New England 2026


Saturday July 18. We left at 8:30 on a cloudy, muggy day and arrived at Esker Hart Artisan Ales about 15 minutes before it opened at noon. The place has been in business since 2024. We sampled:


We liked the Tinfoil Forest so much that we paid $28 for a 4-pack of it before driving in heavy rain to Oakflower Brewing, arriving shortly before 1:00. This place opened in November 2022. All the beers were pretty good.


A few hours north of there is Twelve Percent Beer Project, a collaborative brewing facility and taproom that in addition to brewing its own beers also has various craft brands brewed there, such as Hoof Hearted, Abomination, Evil Twin, Eredita, Little House, Fat Orange Cat, Tox, Timber Ales, False Hope, Skygazer, Brix City, and others. (It also used to host Stillwater, but Stillwater was later acquired by Louisville Brands.) They don't do flights but our server let us try several beers before ordering our favorites.


We arrived at Counter Weight Brewing, which opened in 2017, at 5:12. It has bars on two levels, with pinball and other games upstairs. We tried:


Exactly an hour after arriving at Counter Weight we got to New Park Brewing, our final brewery of the day, and sampled:


We spent the night at the Economy Inn in East Hartford CT.


Sunday July 19. A nice sunny day. We left a little after 9:00 and drove up to Trillium Brewing's location in Canton MA (it has two more locations in Boston). We arrived shortly before it opened at 11:00. When I visited in 2019 it was in a different building. The following year it moved to a huge building that used to be Reebok's headquarters. It now has a pilot brewery, a distillery where it makes several different spirits, two pizza ovens, and many foudres and barrels in which it ages wild ales and stouts. Unfortunately the wild ales and stouts are available in bottle only, so all we tasted were IPAs. Melissa also got an espresso martini.

Distilling equipment.


On the way out I bought a bottle of their Stroka.


Twenty minutes away is Vitamin Sea Brewing's taproom in Weymouth, which opened in 2019 (they have another taproom in Plymouth). We arrived just after it opened at noon.


At 12:45 we arrived at Widowmaker Brewing, which started in September 2017. I met the general manager, Keith, who let me take photos of the brewery. He used to work at Trillium. This place doesn't do flights so we sampled:


At 2:00 we arrived at the Arnold Arboretum, a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University. It had some nice greenery but not many flowers (perhaps there are more flowers in the spring).


Then we went to the neighborhood I grew up in, Oak Hill Park, and walked around. We saw the house that replaced the one I grew up in (many houses in Oak Hill Park have been razed and replaced with large, expensive homes)...


...and my old elementary school (formerly Memorial Elementary, now Solomon Shechter Day School).


Here is the old mailbox that I used to mail letters in.


We also went to a nearby campus that used to be Mount Ida College (which was acquired by UMass Amherst in 2018) to see Longfellow Pond, where I used to go in my youth to catch catfish off the dock. The old wooden dock has been replaced with a metal one. In 1973 or 1974 I released a baby snapping turtle there; I had caught it at Easton Country Club (where my father played golf). In the early 1990s I was visiting my mom, who still lived in Oak Hill Park (my father was deceased by then). I jogged to the pond, stood on the dock, and saw a huge snapping turtle swimming under the water. To this day I wonder whether that was the one I had released more than a decade and a half earlier. We didn't see him today, but we did see a few other turtles.


Next we drove by my old high school (Newton South) and junior high school (formerly Meadowbrook, now Charles E. Brown Middle School). Then we drove over to Watertown, checked in at The Inn on Arsenal a little after 5:00, and walked to Demos, a Greek restaurant that my family used to eat at more than 50 years earlier. The food was still great. My old high school friend and wrestling buddy Ethan met us.

Me, Melissa, and Ethan.


We parted ways with Ethan, then picked up a few craft tall boys (19.2 ounces) at a liquor store and walked back to the hotel. We drank a can of Fiddlehead Imperial IPA, which neither of us had ever had before. It was quite good.


Monday July 20. We left at 8:50, drove to Riverside station, and rode the MBTA (nicknamed "The T") to the Hynes Convention Center. We arrived around 10:20, walked down to the Charles River Esplanade, and strolled along it for about a mile.


