The Parental Units Take on Stubbies

So, my undying love for Stubbies is well know by any and all of my friends, family members and even strangers I chat with in the grocery store. And I'd been begging my Mom and Dad to come glory in the wonders of 400+ beers and amazing German Food for quite some time. Mom was game, naturally...she's usually adventurous if it makes me happy but, Dad. Well, Dad was another story.

See, Dad has been getting pressure not only from me to visit Stubbies, but also Ryan, one of his now graduated students (Dad is a college professor), who I met at Stubbies only to learn we had a very close "mutual friend" if you will.  But Dad is very brand loyal when it comes to beer: He's a Budweiser man through and through and it's hard to get him to budge. He usually sips my beer and then makes some rude comment (he thinks it's funny, but hey, I'm a beer snob....don't knock my beverage literally or figuratively, thank you very much!)

But finally after 6 months of nagging coercing he finally caved...that and I offered to pick up the tab.

So off we trucked to downtown Gville and after settling into one of my favorite hightops (not the one in the window, aka the hell table!) we ordered round one of the night.

Honestly, I don't remember what my first draft was (I'm about a month behind on this post!): It was something off the draft board, maybe something by Collins? Anyways, it was "odd" according to Max, but very smokey. I LOVED it.... and I do recall it went down quickly!

[I will check my list next time I'm in and update you! ]

EDITED TO ADD: I was right: Fort Collin's Scotch Ale

My 2nd brew was a copy of my Mom's first. She wanted (per my suggestion) the Golden Pheasant, but they were out, so Max brought her his next best guess. We both loved this lovely, crispy yet creamy Burgerbrau Pil. Yum.

Dinner was a lovely sausage platter served up with the cold cucumber salad (so refreshing!) and potato pancakes with dilled mayo of course! Plus 'kraut and rye bread. I actually ended up eating everything but the sausage. Shrugs. The "I could never go vegetarian because I love sausage" girl didn't finish her sausage? What is wrong with me!?!

Dessert was a beautiful friend: dear old St. Bernardus knocked my socks off with his Abt 12, even if it was in the bottle (this is one of Stubbies regulars on draft-they just have a bunch of summer seasonal stuff right now.)

So, what was Mom and Dad's thoughts? Mom loved it and can't wait to go back! [Side note: I should have taken a picture of her Jaeger Schnitzel-it was devine!] Dad is Dad and nursed a Genesse Cream Ale all night. Le sigh. I told him just to tell Max what he likes (Amberbock) and they would get him something similar, but no.....he drank Genny Cream Ale. Oh well, at least he was a cheap night out, Genny Cream Ale and PBR are the cheapest beers at Stubbies- $2.50!

You just can't teach an old dog to drink new beer I guess. 

Love to all,

~the glad at least 1/2 of my parent's like my favorite hangout, Jess

Stubbies 2 for 1!

Hi loves,

If any of you know anything about craft and good import beers (and I know some of you do, otherwise why would you keep reading my blog, that has been totally taken over by BEER!) you also know that they NEVER come 2 for 1. But I figured since I was 2 Stubbies posts behind, why not make this one a double header! (ummmm, I love head..........on beer you gutter brains!)

Night one:
Or So Close I Can Taste It

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot- so apparently I'm not a barleywine fan. Or at least I wasn't of this variation-too hoppy and "chewy" for my taste. I'd never had a barleywine before, and didn't know that was what I was ordering. This will teach me to chose something on the draft list just because I liked the name. (well and I typically like SN beers, but hey you can't win em all, right?) Anyways, I drank about 1/2 of this and then sat, playing with my glass, trying to suck it up and just suck it down. Luckily Jay noticed my "distress" and swooped in with a rescue brown ale:

Oh my goodness, what a "web-redemption" worthy brown ale! (Tosh.0 anyone? Anyone?) The boys at Stubbies got me once again. What can I say? I think I am officially a "brown ale, gal" Anyways, this Dutch Brown Ale by Tilburg was smooth and malty, such a refreshing change after Bigfoot. Also, I love the label:

In case you can't tell that is a bird eating a man, who is shitting out a bird. Wonderfully sick.

My last beer was a rare treat:

The Rare Vos the be exact. I enjoyed this Amber Ale by Brewery Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY), for it's lovely lace-y head, and sweet malty flavors that mask prevent any linger hoppiness (perfect in my book!)

