It has been a dry week for the Cask Whisperer.
Caught between lack of summer events, crazy office needs, stinking hot humid weather, and a six-year-old wild child, I didn’t manage to get out of my apartment once this week.
There was a possibility of a cask of Helles Maibock at Strong Rope to celebrate their third anniversary at Red Hook, but I didn’t manage to get there; see reasons #3 and #4 above.
As a result, I have very little (like zero) cask news to report, and so will be sitting you all down in a darkened room and forcing you all to look at some of my holiday slides over the next fourteen days.
I promise there will be a report of a cask eventually, but you will have to suffer through my holiday snaps and dry commentary for a wee while before it is mentioned in passing; it will be coming in the follow-up post next week, please try to contain your excitement.
This particular beer engine turns up in a most unexpected location and a most unexpected time period; a time when the first round of national brewpubs were reaching their zenith.
I have three reports like this, and all three brewpubs that were visited in the late 1990s and early 2000s are apparently still around, but no recent sign of their casks though.
So, you can all look forward to another two postings like this in the near future, should I happen to be stuck inside again, and get the time and urge to play around with photo-editing software.
Frequent readers of this humble column will know that I have been a cask beer fanatic since I was tall enough to sit on my dad’s lap and rest my elbows on the bar; or something like that.
What you may not know is that I have other interests; football of course, but also history, and the great outdoors, particularly the National Parks, Monuments, and Historic Sites.
I am also a lover of train travel, especially long-distance, which is why I frequently subject myself to the annual Florida jaunt crawl; over the past 25 years, I have travelled on every major Amtrak cross-country route (except the Crescent) in the USA, and have also travelled across Canada from Toronto to Prince Rupert.
It took almost twenty years before I first indulged my passion for trains; I had to wait until my kids had reached an age where I could share an adventure on the rails, and I could escape with one child for a week or so, without burdening my wife with the other two.
So, in 2000 I took a three-week vacation from work, and checked with the family to see if anyone was crazy enough to spend all that time on a train with their nutty dad.
The plan was to take a succession of trains on a round-trip to San Francisco, with connections in Chicago and Portland on the way out, and just Chicago on the way back.
I wanted to see some of the beauty of the country before our newly elected President took office and trashed it all; I also wanted to check out some of the historic places before the history was adjusted, yep, they have been doing that for a long while.
My daughter was the only one of my children to show interest, but had a party to attend back in NYC before the trip was due to end, so we modified the plans to stop-over in Denver on the way home so that she could fly back to NYC in time for her party.
At that point my wife then decided that we should spend a week together in New Mexico by ourselves, and decided to fly out to Denver and back, to meet up with me for a short break (yay, grandparents!), leaving me to ride the rails back home from Denver all alone.
I will not burden you with details of that trip (yet), but it turned out to be such a success that by the following year, my oldest son was up for an adventure in the American West.
This was a much simpler train journey, a round-trip from NYC to Dodge City Kansas via Chicago (they all go via Chicago), and then a two-week+ rental car circuit of all National Parks/Monuments around the edges of Colorado and surrounding states, with the intention of hitting any and all brewpubs in our overnight stopovers.
Let us hit the road …
Day 1 – Dodge City KS to Clayton NM
Our train pulled into Dodge City exactly on time, which was unfortunate as that time was a touch after 5:00 am and the station was under repair, so we were dropped off (with a couple of other passengers luckily) in the dark, beside the tracks, about a half-mile outside of town.
After dragging ourselves and our sensibly packed bags into the town proper, we found that we had two hours to kill before the car rental location opened up for the day.
Luckily the McDonalds was open, and it appeared that half of the town was already sat inside and enjoying their breakfasts.
We ate, we loitered and finally we drove off towards the West.
Our first motel (we did it all in Super-8s) would be in Clayton NM, and we basically followed the historic Santa Fe Trail across southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle to our destination in the far northeast corner of New Mexico.
We had two planned stops on this leg.
Firstly, we would attempt to find Wagon Bed Springs in way southwest Kansas, which was a designated water stop on the trail, and also happened to be the place where the legendary American explorer Jedediah Smith met his end, at the hands of the Comanche in 1831.
Kansas hid it well, as they seem to do for all public places (more on that later), but we were ultimately successful and stopped for a short while for a water break; bottled not creek.
We also encountered a local inhabitant, a tortoise which my son named Speedy, who we made sure was not racing behind our car as we backed up to leave.
Our second, and longer, stop would be in the very northwest corner of Oklahoma, the state’s highest point, Black Mesa.
The stop would be longer so that we could attempt to hike to the top.
The trail was just under nine miles out (up) and back (down), but was well marked and a relatively gentle gradient for the most part.
