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It’s finally open! Dorchester Brewing Co.’s opening was much-anticipated and long-awaited for many of us Dorchester residents, and I was so excited to get a sneak peek last week at the ribbon cutting with Mayor Walsh.

Dorchester Brewing Co

I was even more excited to learn how much local love the brewery team has; so much of what has gone into constructing the brewery and making it beautiful has to do with local Dorchester people and businesses. Dorchester Brewing Co  Mayor Walsh was on hand for remarks and has provided some great support along the way; he really let the brewery team shine though, and shine they did.

Dorchester Brewing Co

Dorchester Brewing Co The Dorchester Brewing Co. space is gorgeous and made from materials reclaimed from the original warehouse. I love that they have games and a patio along with two tasting bars and will be host not only to house beers but beer collaborations with brewers who don’t have their own breweries.

Dorchester Brewing Co

 

Dorchester Brewing Co It will be a space for community and creativity, what Dorchester is all about.

Dorchester Brewing Co {I love these wooden doors!}

Dorchester Brewing Co

And I can see myself hanging out at this tasting bar many times in the future.

IPA

beer tasting

The staff was fantastic, and the beers we tasted, Clapp’s Cream Ale and Mass Ave IPA,, were delicious. I don’t even like IPAs, and I loved this one. It was so balanced and easy to drink with lovely pine and citrus notes.

 

Dorchester Brewing Co.

The integration of the old and the new dotted the space, and hope for the surrounding community as well as the space within was everywhere. I was so impressed with everything; the brewery really went above and beyond all of my hopes and expectations.

Dorchester Brewing Co.

Aiming to be a gathering place and a place even for families, Dorchester Brewing Co. will have a b. good food truck outside most of the time, giving beer lovers a healthy-ish local option for pairing food with beer. I love b. good fries and bowls!

b good food truck

While I am bummed we sold our condo a few blocks away, as a Dorchester resident for 10 years,  I am so excited to have this inspiring and fun new business as ours. Welcome to Dorchester!

Tags: beer, beer tasting, brewery, Dorchester, dorchester brewing co, events

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As you well know, Ireland has stolen my heart over and over and over again. We don’t do much for the holiday at all, though I am sure there will be a pint of Guinness and a viewing of The Quiet Man at some point. I’ve visited Ireland over 20 times and written extensively about it, so for your St. Patrick’s Day reading, just a few blog posts on Ireland:

 

Afternoon Tea at the Meyrick HotelAshford CastleBallyconneely

Ballynahinch Castle

Belfast in Photos

The Burren and Kinvara – hiking in Ireland

Bushmill’s Distillery

Colorful Images from Ireland

Giant’s Causeway and North Antrim

Galway Saturday MarketGalway – Spirit One Spa and Sheridan’s Wine BarHiking in Connemara

Hiking Errisbeg in Roundstone

Kinsale, Ireland’s Gourmet Capital

Kylemore Abbey

O’Grady’s Barna Pier

Photos of Galway

Sligo

 

 

Galway Bay Sunset

Perhaps our celebrating started earlier this month, with a special Guinness Open Gate Brewery Night to view The Brewers Project. Guinness actually brought the real, original recipe book to Boston for the event, and Artists for Humanity was filled with delicious Guinness beers, food, and cheer.

Open Gate Brewery   Guinness art

Guinness has had a knack for great advertising since its beginning, and it was fun to browse the colorful pieces and take replica postcards home.

Guinness Art

It was also fun to taste the many beers that they had available. We tried Guinness Blonde, Guinness West Indies Porter, and my favorite of the night which isn’t actually available for sale, the 1798 Limited Edition. west indies porter

 

Guinness 1798

Guinness quite obviously knows its beer, and they were all really good. I coveted these beautiful Guinness flute-like glasses. Unfortunately they weren’t for sale either.

Guinness flutes

In time for St. Patrick’s Day, Guinness was showing off some fun special edition cans, and they had an archivist from St. James’s Gate in Dublin showing us the recipe book, which we could not photograph.

Guinness Special Edition Cans

Once we made our rounds of tasting and grabbed a pint of the black stuff, we headed to the very generously stocked food table for some yummy snacks including soft pretzels and a variety of toppings. Passes appetizers also kept us fed throughout. cheese and fruit

soft pretzels

Guinness knows how to put on a great event, and we really enjoyed a taste of Ireland in Boston.

Tags: beer, events, Food, Guinness, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day

We just got back from a long weekend in Chicago that was literally jam-packed with food, fun, friends, beautiful weather, and all of the other things this incredible city has to offer. I forgot how easy Chicago is to get to and how easy it is to get around. I love it.

One of the must-do items on our list was to visit the Goose Island Beer Co. for a brewery tour. Because the brewery is a little out there, we ended up taking a quick taxi ride to ensure we were on time for our tour.

The space is in a warehouse area, and it is really hard to miss. You drive right up and see this big goose taking up the entire corner of the building.

Goose Island Brewery Goose Island tap room Goose Island brewery tour Once inside we checked in for our tour and had time to check out the beautiful tap room, where we decided to share an Oktoberfest while we waited. It was a delicious decision.

 

Goose Island Oktoberfest Goose Island tap room If you’re not finished with your tap room beer, you can get it in a plastic cup to bring along for the tour, but if you are empty, don’t fret. The tour includes three sizeable tastes of beer. I liked the tour in that it was interactive and the beer tasting was split up throughout rather than saved until the end.

Goose Island Brewery Tour

Our guide was funny and entertaining as he brought us through to see the brewers in action while we tasted a Goose Island IPA. I am often overwhelmed by IPAs, but I loved the pine notes in this beer. It was herbal, outdoorsy, crisp, and well-balanced.

Goose Island IPA

Our tour included a stop in the Innovation Room, where new beer ideas are constantly being tested and tasted and in the wild fermentation room, where Brettanonmyces, a wild yeast strain, is used to make the beer. The yeast is so active that the room is specially designed to not let any air out. If the yeast got out, it could get into the other types of beer, eat the alcohol, and ruin them!

In this room we learned about their vintage ales and tasted one of my favorites of the weekend, their Sofie.

Goose Island Matilda   Goose Island beer Goose Island Matilda I also enjoyed the Matilda over the weekend. Both the Sofie and Matilda were very festive beers, effervescent with fruit notes and a nice body.

We ended the tour in the barrel room at Goose Island, which is just for the purpose of the tour. Their actual really big barrel room is not at the brewery. We learned about a hard-to-find favorite, the Bourbon County Stout, but didn’t taste it, since it is so hard to come by. I’ve had this beer in the past though, and it is amazing (and provides a lasting impression via a pounding headache if you have more than one).

Goose Island Barrel Aging Goose Island Beer Tasting

The tour was a great value at $12, and it helped us to discover some beers we might not have tasted otherwise. I think I have been on enough brewery and winery tours to kind of know the basics and that ends up making me a little less engaged in the tour part. I’m far more interested in the tasting. 🙂

Tags: beer, beer tasting, brewery, brewery tour, Chicago, Travel

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