(visited October 8, 2022)
Doug and I needed a weekend away.
He's been work-stressed and hell if I just don't want to go places and DO THINGS. I have a tendency to not leave the house for days on end, and then when I do, I want to more than touch grass. I want to drink beers, eat wings, talk to people, and hang out.
We decided that a trip to the Delmarva Peninsula, specifically to the beach, was in order.
The great thing about living south of New England means that we can still enjoy the outsideness of the world, and maybe even wear our Teva sandals while taking a long walk in October. And this was the weekend to do it.
We were aiming for Chincoteague and a little hotel there, but along the way we knew of a couple breweries we would want to visit. Doug very much wanted to hit up Evolution Brewing for brunch before making it to Chincoteague.
It was gorgeous out, so we set up camp at a table, ordered the Maryland Style Crab Dip appetizer, and started into our choices. First round was Exile Red Ale and Rise Up Nitro Stout. Both pictured below.
The Red Ale was great but the nitro coffee stout was spectacular. A wonderful aroma of coffee and chocolate, creamy and smooth like chocolate milk. Just fantastic.
While still enjoying our crab dip appetizer, we found our cups empty. Our server was fast to the task and brought next round. I got the Lucky 7 Porter and Doug went with the Pine'Hop'Le (which I personally would have just spelled Pinehopple, but I get it!)
The porter was tasty, I'd consider this a flagship for this brewery, one that I've had other places along with the Lot 3. Doug has declared to me that he is "done" with IPAs, so I was surprised he went to the Pine'Hop'Le here, which was very good but it didn't have a huge pineapple bite like I'd hoped. We both liked it a lot.
Saving all of my carbs for beer in life and usually diving face first into a salad with protein, I was tempted into the realm of chicken and waffle for lunch. Incredibly good, and I even caved and asked for some maple syrup. I mean, I've already slid super far into the carbs today, may as well make the waffle sing. Doug was good and had a big salad.
Next, we went to the Tea-Ki Torch iced tea for me and Day Crush for Doug. I have to be completely honest and say I wasn't wowed by the iced tea. And the Day Crush was not as sour as I'd hoped. But it was good.
Doug got up to stretch his legs, and poke around the Public House. I sat on the patio and listened to a table beside me talk about what kind of beer they like and whether or not they'd like this beer. "I like Guinness," the man said. I chimed in to recommend the Lucky 7 or the Stout. She likes lite beer, so I suggested the Pine'Hop'Le as better than any sort of lite beer she's had. They both thanked me for my recommendation when the beers came. They told me how they went to Ireland over the summer, toured the Guinness Factory and really loved being there. He said he's a Whiskey guy, and is trying to like beer.
I told him he came to a good place to start.
After a while, I wondered where the heck Doug was. I paid the tab, and ventured inside to see him coming out from the back with someone wearing an Evo brewer's shirt.
Doug makes friends easy, and he must have caught Jim's eye poking round the place so Jim offered to show him around. Doug and I both have been around and around in breweries, so he tried to say no but, Jim was encouraging.
When I walked in, he offered to show me around too. So I took him up on it. We went in back and saw all the operations from brewing to bottling to canning. We talked about malt and storage, equipment and engineering. While we were chatting, the owner, Tom Knorr, came around the bend and Jim had him come over to pose for a picture with us.
Honestly, an honor to meet the men behind the brews.
I appreciated Tom's time because he seemed like he was on a mission, talking on the phone and moving around the area. Jim was just a delight. Honestly a great time spent at the brewery chatting with him about how he landed there after retiring from Madison Avenue.
It gives my little dreams of one day owning my own wee brewery (along with the idea of going to West Virginia for all my dishes for the pub) some inspiration.
We still had a little ways to go from Salisbury to get to our hotel in Chincoteague, but took some take away beer to enjoy in the hotel that night, and a great new long sleeved Evo T-shirt for me to sport around town. Here's a picture of Doug and me, with the barrels aging some future beer.
I promised Jim I would send this to him, and think I lost his email so I hope if he's reading this he knows how very much we appreciated his tour, his time, his knowledge, and the beer he is so proud of.
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