Father's Day 2012

Father’s Day was stifling hot and in need of a nice cold beer, but first the events of the day.

My wife, Karen, and daughter, Adalia, took me on a surprise day of Daddy’s favorite treats. Breakfast was at Little Man Ice Cream http://littlemanicecream.com in the Highlands downtown for pancakes and ice cream! I had banana nut ice cream on the first pancake, and coffee ice cream on the second pancake. I wanted a third but had no room to spare.

Next, off to Boulder for a hike on the Sanitas trail http://tinyurl.com/c9f9e4. A great challenging 3 mile hike just on the west side of town. Rocky and steep in sections and the temperature was near 100 so we were working hard to reach the top of the trail.

After the hike we were off to Longmont for the feast of the day at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew Restaurant http://www.oskarblues.com/restaurant/grill-brew. This was our first time to the new restaurant, but I have been to their brewpub in Lyons several times for après bike after mountain biking the Heil/Hall Ranch trails http://www.oskarblues.com/restaurant/the-old-chubway-expeditious-chow-dispensary. We ordered the pizza since they use Mama’s Little Yella Pils in the dough, which makes the crust slightly chewy but still hearty flavored.  

To drink my wife had a Mama’s Little Yella Pils and I had their CANlaboration beer the Chaka.  Mama’s is a summertime favorite because it’s a tasty pilsner with a bite of hops to let you know Oskar made it. It follows in the tradition of their Dale’s Pale Ale with a hop finish but not as sharp.  Chaka is a limited release Belgian-style ale that debuted in May in resealable 16 oz cans. The CANlaboration between Oskar Blues and Indiana’s Sun King brewery produces a fantastic ale. The flavor is similar to other ambers in this Belgian-style including the fine malt introduction and less sour finish http://www.oskarblues.com/blog/chaka-canlaboration-is-out.

After dinner we went to The Tasty Weasel Taproom where we took a tour of the brewery itself. This is one of the larger craft sized brewery facilities I have seen http://www.oskarblues.com/restaurant/tasty-weasel-tap-room. I like the personalities found inside the brewing areas – for instance, Oskar Blues owner has his own line of bikes called REEB…..or BEER spelled backwards. It’s great to see the staff REEB titanium singlespeed bikes leaning up against the walls as if they are resting between rides http://www.reebcycles.com. As we are touring the packaging area the owner, Dale, floats by on a longboard skateboard with a polite ‘hello’…..as if he’s just passing thru not to disturb the friendly visitors.

After the tour we pick up a few brews to go and chat with their Boneyard food truck chefs http://www.oskarblues.com/restaurant/oskar-blues-bonewagon.

I’ll have another.