Oklahoma Panhandle: A Beer on Sunday
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| Sash with her new biker helmet from Motorcycle House |
I'm not sure if I'm a beer drinker who loves to ride motorcycles, or a motorcycle rider who loves to drink beer. They're just things that have come to influence my decision making.
So as Sash and I penetrated into the Oklahoma Panhandle, on our way east to Tulsa, temperatures rose into the upper 90s (30s for you celcius folks), images of a tall cold glass of beer, the kind with condensation running the down the side, the kind where you drink it all down in one sitting, started dancing in my head.
But being from San Diego, the craft brewing capital of the world, I don't want a Bud, Miller, Coors, or any of the mainstream pilsners that seem to have infiltrated the modern world. I'm looking for something unique, something different, preferably from the small local brewers who craft ales for the more discriminating bellies.
Pulling into Woodward, OK, where we had planned to stay the night, we could find no establishment that offered such a libation. We did, however, find a K-Bob's, which is just another corporate chain steakhouse, that seemed to offer some mainstream-craft brew labels, like Fat Tire, Samuel Adams, et al. Even though I've had these brews hundreds of times over, they're still better than the watered-down, riced-up, mega-lagers of Wall-Street.
"Oh, that's the new corporate bar menu that just came out", the bartender said to me as I pointed to a Fat Tire. "We don't have any that stuff yet."
"OK." I replied. "I just assumed that since I was given this menu, that you had these beers."
"Yeah, not yet." she said smiling. "Let me get you our actual bar menu."
Customers seated around me started looking at my direction, obvious to them I wasn't from around these parts.
So, I settled with a Modelo Especial, not the best in pilsners, but still seemingly better than the other mainstream products. And no one else in the bar seemed to be drinking a Modelo. Bud Light was what everyone else was drinking. Maybe Modelo needs its own NASCAR sponsorship.
The following day, Sunday, I found myself back in the same sweltering heat, on the same highway (US 64), running long and straight like the contrails of a 737 way up in the Oklahoma sky. Enid, OK was not too far away when the same visions of the frothy, malty, amber-colored glass leaning diagonal as its cold refreshing contents spilled past my lips.
Not knowing where to go for a good beer in Enid, we pulled into the first place that looked promising. A Rib Crib.
Rib Crib is yet another corporate-chain steakhouse / rib joint. But at least they have a bar, and that's about all that mattered to me, as long as there was some kind of semi-drinkable brew on tap. But little did I realize that on Sundays, in Oklahoma, you'd be hard-pressed to find a decent beer.
"We can only serve the 3.2 beer on Sundays", the bartending gal said to me. "I can get you a Bud or a Coors, if you'd like."
"I'll just take an iced-tea". I said.
I mean, if I'm going to drink flavored-water, at least an iced-tea comes with unlimited refills.
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And I don't mean to dis Oklahoma and its 77 counties. It's their state and their county, they can do whatever they want. It was my choice to come here. And we wanted to experience what life is like in other communities across the Union, so there it is.
As it turns out, the big city of Tulsa offers much more to a craft-brew drinking motorcycle-riding fool like me. Places like McNellie's Public House in downtown or Baker St. Pub in South Tulsa, offer a larger selection of craft-brews, even locally brewed stuff too. And I guess that's why I often found myself gravitating towards the metropolitan downtown areas, for the better beer.
There's even better food in Tulsa. Elote Cafe in Downtown with its eclectic style Mexican, and KC Smokehouse Bar-B-Que in the Park Plaza South area, offer some of the best eats we've had along this road trip.
Though the small towns have been really cool to see and experience. Their simpler way of living compliments what Sash and I have tried to do with our lives going forward. But I've grown up a city boy, and it's hard to take the city out of me.
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| US 64 East, Oklahoma Panhandle |
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| Modelo Especial, probably the best beer they serve at K-Bob's, Woodward, OK |
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| US 64 East, Oklahoma |
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| US 64 East, Oklahoma |
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| Pawnee, Oklahoma |
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| Rib Crib, Enid, OK, on the search for a decent beer on a Sunday |
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| Enjoying a beer after a long day's ride |
Having done a lot of driving across the United States, I've found that if a city has a major university, or, better yet, several universities, the beer quality improves. Man, you are going to LOVE the rules in Utah. Go to a restaurant and order a second beer before you've finished your first –– see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI'll warn you now that the Minnesota folk are 3.2-inclined, but I can offer some advice on good spots to get craft brew.
It is funny how downtown urban areas have the more diverse food and beverage offerings. I would think that fifty years ago it would be the opposite.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite part about riding is stopping in to some random diner for lunch where they have things on the menu that they have to explain to me. Surprise and new tastes are the spice of life.