🟢 West Hartford's Happy Hour with 50 Beers on Tap

Happy Tuesday Hartford!

You feel that? The weather is turning.

I was driving home late at night one day last week and the temperature outside was 55-degrees.

Yesterday was the “official” first day of Fall. So let the pumpkin spice lattes flow!

We also got another sponsor! Yay, THP! So please, show Rayne some love.

In today’s edition of The Hartford Pour, we’ll get into:

— Chris M.
Local Whiskey Nerd, Husband, Dad, Entrepreneur (Fun Tip: I used to make a living on YouTube, I’d rather make a living doing this)

Does your closet still look like it's stuck in July? Don’t worry Rayne can fix that in about five minutes.

She's the "Rayne" behind Rayne Can Do That, a local Hartford county mom who started selling cute clothes online to help her stay home with her newborn son.

But what began as a side hustle has turned into a business and Facebook group of almost 400 beautiful women who spend more time laughing and joking together than actually shopping sometimes.

Fall colors are officially in full swing in her store, and with over 1,000 pieces in stock, there's a real chance you find five things you didn't know you needed.

Here's how easy it is:

If this is your first time shopping with Rayne, claim at least two pieces and she'll send you a pair of buttery-soft leggings on-the-house, those are usually $25, just let her know your size.

Here's what you'll find:

The leaves are already changing. Might as well let your wardrobe catch up too.

We asked this question a while ago, but we were a much “smaller” group at the time, so I’m opening it up again to get some more accurate numbers now that we are approaching an audience of 2,000+ Hartford Locals!

That literally brings a tear to my eye. But we are not done yet!

You and I are really in rarified air here as our little corner of the internet keeps multiplying.

Anyways, let’s get into it…

I… love… World of Beer. But even with their interesting happy hour menu, full price still beat it out because of the selection (and I'm not even mad about it.\).

World of Beer sits at 73 Isham Rd in Blue Back Square, right next door to the Cheesecake Factory, and I scanned their happy hour list (3 to 7 PM, Monday through Friday, genuinely affordable) and just didn't see anything that grabbed me.

So I skipped the discount and went straight for a regular pour of Founders KBS, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, sitting at a completely unhinged 11% ABV.

Some of the reviews support how nutty that is…

From the sidewalk, World of Beer doesn't look like much. Honestly, it kind of gets lost next to its flashier neighbor.

But that's the trick of the place, it's like a tooth because it’s unassuming on the surface, and once you're actually inside, it just keeps going.

Case in point, the draft list. 50-plus beers, on tap. Not stashed in a cooler somewhere, actually pouring, with a full wall of bottles behind that for backup.

I skipped food this trip, no time, but this is a drinks newsletter anyway, lol.

Go for the beer wall. Stay because you did the math on 50 taps.

Mathematically, it has to be done.

I've had a bartender get a drink wrong before. I've never had one just be honest about it and let me help fix it.

That's what happened to me at The Tavern at Keney Park (171 Windsor Ave, Hartford), when I ordered an Old Fashioned and the bartender realized partway through she didn't quite know the recipe.

So we built it together, right there at the bar. Sweet as could be about it too. Honestly, in some ways that's better than getting one on autopilot, lol.

The drinks were fine, but I’m going back for the food.

I got the chicken and biscuits, two buttermilk biscuits stacked with chicken tenders and drowned in creamy gravy, off their limited autumn menu. I looked down at one point and it was just gone.

No memory of finishing it. It was just over.

The rest of the menu reads like it wandered in from somewhere fancier, ribeye steak, 12-hour slow roasted pork, not exactly what you expect walking into a "tavern at a golf course."

If you go and get wings, get the wings “bunkered style.” They are slow roasted, deep fried, then grilled.

Wild, right?

I didn’t get a chance to try them, but the staff told me they even give J. Timothy's, a run for their money.

“Them’s be fighting words!”

The autumn menu will only last a few months

Tuesday nights don’t usually get a marketing budget, but this one’s sneaking in with two.

Head to Parkville Market (1400 Park St, Hartford) where The Pint is running half-price drafts all night, including the Parkville Landbier, the kellerbier Dead Language Beer Project brews just for this bar. It’s the only place in Hartford County you can order it, so half price feels like a dare.

Or point the truck (or the actual motorcycle) toward Connecticut Valley Brewing in South Windsor for Two-Wheel Tuesday, 3 to 9 PM, where the bikes fill the lot and the Midnight City hazy double IPA fills the glass. You don’t need two wheels to show up, I promise nobody checks.

Pick a lane. Or pick both, it’s a Tuesday, you’ve got time.

Nobody needs a reason to drink wine on a Wednesday, but Parkville Market is handing you one anyway.

The wine bar at Parkville Market (1400 Park St, Hartford) drops to $4 glasses and $15 bottles for the whole day. No gimmick, no minimum, no “ask your server” nonsense. You just walk up and order like a person who has their life together.

Grab a glass, wander the food hall, argue with whoever you’re with about mofongo versus a burger. Come back for a second pour if the first one goes down easy, it usually does on a Wednesday.

It’s the kind of deal that makes a Wednesday feel like it snuck in wearing a Friday’s clothes. Let it.

Thursday’s giving you a choice: smoke or char.

In Manchester, Elicit Brewing (165 Adams Street) is hosting Cigar & Whiskey Night at 6:30 PM, a full showcase of Buffalo Trace bourbons paired with cigars in the taproom. If you’ve ever wanted to talk mash bills with strangers while nobody judges you for it, this is your night.

Or stay closer to home for the Blue Back Burger Bash at Blue Back Square in West Hartford, 5 to 8 PM, where local restaurants grill up sliders and you vote on the winner. It’s judged, it benefits CT Foodshare, and it’s free.

Vote first, then wander over to Boqueria for a glass of their house sangria. They pour four versions and I have never once regretted picking wrong.

Two spots, one Thursday, zero excuses.

Do you know of an AWESOME restaurant or bar? Or something not included in this email you’d like to see?

REPLY to this email and let me know!