Allagash Curieux

Milltown had a tasting with Allagash last week, and so continue to have on tap several beers not normally found on draft, including the Curieux. Barrel-aged (in Beam barrels) and incredibly smooth, Curieux is a real treat – a bit of the traditional Allagash spice followed by vanilla and a great finish. Get a pour if you can.

Carrboro Taco Review: Coma Rica

Taco Provider: Coma Rica
Location: NE Corner of W. Main and Weaver Street in gas station parking lot
Taco Type: chicken
Toppings: fresh onion, cilantro
Sauces: red, green
Tortilla: single corn, handmade right there
Cost: $2/taco
Summary: The chicken was tender, had obviously been marinated in something yogurt-and-tumeric-y, and super-tasty. The red salsa was spicy but not blindingly so, the green super flavorful and smooth. The single complaint is that the just-handmade tortilla fell apart halfway through each taco, but this is a minor quibble – the tortilla was excellent if not structurally sound.
Overall rating: Excellent. Best chicken tacos I've hasd thus far in Carrboro. Had ordered a pupusa to go with one chicken taco but the mistake was just as well; I'll simply have to go back for more. They also have tortas (including Cuban) and something semi-terrifyingly translated as "Beef Rose."

Brooklyn Flemish Gold

Tyler's in Carrboro [guys - pretty that website up there a bit, will ya?] boasts of their being the only bar in North Carolina currently featuring the Brooklyn Brewmaster's Reserve series, a collaboration between Brooklyn Breweries and Brasserie d'Achouffe. On my previous visit they were between kegs, but yesterday they were featuring the Flemish Gold. I'm not always the biggest fan of the Belgians, but their goldens generally get it done if they can avoid the wineyness of their co-nationalists. This beer does that and more - a nice bright nose is followed by a perfect golden ale, full of citrus flavors, effervescent and with a nice full mouthfeel. It finishes clean and with a very nice bitterness (this would probably be the dry-hopping, here). Never sweet or overly alcohol-tasting (nor should it be at 6.5% ABV), it isn't an overly complex beer but it's very, very tasty. Get it while it's still there.

Don Jose Tienda Mexicana

Finding myself on West Rosemary Street and in need of food, I remembered Asher's recommendation of Don Jose's tacos. A good call - after ordering two carnitas at $1.79/per (my general baseline for taco-quality around here), I repaired to the back, and the tables I wasn't aware existed there. Not only tables but big-screen showing Mexican soccer, and bowls of chips (small bowl, encased in saran-wrap). The tacos and salsa arrived, and they were - enormous. Heaping mounds of pico de gallo on top of the carnitas - again, yet another method of preparation different from the taco trucks and other counters - the pork itself perfectly tender but not spiced. No worries - the salsa verde was outstanding, taste itself with just enough spice, and a few drops of the spicier stuff was enough to make $4 for one of the perfect meals.

It's raining still like cats and dogs out there, and we've not even gotten the hurricanoe yet. As I write this, sitting in Milltown with their beer of the month and it's... mead. Black raspberry from Redstone Meadery in Boulder. Good, and curiously satisfying post-taco. Actually neither too sweet nor too fruity, but I do get the distinct impression that a night's drinking of this olde bevvie might induce a hammer-of-Thor level hangover.