This video is great! If you have a case of cabin fever this video will get you thinking about summer vacation locations. If you go out west all we ask is that you bring back some Deschutes beer.
A pop up VW camper van might also be required for any vacation get aways.
Bonus points for anyone who can name filming locations for this video.
Last weekend some of us were lucky enough to escape the city for a long weekend for fun in the snow covered woods. The plan was to:
Friday morning saw temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below zero. This was the perfect time for a short drive up to Tionesta for an amazing breakfast. Last year we stumbled across T&K’s Dinor. Breakfast is served all day. This is also pirogie heaven. For breakfast the hot sausage trash, basically a mixed grill of goodness, was enjoyed with a tall OJ. A dozen kilbasa and potato pirogies were purchased for later use.
After that awesome breakfast a nice long cross country skiing adventure took place. You can rent Ski’s at Cook Riverside Cabins. In winter the Fire Tower road is closed for X-skiers to enjoy. It was a nice ski to the Seneca Overlook and Fire Tower, didn’t see a single person. The trail is groomed for x-skiing, in-case you were interested.
After the ski, it was time to open some brews. Before the trip, a variety case was built which included, Molson Canadian, Yuengling, Voodoo Brown, Harpoon Winter Warmer, Penn St Nick Bock, Great Lakes Christmas, Ithaca Brown, Ithaca Spring Seasonal, Ithaca CascaZilla, Terrapin Hop Karma Brown and a special bottle of Troegs Flying Mouflan.
The first brew of the trip was a nice cold Voodoo Brown. As the night went on and the fire started fading a few more brews when down with a warm dinner of kielbasa and pirogies.
Saturday morning brought more snow and great skiing conditions. The Subaru handled the snow as if it wasn’t even there as we headed to Clear Creek State Park. The skiing was a little sticky but was fun.
The highlight of the trip was waiting for us at the cabin, Troegs Flying Mouflan. This beer was described on the bottle like this: ”We classify this beer as pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff. It is bold and intense–think hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs. Over time, the Flying Mouflan transforms into lush raisin and chocolate overtones as the hops subside and the rich barley flavors come out in the beer.” 
This was very accurate. It was a hoppy brew at first with a slight follow up of sweetness. I would describe the sweetness as carmel flavored. The last taste was that of the chocolate. It finished dry, but was very easy to drink.
We finished our stay with a hike through the Cathedral section of Cook Forest. There are several trails in the region that pass through old growth forest. A great hike in the snow!
It was a great weekend get away. There is a small bottle shop in Clarion that was closed when we stopped by. Other then that I suggest the Knotty Pine restaurant or bring your own brews.
For beer drinkers, St. Louis conjures up images of a large Anheuser-Busch assembly line. In this city, the corporate beer capital, a craft beer culture has grown over the years. Pittsburghers take heart. If craft beer can exist and thrive here, craft beer can exist anywhere. My best friend Mike is a St. Louis resident and expert drinker, so I try to make a visit about once a year and we make the rounds in the STL craft beer and general bar scene.
Schlafly: The first name in St. Louis craft beer
We started our little adventure with lunch at the Schlafly bottleworks in a near St. Louis suburb. In addition to housing the brewery and serving all of their own beer, the bottleworks has a great menu with some unusual items such as a bison pizza and venison chili. I thoroughly enjoyed the green chili turkeyburger and venison chili.
I paired lunch with Schlafly’s Winter ESB. This one pours a nice amber color and is not overly bitter. It finishes with a slightly sweet aftertaste reminiscent of iced tea. The four of us split a bottle of Schlafly’s Special Reserve Bouron Barrel Stout. This special stout is malty and thick with a touch of sweetness in the aftertaste. It lacks the richness of the Bluegrass or Kentucky Brewing Co.’s bourbon barrel stout, but is still a very good dark beer particularly for those maltheads out there.
Schlafly does a fantastic job on two beers in particular: the pale ale and coffee stout. If you have never had a Schafly product, I recommend starting with one of these.
From bottleworks, we made our way to the Stable. The Stable is hands down our winner for best beer selection and best atmosphere for the day. This place reminds me of a German Rathskeller with beautiful dark wood tables and chairs as well as a fireplace right in the middle. However, you realize that this is no ordinary German beer house when you see the tap list. Selections included offerings from Left Hand, Pyramid, Founders, Big Sky, North Coast, and Ska Brewing Co’s just to name a few.
I’d been craving a Pyramid Apricot Ale for quite a while so I had to get that one first. Other popular choices in our group were Breckinridge Vanilla Porter, Founders Cerise, and Rogue’s Shakespeare Stout…all on draft. The Stable also highlights its own concoctions brewed on-site. However, the holiday rush had severely depleted their stores.
