The Beer Traveller

I wouldn’t consider myself a uptight or nervous driver, but DC is a nightmare if you don’t know where you’re going.  First fumble of the day consisted of almost running a couple of Capitol Policeman off the road.  Impatience got the best of me when I decided to pass a dump truck downtown.  After pulling over to the next lane I heard a honk behind me.  I was thinking who’s this asshole as I looked in my rearview & saw both a motorcycle cop & car cop.  Mind you, the truck that almost hit them had a huge “www.TheBeerTraveller.com” magnet on the back.  You want to talk about a recipe for getting pulled over.  The adrenaline tweaked & I nervously awaited that familiar site of the flashing lights.  As I pulled up to a stoplight the motorcycle cop pulled along side me & motioned for my window to be rolled down.  He informed me that I may want to use a signal light next time as I almost hit his partner.  And than…that was it.  I must say this was the coolest cop I ever ran into (no pun intended).  Thank goodness there’s more important people in that city than the Beer Traveller.  Guessing they had to escort some politician to their escort.

First off let me say that I greatly appreciate anyone putting me up for a night & this is no way a complaint.  But I do have an obligation to my 3 fans to provide them with some entertaining blog babble.
I had just seen Bob @ Geekapolooza, but Amy was unable to make it.  Crashing at their place also allowed me to see their 2nd child who I had never seen.  Amy & I caught up on the latest…beer drinking & baby making, while Bob did his thing.  It’s funny to see how both time & kids can change people so dramatically.  Amy & Bob are probably in the best shape of their lives, but turn into gram & gramps at about 8 PM.  They treated me to dinner & a few Molsen Canadians while I attempted to catch up on my internet duties.  After the kiddies were put down (not in the John Conner way of ‘putting down’) I joined the two for an evening of boob tube & reminiscing.  Bob is now into his bourbon phase & I figured it was about time for me to switch it up for a night.  It was soon time for Bob to hit the sack & Amy was fading fast after popping her sleep aid.
I finished up Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man; I thought I remembered that movie being good.  Than it was time for me to make my way upstairs.  As I ascended, I heard an evil static & figured someone may have left a TV on.  Than it became clear that there was a little box in the bathroom making this noise & this appeared to be on purpose.  I let the machine do it’s thing while I finished my nightly routine & than figured who ever needed this awful noise must be asleep by now.  Off.  There was more noise coming from one of the other bedrooms, but I had alleviated the worse of it.  About 20 minutes later I heard the oldest of the young-ins crying.  Than the voice of super Dad asking “what’s wrong with you?  why are you crying?”  Five minutes later my previous achievement was reverted back to its original setting of ON, volume 10.  There was a switch-up though; now instead of bad TV static, it had been switched to the haunting heart beat…thump…thump…thump!  At this point in my travels, I’ve learned to sleep through just about anything, but these were not the sounds of the Great Outdoors that I was used to.  Thank goodness for Beer & Bourbon!
The next morning I joked w/ Amy about it & she informed me they have 4 of these glorious machines.  Bob was already gone & Amy fixed me a fabulous snack pack for my travels.  A bye to the beautiful young-ins & I was off to my next destination.  Thanks again Bob & Amy.

I had gotten a later start than I had wanted from Brownville & was aiming to hit York, PA by nightfall.  But I would be traveling through my hometown & though I’d give a shout-out to the ol’ man to see if he was free for lunch.  Unfortunately he had an appt & wouldn’t be free till about 2PM.  This was going to put me behind schedule, but I’ve come to realize how important it is to take family time whenever you can get it.
I arrived a little early & made my way underground to Empire Brewing Company.  The place was empty other than a few of the employees chatting around the bar.  I proceeded to order a sampler.  As sometimes is the case, as soon as I started taking pics & notes, someone decided to stop over & find out what I was hope to.  I was lucky enough to have it be Tim Butler, the head brewer. I gave him the low down on my little adventure & he was more than accommodating, offering to pick-up my sampler as well as sample me anything more I wanted.  Dad showed up & said I’d be having 2 more surprise guests. Shortly thereafter, Megan the other half of Melissa showed.  We commenced ordering while Kim the bartender raved about how good my plan was.  Commenting on the possible potential once I take myself off the beer circuit.  While we were awaiting our food, Tim came back over & offered a tour of the brewing facilities. This guy knows his stuff (hence all the awards) & I soon found out knows how to brew a great batch of beer.
Stars of the show were the IPA & Aphrodisiac Ale.  The IPA was extremely well balanced while the Aphro had a lot of flavor, incorporating honey, ginger, & lavender.  He only had one beer towards the bottom, the Instigator Dopplebock.  Although fairly high in alcohol, it received a Drinkable for tasting a little watery.  Other his other brews received above average markings of Likable. 
Tim & Kim were great, the food was superb, & Empire sported a uniques atmosphere of being subterranean.

