Clara Raubertas // Freelance Web Design, Web Development, and Web Consulting // Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts clara raubertas design. development. consulting.

This weekend brought me a handful of new T stops, visited both deliberately and in the course of my other adventures. I spent Friday afternoon working at a cafe in the Charles MGH area (the last new-to-me Red Line stop that’s on both lines!); its architectural feel is a pleasant mix of modern urban business district and (literally centuries-)old-school upscale rowhouses.

I’d also heard great things about “that liquor store at Charles MGH”, as friends had been describing it, so I stopped by. The store did not disappoint! They had two entire walls lined with single bottles of beer, including a lot of fancy/unusual brews. I’ve been a deficient beer geek (and hop lover!) in that I haven’t yet had a chance to try 120 Minute IPA, so I was excited to be able to pick up a bottle — though at 20% alcohol, I haven’t yet found the right time to try it.

Saturday Jesse, Sam, and I spent the afternoon on an odyssey of many-transit-typed adventures around the city. We first went to an art space in the South End to see more of this guy’s work (first encountered at Somerville Open Studios). We hit the Silver Line to uber-terminal Dudley Station for lunch — though the Silver Line isn’t a T stop for the purpose of my transit project (the Silver Line is not a train, my friends! it is merely a bus laboring under the *delusion* that it is a train!).

Post-lunch we took one of Dudley’s approximately 7234582910 buses to Roxbury, where much to our dismay The Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Center was closed. Another time! The visit was not in vain, however, since on our way to the Stonybrook Orange Line stop (in a pretty neat place, across from a cutely-landscaped park), we accidentally walked by the Sam Adams brewery and accidentally got free beer (they were asking visitors to vote between two samples of beer, only one of which can make it into next year’s officially-marketed lineup). Nom nom nom!

Since our evening plans were in Somerville (and since this was a stop I hadn’t yet visited), we rode the Orange Line all the way across town to Sullivan Square. Like Dudley, Sullivan is a mega-transfer point, where many bus lines have their termini; unlike Dudley, Sullivan, as far as we could tell, offers absolutely no motive for visiting other than transferring to a bus. So, that’s what we did!

Yesterday we picked up a six-pack of Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, which is definitely one of my favorite beers (it’s my usual at the Common Ground in Allston, home of Monday Night Trivia and Friday’s 90s’ Nite). It’s extremely hoppy, which I always like, but the hoppy bitterness is balanced by a malty sweetness, and the hops impart a floral aroma — it’s simultaneously sweet and tart and smooth and a flavor I can’t quite name, reminiscent of earth and wood.

Racer 5 features Cascade and Columbus hops; since I like hoppy beers so much and we’re getting more into brewing, I’m trying to develop a more discriminating taste for different types of hops. As far as I can tell, Cascade is a featured hop in many of my favorite bitter-yet-florally-balanced ales (well, some might disagree about “balanced”). The beer we’re going to start brewing tonight (from the bible of homebrew) features Cascade as well, so I’ll be getting to know that hop better — Bear Republic’s website says that “Cascade is the balance that ties the malt and bittering hops together” in Racer 5, and I hope it will balance our next project as deliciously.