Post-Pandemic Beer Visits

I can't wait to go back to a taproom again, but my experiences are going to be a little different going forward. Covid brought about a lot of changes, one big one for me is that my wife and I are expecting our first baby, so beer trips are going to be a little different from what they once were.

I was never bothered by kids at a taproom, but I definitely won't be tossing back a couple pints with my baby in tow, maybe one beer if I stop to grab some cans, but a proper taproom experience/beer-cation will have to wait until we're comfortable leaving the little guy with his grand parents for the weekend. That being said, I'm jonesing for a trip up to the in-laws lake house in Maine again with a mandatory lunch pitstop in Portland and a trip to the Bier Cellar to stock up the fridge.

I highly recommend a trip to Denver. Such a great city with an incredible amount of beer options. Bierstadt should be a lager-lovers pilgrimage.

For me, I've yet to check LA and Northern California off the bucket list, so that's still a trip that needs to happen.

 

Suarez

 

Mrs. Floozbag gave me a Hill e-gift card for Christmas to give me something to look forward to, so that’s first on the list. The kiddos love Schilling pizza so that’s always the first stop on the way to the NEK.

 

I've been wanting to do a beer-centric trip to Portland, ME for a long time. Perhaps I'll finally do it this summer with the man/myth/legend @AlcahueteJ 's itinerary as a template.

 

Ha, as I said in the Notch thread, I'm most looking forward to a Portland trip this summer.

But really, I just want to sit at a bar again. Tap room, local bar, whatever. No plexiglass, no six foot distancing, just me and a bartender sliding a beer over to me. No food necessary (unless I'm actually hungry).

Regarding traveling elsewhere, I've been eyeing a trip back to Germany for some time. My brother has never been to Oktoberfest so I've wanted to take him. Preliminary itinerary is a couple days in each of these places....Munich, Bamberg, Dusseldorf/Cologne (20 minutes from each other, and then finally Czech Republic (maybe Plzen or Prague, or both).

Prost!

 

Hill Farmstead
Portland, ME
Maybe RVA before I move back to Mass
Fox Farm

 

Same....simple needs.

Also looking forward to Notch in Brighton as it's about a mile and a half from my house!

 

Things have certainly changed with the pandemic and having an baby born right before the pandemic, but for me...

Notch, always. I went once early on during the pandemic and it really wasn't the same, no fault of theirs. I just couldn't settle in as I usually do.

Suarez. With Notch, one of my favorite places to have a few beers in the region, surrounding area.

Hill, forever. These are my top 3 spots for beer drinking. Add Blackback in Waterbury as my favorite bar and it's been way too long since I've been able to sit down there.

Portland, ME. For walkability and the tremendous amount of diverse food/drink options that can be had within a weekend, long weekend makes for a grand time.

Out there...de Garde. It was closed when my wife and I did our West Coast road trip a few years back. I found the Oregon coast to be stunning before we made our way inland.

 

This too! In Arlington now, Cambridge before, but this being a 15 minute ride versus a 45 minute ride will be great. Bonus, being able to turn it into a nice round trip bike ride when the weather allows for it.

 

Suarez has been on my short list of breweries I've wanted to visit for a long time. Now that I've moved to VT, it's a bit further, but it's indirectly on my route to visit my father in NY. Once I can travel to visit him again, I look forward to a trip like this: vt > suarez > visit pops in NY > fox farm > vt. Might even fit in a stop at the new Tree House location in western MA on the way to Suarez. Already have spousal approval for all of this!

I assume a Portland trip will happen when things open up since my wife's family lives a little south of Portland. Whenever we go for a visit, we always find a way to fit in a round of stops at the usual spots (oxbow, allagash, bissell, goodfire). I'd also like to hit up Barreled Souls since I haven't been in 4 years and its only 20 minutes from the in-laws.

I'm pretty spoiled that I now live 45 min from Hill. Of course, they shut down about 3 months after my move, but I am looking forward to deck beers at some point later this year.

 

Can I interest you in a quick trip to the Granite State to scratch that itch? Some places are enforcing the 6-ft apart rule at bars but many are not.

 

I really want to check out Drowned Lands (https://www.drownedlands.beer/about) in the southern Hudson Valley. Just a hair too far for a day trip with so many other great places in the radius. Maybe do a long weekend to fill up the car with goodies.

Also Schilling. Need to drink a LUKR lager and eat pizza after a long day hike.

 

90 minutes round trip to Hill sure beats 7 hours. Nice relocation perk.

 

I sort of hesitated when I wrote my post fully realizing there's some places where the bar area is fairly normal already. For example, my brother went to Russell House in Harvard Square and sat at the bar and said it was packed and fairly normal.

Unfortunately I'm still not doing any indoor dining or drinking, probably won't until the summer either.

I can hold out, the pandemic has been easy for me to deal with personally, while I miss these things I've had plenty to do to keep me upbeat and my life has been relatively normal.

 

A first visit to both Hill Farmstead and Schilling are at the top of my list. It's a little harder to justify the trip to HF with a 2.5 year old but will find a way to make it work. Schilling is in the town I was born in and I'm constantly kicking myself for not having made the trip pre-pandemic. There will definitely be a stop at Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill as part of that trip, too.

We had been to Portland for a long weekend in both late October 2018 and 2019 which was staring to become a tradition that ended abruptly last year, also hoping to restart that annual trip.

 

Yeah I said that tongue in cheek, you've been on record not wanting to go to bars for a while.

Took the GF out to Portsmouth yesterday, both places we visited were pretty responsible, no plexiglass though. FWIW she's a healthcare worker who's had both COVID shots, I had it late November and have some immunity for a while I presume.

 

I’ve been missing HF something fierce the past few weeks. I typically make a trip up in Feb with my buddy to take advantage of the slow season and have some special pours on the deck overlooking the white VT backdrop. That will probably be my first trip. Schilling and Notch are definitely up there. My wife and I had a trip to CA cancelled last April so hopefully Russian River is in the future.

 

Locally, I need Portland back in my life! But I really, really miss Europe. My wife and I have been going to a different country within Europe for a while now. Last year we had to cancel our Amsterdam/Belgium trip and was hoping to reschedule for this year. But I don’t really see that happening this year, maybe 2022?

 

The Watertown bike path will soon connect with Fresh Pond (and Minuteman) and the end point is right around the corner from the new Notch!