselves.

3. White Water Wheat Ale – Great Divide Brewing Company

Of course maybe that was the point of no samples. We also picked up some shirts because they were really cool. Sadly, mine shrunk beyond comprehension (despite the girl telling us it wouldn’t shrink) and so I can’t wear mine.

After the brewery we had diner reservations at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox. This quirky restaurant is actually inside an old brothel. Interestingly, Ophelia’s is one of three “sister” restaurants. The other two are Root Down and Linger. Linger is housed in an old mortuary (not sure about Root Down). Since it was Happy Hour and it had been at least 20 minutes since our last beer, we got some more.

4. Red Banshee – The Fort Collins Brewery [Left]

5. Apricot Blonde – Dry Dock Brewing Co. [Right]

This is one of my all time favorite photos I’ve taken of beer.

We of course paired those Happy Hour drinks with some Happy Hour bites!

Tristen rather enjoyed the duck wings.

After Ophelia’s we headed off on a semi-long walk out to Little Man Ice Cream. This was my second time nomin’ it, but it was my first time experiencing it with SB.

Bet you can’t guess which of these was chosen by a female.

After Little Man we had a bit of trouble with the buses, but it was a forced excuse to walk off some of that ice cream.

The next day we went and picked up Sylvan, our friendly Subaru Impreza Zipcar, and headed off to the hills (literally). The first stop of the day was the famous Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater.

It was a gorgeous day and we set off on the “Trading Post Trail” which clocks in at around 1.4 miles, so nothing major, but it still offered up lots of amazing views.

We of course checked out the amphitheater itself, with all of its 9,450 seats nestled into the only known naturally acoustically perfect spot on the planet.

A lot of people use the stairs for exercise when a concert isn’t going on. SB and I took a pass on that one.

After Red Rocks Tristen and Valentino drove us over to Dinosaur Ridge.

Tristen had been flipping out to go to Dinosaur Ridge since our first day in Denver when he discovered a brochure for it.

Dinosaur Ridge was exactly that, a big ridge (which is actually part of the larger Dakota Ridge). The difference is that it was LOADED with dinosaur fossils and traces – at least until humans came along and stole most of them. That said, there are still fossils and traces to be seen even in the wake of the scientists. So, when you visit Dinosaur Ridge you can either walk the ridge for free (about 1.5 miles) or pay 6$ to take “Shuttlesaurus.”

SB and I opted to walk so that we could avoid the crowds and move at our own pace. While there were a lot of cool spots and bones, I think everyone’s favorite spot was the dinosaur tracks area. This whole ridge, despite now being a semi-arid, well, ridge, was once at the edge of a MASSIVE river that flowed through North America. So these Dino Feets’ were left behind in the mud.

The road was no longer in use, but you could still take the aforementioned shuttles, walk, or bike.

Once on the other side of the “hogback” at the top of the ridge, we were treated to a nice view of Red Rocks in the distance.

Being the troopers we are, we headed all the way down to the “end” of Dinosaur Ridge (you can technically start on either side – but we started on the side with the visitor center and dinosaurs for Tristen to meet).

We then touched the sign and headed all the way back to Sylvan and lunch. Afterwards we headed down to Morrison to see the Natural History Museum.

This was actually an impulse trip, as SB had seen a brochure for it while we were at the Dinosaur Ridge visitor center. So we decided to head down and check it out and maybe give the rain a chance to pass, since it had looked like it was about to rain for awhile now.

Turns out, it was a good choice, we both really enjoyed the museum. We just missed a school-bus load of kids (thank God) and so we were pretty much given a private tour of the museum. We even got a chance to help uncover dinosaur bones ourselves! And no, I don’t mean the gimmicky kind. I mean a real fossil, with real tools, in a real lab. That is the benefit of being the only two visitors in the entire museum. We both ended up learning quite a few things and definitely had fun.

However, our rain plan backfired. When we came out it started raining, after not having so much of a drop of rain while we were in the museum. The next stop was Lookout Mountain, so we headed off towards part of the Lariat Loop (which I had elected to take rather than the faster interstate) and the rain caught up to us on the way. Fortunately, it didn’t last too long and it had passed us by when we started driving up Lookout Mountain.

Once we made our way up to the top (7,379′) we were greeted with some amazing views.

We also had a bird’s eye view of Golden.

Notice how large Coors is.

And then there, far off in the distance was the Jewel of the West, Denver.

Lookout Mountain is also the final resting place of none other than Buffalo Bill himself.

