4,000 miles from Home.

In the midst of my fraternal retreat, I was able to visit the Orlando Brewing Company in, you guessed it, Orlando, Florida. My brother PJ, his wife Jaime, and myself headed down today to sample an all organic selection of beer. It is true, organic tastes better. There were 12 beers that we sampled in all, and I must say they were all unique and very tasty. The brewery has a choir practice, which consisted of a 5 piece set of stringed instruments, a drum, and a mouth harp. There was no singing, but you could pick out a few familiar tunes as the crowd watched a few pet dogs wrestle in front of the bar. Good beer, good music, good dogs, and good company. These are MY elements, and when all four align, you know you've done something right.
So as I plan my winter, I have to look at what I've already accomplished. I have been to Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesee, North carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 17 more states are on the menu, and 34 more breweries. I am nearly a third of the way threw my first winters' travels, and am confronted with my next decision. I have thought long and hard about it, those who know me know that this isn't something I usually do, and am happy to announce to the world that I will be traveling north and east this winter, all the way to Maine, and then head back to Michigan in mid March as I plan for my summer. I originally was heading out west and was going to drive up to Alaska for my Summer season, but now that I am here I feel very strong that a westward trip is most essential for the Winter of 2011.
So now I am planning my trip through the some of the oldest breweries and pubs in America, and my "beerdar" has to be fine tuned for the belgian brews and the lagers. I enjoy dark beer, hoppy beer, and creative beer. Well, now that I've written that, you could say that I just love beer in general.
"APWATW" wouldn't be possible if things went smoothly and were planned out to a tee. When you travel, it is what you do when things go wrong that defines an experience. My stories include dog sledding at 50 below in Alaska all the way to playing my first punk rock show in the attic of a mansion's gatehouse.
So now I encourage those of you East of Ohio and north of Florida to recommend some breweries that you enjoy, and I will consider them for my book. Until next post, Yukon Ho!

JWP