Rippers Urban Beer Safari #1

RUBS - Rippers Urban Beer Safari #1

On Saturday--10/31/15, i.e., Halloween--I did a solo beer safari in Boston. I rode lots of bike paths and it was lovely! Fresh Pond is an oasis in Cambridge though overrun with dog and their walkers. The Muddy River Bikeway and Jamaicaway Bikepath are beautiful and very few dogs to dodge. Franklin Park was pretty, but my favorite was Boston Harborwalk--through Dorchester and South Boston--which provided some of the best views of Boston Harbor and the city that I have every seen.



Between cruising along nice and easy on bikepaths and waiting in line for brewery tours, the ride took longer than expected, but I still got home in time to hand out all of our Trick or Treat candy. In fact, I resorted to handing out Clif bars to the last couple of goblins.

The tour at Sam Adams was entertaining and informative, but the guide's beer knowledge was minimal if he departed the script. I asked about the relationship between ABV and specifc gravity, but he didn't even know that gravity refers to the sugar content of the beer. The brewery in Boston is their test lab. All the beer brewed here goes to one of three places: 1) competitions, 2) local bars and restaurants that were early supporters, and 3) the tasting room at the end of the tour. Sam Adams has won the most awards of any brewery in the world, but I was disappointed that the tasting included only their standard fare--Sam Adams Lager, Oktoberfest, and Pumpkin Batch--rather than some of their more exotic brews.

The tour at Harpoon was very similar to the one at Sam Adams, but I give it a higher grade because 1) the guide was able to explain the relationship between ABV and gravity, and 2) the tasting at the end of the tour allows you to sample as many of the 12 beers they have on tap as you can in 15 minutes. Harpoon IPA is a classic, and the Leviathon is a nice DIPA. I think their Take 5 is too high in IBU to be a good session IPA. The 3 dark beers were all disappointing today: Harpoon Dark, Stout, and EHOP Collaboration with Deschutes Brewery. All was redeemed in the taproom where I enjoyed an excellent Eis Eis Baby Pilot Beer (Brewed with German bock yeast, this full bodied beer has caramel flavors, slight heat, and a rich malty finish) and their delicious soft pretzels with two dips: garlic butter and ale mustard. Yum! I also had an enjoyable conversation with a young couple from Buffalo visiting Boston for the weekend. They were marathoners, skiers, bikers, and beer lovers--how could we not get along?

Next stop was at Trillium for a growler fill--no tastes allowed--then on to the Back Bay to hang out with my daughter Alexa and her BF Jordan. They were visiting friends in Boston for the weekend and we all have such busy social calendars that all we could do was squeeze in an hour at Solas Irish Pub before they joined their friends for dinner and I hurried home to give candy to the trick or treaters.

 Jamaicaway bikepath.

Sam Adams.

Harborwalk in Dorchester.

The L Street Bathhouse in South Boston - famous for the L Street Brownies and their annual Polar Plunge.

Harpoon and lines go together--whether its waiting for a tour or riding the B2B.

 Sean (L) was Nick's boss at iProspect last summer. The handsome guy in the middle is Jordan, Alexa's beau. On the right is Tom Brady's favorite fan, with my Patriots' good luck beard.

Samuel Morrison was a fellow member of the Phoenix S.K. Club.

Trillium Sinister Kid--an appropriate beer for Halloween.

Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 2 (Wormtown, Medusa, Jack’s Abby, 3Cross.)

The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 2 was inspired by an article in the Boston Globe Magazine: 10 great craft breweries to try in Central Mass. - The Commonwealth’s midsection is becoming a hot spot for beer businesses.

Read about The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 1 here.

The route was 68 miles with 4 breweries on tap--Wormtown, Medusa, Jack’s Abby, and 3Cross.
We rode the East Coast Greenway for the first 25 miles and the last 6 miles with no overlanding planned, but there was one stretch of dirt road due to construction. We also rode two short segments of nicely paved bikepaths--the Assabet River Rail Trail, and the Blackstone River Bikeway next to the very busy Worcester-Providence Turnpike. 
We started in Worcester and rode nice roads through Boylston, Berlin, Hudson, to Framingham. We left Jack's Abby in Framingham after sunset, and rode in the dark on fairly busy streets through Ashland, Westborough, and Milbury back to Framingham. 

 We parked at 3Cross a bit before noon, and got back about 7pm to end our brew tour with a few other cyclists hanging out at the brewery. 

 Wormtown was our first stop, after only 15 minutes of biking.

My favorite was the 'Murica Porter.

 The Men's room was plastered with brewery stickers. My favorite was Magic Hat's "Apres-ski it if you can" with a photo of the Mad River Glen single chair.

 We didn't stop for photos, but every time we stopped to make room for more beer, I snapped a photo or two. There were a few colorful spots along the route, but many trees were bare, and most of the remaining had brown leaves.