The second leg of our trip began at Morgan Street Brewery. One of the best things about Morgan Street Brewing is its location near the Mississippi River. The beer is fairly pedestrian although the Vienna Lager was quite good. It’s nice to see a nearly forgotten beer style on the tap list.
From Morgan St. Brewery, our troop headed to the much more cosmopolitan downtown Schlafly location to fuel up on some appetizers and taste some of that delicious coffee stout. Somewhat less of a restuarant than the bottleworks location, the location, historic building, and beautiful woodwork give the Schlafly Tap Room a feeling all it’s own. It’s a great fun location that will introduce you to the Schlafly line while remaining downtown.
Our final stop of the night was Buffalo Brewing Co. near Saint Louis University’s campus. A purveyor of unique beer styles with a nice take on traditional pub food. Buffalo always seems to make my list of St. Louis bar stops. It’s a nice laid back atmosphere with some solid local brews.
For those of you looking for something to do in an upcoming trip to STL, hopefully we have given you some new ideas. For those St. Louis locals reading our TDY adventures, is there anything I missed? What should I add to our next trip? STL Today magazine lists all of the area brewpubs, if you want some more suggestions
I was able to beat the snow and cold for at least about 10 days as Sarah and I escaped to Costa Rica just before Christmas. Some of you may be asking “Why Costa Rica?”. Quite simply, flights are very reasonable from the U.S. if booked well in advance (around $350 round trip). Hotel and food costs are comparable to here at home and for the budget traveler willing to give up on some amenities, can be downright cheap. Cerveza (beer) will typically run about $2 or less but the real value is in mixed drinks which often cost about $3-$3.50 for some great tropical concoctions.
In our ten days in Costa Rica, we visited Volcan Arenal, the Santa Elena cloudforest, and Playa Grande. Any of these destinations are great and we were able to partake in many cool activities from surfing on the pacific coasts, hiking in the rain forest, enjoying the thermal springs near the volcanp, and floating down a Costa Rican river with our guide Jorge from CanoaAventura.
Jorge gives us an up close look at an iguana
Even here you run into pennsylvanians… As we were leaving the hot springs, we met an American family from Philadelphia. He turns to his wife and says…”See I told you we would find Pens fans here!”.
Cerveza
An Imperial Michelada
Beer in Costa Rica is, in a word, uncomplicated. Imperial is the leading beer of Costa Rica and is a typical light lager that tastes excellent when ice cold on a hot Costa Rican day. Pilsen is another leading brand which tastes similar but is not quite so crisp and clean in flavor. Bavaria adds some much needed variation to the Tico (Cost Rican) beers with a light, gold, and dark variety. Take notice: this is the only dark beer that you will find in Costa Rica. The long-reaching arms of Guinness have not penetrated this beautiful country.
Tropical Concoctions
Sarah with her "Special Drink"
Mixed drinks run the gamut here from Pina Coladas (made with Mrs. T’s mix) to fresh Caiprinhas and the most delicious mixtures of rums and indigenous tropical fruits. The mojitos here are good and may just as likely be mixed with a dark rum instead of the usual clear rum used in the U.S. This is the traditional way to make a mojito, and the cocktail is much more complex. Caipirinhas are a nice addition to drinking in Costa Rica. Cachaca is much more common here than back in the U.S. and thus the Caipirinha makes for a nice twist on the traditional mojito. The caiprinha is often somewhat stronger and not quite as sweet as a mojito.
The Flaming Shot
Flaming shots are very popular here especially with the tourists. These primarily involve tequila with a few featuring rum. You can ask to try the la Cucaracha which is a mixture of tequila and local Costa Rican coffee liqueur, Cafe Rica. I tried one that was tequila, grenadine, and Bailey’s. The tequila is poured into a glass and is lit on fire. A straw is soaked in ice water so as not to catch on fire. A shot each of grenadine and Bailey’s is put to the side. Once the tequila is lit, the bartender pours grenadine and Bailey’s into the glass while you drink through the straw. It tastes pretty much like you would expect: Bailey’s and tequila.
What’s all this about Guaro?
During your trip through the country, you’ll probably hear the Ticos and Ticas talk about guaro or Cacique. Well, they are really the same thing. Guaro is a local type of alcohol that is made from sugar cane and is about 70 proof. While strong, guaro is clear and odorless but much sweeter than expected. It really is a much more pleasant spirit to drink straight than vodka or tequila. Guaro is government regulated with the brand name Cacique.
Hopefully, this overview has provided you with some crucial information for that future trip to Costa Rica. Maybe even I’ve peaked your interest. There’s really nothing like surfing or hiking through the rainforest and retiring for an ice cold beer and flaming shot. It’s a great place to get away from the cold and snowy Pittsburgh winters.
