My friends, it has been a hot minute. Although I just finally released part two of City of Beertherly Love, there is a lot of content I intended to write that I am just going to reel off quick here to get the slate cleared for the rest of the year.

My life has been hectic, and beer drinking has become rote. Since Philadelphia, I have traveled to Los Angeles, Montreal, and Colorado and enjoyed beer in almost all of these places. At the time, I had great intentions about writing individually about all of these topics (except for Montreal, as we never went to a brewery and the only beer I drank was Coors Light). But, like we all know, life ran away from me.

In Los Angeles, I went to two breweries. Three Weavers and another one that I don’t even remember the name of. How bad is that? I didn’t even make notes on either one. Three Weavers was in a warehouse district and I remember really liking the beers there. JD, his roommate Craig, and I sat outside and cultivated some sunburns while playing pub games and drinking beer. After that we went back to JD’s for an afternoon chill sesh, and after that, we went to another brewery, but by that time of the day, my brain was fogged by beer and life and I just never made a note or anything. Nothing. No notes. I don’t even know where we were. Just somewhere near JD’s apartment. It was good though. I had a sour there that I believe had a Peter Pan-y type name. Or maybe I was making false memories because I knew that the next morning, I was head to Disneyland bright and early and just wanted everything to be a Disney reference. Either way, Los Angeles seems to have a beer scene that would be cool to explore but unfortunately, I didn’t really like LA that much and don’t know if I will be venturing back there any time soon, especially knowing that JD is moving.

My next trip was Montreal, where, thanks to food poisoning on day one, left me not feeling too eager to drink at all. Before going, I tried researching breweries, but the fact that I do not speak french made it hard to find a place to go. So we did not go to any breweries. Craft beer is kind of an bullshit American hobby anyways. But while there, I did have two Coors Lights. That’s it. I feel shame. Don’t worry.

In Colorado, I went to Odell’s with Nicole and her high school best friend Nathan and had their “locals” flight. It consisted of the Colorado Lager, Drumroll APA, Rupture Fresh Grind Ale, Odell IPA, and Myrcenary Double IPA. We had a fun time there. Don’t remember much about the beers, but I do know that I was excited to check it out because I had started stealing Odell’s beers from our tiny house mates at Caitlyn and Luke’s wedding and was really eager to check out the brewery after enjoying the illicit brews. (Thanks Lindsey and Andrew for the beer. Check out Lindsey’s amazing photography in your free time or her IG which is flawless.)

The last rapid-fire brewery update is that in July we went to a food truck rally in Riverwest, right here in Milwaukee, hosted by Gathering Place Brewing. The rally was busy and it took forever to wait for beer from the beer tent, and they quickly ran out of beer from local breweries, so we wandered inside Gathering Place. It’s a chill little brew op going on in Riverwest, but it’s one of those places where the brew room and tap room are not separated, so the whole thing smelled like grain and yeast. Which is not my jam. But it was cute. I look forward to going back some other time. I do need to start seeing more things in Riverwest.

And that’s essentially just what I have to say. I’m sorry that my summer has run away from me and this endeavor I ventured on last MAY with the intent to visit every brewery in Milwaukee has gone so far off the rails that here we are winding down on our second summer and I don’t have much to show for it. It’s amazing what a little prescription Vitamin D and anti-depressants can do. Suddenly I’m too busy to drink beer because I’m not chronically depressed? What? Insanity. but anyways, the next post is about the Wisconsin IPA Festival that we went to a couple weeks ago. It’s completely written, but I wanted to get this out into the wild first just so you know that I have not totally forgotten about this blog. I am really trying hard to get my writing back on track, but my God, I have been busy.