La Cumbre! Open for bidness!

Haazha! A new brewery is opening its doors this weekend - La Cumbre Brewing Company. Headed up by Jeff Erway, former brewer of Chama River Brewing, this new business venture is located at 3313 Girard (basically Candeleria and Girard).

Given Jeff's great history at Chama River, where he won 2 Silver medals at the World Beer Cup and 2 Bronze medals at the Great American Beer Festival, I can only imagine the brews coming out of La Cumbre will be pretty tasty. Looking at their menu, I'm very excited for the Malpais Stout and the Pyramid Rock Pale Ale. The Elevated IPA looks like it's going to be a hoppy concoction that will be interesting to try out.

The grand opening is Friday, December 17th, but they are doing a soft opening on Saturday, December 11th. Thanks to the power of Social Networking Competitions (i.e. Facebook contests), I called the date they'd actually open and won a free mug club membership. So, I'll be there Saturday around 2ish if anyone wants to grab a pint!

Viva Las Vegas!

Ah, I love going to Vegas. Give me 3 or 4 days of a sweet depature from reality and I'm good to go for a long while. I don't end up gambling much, as I have WAY more important things to spend money on - delicious food and tasty brews. This recent trip was for a CPE conference (Tax Planning for the High Income Individual - i.e. clients, not me) and, while the conference was at the Bellagio, I had trouble paying $200 a night when I could pay $80 across the street at Planet Hollywood. And if you know me, you know I have no problem walking EVERYWHERE on the strip. The room I had reserved was just a standard room, which is more than satisfactory to me. Instead, I ended up getting the Boulevard Suite....1,400 square feet of overpriced luxury...including an air hockey table, but more importantly, this awesome view.

But really, suites aside, the more important thing was the beer. After a nice dinner, I headed over to New York New York, where I enjoyed a tasty pint of Rogue Shakespeare Stout at Pour 24. This beer bar is located on the upper level above the casino, sorta where the overpasses from Excalibur and MGM Grand meet, right next to the classy Coyote Ugly. At $7 a pint, not cheap, but from what I will find out, pretty standard for Lost Wages. They had a really nice offering of beer - Alaskan Amber, Abita Purple Haze, Big Sky Moose Drool, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA... I'd check this out if you were on this end of the strip and wanted a nice variety.

The next day, I went over to Monte Carlo for a quick bite at Rubio's Mexican Grill in the Monte Carlo food court. This is one of my favorite places for a tasty fish taco...so good. Near the tram station is their beer bar, The Pub, which was formerly the Monte Carlo Brewpub, which made their own beer. The Pub has morphed into a junior Yard House - offering about 70 beers on tap. They had some of the standard Micro/Macro Brews (Blue Moon, Widmer, etc...), but did offer a bunch of local things and more obscure beers. I was really in the mood for an IPA and ended up with a Stone IPA. Should have tried something more local, but my brain had been a bit...zapped by hours of continuing education.

Tina surprised me by showing up on Monday night and we had a nice, pre-anniversary dinner at Mesa Grill in Caesar's Palance. Get the Wild Mushroom Quesadilla...BEST quesadilla....EVER. We started off with a margarita and I ended up getting a Schneider & Sons Weizen-Eisbock with dinner. Pretty tasty beer - lots of malt taste to it and went well with the lamb I got. If you are ever out here, do try Mesa Grill.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go to one of my favorite beer/food joints, which is Burger Bar over in Mandalay Bay. They have a great selection of beers and nothing goes better with a beer than a burger. After this quick trip (less than 48 hours....oy), I'm ready for a trip back, but with less "learning" and more "lounging and enjoying".

Four Peaks - Tempe

Tina and I are big fans of Four Peaks Brewing, but had never ventured out to the Tempe location, where all the magic happens. Suffice it to say, I'm glad we came over here. The Scottsdale Grill & Tap is chill, but definitely has a "Scottsdale" feel to it - older crowd, a bit more sophisticated. The Tempe Brewery is a chill college hang out. The place is huge too - lots of seating room. The waitress we had was great - she knew her beer, which was appreciated.

We had lunch while we were there - the food was excellent. Between Fish & Chips, a Lamp Pita, Fried Chicken and Waffles and a Burger, we were well fed! Their Leroy Brown Ale was the seasonal draft - a very tasty brew, that could easily be a session beer (only 4.9% ABV). Some of the merchandise was on sale, so picked up some pint glasses for only $3.25 each (down from $5, I think). Also, picked up a 12 pack of their Kiltlifter Scotch Ale in cans...awesome.

Stop in for a beer after you hit the gym

I've been going to Defined Fitness for a bit now, and always thought that was ironic there was a Krispy Kreme right next to the Juan Tabo location. There were a number of times where I'd get done working out, then grab a free hot donut and one for the road. Really made that workout count.

Today though, I noticed that the old Krispy Kreme was under construction to become...a new O'Niells! I really like that place, especially when we go to do the Geeks Who Drink trivia. This makes my trips to O'Niells only take 5 minutes, rather than the 15-20 it takes to go down to their San Mateo & Central location. Someone told me that after running a beer is better for ya then water...but that could have just been an excuse for a brew. I can only hope this new location will end up with a patio or something. Good call, O'Niell's!