Back From Denver, Barely

So I made it back. Barely. Consider this vacation more of a four-day bender than anything else.

The big news is my buddy's restaurant, at which I ate every day, mostly all day. His name is Hoss, which is an accurate indicator of his size and mannerism. His restaurant? Big Hoss Barbeque. Pardon the picture quality, as all pics were taken on my phone.

He actually has 2 businesses. One is his sauce, which he bottles and sells in his restaurant as well an at Whole Foods and Sysco. It is simply incredible and versatile. The second is his restaurant. It's a medium-sized place, sitting about 120, and was absolutely packed every night I was there. Every table, every spot at the bar, and a line. It was surreal and cool to be standing...in my buddy's bar.

His kitchen is small, but he has custom-built a 6x6 brick smoke box with iron doors to prepare his food. At any time, he's got 16 or so racks of pork and beef ribs, 6 or so briskets and several chickens.

He owns the place, and does the majority of the cooking and prep. The food is spectacular.

Most importantly, his beer list: Guinness, Beamish, Stone Pale Ale, Fat Tire, Abbey Brown, PBR, Great Divide Denver Pale Ale, New Belgium Sunshine Wheat, Pilsner Urqell, Smithwicks and "the usuals." That is a fine beer selection for pit-smoked BBQ indeed.

So I said we'd get to Gret Divide. Well....we did make it into downtown-proper (they live in Denver, but on the NE side)...but made it as far as a Mexican place that serves margaritas called "Ethanol" and an Irish Pub. From there...if we did make it to Great Divide, I certainly couldn't tell you what I drank.

While it snowed in Michigan, it was sunny and 75 every day in Denver. I was with two of my best friends and ate and rank like a king all weekend.

Good to be back. And nearly sober.