Custom BrewCrafters Tour

The week before Thanksgiving, I headed up to up-state New York to visit my brother and his family for an early Thanksgiving with my father. We had a blast! But it wasn't all turkey and and football, there was beer too.

I brought up the rest of my English Pale Ale so my father, brother and his beer loving neighbor could give it a try. My Dad wasn't crazy about the beer, he's not much of a beer drinker, but my brother and his buddy seemed to like it well enough.

I did a little beer-recon before heading up and found a short list of breweries in the area. The only one I found that was really close and open on Sunday was Custom BrewCrafters, out of Honeoye Falls, New York. Just a short drive from my brother's town. So off we went for a little father-son-brother bonding.

Custom BrewCrafters was easy to find, but also easy to miss. You have to drive all the way to the end of a dead end street in a residential area before you see the truck above parked in a lot across from a grade school. The brewery is just around the corner at the far end of the lot.

They've recently started the construction of a new facility, bigger and better, so I'm thinking the new home of Custom BrewCrafters maybe less hidden.

Me and Dad pose for a quick shot before entering the brewery. We almost look like we were in uniform or something, I swear we didn't plan our outfits together. What can I say, Dad and I are snappy dressers!

Mark and Dad pose for a similar photo. I really need to get a photographer to come with me on these trips so I can get in on all the photos... Note Mark also has jeans and a black jacket...

Before starting the tour, we were offered a few free samples to take with us on the tour. We started with the Canadaigua Lake Ale, which was a nice smooth yet sweet ale, definitely something I could have a number of in one session. Now I didn't take the time to write up a proper review of any of the free samples I had that day, I don't think Mark and Dad were quite ready for that level of involvement just yet.

Dad gave the Wee Bitter a sip. He wasn't a big fan, although he doesn't really drink, so that's not really a fair critique of the beer. Dad was more into beer back in his youth. Dad confided in me that as a young Marine, he enjoyed the occasional Miller, and I've heard him mention Pabst Blue Ribbon in the past. Cut the man some slack, it was a different time, and there was a lack of quality beer available to him.

He was more or less humoring me on this little excursion, thanks Dad you're a good sport!

My brother noticed this little sign on a locker door as we entered the brewery floor. "Everyone has a dream. For us it was drinking on the job." Aint that the truth? Speaking of which, they're hiring! If only I lived a bit closer...

Our tour guide (I can't remember his name) gave us a thorough walk through on how the brewing process worked. This was the most detailed walk through I've seen so far during a tour. But then again, it was just the three of us in the audience and the place is very small.




Our guide told us a little about the impact the hops shortage is having on their products. They've had to cut back on some of the hops in some of their beers this year. They actually have their beers reviewed with vintages. Beer Advocate shows three different years for their Wee Heavy, for example. Apparently the die hard fans of Custom BrewCrafters can tell the difference, but they still stand by their products as quality crafted beers.

The only beer I tried that I did not like was the one our guide warned me about. It was their Christmas Ale. It tasted like a beer with a candy cane in it. Not a good choice... Everything else was quite enjoyable.

I really want to try their Wasabi Ale some time with a nice plate of sushi, but they didn't have any on tap that day...

Custom BrewCrafters has a pretty cool business model. They brew custom beers for local restaurants and pubs, keg them and let their customers sell them off the tap as their own brews. They also make some beers for themselves and sell just about everything they make right there off the brewery's tasting room.





Our guide was kind enough to let me shoot some images inside the large stainless steel kettles. When I saw the open hatch, I couldn't resist! Once again I couldn't help but think of that scene from Strange Brew.

I call this one, "inside the belly of the beast!"... I wanted to get some one to take a photo from up top of me sticking my fat head in there, but I didn't want to push my luck or cause any contamination.


Here's a shot of the breweries hot water tank, that feeds (you guessed it) hot water to the brewing vats. I could use one of these at my house for showers let alone brewing. Custom BrewCrafters pride themselves on their local water source. Keep in mind this place is nestled in the famous finger lakes area and just south of the Great Lakes.

Now this is a small brewery. You could walk from one end to the other in less time than it would take to fill a pint in the tasting room. But the tour was fairly lengthy and informative. I can't wait to visit their new location once it's completed! They're not taking any of their equipment with them, it's already been sold. They're getting a whole new set up at the new brewery. Apparently they're doing something right with this business model...

