I'm Special

Met up w/McCarthy & Nellie for "a" beer. 6 "talls" later, McCarthy finds out that my Killian's were on special, for a lot less than his pricey...Bud Lights. Ha!

Dog-Gone Dirty

I’d been eyeballing Snoopy lately. Not in any inappropriate manner, mind you, but in a “Man, you need a bath, chum!” kind of way. It’s one thing to catch the ladies’ eyes, but proper hygiene is important if you want to hold their gaze. And in looking through the blog history, I found it’d been over two years since his last one!! That doesn’t say much about me as an owner, but hell, Snoopy’s first appearance (in Charles Schulz’s comics) was in 1950 – that makes him 62 years old. Certainly old enough to speak up for himself and get a bath now and then.

I digress. Back to the task at hand; first, we needed a “before” photo to be used as supporting evidence when arguing with him about the need for the bath in the first place.
I got in real close for this pic. I wanted him to see just how extensive the level of filth and grime had become. He wasn’t keen on this, and sat silent and stoic, sunglasses on, not speaking to me.

The bath itself went fairly well. He still wasn’t talking to me, but once the warm water and soap had covered him in nice, foamy bubbles, I think he loosened up a bit. And, when I was scrubbing his head, I could swear I saw his tail wagging, but he would never admit to it.

It was then time to dry him off. (You’re not going to get far with the ladies when you smell like a wet dog!) Snoop was a big fan of the hair dryer!
Yeah, we were fast becoming friends again at this point. Once he was dry enough to go back outside, he was quick to hop back up to his spot on the dash. Nice and clean, and feelin’ fine in the sunshine!Ladies, Snoop is back!

Ride Hard, Take Baths!

Of Stout Heart

Rainy, lazy, hazy kind of day - great for shopping for stouts!

Return Of Original Mongo!

Original Mongo has been located! And, he's officially been conveyed to me! Wait, that means I'm the one that needs to keep an eye on him...this could be bad...

And The Year Is...?

We're blasting back @ the PBP and Cindy noticed there's a working pay phone, complete with a phone book! (Yes, the phone works, & the book is from 1999). Wild!!

Pre-Party Part II

The milk stout failed hard (it was too watery...who brews a watery stout??), so I'm giving the establishment's own offering a try: Outlaw Oatmeal Stout.

Pre-Party

Matty & Kim's bday bashola is tonight. Gotta carb up w/some grub first, though. Hey look - a stout's on their menu I haven't tried yet...let's give it a shot!

Communication Gap

Need proper gap for plugs. Owner's manual Index says see page 171 for gap info. Page 171 says check table 39. Table 39 is the maintenance schedule: no gap info.

Spring Cleaning

New inspection sticker! Now, oil & filter, air filter & plugs. Then pulling the front fairing open to (preventatively) check for frayed wires. Rides are coming!

Jersey Wrapup

We made it home in decent time, despite our directional foibles. The rain didn't stick around long, but the overcast/gloomy skies didn't fully break until we were back in Mass. (The fogginess in the skies was matched by the fogginess in our heads.)

So, was it worth it to take ride 250 miles down into Jersey, just to go bar hopping with Mike for one night, only to then ride another 250 miles home with our livers yelling at us?

Of course it was! It was a great road trip! We had great rides down and back, got some decent miles on, and got to hang out with our good buddy Mike!

Zig's final tally (I didn't set my tripometer):


Not a lot of miles, but plenty of smiles to go along with the miles we did get. It was another successful road trip! Thanks Mike!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Blazing New Trails

We missed the Tappen Zee exit so we stayed on 87. We're now in (insert name of town, sigh I don't know), picking up 84, then back into familiar territory...

WTF With The Weather?

Supposed to be sunny/hot today but was overcast & foggy upon waking. We hoped it'd clear before hitting the road. Nope - it's raining now. No rain gear!!

Hydration Or Lack Thereof...

The boys are feeling rather rough, so they need some water to rehydrate, some OJ for minerals, and some soda for a bit of sugar to kick things into gear.

All Good Things

It was a long day...that started early. No normal human could be expected to stay awake for the full duratio...Mike! Mike, are you sleeping??

Toucan?

Tuesday special - whatever we order, we get two of...I would like to order a large plate of winning lottery tickets...

Coincidence Or Destination?

This place has ducks inlaid on their tables! It's like we were supposed to come here!

Heaven?

Mike has finally come through for us! An Irish bar/pool hall/liquor store! Seriously: it has a bar, pool tables, and shelves of booze!!

Upper Scale

Next bar - 50 beers available...unless you wanna try something that sounds awesome...in which case, they don't have it. Me thinks they no-likey Boston folks...

In Good Hands

Mike, being the consummate host, is doing the driving tonight...but hes' also ahead of us on the beers...we may have to go back for the bikes...

Clean Living

The boys are up to no good already. When Zig asked the bartender for a pic, she commented the boys were dirty, then got this bottle for them. No picture, LOL.

Yay Mike!

Yep, we're got the right place, Mike has arrived, and Mike has beer! Yay Mike!

Arrived...Or Have We?

We think we're @ Mike's, but no Mike, so we're not sure. Compounding things, we didn't see any bars on our way here that we could venture to while waitin. Damn!

Aerodynamics

The boys spotted something caught up under Zig's bike. Upon further inspection, we find he's got a spoiler under there!

Wallet Molestation

The boys do not approve of the gas prices around here!!

Failure Of The Guard

Guardrails are supposed to keep you on the road. They failed to do so in yet another accident we passed. Looked like a long, long way down, too... :-/

Feet Down In Hartford

Emergency vehicles keep going by. Must be something good up ahead. Man, we just can't win in Hartford! (Hurricane/crashed the last time we came through here...)

