Just spent a long weekend in the White Mountains of NH with my wife for our 12th Anniversary. Stayed at a nice B&B, drove to the top of Mt. Washington, hiked a bunch of trails, saw a moose...and drank a lot of local craft beer. The beer wasn't part of the original plan, it just sort of happened that way.
First, on our way up through Boston, we decided to stop in at Harpoon for their tour/tasting. The place was packed. For $5 you get a nice tour - which includes two samples while on the tour, including their IPA direct from the conditioning tank - followed by 30 minutes of tasting their various beers. I had the cider, Munich Dark, Imperial IPA, Pott's Landbier (the most recent of their 100 Barrel Series ), and Triticus, their Wheat Wine (simply amazing).
Then, our first night at dinner, we had Moat Mountain's Czech Pilsner and Tuckerman's Headwall Altbier. The pilsner was good, but we brought a case of the Tuckerman Alt home with us. Next day, while driving along the Kancamagus Highway (where we saw the moose), we decided to detour through North Woodstock and stop in at the Woodstock Inn Brewery for an excellent plate of nachos and a couple of beers. I had their Pemi Pale Ale on cask and my wife had the Old Man Oatmeal Stout. The Pemi was very good and the stout was outstanding - should have grabbed a growler before we left, but for some reason, opted not to.
Our last day, since we were in no rush to get back home (kids were with the in-laws), we decided to detour through Maine, stopping in at Seadog Brewing Co. in Topsham on the way to our alma mater in Brunswick. Beautiful location - right on the Androscoggin River. I had their Golden Ale - nice, but rather unremarkable. My wife had their Hazelnut Porter, which was very good - smooth, perhaps a bit too sweet, but very tasty. We ended the vacation with dinner at the Great Lost Bear in Portland, ME. With over 60 beers on tap, it was hard to choose, so I opted to go with four 5oz samplers - all local Maine beers - Andrew's Brewing Old English Ale, Sheepscot Valley Pemaquid Ale, Sheepscot Boothbay Bitter (on cask), and Sebago's Frye's Leap IPA. All were good - the Sebago IPA though was the best.
Pretty awesome way to spend an Anniversary. It's good to have a wife that loves beer as much, if not more, than I do and has absolutely zero problem spending our vacation sampling the local beer scene!
First, on our way up through Boston, we decided to stop in at Harpoon for their tour/tasting. The place was packed. For $5 you get a nice tour - which includes two samples while on the tour, including their IPA direct from the conditioning tank - followed by 30 minutes of tasting their various beers. I had the cider, Munich Dark, Imperial IPA, Pott's Landbier (the most recent of their 100 Barrel Series ), and Triticus, their Wheat Wine (simply amazing).
Then, our first night at dinner, we had Moat Mountain's Czech Pilsner and Tuckerman's Headwall Altbier. The pilsner was good, but we brought a case of the Tuckerman Alt home with us. Next day, while driving along the Kancamagus Highway (where we saw the moose), we decided to detour through North Woodstock and stop in at the Woodstock Inn Brewery for an excellent plate of nachos and a couple of beers. I had their Pemi Pale Ale on cask and my wife had the Old Man Oatmeal Stout. The Pemi was very good and the stout was outstanding - should have grabbed a growler before we left, but for some reason, opted not to.
Our last day, since we were in no rush to get back home (kids were with the in-laws), we decided to detour through Maine, stopping in at Seadog Brewing Co. in Topsham on the way to our alma mater in Brunswick. Beautiful location - right on the Androscoggin River. I had their Golden Ale - nice, but rather unremarkable. My wife had their Hazelnut Porter, which was very good - smooth, perhaps a bit too sweet, but very tasty. We ended the vacation with dinner at the Great Lost Bear in Portland, ME. With over 60 beers on tap, it was hard to choose, so I opted to go with four 5oz samplers - all local Maine beers - Andrew's Brewing Old English Ale, Sheepscot Valley Pemaquid Ale, Sheepscot Boothbay Bitter (on cask), and Sebago's Frye's Leap IPA. All were good - the Sebago IPA though was the best.
Pretty awesome way to spend an Anniversary. It's good to have a wife that loves beer as much, if not more, than I do and has absolutely zero problem spending our vacation sampling the local beer scene!
