Hummingbird Lane Homestead + Studio
One day with a car and I’d start on Industrial Way for Allagash, Battery Steele, Austin Street, and Foundation (good mix of styles). They are basically all next to each other. I’d skip Bissell Brothers but I think their beer is overrated considering the hype and superior competition all over town- plus they are a single destination which eats into your one day limit, and you can drink their stuff everywhere.
Pulled this 6+ year old monster out of the cellar. “The blend consists of: 31% Double Double Barrel Ale, 29% Sticky Monkey, 27% Parabola, 7% Velvet Merkin, 3% Good Foot, 3% Black Xantus”
Has a little bit of everything- figs, chocolate, bourbon, oak, maple syrup… very smooth, no heat. Absolutely delicious.
Oxbow Brewing Company’s Belgian imperial stout aged in stainless and apple brandy barrels, around 10% ABV. This held up well. The brandy notes have faded away but notes of port and oak round out the smooth flavors. This has aged gracefully.
The warmth is officially here and we’ve had a great albeit dry stretch of weather lately to finish out the Spring and usher in Summer. Rain in the forecast as I type this, anyway. Today marks an obscure personal milestone: meeting a new neighbor younger than me. They moved into the only other house near us recently and we hadn’t met them yet. We crossed paths by chance and I got a great first impression. But that just capped off a day of polishing up the rough edges around the homestead.
After some weeks of hemming and hawing about brush mowers and walk-behind string trimmers I finally pulled the trigger on a DR model. Remember those late night ads? Marketing works, kids! That said, I had forgotten about the ads until someone mentioned it.
Let’s talk about “mike’s HOT HONEY”!
This stuff is awesome. I was first introduced to chili-infused honey a few years back on a swing through Greenpoint, Brooklyn. A friend of mine took us to a great pizza spot, Paulie Gee’s, and there is a pizza there called “Hellboy” which consists of fresh mozzarella, Italian tomatoes, soppressata piccante, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Mike’s Hot Honey. The sweet/salty combination is the dinner version of maple syrup with your breakfast sausage/bacon, with the added kick of hot peppers. And all you get is the heat, it’s not pepper-flavored honey! Just pure honey sweetness with burn.
After my meal at Paulie Gee’s, I went home with a bottle. It didn’t last long, and frankly, I kind of forgot about it after that. Recently I had a pizza at When Pig’s Fly in Kittery that had Mike’s on it and that was all it took for me to order a bottle straight from the source. I’m reminded of its greatness on Otto’s pizza night at the homestead.
Just another great condiment to have around, I highly recommend it.