- Drinking craft beer and doing some gambling all over this beautiful world!

Craps Craft Beer and Blues – Tennessee

I decided to take another dice class and since Cheryl hadn’t been to Memphis or Nashville the trip turned into the ‘Craps Craft Beer and Blues” odyssey.

Travel

I decided it would be cheaper to drive my car then to fly us both and rent a car so on Wednesday morning I left southern New Jersey and drove 10 hours to Knoxville, TN where I stopped for the night.

A google search revealed a local brewery 4 miles from my hotel and since I hadn’t had dinner yet guess where I went. The brewery was Abridged Brewing Company, I ordered a flight of their IPA’s and a Hog Molly Burger with fries.

I tasted the Alright, Alright, the POGsicle, the Ex Officio and the Toppy Rock IPA’s. The Alright, Alright was the best of the batch. A Double IPA coming in at 8.9% ABV and had a very nice bitter finish and wasn’t overly boozy. Unfortunately this would be the only craft beer in the “Craps Craft Beer and Blues” for the first week of the trip.

The Hog molly burger was the star of the show. A brisket patty, topped with smoked pork, sharp cheddar, BBQ sauce and a bangin honey jalapeno slaw. OMG!!! It was utterly amazing.

Travel Day 2

Thursday I left Knoxville at 8am and had a smooth 6 hour drive to Tunica, MS. Checked into the Tunica Roadhouse which is a Caesars property. They closed the casino at the beginning of 2019 and now it is only a hotel and conference center. I can see why.

To say I’m not impressed would be an understatement. I asked for and received a smoking room on the 4^th floor. Stained carpet, cigarette burned table and chairs that were both ripped and torn. The room has 4 outlets – one is hidden behind the big TV/dresser, a second one is hidden behind the bed leaving only 2 usable in the room. Thankfully, the bed is clean, and the bathroom is also clean.

Met up with Howard Rock n Roller and his wife Ivy, Joe H., Jasper and some others for dinner at the Horseshoe buffet. Company was a lot of fun … food was mediocre. After dinner the group decided to play a craps session but I was beat and decided to just head back to the room for the night. Talked with Cheryl, did some work and was out by 10pm.

Friday

Got up about 7am and went to get some work done and no internet. Thought it was just a glitch so I decided to head out and play some craps. Met up with a bunch of the group and played a session at Gold Strike.

Craps Craft Beer and Blues Gold strike is an MGM property and so far the nicest property I have been too. Unfortunately, the session did not go so well. Seven DI’s at the table and we only had 2 rolls over 7. Joe H. had the long roll of the morning with a 25. For whatever stupid reason I chose not to play the darkside and so I got my butt kicked … down $225.

Time for breakfast and when Howard and Heavy are involved breakfast will always be at Waffle House. Had a decent (albeit a little greasy) breakfast and some great conversation with Howard, Ivy, Joe and Jasper.

Horseshoe Session

Headed back to the Horseshoe to see what was happening there and they had 2 tables open and they were both packed. Back to the Gold Strike we went. They had 3 tables open and one was completely empty.

The second session of the day went better until the end. 14 rolls with half of them being over 6 rolls long. I got to shoot 3 times, the first time I rolled 7 times and bet very, very conservatively as I had never played these tables before. Second roll was 16 rolls and I felt I had a decent feel for the table … still bet pretty conservatively. 3^rd roll I was feeling pretty good so I bet my “normal” bet on myself which is $160 across working on come out, $10 Place bet and $5 world. Hit the hard 10 collected and placed 2X odds on my pass line. Seven out! Because of that loss I ended up coloring up -$55.

Time for a break

I walked backed to Horseshoe and ran $80 thru a Blazing 7’s slot machine to get my 25 Tier Credits. Horseshoe is running a promo for the month of August where if you get 25 Tier Credits in a day you get a free buffet. I am pretty sure that we will be hitting the buffet again and again.

Back to the room to do a little work. Still no internet, placed a call to tech support and the initial level of support was unable to help. Submitted a support ticket and laid down for awhile.

After 90 minutes of not hearing anything I decided to go play some more. Met up with some of the guys on a crapless table at Horseshoe. After about an hour nobody could really get anything going and we switched to a regular craps table.

Finally had a decent session as Joe had a nice 20+ roll hitting the ATS bonus bet. Then a random roller got hot and hit the Tall part of the ATS before rolling big red. I was down almost 200 from the crapless and between those two rolls got me back to even plus $100 profit.

Meet & Greet

It was time for the Meet & Greet so we headed over to Sam’s Town. Met a bunch of new people and got reacquainted to several others. Spent about 2 hours just chatting and having a couple of drinks. Headed back to the Horseshoe as we thought the free buffet was still in effect. Found out it was only Monday to Thursday so we had to use Reward credits. Chowed down on crab legs and mediocre ribs and wings.

After dinner headed back to the craps tables but Friday night was in full swing and I didn’t feel like trying to squeeze in to one of the tables. Wandered the casino for awhile, checked out their beer offerings at the various bars and couldn’t find a single beer that was worth tasting. That’s it for me … time for bed.

Saturday

Class day. Once again Howard and Heavy put together a great class. We had a group of about 16 people spread out of two craps tables. Got a couple of really good suggestions on how to improve my toss. Met some really good people. Got a couple of new betting strategy suggestions and in general had a really good day.

Went to dinner with Howard, Ivy and Heavy at the Gold Strike buffet. Walked the Horseshoe casino and realized how beat I was and decided to call it a night.

Sunday

Short version: should have stayed in bed.

I almost changed the name of this post from “Craps Craft Beer and Blues” to CRAP Craft Beer and Blues after this day finally ended.

Met up with a couple of the guys for an early session at 6:45 am. There were about 6 of us at the table and 2 or 3 random rollers. Bought in for $1,000 and started bleeding money almost immediately. I would go $44 inside and the seven would show immediately. Wait 3 or 4 rolls and then do a $12 6 and 8, get one hit and bang the seven shows up.

