The Cradle of LiBEERty: Baahston - Part 2

Our first full day in Boston began with a visit to a familiar brewery: Aeronaut. We arrived fairly early, and the place was only just starting to fill up in the front area where the bar is situated. With a floor plan that seems to sprawl the distance of a city block, the brewery is quite spacious. We set up shop in the back room, which coincidentally houses a few "free-play" (no quarters needed!) classic arcade games. I'm always good for a game of Ms. Pac-Man or Dig Dug. Thankfully, there was no hipster douchebag serenading his special lady-friend with an acoustic guitar this time.

Hello Aeronaut.

Keeping things light and airy, I began the day with a pour of Citra Galaxy, a soft session IPA with notes of tangerine, orange and peach. At 4.6% ABV, this seemed like a pretty good place to start. The mouthfeel was pretty solid for a lighter beer, and the fruity, citrusy hops came through enough for this to be enjoyable overall.

Hops dominate the charts at Aeronaut.

As we sipped our beers and partook in some people watching, the place was starting to fill up with St. Patty's people (I need to create a name for these fair weather drinkers). Fortunately, it was too early for anyone to start acting like a dick bag. I decided to take a quick stroll around the premises to take some photos. Since the brewery is situated in an old warehouse, there's lots of antiquated devices strewn about in a decorative fashion to provide some eclectic ambiance. Case in point:

What can this strange device be?

I hadn't seen one of those in quite some time. It's kind of like stumbling across an old pay phone booth in a random part of a big city. I returned to my seat and it was time to select another beer. This time, I went to the other side of the spectrum with 4 Years with Dr. Nandu, Aeronaut's 4th anniversary DIPA hopped with Citra and Galaxy.

This beer looked identical to the Citra Galaxy I'd just drank. It did, however, have a more viscous body and pronounced hop character albeit a tad muddled. I wasn't as wowed with Aeronaut this time around; that's not to say that I didn't enjoy our beers, though. They were pretty solid. I just didn't experience any depth of character with my beer choices this time. Perhaps I should have strayed from the hazy IPAs, which was tough considering 9 of the 13 available beers could be considered "hoppy." I should have tried the Smoked Porter. Fail. Maybe next time.

Adios, Aeronaut!

When we arrived at our next destination, Remnant, we had stumbled into a block party of sorts out in the courtyard of the small shopping plaza where the brewery was situated. Turns out this is called the Bow Market community. The weather was cooperating nicely and the temperature was warmer than usual for mid-March, especially in New England. All of the shops and eateries had their doors and windows open, allowing patrons to browse freely among the plaza. Unique beers and craft coffee served daily.There was actually a guy manning a greeter stand near the entrance to the courtyard, so I asked if we could walk around with beer. Of course the answer was yes; I was just being responsible. Go figure! He also happened to mention there was a record store up on the second level, so naturally I had to check that out. It was mostly new indie music, so I didn't leave with anything to add to the collection. Still, it's always fun to browse for a bit.

We headed back down to Remnant and ventured into the crowded tasting room. The main room (where the bar and adjacent coffee bar was located) was pretty full, so we dipped in the back room to check it out. I was able to snag two seats overlooking the brewhouse, which was down below ground level. This served as a pretty cool view during our visit. Turns out there was a back bar as well; we just couldn't see it because the narrow back room was jam-packed with people.

Pleeps like wheezin' the juu-uice!

After a quick look at the beer list, I decided to go with Dream Pop, a soft, smooth pale ale brewed with juicy Mandarina and Mosaic hops. The silky mouthfeel comes from the use of oats in the grain bill. As the name implies, Mandarina hops impart a Mandarin orange flavor, while Mosaic shakes things up a bit due to the complex nature of the hop. Think bright summer melon and summer fruit salad.

The other beer we tried, Lightform, is a farmhouse style gose. This tart wheat ale features coriander, sea salt, and - wait for it! - peach purée fermented with a saison yeast blend for a hint of funk. Another peach beer for the win! The beers here were solid, although we just couldn't get comfortable on the small barstools amid dozens of people constantly wading through the brewery. We did grab a pair of coffees on the way out, which kept us company on our quarter-mile walk back to the car.

