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Starkweather Beer Company

 When I moved back to Madison to attend law school in 1987, we moved to a crappy little apartment near the banks of Starkweather Creek on the unfashionable east side.  Today, the east side is booming, and one of the newer brewpubs is called Starkweather Beer Company. It was Saint Pat's Day.  While Guinness is a decent light-bodied stout, I opted for Starkweather's dry Irish Stout, named "Jamestown Jackdaw." Coming in at 5.9 ABV, it had a malty chewable backbone.  It's a new favorite stout for me.  Julia had Late Winter Haze, a New England IPA that didn't have as much fruitiness as she likes in a hazy.  It was still well-executed. We walked down the street to the Harmony Bar, where Julia enjoyed a complete corn beef and cabbage dinner.  I opted for the Reuben sandwich.  Mine was washed down with an Edmund Fitzgerald porter from Great Lakes Brewing.  Julia enjoyed her Chaos Pattern IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing.  Both are great beers. Justin update:   After a long h

Headed South

Last week, after a brief in-person check-in with Justin, Julia and I jumped in the car and started driving south. We were in search of warmer temperatures and new adventures after nearly a year of very little travel. As I previously mentioned, we are both fully vaccinated and plan to continue social distancing and wearing a mask when appropriate. 

The temperature actually dropped down to -5 F as we drove through Illinois. Clearly, we would have to go further south.


Five hours later, we left St. Louis in our rear view mirror. There was still a lot of snow on the ground. A few hours later in Memphis, the temperature warmed up into the 40’s. While the interstate was mostly clear of snow, the side streets had not been plowed.  After checking into an economy pet-friendly motel, we went searching for bbq.  Quite a few bbq joints were closed due to the weather and the water boil advisory (broken water mains) for most of the region, but we found that one of our favorites was still open.


We opted for carry-out and brought our food back to the room. Julia had pulled pork, while I opted for the beef brisket. We were in food heaven and almost forgot to save a bite for Callie.


We tried to stretch our legs after dinner on the side streets around the motel. But between the very wet snow (which covered up some standing water) and some crazy drivers, we retreated back to our room before getting our daily steps goal. 

On our next day, we would drive out of the snow. Our daily steps goal was not a problem for the rest of our journey south.



Comments

MFH said…
HUUURAYYY!!! Escaped!!

And Adventure bbq sounds MUCH better than wasting a bottle of champagne on the prow.
John said…
It’s good to be back on the road again.

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