This was my first solo brewery trip since before the pandemic. It had been 2½ years and I was ready to start traveling again.
Tuesday June 7.
My first stop was AleCraft Brewery, which I had never been to before.
It started out as a homebrew shop in 2013, and expanded into commercial brewing in 2017. They were planning to
open another location in Railroad PA a few months later with a 7-barrel system (the system at this location is
2½ barrels). The beers I had were hit or miss.
Le Renard (marginal IPA)
Reviction (marginal DIPA)
Crucible (good triple aged on sour cherries in a cabernet sauviugnon barrel) (4th anniversary ale)
Are You Experienced? (pretty good low ABV NEIPA)
Less than a mile away is
Independent Brewing, where I had been three years earlier on
my New Jersey / New York trip. Everything they make is
gluten-reduced (they use Clarity-Ferm and other gluten reducers). They had 20+ beers on tap, plus a couple of
kombuchas, a root beer, and a nitro brewed coffee. The first time I visited I didn't
like their beers very much, but since they weren't out of my way I figured I'd give them another try.
All the beers I tried this time were pretty good:
Carpe Diem (DIPA)
The Juice is Loose (strawberry milkshake NEIPA)
Basic Bees (saison with honey)
Conflict of Interest (barleywine)
Then I went to visit my friends Mike and Virginia in Chadds Ford PA. There are several breweries along the way
that I'd never been to and would have liked to stop at, such as Double Groove, Falling Branch, Slate Farm,
Be Here, Braeloch, Kennett, and Dew Point, but they were all closed on Tuesdays. Another one, Bog Turtle,
wouldn't open until 4:00.
After getting settled in, Mike and I went to
Wilmington Brew Works, which opened in 2018.
They had several marginal hazy pales
but some good beers in other styles. We sampled:
Mexcelente (Mexican lager)
Woo-Hoo (hazy pale)
Golden Hopsmelt ("northeast" IPA)
Recreational Gravity (NEIPA)
International Incident (good witbier)
Appointed Rounds (hazy pale)
Organik Amplitude (hazy pale)
Blackmail (blackberry cuvee IPA)
Vacation Surprise ("yacht deck" sour)
Duvette - Blackberry Vanilla (good fruit sour)
A few minutes away is Stitch House Brewery, which
opened in 2017. Parking was
a bit sparse but we lucked into a spot right in front. We ate some good food (garlic parmesan fries and
a chicken cheesesteak) and sampled:
Sho' Nuff Stout (meh)
Dumpster Fire (good rauchbier)
Bitter Thoughts (ESB)
Run for the Pils (good German pilsner)
Furio (good Italian pilsner)
Big Stitch Nick (pale ale)
Tribiscus (hibiscus triple)
Don't Worry Be Hoppy (good crisp IPA)
Drago (Russian imperial stout)
Boysen the Hood (fruit sour)
Nic Cage in the urinal.
After we got back I crashed fairly early.
Wednesday June 8. Had a relaxing day hanging out, working on this triplog, lifting some weights, and
napping while Mike worked until late afternoon. Then we went to
Tired Hands Fermentaria, where I had been
twice before (1,
2). They had just celebrated their tenth
anniversary, hence the word "Decade" in some of their beer names.
Hophands (pretty good IPA)
Shambolic (dry-hopped spelt saison) (good, funky, and tart)
2019 Freedom from the Known (cherry saison) (good and more tart)
Decade Double IPA (quite good DIPA with 10 kinds of hops)
LUKR: Decade Pale Lager (pretty good lager with 10 different grains)
Alien Church (pretty good NEIPA)
Decade Triple Vanilla Milkshake IPA (good and quite vanilla-y)
Passionfruit Milkshake IPA (good and tart)
Pineal (fairly good oat and honey IPA)
The word "LUKR" refers to a Czech-style faucet that the Decade Pale Lager was served through.
