Lord Hobo was unfortunately a much quicker stop than I intended. I wish I had more time there to have a few sours but I just didn’t have time before heading to the Night of the Funk. I was happy they opened up early that day and I was able to stop by at all.

As you can see there was a pretty killer selection of sours there and if I had the chance and was there to split the bottles with friends I would have tried them all. As it turns out, the previous night was their The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing tap takeover and there were plenty of beers I would probably never see again on draft in my lifetime. I had a tough decision to make: sours or Lost Abbey.

As the sours they intended to have on draft that afternoon weren’t on yet, and the ones they had in bottles I figured I might be able to find again (maybe the next time I’m at Lord Hobo, even) I went with some Lost Abbey Deliverance; it sounded too nuts not to:

A blend of bourbon barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout and brandy barrel-aged Angels Share, Deliverance is the epic battle being waged between heaven and hell for the souls of mortal men… and your enjoyment in a glass.

Let’s face it, there was no way for this beer to go other than exceptional. There’s tons of stuff going on with this beer: Dark fruits are very apparent with a bit of chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, and caramel. It’s all over the place really, but it works very well. I’m definitely happy with my choice of the one beer I was able to have while I was there.

Before I even ordered a beer I noticed a few friendly faces from Hill Farmstead and Great South Bay. I already showed you guys Sean’s tattoo (although I did find out he has moved on from Great South Bay), and Shaun Hill and his crew were there having a few beers before heading over to the Cyclorama. I stopped over to BS with Shaun for a bit, and we got talking about what my potential options were for the Hill Farmstead Harvest Weekend.

Since we were going up to VT the night before the festival, we had a few different things we could do that night. Blackback Pub was definitely on my list, as they often times have more Hill Farmstead on tap than the brewery does, and it would be nice to check off a few beers that we weren’t going to get at the festival. Obviously, Prohibition Pig is right across the street from Blackback and was in the running as well, considering how great of an experience I had there last time. I’ve also seen some really great reviews of Hen of the Wood, which while not a beer bar, does have some great stuff from Hill Farmstead and other Shelton Brothers beers. Lastly, The Beer and Cheese Maven (Ruth Miller) offered to put together a tasting if we stayed at a bed and breakfast or lodge with suitable space to hold the group. It was a tough decision for me to make, but when I put them up to Shaun he was adamant that Hen of the Wood needed to happen. He was insistent that I go and make the reservation that second. Who was I to say no? (Hint: it ended up being one of the best, if not the best dinner I’ve ever been to.)

I had a tough time pulling myself away from Lord Hobo. I finished my Deliverence, said goodbye to friends and made my way to Night of the Funk. So far, the weekend was going much better than I could have ever expected…