Sunday on Long Island

Day two on Long Island started at noon with a trip to the Long Island Meadery. Who says you have to start your day with a health breakfast? Starting the day with a little mead tasting is the way to go. Mead is a wine made by fermenting honey instead of grapes. Often it is referred to as honey wine or nectar of the gods. The Long Island Meadery offers a wide variety of this honey beverage and owner/vintner Paul Holm gave us a quick education on mead and his meadery.

Paul started the meadery in 2004 after the success of his home brewing (mead not beer) business. When demand grew so did his need for a larger facility. He left his kitchen and created the Long Island Meadery in Holbrook New York. Paul creates several different types of mead, Traditional, Melomel (with fruit), Metheglin (with spices) and many others. Some of his flavors are, strawberry/raspberry, apricot, pineapple, pear, pumpkin, blueberry, chai, raisin-clove and vanilla. Meads can vary in sweetness from semi dry to very sweet and although they are usually considered still wines they can be sparkling. Paul attends both wine and beer events to pass along the virtues of mead and to educate everyone on the worlds oldest alcoholic beverage. The pear mead was slightly sweet and had a distinctive honey aroma and fresh pear taste. This was the bottle that made it to the trunk for the ride home.








The next stop was Brick House Brewery. The brewery/restaurant is located in a historic 150 year old building on West Main street in Patchogue New York. The copper kettles shine in the front window and upon walking into the entrance way you are surrounded by warm wood, brick and brass accents. The long bar is the focal point of the sizable main room. My favorite place to sample beer is sitting at the bar. I just get a better over all feel for a place propped up on a bar stool. Plus it's easier to bend the ear of the bartender. We were quickly told that because of a boat race on Saturday the brewery was extremely busy and most of their beers were kicked. Out of the five beers on draft they only had two and one was a light beer. They also carried bottles from Blue Point and Keegan Ales. I decided on the Boy's Red and followed it with a Keegan's Mothers Milk Stout. If we could of stopped by a day earlier we would of had a better taste of what Brick House puts out. The red ale was a fairly middle of the road amber, slightly hoppy and only mildly malty. It was drinkable just not memorable. It's a shame that the Keegan's in a bottle was a more enjoyable beer. Since the beer was limited at Brick House we headed across the street to check out a beer, BBQ, bourbon and blues restaurant.

I must have gone to heaven because I cant think of a better combination for a bar/restaurant. I love beer, I love BBQ, I love Bourbon and I dig the blues so Bobbique was the perfect lunch spot. My only regret was we were walking into this place on a Sunday afternoon instead of a Saturday night. Kelleigh and I were just two of four people in the entire restaurant. My guess is the atmosphere is a little different on a night with a full house. We certainly didn't need a great social scene to eat so we ordered a three meat (brisket, St. Louis ribs and pulled pork) combination platter with corn bread collard greens, fries and a pulled pork sandwich. Yeah I eat big after a night and early afternoon of drinking. Overall the food was done well. The meats were all flavorful and moist and the brisket just fell apart on the fork. The collards were oddly sugary sweet but the seasoned fries and corn bread both had good flavor. The beer that went with this feast was a Coney Island (Shmaltz Brewing) Human Block Head. The malty beer had flavors of brown sugar and plum that mixed well with the smokey platter. If we weren't heading to other beer stops I would of had another, explored the large beer list and experimented with a little bourbon. However we had to eat and then hit the road to continue the trip across the island. Bobbique is a perfect stop for anyone who loves good BBQ and wants to enjoy it with great beer choices. If you enjoy beer and find yourself in Patchogue NY make sure Brick House Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company and Bobbique are on your must stop list.

The trip home continues.