JulianB1
Well-Known Member
In case you were worried, this isn't going to be some long philosophical pontification about craft beer. Instead, I'm going to cut straight to the point. I spent 5 days on one of the greatest road trips of my life, hitting Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Vermont, New York, Raleigh, and back home, in that order. 2000+ miles put on the rental car, nights spent on couches, floors, and sleeping in a car at a rest area, and I'd do it all again in a second for the experience I got. By the end of it, I got to visit some magical places and drink some amazing beers, but the thing I'll remember most is the generosity, camaraderie, and friendliness of everyone I met (or in the case of Bluecane, got to see again) along the way. You guys all made this a special weekend-plus that I'll never forget. In no particular order, huge thanks to:
vonnegut21 for letting Adam and I crash at his place on Thursday night at 1:30am, for sharing some incredible beers with us in Vermont, and for basically acting as our Vermont tour guide. Also for giving me his 4-pack of Heady and a 4-pack of Ghandi Bot when we left his place on Saturday. Mike is everything great about the craft beer community.
xnicknj for meeting me at Tired Hands in Philly for some great beers and possibly an even better panini on Thursday night as I put in a 17 hour day of driving. Cheers Nick!
Shaun Hill and Hill Farmstead for brewing the best beers in the country (and maybe the world) that I finally got to enjoy fresh from the source. And all the places in Waterbury and Montpelier that had their beers (and tons of others) on draft to enjoy.
Bluecane for being an awesome friend who let me crash on his dorm room floor at NYU, showed me some cool locales in New York, and was with me for one of the best weekends ever.
GrumpyOldTroll, jbuddle, NYCBUCKEYE, Quackus, and any others I forgot for an unforgettable afternoon/evening at Torst. Huge thanks to Josh for sharing the 2012 BCBCS growler with us, and his raspberry sour homebrew which was superb! It was a pleasure and an honor to finally meet you guys, share some great beers, and most of us all have some great conversation. I practically fell over when Mike and I discussed our shared family roots/origins. He named cities I didn't think anyone else but me knew about...
EricTheRed for hosting the most epic tasting I've ever been a part of, Quackus, franch, and everyone else who was there (sorry if I don't remember user names) and shared beers with us, including several I've wanted to try for ages and others I'd resigned myself to never trying. You know it's going to be a special night when you walk in the door, do a round of introductions, and are immediately offered a pour of Rare. I owe all of you guys some great beers and I intend to send up some nice southeast stuff as well as any of my homebrewed sours and saisons that turn out well.
Anyone I forgot to mention specifically by name/user handle. There are a few of you, and even though I couldn't remember your username on here, I do remember how much fun it was to hang out and talk.
I feel really privileged to be a part of this community and this trip just reinforced what an amazing group of people we have on this website that have come together to share a mutual passion for craft beer. You guys made my weekend, my year, and my craft beer lifetime and I'll never forget it. Thank you all again so much.
Some photos:
The bacon, arugula, and tomato panini at Tired Hands, along with some of their many delicious beers. This meal and place is to die for.
Finally, Hill Farmstead. A moment I've been dreaming about for years.
Great friends makes for a great visit to HF. The absurdly short line (we showed up at opening, were 3rd in line, and made it through the growler line twice by 1:15!) didn't hurt either...
A double cheeseburger with peanut butter and jalapeno peppers at Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier, along with a glass of Everett. Does it get any better?
Damn ****ing right.
[
Abner fresh on draft. If there's a better beer on earth I'd like to taste it.
Thanks to vonnegut21 for sharing bottles of these beautiful beers with us in Waterbury. Birth of Tragedy is just out of this world delicious.
Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock on draft at Torst. $14 for a 5oz pour and worth every single cent of it.
Pappy Van Winkle Black Magick was probably the highlight of the Saturday tasting, beer-wise. The real highlight was spending hours of quality time with such a great group of people.
The reuben at Katz' deli. I'll have more to say about this in the reuben thread.
And for something completely different.