And we were off to another familiar destination. Since our last visit a few years ago, it seems that Lamplighter has become one of the hip craft breweries in Boston. The previous night's wait in line outside of Cheeky Monkey primed me for another equal wait outside Lamplighter. The main different, though, was that I already knew the beer was good here, so waiting in line didn't really phase me this time. They have since added a back room area, likely for overflow caused by their recent explosion. Based on our previous visit, we knew what to expect: wild ales, sour beers, and plenty of funk. The back room was packed to the gills, but we found a quiet corner where we hung out for the duration of our visit.

...oh my!

After scoping out the beer list, one concoction jumped out at me immediately: Princesa Peach. There goes me and my infatuation with peaches again! A collaboration with UX Brew based out of São Paulo, Brazil, this effervescent Brut IPA is brewed with peaches and treated with an amylase enzyme to eliminate residual sugar. Brewed to mimic a Bellini cocktail, this semi-dry IPA boasts hints of nectarine, juicy peach, and mango.

Pleeps loves two-pawing it.

Brewslut settled on Black Pearl, a dense oyster Stout brewed in collaboration with MA-based Medusa Brewing Co. and Island Creek Oysters. Steeped in the hot wort before fermentation, oyster shells impart a mineral-like, briny quality amid more traditional notes of espresso and cocoa. I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor, although the texture was spot-on.

Pleeps is lit up at Lamplighter!

We didn't feel like standing all day, so we decided it was time to move on to the next attraction. Besides, it was fast approaching dinner time, and we craved sustenance. Luckily, our next stop has excellent food to match its world-class beers.

When we visited Minnesota last summer, I was surprised that two of the "old guard" breweries still produced what I'd call the best beers I drank during our two-day visit to the Twin Cities. The first was Masala Mama from Minneapolis Town Hall, and the other was a 2017 vintage of Surly Darkness. While there was plenty of great beer to be had by all the hipster magnet breweries and up-and-comers, the fact these two old school breweries - in my humble opinion - provide the benchmark for all others to follow. And let me tell you, people... these dinosaurs can still hang with the fresh-faced new kids on the block. The same can be said of Cambridge, the oldest brewpub in the greater Boston area. It's always a pleasure to visit this world-class place, and this time would be no different.

When we arrived, I was beyond giddy (i.e. at half-mast) to see one of my favorite barleywines of all time on tap: Blunderbuss! It had been several years since I had enjoyed a pour of this masterpiece, but its flavor was still fresh in my mind. The fact that I still regarded this as a favorite of the style says a lot to me, because I've had beers on a Friday that I have no recollection of having drunk by the time it's Sunday. Yeah, this is beer is that good. But more on Blunderbuss in a bit.

We kicked off with a pair of delicious beers. The first was Silly Hats Only, a light, refreshing tart Berliner Weisse kettle-soured with Lactobacillus. A process that seems pretty run-of-the-mill these days, CBC was actually one of a small handful of breweries involved in the development of this type of sour beer production almost 15 years ago. This sucker was bone dry with a pleasant amount of pucker on the palate.

The other beer, Dance Band on the Titanic, was pretty f'n epic! Described as a "wild sour ale with mangoes and peaches," this mouthwatering wild ale spent eighteen months in neutral oak wine barrels and was initially fermented with a wild yeast culture already residing in the barrels. The base beer provided plenty of tartness and funk (courtesy of the Brett), but the true magic didn't happen until they blended in mango and peach juice. The result is an intense yet insanely drinkable balance of sweet fruit and funky Brett. To quote the beer description: "Like a dance band on a sinking ship, this beer goes down easy while playing pleasantly on your palate." This beer was unbelievably good and a highlight of the trip.

Which brings me to Blunderbuss! People, this beer is special. It's a rare breed. You simply can't fathom how excited I was to see this beer on the board. Double-mashed with nearly a ton of malt, five different hops, and cold-aged several months with French Limousine* oak, Blunderbuss boasts a complex array of caramel, dried fruit, vanilla, oak, toffee, and spicy hops with a pleasant alcohol warmth in the finish.

*NERD ALERT: Woods from the following regions in western France are usually called Limousin: Deux-Sevres, Vienne, Hautes de Vienne,the northern part of the Correze,the Creuze,the eastern part of the Charente and the southern part of the Indre. These regions tends to produce oak with wide grains. These woods are more tannic than the tight-grained woods and are most popular with brandy makers.

Pleeps' first Blunderbuss did not disappoint!

Afterward, we went to check out Lord Hobo, but it was pretty packed there, and the beer prices were ri-god-damn-diculous! I think the cheapest pour was $8.50 but most beers were between $9 and $12... and not even pints! Fuck that hoodwink! So we went back to Cambridge and pretty much polished off the rest of the line-up.