Here's the cool thing... They'll be able to bottle at their new facility, which means they'll be able to more widely distribute their products. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to get some of their beers in other states some day. Hmmmm... I wonder if they'll ever become an IPO? $












I couldn't resist getting a photo in the middle of all that freshly brewed and kegged beer in the breweries walk-in cooler. I felt like Daffy Duck from Ali Baba Bunny when he found the cave a treasure...

Although I didn't take the time to write any reviews of their beers I sampled that day, I purchased a growler of their Scotch Ale, Wee Bitter. (Beer Advocates details on the brew) Now that's good stuff! I'll post a review of the beer very soon, I promise!

By the time we finished our tour there was a line of loyal customers waiting to get their growlers filled. Some folks were getting boxes filled, including some Custom BrewCrafter fans that were heading out for some pre-game tailgating before a big Buffalo game. All in all it was a great trip and so close to my brother's house that I may visit the brewery every time I go up to see the family. Can't wait to see the new facility!

New York Beer Tour (Part III)

New York is huge, and I think I may have bit off more than the three of us could chew when I put together our itinerary. We didn't even hit all the stops I was considering, and we didn't bother with the big beer festival that was going on that weekend. Note to self: Consider hitting that event next year, more beer to chose from and less walking... Less risk more return?

Even with the abbreviated list of locations, we didn't spend a great deal of time in one place. It felt like we were always on the move, and if the rough shape my shoes were in by the night's end was any indication, we certainly were very mobile throughout the night. Next time I'm wearing sneakers!


After we left McSorley's, we hoofed it over to the Hop Devil Grill for a few more beers. This place has a wide selection of quality beers on tap and in bottles. But I'll be honest, I was expecting more out of the place in the way of ambiance. Hey listen, I'm not saying the place isn't great, but the web site gave me slightly inflated expectations.

Kenn had a bottle of Three Philosophers, a delicious Quadrupel... The bottle was big enough for all three of us to have some. Thankfully Kenn is a generous man. I can't quite remember what Chris and I had... I really need to start taking better notes...

Part of the problem was that I sampled a number of beers, hence the small glass and the look of both deep thought in my eyes... I'll dig up my notes later and figure out what I finally settled on. But I will tell you now, I went through a few samples before I found something I really liked. (Either I developing a discriminating beer pallet, or I was just making up for the lack of freebies at Brooklyn Brewery... You make the call!)

Chris has that similar look of heavy consideration in his eyes... If my fuzzy memory serves me, I believe he tried a cider of sorts. Chris likes the ciders, ask him why my old college room mate nick named him "Wood Chuck" and "Sweet Chuck" some time...

Here's what I settled on, if only I could remember what it was. Looks beautiful though doesn't it?

I found my notes! I had an Ommegang, Rare Vos, which is a Belgian Dark Ale. According to my chicken scratch notes, I gave this tasty beer a big thumbs up for it's beautiful amber color, smooth flavor and nice head that clung to the side of the glass.

My sloppy notes indicated that Chris actually had an Ace Perry Cider, which he said was a good choice, offering a sweet pear flavor.

As stated previously, Kenn chose a bottle of Three Philosophers, which he said had a sweet yet complex flavor, at this point, my notes got very messy, and more or less unreadable. They do include something about the cherry flavor and something else that ends with the phrase, "but in a good way..." LOL! I really need to work on my note taking!

Kenn and I are looking a little worse for ware after a long debate with 3 Philosophers.

Random thought of the day: I wish I had a pet monkey to take with me on these adventures. I could equip him with a helmet cam and just let him run wild, I imagine the videos he'd produce would be similar to the one below...

And now for something different...

After we finished our round of beers, we made our way to the World Trade Center and took a quick look at the memorial that stands on the site at the opening of the subway station there.

Six years later this site is no less sobering. The sign in the photo above list those that we would be toasting in a matter of minutes.

Our next stop was the bar in the Millennium Hilton Hotel, over looking the site of the World Trade Center. Above is a very blurry shot, but it gives you an idea of how good the view of ground zero is from the bar.

