Blackthorn Pizza & Pub

I went somewhere new last night and fell in love. I went with an amazing group of men from Church to Blackthorn Pizza & Pub in Joplin with the promise of amazing pizza and a big selection of craft beer. Needless to say, both lived up to their promise well! I've found a new watering hole in Joplin that is 1, smoke free, 2, good pizza, and 3, big selection of craft beer on tap.

First, the pizza. They have a nice selection of pizzas that aren't your typical variety. I ordered a 9" Hotwing Pizza. It came with juicy grilled chicken, jalapenos, bleu cheese, and a blend of Frank's Hot Wings Sauce and their own white sauce. It was spicy and insanely good. Loved the thin, crisp, and flaky crust. Next time I'm there, I think I'll try their Chicken Cordon Bleu pizza.

With said pizza, I was hoping to get my first taste of Mother's Winter Grind, but it's not quite out yet. Instead, I went with another coffee stout they had on one of their many taps. It was Lagunitas' Cappuccino Stout. Good beer. It leaned more towards the beer side than the coffee side so it had more of a chocolate malt flavor with a little bit of coffee. Very smooth going down, so much that you don't notice it's 8.29% ABV until you get up to get another beer.

Next, I decided to do something different and got a flight of 4. The first two were Mother's Thing 1 and Thing 2. These were light and golden and very tasty. I think the jalapenos ruined my taste buds a bit by this point, but I'll give the win to Thing 2 on this batch. It had a much more deeper citrus hops taste to it. Reading over Mothers' website, I think it's Version 6.0 of their Thing 1 Thing 2 Thing.

The third was a black lager from Rogue Ales. It was their Dirtoir Black Lager to be exact, and this one was very good. Thick enough to cut with a knife and too dark to see through, it had some serious depth to the flavors. Nice and malty with just a touch of dark chocolate.

The final beer of the flight was a Black Walnut Wheat from Piney River Brewing Co. I'm not a huge fan of black walnuts, but I'm willing to try anything once. This one was good. The walnut wasn't overpowering and was blended with a very nice wheat beer. Probably not one I'd intentionally seek out, but good nonetheless.

Once that was done, I was still able to stand and needed to do something about it. I got one more beer to round out the evening; Fancy Pants. It was another big boy rocking 9.3%, but oh, how good it was! It's a very nice and fruity IPA with the perfect kiss of hops. A great way to round out the evening.