Maybe I'm a little bit of a beer snob. I really don't like mass-market beers. And I love microbrews -- and fake microbrews. And there's a lot to be said for brewery tours and tastings if you're looking for something to do in your hometown, or the town you're visiting.

So here is a round-up of some breweries I've toured and microbrews where I've dined.

Allentown Brew Works -- Tasty food, tasty beer, reasonable prices, and they're open on Sunday evenings after everyone else has closed.

Blue Point Brewery -- Chris got me into their Blueberry beer. After the brewery tour, try free samples of most of their beers and cheap samples of the rest -- and buy a jug of your favorites.

Boston Beer Works -- Click for my previous review.

Brooklyn Brewery -- Learn about the history of the brewery and the making of the beer, then settle in their tasting room to try different varieties, order in a pizza, and maybe pet one of the cats if they'll let you.

Iron Hill Brewery -- They have several locations and some great food, and there's typically a real nice dinner special on Sunday nights. Every location I've been to has parking issues, though, so arrive a bit early to look for a spot.

John Harvard's Brew House -- They have good beer and great food. There used to be several locations in the Philadelphia area, but it's probably for the best that there's not anymore -- I could easily get addicted to their lobster bisque. And then there's the burgers and wings and specialty steaks...

Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant -- The food is hit-or-miss and the beer is a matter of taste, but it's quite pleasant to sip a sampler while overlooking the Manayunk Canal.

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery -- A tiny bit pricey for dinner, but if you get there while happy Hour is still on, you can fill up on half-price appetizers and inexpensive beers. The King of Prussia location has a brew called Billy Penn's Curse that I love.

Sam Adams Brewery Tour -- A really nice tour, and great tastings -- typically, samples of the Boston Lager, a seasonal, and a specialty brew. The suggested donation of $2 goes toward charity; you get to keep your tasting glass, which costs $2 in the gift shop anyway.

Stoudt's Brewing Company -- If you're lucky, like we were, your tour will be given by Ed Stoudt himself. The man has some very strong opinions about beer. We didn't stay for dinner, but we did snack at the oyster bar, which was very nice.

Steam Whistle Brewing -- A tour and tasting at this Canadian brewery takes place in a historical building in Toronto. They collect, sterilize, and reuse their heavy-duty bottles. Good times.


So, go forth and drink responsibly, and if you're underage or driving, just enjoy the good food.

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We need your help, folks.

In this new feature, I'm going to give you a mission: to make recommendations in the comments section.

The situation

Chris and I are going to Italy for our honeymoon.  Pretty sweet, right?

Your mission

Your mission is to recommend places we should go and things we should see.  And I don't want answers like "The Vatican."  I want answers like "In Rome, on the corner of A Street and B Street, there's a cafe.  You absolutely must try their Dish X." 

We'll do as many as we can, and I'll give you a round-up of the results not long after we get back.  Thanks!

You can get reviews of the newest and hottest books, movies, and restaurants anywhere, but where do you go to hear about chain restaurants, library finds, several-year-old DVDs, or even tourist traps? Just because it's old or ever-present doesn't mean it's not new to you -- and you deserve to read the reviews in advance even then. So if it's new to me, I'll tell you what I think.

Who am I? I'm Laura, a married New Yorker and sometime cube monkey.  Old posts follow me from being in a long term, often long-distance relationship, and through my engagement.  They also follow me from when I lived in Philadelphia (where I grew up), and on several vacations, as my now-husband and I love travel and good food.  As for occupation, you can go back to when I was in grad school, and watch me put up with periods of unemployment and cube-monkey-ism.

If you look over to your right, you'll see a Twitter feed.  Feel free to follow me -- among other things, I post there when I post, and when I update old blog posts.  And if you want to know a bit more about me, personally, check out my other blog at Life is (not) Boring  -- or, if you're really patient with sporadic updates, check out my thoughts on writing at Writers Write.

And enjoy browsing!  I'd love to know your thoughts on some of the things I've tried and shared -- especially if they've changed since I've been there.  Thanks!

Image via Wikipedia

$12.00
$23.45 for combo ticket with NBC Studio Tour


No, the tree wasn't lit yet, and I did all the shopping I was going to pretty quickly. I decided to take the NBC Studio Tour.

Now, the tour on its own was a bit more expensive than I was thrilled with ($18.50), but a combination ticket -- which includes both the NBC tour and the Rockefeller Center tour -- was only $23.45, which divided equally is less than $12.00 per tour.  Not bad.

I was actually kind of disappointed with the NBC tour. I had taken it before, and I think it was better the first time

So?

The tour starts in the cafe at the NBC store. While I waited, I played some free video games that involve catching and reading current headlines. The machines weren't in great condition, but considering how many people must play with them, I wasn't expecting much.

Our guide met us and handed out headphones. In order to allow for freedom of movement, the tour guides speak into a microphone that broadcasts into the tourists' headsets. I was a bit concerned, as my headset's cord was a little frayed and patched with tape. It worked fine, though.

However, our guide's microphone did not, so we had to wait for her to get that replaced.

The tour started out in the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where we looked at the murals and heard the stories of the politics behind them.  We examined the technically-but-not-officially-religious mural, the space where a Communist mural had been taken down, and a mural on the ceiling that seems to change perspective when you look up at it from different sections of the lobby.  From there we went outside (so dress for the weather) and began to examine the different buildings at Rockefeller Center.

The center was designed and built during the Great Depression in hopes of stimulating the economy.  John D. Rockefeller Jr. called in favors from his father's business partners, and convinced both corporations and nations to rent space in the many suites and buildings he had constructed.  Each building is decorated to reflect the culture that inhabits it, from the homage to British industry on the exterior of the British Empire Building, to the former Eastern Airline's history of flight. 

While the tree wasn't lit at that point, it was up and ready.  Our guide told us a few fun facts about the tree, such as the fact that starting last year, the tree is lit with solar-powered LED lights.  Very nice.

Rating

Go... when the time is right.
I'm sure the tour is amazing during the Christmas season, but otherwise I would wait until the spring -- or at least until we get another one of those unseasonably warm days we've been having about once a week all this month.  Most of the tour is outside, so you'll want to dress accordingly.

The rest of the Internet

Daniel's Manhattan Architecture discusses the art, architecture, and history of the complex.
New York Architecture Images has some great pictures.