What a great night....and it left me 2 shy from the looming number 50!

Night Two:
Or Halfway There, Baby!

I started off this "big night" with a beer I had been circling (literally!) for a few weeks on my list:

My good friend St. Bernadus' Prior 8 is a Begilum Dubbel packed with cherry aromas. Oh so worth the wait. I loved this beer and KNEW it was going to be a good night. #49-check!

#50 was another beer I had been considering for a while, and had actually ordered the other night, only to be redirected to a new Brown Ale arrival by the charming Mike. (ah, Mike!)

The Corsendonk Brown Ale was a real treat. I'm sure you are all sick of hearing me gush over yet another brown ale, but seriously I've found my soulmate (although I will still claim Dutchess as my forever lover). I loved the balance of sweet maltiness with a touch a peppery spice and maybe ginger? So good, soooo worthy of being my Number Fifty! Whoot, whoot!

Vinnie brought me #51 after a little review of the draft list (I love when I can be like, "nope, had that...loved that, did that one too!) we settled on this dark boy:

Rouge's Chocolate Stout. I have really learned to enjoy darker beers (think Stouts and Porters) this year, so this was another winner in my book. I think I scrawled on my list "Chocolate milk that bites back" yep, it was getting to THAT point in the evening!

So of course I NEEDED a pretzel (or as I have confessed on many occasions, a vehicle for mustard)

Delicious mission accomplished!

Emboldened by my pretzel I decided to round out the night with a cider on the draft board, and finish up with #52!

Kelly's Raspberry Cider was sweet, dry and went down quickly. Nuff said.

Wow, that was a LONG post, but then again number 50 has been a LONG time coming! Now I have just under 3 months to finish the remaining 48 beers on my list....stay tuned!

Love to all,
~the beer laden gal, Jess

PS. Here is a fun picture Ross snapped one night. I love how serious I am about beer!

#43-45

Hi all,

Time for yet another Stubbies update! yay! I knocked off #43-45 (duh, as the post title gave away!) last Saturday night and my-my was it a delicious victory. The halfway point is looming! Whoot.

I started off the night with a pick from the draft list: the Fort Collins Dunkelweisse. It was so tasty I realized I hadn't taken a picture until one of the bar backs came to bus the table a little....I went for my camera to take a "this was so good I finished it-empty glass" picture only to realize I didn't have my camera! What? Minor freakout ensued....but luckily Christine had her camera that night, to the rest of these photos are courtesy of her.

Round Two was a beautiful brown ale-recommended by Mike. Love Mike! Nearly as much as I love brown ales....seriously I haven't had a brown ale I haven't liked yet!

This variation by Carolus, the Gouden Carolus Classic didn't disappoint either. Light, slightly sweet and very refreshing with a velvety mouth feel.

To finish off the night I had an organic wheat yeast beer that Christine and Liz had been raving about.

the Schnedier Edel-Weiss was a classic wheat beer, with a few surprises: citrus, cardamom and something peppery and a weird taste of bubblegum? Very tasty and very large.... 1/2 a liter!

See? A Jenna inspired "as big as my head" picture, which I LOVE! I've actually changed it to be my sidebar picture....you know, cause my blog is sooooo high tech and worth reading outside of Google Reader! haha.

Here are a few more Stubbies related photos that have been chilling on Christine's camera.

The Dynamic Duo!

The Beer Case on the German Side

The Creepy Nutcrackers that lurk on top of the beer case....this photo is solely for Christine!

Well, this wraps up yet another beer laden post...hope you enjoyed and are enjoying your weekend!

Love to all,
~the beer LOVER, Jess

That's the night.....

.....the lights went out in Georgia.....errrr, Stubbies?

So, I had very high expectations for Friday night at Stubbies. See I hit number 40 on my list during my birthday outing and I'm at that point where I can see finishing this list slipping out of my fingers if I don't buckle down. How ironic is that? buckling down to drink beers? How crazy am I? Regardless of my sanity levels I really wanted to knock 3, if not 4, beers off my list.

And yes, it was UF's graduation weekend, and yes, it was chaos driving around town, but once Christine and I arrived at Stubbies, we were able to park ourselves in front of the bar on the new side and "tuck in for the night"....or so we thought.

