globes, beer and plates

Gene’s and Liz’s globe (you can see a couple of others in the far distance)

We spent the day in the city yesterday, driving in about noon.  It was a totally different experience than what we are used to because, although we did stop by the house to pick up a few things we forgot, we didn’t go to town to work.  We went to play.  And run a few errands.  We went to the art supply store and the hardware store and then we headed downtown to Discovery Green Park.  

There is a display of globes there, much like the previous cows we had here and the horses I’ve heard of in other places.  You know how it goes, the blank ’sculptures’ are sponsored by different groups and then they contract artists or school kids to paint and or otherwise alter the blank to suit their theme.  Unlike the cows, these are not distributed throughout the city, but rather are all on display at Discovery Green Park, the city’s new jewel of downtown.  

A friend of ours who works in architectural stained and fused glass was part of a two person team that did one of the globes so we went to see it.  We only looked at a few since we found his early on and the weather was misty/drizzly and cold.  I noticed though that they were setting up the outdoor skating rink, having isolated and frozen part of the lake.  This is where I took the grandgirls ice skating last year, but that’s a different post.

The real reason we went into town though was to help our friend Craig, the tunnel rat (although, to be fair, I don’t think he uses the tunnels much), celebrate his ‘plate’ at a beer tavern a couple of blocks from his condo.  

This place (I hesitate to call it a bar as it serves food and mainly beer) is called the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium and when you walk in you understand why.  It is a very high ceilinged place and the walls (and even some on the ceiling) are covered with plates.  Row after row of all sizes and patterns of china and decorative plates.  They also have rows on rows of special wide gold rimmed dinner sizes plates with different colored centers on which different peoples names and little bits of humor and a number are.  

The Flying Saucer is a small (and as I understand it, family owned) chain with others in Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio and cities in 5 other states.  What they do is beer.  They have hundreds of beers (click on the link above and then on 'beer' for a list) available either on tap or in a bottle.  And they also have ‘visiting’ beers, something not available everyday.  It’s a whole cult, a whole culture.

The other thing about the Flying Saucer is they have a club.  If you register, you get a card that keeps track of the beers you have had and when you get 200 different beers, you get a plate.  The first 200 and you get a black label on your plate.  There are 8 levels so to get a ‘white’ plate you have to have had 1600 beers (in 200 beer increments, each level cannot have repeats, but you can drink yourself through the same 200 different beers list for each level).  But then where would the fun be in that?

It was a little overwhelming when we first got there.  Craig was getting his plate unveiled and they give you $100 credit towards food and drink for a little party.  They had a free-standing bar reserved for Craig so half of us one one side, half on the other on barstools.  Eventually there were 9 people...8 guys and me.  

I never knew beer was so vast and varied.  I also never knew that different types of beers are correctly served in their proper glass style...glass, stem, stein.  I was lost amongst all the choices.  There was no way I could know even where to begin.  That’s why their wait-staff is highly trained and very knowledgeable about beer.  Our waitress, the Beer Goddess (it said on her t-shirt and that’s how we referred to her), selected my first for me after quizzing me on my likes.  She brought me an amber ale.  It was very good.  By the time I finished my first I wasn’t feeling quite so intimidated.  Craig had printed out a bunch of slips from his account describing some of the beers he’s had so I picked my second beer from those.  I can’t remember what it was either but it was very good.  A darker brew than before but a little sweeter.  And we all tasted each other’s different choices.  It was amazing how different each of the different beers tasted.  Husband and I limited ourselves to two each because we were driving back to Wharton, not having come prepared to spend the night.  But it was so interesting, and good, that we are planning to have another go at it but this time we’ll stay with Craig so all we have to do is walk a few blocks to get home.

And Craig's plate?  # 677