The Revolution Comes to Nebraska

The Crescent Moon Ale House
3578 Farnham St.
Omaha, NE




I’m pretty sure nobody in America is more excited about the on-going craft beer revolution than Suit757.

Just a few years ago, one of my typical stopovers at a Middle America sports bar or college hangout like the Crescent Moon Ale House yielded nothing more than a monotonous display of ubiquitous tab handles -- the same dozen boring taps you see in every bar in America.

Under those tap handles pours the identical watered down pale fizzy crap.

I guess that’s the thing I don’t get about all those fans of the mass produced American lagers: don’t you get bored drinking the same damn thing over and over again?

And don’t even try to tell me that Bud Light tastes radically different from Miller Lite. I’ve blind taste-tested them all. Any differences are subtle at best.

It’s all the same exact style. Same formula. Same pale color. Same nonexistent flavor.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I’m not one of those Nazi craft beer snobs who refuses to allow a mass produced beer to touch my lips.

I mean, my favorite style of beer might be a hoppy Imperial India Pale Ale, but my second favorite style of beer is…

…free. Even if it is a Bud Light.

I’m pretty sure I’ve never turned one down yet.

Trust me, if you get a First Class upgrade, that’s what you’re going to be drinking.

While mass produced watered down American lager might not be my favorite style, I’m not religiously opposed to it either.

In fact, as I type this I have a keg of Coors Light on tap at the bar in my home.

With that admission, I might have just lost half the followers of this website.

But low alcohol, low taste, cheap beer has a role to play alongside the arsenal of good beer stocked in my bar -- particularly on hot summer days or at the tail end of particularly lengthy sessions of beer drinking when the law of diminishing returns has long since kicked in.

What makes me excited about the craft beer revolution is the wonderful variety of good beer out there now just waiting for me to sample.

This revolution is so exciting, it can make even a trip to Omaha, Nebraska an enlightening experience.

I chose the Crescent Moon not for its beer selection alone, but primarily because I read that it serves the single best sandwich in the state of Nebraska, the Blackstone Rueben.

Named after a nearby long-gone historic hotel where the original version was served, this was one top notch Rueben.

Slow cooked in some secret spices, the thick chunks of corned beef melted in my mouth they were so tender. The Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing lended plenty of condiment gooey goodness.

Even the sauerkraut was spot on. And I don’t even like sauerkraut.

On the side, I paid extra for fried green peppers.

Fried green peppers?

The only other menu where I’ve seen them was at a strip mall crab house in Maryland.

I’m making a prediction right now.

Fried green peppers are the next big thing -- coming soon to an Applebee’s “Two for Twenty” menu near you.

First of all, the shape is just fun. Sliced from a pepper cross section, each one was a big oddly formed ring.

Lightly breaded so the mild pepper flavor shines through, fried green peppers are a welcome reprieve from the side dish monotony of fries, onion rings and cole slaw.

To me that is what I love most about eating my way across the USA -- breaking the monotony by trying new things.

Which just happens also to be why I love the craft beer revolution.

Crescent Moon Ale House is a fantastic beer bar sporting exotic never-before-seen tap handles from across the Midwest and across Nebraska.

I was excited. Even more so when the bar tender informed me that all Nebraska beers were just $3.50 per pint tonight.

Bargain!

I started with the Zipline Black IPA out of Lincoln, Nebraska, a toasty flavorful oxymoron in a glass. How exactly can a “pale ale” be black, anyway?

My second brew was the Radial IPA from Infusion Brewing Company across town, a nice wallop of spicy hops.

How cool is it that small microbreweries are popping up in every nook and cranny of America -- even in decidedly non-hipster places like Nebraska??

Pretty cool. And plenty of others agree.

The Crescent Moon had a nice crowd for 10pm on a Wednesday night.

Definitely a college bar vibe with long communal tables full of students from nearby Creighton University, beer banners hanging from the ceiling and a burly bouncer dude checking IDs by the front door in front of a glass case selling t-shirts that say “Moon Me.”

There is even a “Huber-Haus German Bier Hall” in the basement and Max and Joe’s, a Belgian beer bar off in a side room.

You would think this place would be a sausage fest of frat guys downing beers and telling fart jokes.

But you’d be wrong.

There were as many girls as guys knocking back brewskies.

How cool is that?

As I was crunching on my fried green peppers at the bar, a couple of attractive college girls stopped by to order several good local microbrews.

“Damn, I love beer,” the brunette said.

The blonde one replied, “I know, right?!? The next time you go home to Denver, I want to come with you so we can stop off at every brewery in Colorado.”

Wow!

Besides sounding like a VERY fun roadtrip (would it be rude if I interrupted them and invited myself along?) -- I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Girls who like good beer?

Apparently I was born too early.

When I was in college, the cool girls would help you finish your four dollar pitcher of Busch.

The less cool high maintenance chicks would demand you make a special side trip to the Tiny Giant to pick up a four pack of Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers.

Losers.

Thank God those dark days are behind us.

The craft beer revolution has saved us all from such indignities.

And the evidence is right here at The Crescent Moon Ale House in Omaha.

Craft beer in Nebraska. College students drinking IPAs. Girls planning brewery roadtrips.

Yep. The revolution is complete.

Rating: Bought the Shirt!

Discovered! The Official Hangout of all Suits in Strange Places

Republic Gastropub
5830 N. Classen Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK



I know this may come as a shock to you, but Suit757 is no slave to trendiness.

