Brew & BBQ at The Swinging Door

During a recent visit to Texas my friend's dad decided it was high time that I try the best BBQ in Texas..... well at least in the Houston area anyway. I must admit I was somewhat skeptical as we drove up to what looked like a converted chicken barn. The place was called "The Swinging Door" and displayed a scaled model of a covered wagon out front advertising the restaurant. My initial impression did not improve when they handed out the menu which was a xerox copy of a hand drawn menu. Like I said, I had my doubts from the very beginning..... However, the aroma within this very unique setting ( I think the place was barn at one time) was absolutely mouth watering. The sweet BBQ smell wrapped around my nose like a most welcomed friend.

As I reviewed the menu I noticed that soft drinks was listed without a list of those available. I asked the waitress what they had, hoping for some root beer of course. She went down a list and included my desired choice. When I ordered root beer she off handedly mentioned that "you will love the root beer here, they make it themselves" THEY MAKE IT THEMSELVES!!!!!! I could not wait.....

To be very frank, it would be very difficult to distinguish between which was better, the BBQ or the brew. Both were absolutely complementary. I am not sure how the Swinging Door brew would fall within our ranks but it certainly met standard by all means. In some strange way this brew is precisely the brew you would want with the best BBQ in Houston.... best part is that you will not need to go any further than The Swinging Door to get both.
-Adam

photos of the Swinging Door obtained from their website at www.swingingdoor.com

Fitz's Root Beer - The St. Louis Hometown Brew

Located in the heart of Delmar Boulevard inside what appears to be a very old U.S. Postal building is one of the most tasty root beer gems of Midwest America.

Fitz's Bottling Company is legend in this part of the land and I have wanted to stop in for a long time, the other day we finally found the time. After our tasty visit I am happy to report we were not let down.

As we entered the restaurant/bottling-works I was of course most interested in the bottling process. Lucky for all the customers, the entire bottling works is easily observed from the restaurant. From start to finish the entire process was simply amazing. On this particular day they were bottling Cream Soda which was also most tasty.

The process began with the filler, the bottles were quickly filled with creamy goodness and then moved along to the caper.

The caper quickly snapped and crimped on the cap and then tipped the bottle back and forth to assure that a seal had been made and to mix the contents.



As the capped bottles moved along the fast moving track one bottler was tasked with tase testing the final product to ensure quality.


The "Taster", oh yes there is a guy that pulls some of the first bottles off the line, "pops the top" and slams down some sweet brew and then pours out the rest so he could slam down a few more. All for quality assurance I am sure. Now that is a job after my own heart. The taster certainly seemed to be the happiest worker on the line. That must be the best job at Fitz's.


The finished product is sped off to the final stop of the line were the bottles are placed in boxes, shrinked wrapped and placed on a truck and then they are ready to roll. A fast process indeed, fun and exciting especially for a Rootbeer Brother!

The restaurant had much to offer as well. The food was most unique and very tasty. One is also able to purchase fresh bottled brew ready to roll in convenient 4-packs.

What can I say, a mammoth sized burger, fresh brew in a frosty mug and 4-packs ready to roll..... Fitz's is by far my favorite St. Louis eatery by a long shot.


Check out Fitz's for your self

http://www.fitzsrootbeer.com/

A&W 2-liter Safe

If you are a root beer connoisseur and also a collector of fine things, now you can protect them in your very own A&W Root Beer safe. That's right, a safe stuffed right inside a 2-liter bottle of the standard. Don't ask me how or why I found this little gem on the web. I guess it is true you can find any thing.

The safe inside the bottle is 3 inches by 2 1/2 inches which is plenty of space to conceal your all of your little important valuables - perhaps, your custom gold bottle opener. The bottle itself is 11 1/2 inches tall. Behind the label is the secret area that will not open up accidentally because it is fitted with a special mechanism that prevents it from being opened unless you rotate the base counterclockwise and pull it apart. Nifty indeed. For more information, check out there website.

-Jeff

A&W: Approved by the American Dental Association???

I was surfing the net the other day and noticed a particular story written for Time magazine regarding the affects of soda on tooth enamel. David Bjerklie reported on a scientific experiment by the University of Maryland Dental School in which they took tiny blocks of tooth enamel and exposed them to many different sodas. All sodas caused damage to the tooth enamel. Canned iced tea caused 30 times more damage than fresh ice tea. The worst drinks were non-colas such as Mountain Dew. There was no difference between diet and regular sodas. Only one drink caused virtually no harm to the enamel: A&W Root Beer. The researchers concluded it was due to the standard having less additives than the other sodas tested.

To read the full article click here.

-Jeff

Root Beer Slush

Here is our latest installment of songs dedicated to "The Love of Root Beer". It is an excellent song! We hope you enjoy.

-Jeff