Salem Beer Crawl: Notch Brewing, East Regiment & A Witchside Tavern

Episode 13 could not have worked out better if we planned it... because this time, we’re taking the show to Salem, Massachusetts. That’s right: our spooky-numbered episode just happened to be about witches, Hocus Pocus filming locations, old New England buildings, tourist shops, breweries, chowda, fried shrimp, and one very dark beer that looked like it came straight out of an oil pan.

In this episode of The Adam & Dedra Show, we recap our day trip from Boston to Salem, including stops at Notch Brewing, East Regiment Beer Company, Witch Side Tavern, and Dire Wolf Tavern. We talk about Salem’s witch history, Dedra’s love of Halloween, Hocus Pocus nostalgia, the difference between Salem and Boston, and why missing a train sometimes just means you get one more beer.

Our featured beer for this episode is Chai Marty from Prairie Artisan Ales, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with espresso, chai, and honey. It clocks in at 13.6% ABV, which means it fit perfectly with Episode 13 and Salem’s spooky little vibe.

If you love craft beer, brewery travel, New England food, Halloween, Salem, Boston day trips, or just watching a husband and wife turn a vacation into a full beer-and-food adventure, this episode is for you.

Cheers!

Transcript

Adam 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Adam and Deedra show. We got another great one for you guys. This time we're in Salem, Massachusetts. Massachusetts? But uh we went to a couple breweries and had some good food, some walking around, and got to explore another city in this wonderful country.

Dedra 0:19

And Salem was awesome. Holy crap, yeah. Salem was such a great, like I'm really glad that we took the time to go spend uh you know quite a few hours in Salem. Yeah. But why don't you introduce our beer?

Adam 0:31

Oh yeah. So we're having uh Chai Marty, which is uh from Prairie Artisan Ales, which is out of Oklahoma City. And this is a bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout with espresso flavors, chai and honey. Way outside Deedra's wheelhouse here, but I figured it would be a treat and uh we'd try something different rather than another hazy IPA. So cheers, everyone.

Dedra 0:57

Here goes nothing down the gullet. That just you know what? I gotta say, it maybe it's also a visual thing, but dude, check that out. That looks like straight motor oil.

Adam 1:09

That's dark.

Dedra 1:10

Like that's that's uh you haven't changed your oil in a minute with scientific.

Adam 1:14

Now I'm not sure how you're gonna feel about this one because it does have that strong barrel-aged flavor to it.

Dedra 1:20

Oh, awesome. But it has diabetes?

Adam 1:23

Um not I it does have a little bit of the sweet, but it's more like it has that I don't even know how to describe it, but that that barrel-aged kind of flavor to it. But it also you get like the cinnamon from from the chai in there, also, and then a little bit of the sweetness from the honey. So, I mean, based on your previous expectations or I guess previous reviews of that that type of beer, I don't know. But I hope you enjoy it because your tastes are changing as we speak.

Dedra 1:49

This is true. This is true. All right, there goes nothing. Wish me luck, guys.

Adam 1:53

Good luck. But Puri Artisan, I didn't know that they were out of Oklahoma City. So that's uh it was it was news to me. I've had their beers, the rainbow sherbert, um sour, I think is the their most common.

Dedra 2:05

Oh, yeah, which are actually not bad. That's not like diabetes sweet. It's like diabeters, where you don't fully get. Oh Moses, get my beer out. Sorry. You you can tell you're still gonna get it, but just not as hard.

Adam 2:25

Oh man.

Dedra 2:26

That's actually that's some that's some fine motor oil. Yeah. It's a little more carbony than I thought.

Adam 2:32

Oh, got a little bit more.

Dedra 2:34

Like the carb. Like the carbonation in it. It almost feels like it almost tastes like it has more carbonation in it crisp out.

Adam 2:42

So this one's clocking in at 13.6%. It's it's only a 12-ounce bottle, so it's not like a super large one.

Dedra 2:51

Good lord.

Adam 2:53

But yeah, it has that what do you taste when when you when you're tasting this one right here? Are you getting uh any of those those flavors there?

Dedra 2:59

Um, I don't know. It's it's still like really new to me. And this is actually, and again, like when we first started this show, um, recording and stuff like that, I was really not a stout person by any means. But now I I think that last beer share really threw me into the stouts because we showed up a little bit late and it was a very heavy stout share. And because we had to make up for lost time, I just dove right in, stout after stout after stout, and I was like, Whoo, all right, I'm gonna use some water.

Adam 3:36

Like we had the answer that oh, that stout, that was probably one of the best. That there's uh barley wines that we had that were oh, barrel aged barley wines, a whole bunch of great stuff. But Prairie has really fun art, it's almost like cartoons. I see like a a little martini glass with a with a mustache, a couple of little I don't know what they are, sasquatches behind there, or maybe people like what do you call that? The bee beekeeper outfits or something in the background that are look like sasquatches. I'm not even sure. It's it's a funky, uh it's a funky little design, a little uh tea kettle with a coffee cup in the martini's hand. Yes, the martini has eyes, a mustache, and arms, so he can drink his chai tea, apparently.

