Beer. Yay.

Over the weekend the wife and I were out and about, shopping in the Portsmouth, NH area. In the early afternoon we decided to find a place to eat so I checked the "steakhouses" category of my GPS and found something I didn't even know existed.

The Red Hook Ale Brewery, makers of Long Hammer IPA and a few other craft beers, has a restaurant with moderately priced burgers and all their beers on tap. I am not a beer enthusiast or expert but I appreciate a good local brew. The burger was tasty and I really enjoyed the Long Hammer. The menu advertised brewery tours including free samples for only a dollar per person so I couldn't say no.

Best dollar I ever spent. The tour of the brewery was short. It was only three rooms; the bottling room was inactive because it was a Sunday. But after the ten minute tour we went downstairs into a wide open bar area for sampling, and were there for another 20 minutes or so. You would think that for a dollar you would get a couple shot glasses of beer just to try the flavor, but they were extremely generous. The tour guide filled three pitchers for a group of about 15 and kept filling our sample glasses (which we were allowed to keep) so as not to pour any fresh deliciousness down the drain.

In all we tried 4 beers: ESB, Red Hook's flagship beer; Long Hammer IPA (I'm not a huge fan of India Pale Ale however this particular brand was exceptional); Rope Swing, a light summer pilsner; and Haulin' Oats, an oatmeal stout and my personal favorite. The guide apologized for the hacky name "Haulin' Oats" but said it's only served in their brewery restaurants and will not be packaged.

Alone worth the dollar price of the tour, we were allowed to keep the sample glasses.