2 Brewery Tours in 1 Day - Recipe for Boston Awesomeness

The coolest thing about living in a town like Boston is playing tour guide for all my out-of-town friends.  Two dear friends, the Multers, dropped in on me when their cruise ship docked in Boston Harbor.  Like most shore excursions, they only had from 8am - 3:30pm to explore the town.  On a previous trip, they went to Sam Adams Brewery, and wanted to go back.  Well, since I had never been, I was happy to tag along!

The tours are free and incredibly informative.  They teach you all about how they make beer and how many competitions they've won.  They're understandably proud, but the absolute best part of the tour is the chugfest tasting.  I must say I have NEVER tasted such fresh tasting beer!  It was like pure YUM.  You'll never tolerate skunky yuck beer again.  BONUS: you get to keep your tasting glass!  W00t!

After Sam Adams, we realized that we needed to keep the buzz going, so after lunch at Quincy Market, we mosey'd on over to Harpoon Brewery for their 2pm tasting.  Also free.  Again, YUM-TASTIC.  If you're not familiar, these guys make tons of different varieties, including IPA, UFO, and special "100 barrel" varieties: meaning small batch special beers.  My fave: Pumpkin UFO.  Again, super fresh (duh, they just made it...), and not crazy overwhelming with the pumpkin and spice.  Subtle.  Yeah.

So, if you like beer, and are in Boston for the first time, or the 100th time, and you're not feeling Paul Revere's house or Cheers (really, just skip Cheers, it never was a real place!), definitely check out these two breweries.  It's even ok if you don't do them on the same day, though I'm not sure why you wouldn't!  Both are accessible by public transit, and have fun gift shops to help you stock your home bar.  Just DON'T forget your ID, like I did.  Luckily, with a few batted eyelashes, and a quick computer search, I was allowed to get my drink on.  Having your ID is better.

EXTRA: Here is some awesome art I saw on my way to the Sam Adams tour, courtesy of the Stony Brook Fine Arts School