had many a beer with the regular suspects at st. augustine’s the other night.
still love how many taps they have, and all the delightful craft beers to choose from
but… and you knew there had to be a but! the service there is not up to snuff. yes, we were a larger group, and there were several other large groups there, but i still feel that if you have the capacity to seat all of us, you should have the staff available to serve all of us in a timely fashion. jackie’s food came before her beer for crying out loud!
there was a run on sampler glasses later in the night and this adversely affected how quickly the beers were coming. but even before the glass shortage there was slow service on the beer front. shame, really.
will i go back? of course i will! i love the choice, the sampler option and the food.
i just want faster service, that’s all!
i went with two samplers to try all the beers i hadn’t yet tasted, and then switched to pints of the fabulously amazing and always satisfying Central City Red Racer ESB. ambrosia, i tell you, ambrosia.
my first sampler:
Storm Brewing Precipitation Pilsner: 5%, north german style with light body, saaz hops, dry, refreshing, not overwhelming, a good hot day session beer.
Big Rock Brewing Rock Creek Cider: 5.5%, apples and pears plus vanilla and cinnamon. too sweet and fruity for me to be drinking with beer. shoulda had it on its own…
Lost Coast Brewery Indica IPA: 6.5% out of eureka CA, hoppy with columbus, willamette and centennial hops. reminds me of the Red Racer IPA, which is a mighty fine beer. so gosh darn it, i liked it, i really liked it and told everyone else to drink it!
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: 6% out of delaware. sixty hop additions over sixty minutes sounds like it would be far too hoppy, but its not totally overwhelming. i could easily make it a session beer. yummy.
since they were low on glasses, i ordered a pint and my second sampler together expecting that i’d be done the pint before the sampler came. curses, foiled again! they came together. and because there was a mix up in my sampler, i ended up with two extra samples as well. holy stash of beer batman. bridget was jealous!
Dix BrewPub Cleveland Steamer: 4.8% hybrid brew using lager yeast at the higher temperatures usually reserved for ales, amber, medium, malty, good balance, mildly fruity and hoppy bitter – definitely drinkable, but perhaps too carbonated and too much going on, i couldn’t make up my mind if i liked it or not
St. Augustine’s Pilsner: 5%, malt and lemon zest, spicy hops with crisp finish. not loved by anyone who tried it, but that might be because we were trying so many other extreme tastes… bridget thought it tasted like cracked canoe…
Granville Island Brewing Limited Release Ginger: 5%. i tried it because i’d loved the steamworks one so much. definitely gingery, but more on the fake flavour side… wouldn’t drink a whole pint of it.
Ginger Stout: wasn’t on the menu, but when it was offered i jumped at the chance to try it. loved the first few sips, so gingery and yummy. but after the first two sips it started to be too much. just toooooo gingery and rather than settling the stomach it started to upset it. too much.
so much fun trying all sorts of new beers… finding new faves, comparing and contrasting and debating with my buddies… good times!!
other beers enjoyed by my buddies: everyone loves the Pyramid Audacious Apricot, Crannog’s Backhand of God thrills bridget, Russell’s Lemon Wheat is a pleaser and i can’t remember whose raspberry it is they have on tap right now, but it was popular as well.
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