Made another trip to Fredericksburg last Saturday.

The little woman wanted to do some Christmas shopping and I wanted to check out another brewery/restaurant there on the main drag. First off though, lets talk about last Friday for a sec.

I left here to go get dad early on Friday so I could make a stop down in Salado along the way and check out the selection at a nice little cigar store there. I know, I just got a shipment of fat little torpedoes in the mail, but who's countin'? Variety is the spice of life, right? The thing about goin' to the store is you can buy one of this and one of that, and try out things before you go online and buy in bulk. I ended up blowin' about $70 (about $7.50 a piece averaged out - some were more expensive than others). OK, so it's kind of pricey to experiment like this, but what the hall? It's only money. Here's what I got.

From left to right, you're lookin' at an A.V.O. maduro, a Carlos Turano Vertuoso, a La Gloria Cubana maduro, a Rocky Patel Sun Grown, a Hoya De Monterrey Excalibur, another Rocky Patel (this time with a Connecticut wrapper), a Punch Gran Puro, and a few little A Fuente Gran Reservas. They threw in a free cutter with all of these, even though I told them I didn't need it. So guess what. The first time I tried to use the cheap piece of crap it broke on me. Didn't even make one cut successfully.

I smoked one of the little nippers on the far right while Denise made her way from one little shop to another on Saturday. It was a good one, with a nice strong but smooth flavor. I'll have to look for those when the specials come out.

Anyway, now's the time you might want to go get that plastic sheeting so you don't slobber all over your keyboard. I'm gonna show ya pictures of food again.

We set off at about 10:30 AM and got to Fredericksburg in a few hours. It was expected to be warm, so I dressed accordingly; short sleeves and wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off. Sure enough, it got to be about 81 as we strolled the sidewalks and did our shopping.

The first thing we did was to head to the Brewhouse. I'd walked past this place a number of times, and seeing the brewing vats through the front window always intrigued me.

Turns out it's a brewery that goes back a long time, and is very popular hereabouts. They produce their own versions of several brews, and I tried three of them. We took a number and went back to the biergarten to drink and check out the menu while we waited for our number to come up. Denise was amazed to find a Scotch Egg on the appetizer list. Apparently these are BIG over in her neck of the woods. It's a hard boiled egg that's been rolled in sausage, breaded, and then deep fried. I'd never heard of it, but it sounded good so we ordered it.

It came on a bed of coleslaw, with spicy mustard to dip it in and a few plates for us to use to share all this goodness. I was a little put off by the fact that they only gave us one egg, but it turned out to be a perfect starter. Not too filling and really tasting good. I cut it in half and we split it. It amounted to about two or three bites a piece. Denise said the sausage was spicier than what you'd get in England, but then I reminded her where she was. We live for the mouth burn here in Texas. Stuff doesn't feel right if it doesn't make your head sweat. Tejano influence I guess.

I avoided the German fare, but Denise jumped at the Jagerschnitzel. She said it was excellent. I had a bite and loved it. Her mashed potatoes were good too. Before I could offer her one she was stabbin' at one of my onion rings. I had to give her a talk.

I went for the 1/2 pound burger (big shock), with cheese and bacon added, and the aforementioned, partially purloined onion rings.

Don't it look purdy? Tasty too, and the onion rings were excellent.

Along with lunch we drank a few of their local brews. I started out in the biergarten with an Enchanted Rock Red Ale, and then switched to the Peace Pipe Pale Ale (above) with my meal. Denise had a Not So Dumb Blond Ale (I swear to God) and ended up mixin' it with Sprite. She's just got a huge jones for those shandy things. I take a swig and all I can taste is the syrup from the soda. What the fuck is the point? To each their own.

I liked the place a lot. We both did. nice atmosphere and good vittles. It was all good, but I'm not sure it was as good as the foreign beer and burger at the Auslander. I know I was missin' those fried shrooms. Oh well, I want to try everything down there, so we can't have that stuff every time we come. After all I have a reading public to take care of. It's a huge burden, but I'll rise to the challenge.

We walked around for a few hours after that meal and did some shoppin'. Among other things we got an Ice cram cone, a few more bottles of locally made and bottled Muscat Canelli wine, and another big bag of pecans (this years crop). By 4:30 PM I was done. We needed to head back so we could make it to a party at the home of a friend of hers from work.

The party was OK, but forgettable. Nether of us really knew anyone there, but she seemed to be enjoying herself, so I grazed at the snack table for a bit and then disappeared. Hell, I know I'd be better off if I mingled and introduced myself, but a life on the outside of the social scene leaves one with certain well honed instincts. That wasn't my crowd, and I'd rather just go out on the patio with a brew and smoke another cigar anyway. Gives me a chance to sit back and watch everyone. When I saw Denise looking for me I knew it was time and we hit the road. There was much more fun to be had at my place anyway. We'd picked up a bottle of Spatlese at a store in Fredericksburg, and it was chillin' in the fridge.

Well, the rest is history, as is this post. You try not to slobber all over the keyboard lookin' at those food and beer pictures, and we'll do this again soon. Cheers.