July 19, 2008
Foothills Brewery
This morning, Kristin and I got up, went out to eat breakfast, and discussed what we were going to do with our day. We were feeling adventurous so we decided to go on a little tour of the Foothills Brewery, located in downtown Winston-Salem. I like our life. Getting to take a day trip on the spur of the moment rocks. I had heard of the brewery from drinking their Pilot Mountain Pale Ale at Tyler’s Taproom near the DBAP. It was good and I thought “Why not go to the source?”
Established way back in aught-four, the Foothills Brewery reminded me a little of my Great Lakes experience in Cleveland. We sat at the bar and decided to share a beer sampler which let us enjoy seven of their beers. Awesome! All of their beers were excellent, from the darker Total Eclipse Stout to the crisp Salem Gold. I think samplers are a very good deal - $7.99 for seven mini-beers. Our bartender was nice enough to let me try the one on tap not included in the sampler, the Seeing Double IPA. This is the first high gravity beer they’ve crafted, and it seems like one of these would definitely do the trick.
In case you’re interested, here are the beers we sampled and my opinion of them:
- Total Eclipse Stout: dark, thick, oatmeal stout – always start with the darkest
- Rainbow Trout ESB: an amber tasting beer, with a little nuttiness and chocolate – although I didn’t taste the chocolate
- Hoppyum IPA: hoppy is right, it was described as having pungent hops – do they need a marketing director? - but we both liked it
- Hurricane Hefeweizen: sweet and cloudy, bordering on too sweet for our tastes
- Torch Pilsner: this was our favorite – not too light – no silly extra flavors – just a straightforward good beer
- Pilot Mountain Pale Ale: this is the one I’d had before, excellent – the only one I think you can get in bars around here
- Salem Gold: reminded me of the Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold without the aftertaste
- Seeing Double IPA: correctly named, 9.5% ABV, this one affected my decision making ability
After the sampler, we split some pretzels and each chose a pint to enjoy – I selected another Rainbow Trout and a Torch Pilsner for the lady. After an hour and a half of good company and good beer, we hopped back in the car and headed back to Durham. Eighty-five miles later, we eased into our driveway and made it back to the bedroom, where I don’t want to say too much, but we totally took an awesome beer nap.
If you’re looking for a little trip that’s not too far,
consider this one. If you like beer and
live in North Carolina,
why not?
Posted by ed at 22:01 | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)
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