Where beer is born at Stone Path Malt

Date of Visit: November 24, 2021

I am not sure if we just aren't paying attention or if we are just railroaded into going to one restaurant and one restaurant only by my mom when we visit, but there is a hidden gem incredibly close to where my folks live that I had no clue about. 

Stone Path Malt Taproom in Wareham, MA

Stone Path is a malt distributor and they have a taproom where they feature beers brewed by their customers. So they aren't a brewer themselves, but super essential to the brewing process. 

If you're reading this blog, you know what malt is, but, if you stumbled upon this site somehow completely by accident, I recommend reading this write-up from Stone Path, and another good one by Allagash Brewing Company where the malting process is explained.

We arrived at 4pm, when they opened and came in to find the regulars already lined up and playing cornhole and ping pong. We met the owner and co-founder, Mark St. Jean. He was running the taps, greeting the regulars, and taking care of business. I don't usually seek out the management, but we seemed to grab his attention, and he was super friendly. We pointed through the woods to where my parents live and I had visions of my dad figuring out this place was within walking distance for him if he was feeling up to it, and him planting cheeks at the bar.

The taproom is in the front of the warehouse, where you can look straight back and see the giant stacks of malt packaged up in bags, and the shining steel silos or tanks where barley goes to be stored or malted (I'm not sure of the actual name of the containers) and the game area right in front of where the business action is. 

From left to right: Porter's Porter from Broad Brook; Moat Mountain Czech Pilsner; and South Coast Saison from Moby Dick Brewing Company.  Not sure why the glasses look warped, but I love this picture and think the shot just came out kinda neat! 

When I read on their site that they served the beers their customers made I initially thought maybe this was super nano or hobby brewers, like Joe's Basement Beer in Barnstable (making that up, of course)  

Thankfully, my brain was wrong. 

These are not hobby or basement outfit breweries. Stone Path features draft beers from a lot of breweries I've been to or have enjoyed their beers over the year: Jack's Abby, Moby Dick, Buzzards Bay, Aeronaut, and others (Tap list is here). Gotta admit this was much to my joy. I wasn't sure if I wanted hobby brew sampling time but I'm sure that would have been fun too. 

I had the Porter's Porter from Broad Brook Brewing, Suffield, Connecticut. It was a nice dark and bready porter - exactly as the name says it is a "porter's porter!" 

Doug had the Czech Pilsner from Moat Mountain and we both agreed was clean and crisp. 

Geoff got to enjoy a brew from Moby Dick Brewing that was not on tap when we visited there in June - The South Coast Saison. 

I also enjoyed the House Lager from Jack's Abby (pictured left). 

Back when I first started the blog we went to a couple of Beer festivals with Dave and Jack's Abby was always there. 

Here's a link to the Haverhill Beerfest Shenanigans we enjoyed, TEN YEARS ago!!!!  Find the picture of the dude in lederhosen, and there's your Jack of Jack's Abby (with Abby, naturally!) I have not made it a habit of going back and reading old posts, but knowing that at the time both Doug and Dave thought Smoke & Dagger was too smoky is kind of funny. Jack's Abby, according to their website, was founded in 2011, so we were enjoying their brews from the get go. 

The Jack's Abby Red Tape Lager was a really nice brew  Smooth and easy. Great offering from them. And unlike the Red Tape they had to cut through to open their brewery, this nice and easy version is a fantastic experience. 

Sadly, we never got to go to their taproom in Framingham when we lived in Massachusetts, and that's a regret. The beer and food menu look great. Love to see them still crafting great flavors and by all appearances doing really well. 

And we know where they get their malt! 

After a while, I was feeling incredibly wiped out due to a poor night's sleep (our dog was very anxious all night, and I was up with him for quite a bit of it). Doug and Geoff decided to go visit Lucky Goat in downtown Wareham and Buzzards Bay Brewing to continue their beer tour along the canal towns. 

I didn't go to Lucky Goat so I don't have a write up to share, and we've been to Buzzards Bay in the past. We did get back there on Friday night after a day touring around to see my mom's family. And because Buzzards Bay uses Stone Path, here are some pictures of beers I had on this visit that I didn't enjoy on the last visit, which you can read about here. 

Here is the Dumpling Rock Bock, which was great - and the video games behind it were not there when we came to visit in June. 

And here is "Boo" which was a wonderfully malty brew. Not listed on their website, I think this is a lager (if I recall, I should take better notes and not rely on the websites). I enjoyed this with some pad thai from the restaurant next door. Beer was far more flavorful than the dinner. I'm not usually disappointed by pad thai, but. This was not the best. 

We have become fans of Buzzards Bay, so I'm already looking forward to another visit back to Wareham for Stone Path and Buzzards Bay! 

Backbeat Brewing, Beverly MA

Date of Visit: November 23, 2021

We visited Massachusetts to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. We opted for a day up at ye olde stomping grounds on the North Shore. Our friend Natalie visited a couple weeks ago and told us that her husband Caleb is the assistant brewer at Backbeat Brewing Company. 

To see Caleb and have nice beer, well. There's a thing to be thankful for. 

We got there on what I'd consider the early end of things at 11:30am, but they actually open at 5:45am! Located across the street from Beverly Depot, commuters can grab a breakfast sandwich and coffee to go on the train.

Indeed, the brewery has a restaurant, great coffee, and a mighty fine selection of teas as well! 

Our friend Amy does not drink coffee or beer and she came to mind when I saw the tea selection on their website, so we invited her to join us for lunch. 

For sure this is the kind of place that makes welcome all the varieties of people in the world from breakfast wanters, to imbibers wanting of non alcoholic items, lunch seekers, and craft beer lovers at any hour. Great ideas for the location in wonderful downtown Beverly.

A quick note, when Doug and I were first married we live here in town, brought our first baby home after delivering at Beverly Hospital. There are few towns I'd want to maybe go back and live in, and Beverly is one of them. 

I started with the nitro Bobby O'Brien (pictured above/left) which is described on the website as an Irish Red. 

There was no notable red to this - it was a pretty dark brown, photogenic for sure, and quite tasty. (I forget exactly what Geoff and Doug had on the first round because I was focused on taking in the menu for my next choice. Doug may have had the Czech Dark Lager if I recall).  

We ordered lunch, Doug and Geoff got the mac & cheese with pulled pork on top, and Amy and I each got the chicken pot pie. 

