Category: Travel in North America

The plan for St. Patrick’s Day was to head down to the Black Rose for breakfast and then pretty much see what happened. Our only other commitment for the day was to see a punk show, headlined by the Larkin Brigade, at 8pm so we had more or less the whole day to hang – and that is exactly what we did.

It wasn’t without worries though. All weekend the Black Rose was packed with long lines of people waiting to get in. The last thing we wanted to do was queue to get in, especially with the cold wind blowing. By the way, it’s my theory that Boston wasn’t this crowded for Paddy’s Day until we started plugging it…

But as we rounded the corner, there was the sight we were hoping for… no line, just a bunch of smokers outside. And better yet, we ended up with a prime booth upstairs that overlooked all the action.

As tradition dictates, breakfast is of the full Irish variety, sans the black and white pudding, with a pint of Guinness.

After we ate, we were somewhat undecided about what to do. We thought about abandoning our prime spot and hanging out downstairs – we even offered our seat to a group of Torontonians – Mike, Kate, Dave and Christa. In the end, we started talking to them and decided to share our spot. Plus, our friend Brad Ruppert and his crew showed up, so we had quite a group.

As you would guess, the people watching at an event like this is second to none. People always sport their best Irish t-shirt (“Irish today – hungover tomorrow”, “Kiss me if you’re Irish”, “Everyone loves a drunken Irish girl”), so t-shirt reading is a big activity.

I knew the party had really started when I saw a couple come out of a stall in the men’s room. Nothing like a drunken shag in the bathroom at the Black Rose on Paddy’s Day.

We ended up staying for seven hours at the Black Rose, talking with old and new friends, listening to music and enjoying the day. We were actually kind of sad to leave – we were having so much fun – but we had a long night ahead and needed to rest.

Our tip for celebrating St. Pat’s Day in Boston is to arrive at your pub of choice relatively early, then plan to stay. This way you can secure a good spot (close to the bar, prime people watching, etc) and you don’t pay the outrageous cover charges that every bar extorts from you.

The Candadians proved this point when they told us that the day before they were enjoying a good time at a pub. But, then they decided to go look for a new, fun pub to hang out in. Well, they were out of luck, as every other pub had a line and charged a cover. They learned their lesson and had no plans to leave the Black Rose until they were ready to retire for the night.

How did we hang out for seven hours, you might be wondering? First of all, we were drinking mostly Guinness, which despite it’s reputation of being thick and heavy is relatively low in alcohol. More importantly, we drank glass after glass of water to help with the pacing. I thought our waitress was going to be annoyed by our non-stop requests for water but she actually appreciated having a group of relatively sober drinkers.

Thanks to our friends and all the people we met for making it a great Paddy’s Day.

If you want to look at all our pictures, click here.

 

Sunday was somewhat of a day of rest for us. Well, everything is relative, right? We got up and out of the hotel around mid-morning and headed to Southie (South Boston) for the parade.

You hear so much about the Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade and the first time I came I was expecting something along the lines of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Nope. This is an honest to God neighborhood affair that about half million people attend.

While people from all over the City and beyond attend the parade, the theme of the day (besides St. Patrick, of course), is definitely Southie pride. Think thousands of people all talking like Goodwill Hunting. One of my favorite groups of the day included the Irish Prison Service Pipe Band. Now that’s a little different from the usual fire or police department band. Hey, I guess prison guards are a public service people, too.

The other highlight was an accordion band that came all the way from County Donegal. A bunch of teenagers dressed in purple outfits with their accordions. It was a sight to behold. They were followed by the mayor of some town in Donegal. All I got was that his name was Paul. Chris very proudly introduced himself as having great grandparents from Donegal “City”. He was politely corrected that they consider it a “town”. I don’t know the city (or town) that Mayor Paul came from, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.

For all you Star Wars geeks, there was even a whole section of fellow Star War geeks dressed up in the finest costumes. Storm troopers with green plastic hats and shamrocks on their uniforms. I’m not a Star Wars geek, but even I know that there is something inherently wrong with this picture.

