August Trip: Shipping Down to Boston

By Carl

I apologize to all for the big gap in posts. You see, the world of beer is so vast and time consuming, so we at "Life's Brewtal" were out there making the most of it and quite hones
tly just lost track! Anyway, let's try and finish what we started.

The Vermont part of our trip was finally — and by finally I mean sadly — over, but we still had one more day of fun ahead of us. After recharging our batteries a bit with a good night's sleep in Burlington, it was back in the car once again as we started our southward trek of a little more than three hours down to Boston. Now, growing up in Connecticut, I have never been the biggest Boston guy (mainly due to the sports teams), but there are a couple
beer gems within the city that are certainly making names for themselves.

Our first of two stops in Boston was at Trillium, which was not especially easy to find. After parking in a small lot about a half mile up Congress St., we made our way back to Trillium, which is about as small of an operation as you will ever find. Don't be fooled, however. This place is home to some incredible beer, and trust me, the word has already gotten out!

This was a simple extraction mission as you cannot sit down and have a pint here. No, we were out of there in five minutes, but not before making our purchases consisting of Congress Street (IPA), Sleeper Street (IPA and still my favorite from them), Double Dry Hopped Fort Point (Pale Ale) and Fort Point (Pale Ale). I also have to make note of my pint glass I bought, which I have since woefully broken. Not to worry, as Mark returned to Trillium a couple weeks back and got me another one!

Upon our conclusion, it was back to, you guessed it, the car. Only our next destination was not too far away; or so we thought. What was supposed to be a 20-minute drive turned into about 45 minutes due to some heavy traffic. Whatever the case, Night Shift Brewing was up next.

The 87, Santilli, Whirlpool, One Hop This Time

I have to admit, I did not know a lot about these guys at the start of the trip and we actually never had them on our itinerary, but with a last-second decision we wound up at Night Shift and boy am I glad we did.

This place is slowly, but surely, putting itself on the map. Since making this trip, I have seen more and more about Night Shift all over the place. With a plethora of options on tap, we each decided to sit down for a flight. I opted to go with Whirlpool (Pale Ale and my favorite of the four), One Hop This Time: Ella (IPA), Santilli (IPA) and The 87 (IPA). This surprised me, as IPAs are my go-to, but the Whirlpool was quite tasty.

Things were starting to get a little depressing as the Night Shift stint came to a close, with just one more stop scheduled on our marathon trip. However, this was perhaps the part I was looking forward to most. One last stop in Massachusetts before heading back to Connecticut. It was time for one of the fastest growing breweries with some of the most sought-after beers
in the country: Tree House Brewing Company!