Drake's, Cupcakes and AmazonLocal

Another week where I've let most of the shit happen in someone else's kitchen. Sunday Night Trivia gang went to Drake's over on Tate's Creek this week, where I enjoyed one of their BBQ Burgers and some Sweet Potato Waffle Fries. I just love those onion straw things on a burger, and who can turn down a tasty waffle fry? Drakes recently started providing a printed tap list, to better promote their rotating tap selection. Great idea, and apparently having a positive effect on sales: they've been out of most options I was interested in trying the last couple of visits. Super positive move forward for more brew choices. And sure, Drake's is not the place to head if your main reason for going out is to sample a wide variety of brews; it is a great choice for Live Team Trivia on Sunday nights, though: decent brew selection, great food and a lot of fun!

This morning, I stopped by to redeem an AmazonLocal voucher (more on those later) at Caramanda's Bake Shoppe. I stopped at their Boston Road location at 3805 Dylan Place. I didn't realize they have three locations now (4 if you count the mall kiosk!) I was really impressed; great, friendly service and an amazing variety of delicious looking cupcakes. (That are just as yummy as they look!!!) They even had a drive-up window so you could grab your sugar fix in a hurry!

If I had seen previous advertising for Caramanda's, it hadn't registered deeply. What brought me to this shop was an AmazonLocal deal for a dozen cupcakes at half-price. If you're not familiar with AmazonLocal, it's pretty much Groupon run through your Amazon.com account. I've never been a Groupon user, so I can't compare the two, but I am quite impressed with AmazonLocal. (Disclaimer: I do work for Amazon.com.) There seems to be quite a few deals available locally, the interface for setting your preferences as to what type of deals you are interested in fairly straightforward, and the vouchers you purchase are easy to use: you don't have to print out any coupons to lose track of, just pop up the app and there's your voucher!

I don't know how the deal works for retailers (e.g., how long till between vouchers being purchased and their receipt of  payment from Amzn, etc.) but it seems like a great deal for consumers, especially those who might need a little nudge to step out of their comfort zone and try out something new. And all y'all know what I think about something new! 

Which brings me to the newest bottle of tasty goodness I've run into from Rogue Ales: Voodoo Doughnut Pretzel, Raspberry and Chocolate Ale. This is a super rich, super tasty brown ale. Rogue recommends pairing it with dessert or doughnuts, but I think it would work fairly well with some hefty, HOT foods that would benefit from the sweet to balance their heat. As soon as you pour, you get a wonderful aroma of pretzels, raspberry and chocolate. On tasting, you definitely get a lot of the pretzels towards the start, but they fade some as you get further into your pint. The chocolate makes itself know about mid-sip and the raspberry bats cleanup to the whole taste sensation. I've enjoyed both previous Voodoo Doughnut Ales (the Bacon Maple Ale and Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Banana Ale) but this is definitely my favorite so far!

 Drink like a chimney and try something new this week! :-P