Some call it Friends-giving, others get right to the point and call it Drinks-giving. We’re weird so we call it “The Night Before Turkmas!” And it has become a bit of a tradition around here to celebrate the Bounty of the Hop Harvest with you! We’ll be releasing “Hops in the Locks” our community hopyard beer along with some festive cocktails!
Jump to the Good Stuff…
Maybe I was too young to realize it was a thing, maybe it didn’t used to be a thing. As far as I knew, everyone simply slogged through their awkward Thanksgiving family dinner, smiling politely, offering to do dishes just to get away from crazy Uncle Joe, urgently changing the topic whenever Aunt Claire brought up politics or Cecilia started proselytizing. Faking a nap. Whatever it took.
Once the food coma subsides and order is restored to the kitchen - or you just get sick of looking at that pile of dishes in the sink - you go get a drink and compare crazy family stories with your friends. But then someone got the idea, hey – why don’t we simply GATHER WITH PEOPLE WE ACTUALLY LIKE before all that drama! And Friendsgiving was born!
Here’s the thing though. The name doesn’t make sense. You are not replacing the Thanks with Friends. If anything, Thanks-friend-ing…erm…Thanks-friend-sing? No too many syllables. From the start, we just decided to put the patented Luppoleto weirdness stamp on it and call it, “The Night Before Turkmas” cuz it made Jen laugh when I said it. Ok maybe she didn’t laugh but she smirked. And that was good enough for me.
Hops in the Locks - Fresh Hopped Community IPA, In cans & on Lukr Side-Pull
Luppoleto means “hop field” in Italian; a reference to James' Italian Heritage and the 60 hop rhizomes we planted when we first started home brewing (Full Story Here). We dreamt of building a farm brewery where patrons could sip beer in the hop fields, but our modest budget forced us to start small (in a plaza) and get creative about the hop field. So we outsourced the hop growing, one plant at a time, to members of the community. Since we opened, we’ve distributed more than 100 clippings from those original plants to folks, primarily in Windsor Locks, to grow in their own yards. Come August / September, our community growers bring their harvest to the brewery and we brew 2 special beers with them.
The first beer is a malty fresh hopped IPA, called Hops in the Locks the second is a hoppy red ale, called Putting Down Roots (inspired by Sierra Nevada Celebration). Hops in the Locks will be tapped Wednesday and be served on Lukr Side Pull for an extra special creamy drinking experience. We’ll have cans of Hops in the Locks available for you to bring home to your Thanskgiving Feast and - ya know - take the edge off debates with Aunt Claire.
We also have a limited supply of Bierzucca, our Belgian-Style Pumpkin Ale still available.
Luppoleto ELITE Bocce Players already know, but for the rest of you, Wednesdays are cocktail night. We whip up some specialty drinks featuring fresh ingredients and Spirts from Connecticut Distilleries. This week’s menu is super-sized to accommodate some extra festive imbibements.
Agave Spirit / Cranberries / Lime / Agave Syrup / Salt / Orange Bitters
Cocoa Infused Vodka / Double Strong Cold Brew Coffee / Cream (optional)
Gin / Rhubarb / Rhubarb Syrup / Nutmeg / Anise / Cardamom Bitters / San Pelligrino
Vodka / Aranciata / Orange Sours / Angostura Bitters
Cranberry Marg with a Bouillon Cube
Really James, Is a Margarita really festive? Well, yes when you pair it with a tasty burrito from Sabores! Come enjoy the night before Turkmas with us! And no, the Turkmas Dinner is not a real drink. Jen wouldn’t let me do it. But thanks for reading ‘til the end and a tip of the anglers cap to HIMYM for the silly Bouillon drink idea.
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