Cupcake's BDay

Its Georgie's birthday! Its snowed today here in Houston... a rare occasion in its own right. But it literally snowed ALL DAY downtown today. Seriously.... I watched it. Freaky. I assure you, I got little if anything done at work. We got released at 11am. Prior to that I spent most of the morning at the window watching, mezmorized by the snow OR sitting at my desk yic-yacking on yahoo or texting on my phone to friends about the snow. To those folks who live north of us ...so sorry. This may seem like a daily occurance to you, not worthy of mention, but here in Houston it truly is a 'once-every-few-years' sort of thing. Houston might as well be a horrid little 3rd world, HOT, humid-ass jungle country where it is best known as a place to get a nasty case of malaria or worse, eaten by drug running cannibals. Seriously, its F'ing HOT here! But thanks to good old Al Gore and his so-called "global warming", we are having a real winter this year. Thanks Al! ....DUMB ASS!

So being the politically correct, pussified company that my employer is, we were let out of work at 11am today. No complaints here! And since me, being the politically correct, public transportation user that I am, I had to wait a few hours until I could get a ride home. What is a poor sap like myself to do other than to go to a favorite bar, within walking distance of work, to wait until Big Brother chooses to show up with a bus? Luckily, I had a buddy from work to join me in a few belly warming beverages. So we headed out into the blinding snow to the Flying Saucer. Good thing its only a few blocks from work or we might have given the Donner party some serious competition. Houston's got to represent, yo.

Anywhoozle, we made it and knocked back a few to celebrate Cupcake surviving another year. Poor old geezer hasn't got too many left you know. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIE!

BRICK HOUSE TAVERN & TAP - Humble, TX

Wow, Cupcake and I have really been slacking. I just realized how long its been since our last bar review. SAD... just sad. The good news is we finally got a chance to get out and check out the latest new bar in our neck of the woods. For a while now we've been watching the progress in the gutting and remodeling of the old Bennigans at the corner of 59N and 1960. A chain called The Brick House Tavern bought the location and we have been looking forward to its opening for a few months now. Somehow they snuck the grand opening past us. But that's ok. We're just glad to have another option up in the hinterland of Kingwood/Humble/Atascocita.

George, on one of his MANY days off, had recon'd the place a few days prior to our visit. I think he spent like 6 or 8 hours there . That may give you a hint as to his feelings toward the place..... you might guess that he liked it. He kept texting and sending me text photos of the place while I was slaving away at work. SO not cool. By Friday I was hell bent on getting over to Brick House to check it out. I decided to make an effort at forgiving Cupcake by dragging him along..... and made him drive. ;)

It turned out to be one of those days that we get far too few of here in Houston. It was absolutely beautiful outside. Clear blue skies, temps in the low 70s, most people still at work. Perfect. We pulled up just before 11am, and before we even got in the door I was completely impressed. The bar no longer even remotely resembled the old, tired, shabby Bennigans (good riddance). Stepping into Brick House I found the decor contemporary, subtle, clean and comfortable. It seemed much larger on the inside that the old Bennigans even though it shares the same bones. It has a considerable amount of dining seating, most of which were 4-top arrangements with small couches (love seats? settees?) on either side of dining tables. It looked very comfortable. To the left of the entrance there is a good size bar. There is also an area devoted to sports fanatics who require the comfort of a recliner inches away from multiple flat screen TVs. At the back of the restaurant is a very large and attractive gas log fire place. Outside there is plenty of patio furniture 2 and 4-top dining. The patio is covered and the inside bar opens to provide access and bar seating to the outside as well.

Speaking of the bar, we found that they have approximately 30-40 taps. As you might expect out in the sticks the majority of these taps poured piss beer and many were redundant. Fortunately there were a few respectable beers to be found such as the Rahr Ugly Pug that Cupcake and I knocked back a few of. The crowning jewel I must say....and this alone was enough to make me a huge fan of Brick House... is the traditional English style cask pump tap. (Note the lovely barmaid demonstrating). Cupcake tells me that in a previous conversation with the bartenders that the bar's intention is to keep a local (Texas) beer on this tap at all times. The current cask beer is St Arnold's Christmas Ale - in my opinion a great beer for the season - full bodied, amber in color, spiced and probably (hopefully) in the 7-8% abv range. They keep this cask beer at room temp and it has only natural carbonation.... so its a very nice change from how beer is typically served in these parts.