I got the Background Vocals Blonde Ale (pictured below) to go with the pot pie, and it was a very nice pairing. The pot pie was delicious, toasted nicely on top, and very hot.  And the guys loved their mac and cheese too because it got inhaled by both of them without me getting a li'l taste. 

Amy recalled that a friend of ours, Jim Infantino, has a song called Background Vocals and we talked about the lyrics and laughed. We chatted about Jim, music, musical friends.

One of the fun things about the brewery is that the Union Jack British Market that used to be located up on Rte 1 south in Peabody has relocated shop here. We had fun looking at all the chocolates and the cut-out of the queen. Amy went home with some Walnut Whip from Cadbury with promises of a review on it. 

Next, I had Express Lane NEIPA (pictured left) while we all four split a toffee graham square as a treat. 

The cookie was delightful, chocolatey and tasty, wonderful. 

I maybe should have gone the way of a stout here with Coffee/Toffee/Chocolatey tones to go with but the Express Lane was really fun, and I do not regret getting it. Bitey, hoppy, flavorful, it was contrary to the sweetness of the desert, and wonderfully delicious. 

Doug also had gotten the two beers on cask, the Bitter an Ale that isn't on the tap list on their website. We aren't sure it even has a name maybe? We both liked that one more than we liked the bitter. 

But to be honest, the bitter was not bad, it's just that the ale was better. 

This is a fun sentence to say out loud a few times. 

We finished our visit up, said our goodbyes and went on our way to drive around Beverly, look at the water, head up to Ipswich where I always fantasy house hunt, and we didn't go to the Ipswich Brewery because we were having dinner somewhere else. 

Next visit "home" to the North Shore we'll be sure to be back and check out the Old Planters (closed until April, according to the website) and Gentile Brewing (steps away from Backbeat). 

Beverly, I miss you already. 

Oh, and here is a picture of Caleb and me. I look awful as I was super tired from the travel up to this point. 

Sour Sapwood Treat

I'm a procrastinator. It is well known across all the land. Famously, most recently, was the EZpass registration I didn't complete back in June. I went to register it online and it told me that I couldn't. Calling customer service, they said I could go to the RMV or come see them in person.  Seeing as we need it next week, well. I needed to unprocrastinate my life.

We opted to go in person to one of the EZpass offices in Baltimore, and then make a day of it. And, of course stop at a brewery in or out of town. Baltimore has a lot to offer, and we were looking forward to food and drink! We did our errand and I was relieved to get the EZpass all set up (whew!) heading to Federal Hill and Mount Vernon in B'more for a walk after the deed.  Normally we'd probably head to Max's Taphouse in Fells Point because the beer selection there is outrageously good, and the food is too. But we wanted to hit up somewhere we had not been before.

The plan was to visit The Brewer's Art for a winning combo of lunch and tasty brews, but found they don't serve lunch until 4pm on Saturday (basically nothing in the area was open until 4pm either!). No lunch for us! We will have to go back one night for dinner! We'll see you soon, Brewer's Art!

Thinking of our pivot as we walked back to the car after grabbing a quick bite at a beerless restaurant, Doug said had been wanting to visit Sapwood Cellars, and told me that one of the founders/brewers had written the book "literally" on sour beer. We had to basically drive past there (sort of) anyway to get home, so off we went. 

One point to make quickly is I work in web content for a living. It's really nice to have a brewery put up a website that has content, which Sapwood has done. 

There's a lot to read here, a great "About" section where you can learn all about the brewers' philosophies and their beer styles.

Michael Tonsmeire runs his own blog called the Mad Fermentationist, and Scott Janish has his own blog too. I tend not to dive in too much before going to a place we haven't been yet (which I didn't have time to do anyway because we made a spur of the moment decision to head there) because I don't want to go in with preconceived notions put out by the marketing team. Gotta say though, I had a great time reading through the site, brew/beer descriptions, and the blogs with a take-home can by my side.

Their main site and both blogs have a beer science vibe, videos, and lots to learn about the process that makes the flavor. Knowledge of beer science and the visual proof that they know what they are talking about meant that we were in for a treat.

Another brewery located in an office park (seems to be a thing here in Maryland) they did have a sign out on the street letting us know the tasting room was there so there was no getting lost. We had grabbed lunch in Baltimore sans beer as I mentioned, so we didn't get to check out the food truck, sadly. It looked pretty great so I'll give them a shout out here - DM Sliders. This is their Facebook page and it turns out yesterday was their last gig of the year until next March at current fave True Respite! We'll make a note of it.

Sapwood Cellars presents a beautifully appointed tasting room, lots of wood (naturally, based on their name!) and a really cool mural wall on the right side that made for a nice backdrop for taking pictures of the beers for Untappd (and here!)

Doug and I usually like to sit at the bar so we can chat with the bartender, but it was full (happy for them to have a ton of visitors!) so the table would do just nicely. 

I started with Pillowfort (pictured above), and Doug went with Threat Level Morning (pictured left). 

Pillowfort is a delicious hazy DIPA, and at 8.5% ABV I'd be building me a pillowfort if I had too many of them. It has a really strong aroma coming up to the face, and a fantastic flavor. 

Threat Level Morning is a coffee version of their Threat Level Midnight stout. We probably should have ordered one of each for the compare contrast. Suffice to say, the coffee notes in this "Morning" version were notable. Very flavorful and a fantastic aroma. Note to self to try the Threat Level Midnight next time round!

I had a friend once ask me if people actually drink beer for breakfast, noting that there are so many coffee or breakfast themed stouts. I personally don't but hey - if you do, you do you! Coffee, or oatmeal to carry on the breakfast theme, are flavors just like any citrus or banana or anything else you'd expect in a beer. So many breweries go with the breakfasty "theme" for those products. 

Next we headed towards the sour offerings. I had the Plush Pop, and Doug went with their Sekund: Cab Franc Wit. They look somewhat similar, but the flavors and experience of each are for sure different. 

Plush Pop (below, right) was almost like a raspberry lime pie, or soda. Amazing flavor, tart and juicy. Sekund indeed had the wine flavor from the second-use grapes, as described on their menu. Embodying more of a strawberry flavor, it had a totally different feel and flavor to it than Plush Pop. 

