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I read this the other day and have to admit I was a little jealous.
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Yes, it’s true… there is such a disorder. Something to do with fungi and bacteria in the gut turning carbs into alcohol.
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And he works in a brewery?
That kind of symmetry is rare.
🤣
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After another week of unsatisfactory carpet shopping I had to throw the husband a bone so we headed for the coast.
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Wells is probably the longest stretch of sandy beach in Maine and is overwhelmed with tourists in the summer.
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But on the off season it’s quiet, which is how we like it.
After a stroll, we headed for beer.
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And while we’ve visited other Batson locations, this was our first trip to the laid back Fish Camp version.
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It was more casual than their other locations.
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With an attractive fishing vibe.
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A few raspberry lime sours in…
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I opted for the duck fat cornbread with maple honey bourbon butter.
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Ooh la la! Sheer perfection.
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As was the digital fireplace that didn’t trigger my hot flashes.
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Not sure what they put on top of this outdoor table to hold down the cover…but it looked like a giant wine cork to me.
😉
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Remember when I found that weirdly wonderful tropical beer at the Great Lost Bear a while back? After numerous fruitless (no pun intended) attempts to locate it for sale… I went to the source.
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Barreled Souls brewing in Saco. They’re a small batch brewery tucked away in the basement of a lawyers office. The days and hours their tasting room is open are limited… so we were standing tall at noon on a Saturday ready for some serious day drinking.
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23 plus on tap made for ample tasting.
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Known for their bizarre fruited sours and gose, we happily sampled.
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And then sampled a bit more.
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This brewery ages its beers in whisky barrels, rum barrels, wine barrels and even tequila barrels which makes for some very distinctive flavors.
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I was thrilled to discover I could order a keg of Little Havana for the man cave/Barn Mahal and the husband went with a 4 pack of Le Tigre.
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At $17 for a four pack it’s not cheap, but what is these days?
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It was a crisp fall day, so we headed down Route 1 south to Saco to try a brewery I’d been hearing about for years.
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It’s housed in a refurbished mill complex on the river…
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And the atmosphere was wonderful. Brick walls and rustic wood.
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Naturally my husband headed for the bar where we sat behind some fancy taps.
See who’s in the middle of them?
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Rex.
Bar dog extraordinaire.
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Being a brewery we had to try a flight of everything they had on tap.
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And I enjoyed them so much I ordered a strawberry basil vodka lemonade.
How can so many different beers be so bad? Lager, stout, ale, IPA, amber, brown. Seriously, they were all sub par.
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I really wanted to like this place, but it wasn’t meant to be.
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And while my crab cake appetizer with remoulade wasn’t bad…
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The husband hated his French onion soup so another pub will be added to our never return list.
I guess I should have paid more attention.
It was all right there in the name.
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🤣
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I am an extremely happy camper and the reason is beer.
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We’ve found a delightful new brewery that doesn’t overload their brew with hops, hence the title.
The latest trend in Maine microbrews is IPA’s. Hoppy, bitter, double and triple IPA’s… which is fine, unless you’re me and don’t like them. I can’t tell you how many tasting rooms we’ve visited where every single beer on tap is hop forward.
Enter Olive Pit Brewing… a small, dog friendly, woman owned operation whose main goal is offering creative options.
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I should have flipped that over and photographed the other side… but I was too busy sampling. Please note there was a margarita inspired beer. Be still my heart.
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Yes, both those flights were mine. Don’t judge… variety is the spice of life.
And if you noticed the flight boards are dog bones?
There’s a reason.
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Meet Olive, the inspiration. A rescue dog the owners adopted from down south, Olive became seriously ill shortly after moving to Maine… but $25,000 later ( no, I’m not exaggerating ) she’s a well loved and happy pup.
So the brewery welcomes dogs, inside and out. Dogs and beer. What’s not to love?
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Did I mention there are beer cocktails?
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You know I had to try that!
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Weird, but quite tasty. And perfect for our one friend who doesn’t like beer but agreed to come because she’s a good sport.
We had a great time and definitely plan on going back.
Swag? Of course I had to buy some.
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Forest green t shirt…
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With appropriate tagline on the back.
They don’t bite because they’re not hoppy.
They don’t bite because the dogs are friendly.
And after tasting every single brew they offered? I can attest to the fact their product most definitely doesn’t bite taste wise either.
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A few glasses for the Barn Mahal bar.
👍
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The last vintage beer crate we found had one issue…
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Wooden bottle separators that would have to be removed in order to house my vinyl. This was not simply a matter of pulling and popping them out. They were old, warped, and not in any hurry to go.
Ergo… it required tools.
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And since my husband turned his barn and workshop into a man cave …. this meant doing surgery in the living room.
Lord Dudley Mountcatten did not approve.
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After the first twenty minutes the husband was grumbling.
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After the second twenty minutes he was sputtering.
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But when the clock struck a solid hour of remodeling?
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One empty crate ready for part of my record collection.
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Although judging from the price of an old can of that beer … I think I’d rather have it filled with those.
😳
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On our last night in the White Mountains we skipped down the road to a very popular brewery called One Love.
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It was a huge place, and so busy on a Friday night we had to schlepp up the stairs to the second floor bar.
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Sadly One Love brewery doesn’t take their beer very seriously and only had three of their own on tap, all of which were quite disappointing
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They did however make a stellar blood orange cranberry margarita.
