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June 20, 2011July 9, 2011

Hike-n-Beer: New Hampshire Edition

Our hike above Stowe was only a warmup for the main hike of our trip, New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington. Prior to our trip, I researched the trails that lead to the the highest peak in New England and surmised we probably didn’t have the time nor the stamina to reach the top. But the network of trails below the summit looked like they provided plenty of opportunities to enjoy the most famous of the White Mountains.

The day dawned the nicest of the trip with only a few clouds in the sky. We parked at the Cog Railway base station and purchased a trail map in the gift shop to guide us on our hike. Merideth and I looked over the map. From our starting point, we only had two trails to choose from. We decided the Ammonoocuc Ravine Trail, at 2.4 miles, looked like the perfect hike for us. The deciding factor was that the trail terminated at the Lakes of the Clouds hut, a reminder of the Alpine beginnings of Hike-n-Beer.

Hike-n-Beer originated on our first Alpine adventure, a hike above the Königsee in Bavaria. Merideth and I walked for over two hours on this quite vertical trail. When we reached a clearing, I saw a small building with a beer sign on it. To good be be true, in fact this little restaurant served simple plates of bread and cheese but more important, beer. It was a special moment as two of our passions were married.

The Ammonoocuc Ravine Trail started out innocent enough, lulling us into a false sense of ‘this is going to be a piece of cake.’ We strolled through the forest, with the trail having a gentle and easy up slope. As we checked out all the flowers, streams and waterfalls, Merideth and I pondered whether the hut would have beer. We joked that the hut would probably have beer, but our choices would be Bud or Bud Light. That’s the same as having no beer at all we surmised.

About halfway into the hike, the trail changed drastically. The gentle slope turned steep. The soft forest floor trail turned to boulders. Our pace slowed dramatically as we scrambled over the boulders, criss-crossed the Ammonoocuc River and took frequent breaks. The saving grace was that we were still protected from the sun by the forest cover.

Despite the change, we were still chipper enough two thirds into hike to detour 100 yards off the trail and check out the Gorge with it’s awe-inspiring view and waterfall.

The last section of the hike was the hardest where the trail follows the river up the steep face of the hill. Adding to the difficulties of this section was we were no longer under cover of the trees and feeling the full force of the sun.

Two and a half hours after setting off from the Cog Railway, Merideth and I finally reached the hut. We were both exhausted. Sitting in the hut dining room, we quickly tried to rehydrate and eat our snacks. There was no beer.

We still had to get back down the mountain. I couldn’t picture myself going back down the trail we came up. And it wasn’t just because I hate going back the way I came. The pounding we would take didn’t seem like much fun. So we plotted a course across the face of the mountain down a trail that would hopefully be easier.

Crossing below the summit of Mt. Washington

The trail across the face was certainly easier but still strewn with boulders. In our tired state, this type of hiking took a lot out of us. We couldn’t just walk with our normal strides. We had to concentrate all the time and place each step carefully. The route took us within 1/2 mile of the summit. Part of me wanted to make a go, but I knew that was a stupid idea.

The Jewell Trail seen from the Cog Railway

We finally reached the Jewell Trail, our link back to the Cog Railway base station and our car. Probably 75% of it’s 2.6 mile length was exactly the type of descent I was trying to avoid by going back down the Ammonoocuc Ravine Trail. Scrambling down rocks and boulders, our bodies ached after each step. Plus, legions of bugs constantly harassed us every step of the way.

Six and a half hours after departing, we made it back to our car. We covered over seven miles and ascended then descended 3,000 feet. The difficulty of the hike ranked up there with any we have done in Alps.

View all the images from our Mt. Washington hike

We really needed a beer after such an effort on the trails. Unfortunately, the beer portion of Hike-n-Beer was a half hour drive away in the town of North Conway. The anticipation for that first beer was excruciating.

Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewing Company was located on the main highway that goes through the town. Our chief worry as we parked was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals started in a few hours. Would the bar already be too packed with eager Bruins fans?

Much to our relief, the bar was crowded, but nowhere near packed. We grabbed a high table away from the noise that had a nice view of the countryside and mountains.

Like two people who had been stranded in a desert, we quickly ordered a taster set of the house brews. There were seven beers in the set. The first two, Hoffman Weiss and Violet B’s Blueberry, were both very refreshing brews. The Hefe had that really nice banana/clove aroma and flavor. However, like many American Hefeweizens, the Weiss was under-carbonated for my tastes. Violet B’s had a subtle, dry blueberry taste. However, the strangest beer had to be the Czech Pilsner. It had the familiar Pils flavor at first but had an overwhelming marijuana finish. The best beer was Bear Peak Brown, one of the best Brown Ales we have ever tried. It had a wonderful nuttiness to it.

Over dinner and pints, Merideth and I relived our day on Mt. Washington. Despite the difficulty, it was an amazing day. While we disagreed on the enjoyment level, this hike will go down as one of the classic editions of Hike-n-Beer.

View all the New Hampshire images

June 20, 2011July 9, 2011

The Hills Are Alive

Monday started off with our first hike of the trip. To get to the Stowe Mountain Resort, we took a beautiful drive along a curvy, tree-shrouded road. The scenery was amazing, with the lush green forests being broken up only by the occasional homestead and craggy boulders.

Our hike originated at the Midway ski lift and followed up the steep ski runs. Of course the point of downhill skiing is to go down. So it made sense that I felt like we just kept going up and up without any flat reprieves. At the top, the view of the wide valley was breathtaking. However, the bug population obviously liked the view as well and their numbers seemed to increase exponentially the higher we ventured. After a few inhaled bugs, we decided to make our way back. The black diamond run called Hayride was a tad too vertical, so we made our way down and around the slightly less steep intermediate runs.

Several hours of heart-pumping hiking certainly deserved a reward. While one of our favorite things to do is hike in the Alps and reward ourselves with beer afterwards, in Vermont we did the next best thing; have a post-hike beer at the Trapp Family Brewery.

The Trapp Family resort is operated by the von Trapp family, whose earlier generations were the inspiration for the movie The Sound of Music. Not surprising, the brewery produced German-style beers. Their line-up included a Vienna Lager and Dunkel, in addition to a dry-hopped unfiltered beer. Our favorite, however, was the Helles, which paired nicely with our meat and cheese board served with fresh homemade bread.

The brewery, located down the mountain from the main lodge, was quaint, with cozy seating inside and a deck out back. Unfortunately, they were remodeling and rather than the sound of music, we heard the sound of power tools. Even so, the whole thing was reminiscent of our Alpine hiking adventures, which made us very happy inside. Also located at the brewery is the bakery, which had some decadent looking chocolatey things. We resisted the desserts, however, and waited for Vermont’s must-do attraction: the Ben & Jerry’s factory.

A must stop when traveling to the Stowe area

Chris scoffed as I insisted on partaking in the most Disneyland-like of Vermont activities. But I knew he wanted to go, too. We arrived to find a school bus-load of middle schoolers who had just finished a factory tour. I patiently waited in line for 25 minutes as the pre-teens flitted about excitedly. I noticed that most rejected their free small ice cream included with the tour for monstrosities like the Vermonster, a 13-scoop sundae served in a plastic bucket.

I enjoyed my share of Scoop Shop exclusives Chocolate Therapy (chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookie chunks and ribbons of chocolate pudding) and Sweet Cream and Cookies, while Chris opted for the Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream (vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone bits and swirls of caramel). In the midst of this most pleasurable of activities, the rain began to fall causing people to run for cover. We remained at our outside picnic table under the protection of a large umbrella finishing our treats and watching the confusion.

Some of the eclectic decorations at the Alchemist

We still had a few more breweries on our agenda for the day, so as soon as the last spoonful of ice cream was eaten, we were off to The Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury. With its dark interior and unusual artwork, The Alchemist has the feel of being in an eccentric mad scientist’s laboratory. The frequently changing eclectic range of beers add to the experimental feel. While we were encouraged to order 12 ounce samples, we opted for a slightly smaller taste of several beers.

