Beers and bicycles.

The Northern Strand Community Trail in Everett/Malden/Saugus is only about 7 miles long but it goes within spitting distance of Night Shift, Idle Hands and Bone Up on the Malden end. On the Saugus end you are pretty close to Bent Water Brewery. There are a couple of good beer bars along the way in Malden Center - Hugh O'Neils and Ferry Street.

 

As a Western Mass resident (4th year transplant), I find it infuriating that the state functionally ends at Worcester for most people that live in the Greater Boston area. Unless you're talking beer, when Treehouse inevitably comes up (technically not Western Mass, either).

I'm not familiar with the Ashuwillticook Trail, but if you take the Norwottuck Trail as a whole (including the Amherst branch), there are the four breweries you mentioned, two brew pubs, some top-notch bars, plus another brewery not too far from the path in Amherst.

In June I did the Pedal2Pints ride, which has 3 different routes (up to 90 miles) that visit most of the breweries in the Pioneer Valley. Tons of fun. Highly recommended.

 

Watertown > Charles River Esplanade > Commercial Street > Atlantic Ave > Seaport Blvd > Trillium Fort Point

is a ride I'm extremely fond of. And at <20 miles round trip, you can definitely get a few pints in along the way.

 

I was looking for some uncomplicated routes out of Boston and saw that you can do Trillium to Trillium riding rt138 most of the way. Add Dorchester brewing or Harpoon since there's no samples at the fort point location.

 

Island Line Trail in Burlington VT. Beautiful Ride
Can hit: Simple Roots - Foam - Zero Gravity - Queen City - Switchback

 

I've written about the Great Bay beer crawl in other threads, but it's very feasible via road bike. Starting in Portsmouth NH you can head out route 33 to Stratham, cut back on 108 into Newmarket and hit Deciduous. Take Bay Road from Newmarket to Durham (avoid 108).

From Durham take route 4 East to Newington and Stoneface immediately as you get across the old memorial bridge. You can cut into Pease Tradeport via Newington village and hit Redhook if you like, then right into Portsmouth for multiple options.

You could add even more miles by staying on route 108 towards Dover and hit breweries there as well, then still come back to Newington.

Without the Dover leg it's about 35 miles or so, and a gorgeous ride.

 

Beer + bikes = broken bones!!

 

Love that trail. Hard to find another one like it:

 

For those in the Worcester area, 3 cross brewing makes fantastic beer and "bicycle themed". I'm pretty sure they do rides on Thursday s.

 

Do I sense sarcasm?

 

west of worcester doesn't matter. that's always been true.

but alas, i'm in minnesota now where the surly/ surly connection is nowhere near as strong as you'd think.

 

The Danvers Rail-trail on the North Shore is very popular and doesn't have any notable beer stops along the way, except one. At the very end in Peabody where Lowell St and Rt.1 meet is Karl's Sausage Kitchen. Definitely worth a stop for lunch and a liter of German beer before heading back on the trail.

 

I think it's a fair point. I'd bet a lot of people think a bike is an easy way to avoid a DUI, which isn't necessarily the case. You absolutely can be cited (and arrested?) for operating a bike under the influence. In general though, the risks posed are generally more to the individual riding, as their not piloting a 2-ton weapon.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm much more inclined to overdo and throw a leg over bike than I would be to get behind a wheel. But, then again, my riding in that situation would be limited to a fairly low-traffic multi-use path and a well-lit road with a fairly protected bike lane. I live in a hilly area though, and hills combined with high consumption don't feel good. I tend to save the beers for post-ride.

 

Now, at the expert level, you could do a loop thru Somerville/Everett/Chelsea.

 

Not even sure why Ashuwilticook Trail even was a contender for that list, as there are still rather few breweries in Berkshire County and none close to that trail. Even the county's namesake beer (BBC) is made in Franklin County which is confusing (but good marketing since Bostonians will figure Deerfield IS the Berkshires), because if you know anything about a map it's the same concept as if Cape Cod Beer Co was based in New Bedford. The Norwottuck Trail runs by an incredible selection of breweries and craft beer bars.

If folks have been overlooking the Pioneer Valley's 25 breweries because they're afraid to leave their ugly and dull suburb in this tiny two-hour wide state and go past the end of the world (Worcester) and occasionally the land of dragons (Tree House) and learn that once you hit the I-91 corridor the state becomes astoundingly scenic, and fun, and has outstanding local beer again, that's their own self limiting problem!

Next Pedal 2 Pints is on October 1, starting at Element Brewery's great new spot in Millers Falls!

 

It's one of my great internal conflicts. I want people to wake up and realize that Western Mass really is an incredible part of the state and there's no shortage of things to do here, but one of the things that makes it so great is that it's got none of the congestion and bullshit of Boston. So come visit, go for a hike, buy some beer and validate my opinions, but don't stick around, basically...

I don't think I'm going to be able to partake in the Oct 1 P2P, unfortunately. But, again, I encourage anyone interested in a social ride through some of the Northeast's best (and most forgiving, cycling wise) scenery, hit some top-notch breweries and eat some really good food to register: https://www.bikereg.com/pedal2pints-fall-foliage. For the record, I've got no affiliation with P2P or any of the breweries. Just a bike a beer lover who knows that it'll be a great day for similarly afflicted individuals.

 

Found this blog post with a nice overview of hitting some of the breweries near the Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail:
http://indulgeinspireimbibe.blogspot.com/2016/04/hampshire-county-brew-bike.html

 

Friend attached a milk crate to his bike. It can hold 4 growlers. He bikes in ft collins, Colorado.