What I drank on my summer vacation

I said I'd write a post about my trip out West. With the long weekend, I can finally get around to it.

The West has lots of great craft beer, and Wyoming is no exception. Some of the craft beers I had there are Old Faithful Ale, Bitch Creek ESB (very good), Sweetgrass IPA, Moose Drool (a world-class brown ale brewed by Big Sky in Montana) and Red Lodge Pale Ale. It's nice to have craft beer available at almost every restaurant. We're not anywhere near that here in Florida.

After visiting Yellowstone National Park we drove south through Grand Teton National Park and stayed in Jackson, Wyo. There's a good brewpub there called Snake River Brewing. From my notes:

My wife and I came here on a Saturday night in early June. It was busy and a little loud, but that had to be expected. It's all nonsmoking, which is great.

As a hophead, I wish they had something hoppy, but the beers I had were very good. I had their OB-1 Organic Ale on cask, which was yummy. I also ordered a sample of their Backdraft Lager and their saison. Both were good.

My wife had their pesto and I had the SRB Cobb salad. Good food.

Our server, Matt, was quick and attentive.

Overall, this is a fine brewpub with more to offer than the standard pub fare and beer.

As a "Star Wars" geek I especially love the name of their organic beer. OB-1, Obi-Wan -- get it? Good stuff.

We also visited Squatters Pub Brewery in downtown Salt Lake City. Nice ambiance, but the food and the beers were so-so. The beer quality may be due to Utah's law requiring beer to be 3.2 percent alcohol or weaker, which is rather weak for beer. But there is one good thing about 3.2 percent beer: You can drink a lot more of it and not feel it!

I highly recommend going to Yellowstone and vicinity. That there's good craft beer there is simply icing on the cake.