Beer number one:
Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary Kritz and Ken Imperial Stout. I got this one on a whim, because a- I typically like SN products b- I liked the name and c- it was on the draft list.

the Kritz and Ken was a very tasty IS, with that dark chocolate stout flavor I'm coming to enjoy very much and a touch of maybe raspberry? I would get it again for sure!

And sure it was rain cats, dogs and UF graduates at this point, and maybe the lights flickered a time or two, but hell, it's Florida and it feels like summer already, so what's a thunderstorm to a great night out? Nothing, right?

2nd Beer:

Maredosous 10 Triple. To be perfectly honest I chose this beer because we were sitting in front of the Belgium cooler and I was intrigued by the upside down label. Turns out my bottle was just defectively labeled. But I'm still glad I got this Triple (which turned out to be 10% a/v! Yipes) that was very drinkable, if a touch bitter. The creaminess of it totally made up for the bitter though and I would recommend this one to anyone who likes Belgium beers!

So, I was 1/2 through the lovely Triple and contemplating my third beer choice when the lights flickered yet again, and then they went out! Out in that, "no bitches, I'm not coming back kind of way." Oh so tragic. We waited around for a while and I held flashlights for the bartenders, so they could run tabs before the computer backup died, but Christine convinced me that the lights were NOT coming back on, so we settled up (I felt sooooo bad for the boys- they must have run over 100 tabs on manual credit cards that night) and ran across a very flooded University Ave to the safety of the car, and power on at the townhouse.

It was fun being in the bar in the dark, but I'm bummed that I'm now "behind" on my list. And seeings how I've been under the weather all week, and am currently at Relay for Life (I'm auto posting) I am a tiny bit concerned I won't get to cross anything off my list this week! ahhhh!

Love to all,
~the slightly obsessive about this list thing, Jess

The "Low Key" Birthday!

So, I turned 24 last week. No big deal, I mean, last year was my "golden birthday" and it felt like I celebrated all month long (I turned 23 on the 23rd of April) and next year will be big because hello, 25 is a quarter of century! But eh, 24 is just another year right? So I didn't really want to do anything big....well, things got a little bigger than even I expected, and well it was amazing!

Things got kicked off right on Friday with Mom and I hitting up a local spa for manis and pedis. Then Jenna rolled in from Otown and we hit up Akins for some classic country cooking (I didn't take a picture- just chicken tenders, okra and mashed potatoes with white pepper gravy, tasty but not earth shattering) and then trekked over to Christine's to have a girls night in (well, the girls and Ross!). My Gville bestie is the Bestie and got me this lovely bottle for my bday.

It is another Flemish Red and has that similar sour note that I adore, as seen before in my beloved Dutchess and new luuuver the Vichtenaar! Does the girl know me or what? Thanks again, Christine! :)

The next day after Ashley so bravely made the 4.5hour tek up the Turnpike/I75 from WPB to BFE she gamely hopped out of her car and over to mine, and the 211 girls zipped over the Cedar Key to enjoy an Arts Festival that just so happened to be going on. We were successful at picking up a few things for the upcoming Mother's Day and Father's Day holidays, and I satisfied my local seafood craving with this tasty Clam Bake:


A steamed mess of clams, sausage, corn and red potatoes. Oh so messy and delicious...just like the birthday girl herself! haha. With a sweet tea, of course!

Check out this awesome hat! I really wish I would have bought it now....oh non-buyers remorse.



After a long hot day by the bay....I mean gulf, we came home and dipped in the very chilly pool (only 71 degrees!) before getting cleaned up for a night out in Gville.

Oh course we had to photowhore a little before leaving, by the said pool.


Now, where else would this crazy 24 year old want to go for her birthday dinner than La Fiesta? So we did!

Started off with a pitcher of 1800 margaritas- and the homemade chips and salsa of course! So goooood on both accounts!



And I know you all have seen my favorite dish at La Fiesta many times before, BUT it was my birthday dinner and this meal is EPIC- so I present to you, yet again, the Vegetarian Chimchanga.


Now, were else would this particular girl want to spend the rest of her birthday night in the "big city" of Gainesville? You guessed it! Stubbies and Stiens!

I started the night off with the Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale. You know how I love my Brown Ales and this one hit the spot. It had a sweet smell, but more of a bitter, burned nut taste. It was thoroughly enjoyed!

