Mrs. Adventures and I waited until the last minute to book our anniversary celebration week in Ocean City, Maryland. The weather forecast looked promising, so we boldly headed south for a socially distant week in Maryland’s favorite ocean-side resort.

Check-in was not until 3:00 PM, so we stopped for a take-out lunch and a “quick” stop at Burley Oak Brewing Company in Berlin, MD. Intending to drive around and find a parking spot at Burley Oak, we accidentally got stuck in the can release line. After 20 minutes or so, we put on our masks and I ordered a 4-pack of Nightmare Jream.

Note: Whenever I’m in Ocean City, I plan to stop at Burley Oak and try a few samples of their exceptional beers. The long line to get in and packed outside seating changed my mind.

For dinner, I had a Nightmare with pizza. I have always enjoyed the juicy jream series and this was no exception. It is advertised as a sour ale with blueberry, blackberry, boysenberry, black current, and marshmallow lactose. Like all the jreams, it has a hint of sour but is countered by a bright sweetness from tons of fruit. Also, the blackberries with their distinct seedy, grainy, and bitter flavor stood out to give this sour ale character and depth. The lactose offers a smooth creaminess making for a fine, delicious beer. It’s not an ideal companion to pizza, so I saved most of the pint for an after-dinner treat. Just a word of warning, one pint is perfect, two can prove an abdominal challenge with all the fruit and sour yeast.

We had several days of beautiful 70℉ weather, with long walks on the beach, pods of porpoise swimming offshore, and only rare sightings of other people. The delightful weather changed when the remains of Hurricane Zeta crashed our party, bringing whitecaps, winds, and lots and lots of rain.

A week in OC in late fall was a great time, thanks in part to unexpected warm weather and sparse vacationers – I guess these are the upsides of Covid and global warming.

Cheers!

Warren