About two weeks ago on a trip to MN, we had some time to kill so....looking at the WI map and seeing how close we were to Chippewa Falls...we stopped at Leinenkugel's. It is just north of Eau Claire off I-94.
They have a large Leinie's Lodge with about 6 of their brews on tap plus a lot of cool merchandise. You get tickets for four samples. They also have tours but we did not have that much time.
I learned it is pronounced "Linies" (long i), not "Lennies"!
This brewery has never been high on our radar screen but after trying their Summer Shandy, they deserved our visit. This is now one of our favorite summer brews.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Arizona, Day 13 (8/2/11)
On our last day in AZ, there were only four of us left (Marlowe, Meagan, Barbara, and Barry). We had excellent food and beer-- a great way to end a very busy and event-filled vacation.
After visiting the Desert Botanical Garden and losing 3 lbs each in sweat, we went to the Mission for lunch. The Mission had excellent food and a good beer list and mixed drinks. Get the Peruvian clam soup if you go and be sure to order the guacamole made at your table. Our guac maker also knew his beer and chatted with us about options. Barbara and Barry both had very good margaritas. Marlowe and Meagan both had Hoegaarden White Ale, which was an excellent choice after wandering around botanical gardens in 106 degree weather for a couple hours.
Later, we visited another AZ brewery, Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe, AZ. The brewery was more about pretty people hanging out than about beer (Asheville residents should compare it to the Lab), but we all sampled all of their beers. Their flights are comprehensive-- covering everything on tap (11 beers, I believe!).
Several beers were quite good, including the Peach Ale, Hefeweizen, and Kilt Lifter (tasted previously). The Hop Knot IPA was the favorite of everyone except for Meagan. That said, the Oatmeal Stout was very disappointing. Meagan only had one sip of it, and she generally can't pass up a stout. For quantity, Four Peeks has a lot of beer. For quality, stick to the ones recommended here.
After our beer sampling, we found an amazing Indian restaurant-- the Dhaba. They had the usual Indian beer options, but the food cannot be missed! Adventurous eaters should try the karela dhamaka (bitter gourd), but everything we had was excellent! I washed mine down with a Kingfisher.
After visiting the Desert Botanical Garden and losing 3 lbs each in sweat, we went to the Mission for lunch. The Mission had excellent food and a good beer list and mixed drinks. Get the Peruvian clam soup if you go and be sure to order the guacamole made at your table. Our guac maker also knew his beer and chatted with us about options. Barbara and Barry both had very good margaritas. Marlowe and Meagan both had Hoegaarden White Ale, which was an excellent choice after wandering around botanical gardens in 106 degree weather for a couple hours.
Later, we visited another AZ brewery, Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe, AZ. The brewery was more about pretty people hanging out than about beer (Asheville residents should compare it to the Lab), but we all sampled all of their beers. Their flights are comprehensive-- covering everything on tap (11 beers, I believe!).
Several beers were quite good, including the Peach Ale, Hefeweizen, and Kilt Lifter (tasted previously). The Hop Knot IPA was the favorite of everyone except for Meagan. That said, the Oatmeal Stout was very disappointing. Meagan only had one sip of it, and she generally can't pass up a stout. For quantity, Four Peeks has a lot of beer. For quality, stick to the ones recommended here.
After our beer sampling, we found an amazing Indian restaurant-- the Dhaba. They had the usual Indian beer options, but the food cannot be missed! Adventurous eaters should try the karela dhamaka (bitter gourd), but everything we had was excellent! I washed mine down with a Kingfisher.
Arizona, Day 12 (8/1/11)
Unfortunately, our visit to the Grand Canyon ended today and we drove back to Phoenix. That said, we did find good beer at both lunch and dinner.
We stopped at Leff-T's Steakhouse & Grill in Dewey, AZ. Along with some amazing, home cooked desserts, Leff-T's had a decent beer list, including Stone Ruination IPA, which most of the beer drinkers had since it's a grade thirst quencher.
For dinner, a lot of us went to a hotel stake house that was very disappointing (and shall remain nameless), so Marlowe and Meagan broke ranks and went looking for good beer and food. We discovered that the best vegetarian food in AZ is found at the places that really appreciate beer. We'd discovered this with Raven Cafe and Papago Brewing and it was reinforced when we tried both an Indian and sushi place without success and ended up at the Yard House Tap Room.