This is a pretty cool shot of Kenn with 'Old Glory' in the background and the World Trade Center memorial/subway entrance all lit up in the far background. The three of us had a beer, made a toast, had some munchies, and then hit the road...

Our next stop? Starbucks...

We moved on to The Blind Tiger after a brief stop at Starbucks to get Kenn a caffeinated beverage along the way. Kenn had put on a brave face, but he was starting to crash, and we still had a good portion of the night ahead of us. As you can see Chris was still smiling.

No coffee or tea for this guy by golly! Although, from the looks of me, a coffee may have been exactly what I needed, we did a lot of walking that day and we were all tired. I can't recall what I ordered, but it was something local to NY and it was good. If you hold the pint glass up to your ear, you can hear the brewery... No really, try it some time...



The video clip above shows some great street performers doing what they do best somewhere out there near the Blind Tiger. These guys could really sing! You gotta love New York!

Long story short, we didn't spend a lot of time at the Blind Tiger... After pumping Caffeine and NYC pizza into Kenn to revive him, we made our way to a bar Chris and I always visit when in the city, Off The Wagon.



Why do we go there so often? Not because of it's great beer selection or historic significance (because it has neither!), but because we get to relive a small portion of our college days when we visit. This place is your basic college bar, full of college aged people, do what college people do. Not really my scene any more, but...

But they have a number of beer-pong tables set up and allows for informal tournaments. At one point, Chris and I were quite skilled at the beer pong. And if bowlers are athletes, well then darn it, so too were we!

We stood there and provided an audience for a couple of games waiting for our turn at the table. When we were about to throw down the gauntlet and challenge the reigning champs to an ass whooping, the bar staff kicked everyone out of that room, a private party had reserved the area, so no beer-pong for us. It was probably just as well, the night was getting late, and we needed to make our way back to Brooklyn. As the lyric goes, "NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN!"

Once we got back to Brooklyn, we made our way to Barcade one more round of local brews and a lot of 80s arcade goodness. Yes, that's me having a beer at Barcade in the photo. I was also using my herculean strength to ensure the bar didn't float off the ground and escape. What can I say folks, I'm a hero...

I'm not sure, but I think in this photo, Kenn is barely able to keep his eyes open and is giving me the international sign for, "Please kind sir, do not photograph me, I'm not in the mood, photograph that guy there instead!" That crankiness was nothing that couldn't be solved by a few rounds of Digdug and a nightcap.

And just like that, Kenn was back in the game, both literally and figuratively, with one hand on his beer and the other on the joystick...

Chris, having located the bar and it's vast array of quality beers on tap was once again smiling. Unbeknonwst to him, a strange localized version of the famed Northern Lights was now presenting itself behind him across the bar. A strange phenomenon believed to be cause by poor lighting and amateurish photography. Nature is amazing isn't it?

I really wanted to play the Star Wars game they had, but it was out of order that night. So, I thought a round of Tapper seemed more than appropriate... I know what you're thinking, "My god he has a beautiful head!" And I know what question you are dieing to ask... But no, I have not previously served as a professional head model... At least not yet. But I am available for photo shoots...

Nothing like playing Tapper while enjoying a delicious beer fresh from a real tap... This was how the game was meant to be played.

Chris schooled me with his Tapper prowess, the lad is a natural.

I call this one, "You look beautiful in the Galaga glow!"

We wrapped up the night with a little billiards, to make sure Chris was not affected by the beer... Then, it was a forced march, AKA 'The Brooklyn Death March', back to Chris' car and a long sleepy ride home for me.

And that is more or less it... We had a great time, but I think our scope was just too wide. Next time, less stops, less walking and more laughs...

In the future I want to do just a Brooklyn trip, which will of course include Barcade and Brooklyn Brewery. I'd love to get more suggestions from some of my fellow beer travelers out there. (hint hint) What else is good in Brooklyn? Does anyone know if Green Point (Kelso) gives tours? They wont return my calls or emails...

If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment on this post with your thoughts.

In case you missed the early parts of this tour check them out here!

• New York City Beer Tour Part 1
• Part 1.2: Brooklyn Brewery images
  
• A final video clip from Brooklyn Brewery
• New York City Beer Tour Part 2
• Part 2.2: A couple clips from McSorley's
• And your viewing Part 3 now!
  

