One Day More...: October 2023

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Two More Craft Brewery Quests

This past weekend we hitched up the camper and went to an NRD (Natural Resources District) campground with no hookups near Valley, NE. It is late enough in the season that we were the only ones in the campground, which will close for the season on November 1st.

Our camper has one factory installed solar panel and we also use a folding panel. The camper came with two group 24 batteries and even with those there are limitations. Makes me wonder if a couple of AGM batteries may be a better choice. Also shown is the recent purchase of a Lectric ebike to use on the craft beer quests.

While there we checked out two more brewpubs on my continuing quest to find the best craft beers. On day one the first brewery was Jukes, located in Elkhorn.

Jukes has a modern and comfortable decor with a full kitchen.

While they did have a reasonable selection of beer, they did not have any stouts. I had their dark lager, which was very good.

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On day two we went to Heavy Brewery in Gretna, NE. Heavy Brewery is best described as a "Chuck-E-Cheese" for adults beer hall, set in a large industrial building with arcade games and food.

There was a reasonable selection of beer, however once again no porters or stouts. The Hefeweizen was the alternative choice.

They have a substantial pizza oven which proved to be a perfect fit with the beers.

The only drawback to the trip was the outrageous price of fuel as big oil continues to line their pockets.

Our weather is making a dramatic shift with freezing temps on the way and a forecast of snow for the weekend, which meant it was time to winterize the camper water lines with antifreeze. We'll see what that portends for any more camping. Bummer.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Congressional Clowns, One And All

And the clown participants from Nebraska (none of whom I thankfully voted for):

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Craft Beer Quest 3 and The Brewery Bubble

This past week was a continuation of the craft beer quest. On the first visit I was solo and traveled to Wayne, NE (pop. 5990) to the Johnnie Byrd Brewery.

I camped in the municipal RV park which was within walking distance to the brewery.

The taproom of the brewery is in a rather narrow room with a minimum decor, albeit comfortable.

There was a good selection of beer and I appreciated that they had some traditional beers to offset the flavored beers.

While I did sample their wheat and the Marzen I found both to be lacking in body and flavor of others I have tried. I would have liked to have tried the pilsner, unfortunately it was flavored with cucumber (why?!). Same goes for the porter, which they flavored with honey!

I did notice they offered a milk stout, however labeled it as being coffee-vanilla. Happy to say that any flavor added was so mild that it turned out to be a very drinkable stout.

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The next trip was with my wife and a return of sorts to the Stone Hollow Brewery in Beatrice, NE (pop. 12,000).

I say return of sorts because I had given up on the brewery from past visits. They had transitioned from having traditional craft beer to mostly flavored, included pickle flavored, vanilla wheat, tropical fruit wheat, honey kolsch, watermelon lager, smores stout and cookie porter. They usually have a light lager and an IPA, neither attractive to me.

I phoned the brewery and learned that they currently have a Milk Stout on tap. They confirmed that no additional flavors were added, so off we went, camping at the municipal park.

The brewery is located in a nicely renovated brick building, which is a major plus for visiting.

They do not serve food, however allow food to be brought in. The milk stout was perfect with a pizza.

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On the drive home while passing through a small town we noticed a sign on a building indicating the pending opening of a craft brewery. I've wondered how long this trend may last with the number of craft breweries starting up, including rural towns. Many are open only a couple days a week and most don't open until late in the afternoon. I wonder how long before the craft brewery bubble bursts. Until then I'll continue the quest to find the perfect craft beer in the perfect craft brewery.