Bicycling with Beer into the Weekend / Columbia Trail

Let me start this post by confessing

I am not a beer lover or connoisseur

But on occasion I do enjoy drinking a beer. Up until not too long ago that would have always been a dark beer, porter, stout, you know? I always liked their creaminess and very subtle sweetness as opposed to the hoppy bitterness of IPAs or the generic German beer. Sorry, fellow Germans, but I just can't stand Pilsner, Hefeweizen or such. I have tried it again and again over the years but - nope, not for me.

I figure that's fine though, because then there's more for you while I sample other varieties.

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Yesterday was such an occasion. We started the weekend early because, spontaneously, I had taken they day off work to enjoy one of the few many remaining beautiful late summer days here in New Jersey. Taking mostly nice backroads, we went for a bit of a drive with our bicycles on the hitch mounted bike rack to a rail trail we had been to maybe ten years ago. We found our entrance to the Columbia Trail without a problem and went riding our bikes for a couple of hours.

We rode mostly in the shade through the woods but it was still quite warm 28C / 82F, more in the sunny spots. Such a gorgeous day - green hills, blue skies and little puffy clouds... Here is one picture of the picturesque, just no green hills and only one white cloud - LOL. The tree across the river probably fell just a few days ago during the latest rainstorm, it stil looked very fresh.

The pictures underneath are from the brief midway break we took to check out the little river up close and a photo taking from a bridge crossing one of brooks feeding into the river. Such a pretty place.

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Anyways, back to beer. As it so happens one tends to get quite tired, sweaty and thirsty while pedaling along for hours 😝. Hence, back at the car we quickly took off our helmets and gloves, put our bikes back on the rack and went to the very close by

Long Valley Brew Pub

This was definitely one of those rare occasions when I did look forward to a nice cold refreshing beer. Then again, why only one beer when you can try six of them? Hubby and I each ordered a flight of the local craft beers, some of their own some on tab from guest breweries near by.

A few of our choices overlapped, some did not. The flight on the left was mine starting at the bottom of the picture

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• Blonde Bombshell 6.7% - light in color, easy to drink - and absolutely not for me! Tasted too much like German beer to me and hubby gladly finished my sampler of this one
• Citra Pack IPA 5.2% / 25 IBU - hopped with loads of citra... - a highly drinkable beer - I concur (and want more)
• Easy Summer Shandy 4.3% / 10 IBU - we both got this for the thirst after cycling, it was o.k., rather sour, limey
• Blacksmith Stout by Czig Meister 5.5% / 35 IBU, a guest brew - whoa, this was anything but subtle. Packed with so much roasted goodness of coffee and chocolate, almost too much, kind of like a desert drink. Definitely would have this one again.
• Köstritzer Schwarzbier 4.8% / 11 IBU - who doesn't know and like it? It has been a long time that I drank one and, guess what, it still tastes great and I still like it.
• Downeast Cider 5.1% - hard cider, my go-to if hubby wants to get a beer and I don't. This one was pretty good.

Hubby's flight - on the right - consisted of

• Blonde Bombshell
• German Valley Red Ale 5.3% - he really like this one, not too hoppy, good
• Easy Summer Shandy
• Allagash White 5.2% / 13 IBU - Belgian Style Wheat beer, hazy with spice blend of coriander and orange peel - this was his favorite one for today. I thought it was okay, a bit 'thin' but definitely better than the Bombshell
• Blacksmith Stout
• Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier 5.4% / 14 IBU - totally not my cup-of-tea but he likes it, so that's good.

Hubby's favorite of yesterday's flight was the Allagash White and mine was... well, look at the below picture, see the empty glass?

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Yup, that's the one. My winner was the

Citra Pack IPA

As I mentioned at the beginning, I don't really like IPAs but if they are packed with citra hops giving the beer that wonderful citrus nose and refreshing but tarte taste without the overly long bitterness - yeah, that's awesome!

Oh, and the burger was legit, too. Really, really good. As were the fries but we hardly touched them because... so much burger!

All in all, it has been a wonderful day out and about and well worth taking the day off work. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, any time.

A great start into the weekend. I hope you're having an amazing one!

Till next time!

Have a great rest of your day!

Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee

_{Unless otherwise noted, copyright for all photos, dividers, and gifs ©Oceanbee|ImagesByCW}

_{99.9% of photos taken with my Fuji X-T5 and iPhone}