A day Front Yard at Ellis Island

I usually visit EI a couple times a year and bring along my LVA and AGC coupons. On Tuesday I headed to EI to visit the newly opened Front Yard.

EI looks a lot different now and Front Yard is a different experience. I'll first note that they have expanded their beer selection. They've added a Rauchbier at 5.5% and 22IBUs, Coffee Stout at 5.8% and 40IBUs, Helles Bock at 7% and 30 IBUs, Belgian Trippel at 7.9% and 25 IBU's, Belgian IPA at 6.8% and 65 IBUs, Koval Pilsner at 5.6% and 34 IBU's, and a California Common at 5.5% and 35 IBUs. I tried the first 5 and they were all decent beers. I normally drank The IPA here, but that has changed. While I don't expect any of these to win GABF medals, they have definitely upped their game. When you combine these with their normal line up, you have an incredible amount of choices for a casino brewery.
I'm a fan of the Belgian IPA and drank 3 of them. I also drank a Trippel and a couple of Rauchbiers. I had intended on having a Bock, but misordered my last round. I spent a lot more time there than I intended. The Belgians and Helles Bock are served in snifters, the others were in their regular glasses that looked to be around 22oz.
Front Yard is only semi enclosed. The temp was fine for me, but they had fired up the heaters in the eating area. Apparently because there is an outdoor kitchen, no smoking was allowed at the bar. Don't know whether tables are also non smoking. I couldn't use my 50% coupon there, so didn't eat the food. The menu is different than the cafe's.
This is a VP Bar that comps all the beer with play. Free beer coupons only comped some of them, mostly their standard line up.
VP pay tables were worse than I normally play. The best game I found for quarters was 80/40/25/7/5 ACES BP. The pay tables improved at $2 bets. ACES became FP, but the other games were still a notch down from FP.



So I've

What is an IBU?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by House of Orange

What is an IBU?

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Stands for international bittering units. Hops in a beer counterbalance the sweetness of the alcohol. You can suspect that the Trippel will be on the sweet side based on the higher alcohol content and lower hop rate even without knowing the style.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wasilla

I usually visit EI a couple times a year and bring along my LVA and AGC coupons. On Tuesday I headed to EI to visit the newly opened Front Yard.

EI looks a lot different now and Front Yard is a different experience. I'll first note that they have expanded their beer selection. They've added a Rauchbier at 5.5% and 22IBUs, Coffee Stout at 5.8% and 40IBUs, Helles Bock at 7% and 30 IBUs, Belgian Trippel at 7.9% and 25 IBU's, Belgian IPA at 6.8% and 65 IBUs, Koval Pilsner at 5.6% and 34 IBU's, and a California Common at 5.5% and 35 IBUs. I tried the first 5 and they were all decent beers. I normally drank The IPA here, but that has changed. While I don't expect any of these to win GABF medals, they have definitely upped their game. When you combine these with their normal line up, you have an incredible amount of choices for a casino brewery.
I'm a fan of the Belgian IPA and drank 3 of them. I also drank a Trippel and a couple of Rauchbiers. I had intended on having a Bock, but misordered my last round. I spent a lot more time there than I intended. The Belgians and Helles Bock are served in snifters, the others were in their regular glasses that looked to be around 22oz.
Front Yard is only semi enclosed. The temp was fine for me, but they had fired up the heaters in the eating area. Apparently because there is an outdoor kitchen, no smoking was allowed at the bar. Don't know whether tables are also non smoking. I couldn't use my 50% coupon there, so didn't eat the food. The menu is different than the cafe's.
This is a VP Bar that comps all the beer with play. Free beer coupons only comped some of them, mostly their standard line up.
VP pay tables were worse than I normally play. The best game I found for quarters was 80/40/25/7/5 ACES BP. The pay tables improved at $2 bets. ACES became FP, but the other games were still a notch down from FP.



So I've

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I got kicked off before I edited my additions. If you want to hear how my day unfolded, read on.

I bought a $2.50 day pass and bussed to the Rio and walked from there to Huntington Press to buy a recently restocked coupon book. I took another bus to EI. I was thrilled by the beer list and soon made friends with the bartender. I ordered a Belgian IPA and started slow playing a $20. I made $7.50 before I ordered a Trippel, quit and headed for the players desk. I had coupons for two $10 to $100 FP and two $10 MP's. In most places, I expect the minimum FP, but I drew $50 and $20 last year. I got $30 total this time. On my way back to my machine I won and lost a MP on black for a $10 profit.

Back at the bar, I loaded my FP, played slow, and socialized with anyone who would talk to me. I discovered that local publications have free beer coupons, but they are only good for the standard line up. The bartender let me try a few more beers, but the Belgian IPA remained my clear favorite and I ordered another.

I never thought much of the extra EV that ACES added because the odds of getting it seemed astronomically low. Today I was dealt AC10SE (that's the aces letters with a ten). In my mind it seemed like a 50/50 miss that the 10 and the "E" weren't reversed. I've heard of studies claiming that the brain receives the same type of stimulation from a near miss as an actual jackpot. That was certainly true of me. I added $5 to my tip. I was having a good time slow playing and continued after the FP was gone.
I ordered a Rauchbier, played my TITO down to $130. I said my goodbyes and took my beer to the café. I had a $5 plate of fish and chips. I think they do a good English version. I still had third of my beer left, but the place had gotten busy and I wanted to give the waitress her table back.
On my way out I swiped my card again and Senior Day awards popped up. I got a snack, free beer, and $5 FP. I headed back to the bar and finished my beer. The same bartender said that he couldn't trade the coupon for another Belgian, but he would give me another Rauchbier. This visit was going on way longer than anticipated. I sipped my beers, ate my peanut butter cookie, and read a magazine as time drifted away. I eventually roused myself to head to another machine. I ordered a last Belgian IPA as I loaded my FP. I continued to sip my beer and played the credits until they were gone. I left both beers unfinished and gave up my seat at the bar. I left with an extra $140, a t-shirt, and a buzz.

I took another bus to OYO. I hit 6's playing $20 on 7/5 BP and won a $10 MP. After running through $20 FP, I left up another I ended up playing $38 of my own coin and left up $40.

It was a quick visit and I took the Deuce back DT.

I suggest that anybody who got sucked into reading MDawg's trip report to read this one. Guaranteed this report will ring far truer and much more reasonable than the pile of BS the showboater posts.

You only had a buzz after guzzling all that beer?