I met up with Lee from In My Tummy the other night so that we could enjoy a few beers together and let our husbands get to know each other too. They both like really good beer, apparently, and that’s as good a reason as any to go drink some!

Aren’t they cute?

Some of these pictures are yoinked from her own account of the evening, check it out!

Anyway, on to the booze! We met at The Brick Store, which was crazy busy even for a Monday night.

I started off with an Allagash Curieux, an interesting beer that is aged in bourbon barrels, it actually retains a slight hint of bourbon flavor! I didn’t love it, there was something cloudy and waxy about it, still enjoyable though. Jeff had one of his usuals, Chimay Blue, which I love as well.

We we super hongry. I got a turkey sandwich with smashed avocado and a salad with basil dressing.

Jeff had the roast beef sandwich with more spicy mustard than is right for any one person!

I was eyeing Lee’s hummus plate.

After we were sufficiently fed we could move on to round two. I got the St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and Jeff switched to scotch.

There was a slight mix-up with our order and we ended up getting a free round in apology. It was super-nice of them to do that, but man we did not need those extra beers!

We had a great time talking about all kinds of stuff. A lot about blogging, of course, but much much more too.

It was a fun double date. I am always reminded that I should do this kind of stuff more often.

Thanks guys for a fun night!

January 19, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

So after checking out the snow yesterday Jeff got a tweet notifying him that The Brick Store was open and packed.

I don’t know what we were thinking, but somehow we got the crazy idea to walk the 1.3 miles in the ice to grab a few beers once Jeff finished work for the day.

It was treacherous the whole way, and quite a workout! We caught sight of a bunch of kids sledding down a street into what would normally have been a very busy intersection, now deserted.

We watched them for a while, then started our trek uphill to The Brick Store.

The Marlay brought out their “white tablecloth” service…

No where to stop for a break…

Onward to our final destination…

The Brick Store is Decatur’s crowning glory. It is consistently rated among not only the best pubs in Georgia or even the States, but among the best in the world.

With their selection of brews numbering in the hundreds, their highly knowledgeable staff, and stellar pub food, it’s truly no wonder it is so highly reviewed.

Jeff and I both ordered the Brasserie Dupont’s Avec les Bons Voeux first.

It was refreshing and citrusy. You’d think I’d want something dark and warming after that long trek to get there, but somehow this was exactly what I needed.

We ordered dinner too. I got a grilled turkey sandwich on rye with spicy mustard and a side salad with basil dressing.

Jeff got a roast beef sandwich with “chips.”

He puts that house-made spicy mustard on everything.

After dinner we had another round. This time Jeff got a scotch, Cragganmore.

And I tried a St. Bernardus variety that I haven’t had before, the Watou Tripel.

It was good, it had that sort of balmy filmy quality you get from oily citrus zest. Jeff’s scotch was good too, pretty smooth and honeyed.

After that it was time to head back. The roads had become even more icy at this point.

I actually slipped once and hit my hip pretty hard, I’ve got a nice bruise to show for it today.

We had a really good time though, typically we are not people that walk a mile+ in the snow and ice to go have a beer when we could just stay at home, but I’m really glad we did it, it was a fun little adventure.

January 11, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments

You know what I like? I like drinking beer in the afternoon, that’s what.

We both really needed to get out of the house for a while today so we hit up Leon’s for a beverage or two. (All of these photos were taken on an iPhone, so sorry if they aren’t the best.)

We both had a glass of the Gouden Carolus Noel, a spicy almost licorice-flavored beer that was thick and sticky. We also had the following munchies: firstly, the standard side of frites with garlic aioli. (They always give us a side of smoked tomato mayo too, I wonder if it’s just not popular and they’re trying to push it?)

Best fries in town though, no joke.

Nextly: We ordered one of their newer offerings, the pork rillettes with orange marmalade:

A rillettes is essentially meat cooked confit (in fat) then potted and sealed with more fat to preserve it. You just spread it on bread and kronch right into it…

The orange marmalade sounded weird but it was really what made the dish. It cut through the fat with a bright citrus punchiness. There was also a line of pork seasoning sprinkled down the back side of the plate that you can’t see in the picture. Mixed with the marmalade, it was quite the robust flavor to slather over the luscious rillettes.

We demolished it, as expected…

Every time we go to Leon’s we end up ruining our dinner with all the amazing snack options they have. After all that and two rounds of beer, it’ll be 9:00 before I’m thinking about dinner! Totally worth it though for a fun date with my bebeh. 😀

December 23, 2010 Alayna Discussion 2 comments