Sunday was hangover day after the big party, but I didn’t have to drive to PA, MA, or FL like some of the folks that actually have jobs. John’s oldest son, Wally, had offered to take me to Sackets Harbor Brewing Company to try some of their beers. Unlike some of the other towns in which I find brewpubs, Sackets Harbor is a great town to visit. It’s located in a little harbor (obviously) right off of Lake Ontario. Some interesting history on the town is in 1812 U. S. declared war on Great Britain. Sackets Harbor become headquarters for the U. S. Navy and Army on the northern frontier. 
The brewpub is located right on the water w/ a couple of outdoor patios. Inside is cramped in both the bar & restaurant portion, but the decor makes up for it. For the most part, the beers were average with the Independence Wheat sticking out & getting an Exceptional. I had brought a few bottles of beer from Tim @ Flying Bison to give to Andy (brewer of SH), but was unable to catch up with Andy. Don’t worry Tim, I still left the beer for him. Stacy the bartender was bubbly & had some mutual friend w/ Wally. Small towns tend to be like that.
There was a minor irritation in the establishment & that was a patron who was a little off his rocker. After talking up & down that he knew all the brewers & that one of the bar pictures was one of them, Stacy informed me that the picture was not who he said it was & she had never seen him before. Other than about an hr ago when he had come in a bought his 1st beer. This second he was paying with change. The gentleman than told me his name was Bruce Lee & offered to sell me a business that wasn’t worth anything. Luckily I wasn’t too drunk or else I may have fallen for it.

Geekapooloza is a get together of a bunch of us that went to college together, all for Paper Science & Engineering. It was named after the music festival lolllapalooza & consists of a bunch of highly intelligent individuals, who now have families & good jobs, trying to re-live their college partying days for one weekend a year. Every year someone (w/ spouse’s permission) agrees to host the event. This year it was held in a little town called Brownville by the gracious John & Kathy. It involved a lot of talking shit, quotes out of context, beer pong, horseshoes (who doesn’t like heaving heavy things @ each other when their drinking), frisbee, & ladder golf. John & Kathy also had some local friends & their 3 sons in town. I’d like to say more, but things are a bit fuzzy & how much can you really say about a party. It’s about being there…right Brian, Stuckey, & Amy?

I will be posting pics in my photo album section of the website.

We decided since the weather still sucked & it was early to stop into another pub before heading back stateside. I believe the phrase was we’ll just stop for one. I should have known things would be a little weird when the pub named the Speckled Hen was out of…you guessed it, Speckled Hen! No worries, they had a wide array of English, Irish, & Belgium Beers on tap. I ended up doing a Smithwicks, Kilkenny,& Hoeegarden. The Hoeegarden coming in the form of a 23 oz fishbowl.
The real entertainment came from a newlywed couple, Scott & Shauna, who were on their honeymoon & staying across the street. They apparently decided to stop in for one also. But from the looks of things Scott had been having 1 every 1/2 hr since breakfast. We weren’t part of the tab;e that they had joined & it’s a little tough to describe unless you were there so I was just give you some quotes that we heard:

Scott: I’m trying to make you more palatable to the female species.
Female (non-bride): Make the male species more intelligent.
Scott: The male species are idots!
—
Male: Even a stray cat will drink tainted milk.
Female: Stray cat or stray pussy?
—
Scott: Meowwww!
Female (non-bride): We’re Lions!
—
Shauna (wife of Scott): If it makes you feel better I married that god-damn thing!
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Scott (to female non-bride, in front of bride): I should have married you in the 1st place.
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Scott (to female non-bride): If you would have said I want a German beer, I would have put things in your mouth that I wouldn’t put in my hand.
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Scott (to female): Best of luck finding a man to eat.

The night than ended with me getting lectured by the US customs agent about not having my passport. When I say lectured, stern talking to about not having my passport. I mean I realize you have a job to do, but I’m in the car w/ my 2 parents & sister…all with the same last name.

