Beer Drinkers’ Gallery
Saul doesn’t drink beer. I didn’t pick up the habit until I was in my thirties, and it was travel-related curiosity that did me in. I clearly remember the first beer I ever really enjoyed and the reason I ordered it. It was on a skiing holiday in Canada and I ordered it because I couldn’t resist the beautifully evocative name: Sleeman’s Honey Brown Lager. So it seems appropriate to do a post on beer, now that we are back in Canada for the first time since that skiing holiday. Here’s what I’ve been drinking while Saul has been sipping a steady succession of bottomless soda-fountain Diet Cokes.
Made by an Akureyri-based microbrewery but widely available in Iceland
Not that exciting – the Icelandic equivalent of an SAB beer
Another mainstream Icelandic brand that didn’t delight
A very good porter with an unpronounceable name
A typical Icelandic soft drink
Got distracted by the northern lights, which started up before that sunset had even fully ended
The friends we stayed with in London didn’t just supply wine
The “Ideal Manhattan”, a.k.a. the “Perfect Manhattan” has gone through a revival and is fast becoming the most fashionable cocktail around
This came from my favourite beer-focused venue of the trip. We took this growler home to drink while playing Cards Against Humanity.
New England fall is cider season. I never really got ciders before. Now I do.
A Vermont APA accompanied my first taste of New England clam chowder
Widely available across New England, this was quite similar to the Einstok white that I loved in Iceland
This subtle, grown-up blueberry ale did not commit any of the fruit beer crimes (tasting like a muffin, an alco-pop or cough syrup)
Drank this delicious cloudy cider on our final night in New England
The French-looking dude in the background is a dead give-away that we’re finally in Canada
An apple-based pre-theatre cocktail in Montreal
Black cherry cola is the definitive choice with your smoked beef on rye at Schwartz’s Hebrew Deli in Montreal
Portland is a big beer city so I was keen to try a flight with one of our Portland lunches
Love that you are drinking Beer! I love beer and it’s such a fun thing to drink when you are traveling.
Still missing the Sam Adams! 🙁 🙁
Yes, beer is definitely a travelling thing for me – I don’t seem to drink much of it at home. Andrew, I can see that we’ve disappointed you. Does it help that we visited Sam Adams’ grave on the Freedom Trail in Boston? We did not drink any Sam Adams there, although plenty of those Weird Tourist people do, judging by snapshots on the internet…
Great to see you’re supporting the craft beer movement – and some early signs of beer snobbery! There are thousands of great beers in the US, ones to look out for are anything by Russian River, Evil Twin, Firestone Walker, Toppling Goliath …
I am jealous – keep the photos coming, more beer fewer leaves
My favourite US craft beer so far is Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. Left Hand is in Colorado and this one is also a skiing discovery – tasted it when we were skiing in Telluride in Jan. Have seen it on this trip but have resisted ordering it because with beer, as with food, I try to stay as local as possible. Not sure if that’s also a sign of incipient beer snobbery!
Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. Say no more.