They both were unique and flavorful, really a joy if you like this kind of thing. I'm a fan of sour beers but usually if I'm out, I can't have more than one. Sometimes sour beers are too tart, or taste like the Spree candies of my childhood, with sort of a tasty candy beginning and then a sour stab of a tang that hurts your tongue the longer you suck on those solid little discs (if you are not familiar with Spree, I feel for you, friend. Read here from Wikipedia!)

Figuring we still needed to get home it was time to pick our last hurrah. We opted to split a bottle of Opulence 2021, served in these beautiful stem glasses and a lovely pouring basket. This made me think of great opportunities for picnics out in the wild in the spring (which I'm already looking forward to) with lovely blankets, dappled sunlight through the trees as the new leaves emerge, and interesting sandwiches. It would be a really sweet little thing to impress my friends with to pour out of this basket for them! 

I think I could have done better for taking a photo, but the light was weird behind my head and I didn't want my hand and camera in the shadow. 

The beer was delightful. Again, a lovely fruity and flavorful brew. I'll copy right off their incredibly helpful website and share their own description here: 

With each step of the brewing process our goal was to saturate Opulence with rich dark fruit flavors. We began with a base of toasted and caramelized European malts to deliver fig and plum. Fermentation with a red wine strain enhanced the jamminess of the early dose of dried sour cherries. Aging in Bourbon and red wine barrels creates oaky depth. A final infusion of fresh local sweet and sour cherries from Milburn Orchard (Elkton, MD) instills a bright cherry pie aroma.

No lie. No joke. Jamminess. Sour Cherries, aged in Bourbon barrels (which I didn't take any flavor of and that's good because I'm not a fan of beers from Bourbon barrels). The bright cherry pie aroma is there, and lingers long after a sip. 

Damn fine finish to our visit! 

Realizing we've barely scratched the surface here if you go look at their full beer list, we'll have to come back through.  Looking forward to that like I'm looking forward to picnics in the spring.

The True Respite & Saints Row Mac and Cheese bake off - Welcome to The Buffalo Chicken District

This entry is more about me and macaroni & cheese, with guest appearances about beer. 

I feel like most of this could be an entry for my regular blog, but, I wrote it all here, and it feels like it all belongs. After all, Shenanigans were had. And that's the goal of the blog, right? 

Read on, if so inclined.

After a couple of challenging weeks at work, and life drama we are experiencing here in the family, the plan was to have fun this Saturday and participate in the Mac and Cheese bake off at True Respite, with their co-sponsoring brewery Saints Row. 

We went and picked up the tins last weekend, and my write up of our visit is linked here. 

To be honest, I spent most of the week looking forward to doing this so very hard. But by Friday afternoon though, I couldn't get out of my own way mentally. I had to go to the market, I had to prep all the things. I don't like making this recipe the day before, the noodles soak up all the moisture in the mix, and then I feel like it is dry and nasty. So you have to make it the day of.  I began to experience regret for agreeing to do a thing.  I don't like sending Geoff to the store when I am making something super specific, because sometimes he can't find the thing I need/want and comes home without it (not that I can fault him, really) so I knew I'd have to do this shop.  

I sat here on Friday afternoon, finishing my workday, defeated, thinking that all I wanted was for my Saturday to be a day of introverted hiding, sleeping until noon maybe, and a short walk around the neighborhood if that.

But. I'd entered the contest. 

Begrudgingly, I dragged myself to the market, did the shopping, came home, and executed a decent test run to make sure I recalled how to do it. 

Indeed, as I remembered, this recipe is two solid hours of work, apologies to my family. Dang. But, it came out really good, even though we didn't eat until 8:30pm. I didn't make the topping the way the recipe called for because I wanted to make sure I had all of the crumbled bleu cheese and celery greens for the "real" version for the competition. Satisfied with the recipe and my memory of it, I began to get a renewed enthusiasm for participation. After 2 hefty bowls of goodness, downed with a Lone Oak General Sherman DIPA from the fridge, once again I looked forward to the following morning. 

I got up at 8:30am, started boiling the water for the macaroni noodles. One near hiccup was that I noticed was I didn't have a another can of panko like I thought I did, and I'd used a full one the night before. So I opted to just to use regular bread crumbs rather than run to the market.... As I was working with the chicken, I recalled that panko sticks better to the chicken after you pan fry it. With regular bread crumbs, the coating falls right off when you start to mix everything together in the pan. Recalling that, I executed a plan. I had to be really careful, I gently layered mac & cheese in the tins, added the chicken, and then put more mac & cheese on top, pressing gently and organizing the mixture so the chicken would stay intact as intended without losing the coating. sigh. 

While making the roux for the cheese sauce, it wasn't getting thick enough for my liking. It was as if it was fighting with me. The night before it was wonderful. But here, pressed for time, it just didn't want to cooperate. 

I didn't want to get into that classic battle of "add more flour, oh no you added too much now add more fat, oh no, now..."which happens every time I make gravy, so I have capitulated in the past and learned my lesson. Now I just get gravy in a jar. But this was different.

Eventually, time and heat solved the problem and everything came together, but I was sweating it there for a bit, like I'd have to start over and we didn't have a great deal of time. I tasted the sauce, it wasn't cheesy enough for my liking, the way Friday night's version was. Okay - throw more Frank's Red Hot in there, and make it spicier I guess. And oh, here's some unexpected Mexican Cheddar mix in the fridge. Add another 6 ounces of cheese in and let's call it. Still doesn't taste cheesy enough but we're at the starting gate, and I am panicking. We need to go. WE NEED TO GO!

We got in the car, me nervous, but wearing my favorite Chowdaheadz Beer T-shirt as my "halloween costume." Got a few loving compliments on it. 

Way to go Chowdaheadz! Happy to represent beer, Boston, and my Irishness in one t-shirt.

We arrived at the brewery at 11:45 because I thought we had to be there at for setup and start at noon. 

But the Yoga portion of things started at noon, the mac and cheese competition was at 1. Huh.

Note to self: It helps if you re-read the instructions sent to you earlier in the week before just deciding what time you think you should be there. 

Anywhoo as we say in our house, on time is late. So we were there early. I met fellow competitor Amy, she made the same mistake I made and thought that she needed to be there for 12pm start. We had a great chat, and were feeling very excited about participating.

We were emailed our positions that morning, and I was #12, out of #17. Happily went to my spot, and started to set up. Thought of "TB12" Tom Brady and laughed that maybe 12 would be a lucky number. Or. Numbah.  Maybe.

