If you've never done a tour of the brewery, I highly recommend it. For a two dollar donation, you get to taste test two possible flavors and vote on the one you prefer.
If you need to use the restroom, don't fear this porta-potty trailer.
It's probably the nicest public restroom I've ever seen.
Every 45 minutes is a tour. So, then we finally went on a tour of the facility. Our tour guide was a student at Northeastern named Corey. She was hilarious.
We learned about the four main ingredients of beer: barley, hops, water and yeast (I got yeast when no one else did...I was sorta a beer suck up on the Sam Adams tour. More on that to follow.)
Then we tried barley, which, as I expected, tasted just like Grape Nuts, because Grape Nuts and beer have a lot in common*.
Next we saw the steaming copper kettle boiling the mash. And the giant vats of yeast and mash and water interacting.
Finally came the very special time: when we got to go to the tap room and learn how to properly drink beer. There are five steps. Heck if I can remember them. But it's something like smelling, looking through the glass to see your fingers, tasting then talking about them. But I think I lost a step in there. Regardless, when it came to trivia time in the tap room as we drank Boston Lager and Summer Ale, I was the first to get a Perfect Pint pint glass, with a laser cut glass for the perfect pint. I also knew that Summer Ale was brewed with lemon zest and what West African considered an aphrodisiac, Grains of Paradise.
I got to have the first prize of the perfect pint pint glass because I was smart. When we went to Real Deal Deli and Sugar Bakery for lunch before going the brewery, I bought whoever our tour guide may be a freshly baked, delicious, giant, chocolate chip cookie. While were moving from one station to the other, Corey ended up next to me in the shuffle so I said, "Hi. I brought you something. This is a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie from Sugar Bakery in West Roxbury. I got it because I figured you'd like it and also to suck up." And I handed her the white paper bag filled with wholesome deliciousness.
She laughed, and in the end, I got my perfect pint.
BUT THEN, I also got some other special stuff. Octoberfest doesn't come out to next week, so we'll be picking a case of that up then. However, my very supercool friend from grad school, T igh, works for Sam's and he gave me his 2 employee cases for the month. Plus I got to get a gift from the gift shop on his expense account. So I got this awesome hat.
No, I'm not trying out for a spot in the Newsies musical.
And I got a case of Cherry Wheat. It's in the cooler. I got to go into the Giant Cooler Room of Cases. It was a little overwhelming. But the Cherries were singing to me like sirens in the Odyssey.
And now I shall go enjoy a glass.
*Grape Nuts ingredients: Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Dried Yeast. (No grapes. No nuts.)
Schweet hat!
ReplyDeleteMy senior audit project in college was on Sam Adams. They're an interesting company. They sent us keyring bottle openers for the whole class, which was pretty cool too.