Every November I travel up to Vermont with a group of my college buddies, we’ve been doing this trip for many years but it has evolved over time. For one thing, now we each get our own hotel room instead of sleeping 4-5 guys to a room like we did in our early 20’s. I’ve […]
Author: ryanbrawn
Idle Hands Brunhilda
I have a pretty extensive collection of beer glasses. My workhorse glasses are all custom made and Hoppy Boston branded, but I have an entire shelf full of glasses from my favorite local breweries. Usually by the second time I visit a brewery, or the first visit if it’s a place that distributes and I […]
Foley Brothers Long Beards
We’ve hit the toughest stretch of the year, the holidays are over but we still have 2-3 months of cold and dark weather before things start moving towards spring. One positive note, it’s stout season! I love rich, dark and malty beers. While I enjoy the imperial and bourbon barrel aged varieties of stout, and […]
The Best Beers I Reviewed in 2020: Ranked!
With all of the crap that happened in 2020 I struggled to write diverse content on Hoppy Boston, my goal to write more features and fewer beer reviews failed miserably. Fortunately I still drank a ton of new-to-me beers, and many of the best and most interesting beers I reviewed on the blog. I thought […]
Random Beer Thoughts: December 2020
The combination of some time off from work, so more time to look at social media, and a bunch of year-end pieces means much more content for my (slightly late) beer thoughts and links column in December. Look forward to some year-end stuff from me in the next week or so, I have a couple […]
Bent Water Strange Brew 7
As the popularity of craft beer has grown so has the rise in beer pairings. The most common is food and beer, from fancy multi-course beer dinners to pairings of beer with Halloween candy. While food is an obvious choice there are also beer pairings to go with the seasons, specific weather, special events or […]
Backlash Defy the Odds
This year has been rough for most people and for many businesses, especially those in the hospitality industry. With government-based relief far from certain and many more months before things return to any approximation of “normal”, 2021 promises to be another tough year. This will probably have a lasting impact on the craft beer industry, […]
Black Hog Hazy Ale
IPAs with low bitterness, loads of tropical and citrus flavors and aromas, and a hazy/murky appearance have taken craft beer by storm over the past few years. Breweries all over the world have adopted the sub-style, but there is still some debate on the proper name for these beers. Many breweries use descriptive titles like […]
Notch Tmavy
With the pandemic shutting down or severely limiting the capacity of taprooms many breweries are finding creative ways to get the beers they brew into the hands of their customers. Some traditional methods continue, like distribution to liquor stores and limited draft sales at restaurants. Beer-to-go at the breweries has continued with carside/no-contact pickups encouraged. […]
Burlington Mahogany and Tweed
I love imperial stouts aged in bourbon barrels, and apparently I am not the only one, it seems like every brewery that has space for barrel aging starts by putting a big stout into bourbon barrels. While many of these beers are amazing, the number one thing I love about craft beer is the variety, […]
