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BrewDog in Wiesbaden!

We had beautiful weather again yesterday, so Bill and I decided to go to Wiesbaden and have lunch at the new BrewDog restaurant. BrewDog is a Scottish craft brewery that claims to be the #1 craft brewer in Europe. Bill and I both like beer very much– that could be an understatement, actually. Bill is a big fan of India Pale Ales (IPAs), too, so he was especially interested in trying the place, which is situated in what used to be a Maredo outlet.

Maredo is a well-known German steakhouse chain, and if you search this blog, you’ll see that Bill and I have visited them a few times, although I don’t think we ever went to the one in Wiesbaden. Looking at their Web site, it appears that they closed a lot of locations. Stuttgart used to have two of them within view of each other, but now it looks like there’s only one. And I remember going to one at the Bonn-Cologne airport back in 2012, and it looks like it’s no longer open, either. There is still one in Frankfurt, so I guess we could go there if the spirit moved us.

In any case, I’m glad to see that there’s a new restaurant in Wiesbaden and it offers unique offerings, for Germany, anyway. Wiesbaden is actually pretty well served by different cuisines, but sometimes one can get stuck in a rut eating Italian, Greek, and German food here, and drinking hefeweizens, pilsners, and the like. BrewDog’s menu is very American friendly, but it also offers vegan choices. And, according to its official Web site, it’s a child friendly place every night until 9:00pm. It’s also dog friendly, as are a lot of German restaurants. We didn’t see any four legged guests yesterday. In fact, when we got there at about 12:30pm, there weren’t many guests at all. The door was wide open, but I didn’t see anyone enjoying lunch. I even wondered for a minute if they were open. It was busier as we were leaving.

We took a seat at table near the front of the restaurant, enjoying plenty of social distance. The barkeep checked our COVID vaccination statuses, but that formality will probably go away next week. The beer menu included a lot of BrewDog’s offerings on tap, but there were also bottled beers. Not too many of them weren’t of the IPA variety, though, which later turned into a problem when Bill’s co-worker saw us and decided to join us for a round. She ordered a pale ale and sent it back, because it was too bitter. I don’t mind IPAs in small doses, but like our friend, I would probably choose a lager or weizen over a bitter brew. I did enjoy my “Elvis Juice”, though, and afterwards, I had a Kokosnuss Porter for dessert.

For lunch, I had a Patriot burger, which was 100% beef with cheddar, pickles, onions, bacon, baby gem, and barbecue sauce. It came with pretty good fries. Bill had a Buffalo Chicken Burger, which was buttermilk fried chicken, hot sauce, honey glaze, gorgonzola cheese, and honey gem. It also came with fries. I was pretty happy with the burger, especially for Germany. It’s been nice to see the burgers get better in this country since our return in 2014. I almost went with the Chuck Norris, which was buttermilk fried chicken on a bun with avocado, red onion, cajun mayo, and coriander. I decided against it because I’m not a big fan of coriander. Next time, maybe I’ll try it… or maybe I’ll get brave and try one of the many vegan selections offered. They also have snacks, chicken wings, bowls, and salads, and for kids, there’s even a “Hoppy Meal”.

I really liked the interior of the restaurant, which offered views of the exposed bricks of the old building, which was perfectly located right near the main square in Wiesbaden. We probably should have sat outside, given the location. It was such a nice day, and the place is primely suited for people watching. There was a Muslim wedding going on out there yesterday! But I also enjoyed the music they were playing indoors. All told we spent about 53 euros before the tip. Food is not too expensive, but the beers were a bit pricey, as were the gooey looking desserts. BrewDog is Lieferando friendly, although I think their delivery area is fairly limited to downtown Wiesbaden. They don’t deliver to our neighborhood, for instance. You can also get beer growlers and canned beer to go there.

One word of caution for anyone with mobility issues. The restrooms are located upstairs, just as they are in a lot of European restaurants.

Below are some spring photos from our lunch date and stroll around Wiesbaden. It was a real pleasure to get out and about! And, on another note, I was glad to see Nora again, Bill’s colleague!

Jeans store near us supports Ukraine.
Flowers everywhere!
I love the blue flowers.
A wedding!
Old stationwagon getaway car.
Great place for IPA lovers, but the prices aren’t cheap.
Patriot Burger
Buffalo Chicken Burger
Round 2… a porter and a heavy malt.
Nice interior
Chocolatier across from BrewDog.
Outside was picking up as we left.
I never get tired of photographing this church.
These bushes reminded me of Ukraine with yellow and blue flowers.
Goofy German ads.

We have nice weather again today, but today is the first day of the DST time change. It’s already 1:19pm, and I am not dressed. I don’t know if we’ll go out or not. I did just send Bill out to drive my car, which hasn’t been out in weeks. I have heard the weather is going to be crappy again next week, so maybe we should make an effort to go out. We’ll see.

