Last weekend I stopped at Craft Beer Cellar in West Hartford, Connecticut on my way home from a business trip and grabbed a number of local beers that are not distributed to Massachusetts yet. One of the beers I was most excited to try was Sea Hag, an IPA from New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, CT. I have […]
Category: Beer Review
Cambridge Brewing Company Sgt. Pepper
Cambridge Brewing Company has developed a reputation for brewing some great barrel-aged and wild fermented beers. Due to limitations in cellar capacity most of these beers have been brewed on small scales, and the only way to sample the majority of them has been to travel to the brewpub in Kendall Square. That is about to change with a […]
Dogfish Head Sixty-One
Like many other beer drinkers on the East Coast I was introduced to hop-forward IPAs in part by Dogfish Head Brewing and their seminal 60 Minute (and 90 Minute) IPAs. That beer was one of my “wow” beers, the brews that changed my view on what beer can and should be. Hop-forward beers were my first true beer obsession, and […]
Mayflower Squanto
I’ve written a number of articles about the evolution of established local breweries in the wake of increased competition. Another interesting case is Mayflower Brewing Company in Plymouth, MA. For years Mayflower was known for a solid lineup of no-nonsense, traditional British beer styles, led by their outstanding Mayflower Porter. Over the last few years they have expanded their seasonal line-up, with strong showings from […]
Jack’s Abby Maibock Hurts Like Helles
I am a frequent participant in a craft beer chat on twitter that takes place most Thursday nights at 9 PM EST. Everyone is welcome, you can follow along/participate in the chat using the #beerchat hashtag. Last week one of the questions was about potential emerging trends in the beer industry, and I opined that […]
Brewmaster Jack Ambrewsia
This beer review is blog post #300 on Hoppy Boston. I am proud to be almost two years into writing this blog and going strong. I am still having a blast tasting beer, writing reviews and trying to mix in other types of posts to keep things fresh. Thank you all for reading and for your […]
Otter Creek Backseat Berner
The local beer scene continues to evolve. It seems like a new brewery opens in the area every month. This brings increased competition along with innovation, many of the new breweries are producing unique and flavorful brews. It also puts the onus on established breweries to continue to evolve in order to stay relevant. One of the most extreme examples of this […]
Cape Ann Dead-Eye DIPA
I don’t make it up to Gloucester, MA very often, but I have had a couple of fun afternoons in this quintessential harborside New England fishing village. Most of these treks have been in the spring for St. Peter’s Fiesta, the Gloucester fisherman’s festival. The Italian American community in the area hosts the festival every year in honor […]
Singlecut Billy Half-Stack IPA
As a brewery grows and their capacity expands, eventually they are presented with the opportunity to begin or expand distribution outside of their home state. Unfortunately each state has their own series of regulations, laws, licensing and other bureaucratic BS, so it’s important for a brewery to be strategic in regards to when and how they grow. As […]
Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin
Last summer saw a huge rise in availability/popularity of the shandy and radler beer styles, which are beers mixed with citrusy fruit juice or fruit flavored soda. This trend has met a mixed response from beer enthusiasts. Radler fans have started the twitter hashtag #teamradler to try and raise awareness and excitement about fun new examples of the style. Others have opined that commercial […]
Hoppy Boston 