Double Horn Brewing Company

We had been to lunch at Double Horn Brewing Company before. (Click HERE for details) This time I could actually drink since I’m not pregnant anymore. I’m not wowed by their beer, but the food is still really good.

Since we where with another couple I didn’t do my normal “let me take a picture of your food before you eat it” speech so I just snapped a quick one of my dish. The DH Chicken (Grilled chicken breast, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon and avacado served on ciabatta bread) was really good and moist. Of course you can’t go wrong with sweet potato fries. The sandwich is big and filling and worth a try!

Double Horn Brewing Company

While up at Lake Travis we ventured over to the near by town of Marble Falls, Texas to have lunch at Double Horn Brewing Company.

Everyone started out with a sampler of their beer $6.95. I recommend getting one of these to try out everything they have on tap before ordering a full pint.

As an appetizer we ordered The Southwest Trio $8.99 (Freshly made tortilla chips served with Mom’s secret salsa, spicy queso and made to order guacamole) as well as the Onion Rings $6.99 (Lightly breaded large white onions stacked high and finished with a sweet chili sauce). I enjoyed the fact that they offered a trio instead of all of the items separate. The guacamole was really nice and fresh. My only complaint was I wish the queso was a little thicker. Honestly this had to have been some of the best onion rings we have ever had. The coating was really good and they weren't greasy. I also liked the sweet chili sauce that came with it to make it a little different.

For the main courses I ordered Surf and Earth $8.99 (Romaine lettuce, candied walnuts, seared cabbage, fried shrimp, served with your choice of a sweet chili sauce or a cajun remoulade). I thought this dish was really good, it totally didn’t come out like I thought it would look, but it tasted fantastic. I was also surprised at how fresh the shrimp tasted and how large they where.

D ordered the The Green Chili $9.99 (Hand-formed beef, green chilies, lettuce, tomato and white cheddar, chopped with shoestring onions and a green chili sauce). We didn’t care that they list of an assortment of sides and ask what you would like. D picked the sweet potato fries and they never mentioned it would be an extra 89 cents.

Our friend’s ordered DH Chicken $9.99 (Charbroiled chicken breast, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon and avacado served on a bolio roll) and Bangers and Mash $11.99 (Jalapeno pork sausages served with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and house made porter gravy). Angela said her sandwich was really good and she would order it again. The bangers and mash was a little different. The dish was good except the gravy ruined it a little.

Overall I would go back, the food is a little higher priced, but for a brewery I think it was top notch in quality so you get what you paid for.

No Label Brewing Company

Houston has a craft brewery known as Saint Arnold’s which has grown so much that you have to go at least an hour before they open to get in line for a tour and tasting. I was excited to learn another small brewery opened up in Katy so we had to give them a try. No Label Brewing Co. started out a a couple of guys who knew nothing about brewing and decided one day to open a brewery. They took over the old rice drier building and set up shop there. Since they are still new, you can go and have free tastings. Follow them on twitter to find out when they are open or check their website.

The day we went they where open 1-3pm, you bring food, chairs, or whatever you want and sit out on the lawn area. We where given 4 tickets for tasting glasses. You can buy their logo pint glasses and they fill those as well if you want more.

They only had 2 of their beers on tap that day the El Hefe (Hefeweizen with Light body, well balanced between malt and hops.) and American Pale Ale (Significant malt and hops. Made with whole hops for a clean fresh finish...Revelation 6:8) We actually liked the Hefeweizen best. Looking forward to trying additional beers from them in the future.

Taos, New Mexico – Day 2

Today we ventured around the town of Taos and stopped at the local grocery stores to stock up on supplies.

For all of you Whole Foods and Central Market shoppers you’ll be pleased to see a store that is very similar to it. Not as big of a selection, but filled with organic items.

There’s also  a Smith’s which Kroger owns, a Walmart and Albertson’s. There’s more stores to shop at then I had thought. Another nice feature is that the grocery stores also sell liquor, if only ours did back home that would be one less stop I would have to make when shopping.

We stopped for lunch at the local brewery Eske’s. BTW they open at 11am, that’s not listed on the site. We ordered a flight of beer to taste all the flavors they had on tap. ($1.50 per tasting)

I had read many reviews online talking about how good The Fatty and Cheese Burger where so we ordered one of each. We sat out side in the “garden” since the weather was so nice. They even have a sand area for the kids.

The Fatty $8.75 (A whole wheat tortilla filled with beans, homemade mashed potatoes, onions, feta cheese, and cheddar cheese all smothered in Wanda’s Green Chile Turkey Stew.) Oh wow, this is a filling dish and even though you’re full you’ll keep going back for more!

Cheese Burger $6.75 (A lean ground beef patty topped with cheddar cheese is served on a whole wheat bun with mayonnaise, a lettuce and tomato and pickle garnish, and corn chips with salsa.) We ordered the addition of New Mexico Green Chiles for a total of $7.25, because where where after all in New Mexico for the chilies and food! The waitress told us that they just switched over to grass fed beef without upping the cost and you could tell a difference in the flavor. I admire how the restaurants here value organic and more natural ingredients.

 

As for the beer I settled with the Sexy Mexy a Mexican Amber Lager and D went with the Doobie Rock Heller Bock.

 

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? I really like how it blooms!

D set up his computer and got everything lined up and working so he could work during the week. Then we headed out to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

Located 10 miles outside of town this is a must see place! Walking across a bridge that’s 650 feet above the Rio Grande just makes you say wow. It’s the 5th highest bridge in the United States and another fun fact is you have seen this bridge in films, including Natural Born Killers, Twins, She's Having a Baby, Wild Hogs and Terminator Salvation.

 

After spending time at the bridge we headed up to Taos Ski Valley. There’s not much to see up there because the ski season closed 2 weeks ago, but we didn’t care we wanted to see snow!

 

For dinner we headed back into town to eat at Orlando’s which is voted best Mexican Food in Taos County since 2005. We had high hopes for this going in.

 

We started out with cocktails ordering a Sangria on the rocks $5.50 and Mike-arita $5.50. Both where ok nothing to wow about.

For the entrees we went with the La Reina $9.75 (One rolled blue corn cheese and onion enchilada with choice of chile, two pork medallions topped with chile caribe. Served with beans, posole and a flour tortilla.) I chose the green chile on the enchilada since the pork medallions came with the red sauce. The pork was really good, but if you don’t handle spice very well then don’t order this. I loved the heat, but boy does it light you up! The enchilada was like any other I had, loaded with lots of cheese. 

We also ordered the Combination Plate $9.95 (One rolled cheese and onion enchilada, one soft shell chicken or beef taco and your choice of tamale or chile relleno. Served with beans and posole.) We picked the beef taco and chile relleno. The dish was just ok. The relleno was stuffed with cheese and wasn’t that much bigger then a stuffed fried jalapeno I make at home. I would order something different next time.

We finished up our evening in the hot tub watching the sun set. Ahhh what a great day.