Blue Hills Brewery makes a variety of ales and lagers from their brewery in Canton, MA. Named after the hills on the South shore of Massachusetts, they run tastings out of their brewery on Fridays and Saturdays, plus you can find their beer in bottles and on draft. Black Hops is a black IPA, one […]
Author: ryanbrawn
Beer Bar Review: The Kirkland Tap and Trotter, Somerville
The Kirkland Tap and Trotter is the brand new restaurant from Tony Maws (Craigie on Main) that recently opened in the Union Square neighborhood in Somerville. The theme of the restaurant is a rotating menu of fresh dishes, focusing on local, fresh and seasonal ingredients, with many making use of their hardwood grill. The price […]
Harpoon Saison Various
The Harpoon brewery is a staple of the Boston beer scene. Established in 1986 on the Boston waterfront they have become one of the biggest and most successful craft breweries in the country. It is hard to find a bar in Boston that doesn’t serve their popular English style IPA, unfiltered UFO beers, as well […]
Beer Bar Review: Five Horses Tavern, South End
When I first moved to Boston about ten years ago (and it makes me feel really old writing that), there were few bars that prided themselves on extensive beer selections. You would usually find a selection of macro-brewed light lagers, typical imports, and a few selections from Sam Adams and Harpoon. The explosion of New England microbreweries and interest in craft […]
Home-brew recipe: Hoppy Boston IPA
Home-brewing is a great hobby for any beer enthusiast, I think I have learned more about beer from brewing myself than I could ever learn just by tasting. You really learn the importance of different ingredients, how they are used, how much is used, and how it effects the final beer. Here is a recipe for my IPA, […]
Sam Adams Octoberfest
The focus of this blog is going to be new and exciting beers, but occasionally I’ll take a detour and review an old reliable standby, a beer that has been out for years, but you still want to go back to every once in a while and enjoy. Sam Adams has many of these beers, […]
Jack’s Abby Pro-Am Pilsner
Jack’s Abby believes in lager. Lagers use bottom fermenting yeast that give the best results at low temperatures over longer times, but provide beers with crisp, clean flavors that highlight the ingredients used. Jack’s Abby has re-imagined the lager style, brewing everything from traditional German styles to highly hopped lagers that are really a new […]
A note on beer reviews
Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet with a few beer reviews, I thought I’d write a quick note about what I hope to accomplish. The local (and national) craft beer market seems to change on a daily basis, with new brewers opening and new beers hitting the shelves. It has gotten to the point […]
Pretty Things/Yeastie Boys Our Turn Your Turn
With their interesting takes on traditional British, Belgian and American styles Pretty Things beer and ale project has emerged as one of the most popular microbreweries in the Boston area. Technically they aren’t a microbrewery, as there is no physical brewery (the beer is contract brewed at Buzzard’s Bay brewery in Westport, MA), thus the […]
Review: Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Smuttynose Brewing company has been making quality beer in Portsmouth, NH since 1994, specializing in traditional English ales. With the explosion in popularity of craft beers Smuttynose has branched out with their big beer series as well as inventive seasonal brews. Smuttynose beers are now distributed up and down the East coast and into the […]
Hoppy Boston 