Both Cody and his wife Louisa are interred at the peak of the mountain. Buffalo Bill is actually pretty interesting. I’d suggest you read the link above to get some information of the man behind the legend. For instance, did you know he was both a proponent of environmentalism, conservationism, women’s rights, and native American rights in addition to all the other stuff he was famous for like being a scout and a showman? Probably not.

Once we had partaken of some delicious Colorado-made root beer and a buffalo burger from the cafe at the top of Lookout Mountain (how perfect), we headed back down the other side of the Lariat Loop which was far more curvy, but Sylvan handled it just fine with his magical features and AWD (Sylvan only had about 6500 miles on him). Since it was still a bit early and Golden was just down the hill (literally), SB found us a random brewery called Golden City Brewery to go check out. It was more backyard and less brewery, no really.

However, it’s really all about the beer, and the beer did not disappoint.

4. German Pale Ale – Golden City Brewery [Left]

5. Evolution IPA – Golden City Brewery [Right]

This was further proof that there are so many breweries in Colorado that you have a decent chance of stumbling upon one in a random backyard.

After that we ate dinner in Golden at Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza (we went for the big salad bar), and were able to skip a pretty substantial wait by our willingness to sit outside. Then all of us (including Sylvan) headed back to Denver for the big day tomorrow.

The big day was a trip all the way down to Colorado Springs courtesy of Gray Line. Well, courtesy of us paying them to take us. The first stop of the (very early) day was the United States Air Force Academy. More specifically, our first stop was a Vietnam-era B-52, the thing was freaking HUGE.

With dozens of bombing missions and some confirmed fighter kills, Tristen was enamored.

Manries.

The next stop was an overlook of the main facility area of the academy itself, complete with a nice view of its famous chapel.

When you stop at the visitor’s center you actually have to go on a short hike to get to the chapel, we did, obviously.

It was pretty awesome, all the stained glass and tinted windows gave the appearance of artificial lighting, but it was all natural.

Next up on our trip towards Colorado Springs and Pike’s Peak was Garden of the Gods.

Garden of the Gods was PACKED. So our pompous tour bus didn’t really have a chance to stop, but by and large it seemed similar enough to Red Rocks that I don’t think either SB or I were too disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time there.

We did get to make one stop at the “Balancing Rock” though, which was pretty awesome, and also packed.

After exiting Garden of the Gods we had lunch (part of our tour package) at a nearby trading post and then headed to Manitou Springs, home to the famous Pike’s Peak Cog Railroad (which is the highest railroad in North America). The railroad was actually originally funded in 1889 by Zalmon G. Simmons, of Simmons Mattress fame (but he was rich for many other reasons as well).

The Railroad is one of two ways us fats can get to the top of Pike’s Peak these days. One is to drive (yes, there is a dirt road to the top) the other is to take the train, which is actually more scenic. Sure, you can still hike to the top like the good ole’ boys did, but like I said “us fats.” I think the only option that previously existed for rich fats that no longer does is the horse-drawn buggy to the top, though you can still see the 100 year old path due to how slowly the tundra grass and fauna grow and heal.

Anyways, point of the story, we took the railway.

And boy what a cool trip it was! Actually, it was literally a cool trip, as it was only 49 degrees at the summit (whereas it was in the mid 80s in Manitou Springs).

Eventually (it’s a 1.5 hour trip one-way) we were making our way closer and closer to the tree line.

The train ride itself was pretty nifty, as the cog rails allow the train to traverse as much as 25% inclines, whereas normal trains are limited to 3-4% grades.

The treeline eventually gave way to open tundra, where we were greeted by some Pikas, Yellow Bellied Marmots, and Big Horn Sheep, as well as some increasingly vast views.

The train takes you all the way to the summit, and I do mean all the way to the summit. In fact, it pretty much takes you right to the edge of existence.

Once at the top Pike’s Peak offers up some incredible views that photos just don’t even begin to do justice for.

And although the photos don’t really cut it, you can begin to understand why Katharine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful” based on what she saw while looking out from Pike’s Peak.

After a bit up on the chilly summit (14,115′) it was back down the mountain on the train, which was a very sleepy trip! Then it was back to Denver where we ate dinner at a funky sandwich shop named Snarf’s.

No relation to ThunderCats.

Then SB and I went to visit the Big Blue Bear and then headed home, a nice end to a long day.

The next day, Sunday, was more of a chill day. We started off with brunch at Syrup, which actually has a location in the building where I work. So while we were waiting (breakfast places are oddly popular in Denver) I was able to show SB my office and around the building. Before to long it was noms’ time, and nom we did.

I had blueberry buckwheat pancakes with blackberry syrup and a side of butterscotch syrup, while SB went with an eggs Benedict with corned beef! Both were quite yummy.

