THE COCKTAIL HOUR: St. Pete Pub Crawl, Part Two

Last week, we took you along for our warm-up pub crawl in St Petersburg, Florida. Today, we delve in a little deeper, hitting four pubs and a pizza joint. All are within a block from our hotel, in fact, we just walked across the street, went up one block, crossed over to the next one, and walked back to the hotel...all in one square block.

Easy walking and easy drinking.

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Another good thing about the bars along this route is that they seem to be in a perpetual happy hour during the daylight hours. I know, but we're beyond our nightlife days and enjoy an earlier party life now.

First stop, the Del Mar Gastro Lounge.  Almost all the bars on our walk had $2 beer specials on select varieties. Here, one of those varieties is Rolling Rock so it's a little better than the usual Bud or Coors Light specials you see. They're also 16 ounce tall boys, which went well with the pulled pork sliders we got to go with them.

The sliders and beer were delicious, cheap, and the cold beer really hit the spot in this Florida heat.

Next up is Mastry's, which is the alcohol pouring outpost of Mastry's sportfishing not far from here over on the bay. According to the signs inside, this is the city's oldest bar...and also voted the best dive bar in St. Pete.

I'd have to conduct a much deeper investigation to see if that's true but it is a nice, dark, cash-only spot where we get a shot of whiskey and some wine...served in disposable plastic cups.

Back out into the light and up the block, it's the Five Bucks Drinkery. The name says it all, although my drink...a Captain Morgan on the rocks...was considerably less at $3.

Letty met a couple of friendly dogs here, too.

Coming around the corner into the home stretch,  MacDinton's Irish Pub has just opened for the day. Inside, to the strains of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, we have some beer and Jameson shots while having a lively discussion with the bartenders.

Lastly, it's Pacifico and slices of cheese pizza at Joey Brooklyn's about 100 feet from the hotel lobby. the Pacifico is good as always, the pizza...well...it'll do.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: St. Petersburg Pub Crawl, Part 1

We can't come to a fun, Florida city like St. Pete and not try some of the local watering holes. This city is full of places to go have fun and that included their purveyors of adult beverages. 

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It took a couple of days and we really didn't stray much more than a block from our hotel so we could walk, with maybe a stumble or two, the entire way.

We're starting off in what in no way can really be called a pub. The Annex 400 is a lunch counter, plain and simple, but they do serve beer and wine. We're starting here because we can get some of their great, inexpensive food in our stomachs before we start.

It's a nice, fat mug of cold Blue Moon with the requisite slice of orange in it to get us started.

Just around the corner is the Thirsty First Lounge, a day drinkers delight morphing into a loud, live music joint later in the day. It's just this side of the nice side of being a dive bar but the bartenders and locals are a friendly bunch, not to mention their prices are unbelievable...$3 well drinks and select  beers are also $3 until 7:00pm.

Some whiskey sours and Shocktop beers set us on our way.

On the other side of our hotel, on Central Avenue, we end up at Caddy's, one of those ubiquitous Florida joints with the live band playing outdoors like you'd see in Key West.

Their three dollar Moscow mules will put us in the mood to finish the day back on the waterfront at the sunset happy hour at the rooftop Canopy bar overlooking Tampa Bay.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Denver Pub Crawl, Part 1

Colorado bills itself as the "Napa Valley of Beer." With over 100 microbreweries and a couple of major ones...including the massive Coors complex in Golden...the nickname is apt.

Kind of like Munich, you're never going to hit all the spots you want but we'll make an effort all the same.  We did hit enough bars and breweries that we'll have to split this into two parts with the finale coming next week.

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Our first stop was actually not a planned stop.We couldn't find the first one (we rectify that with next week's episode) and the second, Pint's Pub, has no wheelchair access.


Walking along 16th Street Mall, we step into the first bar we see that doesn't look like a chain. That's how we ended up at the Paramount Cafe, the bar and restaurant attached to the Paramount Theater.


It's dark with a lot of red lighting inside.  It's also Happy Hour so we're able to get a little break on the price.  Letty has the house beer, a Big Nose Brewery Wheat ale that is brewed next door.  Tim and I have the New Belgium Trippel.  You might be more familiar with this Boulder, Colorado's other beer brand, Fat Tire Ale.

Both are very good and as a bonus, we get to meet Denver Robo Mike, a fixture on the 16th Street roster of street performers.  He's taking a break and we get to have a beer with him and chat about the NBA.


