Last Friday Mystic Brewing in Chelsea announced that they would be closing the brewery and stopping production of the brand’s beers this month, shocking many local beer enthusiasts. Earlier this week I wrote some thoughts on the brewery, their impact on me as a beer geek, and what this means for the local beer scene. […]
Category: Opinion
Some Thoughts on Mystic Brewery
In case you missed the big news that dropped on Friday afternoon, Mystic Brewery founder Bryan Greenhagen announced on Facebook and Instagram that he would be closing the brewery and taproom and ceasing production of the Mystic brand of beers. Greenhagen later jumped on a Beer Advocate message board and shared some of the reasons […]
How my craft beer journey started.
Craft beer Twitter can occasionally be a cesspool of bad-faith arguments and hype worship, but at it’s best it is a great community of passionate beer fans having interesting and engaging discussions on a variety of topics. One thought-provoking series of recent Twitter threads discussed how you started on your path to becoming a beer […]
Craft Beer Isn’t Dying
Last week Simon Nielsen, the head brewer of Central Waters Brewing in Wisconsin, wrote an opinion piece for The Growler Magazine that generated some buzz on craft beer social media. He argued that craft beer was dying, that the innovation and spirit that highlighted the rise of craft beer has faded into a monoculture that […]
Session Beers Are Awesome
My latest article for The Full Pint details the reasons I love session beers and think they are an important part of the growth of craft beer, with an assist from session beer master brewer Chris Lohring from Notch Brewing! Previous Full Pint Articles: 16 Massachusetts That Need To Be On Your Radar Brewery Profile: […]
Poll: Biggest Oversight In My Underrated Breweries Article
I recently published an article on The Full Pint highlighting 16 Massachusetts breweries that make spectacular beer but don’t get enough hype. The response has been phenomenal, but the most common comment has been “what about Brewery X?” I mentioned in the article that I could have easily mentioned 20 more places, there are so […]
Sixteen Massachusetts Breweries That Need To Be On Your Radar
My latest article for The Full Pint profiles sixteen Massachusetts breweries that aren’t part of the online hype cycle or the darlings of beer trading circles but make stellar beers! Previous Full Pint Articles: Brewery Profile: Tree House Brewing Company Brewery Profile: Night Shift Brewing Company Brewery Profile: Jack’s Abby Brewing Company and the Springdale […]
Drink More Saison This Spring
Last month I wrote an article about breaking away from the craft beer hype culture, the subculture that worships a few select breweries and ignores the rest, even many that make amazing beer. I focused most of the article on the fetish breweries, asking people caught in the hype cycles to try branching out and […]
How we can break the craft beer hype cycle
I’ve had a number of conversations recently about the craft beer hype cycle, where certain breweries and beer styles get an inordinate amount of attention on social media, beer rating sites and in trading circles. The hype around these breweries results in long lines and big money for these select establishments, while other breweries that […]
How hard is it to name a new beer?
There is constant discussion on beer-related social media about beer names. Some names are childish, misogynistic or disgusting in other ways. Other names (and artwork) are blatant violations of intellectual property. Then you run into the issue of repeated names, where multiple breweries have beers with the exact same name. Many breweries complain that it […]