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Early birthday present…

These arrived yesterday…

  • Still haven’t tried their beer… but these will get a lot of use!

My birthday is Saturday. Father’s Day is Sunday. Bill has a birthday in July. That’s why I decided to buy expensive Ass Clown Brewing Company insulated travel tumblers.

Ass Clown Brewing Company is located in Cornelius, North Carolina, which I think isn’t too far from Charlotte. I see from the map on their Facebook page that they’re in an area not too far from Interstate 77, which I used to travel somewhat often when I lived in South Carolina. I became aware of their company when Bill and I lived in North Carolina seven or eight years ago, but we were never able to visit their brewery to try any of their beers. I love the name of their company, though, so I followed them on Facebook.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed they were advertising the above tumblers. I asked them if they would ship them to APO. They hadn’t heard of APO, so I had to explain it to them. Those of us affiliated with the military or U.S. government get APO access– meaning we can receive mail at a post office box as if we were still in the USA. That means we can buy stuff on Amazon.com and other sites without having it sent to our German home address. It saves a lot on shipping and duties. Not all U.S. businesses will ship to APO, because it’s a bit of a hassle. The package has to go to the post office and the sender has to fill out customs forms. That’s a pain in the ass.

So I asked the good people at Ass Clown Brewing Company if they were willing to ship to APO. After a somewhat lengthy chat on Facebook messenger, they said they would. I think I ended up paying about $72 for these two tumblers, mainly because they’re large and we had them personalized. We also had to pay sales tax and shipping, of course. But I’m pretty excited by them because they look great, and I love getting new gear from craft breweries. We kind of collect this stuff. The beer cozies and stickers were extra schwag they threw in. I don’t know how often we’ll use these. I prefer drinking beer from glasses or stone mugs. On the other hand, they might make my next road trip more fun.

Now, I kind of wish I’d ordered t-shirts, too. I have a feeling I’m going to need them as the temperatures rise here in Germany. I do still have my two air conditioners that kind of work… I have noticed more places in Germany are installing air conditioning as global warming becomes more of a problem. Twelve years ago, it never got that hot here, but I can remember some truly brutal recent summers. I’m just glad the house we’re in now has rolladens on all of the windows. It’s definitely cooler in this house than it was our last one.

Tomorrow, Bill is taking me away on my birthday getaway. It’s just two nights, and we’re not even leaving Hesse. I kind of don’t want to go… but I kind of do want to go, because I’m tired of being bored. I just dread the hassle. Anyway, I should have a somewhat more exciting blog post when we get back from our little “staycation”. Maybe soon, we can venture down to Stuttgart for a trip to the dentist. God knows, we both need a good cleaning.

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Our afternoon at Big Hops Gastropub, San Antonio, Texas…

Bill decided he wanted to go out for lunch today, so off we went to the brand new Big Hops Gastropub.  Prior to opening the Gastropub, Big Hops was known as a “growler station”.  You could go there and fill up on exotic craft beers.  Bill heard about them opening a restaurant and decided we needed to check it out.

First impressions…  We seated ourselves at a table and I immediately noticed the great music.  They were playing classic rock, which goes great with American craft beers.  Everything here in is on draft and from the USA.  But don’t come here looking for Lone Star or Shiner Bock.  These beers come from smaller breweries.

Bill checks out the computer monitor for beer choices.  There are two of them on the walls.  Some say they are hard to read, but we didn’t have any trouble.

The menu.

A shot of the beer menu on the wall.

My first beer.  This was a Schwarzbier from Live Oak Brewery.  Quite nice!  I like the little beer keg glass, too.

Caedmon’s Ale from BS Brewing for Bill…

The waitress talked us into these insanely delicious Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Curds.  They were $10, served with house made ranch dressing.  Sinful and addictive as hell.  We did bring about a third of them home.

Bill’s Korean BBQ served on a steam bun.  It had cucumbers and pickled cabbage.  He liked it.

My Tinga… Basically chicken in a spicy sauce with onions, cheese, tostadas, and a side of sour cream. I couldn’t eat all of this.  It was very spicy and I had filled up on the curds.

Bill’s Odell 90 Schilling Scotch Ale.  He wasn’t that impressed with this…

Prairie Ale’s Vanilla Noir… $10, served in a snifter, and 12.5% ABV.  Positively awesome!  I am loving Oklahoma’s Prairie Ales.

Someone got cute in the ladies room…  Not me.

My third beer… a Deschutes Black Butte Porter.  This was a nice way to cap off our first trip to Big Hops.

We left with two 32 ounce growlers.  

Enjoying the Stone right now…  We spent about $100, including the two 32 ounce growlers, lunch, and lots o’ beer.

