I don’t have much of a preamble ahead of my beer thoughts and links article for May, just plugging away through another month in quarantine. Hope everyone is getting by and continuing to enjoy an occasional, or more than occasional, local beer. Here are some interesting links and thoughts on what is going on in […]
Every year on Black Friday there is a major set of barrel-aged beer releases from one of the biggest former-craft breweries in the country. Some people still go crazy for those beers (although many languish on store shelves), but I have started a new post-Thanksgiving tradition. Every year we go to visit my parents in […]
In an increasingly competitive craft beer market it can be advantageous for a newer brewery to establish a niche, a particular subgroup of beer styles that they specialize in and can be immediately identifiable with their brand. The issue is, as the brewery grows this niche can be limiting, but stepping outside can confuse customers […]
My number one and number two goals for Hoppy Boston in 2020 are to write more about Massachusetts beers and to visit more local breweries, especially those I’ve never been to and those I haven’t been back to in way too long. One brewery that is high on the must-visit-soon list is River Styx in […]
There are parts of the state that I frequent, MetroWest where I live, Cambridge where I work, the North Shore where my in-laws live, so when I actually get the chance to visit a brewery the places located in those areas tend to be more likely stops. To be fair, I do a crappy job […]
I am finally finishing up my series of articles and reviews covering the beers I grabbed on my trip to Maine at the end of August. Good timing too, I am headed back to Maine next week for a big reunion of my college rugby club, and I will absolutely be grabbing some more delicious […]
There are very few beers that reach true unicorn status, where people will literally camp out by the brewery in order to assure their ability to purchase the beer on release day. One beer that was very much in that category for years was Dinner, the double IPA from Maine Beer Company. Before their recent […]
Although the craft beer marketplace is getting very crowded and competitive, I think there are a number of opportunities for smart breweries to stand out by doing things that are a little different. One underutilized style is hop-forward but well balanced and easy drinking session beers. There are obviously some great examples of these, but […]
After focusing a lot of my winter writing (and drinking) on bold, boozy, and malty dark beers I switched gears this spring, as I usually do once the weather starts to warm. I drank a whole hodgepodge of styles over the last three months, hop-bombs, Belgians, lagers, I even wrote up the first English style […]
Over the years I’ve dabbled a bit in homebrewing. Right after college my roommate and I bought a starter kit and tried to make a few batches of beer, the results varied from decent to so bad that a group of guys in their early 20’s dumped it out. My buddy went to medical school, […]
