Last week's journey

I've been away: a six-day trip to see Paris' family in Wyoming for the recent holiday. Before we left on Sunday the 18th, I...

• brewed seven barrels of All-American Gold


• received (finally!) three pallets of malt that I ordered in September


• filled kegs


• poured beer at the Downtown Stroll


• did the early November excise tax report


• and visited the new Nebraska Brewing Company in Papillion on their Opening Day.

Papillion's new brewpub is in a new shopping complex called Towne Center. The beers are tasty and the food smelled good and the place was pretty well packed for the three hours we were there. They're a bit out of the way if you're in downtown Omaha, but they're worth the trip.

There's supposed to be a picture of Nebraska Brewing here, but my camera ate it.

Our flight from Omaha to Billings left early Sunday morning, and we arrived around lunchtime. Lunch was served at the Montana Brewing Company right downtown. They've been open since 1994, but for some reason, we've never managed to stop there until now. We enjoyed their award-winning beers along with a couple of smoked salmon entrees.

There's supposed to be a picture of Montana Brewing here, but my camera ate it too.

Yellowstone Valley Brewing Company is just a few blocks away, but they don't open until 4:00pm. Ditto for Angry Hank's Micro Brewery, also on First Avenue North.

Yellowstone Valley Brewing

Angry Hank's Microbrewery

Angry Hank's three-pint limit

The week in Cody and Powell was uneventful, beerwise, although we did pick up a couple different Red Lodge Ales and some bottles of Alaskan Smoked Porter at a local liquor store.

We returned home via the same route — including lunch at Montana Brewing — on Friday the 23rd. I went into Gottberg on Saturday to fill a couple of keg orders, and I moved 14 barrels of root beer into the cellar.