At 11:25 we arrived at Cheers Beacon Hill, the exterior of which was shown on the TV show Cheers. Founded in 1969 as the Bull & Finch Pub, the interior looks nothing like the set of Cheers. The place is rather large, with several rooms.


Then we walked through Public Garden.


Next to Public Garden is Boston Common, where the Freedom Trail starts. We walked most of it.


Near Faneuil Hall Marketplace is Democracy Brewing's City Hall Beer Garden. It wouldn't open until later, which was just as well since it's a low-rated brewery.


Also near there is this tall building, where my father worked as a stock broker in the late 1970s and early 1980s.


We had lunch at Union Oyster House, which opened in 1826 and is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States. (The oldest overall restaurant is the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, which originally opened in 1673, but it has changed hands and closed periodically over the centuries.) The place was very busy and we had to wait for a table. We opted to sit outside, which made our wait shorter. In the meantime we walked around the large interior and took photos.


We got lobsters because, well, that's what you do when you visit New England.


After lunch we went to the Freedom Trail's most visited spot, Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It consists of four buildings. Faneuil Hall was built in 1742 and known as the "Cradle of Liberty". This historic building was a focal point for American Revolution speeches. The ground floor features limited shops, while the upper level contains the Great Hall, which is still used for civic meetings today. Quincy Market, built in 1826, is a massive, three-building complex that stretches behind Faneuil Hall. The central building is famously home to the city's renowned indoor food hall, while the North and South Market buildings house a variety of retail stores, pubs, and restaurants. We met my cousin Eric there, and, stupid me, I forgot to get a photo of him. I did get a quick photo of the inside of Quincy Market, which really doesn't do it justice.


The three of us walked past Long Wharf...


...to the North End (aka Little Italy). Melissa was very happy because there were lots of places selling many kinds of desserts.


One place, called Mike's Pastry, was packed.


After stuffing ourselves with sweets, Eric went home and Melissa and I walked back to Long Wharf.


We got a drink at Tia's Waterfront, rode a carousel, and then got on The T shortly before 6:00. It was packed because there was a Red Sox game. We arrived at our hotel at 7:15 and had a few beers.



Tuesday July 21. We left shortly before 9:00 and drove up to my alma mater University of New Hampshire. We arrived at 10:35 and walked around. A brief synopsis of my college career: I lived in Engelhardt Hall my first three years and at my fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha my senior year. I was on the wrestling team, did a lot of partying/drinking, played arcade video games (mostly Asteroids, Missile Command, and Time Pilot), and graduated in 1984 with a Computer Science degree. As expected, parts of the campus looked different from 42 years earlier. There were quite a bit of renovations being done to roads and buildings, including my old frat house. We went to the field house and when I asked to see the wrestling room, we were informed that the school no longer has a wrestling team (although it does have a wrestling club).

The old frat house.
Under-street tunnel to the field house.


1983 wrestling team.
The old dorm.


Huddleston meal hall, converted to a ballroom.
T&C still there after all these years.


We finished our walk at noon, picked up a sandwich, and drove an hour north to Bissell Brothers Brewing, arriving at 1:20. Every beer we tried was good.


A little after 2:00 we arrived at nearby Belleflower Brewing and tried:


At 2:20 we arrived at Rising Tide, which apparently partners with Oxbow. None of the beers had good ratings so we didn't order anything, though I did take some photos.


Next door is Austin Street Brewery. We tried two good beers:

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We got to Definitive at 3:15 and tried:


We went across the street to Battery Steele and tried:


Their Flume 9th Anniversary (NETIPA) was available in cans only, and since it had a good rating we bought a 4-pack to go.


At 4:10 we walked to Foundation Brewing & Pizza and sampled:


Then Melissa took the wheel (as I was getting inebriated) and we drove to Goodfire Brewing's location in Freeport (their Portland location is closed on Tuesdays). We arrived at 5:00 and tried:


Then we drove an hour or so to the home of Melissa's friends Rachel and Joe. We got Chinese food, hung out, and slept over.

Joe, Rachel, and Melissa.


Wednesday July 22. It rained overnight and the morning was overcast. We left at 9:45 and drove to Acadia National Park, arriving just before noon. We parked at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, took a shuttle down to Jordan Pond, and hiked around it. The weather remained overcast and humid. The fog prevented us from seeing all the way across the pond, but it did make a nice misty effect. We saw no wildlife except for the occasional bird floating on the water or flying overhead.


