Massachusetts

Breweries visited in Massachusetts: Not too many stories related to these breweries because they are closest to where we live. John visited the Cape Cod Beer without me and is down in Hyannis near the Kennedy Compound. We go to the Cambridge Brewing Company for lunch all the time because it is very close to where i work and I haven't even bought a pint glass from there yet. Buzzards Bay Brewing was visited on our trip down to the South shore of MA to scout out locations for our wedding reception. We saw the neatest dog there called an Azores Cattle Dog, which has these roundy ears that makes it look like a very built teddy bear. Here are some good pictures of the breed. Post Road and Boston and Salem Beer works glasses were inherited from an apartment i lived in in Allston. Not much to say about the Northampton Brewery because i got sick after eating there once. In July 2008 we went camping out in western Ma and visited the Pittsfield Brew Works in Pittsfield MA. The food was really good and the service was fantastic. I tried the Gerry Dog Stout from which 25cents from each pint was donated to the Berkshire Humane Society. Gerry is the owner's dog who was adopted from the rescue. We asked one of the waitresses about the origin of the sheep logo and she told us that Pittsfield used to be the center of wool manufacturing in the 1800's. Then while the new owners were scouting out inspiration for their brewery, Pittsfield was having their Sheeptacular celebration in 2004 which was like the Cow's Parade with many sheep statues decorated by artists distributed along the main streets. It seemed a fitting logo and it stuck.

M States I'll never visit again

I visited the Morgan Street Brewery on a business trip to lovely and sad St. Louis, Missouri. Seemed like it was in the heart of the tourist restaurant district down by the mississippi river. When my sister Laura lived in Bozeman, Montana my family and i went out for christmas and spent some time snowshoeing and trekking through Yellowstone. It was the coolest most pristine place in the winter. We visited Big Sky Brewing on the trip.

California

We visited the San Diego Brewery and the San Marcos Brewery and Grill on our vacation to San Diego and Encinitas CA in 2004. I remember the mexican food at the San Marcos was pretty good. We had pizza and beer and played video games with our friend Janine and her boss at Oggi's/Left Coast Brewing Company. It was a fun time.

Wisconsin

My sister went to grad school in Madison so I've been out there to visit a few times over the past few years. We visited the Angelic Brewing Company one summer when both myself and my youngest sister went out for a visit. We also tried to visit the New Glarus Brewery which is in the middle of nowhere wisconsin but it was closed when we got there. I am planning another trip to WI in October 2008 so we're definitely going to try to hit this one again. We also visited the Great Dane Pub and Brewery downtown but they didn't have any pint glasses. I'll have to get one on my return trip. I'd also like to visit Granite City Food and Brewery, although this doesn't look like a "microbrewery" since it has 25 locations, Capital Brewery and Ale Asylum in Madison and Old Man River Brewery in McGregor Iowa, near where my sister lives currently.

Pennsylvania

The Church Brew Works is probably my favorite microbrewery that I have ever visited. The food is great and the brewery is built inside a renovated church. It is in Pittsburgh, PA. We visited Barley Creek Brewing on a ski trip to the Poconos with some friends. It's located in Tannerville, PA. Otto's is in State College, PA where my husband went to college. The North Country Brewing Company is the best little brewery located in my husband's home town of Slippery Rock, PA. They have some very unique beers and the best black and blue burger on the planet. On July 5th 2008 we visited the Manayuck Brewery in the Manayuck neighborhood of Philadelphia. It's in a cute little downtown area right on the Schuylkill River. It has a huge outdoor porch overlooking the river. I had the beer taster and the Peach Wheat beer was yummy and the other table favorite was the Schuylkill Punch (Raspberry lager).

New Hampshire and Vermont

We visited Smuttynose Brewing company in Portsmouth, NH the day after we got engaged on Mt. Tom in the white mountains in Sept 2007. Milly's Tavern is a little hole in the wall brewery in Manchester NH that we visited the day after we saw Styx and Def Leppard in April 2008 (that was the only glass they had..) John visited Long Trail in Vermont without me, but he's says it's pretty cool and they have a collection of beer bottles from all over arranged by state. Neato. Portsmouth Brewery is a sister company to Smuttynose in New Hampshire. Labor Day weekend 2008 we made a trip up to Norwich VT to the Norwich Inn in which Jasper Murdock's Ale House is located. It's a small brewery that makes English style ales with hops from England and grown in their own hop garden and may be the smallest brewery in the US making less than 250 barrels a year. I had the Famous Sidekick which is a "session" beer which means it's low in alcohol content so you can enjoy more of it and was very tasty. John had the Whistling Pig Red Ale which was okay. The food was excellent. The Inn is adorable, though we didn't stay there we might consider it for a fun weekend away.

Over the past 7 years my husband and I have traveled all over the country and in the process started visiting microbreweries. We collect a pint glass from every one we visit and the rule we have is that we have to visit the actual brewery and have tasted at least one of their microbrews. So this is a log of our collection thus far and i will try to update newly visited breweries.