Upon our return, we enjoyed Non Stop Ecstatic Screaming. What an evocative name for a beer brewed with cinnamon, vanilla, Pasilla Negro chili peppers, candy cap mushrooms, cacao, and coffee from Lighthouse Roasters (an iconic old-school Seattle company employing an antique cast-iron roaster). Its initial ecstatic energy of “pastry” goodness – notes of coffee, chocolate, and maple, hints of spice from chiles and cinnamon - blends into the fuzz/background noise and the insistent bumping beat of its classic base beer style - soft, lingering roasted malts and fruity English yeast.

I decided on something more straight-forward for my next beer: Can I Buy a Vowel, a straight-up, no frills Czech-style pilsner. I always enjoy a crisp, refreshing, mildly hoppy Bohemian pilsner, and this one hit the mark. Czech-style pilsners differ from its German counterpart in that the malt character is more toasty and biscuity. German pilsners tend to have more of a mineral-like finish and livelier hop bite. Overall, this was a fine interpretation of the style. Well done!

We closed out with a pair of NE-style IPAs - Ella Sings the Brews and The Fog that Surrounds - the latter actually DIPA (and with a name derived from Phish lyrics to boot!) that were tasty, although I think I enjoyed all of the other beers more than these.

And the old guard takes the trophy again! I was so glad to experience Blunderbuss again. I've often cited this as one of my top three barleywines of all time, which is quite a feat because I hadn't had it in several years. Here's another photo just because it's so awesome:

After finishing up at Cambridge, we decided to head over to Meadhall, one of Cambridge's beer drinking institutions. Surprisingly, the crowd was light compared to the shit show that was Lord Hobo. Fine by me. We were able to grab seats and the large, wrap-around bar and just chill for the rest of the night and reflect back on our favorite beers of the trip thus far. Speaking of beers, here's what we enjoyed at Meadhall:

Charms & Hexes - Banded Brewing - sour ale with blood oranges

We'd visited Banded Brewing once before (known as Banded Horn) during my birthday trip back in 2016, which happened during my blog hiatus. I didn't make the connection when I ordered the beer because I remembered the "horn" part of the name rather than the "banded" part. Still, this was a nice effervescent sour ale with a juicy citrusy backbone.

Night Fever - Night Shift - stout with coffee and chocolate

Brewslut fell in love with this beer, and for good reason: it's pretty damn delicious! Even though we'd be visiting there the following day, she wanted this beer. Fair enough. More on Night Shift coming up in the third and final installment of this blog series.

Cultivé - Allagash - wheat beer aged on peaches

Yup, more peaches! Over the years, I've come to adore this brewery. I love everything about it: the beer, the people, the brewery itself. It's also one of only a handful of breweries I follow on Instagram. Every time I visit, it's an amazing experience. So I felt inclined to try this beer I'd never had; a wheat beer aged on peaches that had previously spent time with Farm to Face, another tart peach beer from Allagash. This delicate beer presents notes of ripe peach, nectarine, tangy lemon, and spicy tropical notes.

And with that, the evening had concluded. Join us next time for the wrap-up of our Boston Blitz. Until next time...

Drinksgiving 2016: Part II - Baaahston, baby!

Day 3 - Thursday 11/24

Thanksgiving Day was spent in Boston at Dan and Kristen's house in our lounge pants eating way too much food for five human beings and drinking some choice gems from Dan's beer cellar (actually, some of his beer is stored in a guest room, while the rest is kept in his DFB, or Dedicated Beer Fridge, in the garage). Here's what we cracked open throughout the day, in no particular order:

• One Hop This Time: Vic Secret - Night Shift
• One Hop This Time: Mosaic - Night Shift
• Citra Cutting Tiles - Trillium
• Apple Brandy Barrel Noir - Prairie
• Bourbon Barrel-Aged Mexican Cake - Westbrook
• Imperial Blu Bu - De Garde
• Petit Kriek - De Garde
• Special Rogue - De Garde

Beer aside, Dan really went above and beyond for Thanksgiving dinner, although I must say that I wasn't surprised at all. This is the same guy who made a metric ton of pulled pork and turkey for Ffej of July as well as gallons of homemade BBQ sauce and enough baked beans to make everyone at the party flatulent enough to burn a hole in the ozone layer. For dinner, we enjoyed a feast of smoked turkey, sausage stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, maple mashed sweet potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted cauliflower, corn, pumpkin pie, and a homemade Mexican cake with Bavarian cream in the middle. I hope I didn't forget anything. After not having Thanksgiving dinner for the previous 8 years, I must say this was a big treat for us! Dan knows his way around the kitchen fo' sho'!

