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My Weekend Beer Trip
As a last minute decision my girlfriend and I decided last Thursday to head up to New Hampshire for the weekend. We booked a room at the New England Inn for Saturday and Sunday nights and left Saturday morning. My girlfriend just wanted to go on a quick vacation but for me it was all about the beer!
First stop, Portsmouth Brewing Co. We broke up the 4 hour drive with a stop in Portsmouth. We were given a private tour and got to climb through the brewery, check out all the cool gadgets and check out the fermentation and cold storage rooms. And then because we went on the tour we each got half off a 10 beer sampler. All were great beers but my favorites were the Oatmeal Stout, Imperial Porter and Smuttynose's Old Dog Brown Ale and Shoals Pale Ale. The food and atmosphere were also very good and its well worth the stop if you're heading to NH. I left with a PBC sweatshirt and a nice Belgian tulip glass.
Next stop was Saturday night at Tuckerman's Tavern which is on site at the New England Inn. Not a brewpub but they do have Tuckermans and other local breweries' beers on taps. Not bad but it was nice only having to walk across the street to our rooms.
On Sunday afternoon after walking around Conway we stopped in at Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewing Co. to check out their menu and get some flights. All were decent brews but their Brown Ale, Czech Pils and Stout stood out among the rest. We were even given a sample of their Vanilla Imperial Porter on cask which was amazing. Even my girlfriend who generally doesn't like cask beers thought it was great. We ended up eating at their restaurant later that night and their Czech Pils was amazing with the boatload of BBQ I ordered.
The next day we headed home and after taking the "scenic" route and missing the Woodstock Inn we ended up stopping in Nashua at Martha's Exchange Brewpub. Kind of a weird setting and decor but whatever works for you I guess. It was cool how all the brewing gear was right there in plain view and wasn't separated from the restaurant by any glass. Their website lists a ton of beers but their pub had an almost completly different line up. The beers were alright, the Doppelbock, Alt and IPA were pretty good. Unfortunately the Vanilla Stout was out at the time. The food, however, was awesome and was probably the best meal we had on vacation.
It was nice how every non-brewery restaurant had great local beer on tap and most places had at least a dozen taps. I'd recommend stopping in at any of these brew pubs if you're ever in the area. If you're planning on traveling around New England, I'd suggest picking up Andy Crouch's "The Good Beer Guide to New England". I received it last year as a gift and it came in real handy this weekend
cool, sounds like you had fun.... I'll have to check out that book, so next time I'm up there visiting relatives I'll know where to grab some good beer.
Yeah it was a great time. I wish we had some great brew pubs around here. I have to drive an hour to hit the closest one so I don't get the chance very often.
Oh man! You were up in Conway and you didn't hit Ebenezer's?!? If you haven't been there before, then you need to get your ass back up there for a visit. As the website describes, "It's like you died and went to Belgium." They have one of the greatest Belgian beer selections in New England and stock some of the rarest and hard to find beers in America. You'll certainly have to check it out next time your in the neighborhood. Cheers!
FirePitBrew - You could have taken a tour @ Tuckerman's Brewery, they do them on Saturday's at 3pm. I have actually never taken the tour, but it is on my list for this summer! The Moat Mountain's sampler pack is cool, I do really like their pilsner. But most of their beers are great.
1n1m3g - We here at the office had just found out about Ebenezers, literally 2 weeks ago, we are trying to plan a night to go over and try them out. Looks like heaven.
Sounds like a great trip! I used to go up there all the time in college and ski tuckermans ravine. We did that maybe 4 or 5 times. Conway rocks. Those were in my transition days over to Sam Adams, so brewpubs were not my target, we always ate at the pizza hut there.
I am with you though now, everywhere I go, I plan around brewpub visits, (checking out my future competition) I will definitely be picking up that book.
I call a field trip! HS I just went through that list at ebenezers- gots to get there today!
Any brewery that has black albert- on draft! That is ridiculous. And they have all of the de dolle (love their mad bitch)
1n1m3g wrote:
Oh man! You were up in Conway and you didn't hit Ebenezer's?!? If you haven't been there before, then you need to get your ass back up there for a visit. As the website describes, "It's like you died and went to Belgium." They have one of the greatest Belgian beer selections in New England and stock some of the rarest and hard to find beers in America. You'll certainly have to check it out next time your in the neighborhood. Cheers!
I know, I know. I've never been and I'm going to have to incorporate it into my next trip to NH or Maine. This was a last minute trip so it wasn't the best laid plans and I tried to cram as much beer was I could into the trip without completely pissing off my girlfriend.
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