Author: Laura Conrad

When I had my kitchen redone in 1996, I put in a cabinet with glass
doors and interior lighting for displaying my glassware. The
problem with the incandescent light bars my contractor used was
that they burned out after a year or two, and I had to go to Home
Depot to replace them, and so it was frequently not lit at
all.

So I decided that in this day and age, one should use LED’s for
that kind of application, and they wouldn’t burn out for a long
time.

After poring over the descriptions I ordered Hitlight
warm white flexible ribbon strip lights and a transformer,
and a portable
mini dimmer. I also had to go to the hardware store and buy
an outlet, since the previous lights had attached with wire nuts,
and the transformer has a regular plug.

It turns out that it was a good thing I took the advice in the
Amazon review and got the dimmer — I don’t think this picture
does justice to the Las Vegas atmosphere of the lights on full
blast.

But I think I’ll like them a bit dimmer, although I wasn’t
expecting the curves of reflected dots.

Mostly, we drank beer. Here’s what I had:

Cambridge Brewing Company

They had just run out of the first thing I picked off of
their list (this time of year it’s really heavy on pumpkin
beers, which I don’t see any need for), so I had the cask. It
was their ESB, which is a good session beer, dry-hopped with
Chinook, and the people sitting next to me recommended it
highly, and after I recommended it highly one of the other worts
had one and also really liked it. I had joined earlier than I
said I would because it felt like lunch time, so I also had the
biscuits and gravy. They’ve changed it since the last time I
had it — it used to be two large biscuits and an enormous
amount of gravy on a plate, and I ended up taking about half of
both the biscuits and the gravy home. Now they give you a board with
three smaller biscuits and a bowl of gravy. So I ate all the
biscuits and ended up taking about half the gravy home. I also
bought two growlers. I live pretty close to between here and
the next stop, so I dropped them off at home. I joined 4 people
who had already had lunch at Meadhall.

Lord Hobo

I had the Trillium Valley buckwheat. At first I thought it
was a little sweet, but I got used to it pretty fast and really
enjoyed it. Several people ordered food, so I
took a donut someone offered me. I was also offered fritters
and corn cakes, but didn’t have anywhere to put them after the
biscuits and gravy and the donut and the beer.

Atwood’s

I had the Milk Stout Nitro. People had had it at both Lord
Hobo and the Meadhall, and enjoyed it a lot, so I ordered one
here. Again, I had to get used to how sweet it was, but once I
was, I was sorry to see the end of it.

Bukowsky’s

The Jack’s Abbey Kiwi Rising Double IPL. A nice dose (some
would say overdose) of hops to cut the sweetness of the last two
beers. We lost a several people after this stop, but were
joined by a new person.

Thirsty Scholar

The beer list here was a lot less stellar than the other
places. I had a Leffe Brown Ale. The new person from the last
stop was joined by his wife here.

R.F. O’Sullivan

I came here because they promised me good onion rings. I
had a Sierra Nevada Torpedo and a Black and Blue Burger with
onion rings. The onion rings were OK, but I like the ones at
Doyles better. The burger was outstanding, but I had to take
almost half of it home. Sammy agrees that it was good, but he
doesn’t seem to like blue cheese.

Apologies to Sloan for cutting some of his head off. The
camera on my phone is much better than the display, so I really
couldn’t see the composition of the picture at all when I took it.

The pubcrawl route I posted this morning has been modified:

Meadhall

(11:30 – 12:50)

Cambridge Brewing Company

(1:00 – 1:50)

Lord Hobo

(2:00 – 2:50)

Atwood’s Tavern

(3:00 – 3:50)

Bukowski Tavern

(4:00 – 4:50)

Thirsty Scholar Pub

(5:00 – 5:50)

R.F. O’Sullivan and Son

(6:00 – 7:00)

There’s a map.

I’ll be going on this Pub Crawl on Saturday. You can come too.

25th Annual Boston Wort Processors Pub Crawl

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Closest start T-stop = Kendall/MIT Station

Meadhall

4 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
11:30 – 12:50 (Lunch)

Cambridge Brewing Co.

1 Kendall Square #100
Cambridge, MA 02139
1:00 – 1:50

Lord Hobo

92 Hampshire St
Cambridge, MA 02139
2:00 – 2:50

Trina’s Starlite Lounge

3 Beacon St
Somerville, MA 02143
3:00 – 3:50

Thirsty Scholar Pub

70 Beacon St
Somerville, MA 02143
4:00 – 4:50

The Kirkland Tap & Trotter

425 Washington St
Somerville, MA 02143
5:00 – 5:50 (edit: the website says they don’t open until 5:30, so assume a half hour slippage will happen at some earlier site.)

R.F. O’Sullivan & Son

282 Beacon St
Somerville, MA 02143
6:00 – ? (Dinner)

Closest finish T-stop = Porter Square Station

I’ll probably join at Lord Hobo or so, and leave when I’ve had
enough beer.

I had been surprised
by the way they pronounced it in the production I saw. If you
care, the New York Times has a long article on the
subject. The short version is that both pronounciations have
history behind them.