Beercation!

The Martins came to visit us last week and there's really no better title for their time here. We started off by sharing our first beers from our taps (with guests). It was nice that the first people we drank from our taps with were homebrewers too!

Our bar, a work in progress.

We decided to go to Frisco's Taphouse to try an IPA with no hops the night Anna and John flew in (Wednesday). We ordered one for each of us when we got there, and none of us liked it. We learned our lesson there! We had a very yummy dinner then headed back to our place for the rest of the night. It was fun hanging out and catching up. A low key, but very fun night. 

We wanted to tour a brewery or two while Anna and John were in town. John ended up scoring us a private tour at Heavy Seas, a local brewery. We almost didn't go since our tour at Dogfish Head was scheduled so close to this one, but we decided to try to make both. I'm SO glad we did! It was totally worth it. We got to see a little more than we would have if we would have gone on a public tour (we couldn't do that one since it's only offered on Saturday and we had a game to go to!). At some point, Josh and I want to check out the public tour to see how it compares. Our tour guide was Kelly and she was super nice. We learned a little about the history of Heavy Seas and got to taste some beers of course. We had a great time!

Tasting at Heavy Seas.

We left and made it to Dogfish Head in Milton, DE in great time since there was no traffic. The Dogfish Head facility was awesome. It's really hard to believe companies like this started off where we are now. The Dogfish tour was a really good tour too. Josh already knew the history and all since he had read the book, but it was mostly new to me and the rest of us. We all had a great time. I was excited to try a beer from Randall, since Josh had talked so much about him. Randall is a dry hopper. Basically, beer goes through hops as it's being poured. I was a bit surprised they had their Punkin' on Randall, and not something a bit more hoppy. I was REALLY excited to try their Punkin' beer, but I wasn't all that thrilled with it. Don't get me wrong, it was a good beer, I just didn't really taste the pumpkin. I was a little disappointed that the samples were all picked out for us. I like to have some options :-). We still really enjoyed ourselves and I would go back for another tour (in another season).

The hubs and I, about to tour Dogfish Head!

The Martins!

Look at all those fermenters! Crazy!

Cool tree house we didn't get to go in.

After the brew tour, we went to the Dogfish Head Brew Pub for dinner. We all ended up getting burgers, which were very good. The restaurant itself was a bit cramped. The food was good, but overall, I wasn't very impressed.

Friday was the beginning of Beer Week. We hung around the house early in the day and prepped food for our tailgate on Saturday. We took the lightrail into Baltimore and went to Fells Point. We had a few places we wanted to show Anna and John. We were planning on going to PowerPlant later, but we decided to just hang out in Fells Point. It's my favorite part of Baltimore anyway. We ended up staying past the time the lightrail runs, so we had to get a cab home. Ouch! 

Fells Point!

We got up Saturday morning to pack and prep for the game. Luckily we had the food mostly done, I just had to throw a couple things in the oven and the crockpot. We had BBQ! YUM! Unfortunately, we don't have a pig cooker, so I cooked it in the crockpot all day Friday and pulled it when we got home Friday night. Saturday morning I got up to chop it and put it in the crockpot to heat. We also had jalapeno popper dip, which was delicious! I was really excited about trying beer and bacon mac n cheese. Anna suggested making it into mac n cheese bites, which is WAY better for tailgating. It was just OK. I would try to make them again, but I would make it a little more cheesy and creamier. 

We had plans to tailgate in the same spot we tailgated in the last time we played at MD with some other State fans we met there. That didn't work out, so we ended up parking in a random lot full of MD fans. We did find 1 other State fan to tailgate with and we had a couple other people meeting us there. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, but it wasn't like other away games we've been to, where you see fans from both teams scattered all over. We were definitely tailgating in the MD section. MD fans have a reputation for being not so nice and humble fans, but they were fine during the tailgate and game. They talked a little crap, but who doesn't? The game itself was just crazy. It was close the whole game. MD fans aren't that loud...until the 4th quarter, then they show up. I don't get it. Anyway, if you watched the game, you know we shouldn't have won it, but somehow, we did. I'll take it!


The hubs and I with the best mascot EVER!

He didn't realize they were State fans until they were about to take the pic. Too late Testudo! 

GO PACK!

Our whole group with Mike Glennon

Sunday was a lazy day for us. We stayed home to watch football the majority of the day. We did venture outside to play a little bit of bocce for a bit. Then we ate some delicious food and watched more football!

The Martins left Monday afternoon. We all slept in since it was our last day of vacation. After we dropped them off at the airport, we went to Annapolis for a lunch date. We had a groupon for crab cake sliders. Once we walked it, we realized it was the first place we had ever tried crabcakes! We've definitely discovered better crabcakes in the 2+ years we've been here, but it was still very yummy and we had a great time! Our groupon also included cream of crab soup (SO GOOD) and a beer. We both had some lunch for the next day! After that, we went home to cuddle with Bailey, watch a movie and get Josh caught up with me on Revenge!

We had such a great time with Anna and John! It was some much needed time off from work with great friends!