Years ago, my friend Sarah & I were at the Summer Beer Fest. Our husbands-at-the-time were off somewhere and we were stumbling around trying to find some tent or another. Suddenly, like Kilimanjaro rising like Olympus above the Serengeti* there appeared this guy:

Well how cool, we declared. That sure would be neat. And then I sort of forgot about it….
….Until I started hearing about Chris Martinson who was determined to open a brewpub in Chelsea. The neurons in my brain fired, connected to other memories and I realized that Chris must be “the dude with the Chelsea brewpub shirt” (as Sarah & I creatively called him).

Clearly, Chris has stuff that I don’t (determination, drive, ambition**) because HOLY SHIT THERE IS NOW A BREWPUB IN CHELSEA! It opened to the public on Thursday and Boyfriend Ken & I checked it out on Friday.

We enjoyed three beers: a white ale, a porter and an IPA. We both really enjoyed the porter, which had a nice creamy head and lovely aroma. The mouthfeel was thick and smooth. Tasted perfect–roasty malt and well balanced. The Broad Reach IPA is a really big IPA (8% a.b.v.), heavy on the hops and citrusy and floral tasting. I really liked it, but Boyfriend Ken does not like American hops so he let me drink most of it (Score). The Silo White Ale was crisp and light. I’m not a huge fan of white ales, so I can’t give it a decent review but Boyfriend Ken really enjoyed it. (And trust me, he’s got really good taste!)

They look so happy together, don’t they?

We also had the hummus snack, which was really tasty. We got pita bread, pretzel chips and carrots for dipping. You will be proud to know that I ate the carrots first, even though I don’t always like eating orange things.

This was an impromptu trip and the place was packed. So no real camera plus a huge crowd means we didn’t get the in-depth sort of pictures that we would have liked to, but I think this one is pretty good:

From all accounts, the opening weekend was amazing and there will be lots more good times to come! More beer is being brewed and will be available soon. I can’t wait to go back! Congratulations to Chris and to the whole community of Chelsea. The dude with the Chelsea brewpub shirt has done great!

*Why yes I do bless the rains down in Africa! Thanks for asking!

**Just kidding. I really do have those things but I’m also plagued by laziness and a fondness for drinking beer instead of making it.