Next, we walk over to the Brown Palace Hotel, an absolutely beautiful, century old hotel that features a stained glass roof, its own artesian well, wrought iron railing, and the clubby Ship Tavern tucked into a corner off of the lobby.

In this dark little wood-paneled room, we try a Warsteiner from Germany that tasted a little skunky, the Avalanche Ale from local Breckenridge Brewery, and a glass of 10 year old port from Graham's.  See the video above for some more from the hotel, which is an amazing place.

Our last stop this day is another Happy Hour at the Apaloosa Grill back on 16th Street.  Here, all Colorado brews are only $3 a pint during Happy Hour, so I try a New Belgium Blue Paddle Ale, Letty gets the house merlot, and we share a shot of Casa Noble Crystal tequila.  All very good.

That's it for today, be sure to watch the video above for much more detail about the pubs we visited and come back next week as we dig a little deeper into the local beer scene here in Denver.

-Darryl

The Cocktail Hour: Halifax Pub Crawl

We were told that Halifax has more pubs per one thousand people than any other city in Canada. I guess we should try a few while we're here.

Let's start with the 2 Crows Brewery, which is right next door to our hotel. Beers a bit overhoppy for us but it's fun to go next door with a couple of beers and throw axes at the wall at Halimac.

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Another stop we enjoyed better was the Stubborn Goat Beer Garden, on Halifax's waterfront. This is a nice place with good beer to enjoy the activities on the water when the weather is nice although I'd call it more of a patio than a beer garden.

Onto actual pubs that we visited, we start off with the Split Crow Pub which sits at the entrance to a small pedestrian mall on Granville Street at the north end of downtown. It's a bit tight inside with the wheelchair so we sit in the small patio out front.

It's happy hour so we take advantage to get cheap glasses of Molson Canadian and Garrison Red along with Letty's wine. I like the red, Tim likes the Canadian.

Up the hill across from the Citadel is the Halifax Ale House. It's an ancient looking bar but it's only been in business since the 1960's. The building is indeed old (1893) but it used to be a church for the Salvation Army.

Keith's Red is my pour while Letty gets a giant mug of Hoegaarden and Tim goes with a Leffe blonde. We each think our selection is the best.

Next, we'll pop back down to the waterfront and visit Halifax Distilling Company. On our outing to Lundenburg, we missed out on the rum distillery there because of Hurricane Dorian related issues (basically the staff used it as an excuse to take an extra day off). Luckily, there's a good rum maker right here in downtown Halifax.

We taste a selection of their rums going from light to dark and including spiced varieties. It's all good and we take a bottle of the black and another of their chocolate rum to take home.

Next it's up to the lively climes of Argyle Street and Durty Nelly's which has a nifty side entrance for wheelchairs to avoid the old steps built into the main door. It's another Keith's Red for me and wine for Letty. Tim's going back to Coke at this point.

We're finishing up down the block at The Pint Pub, a much larger facility that includes a rooftop patio (that's not wheelchair accessible, unfortunately). We finish with a forgettable Olan lager, Fireball and Captain Morgan shots.

That's it from our drinking tour in one of Canada's most pub friendly cities. 

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: The Calgary Pub Crawl

It took us a little while to find where the pubs and bars of Calgary were but Stephen Avenue in downtown was filled to overflowing with all the watering holes having extensive happy hours there.

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While we didn't have time to partake in the beginning, we finally got around to doing a crawl before we left but then we found out why the pubs were so crowded on the preceding days...the weather was gorgeous, fall, "perfect temperature", outside weather and Calgarians were spending what would be the last of that great weather on their patios.

Patios to Calgary are what biergartens are to Munich...great, outdoor drinking spots where local go to mingle and imbibe.

Our day was decidedly chillier and most of those Calgarians seemed to be home in front of a cozy fireplace.  No worries, we're still out and about, let's go see what we can find...

Starting off nextdoor to the hotel, we're at a popup beer garden put up by the National restaurant chain at evJunction, a container park with little shops in each shipping container and entertainment via a local hip hop group.

The selection is a little limited, a blonde and a berry based brew are the canned choices here, and Tim and I lean toward the blonde while Letty likes the berry beer.

The C-Train gets us over to Stephen Avenue where we hit three more pubs, all within a block of each other.

Our first stop is Bank and Baron, a huge pub in a former bank. The bartender invites us to go to the basement to see the old vault and take pictures.

Tim and Letty go with the mimosas which are on special this day while I get my Molson Canadian fix. 

Yeah, it's a cheap beer but it's better than most of our cheap beers back home.

Across the street, we visit the James Joyce Irish pub. 