All in all, we really enjoyed visiting Big Hops.  We had a good server who knew the menu and the beers very well.  She was laid back and not stressed and I was impressed that she knew about Prairie Ale’s Bomb, which is fucking fantastic.  The atmosphere was not all that exciting, but I did like the beers on offer and the music– nice mix of heavy metal and classic rock with a few TVs showing sports.  The food is good, but be warned that there’s not anything on the menu that is vegan friendly.  Vegetarians might also be challenged.  Big Hops doesn’t take American Express and is discontinuing a couple of items on the menu.  Still, I think in time, this is going to be a very happening place in San Antonio.  I bet we’ll be back.

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Our trip to Blue Star Brewing Company in San Antonio…

If you read today’s Overeducated Housewife post, you know that last night Bill and I met up with one of Bill’s former co-workers and his wife.  Bill and I had been wanting to try Blue Star Brewing Company near downtown San Antonio.  A friend of ours from Houston who is into craft beers kept telling us to try it.  So we finally took the plunge last night…

This is a photo of the front of the restaurant…

 

Blue Star Brewing is in a small artsy community.  I noticed a couple of other bars/restaurants nearby and art galleries.  We didn’t take the time to go exploring, since our companions were going to be joining us.  Upon entering the restaurant, we were asked if we preferred indoor or outdoor seating.  Since it was a beautiful evening, we opted to sit outside.  We sat at a picnic table with a nice view of the Riverwalk.

The menu.

 

We perused the menu while we waited for our friends.  There were several tempting looking dishes being offered.  Blue Star has a number of burgers that are made with bison and beef.  They have salads, barbecue, some Tex/Mex inspired dishes, and other comfort foods.

A Raspberry Geyser

 

The first beer I tried was the very refreshing and somewhat low boozed Raspberry Geyser.  It had 3.8% ABV.  This beer is no doubt popular with the ladies as it doesn’t taste much like beer.  It’s more like a Belgian lambic.  I found it very refreshing and it was probably my favorite beer of all those I tried last night.  The waitress did offer to bring me a taste before I ordered, but I decided I’d take a chance.

Bill’s Flying Pig Extra Pale Ale was a hit.  It was crisp, refreshing, and hoppy.

Our friends arrived as we were enjoying the first round.  We ordered hummus to snack on while we decided on dinner.  The hummus was good, but the bread was a little hard.  I was worried about eating too much of it because I just had a crown prep done and didn’t want to break my temporary crown… or any teeth!  More veggies would have been nice, since there was a lot of hummus, but not much to eat it with.

My second beer.  This was called Close Encounter.  It’s a sour beer made with prunes and tamarind.  Bill was put off by the prunes, but it was a nice beer that came in at 4.8% ABV.  I would have liked a bigger glass.  A snifter is fine with a really strong beer that knocks you on your ass, but this didn’t seem to warrant the small glass it came in.

I had fish and chips.  The fries were good– garlicky with just enough salt.  The fish was fine, though it doesn’t rival anything you’d find in England.  It arrived to me a little cool, as if it had sat for a bit.

Bill enjoyed his pulled pork sandwich.  I didn’t taste it.  

 

I also tried the Texican lager, but forgot to take a photo of it.  That’s just as well, since I thought it was the least interesting of all the beers I tried.  It arrived to my table with almost no head and was a bit on the watery side.  At 4% ABV, it’s not too strong… but I didn’t think the flavor was all that inspiring.  It makes for a nice hot weather beer, though.  It will probably rehydrate you better than a boozier beer will.

The stout was yummy!

I wasn’t so put off by the Texican to skip trying the Spire Stout with dessert.  This stout went very well with the chocolate cake.  In fact, I probably should have just had two stouts and skipped the cake.  It wasn’t all that great.  Bill had the cheesecake, though, which was nice.  It wasn’t too sweet or super heavy, which made it pleasant on a warm March evening.  In all, the bill for Bill and me came to about $83 before the tip.

A couple of quick shots of the inside of the restaurant.  I was trying not to be too conspicuous.

The bar area looked inviting.  

I enjoyed the snarky signs posted around Blue Star’s parking area.  You can park yourself or use the complimentary valet.  We used the valet.

 

Blue Star rents bikes or you can take one of the ones the city rents.  I’m impressed with San Antonio for copying Europe and offering public bikes.  I would have probably enjoyed a Riverwalk stroll too, if we hadn’t already been out for a few hours and our two dogs didn’t need a pee break.

When we got home, there was a big truck parked outside our house.  Not two minutes after we entered our dwelling, the doorbell rang.  It was two Hispanic guys who were probably looking for the previous tenants.  They weren’t threatening.  Probably were hoping for a crash pad.  It made Bill nervous, though.

All in all, last night was a lot of fun.  I’d go back to Blue Star Brewery, though there are other craft brewers whose beers have impressed me more.  Also, while service was friendly and accurate, it was a bit on the slow side.  But we weren’t in a hurry and we weren’t rushed, so I can overlook that for a Saturday evening.

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