So Vise recently flew down to visit us in the US to see the sights and drink the beers.

Today, I tell you the tale of his visit.

It all started on the 30th of September, when my girlfriend Paula and her roommate picked him up from the airport. After I got off of work, I met up with Richard and we journeyed across the street to the grocery store.

And thus begins the mind blowin

g of the Canadian: Grocery stores. Selling. Beer.

What’s that you say? They probably close at 10 or something lame?

Wrong, bitch. We have 24 hour grocery stores, mini marts and the like that sell our massive amounts of micro-brews 24/7.

I decided as any good host, I would start him off with some of my favorites: Arrogant Bastard Ale, Elysian’s Dragonstooth Oatmeal Stout, followed by their new winter flavors, Elysian’s Winter Ale.

This was a good starter, but after we noticed the time, I decided I should take him home since I had to work the next day.

The following evening we all met up in our large group to take Richard around the town and show him the sights and drinks. We started off at the Montage, a local restaurant with some great mixed drinks and Lousiana style cooking: Jumbalaya, Gumbo, Oyster shooters and my personal favorite: Alligator steaks. Richard tried my favorite drink, the Sledgehammer (Jameson’s whiskey, ginger ale and lemon juice), but also tried some of Paula’s sissy drink, the Stinky Kitty, of which I have no idea whats in it.

From there we journeyed to the Rogue Nation Brewery, and had a few pints of beer before they closed. To be honest, it’s about here where my memory gets a little foggy, but I’m fairly certain he tried some of everyone’s beers. I had the John John Dead Guy ale, which is like Dead Guy but its been stored in a whiskey barrel. Real kick to it.

After leaving Rogue we were told about a dive bar 2 blocks down that was open til 2 am, so we headed there and played some Big Game Hunter and Pool. More and more drinks to be had, (I had 2 of the Rasputin Royal Stout, Richard had some mixed drinks) and it was at this point that Richard learned Grokk is not only a light weight, but when the alcohol finally hits Grokk, it REALLY hits Grokk…

Grokk definitely shot a pool ball off the table and across the bar at one point.

This will conclude part 1 (the Pub Crawl), part 2 will be me giving Richard the tour of the town, which is chock FULL of Canadian quotes.