Time To Roll

Snoopy and the ducks are ready, the skies are clear, and the road is calling. It's gonna be a great day to ride!

Rescued Plans

Matty got called back to work so he's out. Me & Zig are picking up the pieces...over more beers. Ziggy has hiccups! Bartender has an unheard of remedy. ..

Planning Meeting

Matty, Zig & I are headin' to Jersey 2morrow to party w/Mike. Like w/all road trips, a planning meeting is in order. And it's not a planning meeting w/out beer!

Beer and a Bite

Couple hours, long windy CT roads - a great, great March afternoon. Now, time for a road soda and some grub to keep the belly happy.

Sunshine!

Hot sunshine! Time for sunscreen! Let's ride!!

Bug Light?

Does it speak to a bar's quality, if they have a bug light over their liquor bottles?? Yeah, I think I'm going to have a beer...bottle. Thanks.

Jack's Abby Brewery

Me and a few of the guys from work found a local mini-brewer right down the street from here, and since yesterday was Thirsty Thursday, we decided to go check them out last night. Jack’s Abby Brewing! There, they make BEER!

Welcome to Jack’s!
The door hadn’t even closed behind us before the chap behind the counter asked if we wanted to start tasting BEER! Hell yeah, let’s get this going!

There were 6 flavors of BEER available at this time, and they were listed out in the recommended order. I love when beer makers make things easy for me!
We had to take a step back for a minute, as there was a tour exiting from the back area. The chap behind the bar walked over to make sure they were all set, giving me a nice clean shot of the taps, lined up, ready and waiting to dispense BEER!
The delay was very manageable, nothing longer than a minute or two, and our newest (and bestest) friend returned and began pouring and handing out BEER!
As we were marveling over this wonderful liquid (commonly known as BEER!), our new friend explained that the brewery has only been around for one year. Something very impressive; the brewery was started by a guy who used to be one of the head brewers from Sam Adams. Wow, nice! Something else impressive is their products can already be found in a TON of bars and restaurants, all over the state. They’re currently looking to expand further into New England, and things are going great for them.

One of the guys spotted a large poster on the back wall. A local craftsman brewery newspaper was sponsoring a BEER bracket, and there were 128 BEERS in the competition. The highlighted (in red) path on the left side is one of Jack’s offerings, and as you can see, they’re doing quite well. Go Jack, Go!
After we’d run through the samples, we each picked our favorite, got another sample of that, then walked out back for the tour. Well, it’s a small operation, and there were three guys working on a labeling machine, trying to get it to stick the labels to the bottles, rather than to each other. They paused in mid-stream to give us the walkaround and talk about their BEER! It was very cool – one of the fermenting tanks was in high gear, and the exhaust tube (running out and down, submersed in a bucket of water for sanitary (air-tight) reasons) was bubbling something fierce. Sweet! (I didn’t take pics on the tour because I was too intent on taking everything in.)

The brewery currently has 4 vats and 6 fermenters – and, they’ve got 3 more, on the way. They said business is going better than they expected, and they’re working hard to keep up with demand. Yeah, Man – demand for BEER!

They also explained that they use ‘flavor-neutral’ yeast when making their beer, as they prefer to focus on, and pull the flavors out of, the hops and malt. It seems to be a strategy that’s paying off for them.

When the tour was done, we thanked our knowledgeable guide and made our way back out to the front room. Time to buy BEER! I went with the “Smoke & Dagger”…but not just a bottle of it. Well, ok…it was a bottle, but not a 12-ouncer. Nope, I went with a growler! That’s a half-gallon of BEER! Nice!

I asked how long they (the growlers) would be good for, and he said ‘unopened’, they’d be good for about a month, but once opened, they should be finished within 24 hours. Ha, I accept your challenge!

The growlers are filled up right when you ask for it, assuring that it’s as fresh as possible. And even better, they fill the bottle with CO2, first, to remove as much oxygen as possible from the bottle. These guys don’t mess around with BEER!
And then it was time to fill my growler with BEER! Wonderful, cold, refreshing (and tasty!) BEER!
We even got little punch-cards. Each time we buy a growler, our card gets punched. Get enough punches, and you can get cool Jack’s Abby swag.

And there you have it – Jack’s Abby Brewery, tucked out of the way in Framingham. A very bare-bones experience, but it was very fun. And, we got BEER!

(We also went to the British Beer Company from here, and got a lot MORE beer, but that’s a story for another time. Suffice to say that I was dragging this morning…)

Ride Hard, Take Brewery Tours!

Riding!

Knocking back beers @ the Post. Matty decides he's gonna head to Gettysburg on Monday. F'n awesome! Makes me wish I was laid off right now, too. Ride safe, Bro!

Saturday Afternoon

Chilly day for riding...but still a great day for a ride. And a great day for meeting Matt for a couple of frosties!

Reaching The Pinnacle

Prepping for jello shots. Pinnacle flavors: Chocolate Whipped, Cookie Dough, Cotton Candy, Atomic Hots & Gummy. And I've got 25 more flavors, not in the pic!

Celebratory Stout

Tax refund came in, now I can order the basement floor. Figure a nice Imperial stout is in order. Name seems familiar, though. Hope it's not one I didn't like. (It was.) :-/

Finito

My yard looks like it's been attacked by giant beavers! But the stumps are gone and the next phase of the landscaping can soon begin. Thanks Brother Bill!!

Chasing

The stump is done but now we're chasing a stupid giant root that's running horizontally, just below the surface. I thought roots were supposed to go down?!?!

Action Photos