Dedra 4:19

That's how I drink mine.

Adam 4:21

Yeah, but you know, you remember the rainbow sherbet can, how it has like a rainbow kind of like stripes in it too. Yeah.

Dedra 4:27

It's uh it's it's an interesting it's a fun can or a fun fun bottle.

Adam 4:30

A bottle at this time. How many how often do we really have bottles nowadays? Everything's aluminum.

Dedra 4:35

That is true.

Adam 4:36

Cheaper now. But going back to Salem, right?

Dedra 4:39

Hold on, but today's attire. You just went straight into everything. So today's attire. Dixon.

Adam 4:47

Ah, love Dixon.

Dedra 4:49

Scuttered. Scuttered, scattered, scuttered, scuttered, scuttered, so it's got the beer muds on it.

Adam 4:57

Oh yeah.

Dedra 4:58

Peep the hat. Prolific. Shout out to Prolific also. Uh and also to Dixon. Uh this is actually a big part of our collection. This one's with their their bamboo short sleeves. Love the bamboo short sleeves, especially for like summer, um, especially out here in Phoenix. It's ridiculous. So it's hard to wear, you know, their flannels and stuff like that. And we don't really have flannel-ish type weather out here. But they also have an amazing design of hoodies, hats, stickers, drink wear. Have one of their swimming suits. It's the it's the hot pink one. Awesome, by the way. One piece. So I appreciate you. Not everybody likes a two-piece.

Adam 5:38

And I got the whistle pig. I'm not really rocking beer, and then I got my nod to TCBC right here, rest in peace, but I'm wearing their hat right now.

Dedra 5:47

Hot pig summer, that shirt, also a one piece.

Adam 5:50

Hey, wait, I'm wearing pants. You guys don't know.

Dedra 5:59

Watch my eyes, people.

Adam 6:00

Yeah, and and I do want to point out too um, happy Father's Day. Hey, hey, hey, hey, keep your eyes up here, eyes up here. Happy Father's Day to everybody. Uh, you know, we did this just uh passed this past weekend.

Dedra 6:11

So um hope everybody's all had fun out there, barbecued, had some bomb ass beer, and just had an amazing kick-ass weekend. So happy Father's Day to all you guys out there. Happy Father. Cheers, everybody. Hey, give me one more time.

Adam 6:23

Bring it in, bring it in. Yep.

Dedra 6:24

You're a father's too.

Adam 6:26

Damn straight. So um damn straight on my father.

Dedra 6:31

That was so aggressive. Oh, huh? Oh, it's like, okay, I'm gonna change that real quick to baby daddy.

Adam 6:38

Bam. Hey. Yes, I did catch that. I'm not that slow. But going back to Salem now for real this time, um, we had uh a wonderful time there. So after being in Boston for uh two, three days, we ended up going, taking the train, easy train ride. I think it was like eight dollars a person to get up to Salem, and it was only like probably a 30-minute train ride, if that. And uh one of the things we wanted to do was take the ferry, but again, after spending all day and all night, pretty much out, waking up in the morning to try to make that ferry was difficult, especially when we had our kids with us too. Right.

Dedra 7:14

But uh we ended up just taking the train out there and uh I mean both of our kids right now, the two that are left at home are both teenagers. Teenagers, you know, they're not getting up early in the mornings for it's summer. Well, one just graduated high school and we have one more that's in high school. That that 15-year-old, you're not getting him up.

Adam 7:34

Nope.

Dedra 7:35

Um, you know, even if it's on, you know, a vacation, but summer, summer vacation.

Adam 7:41

Oh yeah, forget about it. Ain't happening.

Dedra 7:44

We did our best.

Adam 7:45

Yep. But we ended up going to Salem and this part of this was because I mean, this is a big part of what you enjoy. So Yes. Salem was a must-do trip because of you.

Dedra 7:58

Yes. I love, love, love Halloween. That is like my thing every year. That's the one thing I really look forward to. Well, other than like Thanksgiving and um Christmas, but absolutely love Halloween and decorate the house and go all out for that. And this year was actually uh their anniversary, an anniversary for them. So I figured I was like, I'm not gonna go, I'm not gonna try to go there during fall. It's just gonna be ridiculous. So we intentionally went right now during spring, so we can go check all that out. And it was just a huge tourist attraction because a lot of the homes um because it was filmed in Salem and a lot of homes. I'm sorry, Hocus Pocus, yes. Um uh a lot of the homes that they used were there in Salem, like Allison's house, that beautiful big, huge white two-story house where um what's her name? Max goes and she's on the hay bales in front of the house and she's crying. No, not Max, Max is her brother. Um Danny, right? Yes, Danny. Danny's, you know, she's upset. She's like, Oh, I just thought I would take me home, take me home now. And then she goes crying and she falls on the hay bales, and that's actually Allison's house. And so we went to go visit that house, which actually in real life is surprisingly a lot smaller than what I was expecting because in the movie they make it look really big. And then um, when the parents go to town hall and they're having that party all night where the witches show up, the Sanderson sisters show up and they put the spell and stuff out. Um, we went to go slip, we went and visited the town hall, actually, and that was super cool. Where else did we go?