After the parade, we made it out to Brookline and The Publick House. Now this might be a record…our first beers of the day were not until 5:30pm! But good ones they were. We saw our new friend Harry (and, yes, he is in fact an opera singer) and he recommended some great beers. I had the Brownstone from Sixpoint Brewing in New York. It was a very drinkable 5% unfiltered brown. Chris also took one of Harry’s suggestions and had the Avec Les Bon Voeux, a saison from Brasserie Dupont. At 9.5%, it also was very drinkable. Besides the amazing beer selection at The Publick House, they also serve great food. So, we played a game of Scrabble (I won 296-251), and had some dinner.

We finished up the night at a bar a few doors down from the hotel. Bukowski’s is recommended by the Dropkick Murphy’s as a “must drink in” bar, so we decided to check it out. We were a little unsure, though, so Chris tried to send me in first. It was a very cool place, with a great beer selection (even if they were charging $25 for a bottle of Lost Abbey’s Devotion). We had one beer each and were in bed by 10:30pm.

All rested and ready to go for the big day, we’re headed to the Black Rose for a traditional Irish breakfast. We’re not getting the earliest start this morning and I just hope that we can get in! This time of day will probably be our best chance, though!

 

As I have said many times, Merideth and I are creatures of habit, so when we go to Boston we usually end up at the same places year in and year out. It is not really a bad thing because we hang out at some pretty cool places and drink great beer. Also, in our defense, we kind of had to go to all the old haunts for our episode of One Pint at a Time.

Mother nature is a creature of habit too. So, when we woke up Saturday morning in Portsmouth, NH and it was snowing, we were back on familiar ground. It has snowed almost every time we have been here for Paddy’s Day.

Since St. Patrick’s Day is on Monday (and Saturday, too, if you are good Catholic), I think people are treating this as a three day party weekend and places are going to be jam packed.

Boston is such a sports crazy town and we recommend to anyone who visits to take in some sporting event.

Our particular passion is hockey so we had the Bruins v. Flyers as the first event of our day. Since this is not hockeygeek.com, I won’t bore you with the details of the game. The Bruins won 3-2 in overtime after tying the game with 15 seconds left.

But beers were needed prior to the game so we stopped at Boston Beer Works which is conveniently a block from the TD Banknorth Boston Garden (or whatever it is called now). Beer Works also has a location next to Fenway Park. And one in Salem, MA as well if you are into the witch thing.

Beer Works is one of those breweries that maybe does a few too many beers – I am not saying any are bad – but there some really gems in their lineup that I think get lost in the sheer number of beers. I particularly enjoy their Curley’s Irish Stout, Fenway Pale Ale and Beanpot Brown.

After the game, we were off to the Harpoon Brewery to pick up some beer for our tasting and to meet up with our friend Brad Ruppert. Oh, we also tasted some of the free beer they pour.

A 15 minute walk from central Boston, Harpoon is a must stop on a tour of Boston. In case you missed it in the previous paragraph – free beer. All you have to do is listen to a short talk about the beer and the staff keeps on pouring. But be a good beer citizen and please buy something.

Our visit to Harpoon was the first evidence – well second if you count the long lines to get in the Black Rose at 4pm on Saturday – that things are going to be crazy this weekend. We walked upstairs to a packed tasting room; something we have never seen on the past 4 visits.

Once we finished at Harpoon, the next stop was of course the Barking Crab. Seafood shacks are pretty famous in these parts and the Barking Crab is no exception. It doesn’t look like it from the outside (hence “shack”) but there you will get some of the best seafood in Boston and a good beer selection too. I chased down some wonderful fried clams and oysters with a few Harpoon IPAs. Merideth had some Ipswitch Ale with her lobster roll.

Last night’s excitement at the Barking Crab was that there was a Paramount Pictures private party where Ben Kingsley and Leonardo DiCaprio were going to be in attendance. We tried to crash the party but our beer credentials weren’t enough to get us entrance.

Then it was on to Cambridge Brewing for a nightcap. I think they brew the best beer in Boston and the though it is not the easiest brewpub to get to, it is worth the trek. We only know how to get their by landmarks: Get off the Red Line at Kendall Square, walk down to the Legal Seafood and hang a right. Go left at the Residence Inn, cross the street and then go off to the right after the billboard. It’s a little way down on the right.

As I said, I think they brew the best beer in Boston and the IPA, porter and stout didn’t change my mind. Merideth tried a 9.4% Belgian golden ale called Om and actually liked it. Merideth is really starting to branch out.

Cambridge was a great last stop to finish a good beer day.