New England Beer Tour Day 2

After shaking off the cobwebs for the previous nights debauchery we decided it would be best to have an early lunch rather than a late breakfast.  So we knocked down a cup of coffee at the Campus Center complex at UMass and drove about 1/2 hour to Greenfield.  Greenfield is home to a nice brewpub called The People's Pint.

Okay this place is a gem.  I could easily spend a night here.  For me the best beer of the trip was here (Oatmeal Stout) and the others we had were spot on as well.  Furthermore, it's a beautiful, cozy little pub.  The service was brilliant as was the food.  Get this.  They have a burger called "The Squealer".  It has ground bacon mixed in with the ground beef.  Revolutionary!!  When sampling their beers though, I could tell the brewer really knows what he's doing.

The entrance:

The bar:  They do usually have a couple of cask going as you can tell from the hand pumps on the bar.

The beers:  Jeff has a wheat beer that was much better than the wheat beers I normally taste from an American Micro brew, Oatmeal Stout in the middle, and Bill had yet another IPA of course.  In fact, it seems Bill drank almost exclusively IPA's during the trip.

From there we made the long 3.5 hour trip to Burlington, Vermont.  It's a beautiful, scenic drive but long.  Burlington is a mini-beer Mecca.  Not quite up there with Portland, Maine but high in quality and with a few establishments right in walking distance of each other.

We stayed at a hotel right in downtown Burlinton so we'd have easy access to all of them.  We started out at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill.  It's sort of Burlington's version of Portland's Novare Res only with more food on the menu.  They've got an extensive tap list and a menu made up of all Vermont produce, dairy, meat, etc.  You can see the tap list on the website.  We sat in the very relaxing lounge they have downstairs.  I enjoyed the Trapp Lodge beers (Maibock, Vienna, Dunkel).

Trapp Lodge Maibock:

The downstairs bar:

We figured it was time to eat.  We probably should have eaten at the Farmhouse but figured it would be best to kill two birds with one stone and visit another brewpub while we're at it.  So we went to American Flatbread.  This is known for it's pizza but also brews part of their own beer list as well.  I enjoyed their Scotch Ale called "Greg" the best. This was brewed in honor of the late/great brewer Greg Noonan.

Speaking of Greg Noonan.  The next stop, for an after dinner pint, would be the Vermont Pub and Brewery.  We were starting to feel a bit tired at this point so we had a couple of quiet pints here.  I don't recall what I had.  I know I liked the place enough to go back again.

One last stop before we crash for the night.  Das Bierhaus!!  A german themed pub with a beer garden on the roof.  As advertised it had a list of German beers on tap.  Mostly of the commercial, bland, Munich variety but still they went down well.  Unfortunately they did not have the Schlenkerla Rauchbier on tap as advertised on the website.  Nevertheless we had a good time and good conversation before calling it a relatively early night.



New England Beer Tour - Day 1

I know folks are anxiously awaiting to find out what happened on our beer tour of New England this weekend.  I know reading about other people's beer drinking adventures must be very exciting.  Not quite as much as watching paint dry I'm sure but I'll try to make it sound interesting.

First stop was Amherst, Mass.  Before deciding whether or not we'd spend any precious time that night at the Moan and Dove beer bar in Amherst I figured we stop in for a quick pint during the day to see if we'd like it.

And here you see Bill anxiously heading for the door to have his first beer of the tour.  I simply could not hold the man back any longer.

I had a Victory Prima Pils and Bill had a High and Mighty Beer of the Gods.  Both were very good.  I figured the Beer of the Gods was an Imperial Stout or something strong like that but it is actually a very easy drinking, pale, session beer that the Moan and Dove serves in a liter glass.  They even asked Bill if he wanted a liter or a 1/2 liter.  He clearly said 1/2 liter but they brought a liter instead.  Good thing to.  He quaffed that down as fast as my pint of pilsener.

It's a great little beer bar.  We were impressed and would return later that night.  They have an excellent beer selection and I really like the laid back vibe of the place.

So we decided after just the one to head to the UMass hotel, park the car for the night, and check in.  We get up to the room and Bill wants to take a nap!!  A nap after only 1 liter of beer!!  Oh the shame.  Perhaps he was too tired from all the driving I did?  Would he be able to keep up with me this weekend?  Well, at any rate, while Bill took his nap I decided to go for a walk around campus and reminisce.  Truth be told I left a fair chunk of my brain cells and liver on that campus and I went out to see if I could find them.

