As promised, I'm posting from Pensacola. Granted, I'm in the airport, on the way out, but that will have to do... I dined at Hopjacks Tuesday and Wednesday nights... I would probably have gone elsewhere, but there was a bit of a travel fiasco on the way here, so that evening was shot.
Tuesday night was a night for German-style lagers. I started with Gordon Biersch's Marzen, then switched to something a little hoppier afterwards. I can't recall exactly what, and I wasn't taking notes at the time, which I regret, because it was a lovely drink. The Marzen was pleasant enough, but didn't have enough of a hop bite to stand up to the pizza I ordered; something to remember for next time.
Last night, I went more British with my drinks. I started with a Fuller's ESB; again, it had difficulty matching up to the food (Belgian Fries, fried in duck fat--yummy); for the most part, though, I blame the saltiness of the fries. I moved from there to a Smithwick's, which did a lovely job of cooling down some Buffalo Wings. To finish up, I moved to an old standby, the Newcastle Brown Ale. The pleasant, well-balanced maltiness was just what was called for, short of moving to a "dessert" beer. I'm inspired to head down the ESB road again; perhaps I should dig out a Fuller's clone recipe; failing that, I may shoot for Smithwick's. All of that, of course, in between batches of my Kolsch, which is turning out to be quite popular.Labels: recommendations, reviews, tasting notes