2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Austin Street Brewery, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #25)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Austin Street Brewery, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #25) (recovered post) The 25th brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Austin Street Brewery in Portland Maine. This is a nano-brewery with a 10 barrel system located in an industrial park, basically across the street from Allagash Brewing. Their beers change pretty quickly, and they only have a few on draft at any time. The brewers, who started out as home brewers, are there most days so you can chat with them about the beers they make and get a quick tour. The taproom/bar is at the front of the brewing space, it’s got only a few seats and primarily has outdoor seating. We only learned about this brewery from the information sheets we got at Allagash regarding a festival that was happening later in July, so we were happy to stop by and give them a try. The one thing that we noticed is that people would stop at Allagash across the street before coming here, then stop here for additional beers. It’s a great way to get overflow business and acknowledgement from beer lovers, to …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #24)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #24) (recovered post) The 24th brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Allagash Brewing Company in Portland Maine. After lunch, and a few breweries in downtown Portland, we drove out to the west end of town where Allagash is located. It wasn’t terribly hard to find, it’s in a large industrial complex with a few other smaller nano-breweries located towards the entrance to the complex. This was one of the top breweries that we visited on the roadtrip, and one with some of the highest expectations that were all met and exceeded. As you can see from the photos, the brewery has a large parking lot and during peek visiting seasons (summer time), they have someone outfront to greet you. We didn’t know what to expect, I thought it was the valet or something, but it’s someone to help with the explaining how their taproom works and what you’ll find inside. They also offered parking suggestions when the lot gets full, which it almost was when we arrived. The taproom is spacious, lots of tables and a large …

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Review: Ghost Runners Brewery, Vancouver WA

Ghost Runners Brewery, Vancouver WA This last week on Friday night (Oct. 2nd) we stopped by the Ghost Runners Brewery in Vancouver WA on our way to drop off some friends. I’ve had a few chances to sample their beers over the past couple of years as they have been producing and distributing in the local area and was excited to check them out. We were really happy that they finally opened up a tap-room at their production facility off of NE Minnehaha in an industrial area of Vancouver, the local brewing scene is growing with a strong showing of brewers that have a clue. The brewery is located along the 2nd row of the building complex, not visible from the street. They have a 10 barrel system with a couple of storage tanks inside behind the bar area. If you ask one of the interns or bartenders, they will show you around and explain their setup. I’m really glad that they opened up the opportunity to visit their production site and try their beers on site. I would highly recommend visiting them if you’re in town and have a few extra minutes in the evening to give them a …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, MO (June 29, Brewery Stop #13)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, MO (June 29, Brewery Stop #13) The 13th brewery visited on our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City MO. This well known brewery is one of the oldest and largest micro-breweries in the mid-west and we were really looking forward to visiting the location. We left Lincoln on Sunday morning and headded south to KC. The trip wasn’t too bad, just about three hours with a bit of traffic and construction detours in KC itself. We timed it just right and got there as they opened on Monday before lunch. The brewery complex is located just south-west of the KC MO downtown area and is quite large as you can see. The main facility has a small-ish taproom next to their swag/sales area that has both stuff with their logo on it, lots of bottles, growlers, hats, local goods, t-shirts, etc. for sale. The taproom has 10 or so tables and a bar you can stand at. Typically people use this area for pre-post brewery tour sampling as it turns out, but we just wanted to do the tasting. …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Modern Monks Brewery, Lincoln NE (June 28, Brewery Stop #12)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Modern Monks Brewery, Lincoln NE (June 28, Brewery Stop #12) The 12th brewery we stopped at on the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Modern Monks Brewery at Misty’s Steakhouse in downtown Lincoln NE. After a great Sunday of beer discovery and hanging out with the family, we went to dinner at one of Lincoln’s oldest steakhouses, Misty’s. I had never been to their downtown location, which as it turns out, has a brewery inside, called Modern Monks. I wasn’t able to get a lot of pictures as we got there as the dinner crowd was picking up and it got dark in the area. It’s suggested to get reservations as they do fill up quickly. There’s a brewery production area behind some larger windows on the north side of the restaurant area. They have a small bar and some seating at the front of the restaurant as well, but we got sat way in the back so we didn’t get much of a chance to check out the scene up front. They have six regular beers on draft at all of their restaurant locations, and one or two seasonals …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Ploughshare Brewing Company, Lincoln NE (June 28, Brewery Stop #11)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Ploughshare Brewing Company, Lincoln NE (June 28, Brewery Stop #11) The 11th brewery to be visited during the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Ploughshare Brewing Company in downtown Lincoln NE just a few blocks from the UNL campus. This was one of the first true surprises during the road trip, we had no idea it existed until earlier that day when we started looking at what was open in town for breweries and this new brewery came up. We had no idea what their beers were like, but we were pleasantly surprised and truly glad we stopped by before going to dinner that night. The brewery has a large main area and bar to sit at. They don’t have much in the way of food (or didn’t at that time), but they did have 10 distinct and great beers to sample from. The server was excited to hear that we were new to their beers, and made sure to answer any questions we had about them. They did mention that they were getting ready to ramp up production and keg so they can start distributing around the area. We …

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