We started out with a stop at the Roundabout Brewery where we tasted their newest drafts. It is a little craft brewery in town, relatively new to town. They do growler fills of whatever is seasonal. I had an awesome cranberry wheat. I admit I enjoy a good fruit ear but this was tart and delicious without being sweet or overpowering. I would totally drink it again. And again! We also sampled the poor man's milk stout, which was tasty enough that we brought home a growler.
We continued up to Upper Lawerenceville to check out the Wild Purveyors -a cool shop selling locally sourced grocery goods. We saw them on Andrew Zimmerman's Pittsburgh show a few weeks ago, so it was cool to actually check out the shop.
The afternoon continued on with a mosey back to Lower Lawerenceville, stopping at several art galleries, crafty stores, florists, and the card store. The highlight of the trip was stopping at La Goumandine, the amazing French bakery on Butler Street. Everything in the cases looked like it came straight out of a boulangerie or patisserie from Paris. I picked up some baguette rolls for book club later this week and treated myself to an croissant aux amandes (almond croissant). Depspite the blustery snowy cold day in Pittsburgh I was taken back to our honeymoon in Paris before I even tasted it. I can't wait to go back -I see us stopping there again to pick up some French sandwiches on baguettes before going up to the reservoir for some geocaching this spring.
We finished up with a stop at Arsenal Cider House. Arsenal is quickly becoming a Pittsburgh celebrity putting ciders on tap all over town. We sampled 5 different ciders and an orange blossom mead. The mead wasn't overly sweet and had a nice floral nose. They had ciders in Apple, blueberry, and raspberry. The Christmas spiced cider put anything you have had from Woodchuck to shame. David is heading back this weekend to pick up a growler of the Christmas Cider for over the holiday. Get ready Kate!
This was a great opportunity to do two of my favorite things-eat cookies and shop local! Our walk up and down Butler gave us a3mile hike, making all the treats worth it! Maybe if you are (un)lucky your gift came from the land of the hipsters!
