The Good Luck Trolley that Never Was

Here we are not getting on the trolley.

On Friday, September 13th, Matt and I headed downtown to join the Asheville Blogger Society on a special Friday The 13th trolley tour to the Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard. As we neared the corner where the bloggers waited to board the big red trolley we knew there had to be a problem.

The trolley wasn't running.

Before our Friday the 13th adventure even started it was struck by bad luck.

We chalked it up to the ominous date and set about to have fun anyway.

The bloggers and our guests wandered over to Barley's Tap Room and took over the upstairs bar. There, along with some fantastic discussions, I was also able to try a few seasonal beers.

My black cat and the Oktoberfest.

• Foothills Oktoberfest. I thought this was a beautiful example of an Oktoberfest lager. It was rich and delicious with beautiful fall color. 
• Big Boss Harvest Time Pumpkin. As I have mentioned before, there are pumpkin beers I like and pumpkin beers that I don't like. Unfortunately, the Big Boss pumpkin feel into the "eh, not so much," category. While it had hints of pumpkin spice it lacked the body that I look for in a pumpkin ale. Your mileage may vary. 
• Laganitas Lucky 13. Much like Sierra Nevada Flipside, this isn't a "traditional" autumn beer, based on my own completely arbitrary criteria. However, after the ill-fated Friday the 13th Beer Trolley I thought that enjoying a Lucky 13 beer would be an excellent idea. I am a huge fan of this California brewery and love most of the beers that they offer. Lucky 13 was no exception. As an imperial red it is high in alcohol and heavy to drink. The flavors are complex and there are plenty of hops and plenty of malts to please just about anyone.

Your humble narrator and the Lucky 13.