BEER AT THE OUTLETS

I am not much of a shopper.  Actually, shopping causes me great distress, and I often look at it as a full-contact sport.  Saturday, I find myself within spitting distance of the Kittery outlets, which, just knowing this, gives me the heeby-jeebies where traffic is concerned.

After the Great Stump Removal Adventure at my niece's house, my sister and I decide to stop for a beverage before heading our respective ways: She on I-95 North; I on I-95 South.  We throw around the idea of iced coffee, which would be just fine with us both, but then I get a brilliant idea.

"Okay, Google, breweries near me."

There are several, of course.  We've been to Red Hook when we did a 5k on Memorial Day weekend, and there are several in Portsmouth, which involves another level of traffic nightmare that makes Kittery pale in comparison.

Aha!  A couple of miles away near both I-95 ramps is a little place called Woodland Farms Brewery.  The only disadvantage is that it is smack-dab in the midst of the Kittery outlets.  Oh, what the hell.  We have battled stumps and heat and humidity and near-broken bones today.  We are warriors!  We can take on the crazy shoppers and their crazy driving.

The brewery is tucked into a mini-strip mall near the south end of the route 1 strip, which means we really don't have to sit through too many traffic lights.  The parking lot is reasonably expansive, so we find side-by-side spots along the side of the building.  When we get out of our cars, we are equal distance from the brewery front door and from the Starbucks front door in the next strip mall.

Decisions, decisions.  We could still go for that coffee.  Nah.

Inside the brewery, a small but clean little place, we get some advice on the various beers and end up with a flight to share.  Yes, to share.  We have been sweating all day long and have not eaten dinner yet; considering our drives, splitting a flight is a smart choice.  She picks two; and I pick two.  This is a great idea because one of the two beers that she picks, I never would've considered; one of the two beers that I pick; she never would've considered.

Without realizing that the place is fully stocked with games (because we are semi-exhausted and probably not thinking straight), I run out to my car for a deck of cards.  We proceed to have a heated game of Rummy and then several heated rounds of Gin Rummy while we sip.

I cannot at this moment recall the names of the beers we try, but the brewery just rolled them out this week, and the beers are not necessarily posted on their website.  We try a pilsner, their Oktobetfest beer, a blueberry beer (of which we want a second, but we get the last of it, much to the other customers' dismay), and a chocolate and coffee stout (of which we order a second).  Every single one of them is outstanding.  OUTSTANDING ... and not just because we are hot, tired, and thirsty.

I am now rethinking my shopping mentality.  Perhaps hitting the Kittery outlets isn't going to be as painful as I remember from the one time I've done it before.  After all, chocolate (ale) and blueberry (ale) await me when I finish shopping.  I'm not really seeing any downside to that.