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.