The wildlife consisted of lizards underfoot, and some wayward cattle grazing on the spiky greenery.
There were probably snakes, but none were seen.
There was a marker obelisk at the top with a sign-in book; we took pictures of both to prove that we made it to the top, and presented those pictures at The Merch, a mercantile store in the nearby town of Kenton to get awarded our certificates … cool.
It was late but still light when we got into Clayton NM and checked into our motel, but it was still light enough to take a little drive across the border into the Texas Panhandle, just to say we did, before walking over to the historic Eklund Hotel for dinner.
No Brewpubs in Clayton.
Day 2 – Clayton NM to Taos NM
My wife and I had stayed in Taos during our excursion the year before, and I was looking forward to returning; it was and still is one of my favorite places in the country.
The route from Clayton to Taos is breathtaking, after leaving the grasslands of northeast New Mexico, it rises up over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, passing through the small mountain communities of Eagles Nest and Angel Fire, before dropping down into Taos from the east.
But while still in the grasslands, we took the longer northern route that passes by Capulin Volcano National Monument, which we stopped by to explore.
It is certainly an unusual sight from the road, an almost perfect volcano cone rising out of the flat surroundings.
Our first National Monument of the trip, we picked up NPS Passports as we expected to be collecting a lot of stamps during the next couple of weeks.
We then set off up the volcano to complete the rim trail; that was pretty strenuous but the panoramic view from the edge was worth the hike, and it came with a surprise.
It started as a low rumbling which was felt instead of heard, but soon rose to a metallic squeal; no it wasn’t the volcano erupting (long dead), but two B-1 bombers which roared up from the south, circled the volcano once and then returned from whence they came.
With our detour completed it was time to head west again; our rental car was complaining, and I was ready to get to Taos to get it inspected, and to get some food and rest.
There was a brewpub in Taos during both visits (it sadly closed in 2019), the second oldest brewpub in New Mexico at the time, Eske’s Brew Pub & Eatery, right in the heart of the town, close to the Taos Plaza.
After checking in and dropping the car off, we headed off on foot in search of beer.
With the motel and car rental at the edge of Rancho de Taos, the walk to the Plaza took around 45 minutes each way, but we did get to pass by the prairie dog town, and we did get stalked by a coyote on the other side of the road, for part of the walk.
And it was worth it, the beer was awesome and the food fiery.
Day 3 – Bandelier National Monument
It was a good job we were booked in for two nights in Taos, because our car wasn’t ready for us in the morning, but they did give us a loaner for the day, and we took that down to Bandelier, just outside Los Alamos for the day.
We hiked the trails, climbed the ladders, explored the caves and cliff dwellings, and ate the lunch.
Our car was ready by the time we got back to Taos, but we just left it at the hotel and explored Taos the rest of the day on foot, checking out the prairie dogs and searching for the coyote that had been eyeing us up, before retreating to Eske’s for a beer, and then wandering through the Plaza and on to Taos Pueblo.
It was all pretty low key because we had a lot planned for the following day, and a long drive across northern New Mexico to our next destination in the Four Corners area.
Day 4 – Taos NM to Farmington NM
We had an anticipated four-plus-hour drive to Farmington on the agenda, but before setting off to the west again, we had a mountain to climb.
It was ambitious, but as we had managed to conquer the highest peak in Oklahoma, we thought that New Mexico’s highest, Wheeler Peak, couldn’t be that difficult.
Indeed, it was a walk in the park … for the first hour or so.
By then we had left the shelter of the forested slopes behind, and were picking our way along some dodgy looking trails (goat trails perhaps) way up past the tree line, before encountering a wall of hard packed icy snow.
We clambered over the wall, advanced a hundred yards or so and there was another, and another, and with one eye on the clock we eventually decided to call it a day and headed back down.
We were down around wall number two when we met another dad and his son, running up the trail, a local of course; he estimated that we were maybe just a couple of hundred yards from the summit, but we were fine with what we had managed, and we were both ready for the drive.
We had a brief stop at the Rio Grande Gorge trestle bridge to take some photos, and swung by Aztec Ruins National Monument when we got to the Four Corners, where we also had our first Navajo taco in a local diner; it wouldn’t be the last.
We found another brewpub, which apparently is still there, the Three Rivers Eatery & Brewhouse, and stopped by to sample their wares, before hitting the pillow for the night.
We had another long road trip planned for the next day.
Day 5 – Navajo Nation
This would be a day-long loop inside the Navajo Nation lands, around the Four Corners, driving through four states but not actually touching the exact spot where the four states all meet; the actual monument is not so monumental apparently.
From Farmington, it was first west to Shiprock, and then south to Gallup, passing by the namesake Ship Rock sailing through the desert, as we were until my son pointed out a mass of snakes all stretched out across the road ahead, seemingly sunning themselves.
