Beer Run

Yesenia and I went with Karl, Jim and Sean to a fairly new microbrewery in Pleasantville, the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. A small place in a slightly rundown corporate park, but home to some excellent and reasonably priced boutique beer. Sure, a 64 oz. 'growler' of theirs is about $12.50, but when you factor in the free 30 oz. samples of beer you get upon visiting, you end up with almost 96 oz. of beer for $12.50 - whereas a six pack of good beer might cost you $7 - 9 for 72 oz, meaning that the Lawrence ends up costing either the same or even a little less.

[Edited to add: "a six-pack of some other good beer at a liquor store..."]

Of course, there is the gas mileage and bridge toll to take into consideration. But - hey! - free and informative brewing lecture from the brewmeister, and a tour of the small but still impressive facilities.

Anyhow, Sean and Karl made excellent pizzas - one margherita, one tapenade with ricotta, and one roasted pepper with goat cheese - for lunch at Sean's house, which we ate both before and after the trip to the brewery. The second lunch also featured more crackers and cheese and chips and then several bars of chocolate... Everyone involved felt like the beer samples gave them the munchies.

And for the record, while fresh hops are sometimes preferable, they're harder to get and only in season towards the end of the summer, so they use dried hops (I asked).

D.