Browsing Category "Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc."
High Dive booze on the left, drink credit chalkboard on the right.

Three New York City Neighborhood Dive Bars

By     |    Feb 14, 2013
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., New York     |    No Comments

It’s been a while since we visited New York. We’ve missed it. New York is a really great city. Times Square, however, is terrible and crowded. We managed to get stuck walking through Times Square three times even though we were committed to avoiding it. Whoops! If you’ve never been to New York, don’t judge it based on Times Square. Judge it based on its great neighborhood dive bars. Here are [...]

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Tanks outside the new Ithaca Beer facility.

Ithaca Beer Co: Our Local Brewery

By     |    Jan 22, 2013
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., New York     |    No Comments

Technically, there is a closer brewery — 3 Herons — but they don’t sell beer (yet). Ithaca Beer has been selling beer since the late ’90s. Their most famous brews are Apricot Wheat and Nut Brown. Both are delicious. But there’s more. Just after we moved to Trumansburg, Ithaca Beer opened their newly-constructed taproom, restaurant, and brewing facility. It’s amazing. It’s huge. We’ve been there three times already and I [...]

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Come for the oysters, stay for the burger.

The 6 Best Burgers in America: Middle-of-Nowhere Edition

By     |    Jan 17, 2013
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Best Of, California, Florida, Food, New Mexico, New York, Utah     |    3 Comments

Finding a good burger in a city is easy. There’s Dick’s in Seattle, Kopp’s in Milwaukee, In-N-Out across the Southwest, and Culver’s everywhere in the Midwest. But there’s something about being in the middle of nowhere and finding a great burger place. A cheeseburger in paradise is wonderful, but a cheeseburger in the boondocks is even better. Here are my six favorites: 6. Sebastian’s Store — Hearst Beef Burgers Sebastian’s [...]

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A beacon for weary travelers.

Ithaca Food, Ten Years Later

By     |    Nov 5, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Food, Ithaca, New York     |    No Comments

This weekend, we were at Just a Taste in Ithaca and we thought we recognized our waitress. “Have you worked here for a while,” I asked. “Yeah. A loooooong time,” she said. “Like ten years? We haven’t been here for ten years and you look familiar.” “Longer than that,” she said. I knew it! One of the most fun parts of being back in the area is sampling our old [...]

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The Tony Jenkins Jazz Trip.

barVino: The Coolest Place North of I-90 in New York

By     |    Oct 25, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Food, New York     |    No Comments

In the sleepy Adirondack town of North Creek, there’s a new restaurant. It’s called barVino (lowercase ‘b’ and uppercase ‘V’ and all one word). They have live music every Wednesday, a great wine list, and a tasty beer list. They also serve delicious food. After visiting one of Lisa’s dad’s projects in Tahawus (pronounced “Ta-HAUS” — two syllables, not three), we stopped in for a bite. Dishes are small, meant for sharing, [...]

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Mmmm ... beer.

“Montreal Style” Pizza at Ottawa’s Big Rig Brewery

By     |    Oct 24, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Canada, Food     |    4 Comments

After an afternoon at our local IKEA … in Ontario, Canada (Ottawa, to be exact), we were in need of a beer and a bite. Big Rig Brewery promised both. First: the beer. I got the sampler (Golden, Red, IPA, Stout). Lisa ordered a pint of the brown ale. All were tasty. Lisa even liked their red ale (Lisa typically hates red ales). The brown ale was superb. We ordered [...]

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$9.95 for a six-pack of Busch. Yikes.

In Canada, ALL Booze is Expensive

By     |    Oct 23, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Canada     |    No Comments

When we were in London, we noticed UK booze was pricey, wine and liquor especially. Cider and beer was a bit more in line with our expectations. Then we visited Canada, Ottawa specifically. OMFG. Look at these pics from the state (province?) liquor store (note the current exchange rate is about 1:1): So I did some research. Canada is far from the worst. England ranks pricier (which we expected). Who’s the [...]

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Freixenet 2010 Vintage Especial. On sale at Sainsbury's.

The Best Wine Deals in London

By     |    Oct 3, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., England, London     |    No Comments

Slight amendment to this post. We did find two good wine deals while in London. Half-off Champagne at Tesco. Just some random French bottle. It was pretty great and £12.99 ($21), 50% off its normal price. Not worth $42. That’s Bollinger price territory back home. Half-off 2010 vintage Freixenet (fresh-e-net) at Sainsbury’s. Normally, Lisa’s not a huge fan of the black bottle, but for £6.99 ($9.70), we had to try it. It was fantastic. [...]

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Dessert! Madeleines and Chocolate Ice Cream.

Offal Lunch at St. John Bread and Wine

By     |    Sep 25, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., England, Food, London     |    1 Comment

I cut into it and it spewed, simple as that. Not a bad spew. Just a spew. Didn’t want Lisa to see though, so I mopped it up and shoved it in my mouth. Damn, it was tasty. “What was that?” she asked. “I’ll tell you later,” I told her. “Tell me now,” she insisted. “Better later.” I kept chewing, but I couldn’t convince her. So I told her: “The [...]

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My new favorite cider in my new favorite pub. Life remains good.

Local London pub update: allegiances shift to The Fox!

By     |    Sep 19, 2012
Posted in: Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., London     |    No Comments

Things were going OK in our relationship with our local pub, the Prince Arthur. We visited three days in a row and got friendly with the staff. We were charged for something we didn’t order the first day, but didn’t worry too much about it (it was just a couple £s). Then, the third day, we were charged for about six extra drinks. I thought I had the problem fixed, [...]

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