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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery, Rockland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #21)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery, Rockland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #21) The 21st brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery in Rockland Maine. Once we left the quaint town of Belfast, we headed south towards Portland, with a few stops along the way. The first stop was in Rockland ME at Rock Harbor Brewing. As our guide Eric had never been there, we were excited to give it a try. The pub and brewery is located along the main street through downtown, on-street parking only so you may have to walk a bit like we did as it was pretty busy in downtown when we were there just past lunch time. As you can see, the brewing kettles and such are located just inside, you can see them working during certain times of day brewing beer which is cool. We ended up sitting in the bar side of the restaurant in the window seats as there were not many tables open. As we were just staying for drinks, I ordered a set of tasters from the bartender and off we went. …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #20)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #20) The 20th brewery visited during the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was the Marshall Wharf Brewing Company in Belfast Maine. After a full day of driving north, we arrived late at our hosts Eric and Deanna’s house in rural Maine (just outside of Belfast). We ended up sleeping in a little bit and drove into Belfast to walk around the harbor a little bit and find some lunch. While it’s a small quaint town, there are a few really good restaurants by the waterfront in downtown Belfast, and we were able to try a few of them. When we discovered this brewery, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they specialize in one-off beers. They do offer some smaller plates and sandwiches from the Three Tides Restaurant (as you can see on their chalkboard), but we just wanted to try their beer. As you can see from the pictures, the brewery is sort of tucked out of the way next to the restaurant and parking lot in the ‘basement’ of a larger building. Some of the brew kettles …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, NH (July 2nd, Brewery Stop #19)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, NH (July 2nd, Brewery Stop #19) The 19th brewery we stopped at on our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was The Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After a great day and evening visiting our friends in Philly, we woke up early and headed north towards our mid-way point (Maine). Leaving Philly, we went east into Jersey (Camden), then north to New York City for an early lunch (pizza) in lower Manhattan. After eating we did take a short side trip up to Times Square (drove through it), which was one of my bucket list items. Eventually we made our way out of the city with the intent on stopping in Boston en route to Maine. However, the bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways had us taking back-roads and alternate routes around Boston and then north into New Hampshire to find dinner before making the final trek into Maine. With the alternate back-roads navigating (always take a road atlas with you as your phone may not get signal out in the back woods), we were able to see some really great historic towns and villages in …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: 2nd Story Brewing Company, Philadelphia, PA (July 1st, Brewery Stop #18)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: 2nd Story Brewing Company, Philadelphia, PA (July 1st, Brewery Stop #18) The 18th brewery we visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was 2nd Story Brewing Company in Philadelphia, PA. We left the beautiful countryside of rural PA after lunch and samples at Tröegs and headed east to Philly. We got into town and checked into our hotel on the north end of downtown after a few hours of driving without much delay and met up with our great friend Michael whom joined us for some site seeing around downtown. We lucked out with nice weather (not too hot or humid) but after a few hours of walking around on cobble-stone streets and sidewalks, we were ready for a beer. The nearest brewery to us was 2nd Story Brewing which is located just a few blocks in from the river near the popular “Penns Landing” area of downtown. The brewery is fairly inconspicuous along the block with just a hanging sign out front, so you need to keep an eye out for them as you are looking for them. I do need to note that a few years ago, …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Tröegs Brewing Company, Hershey, PA (July 1st, Brewery Stop #17)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Tröegs Brewing Company, Hershey, PA (July 1st, Brewery Stop #17) The 17th brewery we stopped at on our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Tröegs Independent Brewing Company in Hershey, PA. After saying goodbye to our friends Sara and Rusty, we made our way out of Pittsburgh and headded east towards Hershey. The drive was pretty quick and painless, lots of toll roads and turnpikes to get you around the congested areas. The scenery on the drive was pretty spectacular, lots of foot-hills, mountains, trees and beautiful farm-country. Once we got close to Hershey, we discovered that the Tröegs brewing complex is just down the road from the Hershey’s Chocolate amusement park. And yes, it’s like Disneyland for chocolate lovers. We didn’t stop there, but I can imagine that it’s not somewhere a diabetic would want to go. As shown in the pictures, the tap-room/restaurant is located inside their main production facility. Lots of parking out front, a big entry area with multiple rooms including a swag store, tour room, meeting room, and main tap-room and restaurant area. We did poke around a bit and spent a little time in …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: The Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh, PA (June 30, Brewery Stop #16)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: The Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh, PA (June 30, Brewery Stop #16) The 16th brewery visited on our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was The Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh PA. After enjoying a wide range of great beers at East End, we stopped on our way to The Church at Caliente Pizza & Draft House for a few pints of local brews, as this was one of our hosts favorite bars/restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of beers available at Caliente and the servers were really helpful in describing them and making recommendations. As it was quickly approaching dinner time so we finished up our pints and migrated to The Church, which was just a few minutes away by car. The neighborhoods we traveled through were really cool, historic, and obviously in the ‘up-in-coming’ category as one might say. I was sort of surprised that a brewery would be allowed to purchase and occupy a church, but it’s really there and quite awesome. Rusty shared with us that this is the only one in town, as the city caught a large backlash against churches being sold to private …

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