Due to the weather or lack there of, Dad wanted to take the family over to Kingston Ontario.  It was a good excuse to hit their local brewpub.  I had left my passport back on the left coast to keep from losing it on my travels.  Due to our evil Canadian neighbors, you now need either a birth certificate or passport to travel across the boarder.  We figured we would try anyways & I could always play the stupid one from out of town; this role actually comes quite naturally to me.  Getting into Canada was quite easy.  I was asked why I didn’t have a passport & responded with I forgot it.  No worries!
It was than off to Kingston…actually off somewhere else…than my parents who have been over there numerous times realized things didn’t look as they had remembered.  Yep, wrong turn! 
It was a dreary day, but actually decent weather for sitting outside on Kingston Brewing Company’s covered patio.  The 1st shock to my system was the waitress informing me they don’t have a ‘sampler’.  How the hell does a brewery not provide a sampling to the discerned customer.  My father, w/ his “it’s good enough attitude”, said well looks like you won’t be able to try them all.  I, with my it’s never good enough attitude, started the hamster wheel in hopes something would happen.  They had 7 beers, no way I could pint them all.  But, they did serve 10 ouncers. My mom than came out of no-where & ordered Framboise Royale from the waitress while the hamster was still getting up to speed.  See she’s never been a beer drinker, but I turned her on to Linderman’s Framboise.  She recognized that funny Belgium word & was in the game before anyone knew what was happening.  It than occurred to me the ol’ man could do 3 ten-zees & I would do the other 3 ten-zees.  Than we all could do a little family style beer tasting.
The Kingston Brewing Company was est in 1986 & they know their shit.  Both the flagship Dragon’s Breath Pale Ale & their Whitetail Cream Ale ranked Exceptional.  Dragon’s Breath Real Ale was a little too watery & was given a Drinkable.  Both the Dunkelnacht Dark Lager & Pooh’s Brew (Speciality honey lager) were graced with a likable.  Service was just ok, but both the food & Beer were excellent.

Melissa picked me up in from Stuckey’s & we were now headed up to our family’s camp on the St. Lawrence. A quick stop in our hometown of Syracuse so she could replenish her supplies (hair I’m guessing) & we were on our way.  Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance (or really want to) hit any breweries before leaving.  The weather was fairly shitty/rainy which provided my lil’ sis with the opportune conditions to snooze most of the way.  Hopefully she’d be sobered up by the time we met up w/ Mom & Gram.  We arrived at camp just in time for dinner. After being on the road for 2 weeks straight & driving most of today, I was asked to cook the hamburgers.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but I definitely had this routine down by now. 
Camp is where I spent 2 months out of every year growing up.  It consisted of eating, being lazy, fishing, swimming, eating, getting into trouble, drinking, cutting grass, eating, being grounded, sitting by campfires, hide & go seek @ night, & eating.  Did I mention I was a fat kid?  As you can imagine, it’s still great to come back & not have to worry about a thing (thank God for parents).
The weather was not the best, but it felt good to be anchored for a while & enjoy the family time.

I wanted to extend a special thanks to Stuckey & Kate as they were the most gracious hosts.  They had a 3 wk old baby & were still willing to put me up for the night.  Kate waited until we got home from the Pearl Street Grill, which allowed me the opportunity to see their beautiful baby, James Steven.  She had mentioned he had been good all day, but that soon changed when Stuckey put his paws on him.  Ever heard the term “cry like a a baby”?  Needless to say it was now time for Kate & lil’ Steven to hit the hay.  Stuckey proceeded to feed me with more beer, music, & various other forms of entertainment until I too was pooped.
Next morning found me pillaging Stuckey’s vast CD collection so that I could ‘borrow’ some music onto my MacBook.  I was in no real hurry to get going & Stuckey actually whipped up a pretty mean breakfast.  Sis arrived & was chomping at the bit to get back on the road.  May have had something with me sending her a wake-up text that I was ready whenever she was.  After arriving, she patiently (not) waited for me to burn several more hours of music.  She had had a rougher night than I, the night before & was not in the best of shape.  Thanks again Steve-O & Kate!

Good news was I was now going to hit a brewery & both my ride & my roof would be taken care of. This translated to a more thorough sampling of this establishment’s beverages.  Pearl Street was hopping, probably at least partially due to the fact that it was Saturday night. Overall their beers were about average with an Undrinkable (Lighthouse).  Usually a light beer doesn’t have enough flavor to be bad, but this was an exception.  Canal Lock Bock, Don Cherry, & Lake Effect also ranked towards the bottom with a Drinkable. Their better beers included Obstructionist, Street Brawler, Train Wreck, & Wild Ox Wheat. Food was decent, atmosphere was great, & Sean the bartender was knowledgeable.  Other than that, things were a little foggy.