PLEASE VOTE FOR US

Craft Austin has been nominated for the Best Cocktail/Beverage Blog in the Austin Blogger Awards. Please vote for us here (i think):

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KM9SYCX

If that does not work, go here and follow the links to vote:

http://austinbloggerawards.com/

musique

Most of Santi's music is annoying. Well it's fun with Santi, but I would never put them on my ipod. This song is different. I always hit repeat when it comes on. Love it. Have no idea what the words mean though. Who cares, right?

Too Good

Where's the Photo of the Turkey

Not sure, this is Sofia and Santi though.

Parents of the Year

For some reason, whenever you see a story like this, it's always out of Florida or Texas. Or Germany.

Euro Beer #2 - The Porterhouse Brewing Co.

In fall of 2007 my wife and I traveled through Europe for 10 weeks. We ate a lot of food and drank of a lot of beer (and wine). Not enough food, not enough beer. Still in Dublin:



Euro Beer #2 - The Porterhouse Brewing Co.

You gotta eat, right? I could not just drink my way through Dublin without a little sustenance. But, the food joints better have some decent brew. Porterhouse as one of the stops I had planned after looking at BeerAdvocate.com before leaving the USA. This multi-level restaurant/bar had a cool vibe and typical brewpub décor (wooo-eee). Service was slow (get used to it). I had with an Oyster Stout. It was fantastic.



We ordered a “salad” and their classic burger. My burger came with chips and salad. It was not bad, but reminded me of middle-of-the-road American fast food. The salad Sofia ordered was very basic, pretty much the same as what came with the burger. I win.



But, damn, that oyster stout was amazing! I've had a few (from other brewers) since then and they have not lived up to that perfect briny pint.

For more euro foodage and drinkage, go here.

The Porterhouse Brewing Co.
Temple Bar
16-18 Parliament Street
Dublin

Euro Beer #1 - The Long Hall in Dublin, Ireland

From CA:

NEW SERIES! In fall of 2007 my wife and I traveled through Europe for 10 weeks. We ate a lot of food and drank of a lot of beer (and wine). Not enough food, not enough beer. We started in Dublin:



The Long Hall in Dublin, Ireland

After arriving in Dublin we zipped over to our friends apartment to drop our stuff. We exchanged hellos and hugs and popped out for a day full of touristic junk. Half a mile down the road our exhaustion kicked in. We debated over whether we should head back to the apartment to sleep for an hour. You know what "they" always say about traveling to Europe: When you get there, don't sleep, push through. We said f-it and walked back for a kip.

We awoke feeling much better, grabbed some coffee and wandered through the streets with no real plan. Well maybe one plan: get a pint of Guinness. The best pint of Guinness. And then another.

The first respectable looking pub we came across was the Long Hall. I ordered two. Actually, Sofia only had a half pint, because we had not had anything to eat yet. Weak. I felt the beer was too cold (found out later Guinness is served ice cold in Ireland). Whatever. It was still better Guinness than you get in America. I know everyone says that, but it's true. Not sure what it was, I did not write that down, but it's better. I guess it's same reason croissants are better in France and coffee is better in Italy.

The Long Hall
51 S. Great Georges St.
Dublin

For more euro foodage and drinkage, go here.

The Big Mista Austin Weekend Post

I took maybe five photos during this past weekend. This was the best one by far. This is us at Salt Lick. I knew we should have just ordered plates. We went for the family style and puttered out too early, we should have gone easier on the apps at Flying Saucer.



Santi was not impressed.



We had fun though. We hit most of the hotspots. We hit Sixth street two nights in a row. I've never done that. Jaron even made it out.

Thanks to Luigi and Fer for the killer digs, don't worry we treated yr place with extra care.

Best Mexican Restaurants in Texas

From CA:

Texas Monthly has chosen the Best Mexican Restaurants in Texas. This has nothing to do with beer. Well, kind of, cuz Mexican food just begs for beer swilling (Austin and Brownsville are in bold because that is where I spend the majority of my TX time):

TEXAS MONTHLY NAMES

50 BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANTS IN TEXAS

Editors Declare This the Era of “Mex-Tex”

AUSTIN, TEXAS—November 15, 2010—In its December issue, available on newsstands this week, Texas Monthly names the 50 best Mexican restaurants in Texas. Headlining the list is the magazine’s selection of the top five, in alphabetical order by city. They are:

Fonda San Miguel, Austin

Cuquita’s, Dallas

Salsa Fuego, Fort Worth

Hugo’s, Houston

SoLuna, San Antonio

The other 45 “best” are listed below.