First I passed some academic looking buildings in the center of campus.  I didn't recognize them having rarely attended class during my 4 years there.

However, as I got closer to the Southwest dormitory complex things started to look familiar.

I stayed for a couple of years in this tower facing us.  My recommendation to anyone going to UMass.  Don't stay in these towers.  Just don't.

But then I moved across the street from Southwest into these apartments.  This was much better.  We had great keg parties and wiffle ball tournaments here.

Oh well, enough reminiscing and walking.  Time to go wake up Bill.  We take the 1.5 mile walk from the hotel to Amherst Brewing Company where we'd wait to meet up with Aaron and Jeff.

When we first arrived there was one of those unstable people at the bar who won't shut up even when the people he is conversing with across the bar clearly want him to just stop and go away.  Bill and I knew that if we even looked at him we'd be trapped into conversation with him so we just kept our eyes down on our food and beer and hoped that all his focus would remain on the people across the bar from him until he left.  It worked.  Although not before he made his new found friends write down his phone number and insisted that they call and stay with him if they ever visit New York.

Had a few decent beers here and a clunker that they had on cask.  Nothing was really bad and nothing was really great, although Bill swears his Cascade IPA was his favorite of the trip.  I liked their Graduation Ale the best out of the ones I tried.

Aaron showed up first then Jeff not long after.  We stayed here for an hour or two longer then decided to call a cab to take us to the Moan and Dove to finish off the night.

We had a round of one of my favorite British Ales - Coniston Bluebird Bitter.  Then switched to Schlenkerla Helles that they had on tap.  The Schlenkerla Helles was outstanding and I stayed on that horse for the rest of our stay at the Moan and Dove.

And here's Jeff enjoying a pint of the Helles.  We almost got him to smile that night.  But to no avail. It's not an easy thing to do after all.  We also made a few clumsy attempts at drunk dialing friends from the bar to taunt them.

That's all for day one.  The next day we would head to Burlington, VT.  Would the beer be as good there?  Would we find anything interesting along the way?  Would Jeff crack a smile?  These things you will have to wait until the next post to find out.

New England Beer Tour

I've been very quiet with this blog lately but it's just the calm before the storm.  Activity starts to pick up again starting this weekend with a tour of various New England beer venues.  My friend and kinsman Bill and I last year started what hopefully will become a regular annual tradition of touring New England brewpubs and other good beer venues.  I feel quite lucky to live here in New England.  Personally, I would not live anywhere else in the US given the choice.  We've got it all here.  Nice scenery, 4 distinct seasons, history, attitude, and very nice little beer culture that rivals most anywhere in the US.  So for the second year in a row, starting this coming Thursday, we'll venture out to experience some of these places.  Our tour this year will take us to the following locals:

1.  We'll start out in the University town of Amherst, Mass.  I've got a soft spot for Amherst having spent 4 great years attending school at Umass Amherst.  One thing they have now that they didn't have then is a cracking brewpub.  So in addition to visiting the nice beer bar called the "Moan and Dove" we'll also spend most of our time in the "Amherst Brewing Company" brewpub.  A brewpub with a very  nice selection of beers and a nice atmosphere and location to drink in.

2.  On Friday we'll drive from there up to the mini-beer mecca of Burlington, Vermont.  Most likely we'll stop at a place or two along the way such as the "People's Pint" in Greenfield, MA.  Burlington got a few good stops.  Vermont Brewing Company, American Flatbread, Das Bierhaus, the Farmhouse, and who knows what else we might find.

3.  All beer roads in New England ultimately lead to the great beer city of Portland, Maine.  On Saturday we'll make the long trek across Northern New England from Burlington to Portland with possibly a cool stop on the way like Bray's Brewpub in Naples, Maine.  Now Portland I could easily dedicate a blog entry to and I probably after this visit.  To me it's one of the early adopters of the US craft beer revolution with a few classic places (Gritty's, Great Lost Bear) and a bunch of newer ones cropping up the past few years (Novare Res, Mama's Crow Bar).

So I look forward to the upcoming weekend.  I should be a lot of fun and a good warmup to the epic Franconia beer excursion coming in July.