Here, we find a little privacy at a wheelchair-accessible nook near the entrance (while their 'secret' wheelchair accessible bathroom also comes in handy mid drinkathon).

Tim goes fruity with a strawberry colada, Letty goes with their special Moscow Mule, while I have a reserve Canadian Crown Royal whiskey shot with a Shock Top beer chaser (picture at the top of this post).

We end up around the corner at the Palomino Smokehouse where we have the best, juiciest brisket we've ever had. Seriously delicious food here.

As for drinks, Letty has a Rock Creek cider and I go for a local craft brew, a Big Rock Traditional Ale.

From here, it's not a long walk back to the hotel. Wobbly, maybe, but not far.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Carson Valley, Nevada, Pub Crawl

On the block of our hotel in Gardnerville, Nevada...just a few miles south of Carson City on highway 395...were six bars. Tim noted that celestial alignment and suggested we do a pub crawl for the Cocktail Hour here at The World on Wheels.

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Duly noted, we struck out to see what we could find. Alas, our livers were only up for three pubs while we were there, here they are...

We started at the last minute of happy hour, 6:59pm, at the Silver Dollar Bar in Sharkey's Casino, so called because of the hundreds of silver dollars embedded into the bar. It's two bucks for the house wine or a glass of Hamm's beer. Letty has the wine, I have the beer.

I'm glad I only paid a couple of bucks for it.

Next, it's up the street to JT Basque bar and restaurant. At this sheepherder's bar, it's picon punch all around. A very good version of it, too. 

I win five bucks on the bar's slot machine and then we make our way out to the last destination.

The French Bar, across the street, has been pouring drinks for the thirsty shepherds for 80 years. There used to be a hotel upstairs, too, but it is mostly apartments and offices now.

I have a whiskey sour and Tim has an 805 ale. Now and again, the barflies chat a bit with us as we wait for Letty to catch up with a glass of the house red wine.

We'd planned on going to at least two more, but that's about all we have room for on this trip. Maybe next time we can try the Overland...built in a former fire station...or the craft bar up the street where you can work on crafts while you drink your drafts.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: St Patrick's Day Gold Line Pub Crawl

Highland Park Bowl (click on the play button - 10 seconds)

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed)  What were we thinking trying to do a pub crawl on one of the busiest drinking days of the year? Yeah, I admit, those thoughts were in my head but I couldn't get everyone in the party to commit to any other days so here we are, heading out on the Gold Line light rail train for a day of bar-hopping amidst the crowds of temporary Irish.

Metro's kind of dropping the ball for us today, too. Their attitude is why would anyone want to take the train instead of driving on this very busy day of revelry? At least that's what it seems like as they're doing a lot of maintenance on the tracks with trains only coming by every 20 minutes instead of the 6-10 minutes they usually do on weekends. Plus, they're only running 2-car trains instead of 3 making for some very crowded trains today.

30 seconds

Well, let's see if we can still make the best of the situation...

There are eight of us on this crawl today. In the best of times, it's always like herding kittens trying to keep people moving along. This will be a challenge but I'm up to it! We just miss the train so it's a 20 minute wait on the platform until the next one, then a 45 minute ride to our first destination, Tacos El Hermano, sitting next to the Pico/Aliso station in East L.A.

We'll fill our tummies with Mexican food here before throwing all the alcohol in later. Back on the train, we go one stop to Little Tokyo and walk one block south to our first drinking stop, Angel City Brewery.

This massive, former steel cable factory (it made the cables for the Brooklyn Bridge) has a wide-open floor plan where drinkers can hunker down into various corners, play games, or sit at the picnic tables facing out the patio doors where food trucks come by to serve their wares.

To me, the beer is a bit medicine-ny...a bit to herby and harsh...but there are a few gems on the tasting menu. The blonde is an easy choice to make if nothing else sparks your fancy.

Moving along, we get back on the train for our second stop. I give my brothers-in-law a choice of destinations and they pick Highland Park Bowl, a short block from the Highland Park station.

L.A.'s oldest operating bowling alley (since 1927), the Bowl underwent an extensive makeover in 2016. It is in a word, stunning.

With a bit of a steampunk vibe, old bowling equipment  is used as decoration throughout. Old pinsetters have been repurposed as chandeliers over the bars (two!) behind the eight lanes. Ball return mechanisms hold the top shelf liquor bottles. Walls have been removed to allow us to see the current pin setting machinery at work (click play on the video at the top of the post to take a look).

While much was done, a lot was left undone on purpose such as the raw plaster walls and the old wooden stairway railings leading to the restrooms upstairs (a ground-level restroom serves guests with special needs).

