Category: Outings

Posted on

Morning before the Southern Brewers Festival

The Tin Roof BistroKaren and I have started the day with a bike ride in search of breakfast. We found “The Tin Roof Bistro” which serves breakfast from 7 AM to 2 PM. And, it has a balcony with a view of the Tennessee River and Walnut Street Bridge. Karen ate her favorite breakfast of grits, but she went up a notch and added a bowl of fruit. I had the waffles with mint butter.

Now with carbo-loading done, we headed back to the festival area to check on setup progress. We talked with Mary Kilbride who we were told is in charge. Mary gave us the low down and we were able to pass along some of our ideas for how to improve the festival. This year the festival has a VIP section which provides free food and beer along with special seating over the river.

Posted on

Days before the Southern Brewers Festival

Checking out festival setup Karen and I arrived for the Southern Brewers Festival early on Friday after spending way to many hours at Unclaimed Baggage located in Scottsboro, Alabama. (We now have another digital camera and more.) We decided to ride around town and enjoy the scenery including a ride by the festival area. This year the festival is at the Tennessee River edge.

Big River Grille & Brewing

We ended up at Big River Grille & Brewing eating the Classic Combo which has great. The Classic Combo is made up of Jalapeño Spinach Cheese Dip with Chips, Buffalo Wings, and Chicken Springs Rolls. Karen had the Sweat Magnolia Brown Ale and I had the seasonal Summer Wheat. The brown ale won the 1998 Gold at the Great American Beer Festival. She describe the brown as not too nutty, but balanced with chocolate tones in the finish. The beer’s head was nice, but quickly dissipated. The beer had a medium body and little aromatic. The wheat beer has lightly fruity with a good mouth feel. The beer was rich for a wheat, but it was still very balanced. Its taste was very similar to Pyramid Brewing’s Hefeweizen Beers, which is one of best hefeweizen. Mellow MushroomMonty Python's Holy Grail Ale

Later for dinner, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and beer. Karen and I love pizza and Mellow Mushroom is one of the best around. They are also known for having a large beer selection and this location was no exception. We had a nice variety with Spaten Munich, Whittekerke, Falls City, and Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale.

Posted on

Southern Brewer Festival Details

As the festival nears, the brewers and entertainment have been finalized.

The organizers of the festival have indicated that 40 different beers will be available for tasting. The beer will be provided by the following brewers.

Anheuser-Busch Inc. (Cartersville Ga)
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (Portland Or)
Redhook Ale Brewery (Woodinville Wa)
Abita Brewing Company (Abita Springs La)
Big River Grille & Brewing Works (Chattanooga Tn)
Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery (Nashville Tn)
Bosco's Nashville Brewing Company (Nashville Tn)
Boston Beer Company (Boston Ma)
Carolina Beer & Beverage Company (Mooresville Nc)
Dogwood Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Moon River Brewing Company (Savannah Ga)
Ragtime Tavern, Seafood & Grill (Atlantic Beach Fl)
Red Oak Brewery (Greensboro Nc)
Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Rocky River Brewing Company (Sevierville Tn)
Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner Tx)
Sweetwater Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Terrapin Beer Company (Athens Ga)
Thomas Creek Brewery (Greenville Sc)

If memory servers me, I believe that Thomas Creek Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing Company are new this year. I am not sure about Ragtime Tavern which may have been present last year.

According to the festival site, The Rounders, The Lee Boys, The John Cowan Band, and BoDeans will performing at the festival.

The nice thing about this festival is that everything goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. There is nothing better supporting a cause by tasting some great beers.

Posted on

Final Home Game for the Huntsville Stars

Huntsville StarsChattanooga LookoutsThe Huntsville Stars ends the home season on a win against the Chattanooga Lookouts! The game went by fast with no one scoring until the last two innings. Now, the two teams head back to Chattanooga for the last two game of the season. We have heard some of the Huntsville Star’s fans will be making the trip to see the games. It should a be great road trip with Chattanooga Lookout being situated in downtown Chattanooga near the Tennesse Aquarium and so much more.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chattanooga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 0
Huntsville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 6 1
Posted on

Huntsville Star vs Chattanooga Lookouts

Huntsville StarsKaren and I are catching the last home games for our local AA team. They will be closing the season out with a two game series against the Chattanooga Lookouts. Chattanooga Lookouts The Stars have not been winning much this season, but they have improved greatly over the last few weeks. We enjoy the games a social event more than a sports events.

Given that today is Friday, we will be treated to fireworks! How much better could life be than fireworks, baseball, and cold draft beer?

If you want to be a true fan, you can hop on over to Amazon and pickup a Huntsville Stars Cap and Jersey.

I guess who could risk heckling by coming to the game in a Chattanooga Lookouts Cap and Jersey. I wouldn’t, but you could enjoy the excitement.

Update: The Huntsvilles Stars won 4 to 3 against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chattanooga 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 5 0
Huntsville 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 X 4 13 2
Posted on

Disney Trip Finalized with Purchase of Hotel Room

Karen and I finalized the hotel reservation at the Caribbean Beach. We had been holding out for the annual pass holder discounts which just came out. Our room will only cost $108/night that is saving us about 20%. We wanted to stay near Epcot. So, this should put us right near the action of the International Food and Wine Festival.

We have never stayed at the Caribbean Beach. We are looking forward to trying out the food at Shutter's at Old Port Royale

No trip would be complete without a guide book, I would suggust one like “The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2005“. You would want to pickup the book prior to booking so that you get the most out of your trip. This book covers the International Food and Wine Festival, too.

Posted on

Southern Brewers Festival Update 1

Only 10 days to go!

We want to take our bikes this year to the beer festival. Well, Karen's trailer hitch has arrived for her new car. It will be installed this weekend. Chattanooga is a beautiful area and riding our bikes will allow us to take in more of the city.

One place that I love to stop by is the Pickle Barrel. It is a cool shaped building and has great sandwiches and pickles, too. At night, they have bands. You can dine on the roof, but mid-day roof dining can be hot and muggy.

Posted on

Our Annual Trip to Disney World

Karen and I booked our annual trip to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival from October 29th through November 6th.

Karen and I truly in enjoy the International Food and Wine Festival. This year we are saving money by purchasing Premium Annual Pass that saddles two years. Purchasing our ticket this way will allow us to use one annual pass to go to two festivals and then we can skip a year. We will be able to purchase tickets every other year, but we will be able to go every year.

We will catch a night at the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party which we think is great young and old alike. You get to trick-or-treat through the Magic Kingdom in your favorite costume if you like. It starts at 7:00 PM and goes to midnight. We will be doing this on October 30th.