The Brewourist: Or, There...

Dateline: October 2015

A medium-large neutrino collaborative experiment housed in the Black Hills of western South Dakota needed to deliver two of their germanium crystal detectors to an company in eastern Tennessee for repair. They are elevation sensitive, so flying them is out of the question, and shipping them freight would take too long. A junior researcher was chosen to drive them as fast as reasonable across the middle of the country, wait for the repair, and drive them back. This is his journey.
This is what I found myself volunteering to do this fall. I love road trips, and last summer's move from Cleveland to Berkeley was technically a road trip, but it was much more focused than I like to be on cross-country car travel. But this was a chance to see a part of the country that I'm not too familiar with, and with my allotted three days to drive from Lead, SD to Oak Ridge, TN, and back gain, I planned to stop at at least one brewpub in each city, both for lunch and for overnight. Putting "brewery near <city name>" into Google Maps for each designation, I researched what I found and made my choices wisely. Over the next two installments I will detail my visits to the following establishments:

• Lincoln, NE: http://www.ploughsharebrewing.com/
• Kansas City, MO: http://beerkitchenkc.com/
• St Louis, MO: http://www.perennialbeer.com/
• Nashville, TN: http://www.tnbrew.com/
• Knoxville, TN: http://www.downtownbrewery.com/, http://www.smoky-mtn-brewery.com/
• St Louis, MO: http://www.heavyriffbrewing.com/, http://www.thecivillife.com/
• Kansas City, MO: http://bigripbrewing.com/
• Sioux Falls, SD: http://www.monkshouseofalerepute.com
• Rapid City, SD: http://www.haycampbrewing.com/

I had a great time at these places. I was able to talk to the bartenders at most places and ask about the history of the brewery, the output of their brew system, and their choice of styles, etc. I also made several single-serving friends and had great conversations with all of them. My stop in Kansas City on my outbound travel, The Beer Kitchen, is not a brewery but a bar-restaurant with an amazing curated tap list and bottle selection. Not all brewpubs are made the same, and this trip also confirmed some of my beliefs about expansion and uniqueness in the market, no matter what is sold.

Ploughshare Brewing Company, Linoln, NE

My dad grew up in western Nebraska and my parents recently moved back there in their retirement. Their new home of Ogallala, NE is almost due south of the Black Hills and so that was my lunch destination my first day of driving. After enjoying an amazing home cooked meal and an all too short of a visit, I got back on the road to lay my head down in Lincoln, the state capital, that night. I had been looking into the handful of microbreweries in the city, and chose Ploughshare BC because it looked homey and fun, and had a great food menu to compliment their beer. The place was kind of dead for a Friday night and the bartender told it was because Darius Rucker, nee Hootie, was in town and everyone was at the concert. I still can't believe he went into country music, but there you go. I had a flight of four from their taps and a caprese salad sandwich for my late dinner (it was nearly 10 PM). The four 5-oz tasters I enjoyed were:

What I enjoyed at Ploughshare.

• Buckboard Bitter (ESB)
• Percheron (IPA)
• Soddie Rye Porter on hand-pumped cask
• Bourbon Barrel-aged Smithy Oatmeal Stout

They were all quite good and I especially enjoyed the rye porter and oatmeal stout. Despite being bourbon barrel-aged, the stout was maybe 5.5% ABV and the aging didn't impart a booziness I've found in those types of beers and generally don't care for. I asked the bartender for lunch suggestion in Kansas City, my noontime destination for the next day, and he pointed me to…

Beer Kitchen, Kansas City, MO

As mentioned above, this is not a brewery but a bar-restaurant with an amazing tap list and bottle selection. Because it was midday I couldn't enjoy too much as I had to make it to St Louis that night, so I had two beers and a Dutch baked pancake for brunch. The meal was so good, but the two beers weren't quite that. I had

• Ethos IPA from Tallgrass Brewing Company in Manhattan, KS
• Count Orlock Black Pumpkin Ale from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company in St Louis, MO

The beers weren't bad, and you can find what I said about them in my Untappd account, but I was a little disspointed. That's ok. Not everyone can hit every ball out of the park, and this just spurred on my desire for what was awaiting me in St Louis. But again, the food was AWESOME!

Beer Kitchen's Dutch pancake. YUUUUUUM!!!!

Perennial Artisan Ales, St Louis, MO

Months ago I found a list of the "Top 31 Breweries in the US" and this one was on the list. Lucky me I was going to be spending a night in it's hometown! I purposely chose a hotel close to this place so I wouldn't have to drive all over town to get to it. In addition to enjoying their beer, I was going to be meeting a friend I hadn't seen in over 5 years. We met in grad school and he had taken a physics professorship at Washington University St Louis. I called him on my way into town and we met there after his long day of working on a Saturday. The place is in a former factory in a more industrial section of the city, and occupied much of the lower level of the building. A couple of other small businesses neighbored its taproom on the ground floor and the upper floors were converted lofts; way to repurpose a building! In the end I had five 5-oz tasters and the most tender pork sandwich I've ever eaten, seriously it was smothered in cheese and soooo good! My selection:

I forgot to take a photo until I was nearly done.

• Saison de Lis
• Pineapple Kumquat Berliner Weiss
• Hommel Beer (Belgian Pale Ale)
• Dubble Bock
• Campricot (Belgian blonde with apricot)

I know these were good beers, and I was pleasantly surprised by the weiss as I don't care for wheat beers but I am trying to sample them more, but I was sick that weekend, and my sense of smell was nearly nonexistent. Smell is a large part of taste, and so I couldn't really taste these, either. I was kind of disappointed, but what I was able to experience I enjoyed and look forward to trying their beers the next time I pass through St Louis. My friend and I parted again that night, but I was going to be staying in St Louis on my way back in a week, so we made plans to visit a different brewery when I was back in town.