Next I tried going $160 across working on a couple of the guys I knew who what decent tosses and they would throw a come out 7. Before I know it I am down like $700. A random roller finally got a decent roll going but I waited awhile and then bet very conservatively that her 40+ roll hand only got me back to $500. Called it a night.

$160 across working killed me

Had breakfast with the group and played another session. I happened to roll first and went $160 across working and threw a freakin come out 7! Several short rolls and I am down $400. I got the dice and had a decent 19 roll wand which got me back to almost even and took a break.

Went back down to the Horseshoe floor as they were opening a new table and 12 of us from the class took it over. Should have known better. played for almost 3 hours struggling from the beginning. The longest roll of the session was thrown by Joe H. and it was a 15 roll hand. There goes another $255!

Had a decent dinner at the buffet where we celebrated Howard’s upcoming birthday and I packed it in for the day by 8pm down almost a grand. As we were leaving Heavy, Howard, Joe and 3 other players told the group they were all going home a day early as they were tired of getting their asses kicked.

Monday

Better on the tables but still a mixed bag. Early morning session on the crapless table at Horseshoe produced a nice $250 profit on a 13 roll hand from a random and a 25 roll hand from Nick.

Had a nice comped breakfast at the cafe.

Went to the now open regular craps table and after an hour the longest roll was 14 so there went another $300.

Fitzgerald’s casino

Met up with Shawn and decided to check out Fitzgerald’s casino as we didn’t play there the whole trip so far. They were just opening up their only table and we hopped on. The crew was all new and the game was kind of slow going but a really good table. Shawn and I had the whole table ourselves for most of the 2 hour session. Started out very well with each of us throwing a 19 roll hand back to back. Then it went downhill as two of my $160 across working strategies met up with a come out seven. I was down to my last $75 and said screw it I will roll one more time. 38 rolls and the ATS bonus later I sevened out. Shawn had a nice 25 roll hand next and we decided to take a lunch break. I cashed out up $250

Went back after lunch and shouldn’t have. We were pretty cocky and it bit us in the butt. I ended up cashing out only $100 of the $500 I bought in with. Shawn dropped me off at my hotel and he headed to the airport. Time for a break.

Tuesday

Complete meltdown day. Started the morning with a session that was pretty choppy. I had a couple of decent rolls of 13, 15, 17 and 22 rolls. Unfortunately, everybody else at the table had short rolls so any money I made on my rolls was given back on others.

Took a break for lunch with Cheryl and then headed back down for more. All the tables were packed so I played a slot machine called Dancing Drums. I usually put $60 in it and see what happens. Not this time, I just kept feeding the damn thing money. I played for almost 2 hours, put in $350 and walked away broke.

Decided to play one more session over at Gold Strike hoping to strike gold and get at least some of my money back. I was playing with “scared money” and as always happens when you do that I lost. No long rolls but never switched to the Dark side which would have made me some money. Down another $125.

Time to leave.

I went to the video poker bar and was having a vodka tonic as the “craft beer” choices here were Yuengling or Shock Top! Called the Doubletree hotel and changed my reservation so we could check in on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Dinner was at the buffet at Horseshoe again as it was free and then back to the room to start packing and crash for the night.

Wednesday

Spent the day in my hotel room working. When Cheryl was done work we loaded up the car and got out of town. Arrived in Memphis and checked into the Doubletree Downtown around 6pm. Beautiful hotel right next door to the world famous Peabody hotel. The only downside is since its downtown parking basically doesn’t exist so we had to valet our car which cost $28 a day.

Decided to check out a couple of the local breweries since this “Craps Craft Beer and Blues” tour hasn’t seen any craft beer in days. We stopped at Crosstown Brewing and then WISEACRE brewing.

Crosstown is in what once must have been a warehouse or manufacturing facility. It had a decent vibe and decor but nothing amazing. They had two offerings I tried:

Traffic IPA – This was a very decent IPA overall. Beautiful white foam head. It was a little bitter in the aftertaste which made me rate the beer a little lower then I originally thought.
Ocansey Pale Ale – A good solid Pale Ale … perfect for sitting at the beach all day long and not getting hammered.

WISEACRE Brewing

WISEACRE has a huge facility and a nice tasting room with floor to ceiling glass looking into the brewery itself. Huge outdoor patio and a food truck made for a nice way to spend an evening. I sampled 3 beers here:

Tiny Bomb – The pilsner they are known for. Really clean and crisp and a great flavor.
Ananda – Their standard IPA offering. Enjoyable, a little fruity but not a juice bomb.
Adjective Animal – Double IPA which I really enjoyed and would have had more of but I was driving.

Beale Street

Headed back to the downtown area and decided to check out Beale St. I haven’t been there since the mid-90’s but it hasn’t changed much. It was bike night which was cool as there were well over 100 motorcycles right on Beale to check out. Grabbed a beer at Handy Park to listen to the band that was playing. It was a 24 oz pour of 201 Poplar IPA from Meddelsome Brewing which was decent but nothing to write home about.

We walked Beale and had dinner at the Rum Boogie cafe which was my favorite watering hole when I lived here oh so long ago. Good rockin blues band on stage, very tasty sausage and cheese platter and another WISEACRE Ananda IPA made this a very good stop. Headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Thursday

The craft beer part of the “Craps Craft Beer and Blues” really kicked in on Thursday. We worked during the day and finally got out of the room around 4:30pm. Walked next door to the Peabody and had a drink in the lobby bar. We got there at the perfect time to watch and listen to the story of the ducks as they made their way from the fountain back to the roof.

