Cask Ales and Galvanized Nails

I'm down in NYC this weekend for Mother's Day and my cousin's First Communion party today. Took the bus down from Boston...took for fucking ever due to the usual Friday traffic and the fact that we are apparently got the remnants of the Myanmar cyclone or something. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a petite blonde on the bus ride. As she was bending over to get something out of her bag when we got on I scoped a little boobage down her tank top. Yeah I know it's creepy and I am sure Angie wouldn't approve, but what was I going to do? LOOK AWAY?!?!?! Hardly. In any event the trip took five hours and I arrived at Port Authority with a robust thirst.Headed up to my buddy John's place on the Upper West side. He's getting married soon and his engagement party is today, so he couldn't go all out last night but we crushed some beers just the same. Started out with a couple of Boggs before we headed over to a place called George Keeley's on Amsterdam and 83rd.

Keeley's is a legit NYC bar. Dark and wooden throughout. A few tables line the side wall and the bar stretches an impressive length on the opposite wall. It has a couple of TVs and an always occupied dartboard. Standard I guess, but the beer selection is anything but typical. Every time I get down to the city I try to hit this place up. The beer list is always changing and they always have some good shit on tap without fail. I went to High School with the kid who manages the place and he seems to have developed the same kind of affinity for beers as I have. I took a picture of the blackboard with my phone cam which explains the shitty quality.

I noticed on another board that they were offering Blue Point's Spring Fling or something like that on cask....so I jumped at the chance. I have had Blue Point's Toasted Lager and their Hoptical Illusion Pale Ale and have been very impressed in the past. Always feels good to support the local booze peddlers. It was nice and fresh tasting, very clean...a good pale ale. Not an overwhelming hop presence, but there was definitely a decent amount of nice floral hop aroma and a smooth citrusy bitterness that I enjoyed thoroughly. I easily could have drank these all night, but there were a few other offerings on tap that I wanted to try.
Next up, I think, I had a Red Rocket Ale from Bear Republic, which was also quite tasty. Dark and somewhat sweet it had a very complex flavor profile that was just delicious, if a little bit on the heavier side of things. I may have had something else after this that has slipped my mind at this point. All I know is that soon after the Red Rocket I made the mistake of telling John's roommate Sean to grab me "whatever that Rogue beer they have on tap is." I have had Rogue's stuff before and have always been pretty cool with it. What I did not realize was that this particular Rogue offering was the brewery's attempt at a Chipotle beer. THIS SHIT WAS VILE!!! It had a slightly discernible smoky aroma which I found fine, since I have had and made beers employed smoked malt before. I was anticipating something similar. Then I tasted it and all I can describe it as was this disgustingly overwhelming mishmash of jalapeno pepper and feet...shit covered dog feet even. It was repulsive....I never throw beer away or let it go to waste, but that pint sat there the rest of the night taunting me with its obnoxious nastiness. I switched to the safer Dogfish 60 which did me fine the rest of the night as it always does. I am pissed that I didn't take a peek at the beer list sooner because I would have obviously tried the Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold...FOR THE NAME ALONE!
All in all a solid night though and a worthwhile bar to drink at...which is all you can really ask for I think.

&Ry