Brooklyn Brewery's Tasting room

One more image from Brooklyn Brewery... I wanted to get a shot of the bar-keep pouring me a tasty beverage. This one was a Brooklyn Brewery's Pennant Ale. A well balanced American Pale Ale... Might need to pick up a six pack of this!

NYC Beer Tour (part 1.2) Brooklyn Brewery

OK, I got an envelope in the mail last night from Chris with a CD full of images and a couple of video clips from our recent New York City Beer Tour. Thanks Chris!!!

I got tired of waiting for the images so I posted Part 1 of the tour last week here. I hope you enjoy the images from Brooklyn Brewery!!! More to come on the rest of the tour, so stay tuned!

This was the first sign that we were heading in the right direction...

Chris and I are enjoying a tasty beverage at the Brooklyn Brewery, in case you're blind... Then again, if you are you can't read this either.
Never mind then...

A closer shot of Chris and I enjoying some of Brooklyn Brewery's fine products... Beer makes Chris happy, can't you tell?

Our friendly Brooklyn Brewery tour guide gave us a detailed history on the company and the beer. She also explained the whole process, but sadly offered no free samples...
Friendly, but stingy...

Brewing in Brooklyn is a little more technical than it is in my kitchen.
I'm told the green button adds hops...

Thirsty beer-zombies stager into the brewing area for the big tour...
"More brains! I mean, MORE BEER!"

Kenn pauses for a moment as he leaves the brewery, convinced he saw a Brooklyn Brewery Oompa Loompa off in the distance...
Have another drink Kenn!

I need to get me a setup like this for the kitchen... Maybe in the next house?
Then again, this may be a little over kill...

The lonely Bar-Keep wasn't lonely for long at the Brooklyn Brewery tasting room. 8 outstanding beers on tap, and more available in the bottle too...

Just some tasty beer, sitting around Brooklyn Brewery with no one to love it. Poor beer, all it ever wanted was to be loved, and you wouldn't let it...
Maybe the lonely bar keep can give the beer the attention it so desperately desires...

Me posing with my new Brooklyn Brewery glasses on my way to the car before we hoofed it all the way to Barcade...

More on the big NYC trip is to come!!!

I love New York, and I love beer (Part 1)

Garrett Oliver on the cover of BeerAdvocate's August issue.

Sorry for the delay, but I've been waiting for the pictures and video clips from Chris... Well, minus a couple he sent me, I'm still waiting... My wife accidentally broke my camera a few weeks ago, so I had to borrow his. And then wait for him to mail me a CD. We're so old school, who uses mail? I'll update this post later with more images.

New York has always been and will probably always be my favorite city. It's huge and within it's vast boundaries there's so much to take in, including beer. So, after sharing a few bottles of my latest home brewed beer, I made the trek out to the Big Apple with some old friends (Chris and Kenn) this past Saturday. Our mission was to scout out the city and find some great places to enjoy great beer.

In retrospect, I should have cut my New York City Beer Tour in two. I think Brooklyn could stand on it's two feet as a great place to enjoy great beer. Not to mention Brooklyn is home to two breweries, Brooklyn Brewery and Greenpoint Beer Works. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to visit the later.

I made several attempts to contact the folks at Greenpoint Beer Works, but they never got back to me. If you're reading this, please shoot me an email or leave a comment. I would love to tour your brewery!

As we located the Brooklyn Brewery with the help of my trusty GPS, we took this opportunity to ditch our car. Actually it was Chris' car. At least one of us was brave enough to leave his ride unattended in Brooklyn for most of the day and night. Thanks Chris. The rest of our day would consist of walking, subways, more walking and some beer, crappy weather be damned! Brooklyn Brewery was a good time, and the perfect place for us to start our adventure on that rainy morning. I was amused to find that I have something uniquely in common with Steve Hindy, one of the two founders of the brewery.

He and I have both spent our fair share of time in the Middle East, and know the woes that come with spending time in a culture where beer is taboo. I was chatting with my companions in the car on the way to New York, explaining how my blog has had a number of hits from Iran, Iraq and many of the other neighboring Middle Eastern nations. I speculated that these hits were from oppressed locals or thirsty American and British contractors, searching the web for home brewing how-to's. After hearing the history and back story of Brooklyn Brewery, I think I may be right. Check out this exert from their brief history.