Opening the side faucet handle just a little
creates foam, and completely opening the faucet provides a typical flow of beer. A micro screen inside the
faucet aerates the beer in a similar fashion to a nitro faucet. Our server gave us "milk pours" of it by
opening the handle just a little, and he instructed us to chug them, which we did. It was interesting
and kind of neat to chug foam.
LUKR tap (front).
LUKR tap (side).
Milk pour.
Then we went to
2SP Brewing, which is off the beaten path so there weren't
many people there. (There is also the 2SP Tap House off a
main road in Chadds Ford.) 2SP refers to
Two Stones Pub, which started the brewery in 2015.
We sampled several beers and got a tasty chicken cheesesteak stromboli delivered from a nearby business
called Cocco's.
Patina (good Brettanomyces saison)
Delco Lager
Pony Boi (golden lager)
Up, Up, & Away (good juicy NEDIPA)
Back and Forth (good hazy pale ale)
Up & Out (NEIPA)
Baby Bob (very roasty stout)
The Russian (good Russian imperial stout)
They have a LUKR faucet too.
Crashed soon after getting back.
Thursday June 9. A nice warm and mostly sunny morning. Left around 8:30 and arrived at
District 96 Beer Factory about 11:15.
Their taproom wouldn't open until later but there is a place next door called
The Burger Loft that opens at 11:00 and serves District 96 beer.
The beers got high ratings on Untappd but they were merely good. Quite often my palate disagrees with Untappd
and BeerAdvocate ratings. Anyway, I tried:
All Snake Everything (TIPA) (collaboration with Other Half)
Social Anxiety (12% ABV TIPA)
District Heights (DIPA) (collaboration with Heavy Reel)
Completely Misunderestimated (DIPA)
Then I hiked at Bear Mountain State Park.
The weather forecast had called for rain but it was mostly sunny and warm. Normally there is a $10
park entry fee but no one was collecting money. Perhaps they were short-staffed. The previous weekend I
was at a park in Maryland that wasn't collecting fees due to being short-staffed. Anyway, the hike
starts out on pavement by Hessian Lake (Hessians were German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the
British Army during the American Revolutionary War). Then you take the Major Welch Trail, which is
very steep and rocky -- one of the steepest trails I've ever hiked. Not sure whether these photos
convey the steepness:
There was some nice scenery and occasional deer.
The pinnacle of this hike is
Perkins Memorial Tower, whose steps you can climb and get
some nice views.
There is a flat rocky area near the tower that offers some good views as well.
There is an inn next to the main parking area, so I went in and snapped a few photos.
Transient Atmospheric Phenomenon IV (DIPA) (collaboration with Equilibrium)
Amorphia (strawberry/vanilla sour IPA)
Just 5 minutes away is Industrial Arts Brewing.
They have two locations; I went to their
Beacon location, which opened in 2019 (their
other location opened in 2016). They don't do small pours
(only 10- and 16-ounce) but they let me try small samples of a few beers. They were all fairly good.
State of the Art Vic Secret IPA
Wrench (NEIPA)
Torque Wrench (DIPA)
The guy you see sitting at the bar is one of the brewers. His name is Clancy and he gave me an impromptu tour of
the brewery. It's a pretty big operation, with big vats and lots of space. After the tour he gave me a 4-pack
to take home.
By the way, in New York there is no tax on beer. Either that or the tax is figured into the price.
It makes it easy to figure tips because you're dealing with whole dollar amounts.
I drove to
Wappingers Falls, checked into the Airbnb where I would be spending the night, and set out around 6:30
for Obercreek Brewing,
where I had also been on my New Jersey / New York trip.
I got lost on the way, which was fortunate since upon checking my phone's Google Maps app for directions,
it said that Obercreek would close at 7:00. At this point it was about 6:45 and I was almost a mile and a half
away, so I ran the entire way, arriving exactly at 7:00 drenched with sweat. (The things I do for beer!)