As for service, Brick House is of a similar school of thought as the Flying Saucer (our litmus test to bars in Houston). That being that the wait staff is made up of well trained, refreshingly friendly, sparsely clad, helpful and conscientious females. Having only dealt with one waitress (so far), I can't say for certain how educated the waitresses are in beerology, but I plan to find out. There seemed to be almost an excessive number of waitresses milling about. This gives the waitresses more time to connect with the customers... seems like a good thinking on the part of the owners. Although I wonder if they really intend to keep this large a staff on into the future. I certainly have no issue with it.

The menu was impressive for a tavern. Certainly not traditional. Its an eclectic mix of what Brick House calls 'Man Food'. Call me biased but I gotta like that. Its all very hardy. George and I split some devilled eggs (when was the last time you saw them on a menu?!), he got a burger.... I'm thinking it was a bleu cheese burger. And I got an Italian sausage hoagie. The burgers are large and on hoagie-like rolls. They're pretty good although I believe they are fried on a griddle rather than grilled over a fire. In my opinion, if you want to say your food is 'Man food'.. the meat BETTER be grilled over real fire. Fried burgers can be good but they'll never be great. As for my choice, I enjoyed a Italian sausage hoagie. Very substantial and tasty. I also had a side of mashed potatoes that were smashed with their skins on with cheese mixed in... also very tasty. George had a side of something like garlic parmesan tots..... sounds interesting on paper.... but really it was just pre-made tator tots that were heated up and then sprinkled with fresh parmesan and chopped garlic. It really didn't work because neither the parmesan nor the garlic managed to adhere to the tots. So overall it was a mixed bag on my first dining experience here. There are plenty of other things on the menu I look forward to trying though... especially something from the part of their menu titled 'the happy ending'. Hmmmm.

If the size of the crowd there at 11am on a Friday is any sign of the business Brick House is getting, I think we may have a nice watering hole near home for years to come. The clientele was about what I expected for Humble.... a sort of crossroads of mostly Anglos and Hispanics, middle class folks from Kingwood and rednecks and hillbillies (minus the hills) from 'up the road (59N) a piece'.

All in all I must say I am very pleased with our new bar up here in the boondocks. Its good to have a respectable alternative to an inner-loop bar near the house. I'm craving one of those cask beers now. MMmmMMmm.

The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

ZOMBURBIA - October 31st

Friends and neighbors! Steph and George (Cousin and Cupcake) are having their 2nd annual haunted house this Halloween. Apparently their unfortunate subdivision has had a recent zombie infestation. We, being the 'glass half full' kinda people that we are, decided to make lemons into lemonade. So we have corralled up some of these unfortunate 'living impaired' individuals and put them to work at Cousin and Cupcake's casa doing what they do best..... moaning, staggering, eating brains and generally scaring the crap out of people.

They really are pretty entertaining (so long as you be sure to stay at least a few paces out of reach of them), so we suggest you swing by and check 'em out. We'll be menacing the neighborhood from dark:30 to about 9. The post-zombie party will follow immediately afterward. Our own Halloween brews - Oatmeal Stout and Pumpkin Ale will be on tap. The perfect beers for pairing with fresh, warm brains! ;) See you there!!!

~S

City Eats - Kingwood, Tx

Cupcake and I felt like we HAD to write this review, even though its not about a bar. It’s a simple, little hot dog joint called City Eats. We had to because in our little bland, clonelike suburb of Kingwood we feel compelled to give props to anyone who makes the great leap of faith in trying to show a little bit of character here.