In 1984, Associated Press correspondent Steve Hindy returned from a six-year stint in the Middle East and settled in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Hindy had caught the homebrewing bug from diplomats stationed in Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where alcoholic beverages were forbidden. With his downstairs neighbor, Tom Potter, a former lending officer at Chemical Bank, Hindy quit his job and founded The Brooklyn Brewery. Their initial goal was to bring good beer back to New York City.

The bottom line was, they learned to love home brewing in the Middle East, the birth place of beer, where it now stands as an illegal practice to consume. Now that's irony! These guys quit their day jobs, followed their dreams, and successfully opened their own brewery. I may have some new personal heroes here. If you're interested in learning more about the Brooklyn Brewery story, you might want to pick up a copy of "Beer School", I plan to...

Also from Brooklyn Brewery is Garrett Oliver, author of "The Brewmaster's Table", who recently had this little editorial, "Don't Fear Big Beer" in the New York Times. In it, Oliver offers up this warning to his fellow craft brewers...

MillerCoors is not a threat to craft brewers but a warning: we should not walk the road of overexpansion or be tempted by the lowest common denominator of the mass market. Miller, Coors and Anheuser-Busch were once small breweries making fine local beer, too.

If we truly want to restore the vibrant beer culture that flourished in this country before Prohibition, craft brewers need to retain the values and goals — creating beers that are flavorful, interesting to drink and made from proper beer ingredients — that put us on the map in the first place. Let’s not undo American beer again.

The tour was a brief walk and talk session that went over the companies history, and the basics of how the brewing process works followed by some Q&A. They invite you to grab a cup of beer from the tasting room and enjoy their product throughout the tour. We were happy to oblige them.

Take note: The beer is not free, but if you purchase "beer tokens" in bulk (7 tokens for $20 = $2.86 a beer, unless you opt for a glass of the Local 1) you can get a fair share of quality beer for a fair price. After the tour was complete, we headed over to the tasting room for more beer.

Me (up top) and Kenn, looking lame in the brewery.
Sadly Mr. Wonka did not give me the brewery at the end of the tour.

The tasting room is nothing to write home about, with the exception of the fine variety of Brooklyn beers they have on tap and the friendly people enjoying them there. They had approximately 8 different beers on tap and some special beers on bottle, including the Local 1. The Local 1 cost 3 tokens, but you got a special gold rimmed glass to drink it from and take home. The beer was pretty damn good too, a trip to the brewery would not be complete without sampling this treat.

Me (on left), Chris (middle) and Kenn (right) after a few samples... Man I'm a tired looking sack!

What makes Local 1 unique is that it undergoes bottle re-fermentation. Check out the video on the Brooklyn Brewery web page that shows the entire bottling process. Unfortunately, there was no bottling going on the day we were there, I asked... They said no...

According to BeerAdvocate Local 1 is a Saison/Farmhouse Ale.

Description:
Saisons are sturdy farmhouse ale that was traditionally brewed in the winter, to be consumed throughout the summer months. Not so long ago it was close to being an endangered style, but over recent years there's been a massive revival; especially in the US.

This is a very complex style, many are very fruit in the aroma and flavor. Look for earthy yeast tones, mild to moderate tartness. Lot of spice and with a medium bitterness. They tend to be semi-dry with many only having touch of sweetness.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.0-8.0%

In this case, the abv was a whopping 9%! Later on I'll post a couple reviews based on some chicken scratch notes Kenn and I took after already downing a few tasting beers that day...

As stated above, the folks in the tasting room were very friendly. When they saw us drinking beer and taking notes, people were curious about what we were doing. I ignored them at first, but finally I said hello and introduced myself. From there a couple of great conversations took place. We even got some recommendations on additional places to stop on our tour, including Mcsorley's. But more to follow on that a little later...

After using the rest of our beer tokens, we wished Brooklyn Brewery a fond farewell, promising to return again some day with more friends in tow. Our next stop, according to my Google map, was Barcade. After a longer than expected walk through Brooklyn, we found it, but sadly we were too early. Barcade was closed. So we decided to follow our new friends' recommendation and locate Mcsorely's. The GPS came in very handy here, as did Chris' subway knowledge...

Stay tuned for the next installment: Mcsorely's, Hop Devil Grill and beyond...