We shuttled back to the visitor center. There was no cell service, so it's a good thing we had printed directions for our trip. We drove to Bar Harbor and walked around. At 5:15 we got to Agamont Park.


Melissa had a hankering for pizza, so we got a tasty little pizza at Pat's Pizza. Then we drove to Blackwoods Campground, where we would camp for the next two nights. As you would expect, motels in the area cost $200 or even $300 per night during the summer when you include tax, while campsites are $30, and with my senior lifetime pass I get them half price, so it's only $15 per night. Anyway, we arrived at 6:50, set up our tent, had a beer that we'd picked up along our route, and went to sleep fairly early.


Thursday July 23. I woke up before 5:00 and it was already light out. I hadn't booked far enough in advance to find a campsite that was available for both nights, so we packed everything because we would be staying at a different site that night. We left shortly after 7:00, drove to the Fabbri picnic area, and set out at 7:45 to do most of the same hike I'd done on my 2019 trip. The skies were clearing as we hiked past Otter Cove, Otter Point Overlook, Boulder Beach, Monument Cove, Thunder Hole, and Sand Beach Overlook. There were thousands of tourists driving, parked, walking, and taking photos. Also, just like at Jordan Pond, we saw no wildlife on land. There were a handful of birds, otters, and seals in the water, but nothing on land.

Otter Cove.


Otter Cliff Overlook.



Thunder Hole.


Here is a brief video of Thunder Hole:


We walked across Sand Beach...


...to the Great Head Trail and hiked up to Great Head.


We hiked back down, crossed Sand Beach...


...and then took the Beehive Trail. There is a split where if you continue on the Beehive Trail, it is a steep, treacherous climb (I'd done it in 2019). Or you can instead take the Bowl Trail, which is what we did. Both trails go to a pond called The Bowl, where we arrived at 12:10. I couldn't fit the pond all into one photo, so here is a panoramic shot, which distorts it, but it's the best I could do.


We backtracked a bit, then turned down the Gorham Mountain Trail and ascended to the summit. It was a steep climb. Melissa stopped part way while I continued to the top, getting there just before 1:00. But Melissa rallied and made it up there too, despite having done no hike training.


We went back down the way we came, which was a mistake -- I'd forgotten that on my 2019 trip I'd continued onward from the summit to get back to my vehicle. By backtracking we ended up at Sand Beach, which was a mile and a half from our vehicle. We could have hiked to it, but we were tired and sore from 6 hours of hiking, so instead we chose to take the Sand Beach shuttle. The 2:00 bus was completely full, and the next one wasn't scheduled to leave until 2:30, but fortunately they had ordered another shuttle to accommodate the mass of tourists, so we were on a shuttle just 10 minutes later. It took us to our vehicle, then we drove to Blackwoods Campground, arriving shortly before 3:00. We set up camp at our new site, washed up as best we could (no showers here), and a little after 6:00 went to nearby Otter Creek Market, where we got some lobster mac & cheese and a 4-pack of Marsh Island Pulp Truck (IPA). Then we returned to the campsite, drank 3 of the beers, and crashed.


Friday July 24. We left at 8:15 on a beautiful sunny day and arrived at Barreled Souls 15 minutes before it opened at noon. It has been in operation since 2014. The first 4 beers in the list all had Untappd ratings of 4.42 or higher, and while they had lots of barrel flavor, they were a bit too sweet for my palate; they could have used more hops.


Since I drank the potent barrel-aged beers, I handed the keys to Melissa and she drove us to Vermont. At 3:45 we arrived at River Roost Brewery, which opened in 2016. We tried:

The final photo is of an old jigsaw puzzle in the men's room. Many if not most of the breweries on it are out of business. I had to take the photo from off to the side to prevent glare.


We then drove past beautiful Vermont countryside...


...and at 5:30 checked into the one Airbnb we would stay at on this trip. It was out of our way but it was in a beautiful location and considerably cheaper than any hotel in Vermont during the summer. After settling in we walked up a primitive path to see the sunset.


When we returned we had a nice chat with our hostess, Alice, who was very hospitable. Then we went to bed around 10:30ish.


Saturday July 25. Another gorgeous sunny day. We left at 9:00 and drove past beautiful Vermont mountains and greenery to Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, arriving just before it opened at 10:00. Like many businesses in Vermont, it has an array of solar panels.