 Medusa won the prize for best names.  Island of Misfit Hops was brewed with leftover hops. Freudian Sip (my favorite here) was a amber German-style lager.

 Assabet River Rail Trail

 Ahhhh! New pavement is awesome.

 A couple of bikes outside Jack's Abby had fenders made out of beer cans.

Jack's Abby served the best beer of the day, and their Framinghammer Barrel-Aged Porter was my favorite. I could have had a flite of 4 different Framinghammers: the standard, the chipotle, the PBJ, and the cocoa-nut.

The local cheese and charcuterie plate was delicious.

The 3Cross owner/brewer is a young (20-something?) bike enthusiast. He has a friend who collects bikes and has them on display at the 3Cross brewery / tap room.

Planning Details

Our route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10944186

• Wormtown - opens at 12, tour at 12:30
• Medusa - opens at 12, BYOF
• Jack’s Abby - opens at 11:30, pizza, pork shank, mussels, etc
• 3Cross - opens at 5, BYOF (Price Chopper across the street)

Worcester's Wormtown Brewery takes top honor in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship

The Wormtown Brewery beat out powerhouses of the brewing world such as Samuel Adams, Stone Brewing, Yuengling and Saranac Brewing to take home the title of Grand National Champion in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship. “We try our best to make the best beers we can and to get that recognition on the national level is icing on the cake," said Wormtown Brewery Master Brewer Ben Roesch. "The brewing team all really works hard and to have us all be recognized like this is something great to cherish.” Complete Story

3Cross looking to make mark in craft beer brewing

Entering the brewery, would-be imbibers are greeted by a long concrete-topped bar with bicycle gears set into the molding. Performing a 360-degree turn, guests will immediately notice a slew of bike hooks and Howland behind the bar with his cycling cap on.

Aside from brewing beer, one of Howland’s other passions is cycling, and while he moved on from working in the bicycle industry prior to founding 3Cross, his passion for the sport is carried on in his craft.

The Mosaic Pale is one of Howland’s single-hop series, a beer hopped exclusively using Mosaic hops. The Mosaic Hop is a unique hop only recently created by Hop Breeding Company, an organization that has roots stretching back over a century in creating uniquely-American hops, and Howland uses it to achieve a terrific variety of flavors, claiming that “this beer changes with every sip” as flavors of passion fruit, guava, lime, pine and even bubblegum percolate on every drinker's tongue. Complete story

Estimated itinerary:

• 10:45 - drive from Winchester to 3Cross
• 11:45 - ride to Wormtown
• 12:00 - Wormtown tasting (if skip tour at 12:30, leave 30m earlier)
• 13:00 - ride to Medusa
• 14:20 - Medusa tasting
• 14:40 - ride to Jack's Abby
• 15:45 - Jack's Abby for dinner
• 16:45 - ride to 3Cross
• 19:00 - 3Cross tasting
• 19:30 - drive home (or longer if A&J join me)
• 20:30 - arrive home

Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 1 (Tree House, Bentley, KBC, Rapscallion)

The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part I was inspired by an article in the Boston Globe Magazine: 10 great craft breweries to try in Central Mass. - The Commonwealth’s midsection is becoming a hot spot for beer businesses.

My route for The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 1...

• started at Rapscallion Barrel & Tap Room in Sturbridge, 
• went through Brimfield State Forest to Tree House Brewing Co in beautiful Monson, Mass, 
• followed the Grand Trunk Trail to Bentley Brewing Co in Southbridge, 
• stayed on paved roads to KBC Brewery in Webster,
• then did some more off-road through Wells State Park to return to Rapscallion for a post-ride celebration.

I started riding at 10am, two hours before Rapscallion's tap room opens, so I had my choice of parking.

I brought an empty backpack, that was filled with 14 pounds of beer by the end of my tour.

Next time I visit Rapscallion, I'll bring my disc golf bag (see target behind me and tee below).

Foliage was past peak, but still colorful.

A short trail past Big Alum Pond.

Long Pond and bridge on Champeaux Rd (below).

This network of grass lanes between 7th St and E Hill Rd are a real mystery. There are official street signs and Google Maps shows a road, but there is a fence blocking the entrance from 7th St. Google Earth shows a house south of the road that could only be accessed by these grass lanes. OSM Cycle shows the road with the name Shaw Rd, which matches the street sign below.

The Brownell Burial Yard can only be reached by the mysterious grassy lanes.

Some of the "grassy lanes" were a little more challenging.

Wheeler Pond

Southern New England Railway by Wheeler Pond started out very promising, but quickly degraded into an unrideable petroleum pipeline (below) forcing me to detour to US 20.

Google Maps shows this as a road between Dearth Hill Rd and Dean Pond Rd in Brimfield State Forest, but that's a bit optimistic. They were holding the BSTRA--whatever that is (aha! found it)--on these trails the same day I was there (below).

A woman with top end gear was taking a photo of this tree near Tree House Brewing, so I snapped a shot with my iPhone and asked for directions to the brewery.