We capped off the day with a viewing of the fantastic Marvel universe movie Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds. I must admit that I never jumped on the Marvel bandwagon aside from my all-time favorite superhero, Spiderman (even though I collected various Marvel comics for a few years during my mid-to-late teens), but this movie was pretty damn awesome! It was funny, irreverent, violent, and serious when it needed to be. Dare I say it was the coolest superhero movie ever made? Sure, why not?

Day 4 - Friday 11/25

Since we stayed locked in at Dan and Kristen's place all day for Thanksgiving, Brewslut and I had some serious cabin fever. So, we put together a pretty ambitious itinerary for Black Friday including 7 breweries. The day's tally actually turned out to be 8 due to a quick impromptu visit of one not on our list. I mean, we were walking right by it, so we had to stop in, right?

Our first stop of the day was Dorchester Brewing Company, who'd just opened its doors back in July. Dan hadn't even paid them a visit yet. Typical of any first stop of the day, a sampler flight was in order. Here's the low-down on my tray:

Entitled IPA - straight-up IPA with tropical fruit notes
V1 DIPA - fruit-forward DIPA with tons of Mosaic hops
Mass Ave IPA - IPA hopped with El Dorado
Warp Rider - Red IPA with notes of pine resin

I also sampled some of Brewslut's Secret Decoder Ring (awesome name... if you don't get the reference, you need to drink more Ovaltine), a brown porter aged on cocoa nibs. This was pretty tasty.

However, I was still in the mood for a smoked beer, especially since the one I wanted at Jack's Abby had kicked. So, I opted for a half liter mug of Engine 21, a traditional German Rauchbier made with 33% Beechwood smoked malt. This one was right on the nuggets! Not too smoky and a prime example of this unpopular style. I wish more breweries would make traditional Rauchbiers. For those afraid of smoked beers, you really need to try a classic Rauchbier. They are fantastic! (Steps down from soapbox.)

Enjoying an Engine 21 Rauchbier at Dorchester.

Up next was a stop at the new Night Shift location. I'd had a number of their beers already, and it took me a few to get into them. After a pair of initial disappointing beers, they first wowed me with Whirlpool, a delicious, fruity American Pale Ale. Since then, I'd enjoyed just about everything I tried from them.

Upon entering, we were greeted by an expansive space with communal seating, a bar area, high ceilings and an additional room in the back for more seating options. I perused the beer selection, and they had about 10 or so offerings currently available. I started with a pour of Morph, Night Shift's constantly evolving IPA series, which changes from batch to batch. This particular batch was #38, dated 11/17/16. Upon further investigation, I learned this version incorporated Bravo, Vic Secret, Simcoe and Citra hops to create a juicy IPA "bursting with citrus and tropical fruit flavors." They didn't have to twist my arm to drink this. It was quite tasty! Brewslut opted for the Aloha Weisse, a Berliner Weisse brewed with pineapple, which I also sampled. This was pretty damn delicious, and she concurred. Since Dan was a member of the Barrel Society, he was able to procure a pour of Sheridan, a Flanders-style sour ale aged in various oak wine barrels. This sucker was warm, fruity and tannic with some moderate mouth pucker. I ended with a pour of Awake, a delicious coffee porter aged with coffee from Counter Culture. I'm always in the mood for a coffee beer (or coffee, for that matter), and I seldom miss an opportunity to sample one when I'm travelling. Good stuff, this was!

Pleeps says, "Aloha from Night Shift!"

Our next stop was another new place with which I'd not yet familiarized myself: Bone Up. This place was quite small but boasted some modest charm through the use of unique lighting and a Metallica pinball machine. It was looking like a quick one-and-done stop, so I settled on Wasted Life, their flagship IPA. As I was doing a bit of post-trip research, I checked the Bone Up web site and noticed that, in addition to food pairing notes, they also added a specific cheese pairing and, oddly, enough, music pairing for each beer. I thought this was kind of funny. Unfortunately, this particular beer is recommended to go well with "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, which makes me wonder if this beer has a predominantly gay male fanbase. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Forget bellying up to the bar... I want to BONE UP!