American Beer (the movie)

I stumbled upon something cool on YouTube this afternoon... American Beer (the movie) Check it out!

In June of 2002, five friends left New York City by minivan and traveled across the United States in search of good beer, visiting 38 breweries in 40 days.

Directed and produced by Paul Kermizian, American Beer follows Jon Miller, Jeremy Goldberg, Richard Sterling, Rob Purvis and Paul during their 40 day, 38 brewery journey as they tour breweries and brewpubs, interview leaders of the craft brewing industry, taste beer, get drunk, get lost, get speeding tickets, get poison oak, check into hotels, check out of hotels, argue, bicker, fight, and generally lose their minds. They defy the limits of the human body (and mind) by drinking beer for 40 straight days while traveling over 10,000 miles. Thankfully, it was all very good beer.

I gotta get a copy of this one! And I want to be in the sequel!

NYC Beer Tour (V1.0) this Saturday

This Saturday I'm heading out to the Big Apple for my first attempt at a NYC Beer Tour. I've managed to talk a couple of buddies that I've known since college to come along with me. They've seen me at my worst, when Natty Ice was my idea of quality. Hey, it was college, I was broke and I didn't know any better...



I have a hand full of stops already mapped out with the help of Google Maps. Thanks to the BeerPirate for some great location suggestions. But I'm open to more, so if you're from NYC or at least know of some must go places for enjoying the New York beer scene, please let me know.

I was a little disappointed in the brewery selection in NY. You have Brooklyn Brewery, which will be my first stop, but apparently they charge for each beer, no free tastings like Sam Adams or Harpoon. I called the Chelsea Brewing Co. and while they do offer free tours M-F, they charge... brace yourself... $75 for a tour on Saturday! let me say that again, $75!!! That's not including the tasting, that's an additional $10 a piece... Good god!

Six Point Craft Ales seems to be hibernating or something at the moment... So perhaps I'll hit them up on a later NYC trip. There's also Greenpoint Beer Works but I have not been able to get a hold of them yet... Besides that, there's a brewery or two on Long Island, but I want to stick close to the city, so they'll need to wait a bit before I visit them...

This leaves me with some cool bars to hit like Barcade and the Millennium Hilton Hotel bar, which in and of itself isn't that cool, but it offers an outstanding nearly bird's eye view of Ground Zero and doesn't seem to ever be super busy. I'll be sure to toast those we lost on 9-11 from my favorite booth. I may stop at Moran's for a quick pint, this is another 9-11 connected favorite spot of mine, but I'll save that story for later. There's a number of other places I may stop at, but I wont spill all the beans now.

If our time and budget allows we may hit the Brewtopia: the Great World Beer Festival. But we haven't decided just yet. Like I said above, if you have any recommendations, please let me know by Friday night this week so I can add them to the list.

More to follow...

Homebrewbeer.net's Boston Beer Tour Part 3

All roads lead to beer...

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't already done so...

My original plan for the Boston Beer Tour included some stops at historic pubs along the way. A great way to sample some of Boston's bar scene, while learning a little about Boston's past. But, the best laid plans of mice and men...

After our Boston Brewery (Sam Adams) tour, we skipped Doyle's Cafe and high-tailed it across town to the Harpoon Brewery. Some of our fellow travelers were too anxious to wait for the next tour. I was a little annoyed at my master plan being altered, but that's par for the course when it comes to group activities and group dynamics.

The gang in the Harpoon tasting room.

Beer Tour Tip # 1
If you're really into beer, and the plan, beware who you take with you. And if your friends are single guys, keep in mind the single females that are with you will have more influence than you will. That maybe true if the genders are swapped, but I couldn't be sure. If anyone has any insight, feel free to chime in.

What did we miss? Not really sure...
Doyle's Cafe has supposedly seen quite few famous people, including politicians, enjoying a good pint. It's also served as the backdrop for different TV shows and movies. My thought was it was near the brewery, it's recommended by the brewery, it's a well known cool place to grab a brew and some good bar chow, and it's historical. Why not stop in? I thought a bite to eat would slow the pace of the day down just enough so we could get Harpoon with out the fear of too much beer, too early in the day. But "they" wouldn't have it... So off to Harpoon we went, while I bit my tongue...

