Brews and 'Ques: A Wooly Good Day in Coshocton

Two faded advertisements fight for the notice of passers-by
on the side of this downtown Coshocton building

It turns out the modestly-sized town of Coshocton, where the Walhonding and Tuscawaras Rivers merge into the Muskingum, at its largest was never more than 15,000 people in population. Despite its size, this town has brought forth a few surprises from within its borders, including being the birthplace of the modern promotional company  (Novelty Advertising Company was the first) as well as the birthplace of Steve Earle's favorite stalk-ee in alt-country artist Lydia Loveless.

So on a recent weekend with the urge to roam a bit and some time had passed since our last Brews and 'Ques venture, we decided it was time to pay this part of Ohio a visit for the first time ever.

Brews and Ques: A Trip to the Heart Of Ohio

Our last antique venture led us to this bottle from Schlee & Son Brewery,
which made its home in Columbus' historic Brewery District

Our next pairing of 'Ques and Brews wasn't an option in prior years, mainly because the Brews pairing wasn't in existence. However, give credit to the ever growing Ohio craft beer industry - as noted in this Columbus Business First article, nearly 70 breweries were added to the Buckeye State roster in 2017 alone to push the total number statewide to nearly 260. While the brewery in this pairing was actually a Class of 2016 member, our recent visit was our first chance to pair an old with a new favorite.

Wine Country in Recovery: When You Can Beat 'Em, Cooperate 'Em to Death (Pt. 2)

Charlie Brown dons the hockey gear near Santa Rosa's
Redwood Empire Ice Arena. Creator of Charlie Brown, Charles Schulz,
grew up in Minnesota and became a huge hockey fan.

Before continuing with our travels with Santa Rosa, I did want to mention perhaps the number one attraction in Santa Rosa. The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center (which thankfully escape the wildfire's wrath) wasn't in the cards for a visit this time, as my spouse and I have visited here several times. However, if you're at all a fan of comics and especially a fan of the Peanuts gang, this museum is pretty much a must see if you're in the area.

Wine Country in Recovery: Hopping into Healdsburg

A view of Downtown Healdsburg, our second stop in our Sonoma County tour

Our next stop on our wine country tour took us to a town in which we enjoyed one our more memorable dinners ever at the rustic-chic barn house restaurant Barndiva.  This return visit to Healdsburg, which was named after native Buckeye and gold-seeker Harmon Heald, would be a little more casual but no less fun for us both.

Similar to Petaluma to its south, Healdsburg proved to be on the outskirts of the wildfires, though in this stylish Sonoma suburb of just under 12,000, residents had to keep an eye to their north (the mainly Mendocino-county based Pocket Fire) and to their east (the wide-ranging Tubbs Fire, which caused direct havoc to cities like Calistoga and Santa Rosa) just in case. While not directly affected by the flames, it was towns like Petaluma and Healdsburg which provided valuable assistance and temporary homes for firefighters and displaced area residents alike.

'Ques and Brews: Viva Antiques! (Tallmadge, OH)/Madcap Brewing (Kent, OH)

With our journey into the Kent area for the first time, we figured we had to throw in a little bit of our favorite pastimes in antique- and craft beer-seeking into our journey. With plenty of fuel for the journey provided by the fun and kitschy joint that is Mike's Place (the subject of my last blogpost), we first dropped by into nearby Tallmadge for a visit to Viva Vintage!

Recently relocated from Cuyahoga Falls, the listed address for Viva Vintage is slightly deceiving (while it may be post office correct, it's almost better if you plug in neighboring Wire Wizards into your GPS system if you drop by for a visit.) 

The vintage silver Christmas tree outside was a good sign for this place's potential, and really it didn't disappoint for the size.  In a way, the size and decor reminded me of some of the vintage shops lining High Street to either side of North Broadway: just a little of everything organized in a relatively neat manner.

Brews and 'Ques: Rhubarb in the Midwest Pickin' Out Brews

The "World's Largest Rhubarb" lies in Aledo, IL, the self-proclaimed
"Rhubarb Capital of the World" and annual Aledo Rhubarb Festival

I had started a new series of "'Brews and 'Ques" blogposts (link to the original post here) that highlighted some of the favorite antique store and craft beer/brewery pairings that we've encountered during our travels. Well, it didn't seem right to not test out that combo during our recent vacation road trip, and as it turned out, this one included something of a famous one, especially if you're a History Channel fan.

Brews and 'Ques: Our Favorite Buckeye State Combos (Vol. 1)

This staircase found at Van Wert's Years Ago Antique Mall pretty
is a primer why shopping for the old-school is always so cool

I generally try to stay away from lists on my blog posts, but there's really no good reason for this, because lists can be quite useful for picking up potential destinations and things to do on our travels. Also, it's not like I haven't used the list format before, as noted by Ale Trail Series of posts that I've undertaken twice now.

Combining antique hunting and brewery hopping has turned into one of our favorite past times over the last several years, and I've had a couple people ask me about what antique shops we've liked, or have suggested a couple shops to check out.  With that in mind, I thought I'd toss out a select list of favorite antique stores that we've visited in our travels as well as some suggested destinations to slake that thirst afterward.