I was craving something more sweet though and after the bitter, dry hopped nature of the Pecan Nut, I changed gears and got Abita's Strawberry Harvest Lager.


Good lord I wish they brewed this year around. It is sweet smelling, but has a wonderfully crisp and nearly dry finish. It reminds me of cream soda, but no one else got that impression. We also found that if you took a sip of the ridiculous Imperial sludge that the boys were drinking before tasting the Strawberry Harvest it would taste like gram crackers- true story.

I finished the night on another fruity note with the Great Divide's Wild Raspberry Ale.


I had been eying this beer since I had Big HOSS the other week and it was all I could have hoped for and more. Light, refreshing and not sickly sweet like some fruit beers can be.

Of course things got a little silly....here's just a taste of the fun times!






And who do I have to thank for my wonderful trio of brews? Well the one legged man in the kilt of course!

Thanks again Ryan for picking up my Bday tab and for sporting the kilt in my honor. You are the best!

Now, that sounds like quite a successful celebration, don't you think? And I would certainly agree. But did we stop there? oh no....well, I mean, we stopped there for the night, but after drinking off the tequila and barley malt there was brunch to be consumed!

The other 2/3rds of my 211 girls had to jet off to other engagements in there respective cities, but Christine and I enjoyed a street side brunch at the Top and took in the wonders of Gville on a Sleepy Sunday Morning, with a side of refreshing rain.

Oh, we had some good food too:

I had the "mess of grits" which was true to it's name.

Yellow grits topped with onions, peppers, two fried eggs, cheese and faux chorizo sausage (I wasn't a fan of the fake sausage so I picked that off) with a biscuit and bacon. I ordered the Applewood bacon and Christine got the Seitan Bacon and we each swapped a slice. I enjoyed them both, and am curious to explore more of the "Wheat Meat" seitan uses.

Christine asked that I photograph her colorful "that brie thing" (I love the Top's dish names!) which was 3 grit cakes topped with eggs, spinach, tomatoes and brie cheese.


I nearly ordered this myself...so many great options. I am looking forward to going back again for brunch soon!

So, that was my crazy "low key" birthday! When this girl celebrates she does it in style I guess? Thanks again to all my wonderful friends for living it up with me, it wouldn't be a real party with out you!

Love to all,
~the just can't keep things simple, Jess

Surprise! (Hangover......)

Most people either love or hate surprises. I'm one of those weirdos who is in between. I'm a bit of a control freak, so going on "mystery dates" and such aren't really my thing, because I hate being unprepared for any situation, but on the other hand I think life is one giant surprise, so of course I enjoy a surprise gift, phone call or even full blown party now and again.

I had never been acquainted with the surprise hangover before. But on Friday I had the pleasure (or lack there of) of being introduced. As one can imagine the surprise hangover follows the "surprise I'm drunk and that wasn't my intention" of the previous evening.

I am writing this post with the intention of preventing you from experiencing your own "surprise hangover." If you experience any of the following, you should stop the behavior immediately and seek, um, higher grounds?

Starting the night off with an extremely dull meet up at The Top
Consuming Sweetwater Happy Ending (Imperial Stout- 9% a/v) on an empty stomach
Seeking Refuge with two fabulous women at Stubbies
Consuming Old Rasputin (Another Imperial- 9% a/v)
Finally ordering Goulash for dinner
Burning your tongue on said Goulash
Sending inappropriate texts to the guy you are dating
Ordering Old Chub (Scottish Ale, 8% a/v)
Sending more texts to said boy, begging to meet up (classy, I know)
Drinking some water (obvs not enough!)
Meeting sexy, and oh so tolerant of your escapades, boy at park
Commencing with drunken make out session under a tree
Getting leaves stuck in your hair (he will help remove them, of course)
Swearing you are fine to drive, of course
Starting the 45min drive home....realize 15mins in you aren't fine to drive, of course
Having no other option, as it is a Thursday and you have to go to work tomorrow
Drunk Dialing your NC BFF and begging her to talk to you so you can make it home
Somehow unlocking the door to the house
Crashing into bed
Attempting to send text to boy and bestie that you are home "safe"
Failing at both said texts
Waking up at 3:30am and chugging water
Sleeping through alarm
Waking up by the miracle of the Hangover Gods at 6am
Dragging pissed off body to shower and wash your stupid head
Chugging hot tea
Limping into work
Grimacing some semblance of a smile at your students
Suffering, because you are retarded
Giggling regardless, because DAMN that was a GOOD night!

