Oklahoma City roundup

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cog_nate
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Oklahoma City roundup

#1 Post by cog_nate » Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:20 pm

Spent a few days in Oklahoma City. Here's a very incomplete and poorly worded roundup of beers and beer-related venues there.

Establishments:
Bricktown Brewery -- I was ready to intensely dislike this place. After my visit, I still kind of dislike it. It's located in Bricktown -- one of those weird-ass open-air mall places that cater to knuckleheaded out-of-towners (read: me) -- which is right next to the downtown/business/convention area. So, if you're in OKC for a conference or on business, it's a pretty convenient place to grab a beer. Prices on the beers were decent -- $3.50/pint (except for the IPA, which was $4 and which I had (see below)). Didn't have any food, but the menu looked like generic pub stuff. You can get Bud Light there, if you're into that... ya perv.

TapWerks -- Also in Bricktown, maybe half a block away from Bricktown Brewery. The place was deserted when we showed up (OK, so we showed up at 3:30 on a Monday afternoon). Very good tap beer selection, but their menu is a mess and the waitress who served us was pretty much clueless. Mediocre pub food, beers were mostly $5+/pint. Skip this place if you can make it out to...

Republic -- This is out of downtown, a short ways to the north. It's billed as a gastropub, but it's a sports bar with a great beer selection and good food. Service was quick and halfway knowledgeable. The food was nicely done, but it's a little pricey (think slightly smaller portions of Free State quality food @ approx. 1.5 times the price and w/most of beers at least $4.50/pint) and the whole place is somewhat noisy. Also, there were TVs with ESPN on everywhere there -- even in the men's room. ("ESPN?" "Yes, #1.") Even so, I'd recommend it.

Iron Starr BBQ -- Marketed as urban (read: yuppie) BBQ. Not really a beer joint, but I figured I'd throw it in here. The brisket and pulled pork sandwiches were well-priced and damn fine, the sauce had an excellent spicy punch to it, and the sides were very well done (get the collard greens). There's apparently a $10 slab special on Sundays. Didn't drink any beers there, but they had Coop Ale Works stuff on tap. Which brings me to...

Specific breweries and beers:
Bricktown Aught 7 IPA -- A serviceable IPA. Very dry, and heavy on the bittering hops. Served in a chilled pint glass.

Coop Ale Works -- This place is going to be big. They started last year and are currently only selling kegs to bars and restaurants right now (a la Tallgrass), but they're expanding rapidly. From what one of their guys told me during our tour there (seriously, if you only follow one piece of advice in this entire bout of verbal diarrhea, it's the following; Call Coop Ale Works and get a tour), they're going to start canning later this year and start a bottling operation in a new facility years a couple from now. They've got a solid lineup of beers. The two wheat beers are fine in their own way -- the German Wheat is the better of the two, with a rye texture and slight spiciness. Didn't get a chance to try the porter, but the Native Amber, DNR Belgian Golden (oh god yes), and F-5 IPA were very well done, clean tasting beers. I thought the Golden was the best of the lot. Maybe they and their equipment are just new and nothing's had a chance to get mucked up yet, but I'm betting they'll bet just as good a year or two down the line.

Marshall Atlas IPA -- This is the only Marshall offering I tried, and it was solid. Fair amount of malt balancing what little actual hop flavor is there, with a long lasting bitterness at the end. I'd try the other Marshall beers if I made it back down to OKC.

Battered Boar's Company Man Pale Ale -- OK, remember what I said up there about following only one piece of advice. Forget it. Follow this one, too; Do not purchase or drink Battered Boar's Company Man Pale Ale. A very nice lady at Broadway Wine Market said it was her favorite and recommended it to me. Good store, bad recommendation. It starts off far too fizzy, continues on to bile-flavored and ends with phenols and maybe crying. It's possible that we got a bad six-pack, but I do not recommend this beer. I had a whole miner/scrip/company store joke idea I was going to work in here, but the hell with that -- this beer isn't worth the effort.

Didn't get a chance to try beers from CHOC or Mustang breweries.

All in all I was mildly, pleasantly surprised. There's some good beer stuff going on down there. Don't go out of your way to visit OKC just for its beer, but if you're on your way through or have business there, don't be afraid either.

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Jensen
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Re: Oklahoma City roundup

#2 Post by Jensen » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:24 pm

cog_nate wrote: It starts off far too fizzy, continues on to bile-flavored and ends with phenols and maybe crying. It's possible that we got a bad six-pack, but I do not recommend this beer. I had a whole miner/scrip/company store joke idea I was going to work in here, but the hell with that -- this beer isn't worth the effort.
I am wondering how this even got on to market, unless they had a bad batch or series of bad bottles... Gee, I don't think I'd ever hold back on a joke...

Great reviews Cog! Will be referencing this when heading down to OK this fall. Very thorough with good descriptors rounding out your travels.

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