My first update in the Caper-in-Spokane series

February 16, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Well, I made it and have survived so far.  I joined the everyone else in North America and bought a car. Now that HURTS the pocketbook.  It was a necesscity, and if you talk to anyone that knows me you will find out how much I didn’t want to buy  car.  But I did go for a beauty, a 2006 VW Passat.

There are a lot of things about here that are different than home. I am living downtown and have a grocery store close, but the only shopping down town is for clothes.  For everything else you have to jump in the car and drive for 15-20 minutes to the big box stores.  There are no, or at least none that I can find, independant retail stores.  No Greenlyph computers, no Duggers, no Mac Store, no Biscuit, no Carsand.  I think that last one is the one that is bothering me the most.  I am trying to develop my photography skills and the only store that sells cameras here is Huppins which reminds me more like Wacky Wheatley’s than a Carsand Mosher. When I spoke with someone there, they seemed to only know what the description tells them, and not use the equipment themselves.

I commute East 20 mins every day and the snow covered mountains in Eastern Washington is what I look to out the car window. This is one thing that makes the commute to work a decent drive in the morning.  I can’t wait for Spring and summer so that we can do some serious exploring and hiking.

And the weather, well I must boast and say that I haven’t seen snow, other than on the mountains in the distance, since I came here.  My folks have sent me many pictures of the white stuff, and it is nice coming down, but walking around in a sweater with no hat or gloves is really nice too.

The Beer Lovers Paradise

And the BEER, it is amazing, and there is a micro brew for every taste.  I really don’t understand why people out here still drink from the large breweries, there is really no comparison to the quality and taste.  I have talked to a couple of local “experts” and I have learned a lot about the different varieties.  @mysteriouswayz is another great resource as she has a much better memory than me, and had a 5 month head start on sampling the wares.  I still haven’t been able to find something similar to the Granite Breweries Peculiar, but I am sure to find something soon.

Right now my favorite is Arrogant Bastard, not only is the beer great the marketing is pretty good too.  Washington beer has some of the best graphic design that I have seen in Spokane.  With the large number of micro brews out here and the relatively small market (the majority still drink the coloured swill), they have to do everything that they can to be competitive.

I have been able to check out a few eateries and pubs that are in the area and I will be putting together some reviews in the next couple of weeks.  I am also hoping to get out to some live music, I work with someone who plays around the area and I am hoping that she will be able to help me out with finding some good tunes.

Filed Under Featured, Rambling Tagged With beer, Caper-in-Spokane, Spokane

Raise a Glass for Water For People

March 12, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

image The local Water For People group is having a fundraiser supporting World Water Day at the Garrison Brewery.  There will no doubt be a lot of beer flowing.

The Event is at the Garrison Brewery on Friday March 20, 2009.  Advanced tickets are $20 and can be received either at the CBCL Limited offices at 1489 Hollis St, or by emailing raiseaglasshfx@gmail.com.

moz-screenshotYou will be able to buy tickets at the door but they will be at $25, so be sure to save yourself the $5 and get them in advance.  Although they don’t say it, the $20 will get you a couple of the great brews that Garrison is famous for, and there will be a lot of fun people to hang out with.

For more information you can see the two attachments that I received in the work email.

Raise A Glass Poster

and

Information Sheet

Be sure to Twit This, Stumble It, Digg it and do what ever else you can to get as many people as you can out there. There are some handy links below.

Hope to see you there.

Filed Under Rambling Tagged With beer, Charity, Water For People

Eating in Halifax – Rockbottom Brewery

January 7, 2009 By Jeff 11 Comments

There is a new place to eat on Spring Garden, down below the Moustache where the old Dooly’s was.

I was there twice in the last little while and was tipped that it existed by an ad in the Coast.  When I was there I had brunch, it was Sunday morning after all.  They have a decent brunch menu at decent prices.  I had the omelette that comes with whole grain toast and home fries.  And not the home fries that you expect to get from Smitty’s or such, but real pan fried potatoes with onions.  They were delicious.Rockbottom Behind the Bar

What’s the Hook

The Rockbottom Brewery seems to be a brew pub, but from what I have heard they cook the wort at another location and then only the final stage of the brewing process is taken place on site.  This is different compared to the other brew pubs in Halifax including, The Granite Brewery and Rogues Roost(someone needs to get these guys a modern websites)

“To run great restaurants…for the benefit of our Guests, our Community, and Ourselves.” – From the website.

Why would you go?