Went to the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium for a little dinner and of course some beers. This place is part sports bar, part BBQ joint and part Beer Mecca. I tried four beers here:

Devil’s Harvest by Southern Prohibition Brewing
Voodoo Ranger Liquid Paradise IPA by New Belgium Brewing Company
Scorpion Bowl IPA by Stone Brewing
Stone Liberty Station POMMA Said Knock You Out by Stone Brewing

Walking Ghost Tour

We met our group at Alfreds on Beale for the Memphis Walking Ghost Tour. While the tour guide was not exactly the worlds greatest storyteller this walk was fun. We walked around downtown Memphis for about 2 hours as the tour guide showed us some of the various locations where ghosts have been seen and/or felt. I enjoyed this because it gave us some of the history of Memphis and the history of some of the buildings here that I knew nothing about.

Blues Went Missing

After the walking tour we wanted to hear some good blues. Unfortunately at 11pm on a Thursday night Beale Street was like a ghost town! Silky’s 2 piano players were more interested in hearing themselves then getting the crowd involved. Alfreds had a DJ, Jerry Lawlers was closed, Rum Boogie had the same guy we say the night before. We figured BB Kings would be the place and they did have a band and they were playing the Blues … sat at the bar and listened to 3 songs and couldn’t get a drink. Time for bed!

Friday

Worked during the day and around 5pm decided to head out for the evening. We had scheduled a walking ghost tour of Memphis at 8:30 so we went to Charlie Vergos Rendezvous for dinner. Sausage and cheese platter followed by a rack of their dry rubbed ribs and I was in heaven!

The ghost tour was meeting at Alfreds so we just decided to hang out there until meeting time. Since it was “Elvis Week” in Memphis Alfreds had an impersonator on stage who turned out to be pretty decent. Ghost tour was interesting … just wish the tour guide was a better storyteller. He was more of a “just the facts ma’am” kind of guy and therefore a little boring.

Headed back to Beale after the tour and ended up hanging out at Silky’s for an hour or two enjoying the piano players much better tonight.

Saturday

Crap Craft Beer and Blues - Graceland Up and out early this morning as we were checking out of the hotel and had to be at Graceland by 8:45 for our tour. They have changed things around some in the 25 years since I have been there. Now you get an iPad and a headset when you get to the mansion. John Stamos narrates your tour as you go through the mansion. The production was pretty well done but not as personal as back in the day when you had an actual tour guide.

After the mansion we spent a couple of hours going through all the other exhibits including his cars, his outfits, his gold records, other artists that were inspired by him and so on. Last stop was the airplane exhibits which I definitely enjoyed. Stopped for some more ribs about a mile from Graceland at a BBQ joint and got on the road for Nashville.

Nashville

We made good time and arrived at my nieces apartment around 4pm. She was already at work so we unpacked and relaxes for an hour or so. She had reserved us a table at her restaurant for 6:30 for dinner and even with traffic we got there about 15 min early. As you will read, there wasn’t a whole lot of Craps or Craft Beer here in Nashville but the Blues part was definitely better!

I had been told by my mom and my aunt to try their shrimp and grits and they were right! i am not a big grits fan in general but this entree was delicious. After dinner we hung out with my niece for about an hour and then left her to finish up work. We hit some of the 2nd street Honky Tonks and were really enjoying the music and people watching.

My niece finally got done with work and took us to Buffalo Billiards were alot of the hospitality industry hangout after work. Unfortunately they didn’t have much in the way of local beer so I “suffered” thru the evening drinking some local vodka. After we closed it down we ended up having breakfast at a local Waffle House.

Sunday

Cheryl and I were in no shape for anything until early afternoon, unfortunately my niece had to work brunch and was up and out of the house by 8am. She got home about 3pm and we just hung out and talked for a couple of hours. We headed back to BB Kings as a local blues musician my niece really liked was playing at 6. It was totally worth it, Mike Hayes has to be one of the most talented, humble and hardworking musicians I have seen in a long time.

We ended up leaving BB’s after awhile and hit some of the Honky Tonks on Broadway including Tootsie’s, Kid Rocks place, Layla’s and a few others. Called it a night relatively early at 1am.

Monday

Cheryl had to work Monday so my niece and I just hung out and talked until Cheryl was done at 4pm. We headed out and each bought a pair of cowboy boots. Final stop of the trip was The Nashville Palace which was a really cool old school country honky tonk. We had some dinner and headed back to my niece’s apartment, packed up and headed to bed.

Travel Home

Up and out Tuesday morning at 8am, drove to Staunton, Virginia where we spent the night and then drove the final 5 hours home on Wednesday.

So while the Craps Craft Beer and Blues journey was not a financial success it was definitely an adventure, it was fun and definitely a wonderful memory.

Until Next Time

Eric

Boston Beer Trip

Cheryl and I headed up to her hometown this past weekend to enjoy some uniquely Boston beer, good friends and family.

Friday

We had to be in Cape Cod for a memorial service for her good friends father by 11am. We left my house at 4am to make sure were got there in plenty of time. The service was very well done and respectful.

After the service we went to the Lobster Trap which was a really cool restaurant just a mile or two away. We had a great lunch and I got to taste an IPA by Mayflower Brewing Company. For the first beer of my Boston beer trip it really hit the spot! The food was really good and the beer was very tasty. We spent about 2 hours catching up with our friends and enjoying each others company. Cheryl had to get back to work so we said our goodbyes and headed out to our hotel.

While Cheryl finished working for the day, I had the chance to take a nap. That evening we had dinner with one of Cheryl’s brother and his family. Very enjoyable and relaxing evening, time well spent.

Saturday

Slept late on Saturday and decided to head down to Faneuil Hall Marketplace to walk around for awhile. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around and people watching.

I was getting thirsty and since this is the “Boston Beer” trip it was time. We found two breweries that were within walking distance to check out. First stop was Trillium Brewing in Fort Point which actually had a line to get in. This place is huge! Three floors plus a deck out front with about a dozen beers on tap. Unfortunately, they don’t do flights so I was “forced” to drink a whole beer!

