Boston, long time no see!

Long time no see, Boston. 
Of course, it is time for YJ to enjoy her freedom as a legal twenty-one and pay a friendly visit to the Boston local brewery, Harpoon brewery. A $5 tour for a full look around of the brewery and unlimited beer tasting was definitely worth it. Starting off with sample IPA in a free glass (we get to keep this glass yay!), we saw the huge fermented tanks filled with their patented yeast and unfiltered liquor, and had a sample of their 30% carbonated IPA, which had a weaker flavor but smelled strongly of alcohol, a bit murky since it was unfiltered. 

We heard the grand story of the founders at the warehouse filled with endless stacks of Harpoon beer. They were Harvard grads, who went bar-hopping around Europe and decided to start a legacy of beer, a beer culture filled with stories and history, a beer house that went on for thousands and thousands of years and that's how it all led to Harpoon. 


What? Some random Harvard grads have all the luck to begin a brewery, have all the beer they wanted, go on yearly trips to Europe with their employees on so-called investigating the European beer (I say it's there modern version of beer-hopping, continuing their legacy after more than thirty years), while Im plowing away on random problem sets in middle-of-nowhere Amherst? I call this unfair. 


At least I got a chance to have a 30-minute beer heaven with endless fresh beer on tap. 

Now what do you think about that! Their 36th of their 100 barrel series was a Harpoon Oyster Stour, brewed with oyster shells, which was an extremely creamy and foamy, dark beer with none of the fishy smell. UFOs were comparatively light, the one with infused raspberry puree tasted like a fizzy raspberry soda, which was too fruity for my taste. The Leviathan, despiter their high alcohol content (10%) where a bit weak and less flavorful, while their new hit Belgium ale was light, but still full of fresh spice and hop was a nice treat. The only problem was while I wanted to try them all, they at least gave you half a glass for each tasting, compared to a little puddle they pour you in the tiny plastic glasses at wine tastings, so after a few tastings your belly is churning full of beer. I have never tasted so much beer in my life! H and I hold our stomachs flowing with beer back to maintown Boston. 

And we continued on traveling to three more wine shops, all complete tours with tastings, and buying a pinot noir from carneros, CA, and a cow's milk cheese called cave-aged Marisa from Wisconsin, a buttery but rich, not too salty cheese from Wisconsis. My taste has been swerving towards hard cheeses nowadays, after havling the flood of soft, rich, triple creme cheeses on my birthday. And blue cheese with craisins or beets are also decadent for a few bitefuls. Ah. Tastings are the best, suits perfectly my taste for trying tiny bits of good nibblings of this and that, and the fact that you can't take them all, tuck all the goodies you're tasting in you bag back home might be givint you more lure and pleasure and that longing satisfaction. 

 

the pinot noir we bought. Fruit forward. I tried the aerator MJ gave me during tasting, and it produced more brightness and something...acidic? Interesting. But want to try it one more time though. I will trust the Italian guy at the wine shop. Hard to find smart-talking and good wine advisors these day. *sigh*