Welcome to my hangover...
Starting the first full day of BeerAmbassadors USA and what better way than a hangover to help me remember our first night?
The thing that stood out the most was how big LA is. It seems like we spent half the night in a cab. It probably doesn’t help that we’re staying in the Travelodge at the airport (again, thanks to the cat lady).
The evening started sedately enough on the balcony of our room with a dozen Samual Adams from the Circle K across the road. We then headed out to Santa Monica and had a great time at The Library Alehouse. The guy’s there were great value and shared a few great beers with us. I’ve got to admit that the beer-nerd talk was way over my head most of the time but I’ve got a feeling there’s gonna be a lot of that during this trip.
It was also great to see Barney ingratiate himself with the staff by picking a fault with my first beer. It tasted fine to me, does that say something about my under-developed beer palette?
If you are ever in Santa Monica, and you enjoy a great beer you could certainly do a lot worse than this place. Great atmosphere and friendly staff. Thanks again guys!
For all the technical details check out Beerambassadors.com. I know Miro was taking tasting notes on the back of some coasters. There will also be some video if we can work out how to get it off the camera…
Time for another cab ride, of course.
Still in Santa Monica, this time we went to Father’s Office. Another good selection of beers but not quite the same atmosphere as the Library (sorry beerchick!).
But…
They do the best burger that I have had in my reasonably burger-experienced life. Seriously. Hot Doug’s in Chicago for hot-dogs and Father’s Office in Santa Monica for burgers.
After that things started to get a little hazy. For some reason we decided that a bourbon bar right across LA would be the next stop, but our cab driver couldn’t quite work it out. Everyone in the back of the cab passed out and we ended up somewhere in West Hollywood.
We found possibly the only alcohol-free strip club in the world (passed right on by, of course) and another bar which was thankfully not. I think by this time the jet-lag, beers, and endless cab-rides had taken their toll and we called it a night, topping the evening off with another long cab-ride back to cat-lady mansions.
Barney has strolled off somewhere to find a hire-car to get us to Escondido where we’re visiting Stone Brewery this afternoon. I’m hoping I can find a decent coffee before then.
Finally I’ll leave you with one great piece of americana, the giant donut…