Afterwards we traversed around the 16th Street Mall for a bit, just so SB could take some of it in. I actually got to see a few new sights as well, such as rock climbing.

As well as paddle-boarding. Yep, paddle-boarding in the middle of a street.

After walking around the shopping district for a bit, we hopped on the light rail and headed a bit south to make our tour at Stranahan’s Distillery. I am not a big whiskey person (sadly) and so I hadn’t toured a distillery since Scotland. That said, I was still pretty excited to check out Stranahan’s.

I was actually surprised by how similar the two processes of brewing (between beer and whiskey) actually are. One neat thing about Stranahan’s is that they actually have volunteers assist in the bottling and labeling process and payment is levied via pizza and a free bottle of the batch you assisted with (unsurprisingly the wait-list to volunteer is around 20,000 people long).

The tasting went better than expected, as it actually didn’t burn quite as much as I was expecting (despite being 94 proof). SB didn’t finish hers, but Tristen says that is because she is a “russy.”

After departing Stranahan’s we started heading home. We made a brief stop at K-Mart and then were planning on eating dinner and having drinks at the Fainting Goat Pub, but that didn’t end up happening as we still had lots of drinks at home, so we just grabbed from food from Trader Joe’s and ate at the apartment. We did close out the day with some ice cream from Sweet Action though.

This was the first time I’d been there since going with Meem and James, and their flavors had already changed a lot (which is what they are known for). In case you were wondering, the flavors we got were: Stranahan’s Whiskey Brittle (how perfect right after visiting the distillery), Biscuits & Jam, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Coffee Brownie. If the flavors sound weird to you, don’t let that put you off, they were all yummy! (Biscuits and Jam was actually my favorite).

It was nice to be able to take SB to both Little Man and Sweet Action so she could join in on judging them. While it’s definitely close, I think we both found ourselves leaning a bit towards Little Man over Sweet Action, namely because Little Man seemed a bit more creamy, even if Sweet Action has more interesting flavors.

The next day it was back to work for me, as it was actually my last day in the office. Of course I saw “work,” but really it was more of a fun day. The other EES/EDS intern and I went on a trip with an attorney back up to Red Rocks to do some hiking (more extensive this time, about 6 miles). While I had pretty much just been there, I didn’t mind at all because it was a new area of the park and the company was different.

The overcast skies actually made for really good hiking weather as it was still pretty toasty outside.

After the morning hike we had lunch at The Blue Cow, a Morrison tradition, and then headed back into Denver (but not before stopping at a Safe Way to get a vegetable tray for the afternoon).

While there was a bit of work in the afternoon, it was mostly fun as well, namely our mini-golf tournament, held at Denver’s Skyline Park.

The course is only 9 holes, but its free and features landmarks from Denver, so it was a lot of fun. We actually had a competition for best score and for worst shot. I actually ended up winning the best score (and my prize was “Golden Tee” – which was funny and cute), whereas the NRS intern won the worst shot award by actually hitting the attorney the award was named after with her ball (unintentionally). You can’t make this stuff up.

After our golf-picnic we headed back to the office building and had our final Happy Hour at Hodson’s (I had two Odell’s 90 Shilling if you were curious). There we were given a few more gifts, such as a Department of Justice beer cozy and a Department of Justice beer stein (I’m not lying about lawyers and drinking). It was actually a bit sad, especially since the last day had been mostly fun it was kind of hard to leave everyone.

My boss and I headed out from the Happy Hour a bit early so we could go back up to the office and I could clear out my desk, shut down my computer, get the “Don’t tell anyone what we do here or you will die” speech, and then hand in my badge. I think leaving the office with my boss was one of the saddest things I’ve done in awhile, there is just something about handing over your badge that just exudes melancholy. While I knew I was only going to be there for 10 weeks, I’d had a really good time at the office and it was kind of hard to say goodbye to my little supply-closet-with-four-interns-space and all the attorneys, especially those who had taken me under their wing.

But life goes on and the interwebs make it much easier to stay in touch than ever. I also left on very good terms (a recommendation is waiting whenever I need it). So all was well and it was time to continue my journey.

But I wasn’t quite done with Denver yet, I still had one more night to spend in the Mile High with SB. So we dressed up nice and fancy and went to Appaloosa where we had a delicious final feast, including some jalapeno bread and bison sausage.

After dinner we headed over, or rather, up, to Peak’s Lounge for some drinks and watch the sunset (it’s on the 27th floor of the Hyatt).

I went with a Colorado Native [Left], as I figured it might be my last time to try it for awhile, whereas SB was adventurous and went with a gluten free beer.