It was intended to look like we were holding the sign up,
instead we look like Barker's Beauties from the Price is Right.

We got to Harpoon a little early for the next tour. Too early for the anxious females in our group, although they were in a hurry to get there and skip Doyle's Cafe. If we stuck to my plan, we would have had a good lunch and then made it to Harpoon for the slightly later tour at exactly the right time, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

When we last left our hero, he was battling the diabolical Lobster...

A brief interlude
We were there early enough to walk down the street and grab a beer at a small deli, but not early enough to sit and eat. The funny thing was, they wouldn't serve us beer unless we ate something. So we ordered a small order of coleslaw and a handful of plastic forks.

May I have this dance?

We didn't eat the coleslaw, but after a few dances with the giant lobster in front of the place, we drank the beers over a brisk walk back to Harpoon. This was a little challenging as we had to avoid the attention of the nice Boston Police Officer in the next parking lot who would probably take issue with us drinking beer on our walk. We got back to Harpoon just in time for a quick pit stop and then we were ready for the tour.

Behold the power of beer!

What ever you do, don't push the red button!

"You mean the brewery is all mine now Mr. Wonka?"

Onto to the Harpoon tour!
Now to be clear, Harpoon doesn't really do tours, not really. We could look at brewery floor from behind a red rope, and the folks that worked there gave us a run down of the company's history and current state of affairs. After that, they opened the tasting room and gave us nearly unlimited free samples of 12 different beers they had on tap. (Remember kids, drink in moderation, it's about quality and no quantity!!!)

Harpoon has this cool wall of beer set up.
Beer cans from a tone of different companies, it was beautiful, I had to take a few photos.

Man! We look a little light in the loafers in this pic!

It was at this point that Dave, Erik and the ladies chipped in and purchased me a cool Harpoon tap handle as a thank you to me for planning the day. What a cool surprise! Frankly I was touched... I felt like Sally Field wining the Oscar, "You like me, you really like me!"

"You like me, you really like me!"

Just a cool photo I took of a ship just out side where we had lunch

The gang at lunch, and more or less the untimely end of my Boston Beer Tour...

When the party, I mean tour, was over, we went to a restaurant down the street, instead of the Bell in Hand, the next stop in my original plan. Apparently the girls were in a hurry to eat, and then move on. Much to the chagrin of my buddies, they had other plans for the evening. Plans that didn't include the rest of my beer tour, or any of us, but did include visiting an ex-boyfriend and crashing at his apartment after a night on the town with him. We discovered all of this as we ate our lunch. They were rushing us, so they could move onto phase 2 of their diabolical plan.

"Don't make me destroy you!"

Now don't get me wrong...
Dave and Erik weren't trying to have a romantic interlude with our female friends. And the girls were a lot of fun, I'm exaggerating here for comic effect. (mostly) A little artistic license if you will. But they did kind of alter our plans significantly and they did end up more or less ditching us for the ex... But to be honest, we all had a hand in ruining the day. It all happened the night before...

Beer Tour Tip # 2
Don't go out really late the night before an all day beer tour. Because that's exactly what we all did the night before this tour. A friend's sister was leaving for her home country the next morning, so we treated her to an American night out on the town. Completely stupid. The lack of sleep, the heavy meal, it all kicked in, and it was time to take a nap.

The plan is all history now...
I had planned on taking the lead from this guy, and finishing the day off with a historic walking beer tour. We weren't going to take his tour, but we were going to wing it and do it on our own. Instead, we ended up getting a couple hotel rooms, napping and then hitting a dueling piano bar near Fenway (LOL!). The next morning we drove home. Anti-climactic isn't it?

On our way to the hotel we drove by "Cheers"...

Looking to the future...
I still think the over all plan is a solid one. And I will make another attempt at the historic beer tour starting with the Bell in Hand. But I think I'll hold off until next year. Now, I have my eyes focused on Connecticut and New York City.

Stay tuned!

And they lived happily ever after, the end...

Waiting eagerly to crack open my brew

My most recent attempt at home brewing is nearly complete. The beer has been bottled and has been conditioning in basement for about a week or so now. I should be able to crack one open in next Sunday and see how I did. Although I'm told a few extra weeks of conditioning would make it all the better.