I brought my lightboard to set up in front of my chafing dish, discovering in the car that the batteries were dead (and I didn't check them before leaving, naturally). But it was daytime, and it looked good nonetheless so there was no stress there. 

I realized I had not brought my serving spoon on accident, but entry #10 had a ton extra, and tape so putting my ingredients list sign out was secured. Thank you #10!

Entry #11 arrived, and he had also made Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese.

Huh.

Now. Some people may have panicked realizing that they were next to someone who made the same thing, like showing up to the prom in the same dress as someone else. 

But we compared our ingredients, and figured it would be nice to stay side by side and not cause a fuss asking to be separated. In fact, this was super cool the more we thought about it. I edited my lightboard to include him, and started referring to our stations, as Doug called us, the Buffalo Chicken District.

His name is Donnie, and he drove all the way from Rhode Island to participate. I thought to myself, damn son. What? You really are into Mac and Cheese cook offs!  

Turns out he's good friends/former roommates with one of the guys who works at True Respite, Alec (or Alek, if he spells it that way) and had been invited to come and participate and spend the weekend. 

How fun is that? Considering the night before I was ready to just withdraw and cancel, here's a guy who just drove from basically my parents' house to be part of this. I felt like a jerk a little bit and was happy he was there. 

The girl on my other side, Grace #13, was also friends with the same guy from the brewery, so it was like I was in the middle of people becoming friends. We decided to sample each other's recipes, Grace's was super creamy and Donnie had ranch dressing in his and you could taste it just right. And I just wanted to pick the chicken out of mine and eat it all. It was so good. 

Doug brought me a Moonlight Manifesto to get things started. I didn't get a picture of it, but it was a nice 7%, Rye Porter.

Before the competition got fully underway, I went over to the Tap Trailer and bought a Rainbow Connection from partner brewery Saints Row, pictured here. 

With my little taste of my own mac & cheese, this was a nice companion beer. 

A hazy IPA with a lot of flavor, even by the picture you can see it has almost a creamy consistency. How perfect. 

The beer description on the webpage says it has a "soft, pillowy mouthfeel" and it sure does.

Let's start the competition. It's 1pm! People are lined up! Let's get our mac and cheese on! Yay!

Things were a little weird at first because they started the line at the top by station #1, where people picked up their tasting sporks, and then they just stopped at the first few stations to get their samples. A couple people down the row from us were fussing hard that no one was going to make it down to us, and they were all going to get full up by entry 7 or so.... 

That was not the case. We did not lack for an audience. 

We were filling our sample cups as fast as we could at some points. I wanted to keep 6 at a time out. People asked Donnie and me if we knew each other, or knew that we were both making buffalo chicken, and we confessed to neither. People tasted both of ours at the same time and did some fun comparison, "oh this one is creamy but the chicken over here..." 

I had brought extra hot sauce (when I forgot to bring my own serving spoon, I guess my priorities sometimes are odd).

People asked me if they were supposed to use it. I told them only if they thought they wanted an extra splash after their first bite, or, if they really like hot sauce. It was not required but offered. 

Some folks took me up on it for both mine and Donnie's. 

On to another beer, another Hazy IPA but this time the Week Away IPA from True Respite, pictured here.

I liked it a little better than the Rainbow Connection, and joked with Doug that I'd like a week away. 

It didn't have the same creamy-ish consistency but did have bit more flavor. Kind of nice to have the two back to back for consideration. 

As you can see from the shot here, I'd already gone through one my trays, and it was only 1:30.  I was wondering if I was over serving for my samples, so Grace and Donnie and I filled our cups and compared. Nope. We were putting the same amount in. Were people just taking a lot more of mine? Is this a good thing or a bad thing! I was kind of freaking out inside that I'd be out of food in no time. 

I'd contemplated bringing a third tin since I had the batch from the night before's sample run, but I then realized it was far better to be on the same quantity and level playing field with the other presenters. That is fair.

Here's Donnie serving up next to me, and only a small amount of the crowd of people coming in for tastes. The next half hour was a blur of answering questions about the mac & cheese ingredients, and welcoming people to the Buffalo Chicken District.  

A few people came back for seconds and winked at me. 

Doug came over to visit with the Mac Daddy (2021) specifically brewed in collaboration with Saints Row for the contest that day. And let me tell you, it would be a killer hot & spicy combo with either Donnie's or my offering. It had a peppery scent and taste, but unlike other pepper beers we'd had in the past in our lives, this did not hurt our faces. 

Definitely a niche beer for those who like something smoky, spicy, and different!  A nice offering!

I ran out of mac and cheese and cleaned up my station. It was only 1:50.  Donnie and Grace still had most of their second trays, so I played hype man for them, like a dope. I hope I was funny. 

Things were winding down for other contestants too, 
I went over to the beer truck and got a Bright Spot IPA. Bright Spot being the name of the brewery, and IPA just simply the name of the beer. 

It didn't have a specific name other than IPA so I found that funny, but I was intrigued. I didn't know what Bright Spot was, but had seen them on the menu board inside, with T-shirts for sale at the merch wall.  (I really like the logo).

It was a very nice, simple IPA. Refreshing. 

I sat in my folding chair and rested up a little bit chatting with contestant #10. I'm glad I brought two folding chairs out, which we keep in the back of the Jeep. She was happy to hang and chat with me as we watched the contestants who still had product get their food into faces.

At about 2:15 everyone was pretty much out of their wares. 

I felt bad for anyone who was going to roll up on the scene at 3 expecting to get a taste! I thought for sure we'd have food to offer up to 3pm. This was impressive. 

I think the long and short of it is people really wanted something to do, and were pandemic weary, masked up, ready to be out, and enjoy the day with perfect weather in an event outside. And it was a beautiful day. Such a beautiful day. I sat and enjoyed my beer and watched Donnie and Grace chatting without me in the middle.

After a break, I helped gather trays and chafing racks, and put out sternos. It is a lot of work setting things up on these kinds of events, there's a lot to cleaning up. I'm the kind of person who if you invite me to a party at your house, I'm there for set up and break down. I do your dishes. I bus tables at events. 

So I did my best to assist.

I joined Doug, Geoff, and the Phineas Dog under the tent to relax and wait for the winner announcement. We listened to Kate Virginia sing and play, and had a couple more beers. 

