Friday night, it was hot and I wanted something refreshing. I cracked open my bottle of Rock Art’s Sunny and 75. It’s classified by BeerAdvocate as a Saison, and that’s exactly what it was (the label said “ale brewed with spices”). The beer pours a fairly clear grassy yellow/amber color. It smells of spices and malts with a little yeast. The taste is crisp and refreshing. It’s got a nice crisp spiciness to it with a little malty sweetness to balance it out. It’s got a slight bready flavor, though I didn’t pour any of the yeast into the glass. It’s a perfect beer for a hot summer afternoon.
This afternoon (since I’m not going anywhere), I cracked open Rock Art’s IPA (II) Double IPA. I didn’t have high hopes for it as their regular IPA is pretty lackluster, but I was surprised. It pours a dark cloudy amber with a nice white head. It smells of hops and nothing but hops. The hops dominate the flavor as well, but it’s got a nice malt balance to it. The hops seem to be a mix of pine and grapefruit. It’s got a nice thick oily mouthfeel, yet it’s quite drinkable. I’m impressed.
One last note, and this is nothing in depth. Susan had her bottle of Arcadia’s Scotch Ale on Friday. I took 1 sip and enjoyed that sip. I can’t really say much else other than that it’s worth a try.
The title should be “What is up with music sites and lack of RSS?” I’m in the process of extending my regular web reading material outside the beer/Providence world and since I do have a thing for music, I was hoping to add some feeds to Google Reader. I started with phish.com and clicked the RSS link they have on their news page. It brings up a blank page. I wrote to the webmaster to have it fixed because I want to be kept updated on any new developments in the Phish reunion thing. I then went to Jambands.com as there are a couple columns there that I enjoy reading. No sign of RSS at all. To continue down the Phish reunion thing, I checked the Phantasy Tour Phish page for the news and rumors links and again, no sign of RSS. Finally, I went to Relix (knowing they do have feeds) and subscribed to their daily news and rumors feeds (the others just point to articles that are actually in the magazine, which I get at home).
Why is it, in this day and age of information flying at people, that some websites, posting constant updates, don’t have (working) RSS feeds? Can someone answer this for me?
Are there any music feeds that I should start reading? Things I enjoy… Phish, new bands, Providence/RI area bands, or just about anything (see my music links on my Links page for a good idea of the type of music I like).
Susan and I decided to check out Doherty’s East Ave. Irish Pub last night after hearing about it from some our beer buddies and reading some of the reviews on BA. All I have to say is “Wow!” The place is very unassuming… well, not true. It’s very assuming. It looks like a dive sports bar that serves nothing but light beer (though the big “Firkin Wednesdays” sign on the back of the building kind of gives it away). The inside has all sorts of random stuff on the walls from sports stuff (lots of Red Sox crap) to beer stuff to music stuff, as well as a bunch of local stuff. In front is the bar area, which was packed with people. The back has a bunch of tables and is more like a restaurant (and quieter), though there was a projector showing the Mets game last night.
The beer menu is the placemat. The front has a list of what’s on tap (looked to be 30-40 taps), along with their firkin tapping schedule. On either side is the new stuff (bottles and draft) and the stuff that’s almost gone (again, bottles and draft). I thought that was a nice touch. The back had the bottle list, which I would put at over 100. The majority of the beer was craft beer. In fact, aside from a few bigger imports (like Guinness), the draft beer was all craft beer. I ordered a Rogue Imperial IPA and Susan got the summer Odd Notion from Magic Hat (the grapefruit sour ale we tried at the brewery).
The food menu was impressive and had a wide range of stuff from traditional pub fare to some interesting pasta dishes and a bunch of wraps. I ordered the Rasta Pasta, which was basically a Caribbean-style pasta dish with jerk chicken and a chipotle sauce. It had quite the kick. Susan got the Pasta Jordan, which was basically a Bolognese style pasta dish. Both came with garlic bread. The portions were huge, but the food was excellent. While we were waiting for the food, the waitress brought us some corn muffins, which were also really good.
If you’re in the Providence-Pawtucket area, check out Doherty’s. It’s worth a stop and, in my opinion, the best beer bar in the state. Even if they don’t have all the Belgian beers that Track 84 does, they got the food (and I’m biased towards the crazy American beers anyway).
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