Category: Opinion

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 […]

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 […]

It happened again this weekend. I opened a can of NEIPA from a brewery that has produced a number of beers I enjoyed in the past. I took a quick whiff to check for that pungent burst of hops that made me fall in love with hoppy beers and I got almost nothing. A bigger […]

There is a small but very vocal group of beer drinkers and craft brewers that are strongly against beer flights, the series of taster-sized glasses many breweries offer as a way to sample a variety of styles without ordering full pints. These anti-flighters routinely bash the idea of flights on social media and often brag […]

One of my most popular and fun to write regular columns on Hoppy Boston is my monthly random beer thoughts and links. Each month I review the big and small events in the local and national beer scene, link to some of my favorite beer articles from the month, and add some thoughts and commentary. […]

2018 was a great year for Hoppy Boston. I celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the launch of the site, and it was by far the best year in terms of total page views, exceeding my expectations by a substantial amount. I also started writing a semi-regular article for The Full Pint, which has been […]

I was going to include the Trillium stuff from this week in my monthly news/notes/links column coming on Thursday but there was way too much to unwrap, so I decided to write a separate post. Here it goes. It has been a crazy week for Trillium Brewing Company, one of the most popular and sought […]

Last month I wrote a fun (for me at least) article pairing some of my favorite Pearl Jam songs with local craft beers. I immediately wanted to follow it up with some similar articles based on the work of my other favorite bands. While Pearl Jam is my all time favorite band as a whole, […]