Not knowing the local protocol for snakes on the trail (great name for a beer), I slowed down slightly and attempted a real life version of the game of Frogger (perhaps), which was only possible because I was the only car on the road between Shiprock and Gallup.
From Gallup we galloped southwest into Arizona, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Park.
The Painted Desert was stunning, the Petrified Forest was … different.
But we did get to see a jackrabbit.
From there, it was north to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, stopping by the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site to pick up supplies for the long, lonely days ahead; this would be a CD of Navajo music and chants, which we would blast out at high volume, banging our heads, whenever I needed a wake-me-up while driving the long flat stretches.
Canyon de Chelly is an amazing place to view from the rim drive; it is incredible to think that there are orchards thriving in what is essentially a massive deep crack in the middle of a desert, and that White House Ruin is not too shabby looking either.
We declined the hike into the canyon itself, as we were only at the half-way point of the day’s drive, and still had a lot of ground to cover, and two more states to briefly visit, before getting back to Farmington for the night.
We also had to gas up, which we did somewhere between Round Rock and Mexican Water, pulling in to the pumps as the sky grew dark and the winds kicked in, sending tumbleweed tumbling through the lot for a good five minutes, before subsiding again.
At Mexican Water we detoured west again, so that we could cross from Arizona to Utah via Monument Valley.
We stopped for photos on the Utah side, before circling back eastwards through Mexican Hat and Bluff UT, and then turning southeast back to Shiprock and Farmington, cutting through the very southwest corner of Colorado.
We would be coming back that way again tomorrow.
Three Rivers once again satisfied our eating and drinking needs.
Day 6 – Farmington NM to Cortez CO
Our target for the day was to visit Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado, but before heading northwest from Farmington, we would take a long detour to the south again, to visit a very different ancestral Puebloan site, Chaco Canyon and the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
Mesa Verde gets all the oohs and aahs, but Chaco Canyon was one of the two highlights of the entire trip for me, and not just because getting there (and getting back again) involved a 20+ mile off-road (well a dirt road) segment … please don’t tell the car rental folks.
We were fortunate to see a small herd of wild horses gallop by, as we stopped briefly to marvel and let them pass.
Chaco Canyon is one of those places that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, eerie and spiritual, you can almost feel the eyes of the former inhabitants watching over you the entire time that you are on site; we would get that same feeling a week later in Montana.
We took our time at Chaco, making sure to get out of the car and walk to and through each of the major sites on the loop road, Pueblo Del Arroyo, Pueblo Bonito, Casa Rinconada, and Chetro Ketl.
We also took our time at Mesa Verde when we finally reached it.
Mesa Verde is spectacular, looking like a lozenge-shaped stone sarcophagus perched on top of a steep-sided tree-covered volcanic cone, it rises above the relatively flat landscape, and can be seen for miles around.
What can’t be seen are the ancestral Puebloan “houses” which are hidden in caves or perched on almost inaccessible balconies around the very top of the rock outcrop; you have to drive up the well-hidden access road to the top of the rock table, and hike along rock and forest trails before you suddenly “stumble” over the derelict structures.
We managed to visit the big three sites; Spruce Tree House, Balcony House, and the Cliff Palace.
Another hair-raising experience, particularly Balcony House which raised hairs in several different ways.
Unlike Chaco Canyon which was almost devoid of other visitors when we came, Mesa Verde was more crowded, but not too busy to ruin the experience or the photos that we took.
We stayed overnight in Cortez CO and managed to find another brewpub, Main Street Brewery & Restaurant (still there) … funny how that happens.
Day 7 – Cortez CO to Monticello UT
There was no brewpub in our next stop, which was Monticello UT, because Utah; although that is not really fair, because we did manage to find two brewpubs in our Utah stop the following day.
It is only sixty miles between Cortez and Monticello as the crow drives, but we took a slightly longer route because we had three more places to visit before checking in for the night.
Our first stop would be at Hovenweep National Monument just on the Utah side of the border, but a 45-minute drive on county roads in both Colorado and Utah, circling around what has now become the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.
Just like Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep is isolated but with better approach roads; it is also spread out over a large area of sagebrush encrusted desert, with a central core of many unnamed ancestral Puebloan structures scattered around a rudimentary loop trail, mostly hidden in small cracks in the earth.
It is a quiet fascinating place, magical or spooky depending on your own outlook.
We spent a good couple of hours there, exploring every gully and gulch, and taking over thirty photos; there was just so much to see in this outwardly empty place.
Our next stop was 75-minutes to the west, out past the on-again off-again on-again Bears Ears National Monument; it did not exist as such when we passed by, but the Natural Bridges National Monument did and still does, thankfully.