I had the Every Trillion Ever which is a Triple IPA that was freakin amazing! Juicy, fruity, great bitterness and just the right malt flavor. Next I had the Double Dry Hopped A Street which was a very nicely balanced “regular” IPA.

Next stop was Hopster Brewing Company which was just around the corner. This brewery does flights so I was able to sample several of their craft:

Comet Citra – Best beer they had, I just love Citra hops.
The Yard Milkshake IPA – Good for a Milkshake IPA.
The Duke – Not sure what hops were in this beer but I did not like it.
Ship of Fools – Nothing special and a little too malty.
Newtonian – Decent Double IPA but nothing worth writing home about.

Spent the evening hanging out with more of Cheryl’s family and called it a night by 11.

Sunday

Cheryl had a baby shower to attend which I wanted no part of. Ended up sitting at a nearby bar with two of the other husbands who were in the same boat. The only local beer they had as Wormtown IPA which was a decent beer. After the shower was over we spent time with some friends at the bar.

We were meeting Cheryl’s sister and niece for dinner and met them at The Tap Brewing Company in Haverhill, MA. Since we were early I had some time to taste several of their offerings. Most were decent but the standout was Mosaicus which really showed off the berry, fruity, and floral aroma and flavors of Mosaic hops. That unfortunately was the end of the beer in my Boston beer trip.

After dinner we drove over to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Another of Cheryl’s brothers and family rented a beach house there. Nice beach with the typical souvenir, ice cream and pizza shops along the strip.

Monday

Time to head home. Got on the road at about 8am, made good time with little traffic. Pulled in to the house at about 1:30.

That is the end of the Boston beer trip

Until Next Time

Eric

Drink & Gamble at Casino Windsor

Drink & Gamble at Casino Windsor I had the chance to drink & gamble my way thru Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario for a couple of days to hang out my friend and teacher Howard R0ck n Roller and several of his friends. Any time I get a chance to hang out and shoot some dice with Howard and his group I jump on it.

Sunday

My travel day. From southern New Jersey to Caesars Windsor was 597 miles and it was supposed to take me exactly 9 hours. I only took one quick bathroom/gas break and it took me exactly 9 hours!

Checked into my room, unpacked and stretched for about 30 minutes. Walked the casino to get the lay of the land. Table games, restaurants, cashier, promotions, which of the 4 or 5 slot machines that I like do they have, etc…

Once complete I texted Howard to find out what the plan was for the evening. Pretty simple plans: meet for dinner at 5:30 and then play a craps session after we eat. Since this was travel day I didn’t plan on a whole lot of drink & gamble opportunities.

Dinner

There are 8 of us for dinner so we had to wait for a table to be setup. Unfortunately, this Diamond lounge is not up to snuff in my opinion. The room itself was decent and the waitstaff were good it was just the food and drink were mediocre.

Most diamond lounge I have been to drinks were included (any kind of drink alcoholic or non-alcoholic). At this lounge the only drinks included were coffee, soda and water.

Normal fare at other Diamond lounges include 2 or 3 hot entrees, a soup or two and a salad station. Here they had a soup, a salad bar and cold subs: ham, turkey or eggplant and that was it.

Craps Session 1

After dinner we said goodnight to the wives and the 5 guys went in search of a craps table. There were 3 open and the one crapless table was the only table we could all fit at.

I generally like playing on a crapless table on these trips for 2 reasons:

We don’t have any crapless table anywhere near me.
Usually the group of “Dice Influencers” I play with do pretty well at this type of table.

Unfortunately, tonight we coupldn’t really get much going. We played for a little over 2 hours and saw 29 different rolls. We saw only 4 rolls over over 10 rolls long. There were 21 rolls that were under 5 rolls long. I would’ve played the “dark side” but on a crapless table they don’t offer those bets. I had enough and colored up minus $150 Canadian.

It’s been a long day and just one drink & gamble so stick a fork in me … I am done.

Monday

Started early this morning, meeting up with the guys at 7:30 for a early session. Not a good move unfortunately as nobody could get anything going. We played for about an hour and Scott had a nice roll of 25. We called it quits after an hour and lots of short rolls.

Went to breakfast at a local place called Pete’s that Gary knew about. Great little breakfast place that has a standing special of 2 eggs, sausage, home fries, toast and coffee for $5.25. The food was good and really hit the spot.

Most of the group decided to go to a local vineyard and take a break from gambling. John and I decided not to go and we bought in to the one regular craps table that was open. This session only lasted about an hours as well but it had much better results. I was able to toss an 18 roll hand and cashed out up $135.

Afternoon

The group got back about 2:30 and we bought in at a table that was pretty much empty. Started out pretty choppy and after about an hour I was down $150. 4 of the group decided to move to the crapless table and see if they could get something going there.

John and I stayed where we were which turned out to be very smart. It was only John and I on the table and I got the dice twice in very short order. I tossed 14 rolls, John threw a 12 rolls and then I threw a 12 roll and cashed out up $200.

Bought in on the crapless table but only stayed for 30 minutes. I was there for 4 rolls that never got beyond roll 5 so I left up $10.

Craft Beer

So far this trip I haven’t had much opportunity for the drink part of drink & gamble. I came down a early for dinner and went to the “House” which is the casino’s craft beer bar. They had six taps and only a couple of local beers on tap. I did have the opportunity to try the Walkerville Brewing Honest Lager. It was decent but a little malty for my taste and not as clean and crisp as I like.

Headed down to the buffet and had a decent dinner with the group. Nothing special but not awful either. We did have a really good dinner conversation with our group.

After dinner we found some room at the crapless table and did battle for about 2 hours. I was way out of position being in the hook so I decided not to shoot tonight. This casino has an interesting rule, in that they allow a player to “sponsor” another player to shoot for them. The person who gets sponsored doesn’t lose their turn and gets to shoot twice in one rotation around the table.