Fortunately the server kept the place open well past 7:00. I sampled:
Liquid Phase (good DIPA)
Sundial (good IPA)
Quartet #118 (pretty good IPA)
Since it was early I asked a few folks if there were any places in town with a good tap list.
They said the only good place was County Fare, so
I walked along Wappinger Creek...
...to County Fare. It's a standard neighborhood pub with friendly locals, none of who were availing themselves
of the craft selections. I tried small samples of
New Park Double Cloud and The Veil Broz Night Out, both of which were just okay, so I
went with a can of Other Half DDH Stacks on Stacks, which was also just okay. Was my palate growing
dull, or were most of the beers I'd had that day really not that good?
Walked back to the Airbnb and crashed.
Friday June 10. Woke up at 3:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, which was just as well since
it took more than two hours to chronicle the previous day's adventures in this triplog. I was pretty sore
from all the hiking and running. I hadn't run in well over a year due to cartilage loss in my right knee.
Left at 6:45 on a nice sunny morning. The scenery in Vermont was beautiful, with lots of greenery and
mountains. I arrived at
Lawson's Finest Liquids, where I had been three
years earlier on my New England trip, at 11:00 when they opened.
Small pours are 6 ounces, and they let me try several before deciding which to purchase pours of.
Double Sunshine (good fairly malty DIPA)
Triple Sunshine (quite good malty 10.5% ABV TIPA)
Peril (good 11.1% ABV imperial IPA that's brewed every year on their anniversary)
Hopcelot (pretty good dry IPA with 8 hop varieties)
Great Scotch! Wee Heavy (fairly good, somewhat roasty) (made at their 7-barrel brewery in Warren VT)
My favorite was the Triple Sunshine, so I bought a 4-pack.
My journey north brought me through Stowe, so naturally I had to stop at
The Alchemist. The tasting room was closed for renovations so they were
serving beer outside. They only offered full cans, not small pours, so I didn't drink anything,
but I bought a couple of 4-packs to go.
Panoramic shot of the bathroom walls.
Then it was onward to the main reason I took this trip: a weekend camping and partaking of cannabis, which
is recreationally legal in Vermont. (At the time of this writing, only medical dispensaries were in operation
in Vermont; the first recreational dispensaries were set to open in October 2022.) This is a fairly
secretive yearly event on someone's private property, and taking photos of people without their consent was
not allowed, so I will not disclose exactly where this took place, and the photos below don't show any people.
The folks who attend this event are
hashers.
I hashed a lot in the mid to late 90s, and started again in spring 2021. There were all forms of cannabis
such as flower, dab, and rosin; and various smoking/vaping contraptions, including homemade ones. Lots of
lights were strung up and also used to light the paths so our night "hashes" (basically just walks)
looked neat. There were a few events such as the Beer/Bong Mile, where you run a quarter-mile loop
4 times and either drink a beer or take a bong hit each time around. There were bonfires both nights,
and someone grilled sausages at 2:00 AM the second night. Folks wore everything from onesies
to Speedos to kilts to fanny packs to glitter. It was a great weekend
with nice, like-minded people sharing weed, food, and stories.
Sunday June 12.
Packed, ate breakfast, and left at 10:00. Arrived at
Four Quarters Brewing when they opened at 11:00. Sampled:
Space Face (good juicy DIPA)
Strikkly Vikkly (good DIPA with Vic Secret hops)
I bought a 4-pack of Strikkly Vikkly and headed down to
Fiddlehead Brewing, arriving shortly before they opened at noon,
and tried:
Second Fiddle (good DIPA)
Mastermind (pretty good hazy DIPA)
Fiddlehead IPA (good crisp, hazy, dank IPA)
I liked the Fiddlehead IPA enough to buy a 4-pack.
Of note is that 8-ounce samples were only $3, whereas at Four Quarters they charged $4 for 5-ounce samples.