6. Tread Lightly Ale – New Planet Beer Company [Right]

After sitting an drinking for a bit we decided to order some dessert, only to be told they were out of it after at least 5+ minutes of waiting. In fact the service as a whole was pretty slow and lackluster (aside from the manager who helped us when our server just continuously failed to appear).

That said, the views of the sunset were pretty incredible.

So all in all, a pretty amazing last day in Denver.

The next morning we were up early and making good time, only to find out that our flight had been delayed by two hours. Our flight ended up getting delayed by 3 hours, but it took off and we made it back to Boston, just much later than we had hoped. So we were pretty tired and pretty much crashed that first night (after waiting on our air conditioners to at least partially cool down the hot box our apartment had turned into, much to Bonsai Buddy Jr’s joy and the cacti’s dismay).

The good news is that I had saved a beer for myself way back in May before I left.

7. Backseat Berner IPA – Otter Creek Brewing / Wolaver’s

And because SB is a good SB, she had even purchased a few more beers to have waiting for me.

8. Tangier – Southern Tier

And even though I didn’t have either of these the first night back due to how late it was, they did make for a nice welcome home, even a belated one.

So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of the Denver Check-in series. It’s been a pleasure (mostly) to keep up with my time in the Mile High via Dinosaur bear. And while I technically wrote this from Boston (which is why I started this post off with “sort of” after my introduction), it was certainly Denver-centric and wraps us up nicely.

I’ll have “Things I Learned” reflective post coming up in the near future that is a lot shorter and more broad than this final check-in, but it will hit on some of my post 1L Summer thoughts in way that these check-in posts weren’t really meant to.

Until 2L Summer,
-Taco, Baby Lawyer Extraordinaire

Denver Check-in #9 (Boulder)

July 29, 2015 by Taco

Hello again from Denver,

[Note: I’ll once again be breaking my 1500 word goal. I’ve found that pairing beer blurbs AND Denver stuff is just too space restrictive, maybe wherever I am next summer I will plan that out better.]

This is the 9^th Denver Check-in and we’ve definitely gotten into the twilight period of these posts as SB is coming out in a few days (she will actually arrive the day this is posted) and next week is when I go home. So I imagine that there will be at least one more check-in and then probably some sort of summary post, but by and large we are nearing the end.

But you know what isn’t nearing the end? Construction on my office building. In fact, it just seems to keep expanding. The other day I went through one of the more out of the way areas and saw that they had filled in the pit that used to house the escalator foundations.

But overall, work seems to be progressing slowly and the other day they were being loud enough that I could actually hear them in the office. However, this isn’t unusual. Things seem to have gained this odd “slowness” to them during my internship. For example, one of the exercise bikes in my building has supposedly been getting fixed for 10 weeks now. Mmm hmm. Oh, and one of the two elevators broke a month ago.

As you can see, it won’t be fixed until after I leave. That whole sign reeks of “So you think your gas bill is high?” Also slow, 1L Roomate’s girlfriend’s ability to move out. She came to stay “for a few days” about 5 weeks ago. Yeap. Then something happened, and then something else, and most recently she was supposed to have moved out on Friday, but she’s still here. Mmm hmm. Slowness abounds here, and don’t even get me started on the internet.

But if there is anything that can adjust itself to either a fast or a slow pace, it’s beer. As I mentioned before I picked up a sampler pack from Odell and I was very anxious to dig into it (specifically it was the Summer 2015 Montage Variety 12 Pack). Now that I’ve had a chance to sample the collection, here are my thoughts. All beers in this section are from Odell Brewing Company unless noted otherwise.

1. Perle White IPA

Strong wheat backbone with hop layers of grapefruit and lemon, as well as some spicy and floral notes. Lightly bitter, but in a way you like to see from a White IPA.

2. Loose Leaf

This is a great session beer. Very light, easy to drink, and really refreshing with lots of “zesty” flavor and aroma tones. Don’t expect a ton of hops here, but do expect a really mellow beer that goes down easy.

3. Odell IPA

Strangely, it doesn’t taste nearly as hoppy as it smells. If anything, the hops are toned down a wee bit and the fruitiness (grapefruit, passionfruit, lemon etc.) is a bit more upfront. A little bit of maltiness lurking in the background but as you’d expect this is pretty much hop-forward IPA with a fruit-backup.

4. St. Lupin

Here is a second “bonus” shot of St. Lupin. I didn’t use this image above since the light isn’t as good, but I really enjoyed that beer quote on the calendar in the background, so I’m throwing it in too for good measure.

St. Lupin is delicious and well balanced. Great hop and flora characteristics without too much bitterness thanks to the dry hopping. The only caveat is that for an extra pale ale the pine elements are is a bit heavier than you might expect.

