1. I leapt into the Sube and rocketed over the Fourth of July Pass and made a soft landing at Byrdman's house and we piled into his pickup and headed north for a North Idaho road trip. Today marked the two week anniversary of my second Covid vaccination and Byrdman's been fully vaccinated for a while now and so we decided now was the time to get back out and drive around our part of the state. We drove as far north as Ponderay, ID. It was a sunny day so we could see for miles all around us, a gorgeous day in the Panhandle with sapphire lakes, snow-capped peaks, and some wide open prairie land. We also got in some serious yakking.
2. We made a couple of stops. I've written before in this blog that I really enjoy the Laughing Dog Brewery tasting room in Ponderay. Byrdman and I stopped in there today. For a while we were the only customers. I was last in this tasting room back in September of 2019 as I wrapped up the excursion I took back then to Crawford Bay, BC. We walked in and immediately I felt at home. While I've been staying at home so much over the last several months, I've focused on what I enjoy at home and rarely thought about what I wasn't doing. As a result, I hadn't even been thinking about the beers at Laughing Dog Brewery! At first, when I looked at the tap list, it was as if I'd never seen it before. I liked that. It meant I hadn't been wishing I could be elsewhere while at home -- just the approach I wanted to take.
But, then it came back to me -- Laughing Dog brews a hop bomb of an Imperial IPA, the Alpha Dog. I ordered a 10 oz glass and it was just right. I'd let myself, on purpose, forget the deep pleasure I experience when drinking a freshly drawn Imperial IPA in a tap room, and I enjoyed having that sensation return. I loved that they serve beer in a 10 oz glass and decided I'd go for a second and not only did I enjoy its taste, but I enjoyed the slight euphoria it gave me.
Unless things have changed here in the Silver Valley, no local breweries serve an Imperial IPA. Now I might find out differently in the months to come, but since they are not available here, it makes it all that more scintillating when I go to Cda or Ponderay or elsewhere and can enjoy one of these favorite beers of mine.
Ha! I admit it. While drinking the Alpha Dog, I let my mind drift back to the Northeast reaches of Washington, D.C. and relived, as best I could, Sunday afternoons with Debbie at DC Brau, drinking flavorful glasses of On the Wings of Armageddon, one of my favorite of all Imperial IPAs. I did not remain completely in the moment at Laughing Dog!
3. Byrdman and I drove a little ways south, back to Sandpoint, and stopped in at MickDuff's Pub to try another beer. We sat at the bar and I had another just awesome beer flashback moment.
Let me take a moment and say that when I began drinking craft beers in some earnest back in 1996, the porter was a much more popular beer back then than it is now. In fact, unless this has changed, McMenamin's no longer makes the Black Rabbit Porter, one of my favorites back in the late 20th century.
Anyway, as I perused the MickDuff tap list, not really wanting another IPA, to my delight I saw they brew and serve a porter called the Knot Tree. I took a sip and realized it was just what I wanted: kind of toasty, definitely chocolate-y, with the pleasing taste of espresso coffee right alongside.
Again, I enjoyed the Knot Tree porter in the moment I was drinking it, a lot, but I also enjoyed the magic carpet ride this beer gave me back to Eugene, back to the High Street Pub, the 19th Street Pub, and Sam Bond's Garage, especially in the winter and spring of 1997. I had some students back then with whom I enjoyed Friday afternoon trips to a pub. I often ordered a porter. The beer was great and the memories of yakking and laughing might even be better.
By the way, as Byrdman and I finished our first 10 oz pour at MickDuff's, we decided to have a bite to eat. MickDuff's had a special St. Patrick's Day menu and, to my delight, offered a beef stew that included Knot Tree Porter as an ingredient. The beer added a welcome sweetness to the stew that I enjoyed completely.
Today represented a small leap of faith in chemistry, biology, and immunology for me today. I will probably lie low for a few days, hoping my trust and faith in being inoculated was warranted. It was sure a fun test drive today!
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