After that I checked into an Airbnb and Ubered to
Foam Brewers. They had a jazz band, and the place was fairly busy.
All the beers I tried were pretty good.
House of Fermentology is a brewery located 10 miles south of Burlington. At this time they were on a brief
hiatus and all their releases were hosted by Foam Brewers.
Then I walked past the world's tallest filing cabinet...
...to Zero Gravity. The smallest pour was 10 ounces so I
only ordered one:
Madonna (pretty good DIPA)
I walked across the street to
Queen City Brewery but didn't order anything, for two reasons:
They had low Untappd ratings.
I was drunk.
I managed to Uber back to the Airbnb. I don't remember anything after that but I suppose I fell asleep
shortly thereafter, not only because I was inebriated, but also because I hadn't slept since Friday night.
Monday June 13. Woke up around midnight to pee, and again around 3:00 AM. Couldn't get back to
sleep, so around 4:00 I got up, wrote for a few hours, showered, packed, and left at 8:30. It was a nice
mostly sunny day. There was a lot of beautiful scenery in Vermont and eastern New York. There were also
some parts where I didn't get cell service, so I was glad I'd printed paper directions. I made it to the
Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga, where gas was 20 cents per gallon cheaper than in the eastern part of the state,
by 3:30 PM. I hadn't been there since the 2011 trip
I took with my long-time friend Tony. I met him at his cousin Jason's house, where I would be staying for
the next several days, just as I'd done 11 years earlier. Tony and I walked around the neighborhood, which was
built in the 1950s and has maintained the old-style look and feel. He and Jason grew up on the same street.
Tony's parents and Jason's mother live in the same houses they've been in for many decades, and Jason lives
next door to his mother.
The only photo I snapped is of an in-ground trampoline:
When Jason got back from work we ordered some great Indian food and ate at his house. A little while later
we crashed.
Tuesday June 14.
Jason's dog Chuck slept on the bed with me, which was nice because I love dogs and the only reason I don't own
one is that I travel and go to late night parties, sometimes staying overnight.
Then we went to the top of a hill that people toboggan on in winter. There are some slides that give an
accelerated start.
Next we went to the tree under which Tony had proposed to his wife 35 years earlier. It was not in the best of
health. On the left is the photo I took in 2011, and on the right is the one I took this time around.
Then we walked around for a while.
Next we drove to the Erie Basin Marina and climbed the tower to get
great views of Lake Erie.
Then we drove into downtown Buffalo. Parking was interesting. We found
a metered spot and got a bunch of quarters to put into it, but it wouldn't accept them. They wouldn't go in the
slot. I had to download an app to my phone, set up an account with a credit card, and pay to park with the app.
Anyway, we went to the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery because Tony's
nephew Alexander works there (but he wasn't there today).
It's a huge place with four levels, several bars, a rooftop deck, and
function rooms (Tony's brother's 25th wedding anniversary party was held in one of them).
The building was constructed in the 1800s. The restaurant/brewery opened in 1997. All the beers, unless
otherwise noted, were fairly good.
Nautical Disaster (NEIPA)
Hot Pearl Summer (saison)
Cheat Codes #3 (IPA)
Sabre's Edge (good DIPA)
PB Milk Stout (peanut butter stout)
Street Brawler (oatmeal stout)
Lake Effect (marginal pale ale)
Flex Appeal (fruited sour)
Our next stop was Delaware Park, a 350-acre park
with lots of greenery, paths, a river, and flamingo boats. Each year a group
called Shakespeare in the Park puts on Shakespeare
plays. They were setting up the stage to do As You Like It the following week, which coincidentally
was the play we saw there in 2011. The park is beautiful, and the spectacular weather made it even more so. After walking around we took a siesta under a tree.
We went to a section of Buffalo called Allentown. The residential part is quaint and cozy, with old houses
and big trees.
The commercial section isn't so pretty, but there are a couple of bars that Tony used to go to in the mid-80s.