Overall, Odell definitely continues to impress me. As I’ve told other people out here, this is the one brewery so far I am truly going to miss.

Of course not all beers can be to the quality of Odell’s offerings, not even some German self-labeled “Premium” beers. One of the biggest reasons why? No alcohol.

5. Clausthaler Premium – Binding-Brauerei AG

I got this “beer” for free. Someone had left a bunch of Clausthaler Premium and Beck’s Non-Alcoholic in the common room in my building (wonder why). Seeing as how they were non-alcoholic I only took one of each – for science. And while the German Clausthaler Premium wasn’t nearly as bad as Coors Non-Alcoholic, it wasn’t great either, in fact I wouldn’t even call it “good.” While the flavor and malt were light as expected, that “funky” non-alcoholic taste still persisted, not sure this one deserves its “Premium” title.

That said, maybe it does, at least compared to other non-alcoholic beers. For instance, the Beck’s was actually a bit worse.

6. Beck’s Non-Alcoholic – Brauerei Beck & Co.

While I’m not familiar with Binding-Brauerei AG, I am familiar with Brauerei Beck & Co., so I know that they are at least capable of producing good beer (they are German after all). However, this isn’t it. That weird, non-alcoholic beer flavor is very prevalent here. While the beer is smooth and drinkable, in a manor that Clausthaler Premium really wasn’t, that “odd” flavor is just too potent (though not to the extent of Coors) for me to recommend this one either. Most non-alcoholic beers have the alcohol “burnt” off, which I think is what creates these weird flavors.

Anyways, I think the moral of the story here is that if the Germans can’t produce good non-alcoholic beer, you probably shouldn’t spend your money on any of it (and ironically I have paid for none of the non-alcoholic beers I’ve had so far).

So even though I enjoy drinking beer (and yes, I actually do experimenting with beers such as Clausrhaler Premium, even if the beer itself is lackluster) I enjoy doing other things as well. Since our time here has been winding down, Tristen has been getting a little impatient and always seems to want to be doing something.

So, after a little bit of nagging (on my part) the office interns finally put together a day trip and so this past Sunday I got up way earlier than was ideal, but I was treated to a nice sunrise.

Facing west.

Facing east.

Then we were off to Boulder! The other interns, being local, actually have cars, so we didn’t have to pay to take the express bus. It was the four of us interns and then one intern brought her boyfriend as well. Our first destination was Chautauqua, near the Flatiron Mountains. And if you are history buff like me, then yes, this is the same Chautauqua adult education movement from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

We were really lucky with the weather, it was blue skies and hot, but not too hot for hiking. This meant the area was a bit busy, but as you moved further away from the easy flat areas the people thinned out. It probably helped that we took the path less traveled as well.

Most of the first part of the hike was deceptively up-hill. Well, it was all uphill the whole way in, but the open field portion was much more steep (and hot) than it first appeared.

However, the lack of trees in this area did allow for some great views of Boulder in the distance.

Soon enough we had made it up to where the trees started, which helped with some of the heat, even if the path got a bit more difficult.

Though the trees got thicker as we moved up, there were some nice breaks that allowed for some gorgeous views.

There were also quite a few rock-slides, I don’t remember enough about Geology to say how old they were, but my guess is that these definitely weren’t too ancient.

Past the rock slides the trail got even more steep and rocky, but honestly I had quite a bit of fun scrambling around the rocks, even if my legs did not.

Just a bit below the top of our trail there was a vista with another good view of Boulder and the Great Plains beyond.

Our trail just went to one of the peaks of a smaller Flatiron, so where we were at there were still rocks towering above us.

The trail ends on this little apex, where you’re surrounded by fairly steep drops on three sides.

There was nice rocky outcropping on this peak, which made for a nice intern group photo area as well as providing great views of the surrounding countryside.

After chatting for a bit we had to head back down to make our tour time at Celestial Seasonings! I’ve drank Celestial Seasonings for years, ever since Meem introduced me to their “Sleepytime” variety. This Boulder-based tea company is the largest speciality tea company in the United States, though they still only have one actual production facility, which is right here in Boulder where they started in 1969. In typical me fashion, I steered us towards going here and it turned out to be a hit, especially since the tour is free! Not only can you do the factory tour for free, but you get free unlimited samples from their tasting room!

The Watermelon Lime Zinger was especially popular in our group.

In addition, you can check out the one and only Sleepytime Bear!

You just have to be gentle, because he’s sleeping of course!