It's a few Jameson shots chased by PBRs for the guys and Moscow mules for the ladies as we squeeze into the booth before making our way back to the station.

Next, it's on to South Pasadena where we're headed for our only Irish pub of the day, Griffins of Kinsale. It's just four doors away from the station. It's packed, standing room only, and a very loud band is play David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars."

I love it but I turn around and see that I have lost the rest of the party. I go back outside and they're on the sidewalk..."it's too loud," they say. Oh well, instead we opt for the quieter confines of Nicole's around the corner.

This French store and cafe serves us well while we're here in South Pas. The ladies have a glass of the house chardonnay while the guys have a glass of Craftsman lager before getting back on board.

The next stop is a little more like it. Near the Memorial Park station in Old Pasadena, we find The Blind Donkey pub and have some sour gose beer.  The two staff members are a bit overwhelmed by the holiday merry makers so service was a bit lacking.

The beer was good, though.

Next stop was the Arcadia station and the Vendome liquor store across the street. Usually at this point, we would head to Mt. Lowe Brewery down the back alley but they were having an indoor kids movie festival today while Vendome (which has a nice little beer bar up front) was serving Irish specialties.

I forgot all about that, though, as I had a Belgian quad (name escapes me) while we exchanged bar info and restaurant information with the bartender who was glad to finally see some customers in his little bar that day.

One more stop as we end the day in Azusa at the Catholic school themed Congregation Ale House and brewery here for dinner outside on their patio while we all tipsily recount the day.

That's it from our latest crawl, maybe we'll catch you on the next one.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018
All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Island Margaritas on a Budget, a Catalina Happy Hour Pub Crawl

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) We've got an afternoon to kill here in Avalon. Tomorrow, we'll do a little more on the active side here on Catalina Island. Today, we'll explore the bars and pubs along Crescent Avenue, the main waterfront thoroughfare of the city.

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Avalon is not a big place, in fact you can walk from end to end in a matter of minutes. That's what we're going to do. We've had a good lunch at Antonio's Pizza and Cabaret. Now, we're headed beyond the Casino.

34 years ago, when I brought Letty over here to propose, we spent the afternoon having drinks and snorkeling off the shore at Descanso Beach Club, one of the very few (if not the only) private beaches in California. It seems like a good place to start off at.

Well, it seemed good but we waited awhile. Server after server walked by our table without so much as a "Hi" or "I'll be right with you." Enough, we get up and start leaving when a young woman server comes up and says "what'll you have?"

"Nothing...we give up. We've been here 15 minutes waiting for you to take our order."

"But I'm here now," she protests.

"Sorry, too late," I tell her. "We've got better things to do with our limited time."

With the club behind us, it's back to Crescent Avenue. Happy hours start as early as 11am here but it's a bit later than that now.  At the other end of town, just up Clarissa Avenue a couple of doors, is Mi Casita. You probably won't be surprised that it's a Mexican restaurant.

$7.50 is their happy hour price for a large house margarita or you can choose a flavor. Just for kicks, I get a pineapple margarita on the rocks.  It's decent but on the sweet side.

Tim one ups me there by getting their very large dulce de leche ice cream sundae for his happy hour snack.

Around the corner, facing the sea, is El Galleon which is owned by Antonio's, where we had lunch. 

It's also $7.50 for their house margarita, served in a highball glass. It's a bit on the weak side but better when I add another shot to it.

I find that they have an outstanding Cadillac margarita, though, at only $2 more. Larger, tastier, and stronger...it's a darn good version of this drink.

Our last stop is the Catalina Cantina, a few doors north of El Galleon. This is the cheapest happy hour margarita on Catalina at only $4 and...you know what?...it's also the best. 

Very tasty and strong (but I asked the server to make it that way). Letty topped off the day with a glass of chardonnay. Nice place, great prices, and some friendly people hanging out here as well.

That was our afternoon of seeking out cheap libations on the island. It's a good way to make your cash go a long way on this expensive rock in the ocean.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: A Hometown Gold Country Pub Crawl

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed)  We had some visitors recently and Tim and I had slowly been working on a new pub crawl in Ione, California, so this seemed like a good time to finish it off.

Ione is in the Motherlode region of the state, in Amador County, but has never been a gold mining town. Instead, early settlers of this town (founded in 1848) realized that their path to riches was in selling supplies to the miners instead.

Many parts of the town are supposedly haunted, especially the imposing Preston Castle...a former juvenile detention center looming on a hill over the town...but we're here searching for another kind of spirit.

