Thursday, January 19, 2006
Beer! It's What's For Dinner!
Big Daddy Cal met up with me after work for a quick stroll over to The Ginger Man. The Ginger Man boasts over 66 beers on tap with 130 selections available by bottle. The selection is one of the best in the city.
The downside to the Ginger Man is the food. They have no hot food other than soup. The sandwiches are decent but like many others I like to have a burger or other hot food with my beer.
We arrived a little after 6pm so the afterwork crowd was in full effect. It wasn't overly crowded but I prefer if the "beer ignorant" would drink their macro-brews away from the bar, especially in a beer lover's haven. I understand the macro-brews are a necessary evil that helps a place like this pay the bills but it is annoying nonetheless.
Squeezing in between the button down crowd, we took a few minutes to peruse the beer menu, with Big Daddy Cal ordering a pint of Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier which he really enjoyed and I will have to try myself sometime. I got...
22) Goose Island Honkers Ale - Brewed out of Chicago, IL; this was an easy drinking American Pale Ale. Very enjoyable and a good "anytime" beer.
We got potato chips, which you should know cost $2 a basket. But they do give you about a bag's worth.
Next we each tried...
23) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout - Excellent stout with espresso and cocoa flavors.
The Ginger Man currently has an excellent selection of winter seasonals on tap. My friend got the Blue Point Winter Ale. I would get into the winter mood later but instead I went with a Belgian instead. Big Daddy Cal eventually downed his Blue Point and ordered one of these as well.
24) Kwak - A Belgian strong ale with 8% alcohol. This was served in an interesting glass. It was kind of a mini beer-bong complete with a wooden stand to hold the beer. Not as good as other Belgians I have had but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
At this point it became hard to keep track of things so I took notes, which I can hardly read.
We ordered food to absorb the alcohol. I had a Caesar Salad which wasn't so great and a slice of cheesecake while Big Daddy Cal had the Italian Sandwich. He tried to order whatever was on cask but it had kicked by then so instead he finished up with the Paulaner Hefeweissbier while I went with...
25) Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale - Very hoppy, which surprised me. Flavors were quite complex and this was a good choice for my 25th beer of the year.
Today I'm going to take it easy. No beer today. In fact I will even make a trip to the gym because I can feel myself getting soft.
25 beers for the year so far, with 340 to go. I don't have to have a new beer until next week. Tomorrow I will pay another visit to David Copperfield's, but will have 2 new beers at most.
The downside to the Ginger Man is the food. They have no hot food other than soup. The sandwiches are decent but like many others I like to have a burger or other hot food with my beer.
We arrived a little after 6pm so the afterwork crowd was in full effect. It wasn't overly crowded but I prefer if the "beer ignorant" would drink their macro-brews away from the bar, especially in a beer lover's haven. I understand the macro-brews are a necessary evil that helps a place like this pay the bills but it is annoying nonetheless.
Squeezing in between the button down crowd, we took a few minutes to peruse the beer menu, with Big Daddy Cal ordering a pint of Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier which he really enjoyed and I will have to try myself sometime. I got...
22) Goose Island Honkers Ale - Brewed out of Chicago, IL; this was an easy drinking American Pale Ale. Very enjoyable and a good "anytime" beer.
We got potato chips, which you should know cost $2 a basket. But they do give you about a bag's worth.
Next we each tried...
23) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout - Excellent stout with espresso and cocoa flavors.
The Ginger Man currently has an excellent selection of winter seasonals on tap. My friend got the Blue Point Winter Ale. I would get into the winter mood later but instead I went with a Belgian instead. Big Daddy Cal eventually downed his Blue Point and ordered one of these as well.
24) Kwak - A Belgian strong ale with 8% alcohol. This was served in an interesting glass. It was kind of a mini beer-bong complete with a wooden stand to hold the beer. Not as good as other Belgians I have had but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
At this point it became hard to keep track of things so I took notes, which I can hardly read.
We ordered food to absorb the alcohol. I had a Caesar Salad which wasn't so great and a slice of cheesecake while Big Daddy Cal had the Italian Sandwich. He tried to order whatever was on cask but it had kicked by then so instead he finished up with the Paulaner Hefeweissbier while I went with...
25) Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale - Very hoppy, which surprised me. Flavors were quite complex and this was a good choice for my 25th beer of the year.
Today I'm going to take it easy. No beer today. In fact I will even make a trip to the gym because I can feel myself getting soft.
25 beers for the year so far, with 340 to go. I don't have to have a new beer until next week. Tomorrow I will pay another visit to David Copperfield's, but will have 2 new beers at most.
# posted by Nick @ 11:37 AM 