And in case you are more of a visual person:
Happy Ending


Old Rasputin


Goulash


Old Chub

(I'll leave the rest up to your imagination, thank you very much)

Now before you go lecturing me for my antics on a "school" night, well, just save your breath. I know, I know I was a bad girl and frankly I scared myself. Usually I know when I've had enough, but this time I was like, "oh no, I only had THREE beers and I ate dinner, I'm fine!" I messed up the equation though, by having all high gravity beers and not eating until the 2nd beer, but I've learned my lesson. Trust me, being hungover with a classroom of hyper children (thankfully it was field day, so I just had good kids hanging out with me, finishing the scrapbook for BETA and watching movies.... so really I was off the hook) and then driving to Orlando for a Dashboard Confessional show that night-still hungover! sheesh!- was punishment enough.

Live and Learn!

Love to all,
~the alkie in the making, Jess

Stubbie-Wubbie?

Hi guys!

Sorry for the silly title....I call my dog Chubby-Wubbie (his name is Chubby Checkers!) and well, if the shoe fits, use it as a title! *shrugs*

And let me tell you after my last night out at Stubbies, when I woke up the next morning I was feeling a bit Wubbie, if you will. Not horridly hungover mind you, just that "I hate you bitch feeling" radiating from my wobbly legs and throbbing head. Nothing a spinning classes couldn't fix....if I had made it to the class. Whoopsie!

So, let's recap the lovely brews that bruised my liver! (haha, brews-bruised, get it, get it? moving on...)
I've finally pinpointed that I'm really into sour beers as of late....so when I was hemming and hawing over what I wanted, I finally just confessed to Vinny (one of the fab bartenders) about the sour streak and of course he recommended the Duchess- which is my FAVORITE beer, and of course I've already had on my list and can't have a repeat. But the Duchess has a "relative" if you will, the Vichtenaar. And wow am I a fan of this Flemish Red as well! It has that same balsamic vinegar sting, but with out the apple sweetness of his lady friend. Crisp and refreshing and a fabulous way to start the night!

In search for more sour Vinny brought me this Japanese beer called Red Rice next. I love the cute owl on the label and the bottle cap, but I wasn't enamored with this one. I couldn't even taste the sour, even though the girls I was out with said they could. Oh well, you can't taste 'em all!
With my sour adventures gone, well, sour I turned to other inspiration and went with Rogue's American Amber Ale (AAA anyone?). I really enjoyed the seasonal Amber at BJ's a few weeks ago and heck, who doesn't love a product by Rouge? Lovely beer, a smidgen hoppy for my personal palette but hell, after 2 beers the third flows right down.

Now usually I like to end my night with something dark and smooth or fruity (and there will be no TWSS jokes here, because neither of those come to my bedroom thank you very much!) but as you can probably tell the above is neither as well and we weren't even drinking in my bedroom! This beer my lovelies was the Sweetwater IPA....and yes, you are right, I don't like hops too much, so I typically do not enjoy IPAs either, or at all if we are being honest, and of course I am! But then again, when has Sweetwater ever done anything wrong in my book? Really. This IPA was light, fresh and packed with a tangy grapefruit flavors. In short I loved it.

Sadly, my head the next morning didn't love my 4th choice of beer so much, nor did my tummy enjoy the microwaved Moe's Queso either, but that's another story, best NOT told on a supposed food and fitness blog that has been dominated by beer for the last 7 months or so, but really who's keeping track of these things?

What better way to fix a Stubbie-Wubbie head and body than with an amazing brunch. Hello 43rd Street Dinner to the rescue!





Veggie Hashbrowns with 2 eggs over easy, dry rye toast I only nibbled on and of course a giant sweet potato pancake that I grudgingly shared with Ross and Christine! Just kidding of course I shared this beast and with good reason, considering the waitress split the bill wrong and put it on their tab. Thanks guys, you rock!

I will be ordering this again, no doubt...all my favorite foods and I can drench it in ketchup and hot sauce too? I just died and went to heaven. And the best news? My hangover died and went to hell after that meal, leaving me feeling oh so fine! (come on, you know that a hangover would only come from such a place as hell, right? haha).

Love to all,
~the surprise IPA drinker, Jess