They don’t actually allow photos inside the factory, namely because the machines they use don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Apparently they repurposed German-made cereal machines in order to make and box the tea, it was pretty interesting. Aside from the samples, the highlight of the tour was the “Peppermint Room” where they store all their bulk mint ingredients. Let’s just say it not only cleans out your sinuses, it cleans out your soul. Some people couldn’t even step inside the room. I thought it was neat, but if I die of mint poisoning use this blog post as evidence.

After Celestial Seasonings we headed over to Avery Brewing Company for a tour and a late lunch. As we were driving over there, I could have sworn I heard a familiar sound. Then once we parked I heard it again. Once getting out of the car I saw them! Prairie Dogs!

There is only one in this photo and it’s hard to see, but true me it’s there!

They were obviously wild and were all over the place out by the brewery. It was pretty awesome as I hadn’t seen any Prairie Dog buddies since Columbian Park Zoo.

After making friends, it was time to go inside.

They have a very “modern” geometric building, which is actually only a couple of months old as they just changed locations.

Right inside is a big wooden throne, which like Wynkoop’s Guerilla, was never explained.

The lobby was still a bit sparse, you could tell the place was new, but their iconic “Big A” had been placed front and center.

We were actually a bit early for our tour, but not early enough to sit down and eat, so a couple of us decided to grab some beers from the bar while we were waiting (plus you can take beer on the tour and are encouraged to do so).

7. WWJB Dry-Hopped Rye Pale Ale – Avery Brewing Company

This brew, whose full name was never fully explained (My guess is “What Would Jesus Brew”), is an amazingly good rye pale ale. Granted, I’ve not had a rye pale ale before (just regular rye ales) but this was still good, so maybe Jesus was involved. This is a very refreshing and unique beer where the dry-hopping process doesn’t detract from the other flavors.

Before I could finish my WWJB (which is saying something), the tour got started. Overall, I wasn’t too impressed by the tour itself. Most of the brewery can be viewed from an elevated walk-way and a self-guided tour any time of the day. The guided tour didn’t go anywhere that you couldn’t go on your own, but seeing practically brand new equipment was pretty cool.

The bird’s eye view of the packing area was also pretty interesting, though I would have liked to see bottles and cans rather than just kegs.

Probably the most interesting part of the tour was learning that Avery was founded by a guy who decided to drop out of law school and devote his life to beer. Interesting 🙂

The second most interesting part was the free sample, of course.

8. Avery India Pale Ale – Avery Brewing Company

At first I was a bit concerned, because the hostess told us that they didn’t always give samples on the tour. She said it just depended on the size of the group and who was giving the tour. I’m glad to say that we did get a sample (despite being a large group) so I don’t know if she was just playing with us, or if it really does depend. That said, don’t ever give a brewery tour without giving out beer, I mean freaking seriously.

Anyways, this is their standard issue IPA, and as a standard issue IPA it was, well, fairly standard. This course doesn’t mean it was bad. The fruit palate emphasizes citrus with pine and herbal hops over light grain. Medium body and carbonation. Very drinkable and refreshing, even if not especially memorable as an IPA.

After the tour we were seated within about 5 minutes (thanks to putting our name on the list before the tour – there were now 6 of us as one intern’s friend had joined us at the brewery). With lunch I went straight for a beer I heard mentioned on the tour:

9. Perzik Saison – Avery Brewing Company

So I’m not going to lie, I had to look up what “Perzik” meant. Turns out it is Dutch for “peach,” which makes all sorts of sense as this was a peach saison. My guess was that it meant peach, but I wanted to look it up for make sure. When I first ordered this I was just sure it was going to be my favorite Avery brew of the day, but it actually wasn’t. While it was better than their IPA, I still have to go with WWJB as the best of their beers I’ve had so far. The Perziki looks really good, has lots of flavor, and has a great mouthfeel but I was expecting some more peach aromas and flavors and sadly they were a bit faint. Still a good fruit saison though.

One other nice thing about Avery, aside from their beer, is that their dining room actually has some really good food, in a non-prewbub kind of way. I was actually reminded a bit of Upland, though Avery is a bit more eclectic. I went with the “Sloppy Seitan” which is barbeque seitan and pickled vegetables on a sesame bun (I have to give Bloomingfoods credit for my love of BBQ seitan). For my side I went with seared greens.

The food was just as impressive as the beer, so really overall it was just the tour that was a bit lacking.

[Side note: Since there was a group of us I was also able to taste the following Avery beers: The Reverend and their Raspberry Sour, both of which were good (though the Reverend was very strong and the sour very sour) but I don’t include them as a blurb since I only had one drink of each of them, which isn’t really enough to form an opinion]

After that we all headed home as it was a Sunday and everyone was a bit tired from our early hike. Once I got back home I got a little work done then settled in to watch a movie, only to have my internet instantaneously die and not come back. Ah home sweet home. While sitting there doing nothing I realized that I had, yet again, spent an entire day being social. Weird.

