These days I’m not sure booze free bliss is possible, but kudos to them for trying,
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Remember I said I’d keep checking on the price increase of my new car? It started at $39,000, rose to $41,000 and now I’m seeing $43,000. So glad we bought it before the tariffs saved America.
As our fifth day in glorious Newport, Rhode Island was drawing to a close… we made one final stop.
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Needing a bottle or two of regional wine to gift our pet sitting neighbor upon our return, we ducked into a local favorite.
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I can honestly say I’ve never visited a winery that’s also a brewery, but this place made it work.
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With multiple tasting rooms…
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And outdoors spaces…
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We browsed their large retail shop, purchased two bottles of wine for our neighbor and chuckled at this hard cider I know Mark would love.
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Making our way into the tasting room, we stood on line and ordered a flight.
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Which is when the men who stood beside us paid for it. Thanking my husband for his service and saying Semper Fi started a conversation with one of them which would last until the employees were locking the doors and we were the last people in the building. My husband’s money was no good and stories of the military flowed.
Turns out this fellow was a Commander who was in the Persian Gulf the same time as my husband and an instant friendship was formed.
I’ve been married to my guy for 41 years and have heard his stories so many times I could recite them myself, but there’s something about veterans getting together and talking about their experiences that resonates. It’s special. A brotherhood that civilians can never truly understand.
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Commemorating the meeting with a photo as I always do, our new friend asked me to text him a copy and shortly after we parted ways sent me this message.
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He included this old photo.
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And not that we needed one, but reuniting these two men will be an excellent excuse to visit Newport again.
Because they took care of our cat while we were in Newport, I returned the favor and watched our neighbors two cats while they were in California. Upon return she brought us a thank you gift of regional beer.
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But not just any beer.
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Beer with a sense of humor.
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Ah, spring in Maine. It can go from 70 degrees to snow in 24 hours.
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And when the grass starts to green…
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The deer start blowing winter coats.
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They look like scruffy ragamuffins..
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And we find clumps of hair all over the lawn.
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We definitely did not.
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Unfortunate typo aside, I’m going to try this and report back.
Newport, Rhode Island is famous for its Gilded Age “cottages”. These stately mansions line the waterfront on an avenue appropriately named Bellevue… ‘beautiful view’ in French.
And cruising down that graceful tree lined avenue is indeed a beautiful thing.
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Ornate wrought iron gates guard impressive estates.
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Some are owned by the Preservation Society and open to the public …
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Some are still privately held.
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Some look like the Addams family could live there, but trust me… they’re all spectacular.
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It’s like stepping back in time.
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Before all those pesky taxes, regulations and workers unions ate into the homeowner’s stash of cash.
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We were told Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle) just bought two adjoining properties, tore one house down and is doing 150 million dollars worth of renovations to the other. In a city that worships its history, this is akin to wholesale slaughter.
Needless to say he will not be receiving a welcoming apple pie from his neighbors.
Continuing down Bellevue Ave, we took the scenic route on Ocean Drive.
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Where large waterfront homes and properties rule the day.
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Jay Leno has a big spread here.
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And is said to drive his cars around town, popping into local restaurants and pubs quietly and politely.
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This is a gorgeous area.
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Scenically beautiful.
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And if I had that kind of money?
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I’d live here too.
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Stone is a favored building material. And turrets are popular.
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Because who doesn’t love a turret?
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Continuing across the bridge, we headed for Jamestown.
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First established in 1678 by the Massachusetts Bay Company on Conanicut Island, it’s the second largest island in Narragansett Bay.
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And though it has impressive waterfront homes like Newport…
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It’s a quieter, more laid back, rural town.
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I’m not sure why you’d want a deck around your chimney, but these people did.
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The coastline is very similar to ours in Maine.
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And they do love their stone walls.
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Crossing another bridge, we ended the day at a brewery in Middletown.
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Where I had a blueberry beer with actual blueberries in the glass. Shame it didn’t taste anything like fruit.
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An old photo on the wall paid tribute to the popular beers of days gone by. And though we were surrounded by Narragansett Bay on all sides, and Narragansett beer was on every tap in every restaurant…. the brewery itself is inland, in Providence and run by a New York company.
Boo to that.
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After an excellent clam chowder and French onion start…
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And the annoying lack of adverbs, the meal was sub par and not close to photo worthy.
And speaking of beer, we dropped into a new small batch brewery to try a flight recently.
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The beer was quite good. Traditional German style Pilsners, dunkels and gose. Veteran owned and run, so you know my husband found someone to talk to… which made us late for our dinner reservation.
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Our first chuck of the season lost a little fur during hibernation.
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In an odd circular patch.
I was a bit worried…
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But it seems to be growing back nicely.
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I saw this on FB the other day and had to chuckle.
The husband and I found a (not so new, but new to us) brewery in Lewiston recently.
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Baxter brewing is housed in the old Bates mill complex …
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And has a fabulous tasting room space.
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I love when companies repurpose old buildings. This was a hydro powered textile mill back in the day and if you look closely in the far corner of that picture you’ll see a raw rock wall. During heavy rain storms it weeps… wear waterproof shoes if you sit there.
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The beer?
Yeah, there’s lots of it on tap.
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That chocolate orange stout?
Primo!
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They also have a full bar and since I’m a sucker for fresh herbs in my cocktails…
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I sampled the thyme after thyme mule with pear and lime ginger beer. Yum!
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At the bar we spied an outdoor mural we missed on the way in.
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Along with the beer?
Food.
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Sadly it wasn’t as good as the booze.
The husband’s French onion soup was sent back because it was basically just a bowl of soggy bread.
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My dumplings were tasty but a bit overdone with hard edges.
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The generator that powered the mill.
It’s massive and would have cost a fortune to remove so they just painted it and left it in place.
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The husband liked his chicken tenders, though I thought the coating was too heavy and too dry.
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I should have known better than to order a smash burger… I don’t usually like them as they’re thin and well done… but the bartender said the maple honey cream sauce was amazing so I took the plunge.
Sauce aside, it was a dry hockey puck.
Am I the only one who hates this smash perfectly good meat to smithereens trend?
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Poor pub food aside, the atmosphere and beer were good enough to warrant a return trip.
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We’ll just order something it’s harder to screw up. Like nachos, or salad.
But I do admit to enjoying their Clydesdale commercials… and thankfully, after a long absence… those beautiful horses will be back for this year’s Super Bowl.
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I haven’t seen any of the other new game day ads, but I’m going to go ahead and say this one will be my favorite, hands down.
❤️
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 