Just got the new issue of Backpacker today and a few things stuck out. The first is camp food section. Some of these meals look better then the things I eat on a nightly basis; for example warm apple crescents, pecan pancakes with fruit compote, sweet potato pizza, Indonesian pilaf, chicken curry wrap. I have been backpacking and done tons of camping, but never have I witnessed someone making sweet potato pizza.
This issue also highlighted a few of the best hikes across the US. The hikes were organized by region. Pine Creek Rail Trail is the only trail mentioned in PA. This is listed as a multi-day hike through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon region. Sounds like a fun hike up and down each rim of the gorge along the river and around the rim. The highlighted trail for the Northeast Region is Devil’s Path in the Catskill Mountains. This is one of the toughest trails on the east coast and one must conquer rocks, ridges and ravines. My new dream hike is in Alaska, Crow Pass Trail in Chugach State Park. All I have to say is glaciers, bears, moose, wildflowers, waterfalls, meadows, sheep, wolves, tons of evergreens and a 4,000 ft elevation gain.
Let’s role play for a minute. Imagine we just stopped hiking for the day and are setting up camp in the PA Grand Canyon. Mark is in-charge of dinner and he ‘s making sweet potato pizza. Tim pulls out a sixer of Voodoo Wynona’s Big Brown Ale. I think the smooth, slightly chocolate/hoppy nut brown taste of the Brown Ale will go perfectly with the pizza. This is a great fall combo and would go well with fall foliage.
Or maybe we take the advice of Backpacker and go to the best hike in the Northeast Region; Devil’s Path in the Catskill Mountains. We just scrambled up several rock chutes and are setting up camp over looking the Hudson River Valley. Tonight is Tim’s turn for dinner and he picked the Indonesian Pilaf. More importantly the beer choice is CascaZilla from Ithaca Brewing. This 50 IBU red will be a nice match with the spices in the pilaf.
Or maybe you want to get away and make the journey to Alaska to hike Crow Pass. This hike gives breath taking views at every turn. I lost track of the number of bear and moose we’ve seen. Pictures can’t do this landscape justice. After a long day of hiking and checking out glaciers and waterfalls a great camp meal is needed. Tonight’s menu includes chicken curry wrap with warm apple crescents. With the wraps we will have Alaskan Brewing Amber Ale. This is a slightly malty amber with taste and great balance. Think Yuengling with a bang. For desert a nice Abyss from Deschutes Brewing. The Abyss is an imperial stout brewed with molasses and licorice aged in bourbon and oak wine barrels. Bring on the warm apple crescents.
I feel the early stages of cabin fever starting to set in.
Vacation was a blast, but like most good things it had to come to an end. No lie Montana is BIG SKY country!! Glacier boasted one of the best landscapes I’ve ever seen, hands down! While in Montana TDY hiked all over Glacier National Park and even swam with a few iceburgs. Pictures are up on our Flickr account if you care to browse. In addition to hiking we sampled a ton of great Montana/NW beer. Below is a list of what we tried. Over the next few weeks we will post reviews of beers you see below. If you have tried any of the beers on the list let us know what you thought of them. More importantly if you know where to get any of these beers here in the PGH area give us a shout (I am most interested with the Deschutes beers).
Coeur D’alene Brewing Company: Best Nachos of the trip!!! All the beer here was great!!
Great Northern Brewing Company:
Tamarack: Sampler all around, plus two freebies
With our up coming trip to Glacier we have been reading a lot about bears. We have also been spending lots of time in Allison Park, Blawnox and Brookline looking for bears to practice our new found survival skills.
DISCLAIMER:
In no way does TDY endorse the below survival tips. If you live in Allison Park, Blawnox or Brookline you should probably consult an expert on how to handle bears in the wild.
Ok now that you have all been lawyered let’s get to the list.
1. Be sure to always carry your Sophie Masloff mask with you while hiking. Bears are afraid of Sophie. If for whatever reason the bear is not deterred by the mask do you best Sophie Masloff impression. Her voice is a sure deterrent of bears.
2. Bears love chipped ham, because chipping makes it hammier and tastier. If a bear charges throw your chipped ham sandmich at the bear. The bear will then stop and eat the sandmich, giving you plenty of time to get out of danger.
3. Never go hiking in bear country without Jack Lambert. Bears are NO match for this man, need I say more? I think not.
4. Bears make up a large part of the Donnie Iris fan base. All bears can’t help but dance to any Donnie Iris song. ”The Rapper” is one of the bears’ favorite.
5. Give the bear water from the Monongahela River. Who knows what exactly is in the Monongahela!
Listen up yinz, TDY will be driving from Spokane, WA to Kalispell, MT next weekend and we need your recommendations on which breweries to check out along the way. We’ll be short on time so we need the best of the best.
Leave a comment and let us know what brews we just can’t pass up.