Don't get me wrong though.... its not like a piece of Austin or The Montrose was just magically dropped on our doorstep. Its just a hole-in-the-wall hot dog joint..... BUT they don't half-ass what they do. As the WAY over-used slang phrase goes.... they "bring it." From what I gather, the owner is from New Jersey and its apparent he knows his way around a hot dog.

I have to be honest in saying that being from Texas, until a few years ago I was ignorant of what a real hot dog is, what it means and how good it can be. Now fellow Texans don’t start… just don’t! Hush it. Slapping a little chili and cheddar on a dog is not the be-all and end-all of hot dogs. And it damn sure isn’t throwing a dog in a cheap bun and squirting some ketchup on it… that’s for kids…. and absolutely disgusting. We have to accept the fact that our friends from the North are the masters of the dog. Next time you’re up there, see for yourself. Try out a dirty-water dog in New York, or a Chicago style while in the Windy City….. trust me they are like heaven. And now thanks to City Eats, Kingwood has the opportunity to eat some truly authentic dogs and not some lame facsimile that some places might try to peddle around here. For those of you transplanted from up North, you’ll be happy to know that they have managed to import Sabretts dogs all the way from New York. (Texans, please refrain from repeating that Pace Picante sauce commercial catch phrase here)

As a true lover of the bizarre creation that is the Chicago style hot dog, it had to be my first dog at City Eats. I chose to go with a polish sausage sub'd in for the frank. It ROCKED! After lots of study of this style I can tell you it was authentic, right down to the poppy seed bun. And trust me, poppy seed buns are hard to come by around here. I scoured every grocery store in the area and found NONE. George had the New York style with the red onion sauce...YUM! I understand you can buy the Sabrett Red Onion Sauce there.... yet another reason I'll be back.

Don’t expect to be overwhelmed by the décor, City Eats is definitely a hole-in-the-wall. But then if you’ve been to Jersey or NYC, you know there are plenty of holes-in-the-wall up there that make some amazing food. I think we down here have been swept up by a culture of always needing to be entertained, no matter what the venue. The truth is we don’t always need restaurants to have cute little mass-produced knick-knacks and “flare” on the walls to make our experience enjoyable. (Ssshhh… the secret is… all that crap is to distract you from the fact that the food in those places is mediocre at best.)

So anywho, if you’re up in Kingwood and hungry, give City Eats a try. You may be thinking… dude, its just a dog. But is it really? I think not. Its America…. at least it’s the small part of America that hasn’t been dumbed-down and turned into the lowest common denominator in order to maximize profit. Grab your nearest yankee friend, take them to City Eats, and have them instruct you on how to eat a real dog. Lets do what we can to encourage more businesses like this. Don’t be afraid of a little culture…even if it is “just a dog”.


The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Beer selection: N/A
Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Stuff to do: N/A

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

BIERFEST - OCTOBER 3rd

Followers of BB&T, the date has been vetted and set. October 3rd will be our first annual BIERFEST! In the vein of the famous Oktoberfest of Munich, we decided we need a Fall celebration of our own - for the end of the hellishly hot Texas summer! Good riddance to it.

We plan to have 4 beers on tap - our Coffee Porter, our Honeywheat and our latest creations - our new Irish Red and German Koelsch. Come getcha some! In return, we ask that you bring a dish. German food would fit the occasion but don't feel limited. Bring whatever floats your boat.

Comments, ideas, decorative contributions and suggestions will be appreciated.

So mark your calendars in permanent ink! October 3rd. BIERFEST at George & Steph's!

Norton's Grill & Pub - Atascocita, TX

Uggg, OMG. I'm whupped. George and I just finished cutting (YES, CUTTING) the oil filter off Fran's car. That bi*tch was stuck on there like no body's business. What a nightmare. Anywhoozle, this is supposed to be a bar review. So here goes....

Norton's Grill and Pub in Atascocita.... apparently there are a couple more around town. George was SUPPOSED to write a review for this bar about a month ago, but he slacked off a little too long so I stole the review. Actually he and I went there together for lunch today along with Dan (George's father-in-law). They've both been there a couple of times but this was my first.

