It’s been a busy year. We started this as a humble Wordpress blog and expanded to our own website. We traveled up and down the East Coast — covering Maine to North Carolina. We’ve eaten jelly fish, ramps, duck fat fries and lobster fresh from the boat. And we’ve had a beer (or two) in every stop along the way. Here’s a recap of the best and worst of our first year.

The Best Bars

Novare Res Bier Cafe and The Great Lost Bear in Portland, Me.: With the help of the guys from Portland Taps, we found these two amazing beer bars. Great selection, great atmosphere (Novare Res had a cellar quality; The Great Lost Beer bar was like a log cabin in the Great North Woods).  See our post here.

Brewer’s Art in Baltimore:  I don’t understand why Baltimore gets a bad rap with Washingtonians. Bar hopping there makes for a riotous, and affordable, night out.  This bar in particular is great. Its is in the cellar of a Victorian townhouse and on tap are the bar’s own Belgian-style microbrews. Even Esquire magazine noticed; it named Brewer’s Art the best bar in the US this April. Wow!  See our post here.

Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Md.: While this is not actually a bar – and we did visit many great bars this year – it comes in 3^rd. Flying Dog has an excellent spread of beers of which you can enjoy limitless samples.  The atmosphere at one of these Saturday afternoon tasting is that of a well-behaved college house party – strangers chatting and spilling out on to the back porch. And, did I mention, its $5. See our post here.

The Best Surprises

Yeah, of course Maine was gorgeous and New York City was a captivating metropolis filled with excellent food.  These places/events were just as amazing – in ways we never expected.  

Davis-Elkins loop – Although I’ve been singing West Virginia’s praises since this blog began, I have yet to influence anyone to actually go there. I don’t give up easily.  Follow this route for a road trip, a mellow escape from DC insanity and a getaway that’s great in the winter.  There’s skiing, burritos and beer. Just do it! See our post here.

Kinetic Sculpture Race – I heard about this race from a blogger meet-up. I mentioned that we cover quirky travel, and this event sprung to everyone there’s mind. For the Kinetic Sculpture Race, groups of friends, classmates and coworkers make human-powered parade floats that can float in the bay, push through sand and coast down bumpy brick roads. It’s amazingly odd. Next year, I’ll be bringing a bike so I can better follow along with the race. See our post here.

Ohio Brew Week –The word “festival” (and its cousin “fair”) often makes me shudder. It usually means high prices, hoards of people and lots of vendors pushing useless junk (used laser disks, anyone?) However, this beer festival was the complete opposite. It was festively crowded and reasonably priced. We heard some great music and tried beers I’ll never see elsewhere. And there was a beer choo-choo. See our post here.

The Biggest Disappointments

We really wanted to love to these popular destinations, but they just fell short.

Assateague  – Although camping on the beach sounds romantic and relaxing – think: falling asleep to the sound of the waves and taking an early morning swim — the reality is that you are camping in a hostile environment. Sand is everywhere, mosquitoes swarm and the sun beats down without mercy.  I wanted to love Assateague. But Assateague didn’t love me.  After a weekend of being eaten, burnt and drenched, I submitted. See our post here.

Asheville – Maybe it was the rain, but this southern city let us down. It wasn’t nearly as outdoorsy or hippified as I hoped it would be. Although, West Asheville had a food co-op, coffee shops and dive bars, downtown was too upscale. How many boutiques does one tiny town need?  I think we missed Asheville’s heyday.  See our post.

Best beers

Saison Dupont from Brasserie Dupont: This is a truly world class beer.  If you want an introduction to the style called Saison, this is the beer to try.  My favorite brew, at my favorite restaurants with my favorite person; it doesn’t get better than that. Find it at Annabell Lee Tavern, Baltimore MD

Grand Wazoo Batch 2 at Jackie O’s Brewery: A bourbon barrel-aged sour dark ale with raspberries, definitely a one-of-a-kind beer.  This brew really showed off the range and diversity of the beverage.  It’s flavors are probably more in line with a wine than any beer most people have tasted. Had at: Jackie O’s Brewpub, Athens OH

Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues:  Our go-to summer beer.  Dale’s is a very tasty IPA that comes in a can.  Naturally, makes it perfect for camping, tubing, and backyard barbeques.   Had at: just about every trip that involved a cooler.

I like Baltimore. Maybe because it reminds me of Cleveland: gritty, on the water and, to use a travel writer’s favorite word: unpretentious. So, Baltimore is where I chose to spend my birthday.

Clipper City

First, I hit up Clipper City brewing company’s beer tour. Embarrassingly, I always find myself at some micro brewpub or beer destination (check out this post on Frederick, Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery). I am becoming a beer snob. However, compared to the Flying Dog tour, Clipper City’s was lacking. No unlimited samples, only four beers on tap and no rowdy tasting room pub that spills out onto the lawn. The tour — though funny and informative, unlike the unintelligible, rambling of the Flying Dog tour guide — was way too long. After 40 minutes of hops, bottles and beer packaging, I headed back to the tasting room.

Dining with Poe

Second, We’re Out of Here visited Baltimore’s Edgar Allen Poe themed restaurant/pub, Annabell Lee Tavern. Named after the Poe love poem, this restaurant is worth a visit if only to sample the best sweet potato fries. (Yelpers also rave about the duck fat fries, but we didn’t cough up the extra $2.) The food (pub standards with an upscale twist ; we had the lamb sliders and snapper tacos) is delicious, the drink menu thorough and the place cozy.

Baltimore’s Haunted Bar

Afterward, we met two friends and headed out to two classic Baltimore bars: Brewer’s Art, the cavernous Belgian beer bar located mostly in the cellar of a Victorian mansion, and Club Charles, a haunted dive.

After a ten-hour beer marathon, I don’t remember much of what Club Charles looked like: just its red decor and creepy mural of hell, which someone claimed was painted by WPA artists in the 1930s. My friend who is writing an article on the subject for her magazine BMore Live insisted the place is haunted and showed us eerie photographs of white blobs. She said the owner had been avoiding her, because during a previous interview with a reporter, a ghost shoved the owner. She fell down the stairs and broke her arm.

Fortunately, we made it out intact. However, when we arrived back at our car, we found it had a flat tire. (Must have been the ghosts.) Watching the other half of We’re Out of Here change a flat at an inner city gas station was the perfect way to end a birthday.