Craft Beer Week

Travalon and I have been enjoying Craft Beer Week. On Saturday we were going to meet the Daughter of Denni and some other people at the Parched Eagle, but they were running late and we couldn’t stay. That was when we found out about Craft Beer Week, because the bartender gave us a beer passport. You get it stamped at each bar you go to that is participating. Sunday when we went to Barley Pop, they stamped our passport. Monday evening we went to One Barrel for their sour beer tasting, and Tuesday after going to Liliana’s for their truffle dinner (but they sold out!), we went to Alchemy for their sour beer tasting. Each of these bars has a cool stamp, but last night we got a lame stamp at what might have been the best event yet. It was a Karben 4 beer release at the Boathouse, the fancy restaurant in the Edgewater Hotel, and the theme was a luau. Travalon and I sat out on the balcony over Lake Mendota as we listened to Bahama Bob and another steel drum player, and we admired the spectacular sunset. The beer turned out to be Fantasy Factory, Karben 4’s super ultra-popular IPA, flavored with coconut and brown sugar. We couldn’t really taste any flavor over the powerful flavor of hops, so I wish I had tried the mango-flavored one instead. Maybe that would have had enough flavor to be detected over the hops. We are not really IPA drinkers, so the beer was a bit of a letdown, but otherwise it was a wonderful evening. The stamp, on the other hand, was just a black blob. You would think a classy joint like that could afford a better stamp...

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