Showing posts with label Dr. Watson's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Watson's. Show all posts

Monday, June 14, 2010

Varga, Varga, Varga!!!

!enoyrevE olleH <~~ I know I'm a dork.

Well the same night Jay and I went to "Fogo De Choa", we also went Dr. Watson's (again), and Varga Bar. This blog takes place after dinner when we decided to meet up with a few more friends. Of which one of them ended up not making appearence, because they fell asleep on the couch instead of making it out. Do who did show up was our friend Phill. Now on to the the rebroadcast of the evening's festivities.

Our stomaches filled with awesome eats, Jay and I decided to meet up at Doc Watson's with Phill and someone else who will remained nameless. The great things about nights like theses, is there is always something to amplify the adventure like my phone battery dying. Which it was in the processes of. So I manage to retrieve Phill's and the Nameless One's phone number out, and give them a text to where we would be before it completely died.

We met up with Phill on 11 St. and made our way to Doc Watson's, to wait to hear from the Nameless One. I subjected Jay and Phill to the Pineapple shots, which they hate me for, and gave each other a good ribbing about how much of a wuss each of us are. Some time passes, a few beers, and yet the Nameless One has yet to return our text. Then I decided that we needed to make our way to our next spot the Varga Bar. Now that my phone is completely dead, I had Phill text the Nameless One where we were going next.

The Varga Bar, a busy little conner bar on 10th and Spruce St. Website: http://www.vargabar.com/ . Outside there is cafe style seating on the sidewalk. On this inside the walls have "Pin-up Girls" on the wall. My kind of place. They had a wide range of beers on tap for "Philly Beer Week". For a wednesday night, this place was hopping. Being in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, this is the place is that place you can cool down after a long day at work with friends.

Phill was also a little hungry because he did not eat before he came out, so he order himself a "Veggie Burger". This thing was massive. He did enjoy this mega sandwich with one comment. Before I tell you the comment, it might help you understand it by knowning a small fact about Phill. He is a chef at another resturaunt. "I think the chedder cheese takes away from the other flavors in th sandwich". He might have been right, but he still cleaned the plate. So take what you will from that with a slice of cheese. During all this we ordered some beers, oh and look, I did a review on them. How suprising.

Harviestoun 40 year Ola Dubh by Harviestoun Brewey Ltd. United Kingdom. This poured black with a thin light brown ring of head. The nose was of whisky, a little smoke, oak, yeasty spice, and a little earthy. The mouth feel was creamy and a little thick, but nice. The taste was sweet, had some dried fruit, chocolate, hint of roast malt, and some caramel. It had a little aftertaste of sweetness and nip of bitter, but didn't last long. I really enjoyed this one, and so did everyone else. I would say the best thing is to serve this after any meal to sit with. You really don't want miss tasting the subtle flavors in this beer. Although, now that I think of it, this would go really well with some strong flavored cheeses as a contrast.

Website: http://www.harviestoun.com/OlaDubh/

"Gamma Ray" by Terrapin Beer Company. This poured a bright hazy orange with a nice white head. The nose had a little funk to it, with a lot of wheat charactor, and some honey. I tasted a little citrus almost like "Tang", but no one else did. I also tasted some wheat malt, honey, earthy hops, and sour. The mouth feel was smooth and the alcohol was extremely well hidden. Another "Trouble Maker" as Boozer X would say. Jay said it tasted like "Lazer Beams". Phill also really enjoyed this as well, as good complament to his "Veggie Burger".The reason this did not get a 7 is because I like it so much, that if it was around it would be drunk.

Website: http://www.terrapinbeer.com/beers/19-Gamma-Ray

"Depth Charge" by Terrapin Beer Company. This poured blackish brown, with a dark tan head. The nose was like expresso beans, chocolate, and caramel. It tasted like expresso coffee, some chocolate hints, cream, and sweet malt. The mouth feel was like a iced creamy coffee with a little heat, but barely noticiable. After taste was pretty much like after your morning cup of coffee. This is another beer I would like to put some ice cream on top of. A fantastic "BEER FLOAT" beer.