This one was without doubt the most strenuous park that we visited, as we decided to park the car and complete the full 12-mile loop; over the course of four hours around midday, we climbed down into the canyon, hiked the rudimentary trail along the canyon floor, passing under all three rock bridges (Sipapu, Kachina and Owachomo), and then climbed back out again, before dragging our weary bodies across the top of the canyon back to our car.
We took water with us, and were very happy and very lucky that we took water with us.
Our last stop was a two hour drive north to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, passing through Monticello on the way, before returning there for the overnight stay.
I don’t actually remember much about Needles (too wiped out), but we must have been there because we have the pictures to prove it …
Day 8 – Monticello UT to Moab UT
We set off early for Moab.
There was little to entertain us in Monticello and much to do in Moab, two major parks and two brewpubs.
We drove straight to the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park, an incredible place; imagine it as a sort of flattened out Grand Canyon, stretching out in almost fractal patterns to the horizon, which appears to show the curvature of the earth (or it may just have been our wonky cameras), and then imagine yourself floating several hundred feet above the surface and looking down and out at the whole spectacle.
We walked along all the rim trails, never tiring of the view down below.
We checked out the incongruous porta-potty sitting surprisingly close to the edge; we christened it “The Khasi on the Canyon”.
We finished with the short hike up to Mesa Arch, with its iconic view of the Washer Woman Arch way down below, and off at the vanishing point, the snow-topped Manti-La Sal range forming the horizon.
And we were not done with arches just yet, as our second stop was at the nearby Arches National Park.
We pretty much spent the rest of the day exploring this fairy wonderland of ice, water and wind-sculpted rocks.
Landscape Arch was still open to the public when we visited, but after a couple of rockfalls and general thinning of the arch, it has since been closed off.
The highlight of course was the hike up to Delicate Arch; starting with a well-marked and innocuous looking trail, we were soon scrambling over bare slickrock aiming for a gap on the top of the ridge.
You do not see the arch until you go through that gap and turn a corner, and then all of a sudden, the arch appears right in front of your eyes, slightly below you, balancing on the edge of a slickrock saucer, with the distant mountains visible beyond.
We stayed awhile, just sitting on the opposite rim of the saucer and looking at the arch in its perfect setting; all other folks who had made the trek did the same, briefly approaching the base of the arch for close up photos, before retreating to just sit and wonder.
We returned down the trail to our car as the sun started to go down and drove back into Moab to check into our motel, before wandering through the funky town and sampling both brewpubs; Eddie McStiffs (now closed) and the Moab Brewery (still going strong).
Cool town Moab, a center for wild-water rafting and mountain biking, with a laid-back but adventurous vibe, a real surprise for Utah.
We could have stayed a week, but we had a lot of places still to visit and many miles to drive; we weren’t even at the half-way point yet.
Day 9 – Moab UT to Vernal UT
Next stop was Vernal, in the very northeast corner of Utah close to the borders of both Colorado and Wyoming, and to get north we drove east initially into Colorado.
Again we had two destinations for the day, but decided on the fly to take a break and sign-up for an hour of gentle rafting on the Colorado River just inside the Utah border, before continuing to search for National Monuments.
It was relaxing and my son got to go over the side for a short swim in the reddish brown water, while I just took my shoes off and dangled my feet into the cool; a couple of days later we would be hurtling down the Snake River yelling our heads off.
And an hour later we would be driving up to the mesa top of Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction CO; on a much more human scale than Island in the Sky but spectacular, nevertheless.
We stuck to the Rim Rock Drive, passing bighorn sheep in several places, and stopping at each of the overlooks to view the many-layered monoliths towering below us in the sage-covered canyon.
We did not have much time to spend here as we had taken the waterborne detour earlier and we also still had a three-hour drive up the northwest edge of Colorado to Vernal Utah and Dinosaur National Monument.
It was getting late when we arrived at Dinosaur, but we still found the time to walk a couple of short trails, see the Green River and get a real feel of the layout of the land, and finish with a visit to the dinosaur bones displayed in-situ at the Quarry Exhibit Hall.
We staggered back across the border into Vernal Utah for the night and managed to find a small place (unremembered and long-gone no doubt) on Main Street to grab a small beer or two.
Tomorrow we would be heading north again …
… and next week you will be reading all about it unless something comes up, caskwise.
Scorecard w/e 07/23/24
In the past week, The Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Crickets …
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
9/7/2024: Noah Webster House Real Ale Harvest Festival, West Hartford CT
11/8/2024: Two Roads Cask Fest at Area 2, Stratford CT
11/9/2024: 20th Annual Blue Point Cask Ale Festival, Patchogue NY
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- Sadly, no erratics have been identified so far this week.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane
