There are many great things about social media, especially in times of isolation. I have built the majority of my following for Hoppy Boston through my social accounts, and met a ton of awesome people who have become virtual and in a few cases real-life friends. There is also a ton of crap on social […]
I am a huge nerd, and not just when it comes to beer. I am also a science nerd (the PhD in medicinal chemistry will do that), plus I love video games, everything Star Wars, and epic fantasy novels. One of the reasons I started writing Hoppy Boston was to get my non-science writing chops […]
Under normal circumstances, the news of arguably the greatest athlete in Boston sports history leaving in free agency would be the biggest topic of conversation in New England for weeks. Clearly, we aren’t living in normal times, and news of a pandemic makes anything to do with sports seem pretty insignificant. That being said, I’ve […]
This is a really tough time across the craft beer industry. With bars and on-premise taproom consumption cut off, breweries have lost two major sources of sales in an industry already marked by small margins and fierce competition. You can tell brewers and owners are nervous, even places that are widely considered to be the […]
Yesterday I posted about why it feels weird writing about beer with everything that is going on in the world, and why I am going to try and keep doing it anyway. I hope it provides a sliver of normalcy, something that is hard to come by right now. I am really missing sports right […]
Last week I wrote about my first visit to Lost Shoe Brewing and Roasting Company in Marlborough (spoiler alert, it is pretty awesome), and I thought I would follow up with formal reviews of a couple of their beers. I bought everything they had available to-go in cans, the big advantage of selling all of […]
You know what is one of the hardest parts of writing a blog about local beers for over 6 years? I lose track of which beers and breweries I have, or have not, written about. For example, I was sure I had written at least one review showcasing a beer from Vanished Valley, but I […]
As I’ve mentioned before I try to withhold judgment on my opinion of a brewery until I’ve tried a number of different beers across a range of styles. There have been too many instances where a brewery makes awesome hoppy beers but their offerings in other styles are mediocre or worse. On the other hand, […]
When you hear the names of popular New World hop varieties like Galaxy, Citra, Mosaic, and Nelson Sauvin it immediately brings to mind hop-bomb, hazy bodied New England style IPAs, the beer substyle that these hops are most associated with. Breweries like Jack’s Abby are trying to show that the intense citrus and tropical fruit […]
My ability to take trips to breweries feels like it has ground to a complete halt, aside from an occasional stop during a vacation. Life is just crazy right now between work and family commitments, even when I try to plan a brewery visit something usually comes up. Last Friday I was planning on using […]
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