Doppelbocks at Brauhaus Schmitz

Jo and I went to Brauhaus Schmitz this past Saturday for some great German food and beer. It's been a long time since we'd been there and the last time I was kind of drunk already so I was excited to check it out again. When we arrived, there were some free seats at the front bar. If you haven't been recently, they have opened up a new back area that looks nice and spacious. This allowed them to make more room at the front bar by removing some tables, too, so there's a lot more standing room now. The bartender seemed really happy about that as it made getting to the front part of the restaurant way easier and removed a big roadblock to the servers.

The first beer I ordered was a Spaten Optimator, a doppelbock.

Lucky 7 and the Phillies

Jo and I decided to catch the Wednesday Phillies game at Lucky 7.  Not Taco Tuesday, unfortunately, but you can't win 'em all.  Food was pretty good again and we really like the feel of the bar so it worked out.  It never got too crowded, but it was full which is pretty much perfect for watching a baseball game.

For my first beer, I got a draft of Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA.

Poured an orange color which is pretty normal for an IPA.  Nice floral, citrusy smell from all the hops.  The smell is one of the best parts of a good IPA.  First bit was hoppy but backed up nicely with a bit of sweetness.  Keeps it from being overbearingly bitter.  Good touch.  Decent body on it, a little bit of thickness.  Nothing crazy, but it makes drinking it more interesting.  On top of that, only a mildly bitter aftertaste to it.  I'm not a huge fan of IPAs in general, but maybe I'm getting more used to them.  This was quite good and another good offering from Dark Horse Brewing.

The last beer I had was Paulaner Salvator.

This is a Doppel Bock, the same style as Troegenator from Troegs.  The smell of this Salvator was super sweet and malty and smelled really inviting.  Tasted of caramel, toffee and malt.  Just incredibly smooth and sweet.  As expected, the after taste was sweet too.  Nice thick body on it.  Some of the sweetness and smoothness may be because this bottle was apparently from June '08.  (As long as the bottled on date of 06/08 means June '08 that is.)  I don't know how the bar has a 2+ year old bottle but hey it tasted amazing.  I've never had a beer with such a smooth, sweet flavor.

Good time at Lucky 7 even if the Phillies are kind of sucking right now.