Nope.

Tivo, Snookie, Twitter. Don’t have a clue.

I may have yet to send my first text message, but I’ll gladly embrace a trend that makes sense.

Like the latest craze sweeping America.

No. Not some new reality TV show.

I’m talking about “the gastropub”.

Let me tell you, I LOVE gastropubs!

The term “gastropub” was coined exactly 20 years ago at the Eagle Pub in London when a couple of uncharacteristically inventive Brits decided that it would be a real novelty to serve something other than pretzels and warm beer.

The idea has evolved over the past decade into what can only be described as the absolute definition of heaven for Suit757. A pub with extraordinarily good beer selection that serves over the top delicious gourmet bar food.

If the official motto of this blog is “Life is too short for lame food and drink,” then the “gastropub” has got to be the official hangout of all “Suits in Strange Places.”

Of course, here in America, all fads and trends start on the coasts.

Whether it is oxygen bars, butterfly tattoos or carbon footprint guilt, you know it had to start in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York or Boston. Thankfully, most of these trends crumble under the weight of their own stupidity and never make it to flyover country.

That’s why I was so excited when a fellow suit of mine recommended Republic Gastropub in Oklahoma City.

Folks, if a trend makes it all the way to Oklahoma, it’s no longer a trend.

When you can find a gastropub pub smack dab in the middle of the North American continent, you can be confident that good food and drink are here to stay.

Sell your stock in Applebees now!

I knew this was going to be a different experience the moment I pulled up to the Republic Gastropub.

I thought I was lost in some modern architecture Frank Lloyd Wright strip mall. Like I was transported into some futuristic science fiction artist’s rendition of a colony on Mars.

I am in Oklahoma, aren’t I?

Weird.

But you know what? The place was packed. On a Wednesday night.

I grabbed the last seat at the huge wrap-around bar between some rich retiree and another dude scamming on a brunette who mysteriously had the flawless face of a 30 year old and the bony, wrinkled hands of a 60 year old.

Kinda weird.

The crowd was made up of mostly older guys who looked like they could afford ten dollar gourmet burgers and six dollar microbrews, interspersed with a nice contingent of former Oklahoma beauty queens looking for love.

From the looks of these ladies, plastic surgeons, hair dressers and Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio owners do very well in Oklahoma City.

Hey, I’ve always said Oklahoma’s considerably pleasing aesthetics is one of the reasons to look forward to a trip to the Sooner State.

Now I have one more.

Republic Gastropub has a mind-boggling beer selection.

You’ve heard of “99 bottles of beer on the wall?”

Try 999! Or something close to it.

From floor to ceiling, row after row of exotic microbrews from every corner of the world.

Even better yet, over 100 taps of fresh microbrewed beer from all over Mid-America and beyond.

So many choices! How do you even begin to make a decision?

Well, call it dumb luck, but I hit the jackpot on my very first draft, Tallgrass Oasis ESB, brewed in Manhattan, Kansas.

“ESB” is a British term that stands for “Extra Special Bitter”, which supposedly means it is slightly less lame than a typical British bitter.

Let me tell you, there was nothing lame (or British) about this Kansas microbrew. Hoppy, powerful, flavorful, this is one manly brew for true beer lovers!

Lots of hops. Lots of malt. Lots of alcohol. And lots to like about this beer.

Always in search of something just a bit different, my next brew was a “Black IPA” called Laughing Dog Dogzilla out of Sand Point, Idaho.

Black IPAs are a novelty. Kind of like black Republicans.

Most IPAs are pale in color – that’s what the “P” in IPA stands for. Duh.

But this one uses dark roasted malt to give it a strong balance to all the hops.

About halfway through my Dogzilla, I got my “Republic Burger”.

Now pay attention.

If you are still not sure what a gastropub is (other than good beer selection), you are about to find out.

Gastropubs serve fairly typical bar food (think burgers, fish & chips and nachos) but with a spectacular, gourmet, high-end flair.

For example, my Republic Burger came topped with a relish of apple wood smoked bacon and carmalized onions, a cheese blend of bleu and gruyere, a garnish of arugula, a zesty remoulade spread and a fried egg all served on a gourmet pretzel roll.

How’s that for over the top?

It’s absolutely delicious. That’s how it is.

Of course the fried egg is the pièce de résistance. If you’ve never tried a big juicy burger topped with a fried egg, you haven’t lived yet.

The egg adds luxurious richness and decadence to man’s greatest invention – the hamburger.

Somewhat surprisingly, all those competing flavors worked well together on the Republic Burger. While over the top to be sure, it all held together surprisingly – and deliciously well.

On the side I ordered a macaroni and cheese dish studded with pieces of bratwurst and covered in bread crumbs. Good, but it needed to come out of the kitchen above room temperature.

To wash down the last few bites of my gourmet pub food, I ordered a local beer, Coop Gran Sport Porter, brewed right here in OKC.

It was a tough act to follow all that extraordinary beer and food, but the local porter didn’t disappoint. Nutty and smoky, it packed more a flavorful punch than a typical porter.

You know what? I’ve finally found a trend I can embrace.

Smoky porters from Oklahoma. Black IPAs from Idaho. Egg topped burgers.

And I don’t have to fly to LA to get them. I’ll drink to that.

Rating: Bought the Shirt!