Adam 9:45

Uh we went to that park, like and the school that they just let out of the uh the the other two homes um or two the other two sites I know was like Max's and Danny's house, and I can't remember the other one, but that was like a mile south, and wherever everywhere we were going was just outside of that area. So we just we couldn't get to it. It was it was uh one of those things that was so fun.

Dedra 10:07

It was for me, it was so nostalgic because I love this movie, it's one of my absolute favorite movies. And I actually tried to convince my because we have two daughters, so I was trying to convince them one year that the three of us should go as a Sanderson sisters for home. Oh, that'd be so funny. And I was really, really trying to push and persuade them, but they were kind of like, oh yeah, I don't know. But that was that was quite a few years ago, so maybe things have changed. Maybe they'll be like, Oh yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. We'll see. We'll see. One of these days, I'm hoping to get them to do that with me.

Adam 10:41

Yeah, but your walk-in wasn't great, and to take that extra mile, mile and a half there and back, it probably wasn't the best idea. And it was a private neighborhood too, so they said that you know, just respect all the the homes in that area because it is a neighborhood and people do live there. So we didn't go there, but we still enjoyed a lot of it. So we saw like the witch house, we saw um quite of other uh sites, the uh the graveyard we didn't actually go into. It's uh but we saw the memorial for the um the supposed witches that were hung. Um what was that in like 17 1690s or something like that? I think it was something like that.

Dedra 11:18

But like with me in graveyards, it's just kind of creepy, it's weird. Yeah. And I didn't want to take pictures because like why why do I want a picture of a graveyard and my camera roll on my phone? I don't know, but that's just that's just me personally. I just think it's kind of weird, and also I think just because like my culture, my upbringing, and stuff like that too. Um, so I was like, yeah, I'm okay. Like I'll I'll look at it from afar.

Adam 11:42

Yeah, we saw the memorial, and I think that was the important part. Um, but like right after we went there, it was almost like we went down that that short little street, and right across there we found a brewery.

Dedra 11:54

Surprise, surprise!

Adam 11:55

Surprise, surprise. Yeah. Not like I was looking for one or anything, but hey, uh, you know what, Ken? I just happened to run into one. And it was called Notch, Notch Brewing Company. And uh real interesting uh concept and a really neat building, too. It was that long, almost like a barn almost looked like like a super long one, warehouse or whatever. Yeah, really cool. And then like they had a little bit of indoor and it was like still like warehouse almost area, and then that area outside, and it was like right along I'm gonna say a canal because I can't really call that a river, but it was like right along the little waterway that they had right behind it. But sitting out there was beautiful, and it was probably that day, probably like 70 degrees, and sitting out there, you know, looking at the water, drinking a beer was it was a lot of fun.

Dedra 12:41

That was the ideal day. Like to a lot of people are working, but nope, not us. We were in Salem, getting in everybody's way, being a tourist. Totally. And drinking beer and enjoying the sunshine, the little sunshine that, you know, was there when we were there, thank God. Um but we did not sit by the water because they didn't have like uh they didn't have any umbrellas or shade or anything like that. And in the sun, it was just a little bit intense.

Adam 13:10

Yeah, we were close to the building where they did have that.

Dedra 13:12

Right. So we were a little bit we're like on the other side of this little dinky fence wooden fence. Yeah. Which for some reason on that side they had tables, picnic tables with umbrellas. Yeah. But for some reason on the other side, they did not.

Adam 13:29

Yeah.

Dedra 13:30

So for whatever for whatever reason.

Adam 13:34

But it was a neat concept at that brewery. So they specialized in like German and Czech style top beer. So everything was like low ABV. Um and it was they had like German foods, they had uh, I think some bratwurst, maybe. Yeah, yeah. They did have like a sausage thing and the pretzels, things like that. And um it I enjoyed it. It was it was nothing that was gonna be heavy, nothing like we're drinking now at a 13 point, what was this, 13.7% or whatever it was. Um so I just had a a dark lager called uh man, tamavi.

Dedra 14:09

Tamavi.

Adam 14:10

Tamavi, yes, which I think it means dark and Czech. Czech. Something like that, right? It was a Czech dark lager or Doppelbach. I don't know exactly what they they called it inside there, but it was it was um like a good German style beer or Czech style, I guess. And it was really refreshing. And when we were out there, I was like, I brought a sweater because it was cold most of the time we're out there. I'm not about to just go and carry a sweater everywhere I'm walking. So I I had it on with the sleeves rolled up, and I'm kind of warm, but having that beer was was pretty refreshing. Um, sitting out there in the sun and oh my it for it being like a Tuesday, I mean that's that's the way to go. I mean, that's that's how you spend a Tuesday for sure. Right.

