Dionysus Brewing, 6201 Schirra Court Suite 13, Bakersfield, California
Pedal Haus Brewery, Concourse D, Terminal 4 Level 3, Post Security near Gate D11, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, 3400 Sky Harbor Boulevard, Phoenix, Arizona
Bahama Breeze Caribbean Restaurant, Between Gates 70-99, Orlando International Airport, 9301 Jeff Fuqua Boulevard, Orlando, Florida
Five Boroughs Food Hall, Terminal 4, John F Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York
As time is marching on and it’s nearly spring again, I thought I’d mention four remaining breweries and taps from my visit to America last summer--all, strangely enough, in different states.
On these now-yearly trips I always visit California, mainly because of my brother, who’s the only living member of my immediate family. He lives in Bakersfield with my sister-in-law Carol, my unofficially adopted brother Kim, and four lovely cats. And because my brother and sister-in-law don’t drink, I always talk Kim into joining my explorations of the city’s breweries and taps.
There aren’t a lot of breweries in Bakersfield, so it’s usually a matter of revisiting places we’ve already discovered. But last year I talked Kim into visiting one that we hadn’t yet been to, Dionysus Brewing Company. Located in an industrial park next door to the Bakersfield Beer Company, Dionysus is a small open taproom, with the bar located at the far end. I would happily have sat at the bar and chatted with the barman, who looked a bit like a young Jerry Garcia. But Kim was having problems with the hearing aids that correct his total deafness, and he also has pretty much strictly classical tastes in music. As a result he declared that the very tolerably-volumed 1990s-style alternative music that was playing on the speakers was way too loud, and that anyone exposed to it for more than a few minutes would surely go deaf. So we sat at the table closest to the open front door.
(I did point out that I played in bands for years and have gone to and still go to plenty of live concerts, and my hearing is good for my age. But I decided to let it go, especially as Kim had calmed down and seemed content.)
We both had 12-ounce glasses of Dank Street IPA (6.% ABV, Dionysus Brewing Company, Bakersfield, California). A West Coast IPA brewed with Columbus, Citra, and Mosaic, this was surprisingly good, with an excellent combination of citrus and dankness. I also bought a bottle of one of their non-beer products, Citrus Tears Habañero and Citrus Hot Sauce, to take back to Sheffield with me.
Before we left, I returned our glasses to the bar just so I could more thoroughly peruse the beer menu. When I saw the Juicesicle Sour (6% ABV, Dionysus), a kettle sour ale with blueberries and vanilla, I moaned, saying I hadn’t seen that one and would have ordered it. So the barman gave me a cheeky taste. And oh, it was supersuper sour, but with that brilliant blueberry and vanilla vavoom!! How gorgeous is that?
Besides their beers, Dionysus also roast and sell their own coffee beans, and apparently their Watermelon Beer Slushies have been popular. Besides the bottle of Citrus Tears that I bought, they also offer Surreal Verde, Get Buck, and Meet the Reaper hot sauces. The microbrewery screens random sporting events including WWE and American football, and Friday nights are beer flight nights.
I’d really like to come back to Dionysus and explore more of the wonders they brew, but I suppose not with Kim. Perhaps the next time my friend Mistah Rick meets up with me in Bakersfield?
Earlier on my trip I flew from Portland, Oregon, to Bakersfield with a flight change at Sky Harbour Airpor in Phoenix, Arizona. As my flight from Portland arrived at the B concourse, and my connection to Bakersfield was at the A concourse, and I had over two and a half hours to kill, I decided that I couldn’t think of a better reason to stretch my legs by walking over to the D concourse to have a pint. And I’m very happy that I did, because Pedal Haus Brewery was busy with people eating and drinking decent-looking pints. I took one of the two available seats at the long bar and ordered a pint of White Rabbit Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV, Pedal Haus Brewery, Tempe, Arizona). Brewed with Mosaic, Amarillo, and Cascade hops, this was happily zingy and hoppy, with none of that thick fruitiness that I was starting to weary of from some of the Portland beers I had just tried with Rick. Seeing as how his flight home from Portland to San Francisco was leaving at the same time as the flight for which I was currently waiting, I messaged him to tell him where I was and suggested that we might end up flying down the same rabbit hole, and therefore we could meet up for one more pint. He agreed to that idea, so I dutifully (and very willingly) drank my White Rabbit, hoping it would give me the powers to make that vision come true.
(I don’t think it did; but I still thoroughly enjoyed the pint.)
