Negligence and Starr Hill

I should be charged with negligence.

Since school has started up again, I have completely abandon not only this blog, but one of the activities I love most in the world, going out for a beer and nachos at happy hour. My partner in crime, Madeline Gagner, has bugged me to no end, trying to get me to update, but in my subtly stubborn way, I have skirted my responsibility as a blogger. I have failed my public. The same public who relies on my every word to make their happy hour choices! Yes, yes, blame me you must.

Alas! A new promise: an update every week. Whether or not I go to happy hour, whether or not I have a beer and nachos, there will be something here for you, my reader. So let's start with a story, eh?

I went to Virginia a few weekends ago to see the Dave Matthews Band play their last show until 2012 (hoping for the Gorge in 2011). To read more about that, click here. When I was there, I went to the Starr Hill brewery and tried both The Love, a wheat beer, and the Amber.

I quite enjoyed both, though I'll admit the Amber was my favorite. Unfortunately for me and any other Seattlelites, Starr Hill doesn't market to the west coast! Grr, I say. GRR. So the next time you find yourself roaming the streets of Virginia, make a point to stop by Starr Hill. Try The Love, their Amber and some of there other beers, too. Let me know how they are.

Check it out!

Oh, Starr Hill, start selling your beer in Seattle.

Bob's Burgers and Brew

Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, our first review. Last night we traveled to the far and distant land of Tulalip (a mere 30 minutes north of where we live) for having the extreme displeasure of just missing happy hour. Not to fear, I interrogated the waitress all about their prices for happy hour, so I have the scoop for those of you scoop-seekers.

Bob's Burgers and Brew in Tulalip

A warning to Bob's fans from Bellingham: we've learned that this Bob's to the south doesn't hold a candle to it's big brother up north. Personally I have never been, but my writing partner in crime has informed me they can't really be compared. Sorry Seattlites, Bellingham wins this one.

As for logistics, happy hour is between 3 and 6 pm, pretty standard if you ask me. Unfortunately we didn't make it there until somewhere after 7. Turns out we have extreme separation anxiety when at work so we find it necessary to tell our life story to each other upon reunion. So yeah, we got there late. However, despite getting there later than we'd hoped, there was still a decent amount of seating at the dinner hour in the bar, including a gracious amount of outdoor seating which is probably only utilized during the four weeks out of the year is not too fricken cold to sit out there. Bitching aside, our service was speedy, our waitress friendly and pleasant. She was quick, accommodating and had perfect timing for our bill. We got our beers within minutes of sitting down. There is a decent array of beers on tap, not amazing, but decent. They had our go to, Blue Moon on tap as well as my favorite amber, Mack and Jacks. 

Beer and MONSTER nachos!

Much to our pleasure, the wait for our food was short. When the nachos arrived I'm pretty sure our mouths dropped. They were humongous! You get the choice of beef or chicken, we opted for poultry which was fabulous. The thing comes loaded with good cheese (none of that disgusting liquid cheese at 711), olives, meat, green onions (a personal favorite), tomatoes, and sides of both salsa and sour cream. We were displeased at the lack of guacamole, but I think I can live with it considering the sheer size of the "appetizer". 

The crowd in the bar was older, but nothing creepy. We've been to some sketch bars in our day and this one was perfectly tame. In the spirit of a sports bar, a number of televisions with baseball were on as well as our favorite thing to see, neon Husky lights adorning the high walls. 

As for prices, we paid a bit more seeing as we couldn't get our asses into gear for happy hour. As mentioned before, I did manage to get the happy hour deals from our fabulous waitress. All beers are $0.50 off, bringing a pint of what's on tap to $4.50, a bit pricy. All appetizers are $2 off, bring the nachos to $8.99. It seems expensive, but we think it's a decent price to charge for the amount you get. You could easily share these nachos with three or four people.

Rating Breakdown:

Price --> 1.5 nachos are a good deal, but the beer is a bit over priced

Atmosphere --> 2 sports bar-like, but a bit small and on the chilly side

Service --> 3 perfect, no complaints here

Taste --> 2 delicious, but didn't blow us away

Beer Selection --> 2 decent, but not amazing

Overall Rating: SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS (10.5)

The Rating System

A note to our audience: Our nature as insane, crazy people has led us to create a logical, but perhaps confusing system of rating the bars and restaurants we happy hour. In this post you'll find both our criteria for rating and the system itself, complete with explanation of the crazy. As always, we appreciate feed back about our system, especially if you, a completely sane person, can detect any oversight in our part.

Criteria:
Our rating will be based off of a number of categories that will be rated numerically, zero to three. Zero means it was a complete shit storm; three means we won the mouth lottery. Each category will be added up to equal one sum. The sum will then be translated into crazy person speak, because numbers are for nerds. If you are a nerd, you'll appreciate our inclusion of your mathematical friends.

Categories:
Price
Atmosphere
Service
Taste
Beer Selection

I'm not going to explain these categories. If you need them explained to you, you are a nerd. Go do some math.

Rating System:
A score of 0-3 is what we like to call a complete SHIT SHOW. Steer clear unless you want to go home with hurt feelings and explosive diarrhea. 4-6 is still cause for concern, hence the name CONCERNICUS. You won't get the runs, but you probably shouldn't test your luck. Next is 7-9, Mr. Mediocre or MEH. Then, 10-12 which is cause for celebration. For you Willy Wonka fans, we've titled this category SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS*. Finally, the Holy Grail of happy hours, 13-15 simply titled LOTTERY.

Look for our future posts complete with pictures, because let's face it, nobody reads all the words in a blog. Frankly I'd be surprised if you've read this far. Maybe pretty pictures will entice you. And if you need no enticing, you're probably a nerd.

*A note about Willy Wonka: listen to "I've Got a Golden Ticket" without watching the TV and tell me Grandpa Joe isn't a freaky pervert.