The session started out really well with the first 4 shooters each throwing well into the teens. It went downhill from there and after two hours I decided I had enough for one night. Colored up +$15 and went to bed.

Tuesday

Long day with lots of craps play. Started out at 7:30 with us buying in at a regular craps table. This was a pretty good session overall unfortunately I zigged when I should have zagged on a couple of long rolls and ended up losing $15 even though there was one roll in the 30’s and two other rolls in the 20’s.

Breakfast at Johnny Rocket’s with the ladies and then back to the table for another session. We should have stayed at breakfast as nobody could get above 10 rolls and most of us were in the 4 roll range. Dropped $250 at this table.

Quick break and then back at it. This session was better with several rolls in the low teens. Last roll of the session was by yours truly and went 21 rolls and we decided to break for lunch. I cashed out +$100.

Afternoon From Hell

I should have called it a day after lunch. short version is that I dropped $200 and then $380. That was enough for me so I took off and decided to do some more of drinking in my drink & gamble trip. Started at Brew Windsor which had 2 lagers and a Maple Ale on tap. The head brewer was working the bar and I spent a very enjoyable hour or so chatting with him about brewing, the local brewery scene and just about everything else.

Next stop was Craft Heads Brewing Company which was a pretty cool space in the basement of a building. They had 15+ beers on tap but I stuck with the Smash Pale Ale and their NE IPA which was actually 3 different versions as they took they base IPA and then dry hopped one of them with Sabra hops and another one with Idaho 7 hops.

All were pretty solid but I found it interesting that the IPA’s were all under 20 IBU but had a really nice flavor to them.

A lite dinner and one last session at the craps table which lasted about 2 hours. Theme for the day of “should have stayed in bed” continued as I could not get anything going with my own roll and never capitalized on the medium length rolls of my friends. I did take a shot a couple of times which bit me in the butt and finally colored up -$320 and called it a night.

Wednesday

Up at 7am this morning as I was driving down to Toledo to meet another friend Lou at the Hollywood casino for a session. 1 hour and 15 minute drive without any issues and I was there. Bought in next to Lou and spent the most part of an hour playing a good session without any major ups or downs. I cashed out up 5 dollars and sat down with Lou to hang out for awhile.

Lou is a really neat guy that has a ton of knowledge in craps and so many other areas so it is always a pleasure to hang out with him. Headed back to Windsor around noon stopping at a Burger King for a quick lunch during the drive.

Boats, Dinner & Friends

Back at casino Windsor I spent about an hour catching up on some work and then met up with Howard and his wife Ivy. We hopped in the car and headed over to Lake St. Clair to hang out with Gary and his wife Vicky. Spent an hour or two tooling around the lake on Gary’s boat and then came back and had an amazing fish dinner and a delicious dessert. Several hours of just hanging out with some really great people and then it was time to head back to the casino. The only down side to the day was there was no craft beer available so my drink & gamble plans weren’t all that successful today.

Friday

Alarm went off at 5am and headed back to South Jersey. Very easy and uneventful drive home arriving at about 2:30pm. Overall I really enjoyed the trip really liked the casino and surrounding area so I would say my drink & gamble trip was a success.

Until Next Time …

Eric

Craft Beer on a Catskills Weekend Getaway

Cheryl and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with good friends of ours, Gil and Tina, in the Catskill mountains in New York state checking out the craft beer and spirits in the area. We had never been there, and we always enjoy hanging out with our friends, so we went.

Planning

How this trip came about was kind of interesting. We were enjoying “The Shape of Haze to Come” at Neshaminy Creek Brewing. The beer is enjoyable, and I love how the brewery describes it: “It’s dank, it’s juicy, it’s hazy, and it’s not going to be a shelf turd in three weeks.” I rated it as a 3.75 on Untappd.

As we were enjoying our beers and catching up on what has been happening, Gil mentioned that they were planning a weekend getaway in the Catskills and me being the travel geek I am automatically invited myself along before he could even finish speaking. They were very happy since they were planning on inviting us.

The next hour was spent with Tina looking up places to stay on Airbnb, Cheryl looking for places on hotels.com, Gil was googling breweries near whatever town the rooms were in and I was on Untappd checking out the ratings of the breweries he came across.

We finally settled on a quaint little 3-bedroom farmhouse we found on Airbnb that was in the town of Hurleyville, NY. The place looked great on the site and it was within about 30 minutes of Equilibrium Brewing, Roscoe Beer Company, Catskills Brewing and Prohibition Distillery.

Details set, we decided to meet at their house at 10am Saturday to get on the road.

Saturday

Drove up in separate cars as they had their daughter and dog with them, and it would be more comfortable for all. There was not much traffic and we made good time. Since we couldn’t check-in until 3pm we decided to stop at Equilibrium brewing first as they were south of the town our house was in.

Arrived about 1:30pm and went in. Equilibrium’s brewing operation was pretty impressive with enough equipment for a brewing capacity in the 30 to 50 barrel range (as a guess). Their tasting room was a little bit of a disappointment unfortunately. It felt like an afterthought too be honest.

The craft beer on the other hand was well thought out, well executed and delicious. I tried three different beers in the hour or so we were there including:

Walk on the Sky – A nice Imperial IPA with a ton of different hops and lots of flavor.
MC² – Another Imperial IPA that if very hazy with lots of mango and apricot.
Deviation – A HUGE Triple IPA at 10.5% that is drinkable but a little too citrusy for my taste buds.

Overall a good experience and would definitely drink more of their beer whenever I come across it again.

Time for lunch so we headed into Hurleyville to check out the food options. Found a little gastropub in town called the Pickled Owl that looked decent. It turned out to be a good choice from the food to the beer.