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Which I consumed with some amazing lollipop lamb chops so the visit wasn’t a total waste.
Our trip home the next day was uneventful, consumed mostly with me bugging the husband to stop at multiple gift stores so I could purchase a thank you gift for our Lord Dudley Mountcatten cat sitting neighbor.
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In case you’re wondering, this did not make the cut.
Upon returning home I happily put my newly purchased brewery crate into service.
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Four down, probably two more to go. Since my idea for vinyl storage/display containers is proving more difficult to procure than I originally thought, I have culled my collection down to a more reasonable number and now have a rather large stack of never listened to albums in the closet. It was hard to be ruthless, but necessary. I need to get my crates out to the man cave before the husband bogarts all the available floor space.
😉
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Since resort check in wasn’t until 4:00pm we had some time to kill. And when you have time to kill in this area of Vermont? You drive through The Notch.
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It’s basically a road cut right through the mountain and it’s one of my absolute favorite drives.
Twisty, turny and littered with glacial granite boulders…. it’s a rock lovers dream.
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Not that it’s the easiest road to navigate mind you. The switchbacks are breath taking, the proximity to boulders cringe worthy. In places you’re absolutely blind and are left crossing everything you have that nothing is coming the other way when the road narrows so tightly only one car can pass.
My husband drives it like sport.
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On the other side of The Notch? Stowe… a lovely village I’ll highlight later. And in Stowe?
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An amazing local brewery.
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We had to stand in line half an hour to get in, on a Tuesday, at 2:30 in the afternoon. It’s that good. I was willing to wait longer to sit in one of the artfully decorated dining rooms (the giant velvet cow print couch was calling my name) but the husband snatched two seats at the bar as soon as they became available.
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One flight in…. on an amazing polished copper bar, we were already loving this place.
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The Kolsch was delightful, the Pink and Pale seriously puckering.
And since we were at a brewery….
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I had to try the monster soft pretzel. Not only does Idletyme brew their own beer, they make their own beer cheese and grind their own mustard. A win win.
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As was this hot spiced cider with rum. Hey, when in Rome…
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My chargrilled mushroom Swiss burger with crispy onions and Caesar salad was good, but my husband’s choice?
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Ooh la la! So beyond the normal pub fare … we might have drooled. Butternut squash ravioli with maple cream sauce, sliced almonds and a hint of cayenne for bite. It was utterly fabulous.
Too stuffed for dessert, we headed back through The Notch and it’s amazing selection of rocks.
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And mini waterfalls breaking through at random intervals.
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And by then, it was time to check in.
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Yes, the resort is named after The Notch… which was originally used by smugglers and bootleggers. Yet another reason to love it.
A little history if you’re interested…
With cliffs on either side that sometimes reach a height of 1,000 feet, it’s also easy to see how very few people would have been caught on their way to and from one country to another. The landscape looked completely different in the early 1800s and there were far fewer people – and towns – meaning this region was even more remote. After former president Thomas Jefferson passed the Embargo Act in 1807, the restriction of trade between countries had a drastically negative impact on the state of Vermont. As the state shares a border with Canada, this trade route was by far the easiest to use, and once that was cut off there were many citizens and businesses that suffered in the northern part of the state.
This route was not only used for trading. Fugitive slaves would also utilize the route to make their way through Vermont and into Canada, which gave it another historic purpose.
The use of Smugglers’ Notch didn’t just end there, though. As Vermont progressed into the 20th century, they would be subject to yet another restriction – this time, on alcohol. When Prohibition came about in 1922, the state was lucky enough to have opened Smugglers’ Notch to automobile traffic. This meant that those using the route would no longer need to cross on foot or horseback, which opened up even more illegal trade route options. In this case, it was Vermont’s loophole during the time when it was legally a dry state.
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*Not my photo , but it gives you a better idea of the scope*
The Notch is closed to tractor trailer trucks due to the precarious turns, and though there are ample signs warning them not to enter, a few idiots try it every year, getting stuck and causing horrible traffic jams and back ups.
The entire road is closed for the season starting in mid October so we were lucky and slipped in right before the gates came down.
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Bateau – def. a light flat-bottomed riverboat used in eastern and central North America.
A bateau is a boat, but in my neck of the woods? It’s also a brewery.
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Perched on the river in a turn of the century mercantile building, we met the owners recently and had to check it out. And though the outdoor seating had a great view….
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It was hot, so we opted for indoor.
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Which also had a good waterfront view.
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I liked the vibe, and I liked the beer.
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I did not like the fact that my husband and our friend found the strategically placed cribbage board and left me twiddling my thumbs for an hour .
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But I joined the Maine Beer Trail and checked in accordingly.
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And I drank.
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It was called pucking sour… and it was, with cherry and pomegranate undertones.
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The staircase in the man cave/Barn Mahal has been put into service as an impromptu bulletin board.
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Photos, stickers, and funny cards have begun to surround the magnetic bottle opener.
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The husband has had this one since he was 25 years old. He thought it was funny then…
Now? Not so much.
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That gem was lodged inside an old book he bought at an antique store.
But back to the title of my post.
Does a moose drool?
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Thanks to my blogging friend mistermuse, I can authoritatively say yes…. at least in Missoula Montana where the Big Sky Brewery produced a beer whose label was saved and thoughtfully mailed to yours truly.
It’s the perfect addition to a Maine bar… and I’m sure we will now be the envy of all our friends.
👍
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River's world..... 