On Monday a lot of the flowers in the garden next to the bus stop had bloomed though, so that was a nice start to a sunny day. Then on Tuesday my boss took us out for crepes (granted it was during a very long day over at the US Attorney’s Office, but still, crepes) which was awesome.

Until next time,
-Taco

Denver Check-in #8 (Dragon Boats & Beer)

July 24, 2015 by Taco

Hello again from Denver!

So, after my big 6 and 7 check-ins (and brief musical interlude), it’s time to return to normal, meaning that I’ll be re-imposing the 1500 word limit goal (which is a goal I have a really bad track record with [Yep, failed again]).

So what has been happening lately?

Amazon had a big “Prime Day” sell where I bought ninja masks and you missed out on saving $131,065.01 on moist towelettes.

Construction continues as usual.

Also, work continues as usual, which is actually not the best thing. While I still have plenty of time left out here in the ole’ Mile High, I am getting to that point where I’m trying to avoid taking on huge projects and am instead focusing on trying to ensure I can actually finish what is already on my table. Sadly, my supervisors aren’t cooperating with this mindset and I seem to keep getting more and more buried, despite each day marking a little less time left to work on everything piling up.

However, not all is bad, we had mimosas during a section meeting the other day.

Everything you’ve heard about lawyers and drinking is true.

I actually had three of those, two peach, one orange. Which was probably a mistake, because afterwards I was listening to my boss talk about an upcoming project and found myself mostly asleep with my eyes open. Of course, by his own admission, he was in the same state of mind, so I could have walked out of the room and he probably would have kept talking.

Speaking of being observant (or not being so), I found a cool little waterfall/stream literally right across the street from where I work the other day.

Last Thursday I met up with one of Aunt Train’s friends (who is from Ireland), as she apparently has friends in all majors cities in the world. He is working here in Denver and took me out to eat (yay friends!) at a place down by Union Station called ChopHouse & Brewery.

This was a rather nice place that I’d never be able to afford normally, and despite me never having heard of it prior to dinner, I was very impressed. While the food was certainly top notch (mussels, salon,rib-eyes, white cheddar potatoes, Brussels sprouts, bread, jalapeno cornbread – all shared) it was their in-house brew that pleasantly surprised me. We (and by we I mean I, after asking of course) ordered a sampler for the table, this after two full-sized pints.

It included one of everything they were currently brewing, starting with the rear row, left side, then moving right, and then moving to the front row, left side, moving right (all beers are Denver ChopHouse & Brewery):

Pilsner Lager
Dortmunder Lager
Wheat Ale
Dark Munich Lager
Blackberry Black Lager
Pale Ale
Red Ale
Dry Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Dopplebock
Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout

[Not all beers had a Beer Advocate Page]

Rather than speaking about these beers individually, I will say that on the whole I was very impressed. The Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout was especially interesting and I’m not normally a big stout person (but after that many beers about anything tastes good).

I followed up with good beer with good desert, an amazing bread pudding (almost as good as the rib-eye I had).

The very next day, despite having a minor hangover, I went straight to Argonaut and bought my last big round of beer (at 45$ I think it’s the most I’ve ever spent on beer).

I went with an Odell sampler, some Dogfish Head Midas Touch, and some Upslope Thai Style White IPA.

I’ll cover the Odells as I drink them.

1. Midas Touch – Dogfish Head Brewery

The Midas Touch was more of an impulse purchase, as I was worried it would be hard to find later on as I sought out the other Ancient Ales. Since I will do a full write up on the Ancient Ales at some point in the future, for now I’ll share that the Midas Touch is a sweet yet dry beer and is made from re-formulated molecular traces of ingredients (honey, barley malt, white muscat grapes and saffron) found in 2,700-year-old drinking vessels from the tomb of (the believed to be) King Midas. Somewhere between wine and mead, Midas could please the chardonnay and beer drinker alike. I liked it.

[Ancient Ales Drank 1/8]

The next beer I tried from the bounty was:

2. Thai Style White IPA – Upslope Brewing Company

This surprisingly good brew (wasn’t sure about the idea of essentially mixing curry and beer), but the white IPA base makes for a nice blend with the spice components. While the spices are a bit stronger than they might need to be, they aren’t overpowering either. Overall, definitely a more memorable beer than Upslope’s Lager.

On Saturday morning we got up earlier than usual so we could go see Dragon Boat races!

Ok so at least one of us got up early.