After our visit at Bone Up, we convened back at Dan and Kristen's to eat some leftovers from the previous day's feast, and cracked open a Dusk Trill Dawn, an Imperial Stout with cold brewed coffee made in collaboration with Trillium and Evil Twin. That was some mighty fine drinking, let me tell you! Unfortunately, we once again ate too much and later in the evening experienced a few unfortunate "puke burps" as a result. That's the price you pay for loading up on carbs before you drink all night.

After dinner, we continued our Boston brewery crawl by Uber-ing back into town. Our next stop was a newish place called Winter Hill. Brewslut and I opted for the same beer - Hesher, an American Wheat IPA dry-hopped with Citra and Zythos. This one missed the mark a little, and I detected a hint of diacytl in there, but it wasn't off-putting. She wasn't digging it at all, unfortunately. The place seemed cool enough, although it was sparsely populated while we were there. Dan and Charles were caught up in some compelling conversation and Brewslut was feeling the effects of too many carbs, so this was a one-and-done stop for us. This was fine with me, as we had many more places to cross off the list.

Pleeps sometimes likes the murky ones.

Our next stop, Aeronaut, was a brisk 25 minute walk from Winter Hill, which found me wishing I'd worn my heavier coat instead of just a hoody. It wasn't uncomfortably cold, just a tad bit chilly with a hint of cool breeze. Upon entering the premises, this place felt right up my alley. Like my previous comments about Ecliptic in Portland, OR, I'm a sucker for "outer space bullshit," to quote Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. My first selection was First Steps on a Sour Planet, a Berliner Weisse on cask! This was a rare treat, as I seldom see this style on a beer engine. I was very pleased with this decision, and it was one of my favorites of the day, so great first impression, Aeronaut! As we made our way back into the adjacent room, I noticed about a dozen classic arcade games in the corner. I'm definitely a sucker for 80's arcade games, and even better was the fact that these were all FREE PLAY machines (meaning no quarters or tokens needed). BOOYEAH! Plus the arcade games served two important purposes on this particular evening. Not only did they provide about half an hour's worth of free entertainment, they also served as a distraction from "some douche playing an acoustic guitar" who was just around the corner near the front of the room. (Editor's note: Sick Cards Against Humanity reference, Ffej!) He wasn't a hired musician; he just felt like bringing his guitar in to show off to all the ladies (or perhaps dudes... he was sporting a questionable sweater).

One small step for Pleeps, one giant step for monkies!

My next selection was Hop Hop & Away, a Citra and Mosaic-hopped American Pale Ale. At 4.6% ABV, this was an easy drinker! I wish I would have picked up some cans of this one before we left, but I was still reeling from the free arcade games. Oh well. We ended up toting back a pretty sizable haul of goodies to share with our Team D(r)INK compadres!

By the time I moved on to a pour of Leipzig Bop, a Gose, "some douche" had moved from guitar to the upright piano occupying the room. That was our cue to finish up and head to the next place.

After Dan's glowing review of Lord Hobo's Hobo Life session IPA (he compared it to Three Floyds' Zombie Dust), we made a quick decision to swing by and scarf down a pint between the four of us. And that we did. Dan also ordered a pour of something called Fallow Harvest, a beer from Hermit Thrush, a brewery based out of VT with whom I wasn't acquainted. This particular beer was an unspiced pumpkin sour ale uniting two vintages aged in French oak barrels. This was pretty fantastic and these guys are now on my radar. We'll hopefully be back in VT in 2017, so we'll be sure to track them down!

Pleeps takes a break and enjoys a rare beerless pose.

After our little 5-minute beer carousel ride at Lord Hobo (we literally stood at the bar and passed each beer around to one another until both were finished), we were off to another new brewery. This time, it was Lamplighter. When we arrived, I noticed the place was clean and well-kept with modern decor. Think a semi-fancy brunch spot with a variety of seating options, lots of time, and funky lighting. And it was bumping in there by the time we walked in. If any place in Boston is "Hipster Central," it's this place. Located in Cambridge and just a stone's throw away from our final destination (Cambridge Brewing Co.), Lamplighter was dripping with hipsters. That's not necessarily always a bad thing, though, because some hipsters have the innate ability to sniff out the good stuff. In this particular case, Lamplighter was indeed "the good stuff." With a penchant for brewing "aroma-packed, funk, and flavor-driven ales," many of the Lamplighter beers I sampled during our visit were yeast-focused. Check out this diverse sampler flight I enjoyed:

Danger Zone - Get ready to call Kenny Loggins, because this tasty dry-hopped sour ale features wildflower and tart lemon notes.
Mad Hatter - 100% Brettanomyces Pale Ale with ripe peach and resiny flavors.
Lion Eyes - dry and funky 100% Brettanomyces IPA.
Easy Tiger - another 100% Brettanomyces IPA with tropical fruit and earthy funk.

