Saturday, October 23, 2021

Three Beautiful Things 10/22/2021: I Have the Sube Back, Beers at the Outpost, Houston is Fire and Boston is Ice

 1.  Late this morning, I called the automotive shop to check up on the Sube. The technician had arrived at a conclusion that I thought might be coming. Because the funny sound the Sube makes is so short lived and erratic, it never lasted long enough for the technician to keep the noise going when the Sube went up the lift. The verdict: bring it back in if and when the noise worsens and lasts longer. That made good sense to me and I left very pleased with the all the effort the shop gave to the Sube and with my conversation with the service technician as I picked up my car. 

2. Over the last several years, I've enjoyed patronizing a tap house/brewery at 5th and Spruce in CdA. It used to be called Slate Creek. When Byrdman and I first visited Slate Creek, they were serving all local and regional beers and they provided peanuts and encouraged us to drop the shells on the floor. Slate Creek experienced a change in owners a few years back and started brewing small batches of their own beer. Any time I had an appointment or errands to run in CdA, I enjoyed going to Slate Creek -- the help was friendly, patrons were fun to be with, and the beer was always fresh and tasty. 

The new owner's name back in 2018 was Danica and, at some point, she closed Slate Creek, but formed a kind of social group for moonlight bike rides, Bingo nights, and other get togethers under the Slate Creek name.

Now Slate Creek is called Outpost Brewing.  

Byrdman and I met up there after I picked up the Sube. 

I really enjoyed what the new ownership has done with the place inside. Soon, Outpost will brew their own beer, but for now they offered a terrific selection of local and regional beers along with Coors Light.

Byrdman and I each drank a couple glasses of Paragon's Idabow English IPA. Paragon is near Government Way and Dalton and is another favorite spot of Byrdman's and mine. They began brewing their own beer a while back, but because I haven't been out and about much over the last 18 months or so, I don't think, until today, I'd had any of their beers brewed on site.

Paragon's English IPA was great! I love variety in beers and unlike the more aggressively hopped West Coast IPAs or the more juicy New England IPAs, this Idabow was a milder IPA, easy to drink, with a kind of bready or biscuit-y quality that I really enjoy. 

Byrdman and I also struck up a conversation with Chris who owns Outpost and he was a great guy, happy to tell us a bit about himself and how his new business venture is off to a solid start. 

I can see why -- I found Outpost, like Slate Creek before it -- a neighborly and comfortable spot serving up an excellent selection of beers. I'm eager to return. 

3. The Boston Red Sox's season ended tonight, not with a bang but a whimper. Early in the ALCS against Houston, the Red Sox looked unstoppable, a behemoth, rocketing grand slam home runs, scoring in a variety of other ways. Their offense was on fire up and down their line up.

And, then, they went into a deep freeze. 

I hated to see it, but, at the same time, the Red Sox's sudden shift from fire to ice provided more evidence of what an unpredictable and endlessly surprising game baseball is. 

In game 5, Houston's Framber Valdez pitched a gem and tonight Luis Garcia did the same. For 5.2 innings, Garcia just didn't give the Red Sox good pitches to hit. His offerings were varied and often on the edges of the strike zone. He made few mistakes and, once he surrendered a triple to Kike Hernandez in the sixth inning, he left the game and four relievers picked up where he left off and stymied the Red Sox.

Houston also continued to rev up their offense. Over the course of this series, Yordan Alvarez powdered the ball and continued doing so tonight with four hits, including a run scoring double and a triple. A quieter hitter, Kyle Tucker also had a productive series and his three run blast tonight helped seal Houston's overpowering 5-0 victory.

So, Houston advances to the World Series and either Saturday night or Sunday night, we'll know if they'll face Los Angeles or Atlanta.  

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