Website: http://www.terrapinbeer.com/beers/22-Brew-Two-2009---Depth-Charge-


As we were leaving, I found out that this place has "Growlers" you can take home with any beer from the tap. We got to of them with Weyerbacher "Verboten" and "Kilo" in them. We did get a lot of head in the "Verboten", enough to get one less pint out of, but in all fairness they had a little problem with the tap and we to get going. I'll have a review on them a little later in the summer. After this we made our way home, and the Nameless One slept the night away. As always "Be Well, Drink Well!"




Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Doc Watson and the Devil's Den

Welcome back!

To catch you up to speed from the last blog. Boozer X and I met up with a few new fellow beer drinkers. We decided to head out to "Doc Watson's", for an impromptu "Samuel Adams" beer tasting. Website: http://www.myspace.com/drwatsonspub. Oh, a little side note, I give everyone a nickname so I can better remember who they are. It's a strange, but I figured out in high school my brain works a lot better when I tag things with obscure references. It's just easier to recall. Back to the story.

Steve, who reminds me a lot of a young "James Spader", so he earned the name "Boston James" after James Spader's character on "Boston Legal". His friend Akash, earned the name Tash-point-Ohh!, because he had a loud boisterous attitude and the "OHHH!" after trading burns with each other. Then came the other two new friends we met. Colby, who I miss took for "Cobb", the famous baseball player. So I gave him the nickname "Mr. Baseball", and when he responded with "I don't even watch baseball", the roar of laughter from the rest of the group, sealed his fate, and the nickname for the day stuck. Finally we have Robyn. I hope I spelled her name right. Anyways, she had enormous amounts of energy, so I gave her the "Princess Spunky" as a nickname. Well after the guys heard it, "Love Spunk" and a few other names came up that well are not kosher. So we'll leave it at "Love Spunk".


Surprisingly, everyone had a pretty well defined palate. We did not agree on which "Samuel Adams" was better, but that was the point. Showing everyone that is why you taste every beer you can to find the ones you like. Also another point is to understand flavors in beer to explain them. Both Boozer X and I, had a blast with them. We also had pineapple shots, and ate the pineapple slices. Wow, strong vodka, made my vision look like the photo. We decided to head to another bar, and that's where are little day trip with our new drinking buddies ended. Well we kind of got separated, and well that was when we parted ways with our new friends. Okay I forgot my phone, long story short, ended up back at Boozer X 's truck.


The next part of our adventure takes us to the Devil's Den for The "Bell's For Boobies" night. This place has an awesome Chicken sandwich, with avocado mayo, hit the spot. It also went well with Bell's Oarsman beer. Which I did a review for. Oh, look down.

Bell's Oarsman by Bell's Brewery Inc. Pours a creamy yellow and a fluffy white head. The nose had a strong tangy citrus smell, and some wheat. The mouth feel was creamy, smooth, and bubbly. The taste had sour lemon, wheat, and yeast. It was not strong, but had tart, clean finish. I really could drink this all night and not get sick of it. It was a refreshing beverage. A big plus was that it went great with the chicken sandwich we had at the Devil's Den. So it's goes great with chicken, seafood, and pork. I had some other of Bell's beers this night, and they all had their own unique flavors.

It was a great event at the Devil's Den. Each Bell's Beer purchased, one dollar of it went to "Breast Cancer Research". I am always down to do anything to save breasts. That's why I am a "Dawg". Truthfully, events like this do bring more awareness to a cause. Just goes to show you that people who drink beer are all not that bad. So Boozer X and I closed out the night watching the Phillies win against the Padres. Almost forgot the Website: http://www.devilsdenphilly.com/

More Philly Beer Week adventures to come. "Be Well, and Drink Well!"