There are five places to drink in this down...six if you count the Mexican restaurant where you can get beer and wine to to with your food...and we'll be hitting four of them. The fifth is a little over a mile away at the clubhouse of the local golf course. It's a little far, at just over a mile away, for walking. The rest are all in a two block stretch of Main Street.

Our first stop might be a better place to end up but, since they close early at 5pm, we're going there first. Mane Street Tack Shop might seem like an unusual place to start a pub crawl. Heck, it is an unusual spot.

Here, in a store full of saddles, bridles, ropes, boots, chaps, and more equipment for the equine, you'd hardly look for a spot for drinking. Don, the owner, has other ideas, though.

A contractor in addition to tack shop owner, Don took some unused space in the back of the store and built himself a little party space. Through swinging saloon doors, you'll enter what looks like the inside of a covered wagon, with a bar on the right, a few tables to the left, and a TV showing old westerns nonstop in the back.

Instead of bar stools, there are saddles to sit on.  A few feet at the end of the bar has a lowered counter for the wheelchairs.

Luckily for us, Don decided to share his hangout with the world and is open to the public on weekends.

In addition to being yet another Amador County wine tasting counter, you can buy a variety of wines and beers by the glass and hang out with Don while he regales you with modern cowboy stories.

Having whet our whistles, we cross over to the other side of Main Street and head to the town's only functioning hotel, the Ione Hotel.  In the lobby, the Burke Family Restaurant operates a saloon on the other side of the lobby from the dining room.

It's a bit warm as the air conditioner isn't up to completely cooling this space today. We have some wine and cold beer while Jerry Lewis, a retired Los Angeles Police officer plays as the bars musical entertainment for the day.

Moving on, we go back across the street to Tilly's Club, the city's dive bar. We love a good dive bar, especially up here in Gold Country, and Tilly's is a fine example. It's a few shots of tequila to go with some pints of 805 ale while we also load up on the free popcorn.

Gypsy, a friendly pit bull belonging to one of the other bar flies, comes over to hang out with us.

We're finishing up at the Ione Public House. Actually, it's the coffee corner which has become the temporary home of the pub while the actual pub is renovated and a brewery is added. Brothers Jeff and Mike Bligh also own this coffee house, along with the pub, so they've built a bar here and moved the taps for the duration.

It doesn't quite have the character of the pub but the beer's still cold and you have the added benefit of having pastries from the coffee shop available (pic at top of post).

It's been a fun crawl and now we have to crawl back home where we'll spend the rest of the evening sitting on the porch talking shit about each other...literally (you had to have been there). Fun times.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

A Trio Going for a Trio of Tapas, AKA Another Gold Line Pub Crawl

We doing something a little different. Instead of our usual Saturday night out-to-dinner, we've decided to take advantage of a rare spell of cooler weather here in Los Angeles.

In place of one big meal for dinner, we're heading out on the Gold Line light rail train to have a mini pub crawl, this one only visiting three stops where we'll have an appetizer and a drink before moving on.

First stop is at the Chinatown Station in downtown Los Angeles. We cross the street and head into some desolate looking territory.

No worries, though, because at the other end of that dusty lot is Highland Park Brewery.

Our app here is this delicious sausage plate featuring their mild housemade chorizo with some salsa verde, pickles, okra, and some very delicious slices of bread.

This, along with the house lager...Refresh beer...whets our appetite to continue on and get some more.

The next stop is the Highland Park Station, where a short walk takes us to...

...the Highland Park Bowl, a very retro cool bowling alley with a nice, overwhelming steampunk vibe to it.

App here is calamari, serviceable but not my favorite.

It's washed down with a wit beer made back in downtown L.A. at Boomtown Brewery, one of our favorites.

Back on the train to Pasadena where we get off in Old Pasadena and take the short walk to the Blind Donkey, a tavern that is starting to get a nice, divey sheen to it.

It's happy hour! Our discounted selection includes another wit beer, this one from Pasadena's own Craftsman Brewery, a pilsner from New Belgium, and a tequila sour.

This is our last stop so we pull out a few stops and have more than one app. Here's fritos and salsa with garlic parmesan fries.

Letty shared the fries with Tim and also had some elote.

Tim and I shared the fritos along with some delicious Vienna Beef corn dogs.

That's our limit today, so we hop back on the train to go home and watch the Angel game.

Stop by the Musick Channel Garage Sale to pick up your own copy of some of our classic vinyl LPs. Click on the link, above, for more.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved