Sep 3, 2013

We drove into Providence in the morning and found a bike trail called the East Bay Trail. We parked at a lot and headed into the overcast morning. The bike path was very nicely maintained and it took us through wooded areas as well as small towns and large parks. We biked along the water for much of the path, with Providence's skyline on the horizon. Part of the trail goes over an old railroad bridge, low on the water. We got to the end of the trail and took a break for a snack and rest before turning around to head back. I believe it was about 16 miles total. Nice start to the day.

We stopped at Trinity Brewing downtown before heading out. I remembered liking their beer last time I was there. It was totally empty when we got there, which is a complete contrast to the night I last visited. I did a flight again, expecting to love a bunch but only really being wowed by the Point Break Pale Ale. That was great, but the rest were just good/average.

Once we got back to New Jersey I met Alex at JJ Bitting Brewing, which is right down the road from Joanna's house. Not sure how I've never visited before. We had a couple of beers and talked about everything since we hadn't hung out in a year. I ate someone's tortilla chips because they left them on the bar, and some guy kept talking to us about beer and other strange things. We decided to take a walk around the area to get away from the bar. We took a pretty long walk and came back to pay the bill. It was great to catch up with her after so long. I was definitely ready to go home after that.

Jan 15, 2012

We woke up in the cold parking lot not wanting to emerge from the blankets. There was frost on the windows and we eventually got up the courage to get changed and drive away.

I drove to a bridge with a nice view of downtown and went out into the frigid morning to take photos. I couldn't find my gloves so my fingers were going numb as I shot these. I was really loving the light on the city though so I dealt with the pain. We went downtown and saw some more nice sights then had breakfast at an awkward Dunkin' Donuts full of homeless and/or recently released inmates.

We headed north and made our way into Boston and looked into getting a room in the city. It was very expensive even to park so we looked into other options. We decided to go over to Harpoon Brewery and do the tour first.

They gave us samples and our small glasses straight away as they introduced us to the brewery. We started with the IPA.

The tour was great and our tour guide was really funny. He let us sample some IPA that was still in the tank and we could notice that it tasted a little flat. It still had a week or two to sit before it was ready. That was a cool experience. The brewery is really big and they do some great charity work in the area between Boston and Vermont, where their other brewery is.

After the great tour we came out into the tasting room and got our sample on. We managed to try everything that was on tap! There were so many good beers there. We ended up leaving with two growlers. One of them was the Chocolate Stout mixed with the Raspberry UFO which made a wonderful flavor. This is probably my favorite brewery tour/experience.

We headed south and stopped after a while at Tullycross Tavern in Connecticut for some samples and a break from the road. They had some good stuff including a couple of IPAs and a winter stout.

The rest of the drive home seemed long and we hit some traffic, but we eventually made it back. That was a whirlwind trip up and back. We did quite a bit in a short time. It was too cold to enjoy just walking around unfortunately.

Jan 14, 2012

After a run along the river trail in the morning Kate, Shannon, and I went down to Cape May Brewery in the morning to check out what they had. It was much smaller and much more crowded than I expected. They had three beers on tap and we each got a glass and got in line to sample them.

We all enjoyed all three of the beers. The Honey Porter and Hefeweizen were really good. I talked to Ryan, one of the brewers/owners, for my blog and he let me sample the two versions of their IPA. Everyone there was amazingly friendly and enthusiastic.

After we left we headed back up 47 to Natali Vineyards where they were having a little winter wine festival. They had a bunch of wine out for samples. We sampled most of their offerings, but the fruit wines like the banana and the strawberry were really fantastic! Quite a few of the wines were very good and stood out among the average ones. It was a lot of fun.

After packing up Kate's car and getting our stuff together we headed up the Turnpike and through New York on our way toward Boston. There wasn't too much traffic all the way up.

We stopped in Providence for the night and went to Trinity Brewery downtown. The place was pretty packed and had quite a nice selection to check out. After we each got a pint and stood off to the side talking for a while, we managed to grab a seat at the bar.

We ordered the sampler and got some barbecue pork nachos to go with it. The nachos were so good! The Wolf's Breath was the best beer we tried. I think it was a barleywine, but it was really sweet with a great aftertaste.

After finishing our sampler and hanging out there for a while longer we came back across the street and parked in the empty parking lot and took to the back of the car to set up a bed. We had plenty of blankets to keep us warm, and it was a good things since it was freezing. It was only mildly uncomfortable, but we made it work.