My style of the month reviews should follow the trend I’ve established on Hoppy Boston, I will focus on New England beers and mix in a few national favorites that are available in the Boston area. Some less common styles might necessitate fewer local reviews, but that won’t be much of an issue for a […]
Author: ryanbrawn
Night Shift Awake
I am starting a new feature on Hoppy Boston, each month I will pick a different beer style as the focus of my reviews. I’ll still mix it up to keep pace with interesting new releases, but the style of the month will dominate. I am going to try and stick to some less-heralded styles, I want to find more […]
Mystic De Varenne
It looks like Mystic Brewery is undergoing a bit of a re-branding, new bottle art, an updated website and some new additions to the line-up of beers. As an aside, my two favorite Mystic beers (Mary of the Gael and Day of Doom) are not listed on the website, I would be very disappointed if […]
Brewmaster Jack Tennessee Prinse
I love a well made bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout as much as anyone, but it is definitely not a unique beer style anymore. When they are well done the combination of bourbon and malt is delicious, but there are way too many mediocre versions on the market. Instead off adding to the glut, I would love […]
Maine Beer Co. Mean Old Tom
Paste magazine has been running a series of articles where they have a panel of drinkers blind-taste test a number of beers in a particular style and then rate them. I love that the tastings are all blind, it eliminates any preconceptions about what “should be” good so the beers are rated by their flavor not […]
Slumbrew Yankee Swap 2015
As more breweries open or expand and competition for the attention of drinkers continues to increase it is important for a brewery to have a calling-card beer. While flagship beers will make up the bulk of sales and be a good introduction to the brand, having a seasonal or rotating release that people look forward to trying […]
Trillium Scaled Up
I wish I could drink each beer 3-4 times from different batches before I reviewed it. I suppose I could, but it would mean writing far fewer articles. Every so often I try a beer and something about it tastes “off” to me, it can be actual off flavors in the beer (oxidation, contamination, etc.), that the beer was […]
Down The Road Hooligan Nut Brown
Between getting older, drinking less and lack of sleep (the final two directly related to the birth of my son) I have become kind of a lightweight with respect to my alcohol tolerance. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and really doesn’t effect me very often, I just have to be more careful monitoring my intake, […]
Notch Cerne Pivo
There is a misconception amongst some beer drinkers that dark colored beers are higher in alcohol than lighter colored beers. I still remember being shocked many years ago when I found out the Guinness Draught was lower in alcohol than Bud Light. Apparently some brewers also believe that dark beers need to be heavy and loaded with booze, the […]
Hidden Cove Derogation
I recently reviewed Castoff, a session IPA from Hidden Cove Brewery in Wells, ME. The beer was good, a solid addition to the stable of easy to drink, hop-forward beers that have recently become a staple of the beer market. As part of the article I did issue a general criticism of breweries entering new […]
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