We had house-made southern biscuits that came with jam and a smoked brisket hash with sunny side up eggs, peppers, onions and potatoes. Everything was very well prepared and enjoyable. The only issue we had was that they were understaffed the bar manager was also the waiter and we suspect he was also doing the cooking.

Regarding craft beer they had an exceptional selection, we tried several including:

Maximum Happiness (Grimm Artisanal Ales) – Very fruity with lots of pineapple and papaya.
Awoogah (Grimm Artisanal Ales) – New England IPA that is nice and hazy and really shows off the Hallertau hops.
Fiddlehead IPA (Fiddlehead Brewing – American IPA which was nice and crisp.
Dutchie (West Kill Brewing) – Bright and fruity, slight basil aroma and taste.

Checked into our home for the weekend and unpacked. Made a quick run to Walmart for some food and supplies. My buddy Gil is a chef so he whipped us up a very nice dinner and we spent the rest of the evening sitting in front a nice campfire drinking a few more beers we had brought with us and called it a night.

Sunday

Craft Beer - Catskill Brewery Slept in a little bit and had a nice lazy breakfast with some really good coffee my friends brought with them. Finally got our butts moving around noon and drove over to the Catskill Brewery to start our day with what we hoped was some really good craft beer. We liked this brewery but were not blown away by the tasting room nor by the beers themselves. I tasted three of their beers:

Devil’s Path IPA – This was my favorite at this brewery. Very well balanced, nice and bitter and pretty fruity.
Rat-Faced McDougal #3 – A little malty for my tastes but at 7.8% ABV it was somewhat bitter, had a little berry flavor and used Ariana hops which I don’t believe I have had before and am not sure I enjoy.
Catskill Citra Pale – This was a solid pale ale that I can picture sipping on when enjoying a long day hanging out at the beach. 5.5% ABV with lots of pine notes and citrus.

It was not time for lunch and we found a place nearby called the Main Street Farm Market Café which had lots of whole food organic options. I had a turkey sandwich with rambler cheese, vegan mayo and a sweet and spicy mustard that was just amazing.

They also have a market attached and we were wandering thru it while waiting for the sandwiches to be made and they sold craft beer including Kaaterskill IPA by West Kill Brewing which was arguably the best beer we had the whole weekend. This beer was very smooth, had a great mouthfeel and lots of citrus, it was pure drinking pleasure.

Craft Beer - Roscoe Beer Co. Next we headed over to Roscoe, NY looking for Roscoe Beer Company and Prohibition Distillery. We found the distillery first and did a tasting tour. Eric, our tour guide, very funny, knowledgeable and made the tasting lots of fun. Their vodka, clear gin and Bourbon Crème offerings were very well done and enjoyable. The vodka and Bourbon Crème were good enough that I purchase a bottle of each. Next door they have a tasting room next door and we sat out under a shade umbrella enjoying several of their cocktails and the beautiful weather.

Hopped in our car and headed about 2 miles down the road to Roscoe Beer Company. We really enjoyed the atmosphere at this tasting room and hung out there until they kicked us out at closing time. I only had one beer here as I needed to slow down for a little bit. The Eagle IPA is a very solid American IPA style offering with a mild bitterness, nice citrus notes and just very drinkable.

Headed back to the house with some locally made pasta we picked up and enjoyed another fine dinner sitting around a fire and just enjoying the beauty, the weather and our friends.

Monday

We were up pretty early today as Cheryl had to work. Cheryl works from home so as long as she has internet and cell phone capability she can work pretty much anywhere. While she was working I made her and I breakfast and packed up. My friends and I cleaned up the house and packed the vehicles. Got on the road around 11am and headed home.

A very enjoyable weekend trip enjoying lots of great beer and spirits as well as time with great friends. We are already planning a return to visit some of the other breweries in that area.

Until Next Time,

Eric

Hard Rock Atlantic City Weekend

Hard Rock Atlantic City

Hard Rock Atlantic City here we come! We met another couple that we are good friends with on this trip. This was the one year anniversary of the opening and they had several special events planned including fireworks, a parade, special giveaways on the casino floor throughout the weekend and special drinks in the Plum Lounge.

Thursday

On Thursday I had dinner scheduled with two of my uncles and my sons, our plan was to head to AC after dinner. I picked up Cheryl at about 8pm and we headed down to Atlantic City. We were haulin butt as the fireworks started at 9:30pm. We literally got into the self-park lot and ran to the reserved viewing area as our friends had seats for us.

Amazingly we got there in time, got a drink in our hands and BANG the fireworks began! What a great display! My hats off to the Hard Rock and whoever they hired because the fireworks were phenomenal!

We hung out in the viewing area for awhile after the show ended enjoying our friends and our free drinks. We to our car to get our bags and put our stuff in your room. Our friends had already checked in for us so all we had to do was get in the elevator and go.

We met our friends in the Plum lounge where we had a late night snack and some drinks. Next we headed to the Pai Gow Poker table. I love this game for several reasons:

You are situated in the High Roller room which it is quieter then the casino floor
The drinks are all top shelf an
We can hang out, have some fun and tread water gambling-wise.

Cheryl and the wife of my friend head to bed around 1am. He and I decide to check out the 3 Card Poker table. We played for about 2 hours and the “free” drinks at that table only cost me about $100 from my gambling bankroll. It’s now 3am and I am pretty beat and half-drunk … time for bed!

Friday

Cheryl was working on Friday and I ended up sleeping in the whole day as I was still pretty beat up from the Vegas red eye.

I finally got moving and met our friends on the boardwalk at 4pm for the parade and even though it was pretty damn hot and muggy we still enjoyed it. We met Cheryl in the Plum Lounge at 5pm and enjoyed some Stoli Elit poured through an Ice Luge with some caviar.

We had dinner reservations at Kuro Japanese restaurant for my friends wife’s birthday which we always enjoy. This was as good as it always is. We decided to play some blackjack for awhile which was a big mistake as I dropped about $1,500 in like an hour.