We stopped in the Flavor Graveyard, where about 40 discontinued flavors have "tombstones".


We got a tour. Two guys named Ben and Jerry opened their first scoop shop in Burlington VT in 1978, and opened the Waterbury facility in 1986. Ben & Jerry's has two other production facilities: one in St. Albans VT and one in Hellendoorn The Netherlands. Employees get to eat all the ice cream they want. They gave us samples of cookie dough, and Salted Caramel Blondie ice cream. We were able to see people working in the production facility, but we were not allowed to take photos there.

Ice cream samples.


Then we walked around outside.


Next we went to Alchemist Brewery, which has solar panels over the parking area. We got there at 11:45.


The place had changed since my previous visit. There was an outdoor biergarten with a stage and an old television playing an episode of Bewitched.


The inside had nice decorations and artwork.


The only beer they had on tap was their Heady Topper, and it was served from a beer engine. It was just okay because it was more bitter than I remembered.


Then it was back down to Waterbury to visit two breweries. We arrived at Prohibition Pig at 1:00 and tried the one beer that had a good rating, and it was not good:


Across the street is Cask & Cork, a beer and wine shop that has a tasting bar. We tried two beers from Hill Farmstead, both of which were good.


Then we walked to freak folk bier, our first stop of the day that I'd never been to. We got there shortly after it opened at 2:00, and the bar was already full. They don't serve flights, so we got half pours of three beers, all of which were good but not as good as their high ratings:


A few minutes after 3:00 we arrived at Lawson's Finest Liquids and tried:


We got to nearby Warren Falls at 3:45. The place is hugely popular. The parking lot was full and many vehicles were parked along the road. We got lucky as someone was pulling out when we drove around the lot. The falls has a pool that people were jumping into.



Cell service was spotty, so thankfully we had paper directions. We arrived at our final brewery of the day, Red Clover Ale Company, shortly after 5:00. It had been located a block away until it moved to this location less than two months earlier. We sampled:


There is a cute little waterfall behind the strip of stores where Red Clover used to be.


A few minutes away is Smoke Rise Campground, where we would spend the night. This campground has wifi and coin-operated showers. The only drawback was that there were some mosquitoes. We had a nice quiet evening talking and drinking a can of Battery Steele Flume 9th Anniversary.


Sunday July 26. We left at 8:55 and drove down to Saratoga Springs to Tree House Brewing, which as of this writing has 7 locations throughout the northeast. We got there eleven minutes before it opened at 11:00. This huge location has been in business since early 2025. No production is done here; the vast majority is done at the Charlton MA location. Tree House also makes spirits. This location does full pours only, but I was able to get a few tiny samples, so I tried the first three listed below before getting a full pour of the fourth:


Then it was onward to Fidens Brewing, where we had been the previous September. This location opened in 2023. We arrived at 12:20 and sampled:


We bought 6 cans of The Vegan, then Melissa took the wheel for the rest of the day and drove us to nearby Druthers Brewing, which is not highly rated, but it was nearby so we ventured. It has been in business since 2012 and has several locations. This location is their main production facility. Only one beer got a good rating so we tried that one.


Then we drove an hour and a half to Bad Seed, which is a cidery. I'm not into cider but Melissa is into pinball and the place has several pinball machines that cost only 25 cents to play. Two of the machines kept giving us free games. I did try one cider:


Our final brewery of the trip was Equilibrium Brewery, which I'd been to in 2023 and both of us had been to in 2025. It has a pinball room with 4 machines and a bunch of velvet posters. I sampled beers while Melissa walked to nearby Rock Fantasy, which is a rock n' roll shop and arcade.


We spent the night at Sleep Inn & Suites Middletown.


Monday July 27. We left at 10:10. About halfway through our drive we encountered our first traffic jam of the trip. We arrived at The Break Arcade, aka "8 on the Break", a few minutes after it was supposed to open at noon, but it opened a few minutes late so we were actually early. The Break opened in 1973 and is the oldest continuously operating arcade in America. We took advantage of the $4.25 steak sandwiches and $4 milkshakes. The bathroom keys were on plastic chickens (blue for men, pink for women).


We got home at 4:40, safe and sound. It had been a great trip packed with breweries, hiking, friends, family, and exploration.