First of all it turned out to be mostly a gorgeous day. It wouldn't stay that way but the ride across Vermont into the White Mountains and across to Maine was fantastic. We managed to stop once or twice along the way for a pit stop and a photo or two:
I forgot to mention that we rode in style on this weekend in a nice Mustang convertible. This car was was the shit! The extra power really helped out on the mountain roads we were driving on and made us feel really hip all at the same time. Unfortunately the weather wasn't consistent enough to let the top down.
Once we got into Maine we made a beer pit stop at a small local brewpub in Naples, Maine called Bray's Brewpub and Eatery. I have to say I liked the laid back vibe of the place and the beer was pretty good too. You can see here the brewery is in a garage next to the pub. It looks like it is in an old farmhouse that's been converted.
Once again there was no holding Bill back. While I was wasting valuable time taking pictures outside he was lunging for the door in search of yet another IPA.
We sat down with our beers in a small lounge area near the front door with a widescreen TV in front of us and watched some of the Bruins playoff game. It was 3-0 Bruins when we walked in. One beer later when we got up to leave it was 3-3. WTF?!
As we were getting ready to pull out of the lot a bike gang wearing their colors pulled in behind us about 30 bikers strong. Okay maybe we were stuck here? Luckily the gregarious Bill rolled down the window and nicely complimented one of them on his bike and falling under the sway of Bill's silver tongued diplomacy he got off his bike and played traffic cop to help us get out of the lot.
We finally reached Portland after a 5 hour drive to the patiently waiting Dave, Sandi, and James that we're already there. After checking into our hotel it was straight to Gritty's for a warm up pint or two and some chow. But we were hell bent on spending some quality time at Novare Res that night and as usual they had some great beers on tap. Unfortunately it was tough getting a table but our patience paid off in the end.
Prior to getting a table we did take advantage of the little bit of sunshine left and sat on the deck and had some of the free BBQ they had going.
We had a mix of German and Belgian styles mostly. Some Spezial Rauchbier, Schlenkerla Eiche Dopplebock, a Saison, Leipziger Gose, etc.
But ultimately it got too cold and we headed inside and waited patiently for a table (while enjoying our beers of course)
Just as we got the table the Cyr's arrived.
The caption of this next picture is:
"Freedom.... what is freedom?"
Great time was had at Novare Res.
We decided to make one last stop to visit the new beer gem that recently has opened in Munjoy Hill, Portland. It's called "Mama's Crowbar" and has one very simple rule "Beer only and cash only" if you can live with that rule you'll probably have a good time there. They've got a small but excellent beer selection such as "High and Mighty - Beer of the Goods" and "Allagash Black" not to mention a few very good local brews in the bottle from some of the new up and comer breweries in Portland such as Rising Tide and Maine Beer Company. But mainly it is just a cool place to hang out with a laid back vibe and on this night some live impromptu music.
And Prince Valium Dave struck again!
As a footnote to the beer tour we stopped for lunch at the Horseshoe Pub in Hudson, MA on the way and had some lunch with the Shanks. A nice way to wrap up a great weekend.
The last beers of the weekend at the Horseshoe from Berkshire Brewing Co.