Here is Scrum & Hooker, English Brown Ale, which I got on draft instead of cask.

A very nice nutty brown ale. Feet up and watching time for the adoptable dogs. 

Sadly, our dog is not a dog-dog, he doesn't get along with other dogs so it was kind of depressing because I'd love to get a second dog. We couldn't mingle him with others, and I eyeballed a couple puppies that would have been fun to bring home but I know that will never work. 

Oh Phineas. I wish you were nice. 

I then had Rock East District, named for the neighborhood where the brewery is. 

Which is now also Buffalo Chicken District.

A double red rye, very flavorful. Beautiful lace and so nice to just kick back with after a run of IPAs. 

What was nice for this entire experience was all of the beers I had were low/normal ABVs. None of them knocked me off my feet and onto my ass. But as an active "work-day" kind of thing, I had two beers more than I probably would have had if I was just sitting on my butt drinking beer. 

Doug and I spent some time chatting with a couple who (I think) are very connected with the brewery, even though we did not get their names, and I can't find their info through the internet.  He said that the Tap Trailer has just about paid for itself in the several weeks they've had it. Which is awesome. 

Having the opportunity to ask, I got the story of Bright Spot beer. As a kind of a separate brand, they came as a result of the purchase of another brewery when "Covid Happened." This article from DC Beer explains it all wonderfully. 

And keeping in mind how things happen with lawsuits and trademarks, I thought about what recently happened with our other favorites at 7 Locks with "Surrender. " Under this new label, True Respite can offer and distribute craft beer options (the aforementioned IPA and a Lager) at a lower price point, so people can get that better beer experience than say a 30 pack of PBR. 

I told him how I work with a software company out of Virginia with the same name. He cocked his head and said "they don't brew beer, so they?" Nope. I had a good laugh and now I want a Bright Spot beer shirt so I can wear it to work on conference calls with our CMS vendor.

I stood with Donnie and Grace as they announced the winners, the three of us were not contenders. Sadly. But I think we won at having the most fun yesterday. 

Someone came late to the tasting party!
And they sure do look like they need some mac & cheese! 

I regret not connecting with Donnie and Grace on social media in person, but all told, I'm thinking of how much fun I had, and I hope they did too. 

We came home with me tired, happy, and a gift card to come back to the brewery again and get some more. You bet that's a winning day. 

Thanks to Bailey and Brendan O'Leary for throwing this great, and very fun, event. Thank you for working to make a community space for not just beer but for yoga and meetups and other social offerings.

 We're true fans of True Respite. 

True Respite, Rockville MD

 This is my first post about True Respite, but it is our second visit here. 

We came in 2018 or 2019, I've lost track, but I do remember it was right around this time of year. The brewery is a little bit hidden in an office park in a part of Rockville I never go to, so it isn't like somewhere I'd just be dropping by. It is literally something one could miss if not dedicated to driving around the maze of buildings and parking. 

I remember on our first visit we almost gave up trying to find it. Our GPS brought us to the office park, but there were no signs to indicate where the brewery was. We turned left when we should have gone straight and boom - there they were. My recommendation would be that the office park would do some signage, not just for the brewery but for all the other businesses in the complex. 

Once inside, the tasting room is big and open, with the bar at the back and the brewing operations to the right. Ample take away coolers, and a few TVs for the sportsballs or something else to watch. 

They do not have food but plenty of delivery orders were brought it. The office park would do good to have a deli or quick service restaurant somewhere in the maze of businesses. The brewery could partner with them (similar to when we were in Colorado when the restaurant in the strip mall was more than happy to come through every 20 minutes to take orders) and folks would make bank. 

I started with something that I don't often go for, the Nessie's Girl, a wee heavy Scotch Ale. 

It was flavorful and not overwhelmingly sweet or even hot with the higher ABV of 8%. Served in the tulip glass, it is a rich, dark brown, had pretty lace, and does have a toffee taste without being too cloying. 

Doug went with the Rock East District Imperial Red Rye ale (not pictured). He enjoyed it a lot and it was similar to the Surrender (Dorothy) from 7 Locks that I wrote about recently. 

Had a little fun with the sun streaming in, and took this picture of the Nessie's Girl just shimmering in the light. I've had good luck with doing this with a few beers recently. 

Moving on, I got the White Tail Hefeweizen, which was described as having  hints of banana and clove. It was neither clovey or banana-y. Had literally no aroma, but a nice taste to it. It looks like banana, that's for sure. I liked how it looked like a banana milkshake, kind of a unique brew.

 

Doug had The Woods oatmeal stout (not pictured) and said he found it underwhelming. Not a lot of flavor, not everything can be the BEST, right? 

Our last beers were the Lagerhosen for me, the Marzen for Oktoberfest, and it was really nice. Your standard pretty great beer, and usually would have been my starter but I had been adventurous.

The beer was smooth and tasty, and a great way to end our visit.

I love the artwork in the tasting room, I'd really love to get that fox painting.  

Doug's last beer was the Puckered: Tangerine Sky which was pretty much the absolute opposite of the Nessie's Girl I started with. Nice and sour, bright and fun with a delicious fruity flavor. We ended up bringing home Nessie and Puckered for our home enjoyment and to share with the boy. 

We'll actually be back next week. I entered a macaroni and cheese bake-off competition because I'm feeling ready to have some fun and do social things, and why not. I'll be making the famous (infamous!) Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese that I learned to make at the cooking school back in the day. 

I had fun talking with the staff (Emily, and sadly I didn't get the name of the young man pulling today) about the competition and what people are making. Emily said she was entering too, and we discussed a shared liking of the powdered cheese in the Kraft realm. I confessed I always make it too soupy even though I try not to. And I recalled how my sister used to work at a Friendly's on Long Island, and they had an epic cheese sauce that they'd pour all over a burger, with bacon, and it was literally my very favorite thing in the universe. 

Not wanting to keep them from waiting on other customers, we got our trays for next Saturday, bought our take away beers, and headed home. 

Very much looking forward to the event next week. Wondering how many people are entering. Allegedly, we should show up with Halloween costumes on, and I'm not sure where my really bad wig is for Linda Belcher, but I may think of something else between now and then.  

I also have never done yoga, but heck, maybe I will! Since it is there, may as well! 

