We have made it to June 7. The question now is, will we make to June 8?
We met Panovec at the airport Thursday afternoon and got back to HQ to enjoy a couple of bottles of Double Wide IPA, put out by Boulevard Brewing in KC. This one is from their “Smokestack Series”. That’s Panovec enjoying a Double Wide in the previous post.
After polishing off a couple of bottles we managed to make it to Senor Pique for dinner. Once we started commenting about others on the patio who had to position umbrellas because they were afraid to get their wittle heads sunburned, we figured we had had enough margaritas and bolted for the safety and protection of the LAN bar. A couple of Acid cigars finally put us out of our misery in the wee hours of Friday morning.
We had a heck of day planned for Friday weather permitting and weather didn’t permit. Tim posted some great pictures at the Woodside. We had a date set for some insider treatment at AB after hitting the City Diner. This place is great and we only wished we hadn’t done so much damage the previous evening so we could have ventured into the menu more.
I have to tell you that every time I come into more contact with AB people and the company that I appreciate their business and culture more and more. I not only find myself buying more AB products but appreciating the quality and yes the craftsmanship (no, I haven’t been influenced by the ads). I don’t know if it’s St. Louis rubbing off or not but I would like to think that it’s what I’m learning from friends.
Take for instance Nathaniel, a classmate and brew master for AB. This guy doesn’t have a job. He wakes up and lives his passion everyday and each time you speak with him you feel it. He’s smart too, probably one of the smartest folks to know. Not only is it a cool perk to know a person that can teach you so much about beer, but it’s inspirational to meet and know others that work so damn hard to follow tradition and continue to innovate. Kudos to AB for their sense of values and culture! (By the way, that’s him in the commercials and it’s not just a commercial)
At any rate, Nathaniel arranged a quick tour of AB’s research brewery on the AB campus downtown. Pretty damn cool. I couldn’t begin to describe the tour so I won’t. Impressive! We did get a nice tasting of some experimental recipes. Unbelievedable is all I can say about those! The gentleman showing us around, Adam, gave us some great tips on how to taste beer, etc. Tim and I are well on our way now to becoming beer snobs.
We did do the public tour afterward and then a tasting in their visitors center. I tried a Shock Top which is AB’s new Belgium white style wheat ale. It was very tasty. The spec sheet mentions citrus. I picked up kind of a peach aroma and the citrus was in the taste. The spice was subtle. A great beer particularly if you like the wheats.
After lunch we had planned to take in the arch and perhaps make it to the city museum. That’s when mother nature changed our course. I guess it was a good thing too because by the time we navigated through the flooding, funnel clouds (yes tornado sirens were going off), lightning, and torrential rain we had just enough time at home to prep dinner.
There were two bone-in prime ribeyes on a 24 hour rub using the new Artley technique, in the fridge. These things weighed almost 5 lbs combined. I made the rub with fresh coarse-ground black pepper (lots of it), kosher salt, garlic powder, chipotle ground pepper, thyme, and red pepper flakes.
We added roasted corn, asparagus, and baked potatoes. A fresh cherry pie from the bakery down the street rounded out the meal.
Tim had generously gifted us a couple of bottles of wine over the holidays. We saved them for his visit. Although during the holiday he didn’t know he was coming, we did.
The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon from Clos Du Val joined us for the evening. Nicely done Tim and thank you our friend.
So we arrive at today’s main event. We drove by the stadium in the rain and saw the staging for the show yesterday. Looks huge. It’s hard to contain our excitement. The topic of conversation at dinner was what we were hoping the set list would be. It should be a rocking show with the Black Crowes opening and that’s the big question, will both bands play a couple of tunes together?
Here’s a couple of show day links for your review:
Dave Matthews Band Shows No Signs of Letting Up from the Detriot Free Press…
Prep Continues from MyFOX St. Louis… (still worried about the grass)
Re-energized Crowes Achieve Liftoff from the Dallas Morning News…
We’re off to the market to get a couple of items, namely ice to pack down our Buds. We’ll see ya’ll on the flip side…
