Beer & Food on Vacation

    I took a much needed vacation to Lake George, NY camping with my wife. When we take vacations, we like to not cram so much into each and every day we are there. We would much rather pick a few things that we want to do and balance it with lots of relaxing and doing pretty much nothing inbetween so we can actually relax on our vacation and not just simply run around.

   When you're on vacation, it's always nice to enjoy some good food and brews. I knew that my thing would be to visit some breweries while on vacation, and with a few in the area, how could I resist?

   It's nice to sit outside while camping and be able to grab a cold brew from your cooler and be able to enjoy it in the shade or in front of the fire. Yuengling is a decent beer that is not available anywhere in New England so I decided to pick up a 6-pack. Our first attraction was a really interesting zoo in the middle of nowhere where my wife got to hold a baby kangaroo!! (yes a joey). After we had a blast at the zoo we were really hungry but I wanted to find a unique place to eat and not a chain. I noticed a restaurant and gift shop with a silo and barn called the silo restaurant on the way to the zoo, so I decided I wanted to stop there. It kind of reminded me of a cracker barrel but unique to this one location. I had for lunch a ham and turkey sandwich on french toast with cranberry sauce (mmmm) and a side of sweet potato fries with a raspberry ketchup, Excellent!

    I noticed after doing some research that there was a brew-pub called Adirondack,  literally down the road from our campground, yes I could not resist. We decided to do lunch there. I of course got their beer sampler which is a must-have for me at brew-pubs. I sampled the IPA, bobcat blonde, dirty blonde, cafe stout,  bear naked, and hefeweizen. The brews that standed out the most were the IPA and dirty blonde. I loved the IPA the most and got a second pint to go with my meal. For food I ordered a prime rib sandwich, with horseradish mayo and au jus on the side for dipping (amazing) went very nicely with the IPA. I got beer battered fries on the side which were excellent as well. My wife got sweet potato fries to go with her burger. The sweet potato fries came with a raspberry sauce in her words "to die for" she loved it so much that she raved about it to our server and she let us buy a giant jar for 8 bucks! We also shared a "fudgie wudgie" for dessert which was like a double chocolate cake brownie with vanilla ice cream on the side! So rich and delicious. My wife might have had more fun than I have there (but hey it was a brew pub so thats debatable ). We walked away very satisfied and full, I had my t-shirt and Adirondack pint glass, my wife had he giant jar of raspberry sauce, and we were on our way.

     We loved Adirondack brew pub so much that we decided to go back our last day of vacation for lunch. This time I ordered to start an Apple Brandy Amber Ale. This beer was by far my favorite of the entire trip. It wasn't too sweet and had a nice hint of apple and was just something I could drink all the time! I ordered a Belgian Pale ale to go with my Buffalo Chicken Sandwich which both the beer and the sandwich were incredible and pair really well together. I got their beer battered onion rings with a chipotle sauce. mmmmm. Adirondack is a fantastic establishment with great food, great beer, and excellent service. Next time I am in upstate, NY I will go out of my way to stop by there again. Next time, I am definitely getting some growlers to go!

    I wanted to stop at Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY. When I plugged it into a GPS and found out that it was 2 hours away, I decided to do some more research and find something closer. I came across Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. They make beer for 3 different labels/companies Mendocino, Olde Saratoga, Kingfisher. The place is very neat, it's a small bar are with tables , very intimate and you can try whatever you want and as much as you want for free!  I was able to sample 7 different beers there, Kingfisher lager which is brewed for the company out of India, Olde Saratoga lager, Blue Heron Pale ale, Black hawk stout, White hawk IPA, Eye of the hawk ale, Red tail ale. The IPA and stout were good, I liked the saratoga lager as well. The one that stood out the most was The eye of the hawk ale which was a strong ale. Very smooth for a strong ale and very easy to drink. After picking up a shirt, a Olde saratoga pint glass, and a 6 pack of red tail ale , we were off to relax again at the campground.

     I got my fix of awesome beer and breweries. I got to have have a lot of fun and relax and enjoy some excellent food. I'd like to say it was a fantastic vacation, and can't wait to go to Maine next spring. I have to find a campground that has lots of breweries near it!