Old Orchard Beach

I spent the past 3 days at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. A very small honky-tonk town, just south of Portland. There were a number of members of my mother's family there, including distant cousins and my grandparents who made the trip up from Florida. I got a pretty viscious sunburn, as we spent a lot of time by the beach and pool, during the 100 degree heatwave! Important to me, I was able to drink a lot of great beers. First night I was there, I walked a mile up to the nearest location selling Baxter Brewing Co's Stowaway IPA. A very solid canned offering, available only in Maine, at 8.99 a 6er, it was a bargain. It reminded me very strongly of New England Brewing Co's Sea Hag IPA.

Thursday, we made our way up to Portland to tour the Allagash Brewery. I went with my father and uncle, who are curious about craft beer, but not very knowledgeable. We toured the facilities, which are very impressive, and since the tasting room/retail store was under construction, we had a tasting in the barrel room of the brewery. We had Allagash White, Tripel, Curieux (Tripel aged in Jim Beam bourbon barrels) , and 2011 Fluxus (Bier de Garde). I enjoyed all of the beers, as well as the very informational tour, best of all it was free. I did not pick up any beer there, but I regret not grabbing a piece of glassware.



After that, we stopped at Whole Foods Market, Portland, and I was able to grab 2 bottles of Maine Brewing Co. Lunch IPA ($5.99/500ml bottle), with a lot date of 7/21 which was the day we were in the store! Pretty crazy stuff! I enjoyed one bottle that night, and just had another one last night, after the restaurant. Incredibly hoppy, but still very drinkable and refreshing, one of the hoppiest "single" IPAs I have had in some time. Highly reccomend all of Maine Brewing Co's offerings!

Late Autumn Outfit

Steven Alan - Solid Knit Beanie - Black
Crescent Down Works - 60/40 Montagne Parka - Army Green
The Hill-Side - Chambray Scarf - Black
Iron Heart - Super Heavy Winter Flannel - Blue
American Apparel - Organic Fine Jersey Tee (2001ORG) - white
Seiko - Orange Monster SKX781
Tanner - Skinny Standard Belt - Natural/Nickel
Supreme - Chinos - Tan
J.Crew - Camp/Boot Socks - Brown Greige
Red Wing - 8" Boots (David Z. excluisve) - Orro Russet
Blackberry - Bold 9700 (Onyx)
Allagash White Ale
Altadena Works - Teardrop Backpack -Slate Blue

any comments will be well considered

Beervana Festival - Providence, RI, 10/02/2009

This event was absolutely amazing. First of all, the venue was excellent, it was held at the Roger Williams Park and Zoo's Botanical Center, this picture above gives you a good idea of what it was like.

There was a ton of great brewers and importers there, with 2 oz samples a plenty.

Pretty Things Brewery - Cambridge, MA - Saint Botolph's Town, Jack D'or (awesome Saison), American Darling

Stone Brewing Co. - San Diego - Epic Ale was amazing! loved the tangerine or orangey notes, I had already tried the Anniversary Ale and it was good again.

Rob Tod - Allagash Brewing Co. - Portland, ME - gave a talk on barrel aging beers and how each barrel ends up tasting completely different, the Curieux ale was delicious as well as Odyssey.

Sam Calagione of Dog Fish Head gave a great talk on Ancient Ales brewed from a recipe they devised from different archaeological digs. The most interesting of which was Midas Touch, found from the residue within King Midas' tomb. Also Dog Fish had three different cask conditioned Indian Brown Ales each made from different hops, I liked the Liberty hops.

B. United International Imports - I tried the Schneidder Weisse, which was excellent

I also had some Cantillon, which was a great experience although I massacred the name, and was corrected by the guy pouring it.

I also had a chicken sausage with kale and a pineapple slice on top from Julian's which was excellent and some popcorn that was pretty good. Cool that Voss water sponsored it! Definitely a great night for craft brewing in Rhode Island!