Where you can find the place

Both times that I was there to eat the service was first rate.  The lady that was serving us the first time was awesome.  She was very keen on letting us know all of the offerings of the place, and showing us the evening menu.  The second time they didn’t really go out of their way in terms of service, but they were friendly enough.  I think that there was a hot guy sitting at the bar.

As for the seating atmosphere, it is a big change from the Dooly’s, in a very good way.  It still feels “hard” like a lot of the new places popping up, but the lighting helps to offset this to make the place feel more welcoming.  I also enjoyed the seating, there are high booths with foot rests and comfy lounging chairs which makes the place comfortable enough for me to hang out for extended periods.

What will Stop You

There was one evening that I got to stop in to try out the beer on tap.  It was a cold night near the end of December and the hockey game was on.  I didn’t want to dare to try the other sports pubs on Spring Garden as I knew they would be packed, and I only needed to catch the third period.  This meant it was the best chance to check out the beer at the Rockbottom.

Hated it.

I am not sure if it was just that it was one of their first batches and that they haven’t quite got the hang of it, but I had the ale and my GF had the IPA.  The ale seemed very fruity and the IPA had none of the kick that we have come to expect from the Garrisons, Propellers and Granite Brewerys of the world.  HUGE disappointment.  Oh yeah….and the game was on MUTE.  WTF we are in Canada and they our Junior Team was playing an important game.

I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and give it another try in the near future, but I am not going to make a special visit on my way home.  But if I am thirsty and am close I will give it another try.

IMG_2648

So what do I Really Think

Value – 3/5

Really middle of the road. not expensive but you can get cheaper brunches elsewhere

Menu Selection – 3/5

Again they have select items that I assume they are going to make really good.  It seems like a chef inspired or developed menu which is not necessarily a bad thing.  Everyone will find something on it.

Food – 3/5

Great food.  Everything that I had and everyone else that was with me had was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing. The fired potatoes were amazing and omelettes full of great stuff, and the omelette eggs were REAL.   Not for a carton.

They would have gotten a four (4) if it wasn’t for my disappointment with the beer.

Service – 3.5/5

Like I said above, we had one that was amazing (5) but another that was at best a 3.  Not that she was bad, but she really didn’t go out of her way.

Atmosphere – 4/5

I really enjoyed sitting in the place.  It was damn near empty every time I was there, and the fact that there are a lot of hard surfaces it might get loud when it is busy.

Overall – 3.5/5

Decent but not amazing.  It is high enough that I will recommend it to people to give it a try out.  If they can get their beer tasting better, unless that was the way it was supposed to, then I will be revisting this review.

What do you think?

So have you been?  What did you think about the place?  Let us know.

Cheers,

JM

Filed Under Featured, Reviews Tagged With beer, Eating in Halifax, Food, malt, Review

Out of Touch

May 26, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Work has been keeping me slightly out of touch lately. There is nothing like never ending deadlines to ensure little sleep or free time. I have literially been sleeping, eating, working, and repeat. Needless to say this leaves very little time for my online baby (this blog).

Close up shot of penI think that I now see an end in sight, not like I am going to be slacking at work, but I won’t be working weekends. Which means more for HoserNews YEAH!!…Come on scream with me, you know you want to read more about my rambling.

Oh yeah, this month’s Kiva Loan, well my bad. I didn’t even have time to do that, if someone wants to head over there and suggest one for me I will get on it, but otherwise I am just going to make 2 in June, or maybe even one big one. Later this week, I will give you all an update on where all of the other great loans that you helped make are at. I think that one should be about to be paid back very shortly.

That is all for now, I have to get back to the hockey game (Pittsburgh is losing) and my drawings.

Filed Under Rambling Tagged With beer, hockey, kiva

Beer going up – Not good News

May 6, 2008 By Jeff 2 Comments

Punta Cana 2008 116I have heard the worst news possible. Higher beer prices on tap as summer approaches. CBC is reporting that the key ingredients for beer are going up in price, Malt almost doubled, and then there was the Hops problems in the last couple of years that have increased prices, but it is about hit a crunch since they had been using surpluses from the last couple of years and they have now depleted.

Independent Canadian breweries are warning consumers that the cost of
pouring a pint may soon rise, due to soaring malt and hops costs, as
well as gasoline price hikes.

The brews that are going to be hit the worst are the micro brews, in other words the “good” beers, and especially the IPAs that have a lot of hops.

Maybe I should start thinking about drinking more water :) ……Naw, I will just have to cut out milk

It seems that

Filed Under Rambling Tagged With beer, CBC, hops, malt