Birthday Brews

Spike's birthday at the end of May always gives me a reason to plan exciting adventures.  Though he claims his birthday is "just another day," I like to make it more than that!  This year we took a trip to Portland, Maine to visit some breweries and enjoy some beer. 

We started the day with some breakfast egg rolls, as I think everyone who knows Spike knows that Chinese food is his favorite.  In an attempt to create a birthday cake that resembled his one true love, I wrapped apples with cinnamon and sugar in egg roll wrappers and served them with caramel sauce, which was supposed to resemble duck sauce.

We then drove to Portland and hit the first stop, Allagash Brewery, which had a brand new tasting room.  We enjoyed both the tour and the tasting, but especially the barrel room, which was nice and cool on the 90+ degree day.

From there, we took a quick ride up 95 to Freeport, Maine and the Maine Beer Co.  Their tasting room was also brand new and we sampled a flight of beer that included the hoppiest IPA I've ever tasted, which was called "Lunch."  Spike enjoyed it, but I stuck with the darker beers.

After visiting another tasting room at the Rising Tide Brewery, we checked into our Bed & Breakfast and got some lunch.  We tried to cool down and then walked to downtown Portland where we hit a bunch of bars and mostly tried not to melt!  We sampled a few more beers, had a nice seafood dinner, and then headed back to our room.  No late night on the town for these old timers!