Lone Oak Brewery, Olney MD

Doug and I both have a long holiday weekend, so we opted to head up to the Lone Oak Brewery in Olney. Not too far from our house, but due  to the pandemic (mostly) we hadn't made it over there. They opened up in June of 2020, and we only recently started heading out to in person enjoyment of the breweries. Happy they are there.

There is a storied history to the namesake of the farm, a Lone Oak that stands at the edge of the property, pictured here with the Haystack hazy IPA. Their website talks about it briefly, but I'd honestly like a more resourced reading list of this pre-Civil War tree. 

They have a large property, with a beautiful main building, a separate building for events, and a pavilion with taps. 

There are yurts for rent, plenty of picnic tables, a playground, and tons of space for kids and adults to run around in and play. 

They offer a limited food menu but have food trucks regularly, and outside food is welcome, but not outside booze, naturally. 

And they also support live, local music. Which, they happened to be hosting that day. How lucky are we?

I started with the General Sherman DIPA. It packs a flavorful punch, and I'd even describe it as spicy. At 8.2% ABV it is a good starter beer. We settled into the pavilion to enjoy the band on hand, Silver Books. Timing wise we got there just as they finished setting up. And if there's a jam band around, you can bet we'll be enjoying. 

General Sherman here, pictured with the taproom house in the distance. Hardly anyone was here yet, but the field between filled up nicely as the time went by with picnic blankets, folding camp chairs, dogs, kids, and games. 

Doug started with the Groove It Sour, a pink guava concoction that was deliciously sour and very flavorful itself. 

We're off to a good start here!

I ordered up hot dogs for us from the food truck of the day, Catalyst Hot Dogs. Served up with chili sauce, cheese, onions, these were quality dogs on my favorite buns (Martin's potato rolls!)

I noted that the hot dog truck was displaying a sign saying they were featured on the NPR Podcast "The Indicator." And you can listen to the episode at the link there. 

I mentioned I worked there, and the guys in the truck were thrilled that I noticed. They told me the story of how the truck came to be, and how they are supporters of the local NPR station in DC. 

We had a moment of mutual admiration, they're obviously proud of their pandemic success story, as well as they should be, and the line behind me was 7 people deep consistently. It didn't seem to wane the entire time I could see them from our spot. 

They humored me with a picture that I could share with the podcast team. 

Back to beer. 

I then got the Deep Root, a chocolate porter. 

A lot of times, chocolate beers are really sweet but this wasn't. It had a lovely chocolate flavor, but no syrupy sweetness to bring it down. 

Doug got the OAKtoberfest because, after all, everyone here is celebrating Oktoberfest. Everyone has a Märzen this time of year, obviously, lest it wouldn't be Oktoberfest. It was a tasty brew, very gentle flavor, and I enjoyed my sample from his cup. 

I got the Olney Amber, a nice finishing beer with low ABV. 

We had to move out of the pavilion because they were hosting a private event, so we sat at a picnic table to still enjoy the band until they took a break. It was all perfect timing. We finished our beers as they finished their set, to "take a 5 minute break and be back in 20 minutes." They had a lot of friends and family there to see them, Doug tipped the band and we thanked them, and left to walk around the space for a bit before getting back in the car. 

The playground was hopping, the yurts were full, and more people were still arriving. There is plenty of parking so we headed back to the car with people walking towards us, with their dogs and kids in wagons, ready to go enjoy an afternoon by the Lone Oak. We could hear the band start up again (Before they had started, I jokingly asked if they were going to play a 20 minute rendition of "I Know You Rider" and the lead singer said "oh yeah. You'll probably hear that.") 

Overall this was a really nice trip. All the beers were good, and Doug commented that he thought they were better than another local farm that we've been to many times (that I haven't yet written about). I'm not sure they are better but they sure are on par with! We'll be back for sure. 

And, because. Here's me for a change, not just beer and buildings. Apologies to all the humans behind me for being included. I should have held the beer over to my left to cover them but didn't realize. 

Surrender.... not Dorothy. A RyePA story

When we moved here (literally 4 years ago this week) we started to get settled in  and discover the beer scene. One of the first places  we went for in person brewery time was 7 Locks Brewing in Rockville  (yeah go ahead and sing that we shouldn't go back to Rockville and waste another year. We do it. I'm sure Rockville is used to it by now). 

The tasting room and brewery is in a small industrial park, kid and dog friendly, with food trucks and live music. Small, which is nice. Sometimes we've gone, and it's been too crowded, so we get a couple sixers to go. Or, we are there with the place to ourselves, playing board games and waiting for the delivery pizza to arrive. We have seen some stellar local music here. It's a good place, with good beer. An honest, and tremendously good local brewery.

I like it.

All of the beers are named for local spots, and one of them has, well, a history. 

The beer now known as simply Surrender used to be called "Surrender Dorothy." In your mind, if you think of a certain witch spraying smoke across the sky from the bristles of her broom in an effort to get a little girl from Kansas to give up some shoes, you've got a good reference. 

However, If you are in  the DC area, and you are driving on the Beltway, about a mile from our house you come around a bend, and there is ... well... a sight. 

The Washington DC area Mormon Temple is right in front of you. Right there. In Your Face.

It makes an astonishing first impression for those who have never seen it.

Doug moved here two weeks before I did because his job started before mine ended. So he got to experience the area for a little while and there was something he insisted I see when I got here. 

One night, we got in the car at dusk and drove towards Virginia. He told me to keep looking out the windshield, don't look at my phone, don't get distracted. Just. Be ready. 

I wasn't ready. 

The sunset hitting the building caused the white marble to glow with a pinkish orange tint, and the spires, the golden spires, just radiated in the magic hour light. 

"Holy shit." I believe was my reaction.  I pondered how many people coming around that corner may have lost control of their cars as they gazed upon this majestic sight. 

"It's like.... Oz or something," was my next comment. 

"Exactly," said Doug. 

We then came to find out that at one point in the 1970s, there was graffiti on the bridge we'd just gone under that said "Surrender Dorothy." Apparently, I was not the only one to visually connect Oz and the Emerald City (though salmony pink at the time). 

7 Locks created a Rye IPA (RyePA) and named it Surrender Dorothy.  Not in homage or to steal from The Wizard himself, but as a nod to this historic local lore. 

The beer is a delicious, flavorful blend and became their flagship brew. What a cool local thing to learn about, what a fun and exciting piece of history, right here. 