What is a Dragon Boat you might ask?

That is a Dragon Boat.

Dragon Boats are, of course, Chinese in origin and are at their core racing boats. The practice extends back into antiquity and some of the traditional boats are pretty decked out, to the point of being cumbersome as actual racing boats. Denver’s racing boats were a bit less fancy, and bit more race. However, they still maintain the traditional elements of a rowing crew, a drummer, a color-bearer, and a coxswain.

The races were being held as part of the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (in its 15th season this year). It’s held out at Sloan’s Lake and has become very, very popular.

Each race has anywhere from one boat (time trial) to up to at least four, if not five boats.

Each race (save the time trail) is a mad dash to the flag, where the color-bearer has to reach far out over the bow and grab the flag from the water.

First crew to grab the flag wins.

This makes for some pretty high-stakes finishes.

Aside from the boat races, the festival itself was just kind of “meh.” It was a normal themed festival.

Meaning too many people, overpriced food, and heat.

The side stages had music, while the main stage had theatrical martial arts, which were kind of interesting but not so much that I wanted to work through the crowd.

They also had those big floating “Run on Water” tubes, but I didn’t feel like paying 10$ just to try one.

DCI 8 - 19

As mentioned, the place was packed. This was one of the few times where my decision to take public transit probably saved me time. Most people either tried parking (and ended up a mile away) or took the festival shuttle buses, which involved a long wait in the sun.

My bus still involved a long wait in the sun, but at least it wasn’t crowded.

I was going to go home, but on a whim I decided to detour through LoDo and still if I could think up anything to do that was cheap (the festival didn’t keep me busy for as long as I thought it would). I first swung through the Tattered Cover Book Store.

Tattered Cover is famous in book-people circles and is one of the nation’s last large independently owned book stores. It was neat, but it in my non-book-person opinion it wasn’t much different than any other hole-in-the-wall bookstore, it was just bigger and the they had more used books.

After stopping through Union Station for a second round of Pigtrain Coffee (yay Rig!):

I realized that Wyknoop Brewery (Denver’s first craft brewery) was having a free tour in about 3 minutes. So I sprinted over there and made it just in time (they only door two tours per day, five days per week).

Inside there was a giant guerilla statute, which was cool but never explained.

Since Wynkoop is a deep-urban brewery, their physical footprint is fairly contained, so the tour didn’t actually cover that much distance (compared to say, Coors). That said, it was clear they had put some thought into possible tour paths when laying out the building.

Most areas had lots of glass viewing windows.

Some even told you exactly what was going on inside.

The tour was about 45 minutes, and while it was interesting our guide didn’t seem super knowledgeable (as she was actually a hostess, not a brewer). For instance, she didn’t even know where a good number of their hops were grown.

That said, she was very personable otherwise and was willing to go ask the brewers for information – though that left me wondering why they weren’t doing the tour as there was no active brewing happening when I was there.

The building (brewery, bar, and pub area) itself was most interesting to me actually, it was really cool.

Though in fairness to our tour guide, she did finally reveal to me the difference between conical and pellet hops.

Conical hops (seen above) have a more constant lingering flavor, while pellet hops have a “burst” of flavor that fades faster.

Of course why do I do brewery tours? For the beer of course.

3. Colorojo Imperial Red Ale – Wynkoop Brewing Company

A hoppy imperial red ale, boasts a firm palate and a pleasant aromas.

4. Mile High Pale Ale – Wyknoop Brewing Company

A simple yet robust pale ale with clear vibrant colors and a floral hop finish.

5. Rail Yard Ale – Wynkoop Brewing Company

Wynkoop’s flagship brew, a rusty-toned color gives way to a malty flavor with elements of English ale yeast.

All three of the beers were good, and definitely the highlight of the tour (not that that is unusual, :P). The one really weird thing is that they didn’t get you samples from the tap, they all came from cans (Wynkoop is can centric, like Upslope). So, I look forward to actually trying some more of their beers on tap next, as well as their food. If they are anything like their Chile Beer, I’m sure to be impressed.

After that it was getting ready to rain and I was hungry, so I passed a piece of public art I hadn’t seen before:

It moves, no really.

Then it was off to hop on the bike and go home.

Well, that actually didn’t happen as I got rained on and had to take the bus, but it still wasn’t anything like the typhoon of a several weeks ago.

Until next time,
-Taco

Back in the Boston Groove

1L Summer – Denver – “Things I Learned”

Denver Check-in #10 (SB Adventures & Farewell)

Denver Check-in #9 (Boulder)

Denver Check-in #8 (Dragon Boats & Beer)

Search all of Dinosaur Bear

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