Dedra 14:57

For sure. Um, so I wasn't really too keen on a lot of the beers that they did have there, like because I'm very partial to the hazy's, obviously. So guess what? The one hazy that they did have, I ordered that. And it was their New England pale ale, and it was called almost said toe.

Adam 15:25

I think it was dog and pony, yeah.

Dedra 15:28

I I don't remember. Um, but I enjoyed it. Dog and pony show, right? Dude, I don't know.

Adam 15:36

But it was it was low in alcohol too.

Dedra 15:38

You're you're better at the memory thing than I am. Which is I find that pretty resilient. I don't know how you remember such details with all these beers. Yeah. I just do my best.

Adam 15:49

Get a beer, drink it. Yeah, pretty much. It doesn't take a lot, right?

Dedra 15:54

Nope, I don't need to retain all that information.

Adam 15:57

But it was a low ABV beer, also.

Dedra 15:59

It was. It was very low. It was uh about four and a half, which is typically like three percent lighter than what I'm usually used to. So I was like, hmm, okay, what are we doing here at four and a half percent?

Adam 16:12

But we were hungry too, and they did have little snacks there, but we were ready for a meal at that point. So after after we drank those beers, as much as we wanted to have another one and just sit out there and enjoy it, we needed to eat, and I didn't want to eat a pretzel because I wanted real food, not just bread.

Dedra 16:27

Right. I was like, I need the carnivore in meat came out and I was like, I need meat.

Adam 16:33

So connected to the same building was a really cool place called Witch Side Tavern. And one really neat concept. I mean, just with like the signage, the the murals that they had inside there, it was a it was a really neat place. And we were like, do we sit outside again? Because it, you know, we can sit on the street and just like kind of people watch at the same time. We can enjoy the New England weather rather than the Phoenix weather. But we sat inside because it was it was a lot quieter. Um lot there was wasn't very many people because I think by the time we were eating there, it was like probably three in the afternoon. And um of course it's like right in between lunch and dinner, so there was like nobody in there, and we were just much of a crowd. No, it was perfect.

Dedra 17:16

So for me, I was just like, let's go eat inside, let's enjoy the air conditioning, let's you know, enjoy the ceiling fans, all that stuff. You know, so we went in, we're comfortable, we ate, and this is where it gets really good is when we ordered the food. Because I was just looking over their menu and I was just like, you know what, I want some clam chowder. I'm out here on this side of the world. So chowder. Yes, on on this side of the world. And I was like, I gotta have the chowder here. It's I bet you it's gonna be good. So we actually we ordered quite a bit of food.

Adam 17:46

Yeah, we did.

Dedra 17:47

Um, but it was between the four of us, we covered a lot of ground. So I remember getting the clam chowder. That was so, so good. That was everything I ever could hope for, and then some because I I'm not a huge chowder person, but I was like, okay, one in Rome, go for it. And I've only ordered it there and in, I think it was no, not Washington, but when we were in Oregon at Pelican.

Adam 18:13

Oh, yeah, you did get it there, but we did get it in Washington also ibars.

Dedra 18:16

Oh, that's right, that's right. So I've had it in Washington and in and in Oregon. Um, but over there at Pelican in Oregon, Pelican Brewing, if they're still around. But I remember that being really good and putting those little oyster crackers in there for the first time. I was like, huh, this is not bad. But when we're out there in Salem, I was just like, oh, this this chowder, it's so good. Like it was it's not chowder there.

Adam 18:42

You have to call it chowder.

Dedra 18:44

But like it was it was creamy, but it wasn't like salty. The the just everything about it, it wasn't fishy at all. It was really fresh, it was really, really good. It was well made. Now that's the new standard for me whenever I go out and get any chowda. Chowder. Um, that's what I want. That's what I'm looking forward to. So when we go back and we get more of that tree house, you're gonna get some chowder also.

Adam 19:12

They had they had a place in Fenial Hall called like the the Boston Chowdah Company or something, and they actually spelled it with a W. Which is pretty funny.

Dedra 19:22

I mean, hey, they they know. Oh, yeah. So I appreciate that. That's what they called it. Yeah. Um, so we we had that, and then I also heard from other people like, hey, if you ever go out there to Boston, get the fish and chips. And I'm like, all right, I've had fish and chips here, not that big of a deal, but I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, it's out there in Boston, it's in Massachusetts. I bet it's going to be good, especially if somebody's like order something as common as like fish and chips, but it's like out there, how they do it. Oh, we're gonna do it, how they do it. And I it did not disappoint. It did not disappoint. And with that, um, is that the one the fish and chips also came with shrimp?

Adam 20:04

No, no, no. We got two different plates. We got the fish and chips plate and the shrimp and chips plate. Oh my goodness. We that was good. Oh, shrimp. Oh, they were good. You almost had a fork and knife, those.

