Hoppy Easter!

The weather folk were calling for a decent Sunday once again so once again I put the word out to see if anyone else was interested in going on a ride with me.  I realized it was Easter and that folks would probably be busy, but it doesn't hurt to get the word out.  As it turns out, both Kevin and Matt said they were in.  Sadly, when departure time arrived, Kevin's batter was dead, rendering his bike the same; dead.  He'll pick up a battery this week and will soon hopefully be back in the wind with us.

So that left the two usual amigos, Matt and myself, to represent.  I'd searched on-line and found a brewhouse down in Cranston which looked interesting.  Using Google Maps, and opting to skip the highways and focus on some backwood-style roads, I'd laid out a route which I hoped would prove to be a nice scenic jaunt.

I failed...miserably.  The route wound up being one of the worst I think I've ever planned out.  Hell, the highways would have been more scenic than what I dragged poor Matt through.  Lousy roads, intensely busy boroughs, and to coup de grace; having to stop and look at maps - twice!  The entire route was less than 20 miles along, but I managed to get us lost, twice.  Ugh.  We needed beer.

When we finally pulled up to Brutopia...

...we agreed that it was not what we had pictured for a brewhouse.  But, the smoker outside was smoking...

...and that was enough to beckon me inside.

Once inside, we found the place to be pretty decent.  It had a very industrial feel, with a  large central bar area surrounded by tables and booths against the outer walls.  One whole wall was almost entirely of glass allowing patrons to look into the brewing room where all the magic happens.

Sidling up to the bar, we were greeted with a friendly, if not exactly showered and fresh, bartender.  He was cool though, and chatted with us and made some suggestions on beer.  Matt and I made our own decisions, though, and while Matt found a couple he liked, I did not.  It seemed their beers went very heavy on the hops (hence the title of today's posting).  The last one I tried (chocolate stout) fooled me for the first couple of sips, and I thought I was going to like it, but soon the hoppy undertones shone through, overpowering any semblance of smooth stout goodness.

During our foray into Brutopia's offerings, we'd noticed that it had started to sprinkle a little.  Matt checked the weather on his phone and it appeared things would just stay a light drizzle until we got back up into Mass, where it seemed the wet tendrils of the clouds above were not reaching.

Alas, when we did finally exit to the bikes, we found them quite wet.  So too were the roads, the clouds and the air around us.  Yes, it was raining.

Oh, and it was still cold out, too.  Awesome!

We agreed to head to Natty Green's, the neighborhood bar Matt had introduced me to last week.  We had our sights set on another glass of that Crème Brulee we'd enjoyed during our last visit.  Sadly, when we arrived, we were informed that that beer had just kicked the previous day.  Oh well, settled for a great second; it was a chocolate stout, but I'm afraid I don't recall the name of it.

We had some interesting conversations with fellow patrons - including the older gentleman who was happy to show us pictures of his girlfriend - who was 25 years his junior.  That was great and all but things took a turn toward the Twilight Zone when he started to explain the benefits of Cialis vs Viagra.

At any rate, it was getting a bit late and it was a school night after all, so we said our goodbyes and headed for the door.  The rain had let up enough that it wasn't an unpleasant ride home.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible day.  My route to Brutopia was horrendous, and we both agreed that Brutopia would most-likely never see us again, but we'd managed to salvage things with a stop-in at what has easily become my favorite bar.  I just wish it were a little closer to home.

Ride Hard, Take Chances