Beer Bar Burger Brawl-Lovell ME

What: Stone Double Dry Hopped IPA, Ruger Burger, Boston Creme Pie

Where: Ebenezer's Pub

44 Allen Rd
Lovell, ME 04051

How Much: $30.00 with tip

(readers, cue The Shamen - Ebenezer Goode) (clicking on link should open YouTube in a new browser tab so you can hear my selected audio track playing, but you will have to click back on this tab to return)

This day's travels took me to Lovell ME (just east of Conway NH).  I had been there before and it was great.  I had to go back to see if it was as great as I remember.  It was.

Sorry about the photo quality.  I was trying to be a bit unobtrusive.

Beer menu is superb, especially if your taste runs to Belgians. My IPA obsession was not disappointed by the few, but outstanding IPA options.  The beer menu changes very frequntlys, so don't count on what you see above, but something will be there for you (except the guys who visited while I was there and asked for a blueberry beer).  They do have some watery domestics.

They had just started summer hours.  I has made the mistake earlier this year in not checking hours first and pulled in mid-week and they were not open full time yet.

There are a couple of picnic tables outside with service as well as an enclosed porch with tables and a propane heater.  I ate at the bar gazing longingly at their huge bottle selection.

Service has friendly, knowlegable and attentive.  Thanks Hannah!

Stone Double Dry Hopped IPA was everything you'd expect from an great IPA.  Sorry, taste buds have been off line for a bit that last few weeks, so no OCD taste description.  I had Rogue Dead guy last visit and it did not disappoint.

The Ruger burger (Angus Sirloin, Cheddar Cheese, with mushrooms and onions sauteed in Worcestershire  Sauce and butter) was served with best Frites I've had in New England.  Burger has medium and with provlone as requested.  Pickle was half sour and perfect. Tomato was thick and juicy and tasty considering time of year.  Romaine lettuce was crisp and fresh.  The bread was a homemade bulkie type that absorbed up all the juicy goodness without immediately falling apart.

Desert was a Boston Creme Pie that was yellow cake with a great creme filling and the entire works was dipped in chocolate and served with homemade whipped creme.

If you are in the North Conway area, it is most definitely worth the 20 minute drive to Lovell ME to eat or drink here. 

6 B/6-PERFECTION!

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Do not miss Ebenezer's.  It is a destination unto itself.

Dogfish Head Squall I.P.A.

(readers, cue Rev. Horton Heat - Beer) (clicking on link should open YouTube in a new browser tab so you can hear my selected audio track playing, but you will have to click back on this tab to return)

I picked this up out in Chatham MA based on the fact that I love Dogfish Head products.

Taste: Great. On par with very hoppy beers that I love including Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

Packaging: Great.  Black and white label with a sailing vessel (I'm sure the update from Fez with correct terminology will come).

Bottle volume can be a bit much to commit to on a casual night, but in that case just go to a regular 12 oz. bottle of  Dogfish Head 90 Minute I.P.A. as this is an unfiltered, 100% bottle-conditioned version of same.

See title link for more info.

Price:  $10.99 for 750ml. Just like a bottle of fine wine, only better.

  5.5B/6

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It seemed a bit less hoppy than the Red Racer I.P.A. but was great.  the big bottle was finished in one sitting.  It was bit too hoppy for Surge and SurGGGe who hosted dinner, poker and trash talk for the evening.

Best canned beer EVER? And a wonderful idea for a dinner party

Yes.
Red Racer India Pale Ale is the best canned beer EVER!
What is there not to like? Not a thing not to like (not too many negative statements in one line? Never!).

YM picked this up solely based on a picture of a bicycle and "India Pale Ale" just before out last outing into the city with the Edzo, Bakin', Red Bullmoose, Sunshine and some other friends.  It must have been fate.  Points for initiative, since we did not even need beer. Points for going outside the usual options. Extra points for semi-pornographic label.  Bonus points because I loved it.

Taste: Great. On par with very hoppy beers that I love including Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Blue Point Hoptical Illusion.

Packaging: Great.  Cool picture of a bicycle.  Cool picture of a bicycle rider (note: rider has no helmet, but she has really long hair that may get messy if she had to wear one and it doesn't look like she was planning on a very long ride, so she gets a pass.  I don't think she has kids and has to worry about being a role model.). Nice use of colors on label.  Proudly proclaims product of Canada and has a little logo for British Columbia.  I guess my list of canned beers that I drink is fairly short.  I'll admit that I'm the first to skip the metal containers and look for all the glass bottles.  Unearned prejudice.  Apparently so.  Well, well earned up until now.  I just don't think beers of this taste and quality are usually bottled in cans.  Most canned beers are ..well.. watery domestics.

Price:  Don't know, but worth it. Life is too short for bad beer.

6 B/6-PERFECTION!

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Maybe not BC's number one export, but certainly BC's best tasting liquid export.

Perhaps South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut saw the future and this is the Canadian's first wave attack in  their attempt at world (or at least North American) domination.  Get the Americans hooked on great tasting beer, so they start drinking in excess, then the Canadians politely pour across the border (like little Maple Leaf seed pod helicopter thingies) while we are glued to our televisions watching the finale of Lost, Red Racer IPAs in hand, buzzed and confused, and the youth of our country are too busy with Facebook or texting to notice.

On a different front, wonderful idea from Bakin' tonight.  She, Edzo, Cesius and Ocho hosted dinner this evening for Taters and I.  Discussion came up about past dinners and dinners missed.  They were unable to make the last hot dog throwdown I had. Of course we have to do it again and somehow raise the bar.  Bakin' suggested including other hot dog type grilled things, including bratwurst.  Cesius added a request for wieners (knowing full well how fun it is to say wieners and that wieners and hot dogs and franks are all different preparations or at least frames of mind).  Upon further consideration, I think May will be prime time for the Meatobacillus Throwdown (correction from Fez.  We may have to change this Carnebacillus).  All meats (or meat-like substances) served must be a a rod/tube/cylindrical shape.  Sharing the name for a dinner party with a bacteria is just the type of irony (I hope) that I love.  Remember bacillus is a Greek (correction from Fez-Latin) derivation for rod-shaped.
Hot dogs, weiners, franks, bratwurst, Andouille, chicken sausage, red hots, chourico, linguica, hot Italian sausage and kielbasa.
What is your favor hot dog brand/variety?  I vote for Kayem Deli Dogs.  Any other suggestions/favorites/requests for rod/tube/cylindrically shaped meats?  Send them in.
(Note to readers: The first person to suggest tofu pups is going to get beaten with an all-beef cylindrically shaped meat product.)