It’s not every day I get to leave my cave and get out.  Even rarer are the days that I have to travel to lands unknown.   This past weekend brought me to Rochester NY.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with western New York, like me, Rochester is a small city that sits about 75 miles east of Buffalo on Lake Ontario or a 6 hour car ride for my lead foot.   After some carefully research (“google:beer bar rochester”), the first listing was the Tap and Mallet.  I checked out their website which listed some pretty good drafts, including ones I hadn’t had before, so I decided this would be “my bar” for my one night in Rochester.

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On a recent trek in to the city (New York City, for those out side the tri-state area), I had an hour to kill before my interview with Rob Tod of Allagash Brewing Company.  Since I was down by Bleeker Street and the Blind Tiger was a bit  further then I wanted to walk on a hot day, I decide to hit a bar I haven’t been to in 15 years.    The Peculiar Pub is old school pub, quiet, dark, with a nice selection of  bottled beer and about 14 draft beers.  You’re not going to go wrong here, enough selection of imported beer to keep most happy for a session.

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The Shepherd and The Knucklehead is a very small bar in Haledon NJ that boasts a large number of taps, 27 to be exact.  The Shepherd and Knucklehead is in a quiet looking building, is very welcoming, and friendly inside.  I was taken aback at first when we walked in, there was about 8 people in the bar (including an very knowledgeable bartender)  at 8pm on a Monday night.  There was no music playing and they were all watching and shouting out answers to Family Feud.  Will and I found this quite fun to watch.  As I mention this bar is quite small, about 12 very comfortable bar chairs (not stools) and 3 tables.  There is  also a jukebox by the front door which was put into action after Family Feud and Family Guy. But, don’t let the size of this bar fool you.

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The title sounds like a horrible drinking bender, but is was actually a very savory night at one of my local watering holes, the Cloverleaf Tavern in Caldwell NJ.  Through the Cloverleaf’s Facebook fan page, I saw they were going to be featuring several Sierra Nevada ales.  I was most interested in the hyped Southern Hemisphere Harvest Hop Fresh ale.

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