Since we were there around noonish on a weekday, I can't really say from experience how busy the place gets or what the clientele was like. There just weren't that many people there today. But George and Dan tell me the place gets crazybusy on nights like Friday night when they show the UFC fights. Kinda glad I missed that. ;) But I suppose that's some sort of indicator that the place attracts decent business.

Anyway... our experience this time went something like this.... We picked a table from the many empties. The place is pretty big.... certainly not a hole-in-the-wall bar. Our waitress arrived. I didn't catch her name but apparently George has had her a few times and she was very nice. Unfortunately for her she had a migraine..... probably started when she saw George coming in. Lol. She still managed to do a fine job despite the headache. We ordered our beers.... Norton's has a pretty decent selection for a suburban bar. They had over 40 taps and a pretty decent number of bottles. We ordered a couple of Deschutes Black Butte Porters (or as we like to call them 'de S*hits Black Butts'). A nice microbrewed Porter from Oregon.

After wandering around checking out the bar, we ordered lunch. The menu is fairly standard bar food, nothing too shocking and the prices seemed appropriate, especially considering the large portions. Dan and George got the monster Buffalo Chicken sandwich (Serious freakin' HUGE.... the meat protrudes easily 2 inches out of either side of the bun) and I ordered the 'Double Burner-X Hot' garlic wings. Our waitress was nice enough to warn me that the sauce really isn't all that hot.... hence I went with the 'Double burner' yada yada yada wings. It took quite a while to get our food (G&D both tell me its normally MUCH more prompt). No biggy though. We had our beers and were in no hurry. We all were very happy with the food once it came out. Our waitress even noted that my wings were a bit sparse on sauce so she went back to the kitchen for more. I love a pro-active waitress!

I would say Norton's classifies as a sports bar. They have a decent number of flat screens positioned throughout the place without it being overwhelming. Being a relatively new bar, and in a suburb, its not what you would call 'brimming with character', but its clean and unobnoxious. A bit surprisingly, there are no pool tables or darts despite the large size of the bar. Good food, a good selection of beer and a good game on the tube is enough to keep one busy here though.

I definitely plan to be back. I think cupcake and I are in agreement that its our current fave of the pubs close to home. Not that that is saying much. Poor Kingwood/Humble/Atascocita. We live in a veritable pub wasteland up here, but we will keep a stiff upper lip and carry on. Norton's will certainly help.


The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

BREW & 'QUE

Had to rub this in for Cupcake since he's man-handling his monkey at work today. Meanwhile I'm enjoying a few Coffee Porters and spending 15 hours hovering over the smoker pit. Brisket and ribs on the menu for tomorrow. You're welcome Georgey! ;)

Tun Tavern --- Atlantic City, NJ

Atlantic City, NJ…..Known for cahd playin’ and dice throwin’, but who woulda thought about a Brew-Pub? The Tun Tavern, located outside the Sheraton Convention Centa, just a few minutes walk from the casinos and outlet mall (The Walk).

NO, IT”S NOT JUST A TEXAS REVIEW BLOG…………..GEESHHHHHH

Anyway, back to the important stuff……BEER!!!!! Nice selection of beer on the board. You have everything from a light—“Golden Ale” to a full bodied—“Leather-Neck Stout”, round out that selection with their ass-kickin’ 9% abv. bahleywine—“Freedom Ale” and a seasonal Oktobafest—“Tunfest Lager”. I stahted out with the Stout…very creamy and tasty, followed it up with the Irish Red, which I found to be a little light-bodied, but otherwise a very tasty “Session” ale. It was here that the disappointment stahted. The very lovely bahtenda (one of many of the eye-catcha’s) asked the gentleman next to me if he wanted anotha Irish Red. “Yes, thank you”. She came back to tell him they were out and he ordered the stout. Next came me, “I’ll try the “All-American IPA”…..”I’m sorry, we’re out of that”. “Let me get this right, it’s Friday night and you’re already out of two ale styles going into the weekend”? “Yes, I know and if I run out of anotha, I will be embaressed”. OK, I ordered the “Devil Dog Pale”….which was excellent. So, I had planned on getting a growla of the Red and bringing it back to Texas so I could share with my bro and fellow blog admin guy (with nappy hair). I asked the bah cutie, “So, when I come back tomorrow, they should have anotha Irish Red tapped so I can take a growla home”? “No, the brewmasta doesn’t come in on the weekends”. Ah you freakin’ kidding me, it’s only FRIDAY? All weekend without 2 styles. POOR PLANNING DUDES!!!! I didn’t really yell at her, just in my simple mind.

