On our second day in Boston, we first visited Pine Manor, where my mom went to school a couple years ago. With us were Jake Anderson and Martha Datlen. It was interesting to see the grounds where my mom had been living and learning long before myself or my siblings existed. After that, we got lost in a gated suburb, but finally found our way to the Sam Adam's Brewery. This was a much more formal brewery tour than any we had been on before, lasting almost an hour. We learned all about Reinheitsgebot, the German purity law stating that the only ingredients in the production of beer can be barley, hops and water. This law has since been repealed, but many breweries (including Sam Adams), still hold to its rules. The only exception is post-brew flavor ingredients such as spices or citrus rinds.
After our tour and tasting, we headed to Harvard. We watched the Harvard Crew team practicing on the Charles River, and we visited John Harvard's statue on campus. We found a local shop with 4 dollar pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and were unable to pass that up. After a quick pitcher and slice of pizza, we went back to Jake's house for another home cooked family dinner, this time a delicious stew. We had some Chardonnay with dinner that Jake bought in Australia 4 years ago. After dinner Jake made us lattes, then we went to a Boston College watering hole. Due to bar prices, we were stuck drinking Coors Light for the evening, with the exception of a shot of Jameson.
Yesterday we woke up at 6 to head to the airport. We landed in Austin at 10:45 AM, and went straight to Dan's Burgers. Our hosts here are Will Gardner, Tyler Krowsoski, and Max Van Wagner, all of whom are friends from the University of Montana. I warned Biff that my friends in Austin were characters. I am not sure if I gave him enough warning. First we went up Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin. We hung out up there for an hour or so, enjoying the beautiful views of Austin. I nearly killed Tyler when I overthrew a beer to him as he was standing on a cliff. Luckily, he had a picture perfect catch with one foot on the edge of the cliff and his body leaning over the edge at full extension.
After that, we went to Trophy's on Congress for a bit, while we waited for our appointment at the 512 Brewery. 512 Brewery is a very small operation that has only been in business for about a year. It was the least formal brewery tour that we have had so far, but it was very informative. We stood next to the taps in this one room brewery, and talked to the owner about all aspects of his brewery while we tried his beers. He discussed the challenges of being a new brewery trying to establish a name, and he talked about developing new beers with limited time, people and resources. At this point, he is having trouble brewing enough beer to keep up with demand. He wants to grow organically, only investing his profits without taking out loans or receiving investments, so for now he is just trying to sustain business rather than expanding. We let him know that we would see him in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival.
After the brewery, we went to downtown Austin and had some fish tacos at Wahoo's. Then we went down to the bridge for the #1 free tourist activity in Austin, watching the bats fly out from under the bridge at sunset. The pictures didn't come out because it was dark, but we saw thousands of bats fly out from underneath us, and it was mildly exciting. Then we went home, drank some Tecate then went downtown. Within 3 minutes of being in the downtown area, Max and Will, who had been arguing about nonsensical things for the past hour, got into a fist fight with each other. Somewhere between beating each other up on the sidewalk and begging the cops not to arrest them while they both were bleeding, their differences were settled and they were friends again.
6th street in Austin is crazier than Mardi Gras. The streets are blocked off for 6 blocks and every single door is a bar. There were thousands of people stumbling up and down the middle of the street. We spent most of our time at Shakespeare Pub, where they have $4.00 pitchers of whiskey and coke. After drinking whiskey pitchers and mingling with the locals, Biff and I sat on a a balcony across the street and had a beer while watching the drunken people below. After that, or designated driver took us to the house where our hosts used to live, so that Will could jump in the pool. Will and Max got in another fight there, and the girl they were fighting over lost her shoe. Max and Tyler walked home, and we got a ride. When we got home, we made some taquitos and went to bed. Austin is crazy.
For all photos click here.
Best Beer in Boston: Boston Beerworks Mom and Pop's wet hop crop ale.
Total flying time: 22 hours and 45 minutes
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