Like beakers in the scientist’s lab, our tasters included beers of all colors, tastes, and aromas. Chris went straight for the hoppy Holy Cow, a session IPA at just over 5% ABV. He followed this with Wild Child, a sour that the brewery says is not for the “weak of heart.” I started with the Celia Saison, which I didn’t realize was gluten-free when I ordered it. Made with sorghum and dry-hopped with Amarillo hops, it was a bit on the band-aid side. They brew dark beers as well, including Pappy’s Porter, a roasty American porter, and Mortal Sin, an India Dark Ale. In the end, however, our favorite was Shut The Hell Up, an American mild brewed with Simcoe hops. STHU was a true session beer at 3.3% ABV. This beer proves that bold character can still be achieved without a high alcohol content. Lew Bryson would be so proud.

The next morning we hit the road for New Hampshire, but we had one more stop to make before leaving Vermont: Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville. This small brewery in a small Vermont town became famous when Monster energy drink went after them for trademark infringement on a beer they named Vermonster. (Funny that they didn’t go after Ben & Jerry’s who has a sundae named the Vermonster) Admittedly, this controversy heightened our anticipation, as we wanted to see what all the fuss had been about.

Only a week old, the brewery’s brand new digs were easily located on a main road (That is if the navigator is paying attention). Inside, the tasting room smelled of fresh paint and the last remnants of construction mess were getting wiped clean. Renee was a gracious and chatty host as she served us four brews, including their flagship beer Ridge Runner, a mild barleywine. Vermonster was not available for tasting but we couldn’t resist buying a bottle to take home. Renee not only gave us good conversation and tasty beer, she also gave us a suggestion that proved to be a Vermont bonus. She encouraged us to stop at Hill Farmstead brewing, even though they were not open for tasting on Tuesdays.

With a name to drop when we arrived, we happily drove to the remote Hill Farmstead in rural Greensboro Bend. We passed a colorful field of yellow flowers and multiple farm houses on our drive down the bumpy dirt country road. While we found it without problem, their website advises visitors to look at Google maps, as “you *will* get lost.” With some trepidation, we approached the barn where a guy was moving kegs. While he started out by saying that he didn’t really have the time to do a full tasting with us, our gift of Pliny and Blind Pig helped to change his mind. Not wanting to disrupt his work too much, we concluded our visit within twenty minutes, including tasting several beers like Edward (American pale ale), Florence (wheat saison), and Abner (imperial IPA), and purchasing a few bottles to take home. At Hill Farmstead the beer was phenomenal and the hospitality welcoming. Many thanks to Renee for encouraging us to stop by and Owen who took time out of his busy work day. Hill Farmstead was definitely the crowning jewel of our Vermont beer tour.

We left Vermont having added nine breweries to The List. For our first ever visit to the state, we were impressed with not only the people and the scenery, but also the beer. While we found out about it too late, we encourage you to discovery your own beer adventures by checking out the Vermont Brewery Challenge. In the meantime, I’ll be pitching a new motto for the Vermont Brewers Association. Vermont: where the hills are alive with the sound (and smell) of beer

View all the Stowe images

June 18, 2011July 9, 2011

But Where is the Coat Factory?

Sixteen hours after leaving the Monterey Beer Festival, Merideth and I were in Burlington, Vermont in the parking lot of Magic Hat Brewing Company waiting for the tasting room to open. Despite the overnight flight from San Francisco and the stressful connection at JFK, we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. What had us most excited was that this was our first trip to Vermont and Magic Hat our first Vermont brewery.

I guess the tower should have been a clue, but the grayish, industrial exterior didn’t prepare us for what was inside. The “Artifactory,” which was dimly lit with strings of colored lights, was an ultra-hip mall store gone amok, complete with blaring music. Three quarters of the room was devoted to all manner of Magic Hat merchandise, from the normal logo clothing and glasses to golf balls and back packs. Amidst all this, we managed to locate the bar, which was over to the right.

The tasting room only pours samples and fills growlers, as their license does not allow them to pour pints. Seeing all the tap handles, I thought we were in for an epic 18 beer sample set to start the day. But then I realized there were three identical sets of taps. Phew! Only six beers.

The cheerful bartender started us with Single Chair, their golden ale. It was a pleasant, light beer to start the trip. The well-known #9 was the fourth beer we sampled and it was just too sweet for me. If I could have ordered a pint, Blind Faith IPA would have been my choice. While not the hop bomb I’m used to drinking on the West Coast, it was a really nice brew.

With no growler to fill and no pints to drink, our stop at Magic Hat lasted all of fifteen minutes. Even after leaving a tip for the bartender, I still felt odd not actually paying for anything, so we purchased a taster glass.

