Anniversary With A Lady ----------------------- Bryan L. Bennett Lara and I spent our anniversary in the Durango - Silverton area of Colorado a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time touring old gold mines and watching elk herds. But that's not what you folks want to hear about. Your surely more interested in the beer and pubs that we found. We didn't spend much time in pubs, but we did visit one establishment that I want to tell you about: Lady Falconburgh's Barley Exchange in downtown Durango. This place is great. The atmosphere was perfect for pouring down a few beers with friends, the food was hearty, tasty bar grub and the beer selection was surely one of the best in this part of the country. The pub is dominated by the bar, a large island in the middle of the room. Immediately I noticed the row of 20 taps. Not the largest quantity of draft beers I've ever seen, but impressive none-the-less. To the left of the bar is a series of long wooden tables and benches perfect for group partying. To the right is more conventional table and chair seating. The ceiling over the benches is an open wood latticework with real and artificial vines and plants. A mural of Victorian era pub revelers covers the entire wall by the benches. We planted ourselves on the benches near a family from Eastern Europe and I never ventured any further to see what the rear of the place looked like. The food menu was well rounded, offering a variety of foods to satisfy most any palette. Our food selection was easy since we both had a hankering for barbecue; we each ordered the BBQ Beef sandwich, for which the sauce was made with Guinness Stout. One of the best barbecue sandwiches I've ever had! Selecting a beverage was far more difficult. The twenty drafts was a mix of imports and micros with such diverse name as Lady Falconburgh's Amber, Beer Sucking Nut Brown Hound, Oregon IPA, Murphy's Stout, Pilsner Urquell, and Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest. While the bottled selection was 2 1/2 pages long and included a lot of micros, mostly from Colorado and Oregon with a few selections from other states, and imports from all over the world; Old Peculiar, Traquair House Barley Wine, Roman Dobbelen Brown Ale, Hoegaarden Wit, and Kaiserdom. They even had Samichlaus, purportedly the strongest beer in the world. They also had an extensive selection of single malt Scotches, single barrel Bourbons, and other fine hard liquors. I started with a sampler of 4 4oz drafts, the three micros listed above and Roadkill Rabbit Red for $4.00. The best of the lot was the Beer Sucking Hound. Though it was labeled a Brown, I thought it was a very tasty Porter. The others were all well done, though not outstanding, Pale/Amber ales. I followed this up with a pint of micro ale, but I lost my notes on this and cannot even remember what it was. Oh well, so much for my once sharp mind! Pints are $3.50 and $3.75 for micros and imports respectively. Bottled beers range from $3.00 for most of them to $12.95 for the rarest import (Brasseurs de Paris). If you head up to Durango for some hiking, kayaking, or skiing, I definitely recommend stopping at the Lady's for a pint, or for an evening.