Viva Las Vegas!
Firstly, apologies for the break in the frequency of my blogs, since my return from the USA I’ve been in bed with pneumonia and haven’t been in any fit shape to write something sensible, I’m sure some of you would query whether I ever write anything sensible!
All of my trips to the US this year have ended up in Las Vegas. There have been questions asked about this, especially when I was foolish enough to send home a picture of me with some showgirls! Surprisingly my explanation of the showgirls being friends of our guys in Las Vegas wasn’t fully believed! I have however, decided to follow advice and not use the photo in question for my Facebook profile picture.
Ken and Al in Vegas are great guys and know loads of interesting people, some of whom are actually quiet normal. During my last trip I met Elvis, I think that’s who he said he was? Now, we have an Elvis Kirk in Killyleagh, but I’m sure I’ve seen this bloke from Las Vegas on the telly! He was appearing at the Stratosphere in American Idols at the time and was so good, we are hoping he is going to appear in the first SLBC video, however that’s a story for a future blog!
SLBC in Nevada were one of the sponsors of the Sin City Golf tournament while I was there. My golf isn’t that good and golf at 95 degrees certainly isn’t my thing. I’m not sure how those guys got around the course - not because of the heat, but because of the regular stops to take on board a beverage! Still, the 19th hole was very pleasant indeed!
Watching the golfers imbide their beverages raised the old question in my head ‘drink straight from the bottle or not?’ We always recommend our beer should be poured into a clean glass to get the full flavour of our Ales, yet here were guys chugging their beer from the bottle. Perhaps it was the coldness they were enjoying and not the full flavour, however as I sat in the shade, supping a cool Barelegs and experiencing the full great flavour, I had to admit, you couldn’t beat it!
The trip to Vegas was rounded off with a visit to Gordon Biersch in ‘Restaurant Row’, just off the strip. They’ve done a great job of creating a good atmosphere whether you want to eat or drink or both! As you would expect we did both. On a warm Sunday afternoon their Golden Export seemed the idea beer to start proceedings. At 5% this is a nice beer, very dry, good taste. During the meal I tried the Marzen as the information told me that it was intended for warmer weather and in olden times in had been stored in caves near Munich. I don’t know whether this is true, but Marzen was another beer enjoyed and one I’d recommend to you. This ale was auburn coloured with a mild sweet finish and it was difficult to turn down another pint.
By the way, the food at Birsch was awesome! Try the Gorgonzola Bone-in Ribeye with extra sauce, (truly amazing.) I followed this with the mini desert tasters, but don’t tell anybody, I’m supposed to be on a diet!
Another great trip to Vegas followed by a flight to Chicago the following morning. Then commenced three weeks of hell, suspect Swine Flu and then Pneumonia, still we’ll keep that for another time!