First we went to The Old Pink, aka
the Pink. It's one of the diviest
dive bars you'll ever see. Opened as the Pink Flamingo in 1983, it's a dimly lit refuge
for freaks, geeks, music fanatics, and the like. Food and beers are served, but
there is no printed menu, so you have to ask a bartender for their offerings. Also, there is no
sign outside displaying the bar's name. We ordered a Brooklyn Bel Air Sour and a Southern Tier IPA.
A stone's throw away is a less divey dive bar called
Nietzsche's. It's more brightly lit and bigger, and
often has live music. We each got a Harpoon IPA and listened to good live music by a band called
the Steam Donkeys.
We capped off this great day with tasty food from Mighty Taco.
Wednesday June 15. Up around 4:00 with the birds. Spent the morning writing, walking Chuck (actually
he took me for a mad dash), doing laundry, and working out on Jason's Bowflex. A little before noon Tony
picked me up and we had lunch at
Friendly Chinese Buffet. The food was
good by buffet standards.
Then we picked up Jason (he didn't work today) and went to
Other Half Brewing, which as of this writing
has seven locations. I had been to one of their
Brooklyn locations on my
New Jersey / New York trip, and also their
Washington D.C. location
a few months earlier on my
DC / Columbia
excursion. Today we went to their
Buffalo location. The weather was
hot for Buffalo (high 80s) and this place had no air conditioning so it was very warm in there.
All the beers we sampled were pretty good but lighter in body (nothing over 7.5%) and not as flavorful
as the beers I've had at their other locations. They were clean and refreshing on a hot day though (well,
except the stout of course).
DDH Green City (IPA)
Forever Ever (session IPA)
Poetry Snaps (Japanese rice lager)
DDH Strata Chroma (IPA)
11 Pounders (DDH IPA)
Cab Patches (NEIPA)
Past and Present: Export Stout
A few blocks away is
Southern Tier Brewing, which as of this writing has five
locations in four states. Their
Buffalo
location opened in October 2021 and is a taproom only; they do not brew here.
It's big and modern and has air conditioning, which was very welcome after our shvitzy walk
in the heat. (It was the only brewery we'd visit that day that had A/C.)
The bar tops change colors and there are more than 30 video screens. The beers, like the
ones at Other Half, were pretty good but light in body (even their DIPAs were fairly light).
They did not have any of their big beers
(Crème Brûlée, Pumking, Choklat, etc).
2X Haze (DIPA)
IPA
2X IPA (DIPA)
Nu Haze (hazy IPA)
2X Citrus (DIPA)
Hazy Double IPA
Double IPAWOL (red IPA)
Steam Beer (California common)
Imperial Coffee Blonde Ale
Pub Ale (NEIPA)
We headed over to Alexander's apartment and went up on the rooftop to get a view of Buffalo and Lake Erie...
...and then the four of us went to
Thin Man Brewery. Most of the beers were kind of light for my palate
but there was one that I liked.
Our final brewery of the day was
Froth Brewing. They make a lot of fruited sours, and they name them
after whatever fruits are in them. We tried 12 beers and I liked almost all of them. This was definitely my
favorite brewery of the day.
Peach, Blueberry, Banana, Orange
Grape, Blueberry, Banana
Juice Life (NEIPA)
The Clipper (TDH DIPA)
Pineapple, Mango, Marshmallow
Strawberry, Guava, Lemon, Lime
Strawberry, Blueberry, Watermelon, Kiwi
Strawberry, Pomegranate, Pineapple, Marshmallow
Pillow Top (NEDIPA)
Terp Sauce (quite good 10.6% ABV TDH TIPA)
Raspberry, Marshmallow, Banana
Coco Mallow'd Stout (stout with coconut and marshmallow)
After that we dropped Jason off at home and the remaining three of us went around the corner to
Pubski Pub (a lot of Polish people live in the area, and many of
their last names end in "ski"). Formerly the Anchor Inn, it opened in February 2021 as Pubski.