My friends wife kept playing while Cheryl and I took a break. She was also down alot but after we left she managed to claw her way back to even … which is a win in my book.

Saturday

Saturday morning we got up and our friends had reserved 4 beach chairs at the Hard Rock Beach. We spent the day there enjoying the beach, the beautiful weather and the ice cold drinks. For dinner we went back to the Plum Lounge and enjoyed the filet mignon and red snapper entrees.

We finished the evening at the Pai Gow tables which were very nice to me that night allowing me to get back almost two thirds of my loss from the Blackjack table.

Sunday

Sunday we got up, checked out, had a very nice breakfast at Plum and got on the road getting home around noon. Another great atlantic city trip in the books!

Shout out to the staff at the Hard Rock Atlantic City … class act as usual!

Until Next Time,

Eric

Vegas Family Vacation

When a dice class becomes a vegas family vacation!

I booked a dice class in Vegas and when my mom and Cheryl found out they decided to join me. Mom because she loves Vegas as much as I do and Cheryl because she had never been here before.

Once my son’s (Steve and Ned) heard they jumped on the band wagon as well . Steve’s girlfriend Elaine decided to join us as well.

What started out as a simple dice class turned into a second family vacation of the year. 3 of the group (Steve, Cheryl and Elaine) were vegas virgins so this vegas family vacation became even more fun!

Tuesday

Mom, Cheryl and I arrived Tuesday around 9pm, got our car and headed down to Bally’s . Ballys is a decent hotel and I stay here a lot because of the central location on the strip. Also I am a Diamond member and will usually get comped rooms when I am here.

I had 5 nights comped and 2 nights at $55 each. I am not a “high roller” so I was satisfied with the offer.

Once we unpacked, we headed down to the casino to get a bite to eat. Their café/casual eatery Bucca Di Beppo was closed so we went next door to Tequila Tacqueria for some casual Mexican. Food was decent, nothing great or awful and the service was about the same.

We then hit the casino floor mainly to check out the slots, the video poker and the table games. Wondered around playing for an hour or so and called it a night after a long travel day.

Wednesday

Cheryl was up at 4:30 as this is a “working” trip for her. Mom and I were up around 6:30, got Cheryl some coffee and a croissant, we headed out to walk the strip.

Made a right and walked thru the Cromwell; we both love the look and vibe. Such an upgrade from the old Barbara Coast days. Its bright and airy and not too loud.

We ended up stopping in to Flamingo which hasn’t changed in 20 years. The Linq (and O’Sheas),then Harrah’s (always feel like this place is the “Kmart” of the strip),. Next was Casino Royale (ugly, dirty and smelly) and The Venetian (always love the style and class of this place).

Hopped across the street and walked the strip back to Caesars without stopping at any of the MGM properties on that side as we were beginning to get tired and hot.

Went to Caesars as we wondered what the cost is for using the pool for non-guests. $20 per person which includes a towel. The daybeds are $200 for up to 6 people and the cabanas are $400 for up to 8 people.

We played some slots here as we found a Black Widow machine my mom really likes. I played some VP dropping about $100 and mom just about broke even on her machine.

Back to Bally’s and dropped $100 on video poker but winning $280 on a Blazing 7’s machine that I like. We we wandered into Paris as this is mom’s favorite casino on the strip. More slots and just wandering around enjoying the atmosphere.

Went back up to the room around 1pm to lay down for an hour before Cheryl finished up with work.

Wednesday Evening

Cheryl finished work, we took the monorail over to MGM. I don’t care what people say about it being a “dry heat” out here … when you are standing on the platform waiting for the monorail and it’s 105 degrees outside ITS FREAKIN HOT!!!!

Wandered around MGM for awhile just trying to navigate the monstrosity. Eventually walked across the street to Excalibur and took their tram over to Mandalay Bay.

I really like a lot of things about Mandalay Bay but it just seems kind of bland to me. Especially when compared to the ornate details in some of the other hotels on the strip. We tried to get into the pool area but that was not happening. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let us look around as their policy is to only allow hotel guests into the area.

Walked Luxor and Cheryl really liked the whole Egyptian pyramid flavor of the Luxor. I played some 3 Card Poker (winning $150) and mom played a Joe Blow slot winning $90. We walked over to Excalibur to check out what I used to describe as the “craphole of the strip.”

I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. They cleaned it up to some degree since my last visit. Played some slots and I broke even on 3 Card Poker and ended up having dinner here at their buffet.

The buffet was actually pretty decent with clean tables and serving areas as well as fresh food. With military discount for me and a senior discount for mom we ended up spending about $22 a person.

New York, New York to Bellagio

Walked to New York, New York and “had” to stop at the Hershey store. Cheryl wanted pictures of the Chocolate Statue of Liberty as well as the Twizzler Statue. Besides that we didn’t spend much time there as its too much of a young persons vibe for us.

We went next to the Park MGM. This place was mobbed as the doors had just opened for the Aerosmith concert. Not really sure about this place … it doesn’t seem to have a solid identity. We did enjoy walking around the “Eataly” market/dining area.

Stopped in at Aria, which is absolutely gorgeous, we decided to get a “free” drink at a bar with video poker. The bartender was initially really nice and told mom and Cheryl that he would call somebody and have them come down and issue them cards and he could give us all a comped drink and if we played he could keep the free drinks coming one every 30 minutes or so. Sounded good to us so we sat down and started slow playing twenty-five cents per spin.

After about 10 minutes he comes over kind of nasty and says to get free drinks we have to play at least 5 coins per spin. Cheryl asked him why he didn’t say that when we first sat down and his response was basically “you should know.” While we understand the policy (now) and it makes sense to us the way he handled it was less than stellar. We basically finished our drinks and left.

Walked to Bellagio and got in front of the fountains 5 minutes before the next show started and enjoyed the show. Went into the Bellagio and walked around in awe for awhile.

