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The Beers About Town – Holiday Edition (or Do You Have a Pet?)
I love it when folks take the time to write articles in the newsletter. This week it is particularly enjoyable because there is a second slant on a review I did last week. Mr. and Mrs. Beer often write us to share their beerly travels. This week they stay right here in the River City with a review of the remnants of the holiday season and a general overview of beerly opportunities in our fine community. A bonus is that this will be the article that promotes our second EBeerSnob Question of the Week.
From Mr. and Mrs. Beer:
With some extra days off for Christmas and New Years, Mr. & Mrs. Beer decided to make the sacrifice for the EBeerSnob readers and check out what’s happening in the local beer scene. Here’s what we found:
Old Chicago Pizza in Conway – We really want to like this place, but the people working there aren’t making it easy. The beer selection is large, but they don’t seem to know what to do with it. We’ve encountered several puzzling facts during our three visits. First, all draft beers are served in a frosty mug. While that might be appropriate if you’re drinking a Dos Equis on a hot summer day, but good beers shouldn’t be served so cold that your taste buds are numbed. Second, order a bottled beer and you’ll probably receive it without any accompanying glassware. Once again, that might be appropriate for a mass-produced American lager, but some beers deserve a little space to breath before being consumed. Third (and maybe the most irritating), the staff doesn’t know much about the beers. Sit and the bar and the bartender might know a little, like where the beer is from, but if you’re sitting at a table and ask a question, be prepared for that “deer in the headlights” look. When you order a beer you tell the waitress what number it is on the menu, she writes the number on the pad, and she brings you that beer. That seems to be the extent of her knowledge. The lack of training would be understandable at many restaurants, but Old Chicago bills itself as a beer destination! Anyone working there should be able to answer this type of question – “I like Beer XYZ, what else would you recommend?” (To see how that question should be answered, try asking it at the Flying Saucer sometime.) In summary, if we happen to be in Conway for another reason we might stop by Old Chicago, but we won’t be making a special drive again.
Big Whiskey’s in the River Market – Big Whiskey’s recently opened in the space that formerly housed Velo Rouge, Nu, and Café St. Moritz to name a few. We stopped by for lunch on a non-work day, which meant we could have a beer with our food. First, the food - the appetizer and sandwiches we had were good, our favorite thing was the fried green beans on the veggie platter. Now the beer – there are 10 tap: Bud Light, Miller Lite, Shock Top, Dos Equis, Blue Moon White, Guinness, Newcastle, Stella Artois, Fat Tire, and New Belgium Two Below (probably a rotating tap for the New Belgium seasonals). Not a huge selection, but decent enough. Their biggest demerit on our report was that the beers were served in very icy pint glasses. When an iceberg broke free in Mrs. Beer’s glass of Two Below, her comment was “If I wanted a watered-down beer, I would have ordered a Bud Light.” However , when we asked Justin the bartender to serve our second round in non-frosty glasses, he was happy to comply. Since Big Whiskey’s doesn’t claim to be a beer destination, we went in with fairly low expectations and were pleasantly surprised. In summary, we’ll definitely be back.
A few quick notes:
In case you didn’t know already, Boscos Little Rock has four beers that are always on tap (Flaming Stone, Bombay IPA, Downtown Brown, and Isle of Skye Scottish) and four rotating taps. The rotating taps are a particularly strong lineup these days – Harvest Wheat, River Rail Red, Little Rock Alt, and the Olde Ale. Even if you’re not usually a wheat beer drinker, do yourself a favor and try the Harvest Wheat. The Olde Ale and the Alt are both good choices on a cold, blustery day. And Mr. & Mrs. Beer have always been partial to the Red – we won the naming contest for that beer many years ago. If you haven’t tried them all, stop by the bar for a sample. Better yet, buy a sampler tray, pick your favorite, and have a pint.
Vino’s now has the Holidaze on tap. A blend of 10 spices and honey, what’s not to like? There’s also a Razor Bock, which is a fine accompaniment to a slice of Vino’s pizza.
Flying Saucer has some new beers that are worth a trip downtown – we especially liked the Avery Collaboration. There’s an interesting story behind this beer, you can read about it on Avery’s website here:
http://www.averybrewing.com/BigBeers/seasonal/CollaborationnotLitigationAle
Cregeen’s continues to impress us with both their food and their beer selection. We stopped in on a cold rainy Sunday night and Mrs. Beer thought a pint of North Coast Old Rasputin and a bowl of O’Hara’s Onion Soup was heaven on earth. If you haven’t been to any of the beer tasting dinners, you really should try one. Go to the website (www.cregeens.com) and join the e-mail list to keep up with their special events. And did you know they serve a Sunday brunch? We’ve been slowly working our way through the brunch menu and have loved everything we’ve tried so far.
By all means go to the link about Collaboration Ale. It is a classic example of how creative craft brewing is becoming. Those who appreciate really great, artisan beers, are living in a time when such beers are SO headed in the right direction. We are reinforced in our belief by the fine reporting of Mr. and Mrs. Beer.
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