Dedra 20:16

Those suckers were huge.

Adam 20:18

They were like mini lobster.

Dedra 20:19

Yes, and they were perfectly cooked because often, a lot of times with shrimp, I feel like a lot of people overcook it, and that's where it gets rubbery and chewy. But here, like it was battered and deep fried, and it was perfect. It was like biting a stick of butter, and we've all been there. Oh, it gotta get the fingertips to you. Yeah, it was like battered deep fried butter. But in shrimp form. Oh, that was amazing. That was so, so good.

Adam 20:52

Shrimp was or the fish was good too with the tartar sauce. I thought that was oh uh fries were good, and it came with coleslaw too. I know the kids didn't like that, but uh I went to town on it. I love a good koslaw. And then the the egg rolls. Do you remember the egg rolls we got there too?

Dedra 21:08

I was gonna say, I think we ordered one more thing.

Adam 21:11

It was an appetizer, and they were pretty small, but it was like Philly cheesesteak egg rolls and buffalo chicken, and it came on the same same tray. So I think they gave you like four of each, and that was oh, that was so good.

Dedra 21:24

Okay, a Philly cheesesteak egg roll. How do you say nope out of it?

Adam 21:29

You gotta be I'm ready to make it here.

Dedra 21:31

Oh, say we can't be friends if we're gonna pass on the Philly cheesesteak egg rolls as an appetizer. Oh, that was that was that was actually really good. Yeah. But I was just I was too tied up on the shrimp. The shrimp was probably the best, yeah. And the chowder. That's where I was. The fish was really good. I what kind of fish was it?

Adam 21:49

I can't remember. Some sort of white fish. I I don't remember exactly which one, but I'm sure it said it. And uh we were just but after everything we ate and everything that we had there. It's it's not there anymore. So, but we did have uh that's what my dream was.

Dedra 22:06

Went to New England.

Adam 22:07

Got some chowda, but we didn't get any lobster.

Dedra 22:10

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed about that, actually.

Adam 22:12

Well, do you remember that we I think we were in La Jolla in in San Diego and you got that lobster roll, and it was all like it was cold outside. It was cold and rainy the day there in San Diego, also, which you know it doesn't rain much in San Diego, so that was kind of strange. But you ended up getting that lobster roll, and you were like, it's cold. Because I never had one before.

Dedra 22:32

That's one thing that I did not know. Like, I I've always wanted to try a lobster roll because it always looks so good. It looks really good, really appetizing. Everything that you want is in there in a piece of bread, in a roll. So I was like, all right, it's on the menu. It's it's I think it was like a Sunday when we went, and it was basically like a brunch, I guess, is roughly right around the time that we went. But yeah, just like you said, it was raining and it was cold. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try the lobster roll. They bring out all the food. I get my lobster roll, and I'm like, wow, this is exactly what I was expecting it to look like. I take a bite and I'm like, what? I'm like, it's cold. It's why is this cold? Like, because I expected it to be hot, but I was just like, it's cold.

Adam 23:26

Especially being freezing out there. It was just like not what you wanted to have at that point.

Dedra 23:31

It was that was so disappointing, and I don't think I'm ever gonna eat another lobster roll again.

Adam 23:36

Oh, you know what? Next time we go out there in Massachusetts, we're gonna get one, and uh just because we have to. We have to do a lot of things that we didn't do. I mean, uh, we spent like three to four days out there, and even spending that time was not enough. We needed a lot more time there, right? But uh, so after we went there, we did some more walking around, went to that park, the school for um uh hocus pocus. The park is actually part of the the place where they did some of the filming at, also. And after we went there, we found another brewery. Surprise, surprise. It was called uh East Regiment Beer Company. And that was a neat place, too. Really cool building. Very I mean, it was an old building too. I mean, they had that the the bar area uh inside had a lot of like like wood tables, almost like the what is it, those um spools, like the the wire spools. Like that was what the tables were, weren't they? Yeah, yeah, and then they had that side section almost kind of we call them it call it an Arizona room, but it was like a screened in or or uh um closed in kind of outside area, yeah, like a porch, yeah. And then where the bathrooms were, there was like those stairs that went up that were kind of creepy looking.

Dedra 24:46

That was crazy. That was really crazy. So, like when you go inside, the bar is kind of shaped like it goes like skinny, like a kind of a long skinny counter where you go up in order, and then there's like a long part where the majority of the seating goes, and then like a little small like L end. But they also had a food truck or a food, like an area, it's come something completely different from the brewery.

Adam 25:14

I don't know what that was. We were we uh we just came from eating, so we weren't gonna like eat some more. Right. I mean, I mean, is is our MO if we you know getting more food, but we didn't this time.

Dedra 25:24

We had just came from eating um over at Witch's Tavern.

Adam 25:28

Yeah, Witch Side Tavern, yeah. Witch Side Tavern. Yeah, but we were walking around a little bit before we went there.

