Out of Town

Found myself in Evansville, Indiana today. Yes, today, as in Sunday, as in "Yeah we know Indiana has beer you can't get in Missouri and that you don't know when you'll be back in Indiana but screw you we made a stupid law about no package sales on Sunday and we're sticking to it." Grr. That's not to say, however, that there was no beer to be had. On-premise sales are ok, as in "Get drunk at the bar and crash your car but you can't take any home to drink." OK I'll let it go.

Yes, the beer to be had. A fine establishment by the name of the Gerst Bavarian Haus was open for business and they served beer. Lots of beer. Twenty-six taps, the most intriguing of which were Dark Horse Oatmeal Stout, Arrogant Bastard Ale, and a decent enough trifle called Gerst Amber Beer which, a quick search of BA tells us, is a Dunkel made by Pittsbugh Brewing. Bottle selection was extensive and appropriately German-heavy. Prices were very good, even for the monster frosted fishbowls. Man that was cold beer. Kept me from drinking very much, the cold, it did. The food was tasty and included offerings not found in many US German restaurants, including kraut balls, fried pickles, cornbread cakes, and on-the-bone pig knuckles. Gerst is big and woody and beautiful, housed in a former hardware store on a classic small town Main Street strip. (The front windows still bear the words "Feed & Seed", "Tools", etc, plus new additions in the old painted style, creating some hilarious juxtapositions like "Implements/Oysters" and "Guns/Ammunition/Lunches.") Took some great pictures that I'll post here if I can.