Saturday evening, I go back to the TUN for a few more of their very descent brew. There’s a couple of those BIG Companies on tap for the other (ill informed) visitors. Here is where I give the KUDOS. The bah-HOT-tenda, came up and said, “Hey, how ah you? Will you be having the Irish Red again”? OMG, she remembered, afta seeing me once! Probably thought I was sexy! I said, “I thought you were out last night and the brewmasta wasn’t coming in”? “I’m not sure what happened, but they got more tapped”. Great news here and very smart on their part; I got the growla and myself and nappy-boy will be sampling it tomorrow.

If you’re up that way, definitely give it a STOP. The atmosphere is modern with brew vats and the brewing process explained. History of the TUN from Philadelphia is given and they are very sincere in their support of the US Marines as spelled out in TUN history (read it). You can expect musicians playing bah side or out on the deck on the weekends. Not much else going on unless you’re checking out the sports scene on the boob-tubes located around the bah. The food is typical Northern-American cuisine; serving up steaks, seafood, burgers, and traditional bah apps. There are also some great 2 for 1 dinner, drink and appetizer specials, depending on the day of the week. All this enjoyed with a mixed crowd of dudes and chicks, mostly late 20’s to 50’s. When all is said and done, before leaving, check out the merchandise shop and pick up a growler full of your tasty favorite, t-shirt, pint glass, etc. A nice addition of original colony history to this gambling, NJ shore city!!

Enjoy, as always, drink responsibly and Póg Mo Thóin!!!!

The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Beaver's - Houston

Last night was the monthly happy hour for our little group of industry friends. It was an ideal occasion for my first bar review. One of the standing rules for our industry friends happy hour (IFHH) is to try a new bar each month. This time we settled on a former ice house in the 6th Ward called Beaver's. Hearing the name the first time, my first thought was... "sounds like some cheesy, lame facsimile of an already tacky national chain of restaurants".... but that's a whole other review. Luckily the names are where the similarities end.

Beaver's is one many bars that seem to be reproducing like rabbits along the Washington Ave corridor. This transitional neighborhood is actually much less shady than I expected, thankfully. Inside the bar the atmosphere is somewhat bland and character-free with the exception of some of the beavery knick-knacks in the hallway to the restrooms. Apparently Canadians need to be 'kept busy'. Who knew?! (Maybe one of our Novie friends can enlighten us on that.) There is roughly an equal amount of seating outside and in, shade is provided by umbrellas outside on large picnic tables. Outside of dining, drinking and chatting there is little else available to distract one's self here. The clientele seemed to be an unassuming mix of just-off-work professionals, some families and some less easily type-cast average folk.

I think we as a group were all very happy with the service. Our waitress 'Y' was extremely friendly and helpful. ... very personable and constantly checking on us. I did find out that the wait staff is not trained in beerology..... very unfortunate. Lucky for us though, Y is a fellow beer lover and was very knowledgeable. As for the beer selection, I think both Cupcake and I were pleased. Not that we expected a wall of taps, but we definitely like to see a vareity of good beers. Oddly, Beavers' only has 2 or 3 taps. Not quite sure what the point is. BUT they have at least 40 good beers in bottle. Even better, there was no pisswater on the menu! RESPECT! We did find out later that they do in fact carry pisswater, but at least they are rightfully ashamed enough of it to keep it off the menu.

