Living Room Road Trips Part 2

Earlier in the year during the height of the springtime pandemic, my Backyard Road Trips became so limited that I literally wrote about cleaning my basement and a living room road trip. As the weather is becoming colder, the daylight waning to a 4:30 sunset, and COVID cases spiking, it’s back to enjoying the great indoors of my home once again.

With travel restrictions in place, the ability to venture outside of the state is limited. With the pressures of work, the increasing virus threat, and the fact that I have two young children at home, sometimes a trip to the fridge and then to the TV is what is in order.

The Beverage Selection

Last week, I took a trip to Brothers Marketplace, an upscale grocery store in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Their craft beer selection was quite impressive and beautifully displayed. I left the store with two four-packs: one Japas Cervejaria’s Oishii and Banded Brewing’s Daikaiju Double IPA.

Japas Cervejaria

An exciting evening is a few minutes to myself with a well-selected beverage and a television show or movie. The first of the beers I tried was the Japas Cervejaria. This brewery is from Brazil and is owned by three Japanese women, hence the Portuguese and the reference to Japanese words. Oishii means “delicious” in reference to food. 

This beer’s can art includes sushi with chopsticks. The sushi reference here is the ginger. It is an interesting taste. It is light and very carbonated, but with a true ginger (not ginger ale) bite. The flavor profile is quite complex and certainly not for everyone. I enjoyed it very much but could only have one. The true taste of ginger is emphasized in the aftertaste.

TV Choices

I find Hulu quite fun. My problem with Netflix is that many of the older television series are now off it. Hulu is perfect for me. I tried browsing and found “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Disclaimer: I am not a Star Trek or a sci fi fan, but thought I’d give it a whirl. Heck, the kids were in bed and it was a weekend night! I lasted about fifteen minutes.

Instead, the comedic genius of Mark Linn Baker and Bronson Pinchot won out. I was excited that the whole series of “Perfect Strangers” is on Hulu. I found the episode “Dog Day Mid-Afternoon” in which a disgruntled man tries to blow up the newspaper in which Balky and Larry work. I remember as a child seeing the man open his trenchcoat with sticks of dynamite strapped to him. The image never left my brain even though I was six when I saw it. In rewatching, the actor was exactly how I recalled him.

After one more “Perfect Strangers” episode, in which Larry longs for his father’s approval and the crew get locked into a flooding basement, my wife switched to another Hulu guilty pleasure, “Seventh Heaven.” 

Banded Brewing

To keep up with the antics of the Reverend and Mrs. Camden as well as Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon, Ruthie, Sam, and Dave, I needed another beer. This time, I opted for the Daikaiju Double IPA by Banded Brewing. With DIPAs, especially those from the store, I can never tell how they will be. These days every brewery in and out of New England, is brewing New England style IPAs. 

I tried my luck with this beer and was happy I did. The beer poured a golden haze and at 8.7% ABV was super drinkable. It has citrusy tones, with some hoppiness, and was overall very smooth. Banded is from Biddeford, Maine, a cool factory town that I would love to go back to someday. 

Even if I can’t travel to the destinations I desire this winter, at least I still can enjoy a great craft beer or two and watch entertaining television. It’s quite the living room road trip!