Ever since the LIBA Brewfest back in June I have been craving a single beer more than all others. West Sixth Brewery from Lexington is responsible for that. Their orangy colored IPA poured from silver and green cans packed a delightful combination of hops and citrous that was hugely refreshing that hot summer day.
Many hot summer days after that event I was still remembering that taste and longing for more. While West Sixth's website had announced a deal with River City Distribution that would bring their beer to Louisville's package stores, the liquor stores I contacted seemed to be unaware of the fact.
There are a few places in Louisville rumored to carry the beer on tap. A rumor I was unaware of until only last week. Nachbar, Louisville Beer Store, and Hillbilly Tea are purported to have West Sixth's IPA on tap. I made plans to visit Hillbilly on Friday but alas the best laid plans of men who love beer and are married to women who do not oft go astray!
Not to worry, serendipity struck and I was charged with getting a friend out of the house all day Saturday so that a surprise 40th birthday party could be prepared. Road trip! We left for Lexington at about 10:30.
We arrived at Country Boy Brewing at a little after 12:00 on Saturday. Country Boy Brewing is housed in a 4,000 sf warehouse-like facility just off Broadway and a few blocks south of the town centre. We nearly missed it – thankfully my GPS knew right where it was. I had done little research to prepare for this trip and was unaware that Country Boy served no food. They cheerfully told us that a taco truck would arrive in the parking lot around 3:00. That's ok, beer is food.
When we first walked in CB's tap room we noticed that it was dark! Coming out of the bright sun intensified this and the bar area shined out of the darkness like salvation itself. The bar was of goodly size and there were three people already bellied up. The bar was shaped like a double ended “L” and enclosed 24 wall taps in the middle which themselves were flanked by two very large black boards. This was impressive. The board on the right advertised thirteen CB beers along with a brief description of type and strength. The left board reflected an additional guest line-up of high quality craft beers from near and far and CB's 14th offering. Wow, for a brewery I hadn't even heard of a couple of months ago, these guys seemed pretty substantial.
The bar keep was Evan and he was one of the three owners. His first question was a good one. What kind of beer do you like to drink? I smiled and told him that we liked to drink them all but we didn't have time for that. He smiled right back and said that they would be right here for a while and we could come back any time. How refreshing! I am so tired of being served a side order of indifference at the bar along with my drink. It is fairly common and I am always surprised and disappointed when it happens. It's one of the things that makes you look forward to popping into your local. A smile and a friendly attitude encourage additional rounds.
We drank down three pints that were expertly poured I happily note. Very little space was taken up by froth. We both started with the session “brown” IPA. Yes, this naming thing was discussed and all agreed that it had largely become superficial to the craft beer industry. This beer was cloudy and brownish but was more heavily hopped than a typical brown ale. Plus CB had a traditional brown ale on a nitro tap and using the “IPA” helped to distinguish the session beer from it. We moved to a more bitter Rye PA. This was a delicious beer and fit right into my wheelhouse. I could have happily drank several more of these but at 7% abv that did not fit into my plans to drive away shortly. I finished with CB's version of a belgian wheat. It was a tasty beer as well. Jason finished with the double IPA. Heart of Dankness I think it was called. He pronounced it his favorite. If we were going straight home he would have taken away a growler. We decided it was time for a break from drinking and some solid food.
Lexington apparently has many fine establishments serving solid pub grub. We were given several enthusiastic recommendations by the CB crew which included Jeff who showed up shortly after we arrived and sat at the bar for what I assumed was quality control testing purposes. In fact, we were given a bewildering amount of recommendations by the steady stream of customers, both regulars and some virgins like us who came in for a beer or two. Everyone involved themselves in the discussion which ranged from beer to bourbon to other places to drink beer and eat.
One guy tried to convince us he knew a place in Pittsburgh that had a “small person” who came out of a small door at the end of the bar and poured a round of whiskey for the house for a $10 charge. Hmmm.....we insisted on pictures and he admitted that he had none. Another patron spoke up to verify this unlikely story but he turned out to be a friend of the ...er tall story teller and so we told him off as well. A round of whiskey for the house at $10. Unbelievable!!!