I never equated the beer itself with any sort of trying to glean any sort of benefit from Oz. It was the local story, the history, and the greatness of the tale that made it great.

A couple years ago, 7 Locks attempted to secure the copyright to Surrender Dorothy, and I believe that was their undoing. 

Turner Entertainment fought them on it, as they hold the copyright on anything "Dorothy" and Oz related. This would be too close to what the Wicked Witch wrote in the sky for anyone's liking and would confuse consumers.  To be honest, no. For me, at least, the two are detached and far apart from each other.

The old label did include a yellow brick road as the Beltway, and the overpass says Rye IPA and not Dorothy. I think it is apart enough that there isn't any benefit stolen from Turner Entertainment but a change in the branding would have worked out to distance the Turner Entertainment concerns from the beer.

7 Locks has rebranded the beer to just "Surrender," aptly. The Beltway is now just a grey ribbon of boringness, the Temple still stands in the distance. There is a worker painting the overpass to remove "Dorothy." 

After Donald Trump was elected, they temporarily rebranded this beer as "Surrender Donald," and I regret not getting a can, or a T-shirt, or anything to jump in on the commemoration.

Name or not, as Surrender Dorothy, Surrender Donald, or just Surrender, the beer is the same, delicious, and wonderful brew. If nothing else, Turner Entertainment should sue the Mormon Church for making a really amazing Oz on the highway for us all to see. 

There is a good article here in the Washington Post, if you can read it. Democracy doesn't die in darkness, it dies behind a paywall. 

And as for me, I still love this beer. It will always have the Dorothy Connection for me, and honestly the first DC area thing I've felt connection to. Cheers to 7 Locks. Keep brewing beautiful beer, and I'll keep buying it.

The Grill Next Door - The Last Visit

Visit Date:  September 23, 2017

Thanks to Facebook Memories, I know that four years ago tonight I went out to dinner with Jess right before I moved to Maryland. Picking a place to go was easy. For a last meal in the area, I wanted to go to The Grill Next Door in Haverhill. 

I had an ulterior motive, too.

I'd been there many times, and wrote about it here in the blog. Read a date night on this very date 10 years ago (honestly, September 23, what's up with that!) and a visit with Dave for our first trip to the bar captured here.

The Grill Next Door does a "round the block" kind of thing where you get your name on a plaque and get a T-shirt if you fill out card/s

I had one slot left on my dance card, and I at least was going to get the shirt. Let's go. 

Jess and I had a lovely dinner. We met a service dog (that wasn't really a service dog cause the owner let me pet it and cuddle with it). The place was packed and when we finished the card the waitress made a huge deal of it. There were cheers from the bar, from regulars, and from the family next to us. 

I picked  Wachusett Brewing Company's "Wally" as a nod to Massachusetts and a goodbye to the journey that had me living in the area since 1984. A hazy, juicy IPA, pretty as a picture. 

It was an honor to start this run with beers at a great restaurant with delicious food and a fantastic selection of beers. I don't know if my card is still in the case, but you can add a card and keep going. Pretty sure they take people's cards out if they are untouched for a while. They have a system.

I'm the weirdo who goes in and re-alphabetizes everyone because people can't follow the rules and put their cards right in front so they're easy to find. Jerks. 

I have to be honest with you though, dear reader. I do not know where the shirt is now. I know it made the move down. It was in the bureau at the last house, but I don't know if I accidentally donated it. And I feel like a dope. But I can't find it anywhere. I worked hard for that dumb shirt! 

And the beers along the way were worth it. 

Looking forward to heading back to Massachusetts one day, and totally having some of that buffalo chicken mac & cheese again. 

Buzzards Bay Brewing, or, Shenanigans with Dad

 Visited: June 2, 2021

While visiting my parents, it can be rather boring. 

They live in a nice little town but never really go more than a mile from their front door, unless my mom needs to go to the bank and then we hear about it for days. 

When we visit, we go to one restaurant where my mom is in everyone's business, and my dad just wants to play Keno and have a cold one.  

Dad isn't really "allowed" to drink beer due to some medical issues that have risen over the years. The bar has agreed to keep some non-alcoholic Becks on hand for him, and my mother monitors him like, as he puts it, Nurse Ratchet. 

He's made it to 81 yrs, for all the decades of self abuse, I gotta say, you've come a long way Bart.

He is allowed to have a Budweiser once in a while. Sometimes he'll buy beer for us when we come to visit. He's under the impression we like Heineken, which we don't really but it's a nice gesture when he picks some up when we come to hang out. 

My mom doesn't like to go anywhere, but my dad is forever a restless soul who likes to get out. 

Doug decided we'd take him for a ride and go down to the canal.  I thought we would take a nice long walk along the canal, it was breezy, not too cold. I thought it was perfect but my dad is perpetually cold. My cousin Bill called me so I sat on a bench to chat with him and catch up, and then the next thing I knew my dad was walking over to cross the parking lot and the street and go to Mahoney's on Main. 

"Stop him," said my cousin. "Jockey him a little to the right and go to Buzzards Bay Brewing. It's my favorite. You'll love it."  

Bill knows his shit, so, we repointed the ship to move a little bit to the east to the taproom. 

"Do they got Budweiser here?" he asked. Bart has escaped the lockdown. And we are the enablers.

"No dad," I said, "they make their own beer but I'll check on what they have that's similar." 

We've taken dad to some of our familiars up north where we used to live, like The Tap, and there is always some sort of ale or pilsner that will fit the bill for someone who doesn't usually drink fancy craft. 

Approaching the bar, I ordered him a Flounder, which I felt would fit closest with his sensibilities. Doug got a Pink Power Raspberry Sour, which made my dad laugh. He ... may have had a derogatory name for pink beer and those who may drink it, but Doug weathered it perfectly. I got the Buzzards Bay IPA. 

The staff at the taproom were really nice, I had a huge, long discussion with them about a lot of what's been going on with women in brewing, and the recent surge of #metoo, and the work Brienne at Notch up north of Boston was doing in sharing all the stories about sexism, abuse, and outright nonsense coming out of the brewing and service industry. 

I used to work at a restaurant back in college, it's been a long time, but I lived it, saw it, knew it. 