It's a nice friendly neighborhood place.
Some of Tony's old friends met us and we all had good food.
Thursday June 16. Up with the birds again. A very warm and humid morning. Tony picked me up and we
stopped at a cemetery to visit some of his relatives' plots. His car key broke but fortunately it could still
start the car so we left his car at his parents' house and walked to Jason's to get my car. We headed
to Anderson's Frozen Custard, which has about half a dozen
locations, for some ice treats (he got lemon and I got strawberry). They were quite good, and also refreshing
on a hot and humid day. Then we burned off some of the sugar
by walking around a nearby mall called the
Walden Galleria. He was hoping to find a Father's Day
card but not one place in the entire mall sold greeting cards, so we went to Wegman's where he found one.
There is a beer store called Consumer's Beverages that
has many locations in the Buffalo area, and since Jason works at one of them I thought we'd go to one.
It has a fairly extensive variety of beers, including many cold ones and a
growler fill station. I picked up a few cold cans.
Then we went back to the neighborhood. Tony hung out with his parents and called his daughter to have her
FedEx his spare car key, while I relaxed at Jason's for a
few hours. It was the first day of this vacation that wasn't packed with activities so it was good to
get a rest. Then Tony came over and we spent the evening listening to music. Eventually Jason came home
and we drank some craft beers until 11-ish.
Friday June 17. Was able to sleep in until 5:30. Cooler weather than the past two days. Tony came over
around 8:00 or 9:00 and we went to
Stiglmeier Park,
aka Losson Park. It has over 300 acres of trails and sports fields. The weather was nice and sunny
and the park looked beautiful. We got lost on the trails but eventually found our way back to my car.
We went to Tony's parents' house to see if his car key had arrived yet. It hadn't. The four of us went
to Apollo Family Restaurant, where his parents go every
Friday for the fish fry. The place was very busy.
Seated to the left of Tony is his mom (his dad didn't want to be in the photo).
When we returned to Tony's parents' house, his key had been delivered. I dropped my car off on an
adjacent street because I couldn't get into Jason's driveway due to road construction...
...and we went in Tony's car to the
Burchfield Nature & Art Center, a 29-acre park.
It has a network of trails, a playground, and some artwork. Although not as big or beautiful as
Stiglmeier Park, it's still nice.
Tony dropped me off as close as he could get me to Jason's and I took a siesta while he hung out with his
parents. A while later I retrieved my car when the construction rubble had been flattened. Shortly
thereafter Tony came by with his friends CeeCee and Barbara, who grew up next door and across the street
from him, respectively. We walked to the Catholic school that they all attended as kids...
...and then to Pubski. We sat outside for a while, then went inside for dinner.
Barbara (next to me) bought us these pink flamingos.
At dusk we walked back down the street to visit CeeCee's sister Aggie, who lives with her husband
on the opposite side of the street from the house she and CeeCee grew up in. Then we walked Barbara
home - she lives with her husband in the same house she grew up in. The weather was very windy and
cool. What a change from the previous day.
Saturday June 18. A cool, cloudy, windy morning. Took off at 8:15 AM. At 11:45 I arrived in
Pittsburgh at
Dancing Gnome Brewery, where I had been three
years earlier on my Eastern U.S. trip. They opened
at noon, which gave me 15 minutes to lay a base with a few sandwiches and some baby carrots. Their smallest
pours are 8 ounces so I only got two.
Warm Hand Splash (good smooth, juicy DIPA)
Triple Lustra (good TIPA but a bit too sweet for my palate)
In nearby Braddock is
Brew Gentlemen, where I had also been
on my Eastern U.S. trip. They serve 6-ounce small
pours. I tried three DIPAs:
Lou (good and fruity; has 6 types of hops)
Akamai (pretty good)
Albatross (good)
Then it was off to Williamsport MD, where there are two breweries walking distance from each other. First
I visited Homaide Brewing, which opened in November 2020.
