Our reward for hiking Mount Monadnock:
a stop at Gardner Ale House.

We spent Monday, July 27 on a family hike up 3,165-ft. Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire.  For those unfamiliar with this popular mountain, Monadnock is said to be the second most frequently climbed peak in the world, after Japan’s Mt. Fuji.  After an unrelenting two hour climb up, we enjoyed a nice long break at the summit.  As we struggled down from the peak, I kept my mind’s eye on the prize: Beer!

Gardner Ale House was not far off the highway on our way back to Carlisle, MA.  This was our second visit — we had trekked over to Gardner, MA to check out the brewpub in November 2007 during a Thanksgiving visit to Beth’s parents.

I was disappointed that there were only three house beers available on tap, but they had a great list of guest beers (click on menu in pic gallery below).  A five beer sampler got me the three house beers plus two guest beers:

• Summer’s End, a German style Kölsch Ale
• Old School Pilsner, a traditional Czech Pilsner
• Chair City Pale Ale, an American Pale Ale
• Drifter Pale Ale, Widmer Brothers Brewery, Portsmouth, NH
• Baltic Porter, Berkshire Brewing Company, South Deerfield, MA

After the sampler, I enjoyed a pint of the house Pale Ale, which had the hop profile of an IPA.  This is a fun pub with a great vibe and friendly people.  I wouldn’t hesitate to stop at Gardner Ale House again.