Tree House Brewery makes 6 of the top 12 beers in Massachusetts, and the place was packed, with long lines for tastes and growler fills. There was no wait for cans, so I bought 3 pints of Julius and 3 pints of Eureka. 

You can picnic and play cornhole at Tree House, but you can't drink the beer you just bought on the premises.

I wiped out descending this rocky trail. I rolled to break my fall, then worried about "bottle shock" for the beers in my backpack.

The Grand Trunk Trail from River Rd to the dam at Westville Lake was beautiful.

The dam at Westville Lake.

The Big Bunny Market is a family owned and operated enterprise in Southbridge, MA.

Mike Lynch (Bentley Owner/Brewer) served me 8 samples for $6 which included a logo sampling glass for me to take home.

I left with a 32 oz growler of East to West DIPA in my backpack. 

While searching for the tap room, I entered the Dark Horse Tavern and found Elvis Dyer (Owner/Roaster of Sturbridge Coffee Roasters) preparing a batch of Mexican Organic Dark Roast. He told me that KBC Brewery used his Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in their Cafe Munich American Stout. So I had to visit his shop across the street and buy the Mexican, Yirgacheffe, and the Sumatra Mandheling Organic (below).

I first heard of Dippin Donuts the day before because they were fined $47,000 for breaking child labor laws and stealing tips. Looks like they also stole Dunkin Donuts logo.

This sign confused me, because I was looking for the KBC Brewery and Beer Garden. I guess KBC stands for Kretschmann Brewing Company, so KBC Brewery is sort of like saying an ATM Machine.

Behind their Biergarten is a nice little bike trail--really little, about 100-feet long.

After I sampled a flite of Blitz, Cafe Munich, Hefeweizen, and Lake Lager, my backpack got 2 pounds heavier thanks to a little growler of Hefeweizen.

The mad scientist in his lab.

I met some local folks doing a tasting at Bentley that made fun of Webster when they learned my next stop was at KBC. I don't know why; Webster seemed like another nice Central Mass town.

The sun was setting behind this bull as I rode along T Hall Rd in Charltown.

Snake Hill Rd in Charlton was a nice little downhill serpentine.

More offroad between Hill Rd and Beaudry Rd in Sturbridge.

My traffic-avoidance shortcut through Technology Park didn't work out as expected. I was trapped in this forest until I found a break in the fence and could fight through prickers to get back on Podunk Pike.

Full dark arrived while I picked my way through Wells State Park, 5 miles from the finish.

I was so happy to be out of the woods and in a warm tap room that I ordered a Harvard Lager (based on a recipe from 1898) without asking for a taste first. I think the college should sue to protect the shield.

After a flite of IPAs and a Porter, my estimation of Rapscallion was restored. I added two 32-oz cans (Rye IPA and Black IPA) to my haul. The Yard Hop is interesting because it is brewed exclusively with hops grown in neighbors' yards, but was ultimately disappointing, highlighting why Galaxy and Mosaic hops are in short supply.

Next week CMBT, Part 2

The route is 68 miles with 4 breweries on tap. We will ride the East Coast Greenway for the first 25 miles and the last 6 miles with no overlanding planned. We start in Worcester and ride through Berlin, Hudson, Framingham, Ashland, Westborough, Milbury, and back to Framingham.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10944186

• Wormtown - opens at 12, tour at 12:30
• Medusa - opens at 12, BYOF
• Jack’s Abby - opens at 11:30, pizza, pork shank, mussels, etc
• 3Cross - opens at 5, BYOF (Price Chopper across the street)

Worcester's Wormtown Brewery takes top honor in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship

The Wormtown Brewery beat out powerhouses of the brewing world such as Samuel Adams, Stone Brewing, Yuengling and Saranac Brewing to take home the title of Grand National Champion in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship. “We try our best to make the best beers we can and to get that recognition on the national level is icing on the cake," said Wormtown Brewery Master Brewer Ben Roesch. "The brewing team all really works hard and to have us all be recognized like this is something great to cherish.” Complete Story

3Cross looking to make mark in craft beer brewing

Entering the brewery, would-be imbibers are greeted by a long concrete-topped bar with bicycle gears set into the molding. Performing a 360-degree turn, guests will immediately notice a slew of bike hooks and Howland behind the bar with his cycling cap on.

Aside from brewing beer, one of Howland’s other passions is cycling, and while he moved on from working in the bicycle industry prior to founding 3Cross, his passion for the sport is carried on in his craft.

The Mosaic Pale is one of Howland’s single-hop series, a beer hopped exclusively using Mosaic hops. The Mosaic Hop is a unique hop only recently created by Hop Breeding Company, an organization that has roots stretching back over a century in creating uniquely-American hops, and Howland uses it to achieve a terrific variety of flavors, claiming that “this beer changes with every sip” as flavors of passion fruit, guava, lime, pine and even bubblegum percolate on every drinker's tongue. Complete story