Pals Brewing Company: North Platte Nebraska
After a longer day of driving than we had originally planned, we pulled into North Platte Nebraska as I talked about in this post. When we finished up with our sight seeing in the town, we decided it was time for some food.
@mrsbozz and I knew ahead of time that we didn't want to be eating out every meal on this long trip, so we packed stuff to make sandwiches and other more healthy snacks for lunch. We would pull into a roadside rest stop here and there and eat, then in the evening after we got checked into our lodging we would find a restaurant to visit.
As you might expect, we did our best to stay away from the chain places. We wanted to visit regional or local favorites that were wholly unique to the area.
That led us to Pals Brewing.
After driving around North Platte and realizing it was a bit bigger than I previously though, I was kind of surprised to find that Pals was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. Now that I have visited there, it makes more sense, but for a bit I wondered if the GPS was taking us down the wrong road.
The parking lot is absolutely massive, which is good because between the inside and the outside, they have a ton of space for patrons. In fact on the night we visited, they were hosting at least one private party if not more than that.
This was one of the views as you first walk into the place. It's actually a bit off to the side and gives people a place to sit while they are waiting to get a table. @mrsbozz and I had already discussed ahead of time that we were fine sitting at the bar if that was all that was available.
So that's where we ended up! It was a bit tight at first because the place was virtually packed. Eventually people finished up and we had a bit more room at the bar to spread out a couple more inches. I have a feeling if they didn't have the one area closed off for the private event it might have been a bit less crowded. Then again, it was a Friday night, so who knows.
If it hadn't been quite so hot outside we might have opted to sit on the patio or in the beer garden that I showed in the opening photo.
While I don't drink beer as much as I used to, I still enjoy a good craft beer from time to time. My wife on the other hand was happy sticking to her Captain Morgan and Diet Coke. She had some sips of my beer just for research purposes.
I figured I might as well get a flight and sample what they had, so I got a nice peach beer, a smash that was supposed to be similar to a German beer, the Palgian, and a pickle infused ale. The peach one was subtle, but kind of refreshing. It didn't have a heavy beer flavor which kind of made it taste a bit like peach water.
The Smash on the other hand was definitely a bit hoppier and had a distinct beer taste if not a little too bitter for my liking.
The Palgian was interesting, I think the way I described it to my wife was that it tasted like Christmas. It was spicy and heavier than the first two. There was something comforting about it and it kind of tickled your nose when you drank it. I dug it for sure.
Finally we had the pickle beer. It was interesting to say the least. The brined pickle flavor wasn't subtle at all. I expect it would have went well with one of those beer/tomato drinks, I can't think of what they are called now. It reminded me a lot of a bloody mary just without the tomato juice.
Generally, I like places with their beer listings on boards like the one above. It allows them to actively change it pretty quickly when old ones go away and new ones come in. In this case though, I had two problems. First, it scrolled a bit too fast, so it was hard to keep track of all the beers they had to offer.
Second, it was covering up this amazing mural that someone had taken the time to paint. Sure, I guess it was mostly just sky they covered, but it was still a bit sad.
The menu at Pals isn't really that huge, they had some pizzas that you could pick from and then a handful of appetizers. After watching several of the pizzas some out of the kitchen, it looked like they were using premade preformed crusts which was kind of a non-starter for me. I get why they do it, but I was looking for something a little "more".
We ended up sharing a couple of appetizers. We got a small order of the chicken and chorizo nachos and the pretzel sticks. Both @mrsbozz and I agreed that the pretzel sticks were fine, but nothing special. The nachos on the other hand were pretty amazing. We actually wished we had skipped the pretzel sticks and gotten a large order of the nachos.
I decided to have one more beer after my flight (I can't remember what I picked now, but I think it was different from the other ones I tried), and we hung out for a bit more before heading back to our hotel.
Pals Brewing has a section where you can park your camper or set up a tent if you have one. Apparently on the weekends they have live music and then after all of your drinking and revelry is over, you can retire to your campsite instead of having to drive home. It's a pretty cool idea that I haven't seen before at a place like this.