...

TOP 5 (alphabetical by city)

Fonda San Miguel, Austin

Cuquita’s, Dallas

Salsa Fuego, Fort Worth

Hugo’s, Houston

SoLuna, San Antonio

Rest of the “Best”

AUSTIN
Curra’s Grill
El Mesón
El Naranjo
Garrido’s
La Condesa
Manuel’s
Takoba

BROWNSVILLE
Taqueria Rico’s

........

Ok, let me give this a beer tie in....hmmmm. Alright, what Texas beer would I like to drink with a plate full of tacos. I'll give you my top five and then you can chime in:

5. Southern Star Bombshell Blonde
4. Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale from the can
3. Lonestar
2. Real Ale Hans Pils
1. (512) Wit

This list would be different tomorrow. Hell, it would be different if you asked me in five minutes. But right now, that sounds right.

Donkey Boy

I've been straight slacking on uploading photos and sharing them with yall. To see more of Halloween weekend, go here. I hope to have more later. Also, the Mista weekend has come and gone. I think I only took two photos the whole time. Both at Salt Lick. Failing.

365 Days of Beer/Running Update #1

So I was gonna do this yesterday, because it was day 30. One month of running everyday and of course having a beer each day as well. Today is day 31. I actually took off one day of beer, because I was sick, but I did run that day. The beer is the fun part, the running is the real challenge, so don't bust my huevos.

Follow my running here if you want.

Hey shmohawk!

Jester Kinging

This is from Craft Austin:



Jester King hosted an acoustic music night at the brewery during Austin Beer Week.



It's hard to tell from this photo, but they had a good turnout. Always a nice size line for their beer. The beer was ON that night. A few posts ago I did not like the Commercial Suicide. Well, this night is was so good. Also, I really enjoyed the Rye IPA, dry finish, really nice. I need to get some more of both.



It's dark out there.





Festering.



It was cold, so they started a fire. Wise choice.



Sofia loves the fact that the Commercial Suicide is only 3.3%.

Supper Time

Went to Enoteca last week with the Dels. Santi chose the desserts.



Then gave out kisses.



Face smacks.



And hugs.





Comedian.

WTF

So I am sitting here at home. Alone. Well Santi is sleeping in his room. Sofia is out with her people. Dude, you gotta see this movie. It's nuts. I don't know how it's gonna end. I don't know if I even like it. Watch it.

BTA vs. CA Pub Crawl

From Craft Austin:



Austin Beer Week was great. Can't wait till next year. If you don't count Saturday, this was one of the kickoff events for ABW. Our meet up point was Flying Saucer.



Bikes.



We had a great turnout. I'd say there were 50-55 in attendance. We did not really all ride together, some would leave a bar early to get to the next spot and some would hang back. Next time I want a massive movement of bikers. My brother said we should have been more nazi-like in keeping the group together. But that's not really my style.

Also, when we got to Flying Saucer there were two other bike pub crawls meeting there at the same time. WTF. I think a few of our riders ended up with those groups.



Next - Draught House.





Beer Olympics were in full effect.



Matt got in on the action. I don't think he did very well.



I did worse. I bet Chris that I could throw a keg further. Worst bet ever.



Santiago is going to sweep all the events next year.



Then Billy's on Burnet.









Thunderbird.



I ordered a Lone Star here. Don't hate. It was only a dollar and it's basically water. Perfect for a bike pub crawl.



Our last stop, the recently opened Black Star Co-op.



No house beer yet, but plenty of good local and not-local stuff to hold you over.



Fries were great. The veggie burger needs a retooling. It fell apart as I was eating it.



Just waiting for some action.

Thanks to everyone that came out. I hope you all had fun. I did.

11.02.10 - Bad Day to be Vegan

McRib Baby!