We discovered that at non-beer friendly places vegetarians can either get (1) the spinach salad, hold the meet; (2) an avocado based sandwich (names may vary), or (3) Mediterranean pizza. While an occasional meal of these is OK, it gets old very fast. Thankfully, we found the Yard House.
While not a brewery, Yard House has an amazing beer selection and some really excellent food, including numerous vegetarian options. Unfortunately, we were so tired by this point that we each only had one beer. They were both beers we've enjoyed before, but never had on tap.
Marlowe had North Coast Brewing's Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale
Meagan had Breckenridge Brewery's Vanilla Porter
All-in-all, a very delicious way to end a loooong day.
We stopped at Leff-T's Steakhouse & Grill in Dewey, AZ. Along with some amazing, home cooked desserts, Leff-T's had a decent beer list, including Stone Ruination IPA, which most of the beer drinkers had since it's a grade thirst quencher.
For dinner, a lot of us went to a hotel stake house that was very disappointing (and shall remain nameless), so Marlowe and Meagan broke ranks and went looking for good beer and food. We discovered that the best vegetarian food in AZ is found at the places that really appreciate beer. We'd discovered this with Raven Cafe and Papago Brewing and it was reinforced when we tried both an Indian and sushi place without success and ended up at the Yard House Tap Room.
We discovered that at non-beer friendly places vegetarians can either get (1) the spinach salad, hold the meet; (2) an avocado based sandwich (names may vary), or (3) Mediterranean pizza. While an occasional meal of these is OK, it gets old very fast. Thankfully, we found the Yard House.
While not a brewery, Yard House has an amazing beer selection and some really excellent food, including numerous vegetarian options. Unfortunately, we were so tired by this point that we each only had one beer. They were both beers we've enjoyed before, but never had on tap.
Marlowe had North Coast Brewing's Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale
Meagan had Breckenridge Brewery's Vanilla Porter
All-in-all, a very delicious way to end a loooong day.
Arizona, Day 11 (7/31/11)
Spent the day at the Grand Canyon. No words can do this natural wonder justice, so I'll write about beer instead!
Purchased a couple six packs, one of which was a sampler, and got to try the following:
Purchased a couple six packs, one of which was a sampler, and got to try the following:
- More Nimbus Brewery (Tucson, AZ) Oatmeal Stout (one of our favorite AZ beers)
- Nimbus Brewery Dirty Guera blond ale (a little roasty for a blond, adding a nice character to the beer)
- Nimbus Brewery Old Monkey Shine English strong ale (8.2% abv, so somewhere between a barley wine and an ale-- very tasty)
- Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes Brewery (Never had this Descutes beer before, but an excellent example of a pale-- great for after a hike in the hot AZ weather)
- More Cutthroat Porter from Odell Brewing Co., which I'm enjoying more with each sip
Arizona, Days 9-10 (7/29-30/11)
Not much beer-related activity on the 29th, but on the 30th we drove to the Grand Canyon for two days of camping, and this opened up new vistas, beer-related and otherwise :-)
We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch at Buster's, which had a surprisingly comprehensive beer menu. Meagan and Rainer both had Moose Drool Brown Ale from Big Sky Brewing Co. in Montana, an excellent beer which we've had before and which has one of the best beer names on record!
Marlowe had Fraoch Heather Ale, a delicious beer from Williams Brothers Brewing that we've had before, but that we didn't expect to find in the middle of Arizona.
Upon arrival at the Grand Canyon, we did stock up on four large-size bottles of Lumberyard beers (a brewery in Flagstaff):
We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch at Buster's, which had a surprisingly comprehensive beer menu. Meagan and Rainer both had Moose Drool Brown Ale from Big Sky Brewing Co. in Montana, an excellent beer which we've had before and which has one of the best beer names on record!
Marlowe had Fraoch Heather Ale, a delicious beer from Williams Brothers Brewing that we've had before, but that we didn't expect to find in the middle of Arizona.
Upon arrival at the Grand Canyon, we did stock up on four large-size bottles of Lumberyard beers (a brewery in Flagstaff):
- Lumberyard Hefeweizen
- Lumberyard Imperial Red
- Lumberyard Red Ale
- Lumberyard I.P.A.
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