In the mean time I've got to get back to the gym. After a 4 day stint on sick leave, and then a 3 day weekend of none stop work, there hasn't been a great deal of time in the schedule for me to workout, and I've been eating poorly the entire time. We ordered Chinese food last night, That General Tso gets me all the time...

I think I'll take my beer's lead and spend the next week conditioning. In this case I will not be sitting in my dark basement waiting for my taste to improve, but I will be working out and more closely monitoring my diet (beer included) over at my traineo page.

Stay tuned for my brew results and the final installment of my Boston Beer Tour.

Things to Look Forward to

Once I get done blogging about my recent Boston Beer Tour, I will begin to plan the next big Beer Tour.

The Big Apple Beer Tour
I plan on setting something up for New York City, so if you have a favorite micro-brewery or brewpub in NYC, please let me know and I'll consider it for the next road trip.

The Connecticut Beer Trail
Living in CT, I've heard a ton about the so called CT wine trail. They have a website, and signs all over the state. The different wineries actually work together to drive customers their way. I just don't get why the beer makers don't do the same thing. this is where I come in... I'm going to do my own CT Beer Trail thing right here on this site. Here's a sneak peek at the brewereis in CT and where they are in the state. My plan is to hit a couple of these individually as a fact finding mission, and then set up a weekend deal where I hit all of them and maybe a few choice pubs along the way.


View Larger Map

And the breweries are as follows:

• Cottrell Brewing Co, in Pawcatuck, CT
• New England Brewing Co, in Woodbridge, CT
• Olde Burnside Brewing, in East Hartford, CT
• Thomas Hooker Brewing Company, in Bloomfield, CT

Now there are a few other so called contract breweries in CT, but I'm not really sure what that means. Do any of you? Like what's the deal with Streichs Brewing Co, tehre's a few more but they seem to lead to dead ends on the internet... Anyone have a clue? Did I miss any breweries in CT? Please let me know!

Homebrewbeer.net's Boston Beer Tour Part 2

A photo in the dimly lit tasting room. We snagged the table next to the bar and shared it with an older couple and a younger couple. The great thing was the older couple was not intent on drinking as much beer as possible, leaving more for us! Those poor saps behind us didn't get a table because they dragged their feet getting into the tasting room! Suckers!

Another photo in the tasting room. Dave was trying to work the female tour guide/bar tender, hoping to score another pitcher. No dice, but good try Dave!

The Sam Adam's Brewery Tour

The Sam Adam's Brewery tour is simply a great time for any beer lover. But, before you get touring and sampling, you need to find the place. This is a challenge, even on my second trip to the brewery. (Check out the pics from my first visit here!) My buddy Erik purchased a GPS enabled cell phone the day before and we relied heavily on it to find our way to this beer lovers mecca. Honestly, leave home early, because you WILL get lost, even with a GPS. But the adventure getting there will only make you enjoy the tasting portion of the trip all the more.

Once you get there and park, you find your way to the proper building and get in line for a a mini walking and talking tour of the surprisingly small facility. The tour kicks off with a promotional introduction video featuring the man himself, Jim Koch. It's a little goofy, but it's clear Jim Koch's personality is the other driving force behind Sam Adam's success. (The first being the great beer!)

As the tour goes on you learn about Mr. Koch's family history of brewing and how his great-great-grandfather (a brewer himself from St. Louis) created the recipe that would one day be renamed Samuel Adams Boston Lager. A little later you get to taste some barley, which taste like grape nuts, and you get to smell some sample hops and discuss how the primary ingredients are used along with water to make some fine beer.

There's a brief discussion on beer styles, and the key qualities of beer including taste, aroma, complexity, body, smoothness, finish, and balance. After that, you get to look closer at some of the large vats used to make the beer. But by now the free beer, just a few feet away in one of the tasting rooms, begins to call my name. It's at that moment that I begin to shuffle closer to where I know, from my previous visit, the door to the free beer is.

Now, I want to stress here how important it is for you to take your time, learn from the tour and participate by asking questions. You might help one of your lesser knowledgeable tour mates learn a thing or two. Having said that, I have a trick or two in mind to help you score the most free samples you can get. I'll tell about them, but you gotta promise not to tell anyone about them or where you learned them. It'll be our little secret, ok?