Tennessee Brew Works, Nashville, TN

This was the last place I visited on my outbound journey and is easily my favorite of the whole trip. St Louis and Nashville are about 4.5 hours apart with normal driving, and with my illness I didn't hit the road until just after 9AM that morning. That put me in Nashville well into the afternoon and I was so glad (and hungry!) to finally make it to the music capital of the South. This place was great, and as the TN Titans were playing a home game, the place was emptier than it normal for a football Sunday, but that let me enjoy it with relative quiet. There are two levels and a bar on each, and I sat at the lower bar so I could chat with the bartender who I could tell needed some company after spending much of her shift alone without many customers. The taproom manager also conversed with me when he was around the bar, and when there was a lull or I was busy eating, a Spotify list of '80s hits, quite similar to what was playing at Perennial the previous night, filled the place with joyful song.

Southern poutine and frog legs.

Beer good!

Guys, I ate frog legs. I've always been curious, and I think the first time I ever heard of eating frog was The Muppet Movie when I was a kid, but I've never had the opportunity to sample them. I paired them with southern poutine (cheese sauce and an over easy egg on sweet potato fries instead of cheese curds and gravy on normal Russets) and they were a delight. The easiest way I could describe them was chicken meets fish. Imagine that and you'll understand frog legs. But let's get to the beer. They have five house beers offered in a flight, and you could sample anything on tap so I had three of the four seasonals they also available. The first five listed here are their regulars, and the rest are some of their seasonals on tap:

• Southern Wit
• Extra Easy Ale (ESP)
• Cutaway IPA
• Basil Ryeman (saison)
• Country Root (yam stout)
• Farmer's Beat (saison with roasted beet)
• Southern Wit Double Chocolate BBL (double chocolate barrel-aged wit)
• Pink Boots Hopportunity (harvest ale)

I greatly enjoyed all of their beer, and was only hampered by my stuffed nose in truly enjoying the wet-hopped Pink Boots IPA. The beer was brewed as a fundraiser for the Pink Boots Society, an organization open to any woman who makes money from beer to promote equality in brewing and beer-related industries, and TN Brew Works' current head brewer is a member! But my favorite beer here was the Basil Ryeman, a traditional farmhouse ale with basil and rye. I've had a few beers recently with basil, often also with honey, and it adds a pleasant, herbal quality to the final product that isn't too vegetal. But what I really liked about this was the rye. Rye has found a special place in my heart in beers, from my own rye pale ale brewed last fall to this, the rye added a spiciness that nicely complemented the already present spiciness from the saison yeast. On my way back through Nashville a week later I was hoping to stop there and have a pint of the Ryeman with a sandwich for lunch, but alas! They don't open until 5 PM Fridays and so I had to have local BBQ instead. Oh well. Next time Nashville!

Downtown Grill and Brewery, Knoxville, TN

I arrived in Oak Ridge that evening after my great time at TN Brew Works, checked into my hotel, grabbed a quick dinner at some local chain next door, and went to bed. I wasn't feeling well overall and it was later than I liked (I had to spend some extra time in Nashville to metabolize), plus I had an 8:30 appointment the next morning for the official reason I had just driven across the country. My first day in Oak Ridge went well, and that evening I drove into downtown Knoxville to sample their brewing culture.

Downtown's flight offering.

Downtown Grill and Brewery is situated in the former Woodruff Building, a general/department store of the later 19th century. Their brew system sits right in the middle of the dining room (like the Lodi Beer Company!), and I sat near it at the bar. I ordered their flight of seven beers and had a stout-BBQ chicken pizza.

• Alt (altbier)
• Downtown Blonde Ale (kölsch)
• Downtown Nut Brown Ale
• New World Porter
• State Street Stout (oatmeal stout)
• White Mule Pale Ale (ESB)
• Woodruff IPA

The place was busy and it wasn't exactly cozy, so I didn't get to chat with the bartender and learn about the brewery, but the pizza was great and the beer was pretty good. It wasn't the best beer I had on the trip, and some of their offerings were better than others, but it was good and I was glad to have stopped there.

Smoky Mountain Brewery, outside Knoxville, TN

Monday, my first night in Tennessee, I visited the Downtown Grill and Brewery. Tuesday I went to a movie (GO SEE THE MARTIAN!), and Wednesday I had the itch for another brewpub visit. I didn't find any other breweries offering food in Knoxville proper, but I had noticed the Smoky Mountain Breweries in the area. It's a chain brewery/restaurant, and as such is not that impressive. The food was decent, but it wasn't welcoming (not unfriendly), cozy, and unique. It was no better than a TGI Friday's  with mediocre beer. There was brewing equipment behind large glass windows, but it could easily be there just for display. I chose for my flight the following:

My choose-your-own Smoky Mtn flight.

• Appalachian Pale Ale
• Smoky Mountain Brewery Helles
• Black Bear Ale (English brown)
• Pumpkin Seasonal
• Brown Trout Stout

The visit was a solid "meh," and I had to wait until my return stop in St Louis to find another great brewpub to enjoy.

And that was the first half of my trip. I had made it to Oak Ridge despite driving with a cold. I spent a week in Tennessee and left that Friday and drove back to Lead, SD along a slightly different route. In the next part I'll detail these visits and discuss the beers and breweries I was privileged enough to have enjoyed.