Today was the first Indie Boat Hop - Craft Beer Cruise.
Teena and I love craft beer and we love boat cruises so when we heard about this, we bought our tickets right away. It was a three hour cruise featuring seven breweries and one cider company beer ... Creating beers that have never been consumed on land!
The cruise was aboard the Empire Sandy, a ship that we have not been out on before. The Empire Sandy was laid down* in the shipyard of Clelands (Successors), Willington Quay-on-Tyne England on Dec 22, 1942. She was built as an Englishman/Larch class Deep Sea Tug with the added provision for mounting two Hotchkiss Anti-Aircraft guns. She was completed and went into service on July 14, 1943. Her first voyage commenced July30th sailing in convoy to Iceland. Voyages were usually done in convoys for protection against the German U-Boats. The Empire Sandy sailed in a total of sixteen convoys to her destinations, the exception being the voyage to Sierra Leone in Dec 1944 where she traveled 'Independently'
* She served in the North Atlantic from Iceland to Sierra Leone, the Mediterranean Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
What a history! Log books from each of her WWII voyages are on the website. (It looks as if a couple of the crew went AWOL!)
Beers were $4.50 for an eight ounce pour. Here's what I had. I started with a Great Lakes Gilligan is Still Dead saison.
Next up was a Nautical Saison from Get Well.
I had another saison, Good Ship Venus from the Indie Alehouse, who also put on the cruise.
On the left is a Sailor's Delight from Sawdust City. It's a Kolsch with Kombucha, Ginger and Cranberries. It was quite good. Teena had the Berry Switzer, a Berliner Weisse with Raspberies, which is on the right.
I got the last drop of Get Well's cask Three Hour Tour.
I finished with a Bellwoods' Stay Classy
Some views of our voyage ...
See all the black dots in the trees and on the ground. They are all birds!
The bow of the boat is the place to be!
People doing the Edgewalk on the CN Tower.
Unfurling the sails and working the ship ...
The cruise was a little crowded but OK.
The closer this condo comes to completion, the uglier it gets! I can't believe this eyesore was approved by our city planners.
The view from a porthole ...
Next month we are going out on this boat for another craft beer cruise with eleven breweries. It's a night cruise and we are really looking forward to it!
It was a great afternoon. If they have another, we'll be there!
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