Last night was supposed to be a change of pace. I'd been invited by a friend from work to go to a Louisville bar with the unlikely name "The Backdoor" to shoot some pool. I was also told that this bar had Newcastle on tap, so the trip seemed like it would be a worthwhile diversion from the Gravity Head crowding at Rich O's.

I found the place easily enough and I was happy to confirm that despite its name, The Backdoor is not one of "those" places. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyway, my friend wasn't there and I ordered a Newcastle and waited.

There was something wrong with the beer. Maybe it had been in the keg for years - The Backdoor didn't seem like the type of place to go through a lot of imports. Maybe the glass was just dirty. For whatever reason I couldn't even finish the glass. My friend never did show up so I left.

Rich O's wasn't nearly as crowded as I'd feared. Maybe everyone was off watching Louisville choke its way out of the NCAA tournament.

I had one of NABC's Solidarity Baltic porters. I remember having this before - about a year ago, and liking it, but I didn't remember much else about it.

What a scary beer! It tastes very good, with no bitternes at all, and just the right amount of carbonation. The scary part is that it's over 8% alcohol. I ended up having two of them then I had to switch to root beer to make sure I'd be able to find my truck, let alone drive home in it.

The only regulars I saw were Bubbles, who was looking all tropical, and CreepyGuy. CreepyGuy kept looking at me and grinning (leering?) so I kept as far from him as I could and made sure nobody followed me home.