Dedra 25:32

But still not that long. I don't I don't think we left really anything, maybe except for like some fries got left behind.

Adam 25:39

About it, yeah.

Dedra 25:41

But we pretty much ate everything. Oh, it was good though. It was so worth it. That was that was still sitting there, and I was trying to hold on to it as long as possible. So but yes, they have a uh food place inside, which I was like, huh. I didn't know they had a food place inside of it.

Adam 25:56

That games we ended up playing cards at one of the tables there, just like regular deck of cards, and we're like, all right, crazy eights. Uh let's play some poker, let's play some blackjack, and we're just sitting there, you know, and it's like again, it was like a Tuesday sitting in Salem, Massachusetts, middle of the afternoon, and just freaking enjoying life. That's what we were doing, sitting at a brewery, having having some good beer too. And I had a double IPA uh when we got got in there, and it was called Double Minor, and it was a double IPA on nitro, which again, you don't see that often. Anytime I see something that um that that I haven't had before, I'm probably gonna go for that. I mean, I'm gonna I was probably gonna go for the double IPA anyway, but had to go for that one. It was an 8.2 um double IPA, West Coast style. Not a hazy, uh, for one. I mean, everything's a hazy out there because New England, obviously. But it was good, and it was so funny because I was trying to read the name of it, and it was like hand drawn on a chalkboard, and they drew this like hockey rink across the name. So I was like, the way that they had it almost like a D for the double, but it was like part of the um the goal. The goal, yeah. And then it had like the the center were you know, like what do you call it? The half court.

Dedra 27:14

Yeah.

Adam 27:15

I'm not a hockey person, so I'm not sure exactly what these things are called. But I was like, I'll have the double O minored, because the other end with the the other goal. I thought it was another D. He's just like the guy that was behind the counter there's like, yeah, sorry, I drew that. He goes, it's it's just called the double minor. And I'm like, oh, it's not double O minored.

Dedra 27:36

Well, I and he did mention, like, yeah, he was like, I was just, I was just I was doing too much, but yeah, I was trying to make it you know fun and turn it into a hockey rink.

Adam 27:46

Yeah. And I'm pretty sure double minor means something in there, but I don't know what it is.

Dedra 27:52

I think because I was still a little bit full, but just like really needing water more than anything at that at that point. That's why I just had just the one beer. Um, and that was actually a it was called Lumberg.

Adam 28:05

It was uh hazy IPA.

Dedra 28:10

Imagine that.

Adam 28:11

New England IPA Lumberg, but there's a reason. Yeah, why I remember that is because it had the red stapler. You remember on Office Space?

Dedra 28:18

Oh okay. Now wow, it's taking a second, but it's clicking. It's clicking like a stapler? Touche.

Adam 28:30

But that I didn't I didn't actually even try that.

Dedra 28:33

You drank that, but I I was I had two beers, so I was just sipping on it, enjoying, you know, spending the time there, watching the kids play cards. They were playing crazy eights, and then we were playing. Yeah. Yeah. And it's always fun just to see, you know, kids not on devices and on cell phones. But just actually having that, you know, one-on-one quality time. Yeah. And then just being able to watch them, especially, you know, at their age. Play each other. Well, at their age, at at their age, you know, still having something to do with one another, which you know, I appreciate. And we chalk that up to our parents, our parenting still. Oh, yeah.

Adam 29:13

But how was that beer anyway?

Dedra 29:14

It was good. It was really good. I enjoyed that actually. That was that was really good. But um, you want to talk about the second beer that you had?

Adam 29:22

Uh well, we'll talk about that nitro first. So, like a lot of West Coast IPAs have you know a little bit more of a bite to them. They they have a little bit more sharpness, the bitterness from the hops that you get from it. And you got a lot of that, but having it on nitro almost like soothed the whole thing. So it was like a creamy, very, very creamy mouth fill, as you're you're getting the that bitterness from the hops at the same time. So that was interesting. And so I ended up getting another small pour because I mean we were just going from place to place, and I saw this um, the sour on there, and it was like a uh Berlinwise, and it was called uh Vanna Wise, not Vanna White, but it's called Vanna Wise, and it was like a passion fruit hibiscus Berlinerwise uh sour, and it was like only like a 4.5%, another very light one, and I I'd got a small pour of it, sipped on it, super refreshing too. And after actually having that double IPA and pretty much everything else that we have that's heavy and stuff like that, having that is it's almost like crisp, it's light, it's fruity. I mean, it's just a regular good fruited sour.

Dedra 30:32

It's just sometimes what you need.

Adam 30:33

Yeah, it was I I I really enjoyed it, and it kind of paired well with what I was already drinking because nice, heavy, dark 8.5%, or what did I say? I can't even remember, something like that. 8.2. It was 8.2%. And having that heavy beer on nitro, and then having that light, crisp, almost like soda fruitness to it, I thought it was like a good refreshing drink right after that. But did some more walking around and we went to like one more place. So we got to the train station when we were leaving, and right when we got there, we see the train taking off, and we're like, oh man, we looked up at the the sign, and it was like 45 minutes till the next train came by, and we're like, well, let's go get another beer.

