Things got started off in January with a trip to the Celtics game with my daughter and friends Brian and Matt.
My daughter Stephanie transferred to Plymouth State U. in New Hampshire and on the weekend I moved her in I discovered the nice little beer bar and deli on Main St. Plymouth called Biederman's.
Most of the Winter was fairly quiet until IT came. I speak of the dreaded blizzard of 2013 that left us covered in snow, without power, and freezing in the dark for almost a week. Fortunately I had homebrewed Altbier to see us through.
Finally the icy grip of Winter gave way and I went in to visit with my daughters and friends in Boston for St. Paddy's day weekend. We enjoyed a pint or three at the local Irish pub at Mission Hill.
For Dorff's birthday we made an excursion to Portland and of course met Dave and Sandi at Novare Res for some quality beer garden time.
And I can't forge the weekend Josh and Ray Jay came to visit along with the Obergs. I believe we annihilated a keg of homebrewed stout that night.
April must have been quite as I have no photos from that month. But then came the great beer excursion to Germany - Franconia and Zoigland (Oberpfalz) in early May where I first found myself in the Schwemme at the great Schlenkerla Tavern.
I endeared myself to the locals at a festival in Merkendorf.
I did some phenomenal beer hiking in the Franconia countryside.
Drank with some new friends (Ronny from Scotland, Tony from England, and not pictured Jason from the Jersey Islands):
And in Zoigland with some even older friends (Ingmar, Gunther, and Isa (not pictured) of Hamburg).
June saw the graduation of my niece Katie (far left) and I had a great time with family that weekend in Burlington, VT. Here we are seated at dinner at the Farmhouse.
Next I got to finally discover the delights of McNeill's brewpub in Brattleboro, VT with the Bennetts, Jeff, and Sandi. What a great little town Brattleboro is!
A business trip to Rochester brought me into contact with the wonderful Brown's brewpub of Troy, NY along the way. I would learn afterwards that this is my niece's favorite brewery.
I did lot's of walking this summer around Sandwich and other parts of the Cape. I probably saw more of Cape Cod this year than ever before.
Including the really cool place called Coonamessett Farm where they have weekly farm dinners and Jamaican nights in the Summer and you can bring your own beer.
After over two decades I reconnected with some old high school friends and we revisited a campground in Naples, Maine where we used to raise some hell when we were younger. It was a great weekend and we plan to do it again.
Unfortunately it took the loss of a mutual friend of ours this year for us to get together again but on the last day of our weekend we did spread some of his ashes out onto Tricky Pond in Naples before going home. Many toasts were raised that weekend to Gary.
Finally the summer ended as it does every year with a trip down to the Poconos for ECT where I brought 3 kegs and one cask of homebrew. It was a great weekend.
In September Rick and I did a pub walk around the town of Sandwich and talked about a potential beer/hiking excursion to Franconia in the future. A goal we will realize in the summer of 2014.
Later in the Summer came the Cape Cod brewfest where Dave, Sandi, and Bill held court together in the hall.
The following weekend in early October brought the cask event at Novare Res in Portland, Maine. This years event was fantastic and I enjoyed such amazing beers as the Monchsambacher Lager straight from the barrel along a few other Franconian beers. Hung out with Darlene and Steve that night and the next day went to Bennetts Oktoberfest.
Then came the invasion of the Germans from Hamburg for a almost two week visit to New England that saw us pub crawl Boston and Portland. A round of golf. Some dinner on the Cape and a grand finale get together for RKN Winternights in Lebanon Maine (pictured below).
The Great Dorff and I made a spur of the moment day trip to Martha's Vineyard. Something we should do more often. We did do several day trips like this during the year around the Cape and the Islands. We're lucky to live here.
Then came the deployment of "Brewhilda". This amazing three tier brewing stand was made by my brother Craig and can brew two different 10 gallon batches of homebrew simultaneously. We put it to the test in November while having a shindig at our house in Sandwich.
And on this day a Badger was met by two Cougars.
My daughter Jess and I decided to make a weekend trip up to visit my other daughter Steph at Plymouth State and we of course had to start at Biedermans. Jess and I did a pretty decent pub crawl of Main St. Plymouth that night.
Then came my craft beer pub tour of Dublin in December where I met my wife on her way back from Hamburg.
A pint of Mountain Man Hairy Goat IPA at L. Mulligan Grocers pub in Stoneybatter, Dublin. Possibly my favorite beer of the tour.
Finally Disney World with the whole family this past week. I never walked so far and went on as many amusement park rides in my life. Oh yes and there was that "around the world" thing at Epcot.
That's 2013 in review folks. I don't know if 2014 will beat all this or not but I will certainly try to make it happen. Happy New Year.
