Many breweries start with some version of a standard story, a few friends who are avid home-brewers get together, experiment with some recipes and jot down a business plan that slowly builds into the opening of the brewery. 14th Star Brewing Company in St. Albans, VT has a similar story but with a little twist, the planning started in […]
Tag: Amber Ale
Homebrew Recipe: Hoppy Fall Take 2
Two years ago I brewed a hoppy amber ale that I named Hoppy Boston Hoppy Fall. The final beer was good, but I am a relentless tinkerer and there were a few things that I thought could be better, so I started working on a new version. The beer was designed to smell like an IPA and […]
Atlantic Leaf-Peeping Ale
Although Boston is my home now, I am originally from a very touristy area in coastal Maine. Our main tourist season was always the summer and I understood that, beautiful weather, fresh air, the hills and the ocean drew people out of the city and into our local bed and breakfasts. We also had a smaller secondary […]
Narragansett/Revival Lovecraft Honey Ale
When Narragansett re-launched their brand I assumed they would focus on their lager, a well-made and local alternative to big beer adjunct lagers. I was a little surprised when they pushed heavily into the craft space with their seasonal and special release beers. Part of this has been a focus on their home state of Rhode […]
Troegs Nugget Nectar
If you pay attention to the scores and rankings on websites like Beer Advocate and Rate Beer you’ll notice a trend, the “best” beers in the world are almost all incredibly hard to find. If there is a beer that you can grab off the shelf at a local bottle shop it will probably be […]
Woodstock Inn Red Rack Ale
It seems like most startup craft breweries nowadays are built in old warehouses or barns. This wasn’t always the case. When the American craft brewing industry started to grow again in the 1980’s and early 1990’s many of the breweries were started as brewpubs, restaurants that brewed and served their own beer. Some of these brewpubs gained popularity […]
Mayflower Spring Hop
The flagship beers of Mayflower Brewing Company in Plymouth, MA are all very traditional British styles. They even have straightforward style-descriptive names. In the age of flashy labels and crazy, occasionally offensive beer names, this is actually kind of refreshing. Mayflower takes a few more liberties with their seasonal beers, making beers that complement the drastically […]
Ipswich Harvest Ale
Ipswich Ale Brewery has been brewing a range of traditional and experimental ales in Ipswich, MA since 1991. Ipswich makes year-round beers ranging from a light and hoppy pale ale to a dark oatmeal stout, along with a series of seasonal brews. All of their beers are available on draft, and most are sold in […]
Home-brew Recipe: Hoppy Fall Amber Ale
The current selection of fall seasonal beers is dominated by Marzens (traditional for German Octoberfest) and pumpkin beers. While I like the occasional Octoberfest I tend to seek out alternatives, medium to heavy bodied beers that hold up to chilly autumn days, but fall outside these popular categories. One of my all time favorites was […]