Dueling Piano’s

Went back to Bally’s and and sat down at one of our two favorite Dueling Piano bars in Vegas. We have no idea the names of the two musicians but the were absolutely amazing! Cheryl headed up to bed around 10pm as she had to be up again at 4:30 for work. Mom and I sat there until about midnight when I had to head back to the airport for the kids.

Flight was delayed so they arrived at 1:30am instead of midnight , drove back and went to bed having walked more than 30,000 steps which is a personal record. The vegas family vacation can now officially start since everyone if finally here.

Thursday

Got up at 10am, got coffee for Cheryl and decided to gamble for awhile at Bally’s. Hopped on a craps table while mom went back to Paris to her favorite slot machine. The craps session started well but went cold after an hour, ended up down $90.

The kids woke up and we took a trip over to a dispensary to see what it was like. Let’s just say it was “interesting” as I haven’t seen all the different forms you can get these days. Stopped back at the hotel to pickup Cheryl and got on the road for Hoover dam. We stopped at Jack in the Box which we don’t have on the East Coast and I crave that place!

We had only planned two sightseeing type events for this vegas family vacation outside of the casino’s and the strip. Hoover dam was the first of them. The tour we wanted was sold out so we did the Powerplant tour which was still enjoyable. The technology and scale of that place is ridiculous! We got some real good pictures of the dam and Lake Mead. Definitely worth the trip over. Pretty much everybody (except the driver … yours truly) slept on the way back to Ballys.

Thursday Night

Ended up at the Burger Brasserie in Bally’s for dinner. Decent burger joint but nothing special. I had the Cobb salad which came with fried Avocado which was interesting. The salad was delicious and sizeable … would definitely get it again.

We then introduced the kids to slot machines and Blackjack. They both got lucky and came away with about $100 of profit. The sun and heat (it was 104 degrees!!!) really took its toll so we were in bed by 11pm.

Friday

Went down to the craps table about 7am. I hadn’t met any of the people in the class so I was playing and kind of looking at the other people at the table wondering who was who. Not getting my normal position so I didn’t toss the dice but there was are random roller on the other side of the table who had a really nice roll and made everybody at the table some money.

I introdocued myself to several of the players who were obviously there for the same class as I am. We ended up leaving the table and standing around for another hour or so just chatting and getting to know each other a little bit.

Got back to the room around 10am and my mom was up and so were the kids. We spent a couple of hours walking the strip and showing the kids around.

The second sightseeing event of the vegas family vacation was a tour of Red Rock Canyon. Cheryl was done with work at 2pm and we loaded up the rental car and headed out to Red Rock Canyon. We walked around, got some great photographs and just really enjoyed the area for the afternoon.

Friday Night

There was a class meet and greet at 6pm which was really fun. One of the things I love about this particular craps group is the people that I have met are truly nice people and it has been so much fun getting to know them.

After a couple of hours of drinks and chatting we decided to head over to the Palms to check that place out and play a session. Turned out to be a really good decision for those that fit on the table I was on. Several decent hands and one stand out hand thrown by one of the instructors of the class which netted me close to a thousand dollars!

The people who went to the other table didn’t have as much luck and ended up donating. Headed back to the hotel and met up with mom and Cheryl at the dueling piano bar again and spent a couple of hours there enjoying the show again.

Saturday

Several of us planned an early morning session before our class. Big mistake! Cost me about $300 … ouch! Spent the day in the class learning from some of the best and got much more than my moneys worth.

Got back to the hotel around 6pm and met up with the family, they had already eaten so I just grabbed a food bar I brought with me and we headed out in the car to let them experience “Downtown” and the freak show that it is. This was one of the sightseeing events I wanted for the vegas family vacation that nobody else even thought about. Fremont st. was an absolute mess of people which was exactly what I was hoping for so they could see it in its full glory. We walked around for a couple of hours, got a couple of drinks from the casino street bars and walked thru most of the casinos on the street. Pretty much called it a night after we got back.

Sunday

I went to class for our final conversations about bankroll management, discipline and knowing when to call it a day.

Afterwards we decided to head downtown and play at several of the casinos on Fremont. Hopped on a table at Golden Nugget and had a really good roll of 26 and hitting the ATS bonus bet for a nice win. Played craps at 4 Queens without much happening.

Headed back to Bally’s to get mom to the airport. She was heading right from Vegas down to Mexico to join my cousin for her 30^th birthday party trip. Got back to the hotel and spent most of the evening playing blackjack with the family over at Paris.

Monday

Monday I took the kids to the airport at 4:30am so I guess at this point the vegas family vacation was done. I met up with some of the group at Bally’s for an early morning session which was up and down if I remember correctly. We left there and went over to Cromwell which was choppy for the first hour or so. The left side of the table was taken by 3 high rollers each betting a grand per roll and getting their butts kicked.

They finally leave and the dice finally came around to me and I had a really nice 40 roll hand again hitting the full ATS and making lots of money for everybody at the table. We had lunch at the Flamingo food court and then hit Harrahs without anybody really doing anything.

Had an amazing dinner at BLT Steak Monday night just Cheryl and I which was really nice. We spent the evening enjoying the dueling piano’s at Paris again that night.

Tuesday

Tuesday I got up and called for a late check out and then played one last craps session with one of the guys from the class at Paris. Neither of us could really get much going and I finally called it a day around noon. Back up to the room, packed and checked out. Dropped our bags at the bell captain and walked the strip for a couple of hours stopping in at Treasure Island, Mirage and Caesars.

Got back to Bally’s around 5:30, grabbed our bags and rental car and headed to the airport. We ended up playing some slots even though the airport slots are notoriously tight … which worked out for me as I hit a $900 jackpot at Dancing Drums! Flight boarded and we were on our way, another really good Vegas trip and the first vegas family vacation was officially in the books!

Until next time,

Eric