So holidays are over. But the voyage continues

Those of you know who me personally will no doubt have been driven demented by my buildup to my holiday with Mrs IrishBeerSnob to the USA this past few weeks. So now we are home, and the jet lag wearing off I am making this post.

A view of the new building under construction at the site of the World Trade Centre, Downtown Manhattan.
Taken from Battery Park which is undergoing works after Hurricane Sandy.

This whole concept of a blog about beer without the BS was just I suppose my way of sharing my opinions on beers, especially the craft beer, and harder to find stuff, without all the jargon and stuff you some times find in other places. That isn't to say I don't enjoy reading that stuff, but I suppose i'm looking for something a bit more concise and to the point.

Over the next few weeks, months, years, who knows, i hope to evolve this blog to encompass some of my other passions, mainly food, whether its looking at places to eat, or even recipes etc, pubs themselves, both the mainstream places, and the not so mainstream places.  So watch out I am making a list and i could be in your premises soon. 

One thing that amazes me is the growth in the Irish market for Craft Beer, www.beoir.org has published some amazing statistics and is a fantastic point of reference. Plus its a really friendly community (though i'm only a lurker at the moment) but i'm definitely interested in the homebrew side. But it staggers me when I visit friends/family in the UK the vibrancy of their market - local pubs serving locally made (within 10 miles) ales, and beers. Its fantastic. 

But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with the USA, in Ireland we are the closest geographically to the USA and their beers have been steadily making their way here; Sierra Nevada, Rogue, Widmer Brothers etc. I was blown away again, both in New York where one bar had 12 lines of Sierra products, half of which i'd never even heard of, to a pub in the middle of the main tourist drive of Orlando with beers made in Tampa. Fantastic. It truly is amazing and as a result no surprise that some of the bigger brewers are looking to acquire the micro and craft brewers to add to their stables. 

The sunset at Clearwater Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida

Anyway, thats a lot of waffle, trying some beauties like Kona Longboard on Draft, as well as Widmer Bros Alchemy was a pleasure, and very reasonably priced at $5.99 a pint ($4.99 during happy hour) at the Bloodhound Brew IDrive, at the WhirleyDome bowl. To those who are asking What the F*** is Whirleyball, its a crazy cross between Lacross, Dodgems, and Basketball. Its good for team building to slam your car into your boss apparently. Anyway, they'd the usual suspects Bud etc on draft but they had the above standouts plus Mrs Beer Snobs new favour Orange Blossom Pilsner. Definitely not what you'd expect to find in such a touristy area. But it seemed every place had at least one or two on draft and plenty of bottles to choose from. 



So what now from here. Well this friday we're going to check out the Harbourmaster in the IFSC and assess their claim to the best wings in Dublin, now those who know me, know I know my wings. So I promise to check in regularly from now on.