The one non-beer moment of the trip that really mattered: my first visit to Ground Zero. Over a decade later and I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I had tears in my eyes the entire time I was there. If you've never visited, please try to do so. Honor the memories of those who lost their lives and reflect on how the world changed on that day. You owe it to yourself to experience the emotions first-hand if, like for me, it was one of the most significant world events of your lifetime.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
vonnegut21 for letting Adam and I crash at his place on Thursday night at 1:30am, for sharing some incredible beers with us in Vermont, and for basically acting as our Vermont tour guide. Also for giving me his 4-pack of Heady and a 4-pack of Ghandi Bot when we left his place on Saturday. Mike is everything great about the craft beer community.
xnicknj for meeting me at Tired Hands in Philly for some great beers and possibly an even better panini on Thursday night as I put in a 17 hour day of driving. Cheers Nick!
Shaun Hill and Hill Farmstead for brewing the best beers in the country (and maybe the world) that I finally got to enjoy fresh from the source. And all the places in Waterbury and Montpelier that had their beers (and tons of others) on draft to enjoy.
Bluecane for being an awesome friend who let me crash on his dorm room floor at NYU, showed me some cool locales in New York, and was with me for one of the best weekends ever.
GrumpyOldTroll, jbuddle, NYCBUCKEYE, Quackus, and any others I forgot for an unforgettable afternoon/evening at Torst. Huge thanks to Josh for sharing the 2012 BCBCS growler with us, and his raspberry sour homebrew which was superb! It was a pleasure and an honor to finally meet you guys, share some great beers, and most of us all have some great conversation. I practically fell over when Mike and I discussed our shared family roots/origins. He named cities I didn't think anyone else but me knew about...
EricTheRed for hosting the most epic tasting I've ever been a part of, Quackus, franch, and everyone else who was there (sorry if I don't remember user names) and shared beers with us, including several I've wanted to try for ages and others I'd resigned myself to never trying. You know it's going to be a special night when you walk in the door, do a round of introductions, and are immediately offered a pour of Rare. I owe all of you guys some great beers and I intend to send up some nice southeast stuff as well as any of my homebrewed sours and saisons that turn out well.
Anyone I forgot to mention specifically by name/user handle. There are a few of you, and even though I couldn't remember your username on here, I do remember how much fun it was to hang out and talk.
I feel really privileged to be a part of this community and this trip just reinforced what an amazing group of people we have on this website that have come together to share a mutual passion for craft beer. You guys made my weekend, my year, and my craft beer lifetime and I'll never forget it. Thank you all again so much.
Some photos:
The bacon, arugula, and tomato panini at Tired Hands, along with some of their many delicious beers. This meal and place is to die for.
Finally, Hill Farmstead. A moment I've been dreaming about for years.
Great friends makes for a great visit to HF. The absurdly short line (we showed up at opening, were 3rd in line, and made it through the growler line twice by 1:15!) didn't hurt either...
A double cheeseburger with peanut butter and jalapeno peppers at Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier, along with a glass of Everett. Does it get any better?
Damn ****ing right.
[
Abner fresh on draft. If there's a better beer on earth I'd like to taste it.
Thanks to vonnegut21 for sharing bottles of these beautiful beers with us in Waterbury. Birth of Tragedy is just out of this world delicious.
Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock on draft at Torst. $14 for a 5oz pour and worth every single cent of it.
Pappy Van Winkle Black Magick was probably the highlight of the Saturday tasting, beer-wise. The real highlight was spending hours of quality time with such a great group of people.
The reuben at Katz' deli. I'll have more to say about this in the reuben thread.
And for something completely different.
The one non-beer moment of the trip that really mattered: my first visit to Ground Zero. Over a decade later and I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I had tears in my eyes the entire time I was there. If you've never visited, please try to do so. Honor the memories of those who lost their lives and reflect on how the world changed on that day. You owe it to yourself to experience the emotions first-hand if, like for me, it was one of the most significant world events of your lifetime.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