On to the food. I've read that Beaver's is owned by one or more owners of respected local restaurants. Honestly, this surprises me. One would think seasoned restauranteurs could do a better job of avoiding being 'out of' major menu items. We had 2 or 3 cases of this occur. Overall there was a mixed response to the food we ordered, the majority of which were appetizers. Some were good (check out the Spam Nugz...seriously!), others not so good. There is quite a bit of bbq on the menu, but being a bbq snob as much as I am a beer snob, I avoided the bbq entirely. Its just safer that way. True, good bbq is hard to find... especially in Houston. My advice to any restaurant.... if you're not a FULLY dedicated 'bbq joint', don't waste your, and my time. And PLEASE spare us all those southeastern or St Louis styles of bbq... LAME! This is Texas! One of the few things we can genuinely do well here is bbq. So why screw around with any lesser form of bbq here? One last parting shot on Beaver's food, now that I'm wound up... no chicken sandwich is worth $15. Please! ..and in the 6th Ward?! Please again! Don't kid yourself... its just bar food.

In conclusion, I would say its a decent bar to hang out at occasionally. Not a potential 'favorite bar', but certainly worth checking out.

The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Flying Saucer - Houston

Ok, here is a fine establishment located in the Downtown area of Houston for you people interested in tempting the palate with one of the multitude of beer (pronounced Be-ah) styles available. If you're one of those that orda their beer utilizing only the first three lettas of the actual BIG BEER company, this place isn't for you. Don't offend the bahtenda who probably has to go to some dahk closet to get it for you and then force the rest of us to sit and watch. This place is for serious BEER drinkas only. The bah wall is adorned with just under 100 taps of pure goodness and the chilled closets hold some 200 bottle varieties of god-like nectar. The styles available ah pretty much anything a serious beer drinka would be interested in throwing back.
How do you get it, you ask? Well if it were me, I'd sit at one of the many tables in the floor area or in the loft and flag down one of those pieces of eye candy that is eaga to wait on you. BTW, these aren't just any wait staff, these girls are well-trained "Beer Goddesses". Whetha your a REAL BEER virgin or a returning connoisseur, these kilt wearing babes can inform and retrieve all that ALES you. There's nothing more impressive than a girl that knows her beer, and they definitely do! Kudos FS, kudos! Those of us that ah not virgins expect to pay a little more for the good stuff. So what can you expect? Well, a typical pint will run $4.50; the fancier style and ABV% will increase your cost and decrease your wallet all the way to the most expensive Mead at a whopping $35. Don't "cac" yourself yet, they make good by offering 22 oz. "biggie" beers during their Tues-Thurs, 4-7 Happy Hour & Fri 4-8. Also, educate yourself and hit a "Brewery Nite", or "Tap Nite" for all the latest offerings. For the real playas, join the UFO club, drink 200 (3 per nite) and get your well-earned plate on the wall of fame!
So, all this necta gives me the munchies. The FS offers non-traditional, simple bah food. What the hell is that, right? If you're looking for a burga, forget it. Replace that craving with a Brat samich, Brat nachos, Goat cheese pizza, Chicken samich with pesto-mayo, Hot wings, Beer-cheese soup or Meat & cheese trays, to name a few. One thing I do guarantee is NO cheapo ingredients; La Baccia buns, habanero sour-cream, & jalapeno vinairgrette round out these tasties. You can expect about average bah prices or slightly above to cure your hunga.
Wrapping up this exciting review for me is letting you know that the FS has a pubish look and feel, with a loud, sausage-fest corporate crowd and peaks of cleavage here and there not including the goddesses. Astros fans are a plenty on game night and the FS is a great place to meet-up prior to walking over to Minute Maid or sit and view on the TV's strategically located. If that's not your fancy, play a game of dahts with your bros or broettes or act like a child and play one of the video games.
It's been a pleasure to view and review the "Flying Saucer" for you. I hope you've learned something and if not, then you're not worthy anyway or just need to go see for yourself. This is the first of many reviews myself and my other beer bros and babes will share. As always, drink responsibly and Póg Mo Thóin!!!!


