Winter is coming! As a FloridaMan my blood has acclimated to tropical shirt, swim trunks and flip-flop weather. I am not made for this cold weather. It’s already snowed! I’ve had to scrape ice off my windshield several times already and I’m wearing three coats, a wool beanie, insulated hiking boots and gloves. The kicker is the locals look at me like I’m batshit crazy and only wear light hoodies or a fleece. They tell me this is still Fall and to just wait, WINTER is coming!
Regardless of the freezing cold temps Mindy still flew out to take part in a foodie adventure and driving tour of small coastal Maine villages. Maine contours to impress.
Our first stop was to the Amish Charcuterie in Unity Maine. The owner and aged meat expert, Mathew, makes incredible dried meats and smoked cheeses. He is a character. Hollywood writers could not come up with such an outrageous personality for a show without it being completely unbelievable. And Mathew is an unbelievably outrageous personality that makes visiting his little store a must do experience. His back story is riveting and we could have spent the entire day being regaled by his stories. At several points in listening to Mathew’s stories I had to remind myself that I was there to buy died meat four our coastal picnic. He kept pulling us back into his story telling while simultaneously slicing off chunks of aged meat and handing it to us to eat. The meat and cheeses he gave us samples of were divine!
The store has no electricity. The meat cutting equipment uses hand cranks or a good old fashioned meat cleaver. The cash register was an antique crank handle devise. The method of keeping the newly made meat products was large blocks of ice manually placed around a large room with a square metal door about five feet tall and wide. The large blocks of ice keep the meat cool as the dry for weeks and months.
After buying a large quantity of different styles of dried meat we headed over to the Stone Tree wine and cidery. We sampled several flights of wine and ciders and paired it with the wine and smoked cheese we had just purchased. We shared our delicious goodies with the owner of the cidery and listened to him tell us of how he started Stone Tree.
After a delicious morning we took a drive down the coast to visit Deer Isle and then to Schoodic Point. Maine is a beautiful state and provides endless opportunities for fresh wonder.
#travel #adventure #beer #maine #adventurecouple #craftbeer #supportlocalbreweries #acadianationalpark #acadia #schoodicpoint #deerisle
5 окт 2024
