New England breweries that established themselves before the haze-craze took full effect have interesting decisions to make; do they stick to the hoppy beers that established their brand or do they make the juice-bombs that many drinkers are craving? The decision is probably a little easier for breweries that brew English style or even West […]
On Monday I posted a write-up on my recent visit to Amory’s Tomb, the Maynard establishment that specializes in saisons and other Belgian styles. The day before my visit Amory’s Tomb released three beers in bottles, all part of their barrel program. The importance of the barrels is obvious at Amory’s Tomb, a stack of […]
Between my crazy work schedule and having two young kids at home my brewery visits have become few and far between. My list of new breweries I want to check out and favorites I need to get back to has gotten really long. One that has been high on my list for a while was […]
Although the craft beer marketplace is getting very crowded and competitive, I think there are a number of opportunities for smart breweries to stand out by doing things that are a little different. One underutilized style is hop-forward but well balanced and easy drinking session beers. There are obviously some great examples of these, but […]
As the New England-style IPA gains more popularity and market share a certain segment of craft beer geeks spend more and more time and energy trying to tear down the substyle. One common criticism is that the beers are all essentially the same, similar malt bills, yeast strains, and a subset of popular hop varieties. […]
This year has seen a number of new breweries open across the state, some with fully equipped taprooms and others as contract brands, making and packaging their beer at other breweries and relying on distribution. My life is completely crazy right now so my brewery visits have been limited, and many of the new taproom-only […]
After focusing a lot of my winter writing (and drinking) on bold, boozy, and malty dark beers I switched gears this spring, as I usually do once the weather starts to warm. I drank a whole hodgepodge of styles over the last three months, hop-bombs, Belgians, lagers, I even wrote up the first English style […]
The most read, discussed and debated post on Hoppy Boston this month was my Thoughts on Beer Ratings and Beer Reviews. One minor clarification, since a few people have misunderstood. I don’t have a problem with people using Untappd to keep track of their beer preferences, I have an issue with people who use the […]
I am a big fan of dark lagers, I love the combination of roasted malt flavor in a clean lager body. Unfortunately, relatively few brewers take on dark lager styles, most of the craft lager beers are light styles like pilsner and Helles lager or cross-over “IPLs” that are loaded with hops. From what I’ve […]
Small Change Brewing, a small contract brewery based out of Somerville, is celebrating one year in operation this month. In a nearly saturated beer market, it is tough for any new brewery to make a big impression, especially a contract firm who can’t rely on the draw of a taproom, but Small Change has managed […]
