Hubby and I went
off on a long motorcycle ride on a beautiful day. We went through two states. . . Maine and New
Hampshire . . . three notches. . . Evans,
Grafton, and Pinkham. . . making a 200 mile trip. The plan was
simply a nice long ride and to see some beautiful sites. Which we
accomplished most successfully but we had the bonus of finding a micro brewery
along the way.
The brewery /
brew pub was waaaaay out of the way in the middle of nowhere. And, because we were on the bikes we
obviously weren't going to be slamming down a whole big pile of beers.
Hell, I don't feel comfortable riding after having a single beer.
So, we decided to
share a sampler and a whole big pile of hot wings. . . a few sips each of six
beers . . . just a tease really. . . and noms.
About the
brewery: Sunday River
Brewing Company (SRBC) . . . once tied
in with the now defunct Stone Coast Brewing Company . . . is located on Sunday River Road in Bethel Maine. It is a
decent sized pub with clear viewing of the brewing area. The brew master . . . or pro brewer, as he is
called there . . . is Stewart Mason. A
home brewer to start he began working for breweries in Boston and then other
locations until he made his way to Sunday River, where he’s made his home.
Our lovely and
knowledgeable server, Darcie, brought us our sampler and described the
brews as such . . . a blonde, an alt, an
IPA, a porter, a wheat and a double IPA.
The first, Sunday
River Blonde, was a pale lemon colored ale; a very light and refreshing but tasty
3.8% ABV; this would make an excellent session beer that you could enjoy many
of on a long hot day.
The second,
Sunday River Alt, was a tawny colored ale that is lightly sweet and has a
clearly define caramel flavor. Another excellent beer. Smooth and delicious.
(4%ABV)
The third was Sunday
River IPA. For some reason I have been lusting after IPAs recently and this one
didn't disappoint me. Grapefruity hoppiness, bitter on the front end with a
clean finish. A classic English IPA flavor with 5.7% ABV.
So far we're
going three to three on liking this brew pub's offerings . . . and the wings
are pretty darn good, as well . . . they all cant possible be good. Can they?
Read on . . .
The fourth was Black
Bear Porter. This was my least favorite of the sextet . . . but not
because it was bad. It was indeed quite good, in fact. What
made me like it less than all the others is the smoky aspect. . . I'm jot a fan
of smoky beer, that's all. Hubby
claimed this to be his favorite partially because of the smoky flavor . . . so,
to each his own. This porter is typically dark and malty but surprisingly
hoppy. 6% ABV
The final two
were seasonals . . .
The fifth in the
line up was a Belgian Wit a pale golden yellow. A fruity wheat beer
simply screams summer. Like a lemonade beer . . . oh so good
and refreshing . . . was refreshing, light and tasty. The lemon wasn’t overpowering but instead
complimented the wheat to create a nicely balance beer.
The final beer in
our sampler was Mollyockett’s Revenge, a double IPA. A very big IPA coming in
at a strong 8% ABV. Despite the high alcohol content there was no boozy
taste. A really good hoppy beer . . . bitter, citrusy and seriously
good.
The beer
discovery of Sunday
River was nearly as
amazing as the awesome ride. If you’re
ever in the area of Bethel Maine stop by and have yourself a few brews,
you won’t be disappointed . . . great beer, pleasant staff and good food make
for an all around experience.
Cheers.
