The last night of the Craft Brewer Conference in Boston, I went out to dinner with some friends, including Greg Koch (from Stone Brewing), Tom McCormick (from the CSBA) and Nancy Johnson (from the Brewers Association) and several new friends.

The Roadhouse Craft Beer & BBQ is a sister restaurant to the wonderful Publick House, just a block away in the Boston suburb of Brookline.

The gang at our table. Yes, I had frites, you can read the review, of course.

The evening was actually an event for Shorts Brewing in Bellaire, Michigan. Of those I tried, I most enjoyed the Rich’s Rye IPA, made with a generous 40% rye malt, though the Huma-Lupa-Licious IPA was quite nice, too.

Tom McCormick and Nancy Johnson, begging for a new birthday photo (since I’ve been using the same one since New Orleans).

Next door to the Roadhouse was the Publick House’s bottle shop.

While waiting for our cab back to downtown, Todd Alstrom and Greg Koch engaged in what I learned was a time-honored tradition where they punch one another in the arm, a contest I should hasten to point out Greg never wins. Here, Greg waits in anticipation of the blow to come.

Todd kept his perfect record that night, too.