Day 5 was a light one from a beer-stop perspective. I started the morning by making my way up to Albemarle Ciderworks to pick up some cider for my wife. What a beautiful tasting room and orchard nestled in the hills. From there, I decided to pass up on heading to Richmond to The Veils Scott’s Addition tap room. I was going to get there a bit late to then have to battle the traffic on the I95 corridor to make it up to Connecticut in time. I have those two bottles I picked up from a bottle shop so they are at least represented on the take-home haul. The decision to head North through Pennsylvania proved to be a wise one. I hit very little traffic and all the accidents were on the other side of the highway. So I made it to Area 2 Experimental Brewing in time.
Area 2 in Stratford, Connecticut, was a great surprise. I hadn’t heard much about them and only discovered them by Google searching breweries along my planned route. If you like lambic beer, this place should not be overlooked. They have a nice large modern facility. Their Lambic-inspired style ale nails the profile. I had a flight of fruited “lambics” that blew me away. The Blood Peach and Second Life were outstanding. Just enough fruit to let you know it’s there without becoming an oversweetened mess. Kudos to the staff for helping me with the bottle selection. I can’t wait to get these home and see if they are as impressive on a second go around. There are plenty of true Belgian lambics that I would select after these.
Today is going to be a fun day. I get to drive up to where I used to live and pick up my two most missed food items. It has been ages since I had my favorite hotdogs and kielbasas made locally here. I also need a proper New England giant grinder. Once I complete that task, I will head down to Fox Farm Brewery, over to Kent Falls Brewing, before heading to Massachusetts and the renowned Tree House Brewing and Trillium.
