Thumbs up:

Have you ever been broke and found yourself walking down the street wishing, “Geez, I wish I had enough money to get that espresso and iced cardamom cookie over at Nina’s”, and glorioski! you find a $10 bill wedged in a crack in the sidewalk.

That’s something like what happened to me last night. I’m in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for a class, and my cohort-in-crime Haddassa called me and said, “You should take a look at Carolina Breweries in Chapel Hill.”

So I had a Tar Heel Burger, which was rather dry and tasteless. However, it was not entirely the restaurant’s fault; blame the state of North Carolina for not allowing hamburger to be cooked any less than ‘medium’. I started out, however, with an alcoholic version of that $10 bill–their Copperline Amber Ale. From their site:

I knew I’d made the right choice of beer when I hovered my nose over it. I was instantly hit with a distinct toasted marshmellow aroma. It was followed by a palate that contains caramel, a nicely blended malt overtone, and just enough fruit and hops fighting it out to make for a pleasantly isometric struggle. I really like beers with complex tastes and noses that vie well for attention without clashing badly, and I really liked this one. A lot.

Thumbs down:

You ever take that 11th step down a familiar stairway, thinking you’re all the way down. And then you discover that the level of perversity in the Universe has tended yet again toward a maximum, while unpleasantly discovering that the treacherous Stairway Fairies have installed a 12th step while you were asleep?

That is what else happened to me last night. The next beer I tried from Carolina Breweries was their Octoberfest. From their site:

Understand here that I usually adore octoberfest-style beers. They are traditionally fall beers (as the name indicates), and usually rich with malts, spices, and usually just a hint of sweetness about them. They are often on the creamy side, similar to some stouts, and these combinations usually make for a good cold-weather brew. European octoberfests tend to be drier than their slightly sweeter American counterparts, but they’re all usually good.

I hit that 12th step rather badly. The beer was watery, with badly blended, bland flavors that were overpowered by (to tell the bald truth) not much in the way of hops. When a mild hop chemistry can overcome an octoberfest-style drink’s appeal, you know there’s something really, really wrong. Nix on that one.

(BTW, their sweet potato pie is not to be believed. I have never had better, and I can say, being a retired old-fashioned-southern-gentleman as I am, that I’ve had a lot of them.)

So, one thumbs-up (a big one), and one thumbs-down. The Copperline was good enough that I will definitely go back for it; the plan is to return later this week to try their Old North State Stout and Western Wheat as well.