You can see a truck with a camper in the background of the photo above.
I took a bit of time sitting in our Tru by Hilton hotel room getting caught up on my HIVE stuff and watching a storm come in from across the plains. It was pretty cool to watch, but it ended up not being quite as dramatic as I had hoped. I'm not even sure there was any thunder and lightning.
North Platte Nebraska is definitely an interesting town with a lot of things to do and see if you wanted to stick around. We were finally crossing over into Colorado the next day and had a schedule to keep.
As cool as Lincoln Nebraska would have been, I am glad we pushed our distance and ended up in North Platte. I'm also really glad we found Pals Brewing, that alone made it worth the stop!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
I love pickle juice, so I would really like to try that pickle beer!
It was really something. Like I said not subtle at all, it was very pickle forward!
Looks like a great place! I can see why people stop and camp there, drink as much as you like and you don't have to drive home after. The pickle infused sounds interesting, but I would have passed on something like that normally. Craft beers can be really good, I don't drink them much anymore either. Lots of calories for a relatively small kick.
Great pictures, I'm glad you found someplace interesting on that long drive to Colorado!
Yeah, you are so right there about the too many calories thing. Especially with some of those heavy high ABV craft beers. They can be your downfall in more ways than one!
That sounds like a fantastic stop after a long day of driving! My family and I love to try local places whenever we travel too. Pals Brewing looks like a great spot with its spacious outdoor area, which seems perfect for kids' since there games, activities and a large open space (I definitely see cornhole in the first picture). It's always nice to find a place that caters to both good food/snacks (although those pretzel sticks did look kind of dry) and a family-friendly atmosphere. We'll have to keep this spot in mind for our future travels! (Not that I think we will ever visit North Platte, Nebraska)
You never know! I didn't think I was going to end up in North Platte either! The area of town right off the expressway actually has a lot more options both for shopping and eating. Some of these local places really surprise you!
Perfect why visit something your familiar with when you can have something that is a staple to the area. I'm the same in this regards. I don't drink my self but it's still cool to see something unique or perhaps try. I liked the phrase on that beer mug 🍺
It was a pretty cool place. I like that some of these breweries even do their own draft root beer which might appeal to the non drinkers. I'm not sure if this one did. I saw a lot of your posts over the map on worldmappin, I might have some cross over with some of your stuff as I post about our trip in the coming weeks.
Oh super cool I look forward to seeing some familiar places. I've only passed by North Platte haven't visited, well yet anyways.
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Not a fan of beer here but those looked really interesting! Would definitely love to try such an experience too!
The lighter ones were definitely more mild, but they still had the beer feel to them. It was a cool place and they did have a full bar, so even if you didn't like beer you could still hang out.
I don't know about you, but I have a slight distrust of those things.
I would love to try those nachos, they look amazing.
You are lucky, I hear those plains storms can be real nasty.
I really wanted to see one of the storms. I was telling my wife "wouldn't it be cool to see a tornado way off in the distance". She said "NO!". I'm an old school map guy, but sometimes GPS is just easier. Especially with all of the construction and congested routes these days. Plus, being quite honest, my wife isn't the best navigator (she will admit that), so it's either drive blind or rely on GPS.
I think she may be in the right on the tornado man. LOL.
Yeah, GPS is easier, and we use it, but sometimes they are wonky too. I don't trust them completely.
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Finding local spots like Pals Brewing can make a trip memorable. Glad you had a great experience there brother
Thanks, this was just the first bit of our trip. I've still got about 11 more days to cover! We found all kinds of great places!
wow 11 days of awesomeness, enjoy the trip brother
There are so many times when I don’t trust the GPS and it makes me think I’m heading towards the wrong road
You and @mrsbozz had an amazing time out there
This was just the beginning! I really prefer to look at the map ahead of time so I know where I am going just in case, but sometimes it doesn't always work out that way.