Huck Fin's Beer Buzz
Drinking craft beer in public establishments and reviewing those places for you!

The word on the street is that there’s going to be a Mini-Microfestivus at Festival in the Park this year with some selections from Goose Island, Devil’s Backbone, Starr Hill, Victory, Legend, and Heavy Seas!

That’s a pretty good selection for a regular festival thanks to our friends from P.A. Short Distributing. Volunteer to help and get free tickets to the real deal in August! Don’t forget to save the date!

Microfestivus reminder for Roanoke Virginia.

This is Saturday only.  The rest of the festival they will go back to your regularly scheduled pale tasteless American beers. Just kidding, I’m sure they will have something we can drink.

Maybe we will see you there!

Laissaiz les bon temps rouler!

There’s a new pub in town in Blacksburg and it’s different from the others. Castle’s Kettle and Pub opened not long ago and brings some new things and some old things to the Blacksburg bar scene.

They renovated an old fraternity house on Main Street just up the hill from downtown. Much thought and style was put into the upgrade, and the results are very impressive. There’s a dining room with a bar downstairs with church pews around the room forming some of the seats. Upstairs there’s a more intimate room with a small bar and a few tables. The balcony entrance is up there, and we will check that out when the weather becomes more cooperative. There’s also a patio out back, but as of our last visit there were no tables out there.

Downstairs bar at Castle's Kettle and Pub

They are operating the establishment with a proprietary paperless accounting system using iPads to enter the orders, transmit them to the kitchen, and then accept payment using the device as well! It seemed a bit slow to me, but compared to the time it takes a server in most places to bring your check, come back for the card, and then return with your receipt, it’s not that long actually. I personally like the fact that you can have the receipt emailed to you since I usually have fifty crumpled receipts in my pocket at any given time. The problem is when the bartender is entering a order and several people need to pay.

There are 22 taps with 19 unique beers on tap at any given time. They double up the Guinness, Smithwicks, and Castle’s Irish Red upstairs and down. The other selections are pretty diverse and we would drink most of them.

Beer menu from Castle's Kettle and Pub

The food is standard Irish fare that is prepared exceedingly well. Portion sizes are robust, and it’s just real good food. You must try the fish and chips. The appetizers are pretty tasty as well. We had the spinach dip.

Yummy cheesy dip at Castle's Kettle and Pub

They feature authentic Irish music several days a week in the main dining room. The group that was there during my visit seemed quite accomplished in the style.

Irish band at Castle's Kettle and Pub

They have a mug club at the pub. We don’t usually join clubs since we try to spread our drinking out over the maximum number of bars, but since we live so close we joined this one. So far we haven’t been around for any of the special events, but you get a slightly better deal on a “mug” of beer if you choose that over a English pint. I sort of have mixed feeling about that since I like to see the beer I am drinking. But saving a few pennies means more beer in the end…

Huck's ugly mug drinking out of a Castle's pretty mug!

There’s also a food club and a brown liquor club that has some benefits if you are so inclined.

So, next time you are in Blacksburg, Virginia give the new pub a visit, you’ll be glad you did!

Laissaz les bon temps rouler!

While taking a class in NJ this week, I decided to head to Citi Field to check it out and watch a Mets game. The internets said it was 39 miles and 41 minutes from Edison, NJ. Not sure where they got that number. I guess they have never driven through there. The ride in was pretty smooth across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge except for missing the cash lane coming off the turnpike. I figure the rental car company will sort that out and add it to my bill. I meant to take my E-Z Pass, but if you have to forget something on a trip, that’s probably not the worst case scenario.

The Verrazano- Narrows bridge.

I was surprised at the general skill of the drivers. Some of the merges/turns taken at a reasonably high speed would have caused much horn-blowing and finger-waving in Virginia. The cabs go in and out with micro inches to spare, never wavering from their planned paths. It all seems to work out; even when three lanes go to one, there’s no long line with idiot truckers holding back one lane.

NY skyline view from car. I know, not too safe...

The traffic slowed down once I got to the halfway point going through the city and heading out. Glad I don’t have a commute like that every day. I bailed off the expressway in Yonkers and found out it wasn’t any better down there on the surface. Made it to the stadium with plenty of time to spare.

Citi Field (Was Shea Stadium)

Coming out I decided to take a different route back and saw Route 78 on the Google maps, so I went that way. Note to self – just because it has a low number it doesn’t mean it’s a good road. It was interesting to drive across Manhattan to the Holland tunnel, but one trip is definitely enough!

As a big fan of NYC, I was pretty amazed to see the skyline of the city as I drove through. That’s probably a good reason to take a cab or other public transportation.

On the way back to New Jersey after the game, I noticed that northern NJ is as light as southwest VA is dark!

Driving in the Big Apple was fun and a bit disturbing at the same time. Not sure if I will try it again.

Laissaz les bon temps rouler!