Hangin' with the hipsters at Lamplighter.

I enjoyed all of my beers, and Brewslut was impressed as well. However, the day was winding down and it was off to Cambridge before closing time. Aside from Lord Hobo (which hadn't even begun brewing when we last visited), Cambridge was the only "been there" place of the day. Dan and I both love their Blunderbuss Barleywine, but alas it was not on tap on this particular occasion.

Beer-wise, this was our final stop of the day, so we decided on a single pour of something from the tap list. I went with Don't Panic, a juicy Session IPA with notes of berries and wildflower amid herbal spiciness. Brewslut opted for a Boilermaker Stout, a barrel-aged dry stout. Both served as the closure of a day well-spent in Boston.

Aside from the beer, one of my favorite things about this place is the rotating mural on the wall adjacent to the bar. Depicting a variety of movie stars, musicians, fictional characters, Cambridge employees, and even local customers, this ever-changing mural always elicits a fun topic of conversation during our visit. We noticed, among others, President Obama, John Winger (Bill Murray's character from Stripes, and Barney from the Simpsons). It's always fun to try and figure out who's who on the mural!

Stay tuned for more Drinksgiving adventures including Portland, ME and a romp around New Hampshire before heading back to PA. Until then...

The Great New England Excursion of 2013: Day 2 - Amassing some Drafts around Boston, Mass!

Day Two of the excursion led us to eastern Massachusetts. After a lengthy first day, we were surprisingly fresh and ready to imbibe in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston. I had visited Cambridge Brewing Company once before during a trip to New Hampshire for Kate the Great Day. Its Blunderbus Barleywine had been on my mind since then, and has remained in my Top 5 list of barleywine-style ales. Unfortunately, it was not on tap when we arrived at Cambridge around lunch time. However, there was plenty of interesting offerings available during our visit.

Pleeps chronicles our first stop of the day!

I figured it would be a good idea to start light, as I knew we had a long day ahead of us. The first beer to catch my eye was Le Saisonniere, a low ABV farmhouse-style ale known as Grisette. This proved to be a perfect starting point and a refreshing choice on such a hot, humid day. I followed this up with The Cure, an Imperial IPA brewed with an experimental hop blend for a charitable cause called Ales for ALS. I knew about this program because Tröegs is in the process of brewing a Scratch Beer to benefit this organization. The hop blend was developed by Loftus Ranches, a hop grower in the Yakima Valley area of Washington state, with the assistance of Vinny from Russian River and Larry from Bell's. The idea is that Loftus Ranches provides the breweries with the special hop blend at no charge, and the brewery in turn brews a special beer and donates a portion of proceeds to the charity, in this case ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) research. Pretty cool concept, eh? At any rate, the beer was quite juicy and elicited a variety of tropical fruits in both the aroma and flavor.

Enjoying my first beer of the day at Cambridge Brewing Co.!

Meanwhile, Brewslut was working on a pair of darker beers, Collier Stout and Charles River Porter. After lunch, we decided to try the interesting sounding Banryu Ichi, a 14% ABV beer and saké hybrid. While we both enjoyed it quite a bit, we each had very different takes on the flavor. I thought it was quite fruity with a penchant for fleshy melon such as cantaloupe or honeydew. Brewslut, on the other hand, found it to be quite grassy and herbal. Nonetheless, it was quite a complex concoction that both of us were glad to have had sampled.

Pleeps bogarts the Banryu Ichi.

Since Boston boasts a plethora of great beer bars, we decided to switch gears for the remainder of the day and hit some of the best ones in our vicinity. First up on the agenda was a place Jason, Tröegs' MA Sales Rep, recommended - Mead Hall. After taking a while to find this place due to my poor GPS navigational skills while in "walking mode," we entered the establishment, and I was surprised to see the abundance of tap handles behind the bar. This place has a great open floor plan with a huge wrap-around bar and a comfortable upstairs lounge-style area. The tap selection was pretty awesome, and featured a wide variety of local favorites mingling with a vast selection from all corners of the United States. It was nice to see four Tröegs tap handles in the mix!