I got 6-ounce samples of:
Ason Unique (good pomegranate apple watermelon sour)
Good Giggles (so-so IPA)
Cushwa Brewing opened in early 2017.
In addition to their beers they serve cocktails, and they have two machines that turn their fruit sours
into slushies. There is also a pizza place in there called
Rad Pies. I got 5-ounce samples of
two NEDIPAs:
Then I went to the home of my friends Todd and Mitsy in nearby Hagerstown. I hadn't seen them in
about a decade. They have a vegetable garden with a hothouse, bees, chickens that lay several
colors of eggs, and an English angora rabbit whose fur Mitsy spins into yarn and makes into
clothing items. We spent the evening chatting and having crabs and beer.
Sunday June 19. A gorgeous sunny, cool morning. It felt like fall. We had a nice breakfast
featuring omelettes made from their chickens' eggs and hung out on their deck...
...until I headed down to Frederick in the late morning. I arrived at
Monocacy Brewing just before they opened at noon.
Their flights were less expensive than at most other places: $8 for 5 samples. I tried:
Resist Ukranian Anti-Imperial Stout (weird stout with beets)
A block away is
Midnight Run Brewing. The website said that they open at
noon on Sundays, but they didn't actually open until 2:00. Their smallest pours are 8 ounces but the server
let me have some small tastes so I was able to try five beers while only ordering two. All of them were
pretty good.
White Devil (10% ABV Belgian quad)
Higher Intelligence (11% ABV White Devil with cherries)
Samuel Ale Jackson (10.3% ABV barleywine)
Space Station Earth (DIPA)
Dark Arts (11% ABV imperial stout)
My old friend Eric, who
I hadn't seen in many years and is also the son of an old friend/coworker, saw my Facebook posts from the
other breweries, so he met me here and we spent a few hours catching up.
Sucker Punch Pride (marginal watermelon and prickly pear sour)
Impressionist (pretty good IPA)
Callisto (marginal oatmeal stout)
Next I Ubered to
Steinhardt Brewing. Their beers got low Untappd ratings,
and boy did they live up to them. If it weren't for the alcohol, these beers would have had no redeeming
qualities. I drank maybe half of each sample.
Four Horsemen (Belgian quad)
Mure (Flemish sour aged in French oak barrels with blackberries)
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tupelo Stout (with vanilla bean and tupelo honey)
Three Wise Men (Belgian triple)
Peaches 'n Cream (milkshake IPA with lactose and peaches)
Right next door is
Idiom Brewing. I tried their two NEIPAs and they were pretty good.
Phrased #16
Generational Gap
A few hundred yards away are two more breweries, so I walked over a canal...
...to Smoketown Creekside. I'd been to their
original location in Brunswick a few years earlier and was not impressed.
My server told me that they planned to open another location in Hagerstown in a few months.
This location had more than 20 beers on tap, almost all of which got low Untappd ratings, so I tried the one
beer whose rating was pretty good.
Walter's Spirit (good 11.5% ABV imperial porter)
Smoketown is flanked by two Attaboy Beer locations. On one
side is the Attaboy Barrel House, which is only open
on Saturdays, but I went there anyway to take a photo through the glass door.
On Smoketown's other side is Attaboy Beer's tap room. I sampled:
Dannybro (good hoppy, clean IPA)
Surefire (pretty good NEDIPA)
Cold Croc (good DIPA)
Then I Ubered back to the Days Inn. I wasn't that drunk even though I'd been to 8 breweries because I
limited my intake.
Monday June 20. Slept pretty well. Spent a few hours writing and showering, and returned home.
It was a great trip: I spent time with several friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in a long time; did some
hiking; had a nice campout with fun people; visited 35 breweries; and sampled 170 beers.