Adventures on Route 6

The other day my friend Kevin and I set out to brave the maelstroms and visit our friends at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. Things were pretty wet at the Shire and the winds picked up enough to close the Faire early- but happily not before we saw our friends The Brigands play some great pirate tunes ( check them out at www.thebrigands.com) and also sample the mini doughnuts made fresh to order and rolled in cinnamon sugar- so worth the indulgence!

Well with the Faire closed we found ourselves in need of some sustenance and adventure- afterall it was a precious day off. GPS to the rescue- the little magic box found us a microbrew pub just down the road from Hebron in Willamantic.

The Willamantic Brewing Co. is located in a beautiful old post office and has both bar and restaurant seating and an extremely cordial wait staff. We sat in the restaurant and oohed and ahhed about all the Harvest Beers and finally decided to get a beer sampler of 5 and a tomato mozzeralla salad with house bread. The house bread is amazing! The spent brewing grains are used to make the bread and the flavor is rich and nutty and oh so good with a little butter.

And now for the beers: we tried a sampler of Gold, 3 cent Pale Ale, Husky IPA, Dead Letter Stout, and Harvest Ale. The Gold is very mellow like a sunny Fall day. This is a light beer good for, well, when you want a really light beer. The 3cent Pale Ale had a wonderful jasmine tea note to it which I loved. The Husky IPA was like blending the Gold with the 3 cent - but richer. Very good and one of Kevin's favorites. The Harvest Brew was disappointing at first but it grew on us later- we expected a richer harvesty flavor but instead this was a bit thin with an interesting caramel finish. I love Guiness so I had to try the Dead Letter Stout! Rich deep -roasted malt and chicory flavors, strong but not heavy or creamy the way Guinness is, and good to the last drop!

The Willamantic Brewing Co. brews everything seasonally so their beer menu varies often. There was an enticing Red in the works for the end of October and we may have to go back just to check that one out! www.willibrew.com

Route 6 is host to several antique shops from the mom and pop country store style to the high end this is definitely a great route to go adventuring on- who knows what you will find?!!