The first time I went to Trail Crest Brewery, was November 22nd, 2017. I didn’t do a full review, but I did post the following on Facebook that evening: Heard some sketchy reviews, decided to check it out. New menu, change in items, got rid of chef. Looks like they have made some good changes. My food was really good.

Since that time, I had not returned, even though the Trail Crest social media had been messaging about how good their burgers were every time I would post about having a burger. Recently, Trail Crest Brewery started a Monday event called “Mug Shot Monday”. Get a mug of beer and a flavored infused shot for $7.50 and they will take your picture and place it on their wall. I will be the first to admit that I am not much of an alcohol person, and I really don’t care that much for beer, either. But, since it is a fun promotion, I decided to go and give it a try and see if the food had changed any since my last visit. I ordered the Trail Crest Rickety Trail and a shot of butterscotch Schnapps (whiskey was not included in special, sorry brother & sister Boilermakers).

For my meal, some of you know I can be extremely outlandish (although some people have called me an a$$hole). In reality, I am a person that generally knows what I want and will ask for it. Having worked in the food service industry for over 30 years, I know that some things are possible and I know that some things are not. You never know unless you ask.

The menu at Trail Crest has lots of interesting items, most of which I don’t understand being on a menu at a brewery, but it the owner that decided on these items, and it may actually work for them. I looked through the burger section, as I was there for a burger, and found that they have a chili burger. Now, I will admit that I LOVE chili, especially on a burger, but as I said, I can be a bit outlandish, so I started asking if I could have them make it a special way for me. I can hear some of my friends rolling their eyes and saying “oh, he’s going to try and make his monstrosity chili burger.” and they would be absolutely correct.

The Doctor Mc Keown Monstrosity Burger is built from the bottom up, starting with the bun and a hamburger patty cooked and placed on each bun slice. Each burger gets a slice of cheese, for this one, I went with pepper-jack. A fried egg is then placed on top of the cheese. I generally ask for the eggs to be cooked over-medium (firm white, runny yoke); however, we did not discuss the egg and one came out over-medium the other came out over-hard (both white and yoke firm). On top of the egg I generally place jalapenos, but they only had hatch green chilies, so I went with that. Next, the entire entree is covered in Texas style chili, then topped with cheddar cheese. Trail Crest also adds sour cream and green onions on top, which added a nice touch. The meal at Trail Crest was served with shoestring french fries.

I was very happy that they were able to do a good recreation of the Dr. Mc Keown Monstrosity Burger. The bun was a beer bread. The green hatch chilies added some spice to the entree; however, there was very little flavor anywhere else. I scrapped everything off the burger and tried tasting just the burger and it had almost no flavor that I could ascertain. I am not sure if they put any seasoning in or on the burger when it is cooking, because I couldn’t taste anything. The burger was cooked to a nice medium-rare, which generally leaves the flavor of the meat, but there was nothing. The chili had some flavor to it, however, it was not as pronounced as I would have expected a Texas style chili to be. Having been a chili judge for several competitions around the country, I probably expected more flavor (or even spice), and I understand that a lot of people can’t handle spicy chili or even chili with too much flavor.

Overall, I would say that the burger wasn’t too bad. I did finish all of it (except the bread) and some of the fries. I enjoyed my visit to the location and my server, Jessica, was knowledgeable, patient, and very nice to work with.