This is only half of the taps at Mead Hall!

We bellied up to the bar, and our bartender was extremely friendly and talkative right from the get-go. He offered us a variety of samples as we made our decisions. I started with a recommendation of his, the local favorite Be Hoppy from Wormtown Brewery. Wormtown was indeed on our master list, but unfortunately its hours did not sync with our schedule. This was a very fresh, well-balanced IPA with a moderate hop bite. Good stuff for sure! Brewslut started with Dean's Beans Coffeehouse Stout from Berkshire Brewing, which she enjoyed.

Nice coasters here!

We also tried some samples of various local brews from three breweries with which we were not familiar. First was Somerville's Slumbrew Happy Sol, a pretty good German-style Hefe. Next was Portico's Fuzzy Logic (great name!), a Belgian-style Pale. Lastly, we sampled Groundswell from Backlash Beer Co., another Belgian-style Pale. Both were fine, although I prefer American-style Pale Ales much more. Perhaps it has to do with the Belgian yeast. After these samples, Brewslut and I shared the delicious Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale from Lexington Brewing Co. in Kentucky. I typically like to drink local when traveling, but I couldn't resist trying this marriage of an Irish Red and English Pale aged for 6-weeks in freshly decanted bourbon barrels from Kentucky. This beer reminded me of liquefied vanilla bean ice cream! I really liked Mead Hall, so I decided to have one final beer, Mayflower's Summer Rye Ale, which was light and easy compared to the last few beers I had.

Our next stop was Deep Ellum, the first of two beer bars in Boston I'd been to previously. Since I had quite a bit at Mead Hall, I decided to go "one and done" here and let Brewslut imbibe a bit with two selections. I opted for Smoked Maple Lager, a Jack's Abby/Lawson's Finest Liquids collaboration. This one showed up on a number of tap lists throughout the entire trip... and for good reason, because it was quite tasty! Brewslut was ecstatic to see a Berliner Weiss on tap called Intergalactic Acid by The Tap Brewing Co. I'd never heard of this brewery before, but I quickly learned that this was in fact the new name for Haverhill Brewing, a place we'd visited on our Kate the Great trek. She wasn't blown away by this particular beer, but it was tasty nevertheless. She followed up with Clementine by Clown Shoes, a Belgian-style Witbier brewed with - you guessed it - clementines!

Extreme close-up of Blatant IPA at Sunset Grill & Tap.

Up next, we headed to a place just down the street from Deep Ellum. Sunset Grill & Tap, the other bar I'd been to previously, was the last place we visited before the infamous cab ride on our Kate the Great trek. (Perhaps I will share this story at another time!) Brewslut and I were a bit hungry by now, so we decided to get some grub. I got a grilled PB & banana sandwich on Texas toast and washed that son bitch down with the local Blatant IPA from Blatant Brewery. Overall, it was an average IPA. Brewslut decided on Mary of the Gael, a Saison from Mystic Brewery, another local brewery from Chelsea, MA. We were both tempted to order the nachos, which looked amazing and HUGE, but that PB & banana sandwich just sounded too good to pass up!

Our last stop of the evening was Lord Hobo, also a recommendation from Jason. We finished up each with a single beer, The Tap's Ignoble India Pale Lager, one of the rare occasions where we ordered the same beer. Lord Hobo is a beer geek den with dim lighting, knowledgeable staff (and patrons) and just a cool atmosphere conducive to drinking and discussing beer. We started a conversation with a local patron, and during our discussion we got to talking about Hill Farmstead. We had mentioned that we were going to the bottle release on Thursday. He also asked if we had heard of Marshall Wharf Brewing, which I had just recently found out about through another beer friend's recent travels. However, I had not yet tried any of their beer. He said that he prefers Marshall Wharf over Hill Farmstead. Strong words, indeed! So I was now on a mission to find some of their beers on this trip.

Upon returning to our hotel, we decided it was still early enough for us to enjoy one more beer. Surprisingly, the small hotel bar had a few decent selections on tap, although there was nothing worthwhile in bottles. I went with Original Ale from Ipswitch Ale Brewery and Brewslut opted for Sam Adams Boston Lager, a curious choice for her. And with that, Day Two had ended.

Stay tuned for Day Three, which finds us heading north to the land of lobsters, the great state of Maine!