The Brew Card
Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

FRANNY'S BRILLIANT IRISH JOKE

Paddy had been drinking at his local Dublin pub all day and most of the night celebrating St Patrick’s Day.

Mick, the bartender says, “You’ll not be drinking anymore tonight Paddy”.

Paddy replies “Right Mick, I’ll be on my way then.” Paddy spins around on his stool and steps off and falls flat on his face. “Shoyte” he says and pulls himself up by the stool and dusts himself off. He takes a step towards the door and falls flat on his face again. “Shoite, Shoite!” He knows if he can just get to the door and some fresh air he’ll be fine. He belly crawls to the door and sticks his head outside and takes a deep breath of fresh air, feels much better and takes a step out onto the pavement and falls flat on his face. “Be’Jayses… I’m fockin’ focked”. He can see his house just a few doors down, and crawls to the door, hauls himself up and shimmies inside. He crawls up the stairs to his bedroom door, then to the bed and says “Fock it” and manages to crawl into bed.

The next morning his wife comes into the room carrying a cup of coffee and says, “Paddy. Did you have a bit to drink last night?”.

Paddy says, “That I did. I was fockin’ p*ssed. But how’d you know?”

“Mick the barman just phoned me . . . you left your wheelchair at the pub.”

COOOOLD BEER HERE!!!!

So FINALLY, After a VERY LONG hiatus, beer is back on tap at the Boettner-Hand household. Honeywheat and Coffee Porter.... the old stand-bys. Come getcha some.

PROLOGUE (the background bits you might want to know)

Recently, under the threat of a swift blow to the back of my head with a shillelagh, I was forced to promise to NEVER chug a leprechaun's pint when he so kindly offered me a small sip. Jeez, that's the last time I'll EVER ask one of those snotty little bastards where I can get a decent beer. Hence, I have created this blog to help avoid another embarrassing beating. And if it helps you too.. eh, I guess that's ok. Whatever.

So what's it all about you ask? Well, lets see... this is the jist of it. I like good beer. I like hanging out with my friends. I like a cool place to hang out, drink good beer and bullshit with my friends. One would think that combination wouldn't be too difficult to pull off. For the most part that is true, but I guess some might say I like to make things difficult. I would disagree though. I just like what I like, and I'm too opinionated (and too old) to put up with anything less than what I like. Life is too short. So that, in a nutshell, is why I decided to create this blog.

My intent is to create a record and review of bars, pubs and dives in Houston, as well as those I may visit while travelling. Each blog will hopefully include some of my experience at the bar in question, and a review to help me, and other like-minded friends, to decide whether I/we will return... or avoid it like the plague.

Joining me will be some contributing beer drinker/critics.... friends of mine. They're all punks, lushes, ball-busters and heathens... you know... good people. You can trust them to point you straight when it comes to decent bars... I think... I guess we'll see.

So on to the rules. I want to set up guidelines in order for there to be some method and pattern to these reviews. I do expect there will be changes and hopefully improvements on this method over time. First off, I would like some basic data.... the name of the bar, where its located, impressions and noteworthy experiences. A photo or two of the bar and the visit would be nice as well. Then, as you will see below, there is a list of aspects I would like the bar to be graded on. Each of these aspects I would like some specific details as well as a grade. I like the idea of a grade from 1 to 10. 1 being the worst, 10 being the best. Kinda like ranking women. ;) Ladies, feel free to give me a smack for that... I like it. ;)

Anywhoozle, here are things I would like the bars to be graded on. Please feel free to throw out suggestions... I can't think of everything!

1) Atmosphere

2) Service

3) Beer selection

4) Prices

5) Stuff to do (i.e. darts, pool, tv, jello wrestling ring, etc)

6) Food

7) Clientele

An aggrogate score will then be created from the list above to give an overall score. Again in a ranking between 1 and 10.

That's it in a nutshell. Hopefully not too complicated. Time to get started. Be sure to leave comments!!! If I'm going to this much trouble, you'd better throw out an opinion or two. Slackers.

I gotta go.

~S