Vermont boasts the highest number of breweries per capita in the United States. Burlington, located on the shores of Lake Champlain, was a typical college town with a number of bars in its quaint downtown area. This included three brewpubs all within blocks of each other. We had our cab driver drop us off in front of the Vermont Pub & Brewery, the state’s very first brewpub.

The prominent signage at Vermont Pub and Brewery

Rain was falling liberally, so we passed on the patio seating out front. Inside, there was a smattering of customers around the two bars. For the sake of filming for beergeek.TV, we grabbed a couple of seats at the bar in the bright, airy atrium.

The cheese and beer samples at Vermont Pub & Brewery

There were ten beers in Vermont’s sampler. Merideth and I tasted everything from an Apricot Ale to a Milk Stout; a pretty wide variety to say the least. Merideth really liked the Burly Irish Ale, a Red Ale, while I favored the Milk Stout and Tulach Leis, a Flemish-style Vermont Sour Red Ale. The Tulach Leis was wonderfully tart, my second favorite beer of the day.

The Dunkin’ Donuts we ate earlier in the day were starting to wear off so we ordered a plate of Vermont cheese. Merideth enjoyed pairing the delicious cheeses to our beers.

A half a block away from Vermont Pub & Brewery was American Flatbread/ Zero Gravity Brewing. American Flatbread is a chain of high-end pizza restaurants with the flatbreads cooked in a “primitive” wood-burning oven. Some of the locations have breweries.

The warm and cozy wood-toned space was divided into two areas. Most of the restaurant was devoted to the dining area where the customers could watch their pizza being made in the open oven. We arrived prior to the dinner hour so we sat in the smaller bar area and ordered a sample of all the beers.

We delved into a second ten beer sampler of the day. The beers were just as eclectic as the Vermont Pub, just in a different way. The beers ranged from German and Belgian-styles to American standards. Merideth’s favorite was Schoen Dorf, a delicious German-style light lager. Ever the hophead, I really liked the TLA IPA, with its delightfully piney hop flavor. It turned out to be my favorite beer of the day.

As 5pm approached, a line started developing for dinner. I felt like I had been transported to a Wiggles concert as all the adults had two or three kids in tow. Our name was already on the list, but Merideth went back to the hostess and requested that we be sat at one of the tables in the bar area thinking that would be the adult section. When we were finally sat for dinner, we cringed when a family sat next to us. Our dismay was complete when one of the kids threw a temper tantrum because she didn’t like their table. Despite the distractions, Merideth and I persevered and enjoyed our incredible pizza and beers. I guess if we returned in the future, we would wait until after family hour.

We were very curious about our last Burlington stop, Three Needs Brewery. Described as a ‘dive bar’ in many of it’s reviews, we wondered what a such an establishment would look like in Vermont. Walking in, we noticed it was a bit dingy and the white hip-hop music a bit loud. But as Merideth astutely observed, it was much too bright and clean to be a dive bar.

There were only four beers to try which was probably a good thing. We were starting to peter out, feeling the effects of two days on the go with little sleep. The beers were not spectacular, but competent. Merideth and I both chose the Schwarzbier as our last beer of the day.

Burlington was one of those fun towns that in hindsight, I wished I had planned more time there to explore. But we accomplished a lot in our one day visit and I am sure we will be back again. Most important, I learned that Burlington Coat Factory was founded in Burlington, New Jersey, not Vermont.

View all the images from Burlington

June 2, 2011May 24, 2013

New beergeek.TV Episode – Springtime in Portland

“Springtime in Portland” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

Our tenth visit to Portland was our first not attending the Oregon Brewers Festival. Admittedly it was quite strange walking through the waterfront park and not seeing the familiar large white festival tents.

With no festival to attend, we were free of concentrate on our primary mission, adding breweries to the List. We visited outlying breweries that in previous years we had missed. And we enjoyed a wonderful urban beer hike on a glorious springtime Saturday.

So enjoy our tenth visit to the Rose City…

For all the episodes of One Pint at a Time go to beergeekTV.

