Karen and I headed to the art show this weekend. This year’s show primarily featured painting and bead work. We saw Noah and Eddy House from my old neighborhood, too. Noah had some cool art. Here is a sample of our pictures:
This booth was full of beautiful stain glass which would look good outdoors in a garden.
This lady does small frame art of paper and metal with hearts as the theme.
This artist was very free spirited.
This artist had a great idea of painting cards to look like postcards that had been mailed.
You can see more of the Art Show here.
Karen and I went to Oktober last night. We had a blast. Terry Cavanagh & the Alpine Express put on a great show for all.
We will going again Sunday, but I have decided to pickup some polka’s from iTunes to make it complete on our ride there. I didn’t find Terry Cavanagh & the Alpine Express on iTunes. But, a good selection of polkas can be had on Walter Legawiec & His Polka Kings Album. Hope to see you there.
Well, I haven't had a chance to get back to reading “Dr. Nightingale Seeks Greener Pastures
Redstone Morale, Welfare & Recreation (MWR) organization's annual Oktoberfest is September 15th through the 18th. Terry Cavanagh & the Alpine Express will be providing all the music. Terry's band is a must have for any Oktoberfest.
Each year the MWR goes to great length to make this a great festival. They import 5 to 7 draft beers directly from Germany. The food includes carnival foods and food provided by Soldatenstube restaurant including Schnitzel, Brotchen, and a varity of German Wursts. And, free carnival rides are provided.
Karen and I had a great time at the festival. The festival was moved to the river front which greatly improved the festival. In past years, the festival was held in a black asphalt parking lot which was unbelievable hot. This year the festival added another type of ticket called the VIP Pass. The VIP pass provided free food and beer. Holders of the VIP pass were also provide access to the brewers areas. The number of brewers ended up being 24 with many being new or reopened breweries.
The New Knoxville Brewing Company pictured here was our first beers to try. Karen had their Hefeweizen while I had the Pale Ale. We eventually tried all of them and especially enjoyed the English Brown Ale. The next morning as we were packing our car, Brian and rest of the crew from the New Knoxville Brewing Company stopped to talk and gave us two six packs. Great!
The Foot-Hills Brewing Co. was another great group of guys. They cut us a break on the price of their shirts after they heard I collected them. The shirt each featured a different beer and color. Some of the guys where wearing the shirt in the booth on the left in this picture.
The Brewers area was great. Big River Grille & Brewing catered the area with ribs, hamburgers, Jalapeño Spinach Cheese Dip with Chips, and draft beer of course. You can see by my picture it was great food.
Some of high lights of the beers are Sweetwater’s Blue, Asheville Brewing Company’s Houdini ESP, Carolina Beer & Beverage’s Pumpkin Ale, Foot-Hills Brewing Company’s Total Eclipse Stout, New Knoxville Brewing Company’s English Brown Ale, and A1A Ale Work’s Orange Blossom Honey Ale. These beers were some of the best at the festival.
Some of low points in the beers are Zuma Brewing Company’s Cancun Lager and New Knoxville Brewing Company’s Hefeweizen.
To see more pictures from the festival go here.
Karen and I have started the day with a bike ride in search of breakfast. We found “The Tin Roof Bistro” which serves breakfast from 7 AM to 2 PM. And, it has a balcony with a view of the Tennessee River and Walnut Street Bridge. Karen ate her favorite breakfast of grits, but she went up a notch and added a bowl of fruit. I had the waffles with mint butter.
Now with carbo-loading done, we headed back to the festival area to check on setup progress. We talked with Mary Kilbride who we were told is in charge. Mary gave us the low down and we were able to pass along some of our ideas for how to improve the festival. This year the festival has a VIP section which provides free food and beer along with special seating over the river.
Karen and I arrived for the Southern Brewers Festival early on Friday after spending way to many hours at Unclaimed Baggage located in Scottsboro, Alabama. (We now have another digital camera and more.) We decided to ride around town and enjoy the scenery including a ride by the festival area. This year the festival is at the Tennessee River edge.
We ended up at Big River Grille & Brewing eating the Classic Combo which has great. The Classic Combo is made up of Jalapeño Spinach Cheese Dip with Chips, Buffalo Wings, and Chicken Springs Rolls. Karen had the Sweat Magnolia Brown Ale and I had the seasonal Summer Wheat. The brown ale won the 1998 Gold at the Great American Beer Festival. She describe the brown as not too nutty, but balanced with chocolate tones in the finish. The beer’s head was nice, but quickly dissipated. The beer had a medium body and little aromatic. The wheat beer has lightly fruity with a good mouth feel. The beer was rich for a wheat, but it was still very balanced. Its taste was very similar to Pyramid Brewing’s Hefeweizen Beers, which is one of best hefeweizen. 
Later for dinner, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and beer. Karen and I love pizza and Mellow Mushroom is one of the best around. They are also known for having a large beer selection and this location was no exception. We had a nice variety with Spaten Munich, Whittekerke, Falls City, and Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale.
The Big Spring Jam is just around the corner. Huntsville, AL's downtown area is converted into a grand music festival with five stages distributed around downtown. It all starts September 23rd and runs through the weekend. This music festival is in its 13th year and is growing every year.
With five stages, the event attracts music for young and old alike. The performers include many national acts as well as local area bands.
As the festival nears, the brewers and entertainment have been finalized.
The organizers of the festival have indicated that 40 different beers will be available for tasting. The beer will be provided by the following brewers.
Anheuser-Busch Inc. (Cartersville Ga)
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (Portland Or)
Redhook Ale Brewery (Woodinville Wa)
Abita Brewing Company (Abita Springs La)
Big River Grille & Brewing Works (Chattanooga Tn)
Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery (Nashville Tn)
Bosco's Nashville Brewing Company (Nashville Tn)
Boston Beer Company (Boston Ma)
Carolina Beer & Beverage Company (Mooresville Nc)
Dogwood Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Moon River Brewing Company (Savannah Ga)
Ragtime Tavern, Seafood & Grill (Atlantic Beach Fl)
Red Oak Brewery (Greensboro Nc)
Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Rocky River Brewing Company (Sevierville Tn)
Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner Tx)
Sweetwater Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Terrapin Beer Company (Athens Ga)
Thomas Creek Brewery (Greenville Sc)
If memory servers me, I believe that Thomas Creek Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing Company are new this year. I am not sure about Ragtime Tavern which may have been present last year.
According to the festival site, The Rounders, The Lee Boys, The John Cowan Band, and BoDeans will performing at the festival.
The nice thing about this festival is that everything goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. There is nothing better supporting a cause by tasting some great beers.
I hit the iTunes to pickup some tunes for the weekend, because you have got to have some music to make any weekend great and especially a three weekend. I was in 70’s mood so I went straight to the Billboard Hot 100 for the 70's.
I pickup the following mix:
“Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night — Everyone will enjoy this classic tune.
“Love Is Like Oxygen” by Sweet
“Rikki Don't Lose That Number” by Steely Dan
“Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)” by The Hollies
“The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies
“Hold Your Head Up” by Argent
“The Things We Do for Love” by 10cc
“Every 1's a Winner” by Hot Chocolate — This is Hot Chocolate's step into rock-n-roll.
“Hotel California” by the Eagles — This is the Eagles at there best.
Enjoy!