Dedra 31:16

Well, we sat there and we kind of contemplated things. We're like, okay, well, should we just wait it out? Should we there's there were there were already other people there that were waiting for the next train anyway, so we're like, do we just wait it out with them? Because it was a little bit of a walk. I want to say it was like maybe a five-minute-ish walk to the train station from where we were when you're limping along, oh yeah, okay, very true. And then you get the side ache, and then you're getting a little bit more. Cross traffic. So oh yeah, yeah. Traffic. Yeah, little traffic too.

Adam 31:47

Yeah. We went and got an ice cream first. Or I should say, oh okay, I had the clam chowder, I had two bites of the ice cream. I had one bite of, and that was about as much milk as I was ready to handle for that day. But everybody else got ice cream.

Dedra 32:01

And uh, I didn't get ice cream.

Adam 32:03

Okay, the kids got ice cream. Then we went across the street, and what was the name of that that bar?

Dedra 32:08

The Wolves Tavern.

Adam 32:11

Uh Dire Wolf.

Dedra 32:13

Oh, Dire Wolf.

Adam 32:14

The Dire Wolf Tavern. That was a pretty cool place.

Dedra 32:17

I wish we could have spent a little bit more time and had the stomach space, honestly, to spend some time there and check out their menu. Yeah. But we were just short on time. It was already getting kind of late. I think the train was getting there like at seven or something. And so we're just like, okay. We've got 20 minutes. We hustled in. We talked to the the host right there at the podium, and we just told him, you know, hey, can we just have one beer real quick while we wait for our train? We're not gonna order food, you know, and it was a sit-down restaurant also.

Adam 32:51

Yeah.

Dedra 32:51

Um, so he was he was cool.

Adam 32:53

I at first I thought he was gonna like our kids got ice creams, and they were like, Can we can they just sit at a table right here? We'll sit with them. We're just gonna grab one beer and uh that's it. I don't even remember what I got. It was we did we both got IPAs, that's all I remember.

Dedra 33:06

But it was just like I honestly thought he was gonna be an ass. I really thought he was gonna be like, no, outside food, absolutely not. But I was gonna be like, okay, first of all, you're in Salem. Let's let's take it down a notch. Which you know what? Salem versus Boston, Salem is so chill and so laid back. Like once the second the second we got off the train, it was just like wow, it's so quiet here, and it's just like peaceful, and it's so much slower, and people there are just so chill. There's not the tourists, there's not the well, there were still a lot of tourists but like the the copious amounts that you get in Boston, but it's like you're not getting the horn on you know the cars every two, three seconds, which is ridiculous. That's one thing that I know that first morning, like the next morning when we well, when we landed that next morning, so that first morning in essence, um, when we went to go get coffee, all I could hear, and I was just like, Oh my god, horns everywhere. Like if that light is green and you're not slamming your foot on the gas, you're getting honked at. You gotta be quick. Yeah. But like the roads are kind of jacked up there and kind of rough. So it's like, I don't, I don't, I don't know, I don't really get it, I guess.

Adam 34:25

I don't either. And it's like if everybody's just weaving around in and out and they're all honking at each other and everybody's fine with it, which I don't get because out here you honk, you get middle fingers, you get people shooting at you. It's like I'm like, how is that like okay? I'm like everybody's honking at each other and they're just like dealing with it.

Dedra 34:42

Yeah, you got people that are running and jogging all over the place because like the weather is so beautiful and ideal there. You can go outside and you know, jog and run. You got people on electric bikes, you got people because we're right there by um a couple, right? I think our hotel was right in the middle of like two hospitals and then like a research center. So we had a lot of medical staff, like doctors and nurses and people like that that were there. So a lot of people were walking to the place that was right at the corner of where our hotel was at, which was actually an i what was it like um it was Beacon Hill or Hill area is where we were at. Is that what you're trying to the the corner restaurant or the place that was on the corner for breakfast?

Adam 35:26

I can't even remember that place was busy, right?

Dedra 35:28

Yeah, it was pretty good, but that was where everybody was heading to, not only for coffee and you know, a late breakfast, but for people having like an early lunch because they also did like sandwiches and things like that, not just pastries and coffee and specialty coffees and all that fancy stuff. Black coffee, little little milk, no sugar, that's it. And that's me. I'm as simple as that. Not as simple as you, where you're just like straight up just a dark coffee black coffee done. Yeah. Um, but we just stopped by there really quick and line was out the door. Yeah, that was crazy. That was super crazy. I'm like, oh my gosh, and like the little little patio on both sides that kind of wraps around both sides of the patio, packed, indoors packed, line out the door, absolutely. So we were just like, Well, we're already in line, we're committed. Great place, actually.

Adam 36:20

Um yeah, we had a good time, but we we're talking about Salem here.