May 21, 2011July 9, 2011

The Legend That is Boonville Beer Fest

In Northern California beer lore, one beer festival stands out amongst all others: the Boonville Beer Festival. The stories beer geeks brought back from Mendocino County were the stuff of legend. Great beer aside, it was the tales, especially of the campground parties, that piqued the interest of people who missed out. It took us fifteen years, but we finally made it to our first Boonville Beer Festival to experience the legend for ourselves.

Disclaimer: Merideth and I don’t camp. We spent Friday and Saturday night comfortably in a hotel room. Therefore, we didn’t get the full Boonville Beer Festival experience. And, we are OK with that.

The crowd lined up for the 15th Annual Boonville Beer Festival...

The threat of rain didn’t keep the crowds away. The scruffy looking bunch began lining up over an hour before the opening time of 1pm. After being ID’d and banded by one of the festival staff, Merideth and I joined the line a bit before noon. Being our first Boonville, we looked over fellow festival-goers to gauge what the our day could be like. They were a rough looking bunch. Friday night in the campgrounds must have been a good time.

Merideth's first beer at her first Boonville Beer Fest

At 12:45, the doors were opened and the eager crowd streamed into the Mendocino County Fairgrounds. Not knowing the layout of the festival, Merideth and I bee-lined for the first set of taps we could see, just off to the left. In this grouping amongst others, was the festival host, Anderson Valley Brewing, Triple Rock and Russian River Brewing who already had a lengthy line. Around the corner, I found Moonlight Brewing and Twist of Fate on cask was soon filling my tiny tasting glass. Merideth’s first beer was Mammoth Brewing Golden Trout Pilsner.

Conveniently located in the animal pens...

With our first beers in hand, it was time to explore the lay of the land. The festival was spread out over a large portion of the Fairgrounds. Breweries were grouped in the animal stalls that ringed a redwood grove. More were grouped on the opposite side in a giant field where the wrestling matches later occurred. The spread out nature of the festival was somewhat annoying when we were first trying to figure out where everyone was located. But later with the festival was in full swing, the roominess was a godsend. When one area became too congested, we just found another area that was less crowded.

One of the more popular festival brews...

Overall, the beer selection at Boonville would make many beer festivals jealous. The list included a Who’s Who of California breweries. And a few hearty brewers made the long trek down from Oregon and Washington, including one of our favorites, Double Mountain from Hood River. There was even a couple of breweries we never heard of.

Merideth enjoying a Moonlight Reality Czeck

We sampled a number of beers over the course of four hours. Some of the beers of Merideth and I thought were of note:

Ballast Point Sculpin
Cherry Voodoo Triple
Double Mountain Hop Lava & Vaporizer
Drake’s Denogginizer
Firestone Walker Double Jack
Moonlight Bombay by Boat, Twist of Fate (firkin) and Reality Czeck
Mad River Dry Hopped Amarillo (firkin)
Marin Brewing White Knuckle
Sierra Nevada Hips Helles
Triple Rock “The Judge”

We’ve been to drunk-fests before, but Boonville made these other festivals look like a little old lady tea party. And I don’t really mean that in a bad way. From the opening bell, people were eager to party and party hard. Despite this vibe, there was never a feeling that things were going to get out of control. I think large amounts of marijuana being smoked mellowed the crowd. Even the wrestling in the big field appeared to be good-natured hijinks between friends. When the taps were finally shut off, the large number of people snoozing on the ground was evidence of a great day.

Our beer of choice in the Brewers Campground

Despite not camping, we did get a taste of the campground experience after the festival. We wandered over to the Brewers Campground behind the Anderson Valley Brewery. For the next hour or so, we walked around that magical place where so many of the legendary Boonville stories are set. We popped in on our friends’ campsites, sharing stories and beers.

Merideth and I finally settled in the Marin Brewing’s campsite where a large number of people were gathered. The centerpiece of their area was a huge grill-mobile, an impressive piece of food cooking engineering. We enjoyed an Anderson Valley sunset chatting with friends, watching Whiffleball and eating amazing grilled lamb and chicken.

Groping our way back to our car in the dark with rain drops beginning to fall, Merideth and I talked about our fun-filled day. Our first Boonville Beer Fest was quite an eye-opening experience. We’ll probably be back and next time we may even camp. Many thanks to Sierra Nevada, Marin Brewing, and New Belgium for all their generous hospitality!

View all the images from Boonville Beer Festival