Jamaica Plain Pub Crawl

Well, it was certainly a weekend of excess, capped off with an unofficial pub crawl through part of Jamaica Plain on Saturday. Brian and Kelly are soon going to become new parents, and about 8 of us (bros, not....ladies) got together to celebrate one of his final weekends before dirty diapers and middle-of-the-night wakeups.

I had never been on the Samuel Adams Brewery Tour, but that is where we began our adventure. Our guide seemed pleased and mellow during the entire tour. I wonder what's really in those hops?









At the end of the tour, they hoarded us into the tasting room, where we sampled three 7 ounce glasses of draft beer - the mainstay Boston Lager, the Summer Ale, and a third one whose name escapes me (though we were told it is not available on draft anywhere else, and is only sold as part of a sample pack).

As many of the tour attendees were from out-of-town, they recommended that folks could continue their drinking at Doyle's. While that's almost always a good idea, we opted for a different next step - Brendan Behan.

I hadn't been there in quite some time, but Brian reminded me that once before, he, Kelly, Meghan, and I came up with our famous idea for a store that mixes cereal together, and served it in a casual setting. Of our list of names (including "Wheat Make You Breakfast," thanks to Brian himself), we settled on "Cereality."

Too bad that exact concept and exact name had already been operational and franchised. Whoops.

No grandiose ideas this time, simply a few pints of excellent microbrew IPA's - they have about 10-12 really interesting beers on tap that you don't see in many places - and our viewing of the Kentucky Derby. Before the race, someone collected 10 bucks from 20 people, then assigned numbers for horses. One of the guys in our party won, and soon after had an envelope of $200 in front of him. Not a bad investment!

Onward across the street to The Milky Way. It's a shame that this place is closing - it's always busy and has tons of character. The candlepin bowling was pretty busy, and it would have been a long wait for a lane. Good thing, I'm not all that skilled at candlepin. So we stayed for a few pizzas and more beer. By then, our band of merry men had whittled from eight to six.

We walked over to The Alchemist, a restaurant I had been to once before. I think it's such a cool environment inside, with the high ceilings, exposed brick, and casual atmosphere. I'm not sure how many pints we had there, but am guessing I left after the second one.

In all, JP is a great place to drink - a wide variety of beers and friendly environments within stumbling distance of one another. It would be nice if the places in Southie ventured off the tap beer beaten path, and included a number of excellent microbrews.

No hangover whatsoever...thanks to staying within my limits and my friend, Advil.