The owners and high level employees in the craft beer industry are overwhelmingly male, which has resulted in more than a few breweries operating more like a frat house than a business. There have been reported problems ranging from from inappropriate beer names and labels, questionable activity on social media and even sexual harassment and […]
Tag: American Wheat
Exhibit A Demo Tape Eleven Side B
For a long time I avoided most types of wheat beer. I’ve never been a fan of hefeweizens and only like a few Belgian style witbiers. My experience with American wheat beers was mostly with Sam Adams Summer Ale and similar wheats. I am not a Sam Adams basher, I love a number of their beers, but […]
Lamplighter Watchman
There are a number of major milestones that a brewery goes through as it starts up and begins to establish it’s place in the market. Opening the doors and starting to sell beer is obviously the first huge event, along with seeing your beer on draft at local bars. Starting to can or bottle beer is another big […]
Castle Island Vern
One of the hardest things about starting a new brewery is consistency. Once a brewer gets to the point that they brewing beer professionally they usually have some good recipes, but consistently executing these ideas on large scale can take some time. Some brewers learn from their mistakes as they go, but a select few hit the ground running […]
Sam Adams Hopscape and Fresh As Helles
Sam Adams (and other larger craft brands) are in an interesting place in the evolving beer culture, trying to balance the needs of their regular customers with the fickle tastes of beer geeks. Many of these beer geeks got their start drinking Boston Lager and Sam seasonals, but some shy away from the brand now, and the increased […]
Notch Dog and Pony Show
My wife and I had a somewhat rare treat the other weekend, a child-free afternoon thanks to my in-laws, so we did a little date day (it was also the 6-year anniversary of our first date so we had a good reason to celebrate). We decided to head up to Salem, get some lunch and […]
Notch Infinite Jest
I’ve been able to visit a number of new or new-to-me breweries over the last couple months, trimming down the list of places I needed to try for the first time (of course the list of places that I need to visit again seems to get longer and longer). One place that I still haven’t […]
Maine Beer Co. Thank You
The last six weeks have been beyond crazy. First, my wife and I closed on a house in the suburbs, a sure sign that I am really getting old. Then, less than two weeks later, I found out I was losing my job (the real one that pays the bills, unfortunately Hoppy Boston is just […]
Anchor Summer Beer
You could easily argue that modern American craft beer started with Anchor Brewing Company. The original brewery that became Anchor was founded in San Fransisco in 1871. It underwent multiple iterations including a fire, shut down for Prohibition, and numerous changes in ownership. The history is pretty interesting, you can see it all on their […]
Pretty Things/Yeastie Boys Our Turn Your Turn
With their interesting takes on traditional British, Belgian and American styles Pretty Things beer and ale project has emerged as one of the most popular microbreweries in the Boston area. Technically they aren’t a microbrewery, as there is no physical brewery (the beer is contract brewed at Buzzard’s Bay brewery in Westport, MA), thus the […]