I asked her what her thoughts were, and how her experience at Buzzards Bay was. She said that the staff there and the owners were incredibly proactive in making sure the female staff were not just comfortable but safe. She told me how much she admired Brienne Allen, and she thanked me for asking about this very important topic. 

We toasted each other, and it's really the first time in my life I've sat and talked about this kind of reckoning in the industry with anyone. 

The taproom doesn't have a menu, but if we were hungry we would have gotten something from the Thai restaurant next door and enjoyed it. We were full from late lunch at my parents' familiar, and weren't looking for a meal or snacks. My dad said that's why he wanted to go to Mahoney's, because there's food. I told him that we didn't need food since we just ate, and it looked like maybe Mahoney's wasn't open for food anyway so we were at a good spot. 

Doug grabbed a pack of cards and dealt 21 to us. We had a great time chilling and chatting. 

I think I won.

I don't talk a lot about my dad and our relationship. There is a lot of discomfort, I was very angry and rejectful of him for a long time. I also didn't understand him, and was very selfish. The fact he's 81 and I'm 54 now, we're a lot different than me at 24 and him at 51. We've come a long way, I enjoy his presence, and time with him. And we had a great day hanging out at a really nice taproom. I'll be happy to go back and visit again. 

And he liked the beer.

Happy Anniversary, at Moby Dick's in New Bedford, MA

 Date of Visit: June 1, 2021 

We spent a week up in Massachusetts at the beginning of June for our anniversary. 

Most of the time was spent at my folks' down near Cape Cod visiting with them. We did take a day trip over to New Bedford and spent time at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. 

It had been a super long time since we'd been there. I think both kids were very young when we went the last time and we went through the place at kid breakneck speed. Not a lot of people were there, and we closed the place after taking our time going through all the exhibits. 

This is a really well put together museum, where I feel equal parts impressed and disgusted, if that's something you can be. Whaling kind of makes me sick, but this is a beer blog, not Christine is Grossed Out by Whaling blog. 

After we finished up, it was dinner time and the next block over featured Moby Dick Brewing Company. Friends know us well enough that for a wedding anniversary, we'll be happy to eat almost anywhere, as long as the beer is good and the food is gooder. 

We're not fancy but we do like good food and drink. Doug had done a little pre-trip googling for local restaurants and this looked to be a winner. 

We sat outside because we're still not fully comfortable with indoor dining experiences when the inside is a little too crowded.  It was hot and sunny, and rush hour so the traffic was pretty loud but this provided for some good people watching. 

All the beers here are named for people and scenes in "Moby Dick," and I had to start with this one. Because if nothing else, a great pun means the world to me. 

Ishm-ale, named for the opening line of the book "Call me Ishmael," had me howling right off the bat. Yes please. It is an irish style amber, and was cold and refreshing for sitting outside. Pictured above with the menu and other good names for beers thanks to Melville's master work.

Moved on to the Captain Bildad, but I actually think they may have brought me the wrong beer and I got the Stove Boat. 

According to Untappd, the beer I ordered would have had a 10% ABV.  Usually at something that high, you get a real alcohol smell/flavor when you bring it up to your face. 

I got none of that from this glass, so either they have done an amazing job brewing a higher ABV brew, or I got the wrong beer. Either way, it was incredibly easy drinking, which can be naughty for high ABVs. Neither beer is currently listed on their website as available on draft so I can't really go back and check on what I got and what Stove Boat's ABV would have been. 

For dinner, I had the Fish & Chips and ordered a Pulpit New England IPA to go with. I find if I'm having a nice fried fish, or seared scallops, a good IPA goes nice with. 

Unfiltered, as you can see, hoppy and juicy, it was the perfect partner to the meal. Literature fans will like to go read this excerpt from Moby Dick of Father Mapple climbing the ladder into the pulpit at church, and enjoy all the symbolism Melville puts into the importance of a pulpit, a leader in it, the bow of a ship.

"Yes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow."

Reading the excerpt there from that chapter made me almost want to go back and read "Moby Dick" for a third time in my life, but no. I'll actually pass.

I got the Tumbling Caprice, which was a very fruity almost pie-like beer. 

Sometimes you get a berry beer and there is a great smell to it but no flavor, or vice versa. This was a delightful mix of both. Crisp and tart, it was a very lovely finish considering I wanted some cheesecake with berries or something, and they didn't have it on the menu. 

God's way of telling me to have another beer. 

We ended our day in New Bedford by going down to the Fort Taber/Fort Rodman park area, walking around and playing Pokemon while the sun got to setting. We petted dogs, watched a man fly a drone, and looked out into the distance into Buzzards Bay and beyond, thinking of the whalers, the crews, the whales themselves, and the world out there as fishing boat after fishing boat made their way out into the evening to get out into position for the next morning's work. 

Sea Mist and the Thimble Islands

 Date of Visit, June 5, 2021 

Doug and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary in June, and took some time to go up to visit my family in Massachusetts. Our family. We got to see Jess too. 

On our way back south, Doug thought it would be nice to go stand-by (since we were too late to make a reservation) on the Thimble Islands Cruise out of Stony Creek, CT. For all the years we'd lived in Massachusetts, and time we spent in Connecticut, the stretch of that state between New Haven and New London is one we never really spent time hanging out on. 

The cruise was delightful. An enjoyable two hour "toodle aboot," as I'd call it, around the beautiful islands that pepper Long Island Sound south of the CT shore. A vacation haven for the rich, famous, infamous, and presidential, most islands have a house on them, and it looks like the kind of place I wouldn't mind having a house on about 1/3 of the year. 

On the boat, they served beer, wine, and cocktails and lo and behold they had their own beer named for the boat, the Sea Mist, created by the Thimble Island Brewery.  I wasn't expecting libations on the boat so this was a fantastic touch to go along with this delightful time. The beer was cold and refreshing, a nice New England IPA with a hoppy aroma and flavor. 

We unfortunately had to beat feet and leave Stony Creek after the tour, otherwise I would have planned a stop in at the brewery because more beer from this team and a really great looking menu were calling out to me. 

If you're looking for something interesting to do, the boat trip is really affordable, I'd suggest calling ahead and making a reservation. I think the website has the rules on how to do that. If you don't make a reservation, you can show up dockside to see if you can get on. Space is limited, but worth it. They do a nice narration, letting you know who lived in what house, which houses burned down, and the whole thing is punny and delightful.  

Next time, Connecticut. We'll see you. I promise.