With the main brewery located in Tempe, Arizona, this airport Pedal Haus serves various food snacks, including the hummus plate with a massive mound of pitta breads that the woman next to me was enjoying. And I also spotted a proper pizza oven that was cooking up nice-looking slices; and containers of dried chile flakes and parmesan were available to sprinkle on one’s pizza, an American pizza tradition that sadly hasn’t yet caught on in my home of Sheffield. To burn the love for this place even deeper into my heart, Pedal Haus’s playlist was featuring some great early 1980s music: Talking Head, New Order’s “Love Vigilantes”, etc. If my flight had been delayed for another couple of hours I could easily have had another pint.
(Little did I know that when I reached the departure gate, my AA flight was delayed by a few minutes, which turned into a full hour. Oh, how I love American Airlines…not!)
Besides the beer and a wide food menu that looks pretty yummy, Pedal Haus also offers cocktails. The main Pedal Haus brewery, located in Tempe, Arizona, was originally founded in 2015 by beer and cycling enthusiast Julian Wright. It features bike-themed décor and hosts regular events that support charitable causes. They’ve received medals for their wide range of styles, from classic German lagers to experimental IPAs. Besides the airport location they have pubs in Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler, and Mesa, where live music nights and sporting events are often staged.
Just before I flew home to England, I had a three-hour layover between flights at the airport in Orlando, Florida, where I arrived around 6pm. Because the only option in the entire airport for a craft beer on draft seemed to be at a Caribbean restaurant, I seated myself at the bar of Bahama Breeze and ordered a pint of Knightro McCoy IPA (5.0% ABV, Orange County Brewers, Lake Mary, Florida). And it was…well, it was okay. I mean, this wasOrlando, land of Disneyworld, after all. While I sat there I checked out the brewery online, where I discovered that Orange County Brewers produce a lot of quite interesting beers: several IPAs, a CBD sour, a Mexican lager, danks, a black IPA, a wheat beer, and red ales. Sadly my IPA was a bit boring; but I suppose it may have been because I was drinking it at a restaurant at Orlando Airport, so what could I expect? As I was hungry, and I probably wouldn’t be fed on my next flight until late that night so I only wanted something snack-sized, I ordered an appetizer of spinach, artichoke, and cheese dip with tortilla chips, as this was the only option, aside from what looked like a huge shrimp appetizer, that I could find on the menu that didn’t contain meat. After walking all around the terminal I got the impression that there are very few if any vegans, much less even vegetarians or pescatarians, who travel through the Happiest Airport In The World.
While I was sipping and nibbling, a woman sat next to me and asked for a Bailey’s. The barman said they didn’t have Bailey’s, but she could have a Kahlua, which mystified me a bit. I mean, I suppose Kahlua is a fair enough option. But she had originally ordered a pint of Stella. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
To be fair, if you’re in the airport and you want to have a cocktail, this is apparently the place to go. And if you’re hungry for an entire meal, I’m sure the Caribbean-inspired food is quite good, especially the fish and seafood dishes. (They also have plenty of meat dishes, of course.)
A year earlier in May 2023, before my flight connection to LAX, I changed planes at JFK in New York City. On this occasion I experienced a bit of a trauma at Baggage Claim when my bright red bag didn’t seem to make an appearance on the carousel. After what seemed like an eternity I looked around to discover that all of the other passengers had left with their bags. At that point I felt my knees go weak, and I heard myself saying quietly, “Oh no..oh no...oh no...oh no...” Trying not to panic, I calmed my breathing and walked around the carousel, closely examining every single red bag--including that one underneath the big black bag. And then..was that in fact it? I pull the red bag off the carousel: the rainbow ID tag I’d attached was flipped around, and the routing tag said LAX. I turned the tag over and saw my name on the other side, and it was all so unreal. I fell to my knees, thanking whatever gods other people in the world believe in, thanking Life, the Universe, and Everything--and I realised I was about to cry. But I pulled myself together and double-checked the bag. Yes! Mine! So I touched the handle and patted it, thanking it for showing up…
It was a maze finding out where to leave my precious bag for routing to LAX, followed by the maze to Security. As opposed to the last time I went through here, the massive Security Hall offered no shortcuts, with no officious employees splitting and directing traffic, so it took a full 40 minutes to get as far as the scanning trays.
At that point I realised I had a little over an hour, or just enough time to have my very first American pint of that trip. So I rushed out into the Departure Lounge searching for a pint provider. After I snaked my way through the various sections of the Five Boroughs Food Hall, I took a seat at the outer bar and ordered a pint of Merman IPA (5.8% ABV, Coney Island Brewing Company, Brooklyn, NY). This was a very welcome and easy-to-drink IPA, both a calming reward and an exciting tonic. As I sat at the bar I connected with the airport’s WiFi and caught up with messaging various friends and family before it was time to board my flight. Life was good, and this pint was good as well.
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