Time for summer vacation!  We drove from Maryland to Massachusetts for summer vacation on Friday, July 24 and stopped for lunch in Hartford, CT at City Steam Brewery Cafe.  This brewpub isn’t far off the interstate and there is plenty of parking – convenient enough that this was the third time we stopped here during our frequent trips to visit Beth’s parents in Carlisle, MA.

I ordered a sampler and picked 5 beers from the 10 house beers available on tap:

• Naughty Nurse (English Pale Ale; their flagship beer)
• City Steam Dark Lager (Dunkel)
• White Rabbit (Belgian White)
• Brown Sugar (Sweet Stout brewed with 100 lbs of brown sugar)
• Acapulco Gold (IPA)

All of the beers were delicious and I ordered a pint of the IPA to have with lunch.  It was a tasty, hoppy brew.

The beer and food are reason enough to visit, but I really enjoy the pub itself.  It’s in a historic downtown building that was built in 1875 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  My Good Beer Guide to New England describes the pub’s sprawling interior as resembling “an M.C. Escher drawing with its assortment of sweeping staircases, small dining nooks, and open balconies spread over multiple levels.”

Our kids enjoyed stretching their legs while wandering around the pub.  Only two hours to go on our road trip!