A 9/80 Road Trip

My company offers a 9/80 program (work 9 days for 80 hours, and get every other Friday off), and it is a great benefit. I usually work a ½ day on my day off to get caught up, or schedule any doctor appointments that I may have, or else get a head start on the weekend’s lawn work. Or other days, I can take it as a day for myself. So since the kids were in school and Jenn was working, I decided to road trip over to western MA to stop at a bottle superstore and get some lunch. So after seeing Jacob off on the school bus, I headed East.

My first stop was Table & Vine in West Springfield. It was formally Town & Country, but changed hands but the kept the same great selection. This was a favorite of my buddies who used to work at Windsor, and I had been there before. It had a great selection, large enough to force me to make some tough choices. I was able to find some beers from Port brewing (Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, Witches Wit), Pretty Things 1832 Mild (weird name for a beer that was over 10% ABV), and Goose Island (Sophia, Nightstalker, and Bourbon County Stout). The Bourbon County Stout was by far my favorite; large bottle so that it could be shared, 13.2% ABV so it had a good kick, and a fine whiskey taste that made for some perfect sipping. It was as good as Brooklyn’s Black Ops, and that is high praise.

Next it was up to Amherst. I was originally going to check out the Spirit Haus, a really good beer store, but my tastes were already sated with my earlier stop. So I went to the Amherst Brewing company for lunch and was treated with one of the best beers I’ve had in a while. Their Mexican Spiced Stout was on cask, and was flavored with cinnamon, pablano peppers and cocao mint. It was delicious, and went well with my grilled cheese sandwich (they’re not just for children anymore) and thai vegetable soup. Good food and good beer, a great combination.

It is good to get away and take some time for yourself. An easy drive rewarded with some prize beers was what I needed to recharge my batteries. – 5486

"It’s a fair wind that blew men to ale." – Washington Irving