Dedra 36:23

Yeah, and I was like, okay, so back to Salem. Like, you don't get that in Salem. It was just like so calm and just so peaceful, and everybody was just super chill there. And it was nice. It was nice to take a break. It was almost like having two separate vacations because they were so different.

Adam 36:40

It was, yeah. And then of course they had the touristy, the tourist trap stores, all the witch witch stores and all that. And of course, what did we do? We we bought stuff. Forgot us, dang it. So we didn't just go to breweries, yes, we went to a couple shops too.

Dedra 36:55

And but it was a lot of the we'll chalk it up and say we hadn't get souvenirs.

Adam 36:59

Yeah. The goth people were walking around, probably doing their their whole witch, I don't know, trips that they probably planned with all their and we're all their black stuff and all that. But it was fun. I mean, it was like you could see all the tourists. It's like I if there was any locals around where we were walking, they just blended right into just you know the environment. But you could tell uh the people wearing uh all the black and and fishnets and stuff like that, those are the tourists, and then us with like, hey, look you know, walking around. Look, um, we're just looking for the beer places, though. I mean, to be honest.

Dedra 37:35

And then Adam was wearing a backpack, so that doesn't scream tourists at all. Nope. But hey, I gotta carry stuff. I was about to say, but you did save us all because we had our jackets in there, we had water in there, so and all the beers that we've purchased to go.

Adam 37:48

I had to cram inside the backpack too. And that's we actually th the reason why I was wearing that backpack everywhere we went is so that if we needed to stop somewhere and take beers with us, I had a spot to carry them in instead of trying to hold on to them.

Dedra 38:01

And our souvenirs.

Adam 38:02

Yeah. Could you imagine carrying like a little paper sack with like valuable beer inside of it? Nope. That would be a bad idea.

Dedra 38:09

I would just I'd just go behind a building, crack it open, down it, and oh no, that was for home.

Adam 38:15

That was to bring home. That way we can share it with you all. There was purpose behind it all. Stilly me. Oh my gosh. But Salem was a great town. I mean, again, you get that same old school um architecture. I mean, the the place has been there, what, 300, 400 years or something like that. And some of the homes from that era are are still in place, and the brick buildings they've they've put up in the 1700 and 1800s still standing, and you get a lot of that architecture. That's part of it. And it was just we had a really fun time there. And uh, I got to see a couple breweries and share it with you guys because that's what uh that's what the whole reason of it is. Kraft beer is alive in this in the in this country, so and we are loving it. Absolutely.

Dedra 39:02

Absolutely, and we love just being able to come back and again share our experiences with you guys. So hope so hopefully, you know, what we do and say and you know, provide our experience will inspire you to go check out Boston. Because again, Trillium Treehouse. I mean, need I say more.

Adam 39:21

Those are good. Boston Beer Company, the uh Sam Adams was wonderful. Oh, and just everywhere we went, I just I enjoyed pretty much everywhere. Stop. We stopped at just like random bars, and they were just like so old school at dark and and you know, wooden counters, and it it just seemed like something great, great experience. A blast from the past that was just a lot of fun, and it was safe streets, the city was clean. Um, both Salem and Boston had a heck of a time. So um, I think out of for Salem, that was pretty much every every spot that we hit out there. So we're doing this as a as a one day. We hit two breweries that day, both of them on this episode. Um, if you ever get a chance to go, of course, hit those and probably plenty more places to go to that we weren't able to. So thank you for joining us today. Um, we got another episode next week with another brewery from Boston that we can't wait to talk about. But uh cheers, everybody.

Dedra 40:21

We've actually turned our Boston trip into a three-episode parts.

Adam 40:26

Four, four, oh four, four episodes, yes, four four episodes for Boston, and then uh on to the next destination, right?

Dedra 40:34

So Boston and four. I was just down in this beer, and that was so good. That is super thick. Jesus, that is definitely a three C thicker, right now.

Adam 40:46

I'm chewing that one. That one's good.

Dedra 40:48

You're gonna be chewing that might it might even be three and a half C.

Adam 40:53

That was good beer, but uh, we'd appreciate if you guys support the show by giving us five stars on uh your podcasting platform. You could subscribe and reach out to us. You know, we love beer and we love to try it across the country. If you guys have any suggestions, we'd love to hear about them and talk about it with you. So please reach out.

Dedra 41:12

So I take care of the Facebook and the Instagram accounts. I'm terrible at Facebook, I'll admit that. But I do regularly try to touch base and check in on um Instagram daily. So if you have any suggestions, anything that you want to share with us.

Adam 41:27

Or just reach out and say hi.

Dedra 41:29

Yeah, say hi, say hey, what's up?

Adam 41:31

What's going on? Yeah. Guess what beer I'm drinking? Take a picture of it, send it over to us.

Dedra 41:36

Oh, for sure. For sure.

Adam 41:38

Absolutely. But thanks, guys, appreciate it. And until next week, cheers.