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Here’s What Happens at Two Roads Brewing’s Content Creator Day

Andrew Dominick August 09, 2022

Daybreaker vodka cocktail on the left, shandy (helles lager + lemonade) on the right

Two Roads Brewing Company barely needs an introduction. Chances are, if you live in Connecticut you’ve been at least once, or if you’re an out-of-stater hitting up a bunch of breweries, Two Roads is likely on your list of places to pound a pint.

Since 2012, though, Two Roads has really come a long way from being known as one of Connecticut’s O.G. craft breweries. Not only is it the largest in terms of square footage and production, Two Roads has a bunch of accolades to boot, including local accolades in Connecticut Magazine for 2020’s Best Brewery and Best Beer that same year with its unfiltered, tropical bomb of a double IPA that you know as Two Juicy. Nationally, Two Roads was named one of Paste Magazine’s 10 best breweries in America. And if that’s not enough, plenty of their beers aren’t only highly rated in reputable publications, but they win awards.

The Hop Yard, located between the main brewery and Area Two, is a great place to hang out on a nice day. Yes, it’s called “The Hop Yard” because those vines you see on right are actual hops.

In 2019, Two Roads opened Area Two Experimental Brewing just a parking lot away from the main facility, where sours, barrel-aged beers, and other trippy liquids are created—trust me I’ve had more than a few of those, including one that tasted like a birthday cake and another that was brewed in the style of a classic Manhattan cocktail, and Two Roads served it like one, too.

You get it by now. They’re a big deal, and there’s no disputing that whether you’re a Two Roads regular or if you’re not.

Giant Jenga makes it an official biergarten

Cornhole makes it an even more official biergarten

Now that that’s out of the way, what I’m here to dish on is what happens on Content Creator Day. It’s a special day that Two Roads has hosted for two straight years, beginning in 2021. Don’t get it twisted, it’s not a bunch of influencers using their cube lights in broad daylight (you know who you are and please stop doing it), but rather a mixed group of food and beer writers, some (insert eye roll) Instagram influencers, and even some good folks who work at other excellent Connecticut breweries that get the invite.

The point of it all—besides being a really smart marketing idea by Two Roads—is to make connections while breaking bread or in this case, cracking open several beers for cheers, and by exploring the campus via private tours if you haven’t done so before.

That’s a big intro. But seriously, here’s what goes down on Content Creator Day!

4 p.m. Starving after a workout and in anticipation of pizza. Stuck between wanting to eat but wanting to eat my body weight in pizza. Chose not to eat.

4:01 p.m. Google Maps says it’s 50 MINUTES TO GET TO TWO ROADS?! I’m only in Norwalk! Uttered something about there “being traffic for no reason” and how much “I fucking hate I-95.”

4:30 p.m. Oh. Got lucky on the highway for once. Only took 25 minutes! I need a beer!

5:00 p.m. Check-in at the Hop Yard. Finally got to meet the amazing Kat Manning, who runs Two Roads’ social media. She takes great photos and posts engaging content on their channels. She also loves beer. We’ll get along great.

5:03 p.m. Order up! I needed something light on an empty stomach, so I went with a homemade shandy. Two Roads’ version was their Cruise Control Helles Lager mixed with lemonade. Others elected to mess with some beer slushy concoction.

5:04 p.m. Take a sip of the shandy. Take a serious brewery selfie just because.

5:15 p.m. Sucked that back relatively fast. Let’s dial it up from 3.5% ABV to an 8.2% Two Juicy that was buried deep in an ice-filled cooler. The hops went down way too smooth on an overcast, kinda humid day. We’re here to drink, so whatever.

Got to meet some cool beer geeks for the first time, too. Shoutout to Brandon of Bald Bites and Carlee who runs events at Dockside Brewery.

5:30 p.m. Tours of the main brewery and Area Two commence! Some of us, including myself, stayed behind. I’ve done the tours before and have even gotten a few of the wayyy back parts of the brewery that Two Roads wouldn’t want the public to see. Secret stuff.

5:31 p.m. Sampled some of Two Roads’ Daybreaker Cocktails, that I somehow was almost in a photoshoot for recently. My modeling career will have to wait. Live music kicked off around this time, courtesy of JULAI and the Serotones.

5:35 p.m. People started hula-hooping. And by “people” I mean this guy and my friend, Raenah, who you might know at Stamford Foodie. Here’s the Stamford Foodie gif you never knew you needed until now.

From around 5:45 – 6:56 there was just a lot of talking, networking, social media-ing. I kept shooting pics and kept knocking back beers. One of those beers was Twoquila, an Area Two brew, that’s their Persian Lime Gose (that’s a sour) that’s aged in tequila barrels from Jalisco, Mexico. The finished product has a margarita vibe, as it takes on tequila and sweet blue agave characteristics from the oak barrels. It’s become a favorite of mine.

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6:57 p.m. Across the street from the brewery is PizzaCo. It’s very good wood-fired Neapolitan-ish pizza. They hooked us up with a few dozen assorted pizzas. A couple crowd faves were the Smashed Potato and their buffalo chicken.

Marg in the front, Green Light! (ricotta, mozz, spinach, garlic) in the back

7:22 p.m. Isabelle (Isabelle’s Plate) takes the best pizza eating photo I’ve ever seen. None of us could ever look this cool scarfing down a slice.

7:54 p.m. There’s more music! West End Blend is a great funk/soul band. Big time New Orleans energy here. I can see why the area outside of our section drew a crowd. Definitely check them out if they’re playing near you!

7:55 p.m. Oh, there are people playing in a kiddie pool…because…BUBBLES! Wands, bubble guns. I can dig that. That’s fun.

7:57 p.m. There’s a guy—who wasn’t part of the content crew—who swiped a slice of our pizza! Wtf! But wait…he has the slice in his pocket. While dancing. I can’t decide if this is weird or really awesome.

Dancing, too! Like I said, the bands were fantastic!

7:58 p.m. Girl tries to bite the guy’s slice out of his pocket. This is awesome.

TIME GAP cuz we all just kept eating pizza.

Smashed Potato: mashed potatoes, bacon, caramelized onions, mozz, cheddar

8:30 p.m. Out come the vault beers. Kat went into Area Two to grab a trio of cellared sours in Jambic (lambic style of Road Jam with raspberry and lemongrass aged for 20 months in oak barrels), Second Life (black raspberries and Montmorency sour cherries in a foudre with a two-year-old Area Two experimental beer, then aged another eight months) and Blood Peach (a lambic with blood peaches).

I’ve had all of these on premise and in bottles to-go. This was different because we got to try each one, but two different years of each.

8:36 (or something) p.m. until 9 p.m. One guy who no one seemed to know voiced his dislike of sours. He’s obviously insane. These are delicious. The rest of us kept sampling sours and eating pizza. My pizza slice consumption total: 17. I’m not even a little bit ashamed.

There’s your inside look at Two Roads’ Content Creator Day. Big ups to Two Roads and to Kat for a fun filled summer day and for the epic night’s sleep that followed.

See you soon, Two Roads and Area Two!

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