We were having such a good time here that we didn't really want to leave but I had to have Jason back for his surprise party (unbeknownst to him) and I wasn't missing out on West Sixth. On our way to West Sixth we stopped at the Sidebar. It and a place called Tolly Ho had received much love from the patrons at the CB. Unfortunately, it did not open until 5:00. Damn, this is common for a lot of places in Louisville as well and I for one have wasted too much time staring in disbelief at restaurant hours posted on doors on an early Saturday afternoon. So we decided to just head to West Sixth because I thought they had food.
Wrong! They have the barest of bar food only during the day but they do crank the kitchen up in the evening. The friendly bar tender Riah lit up when we asked for recommendations for some good local eats. She was instantly into a heated discussion with several customers about where she should send us. She quickly told them to stuff themselves and asked us if we liked mexican food. Of course! Well there is this little hole-in-the-wall (yes!) only a few blocks away called Maria's. At this point I expected her to turn to one of the male customers for assistance with directions (I know – stereotyping at its worst) but instead she gave us concise directions including landmarks. Riah is a keeper for sure!
We found Maria's with no difficulty and noted that it was actually a hole-in-the wall. Or rather a window in the wall and the seating consisted of four picnic tables under a rickety shade. As the temp display on my RAV said it was a robust 88 degrees and as the tables were mostly full we decided to go back to Tolly Ho's. Did I mention Tolly Ho's was within sight of Country Boy Brewing? Am I the only one that this sort of thing happens to?
OK, so Tolly Ho's is open 24 hours a day and about half of their offerings end in “HO.” You can get a burger cooked to order as long as you order it well-done. If you order tots they will have cheese in the middle. You can get a bottle of Sam Adams to wash it down if you want. The fries are the thin crispy crinkled variety and require no additional salting. Tolly Ho's will fill a ho. That's about all I can say. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will do a bit of research before going to Lexington.
So we were soon back at West Sixth. Riah asked us how we liked Maria's. We told her we liked it fine and looked forward to eating there if we returned in the fall. I suggested that she had mistaken us for real men when she made that recommendation. She assured us she had not. We got along great with Riah and Hendrick who had the most impressive dreadlocks I've ever seen in person. Like at Country Boy, West Sixth had a robust business but it was not over-crowded. People wandered in and had a couple of beers, talked a bit, and left; often with some take-away beer. One couple was from Indy and had stopped on their way to Ashville. They brought in a stainless steel growler that they had from a bar in Indy called The Bier Brewery. We all expressed growler envy and when they left to go to Country Boy Brewing, Riah gave them perfect directions and said to say hello.
I think both of these breweries were not in existence last year. I think they will both be around for a long time. At least I hope they are. Riah quickly put a beautiful pint of beer in front of me. I had been anticipating this moment since late June. Orange is my favorite beer color. This probably sounds ridiculous but I associate many of my favorite beers with this color. Unlike the CB, West Sixth is a thoroughly modern space and brightly lit. Where Country Boy's tall shadowy interior reminds of a great hall in a castle keep adorned with interesting wall hangers; upon close inspection, West Sixth's outside walls are top to bottom glass flooding the large and cheerful space with warm light. This is a family place meant for socializing. I even saw kids sitting at the bar! OK, so I hardly wanted to taste my beer as I was reluctant to end my longing. The build-up is where all the drama is don't you think?
I sighed and took a healthy swallow. Oh it was good! Very hoppy yet not harsh and quite satisfying. I sat it back down though and didn't take another drink for several minutes. Jason asked me if I didn't like it. No, I liked it. I was just letting the anticipation for my next drink build a little. Plus, it was too cold. Modern chilling systems are nearly always too cold. Some of the taste is hidden from you when the beer is too cold. The last drink of this beer would be the best if it was like my favorite beers. I only had one more beer that day. They called it Second Fiddle. It's a derivation of their popular IPA which is the only beer they can and distribute widely. Second Fiddle is a single hopped (Simcoe) version of the IPA I fell in love with a few months ago. Now she is all I can think about. Oh bitter beer how I love thee...and thee....and apparently thee. Cheers!
I'm going to Pisttsburgh in three weeks and you had me all excited... 
