-There was a good article by Aaron Goldfarb discussing how rarity seems to drive high ratings on Beer Advocate (and similar sites like Rate Beer and Untappd). If you look at the Beer Advocate Top 100 you will find a common theme, they are beers you probably won’t find in your local bottle shop. It is unfortunate […]
Author: ryanbrawn
Notch Dog and Pony Show
My wife and I had a somewhat rare treat the other weekend, a child-free afternoon thanks to my in-laws, so we did a little date day (it was also the 6-year anniversary of our first date so we had a good reason to celebrate). We decided to head up to Salem, get some lunch and […]
Oxbow Barrel Aged Farmhouse Pale Ale
I’ll be traveling up to Maine for Thanksgiving again and hopefully stopping at a brewery or two as part of the trip. One place that I’ve been meaning to visit is Oxbow Brewing in Newcastle. I’ve heard great things about their eclectic Belgian style beers, but the brewery is a little off of the beaten […]
RiverWalk Blackberry Porter
In you told me a few years ago how many fruit infused beers I would drink and enjoy, I would have never believed you. In fairness, the majority of fruit beers on the market even a few years ago were still lighter wheat ales with massive doses of cloying artificial fruit flavor. Over the last couple […]
Berkley Red Rye Ale
After a rough night/day following the turmoil of this country’s political process it’s nice to be back writing about beer. I won’t share any election thoughts, this is strictly a beer blog and I’d like to keep it that way. I think we all could use a couple of beers with friends, or even invite some people with […]
Mystic Kanzu
I am a somewhat regular participant in a twitter beer chat on Thursday nights that starts around 9 PM EST. It’s a fun place to chat about beer, anyone is welcome to chime in, just follow the hashtag #beerchat and answer the questions posed by whomever is hosting. A recent topic was coffee beers, with […]
Exhibit A The Cat’s Meow and Demo Tape 5
It is somewhat surreal walking into Exhibit A Brewing Company in Framingham for the first time, if you’ve been a patron of local breweries you’ll probably get a sense of deja vu. That is due to the fact that the Exhibit A space used to be Jack’s Abby, before they moved into their bigger brewery. […]
Spencer Festive Lager
I was really glad when I heard that Spencer Brewing, the only Trappist brewery in the US, ditched their plan to brew only one beer style and started branching out. I really enjoyed their Holiday Ale and looked forward to trying some of their new releases. I was a hoping that they would focus on […]
Notch Infinite Jest
I’ve been able to visit a number of new or new-to-me breweries over the last couple months, trimming down the list of places I needed to try for the first time (of course the list of places that I need to visit again seems to get longer and longer). One place that I still haven’t […]
Random Beer Thoughts-October 2016
-When I visit a brewery that doesn’t can/bottle their beer yet I have found myself gravitating towards 32 oz. half-growlers instead of the full 64 oz. big-boys. I realize that this is typically less cost-effective, but would rather have 2 pints of 2 different beers than the 64 oz. commitment to a single style. -On that […]
Hoppy Boston 