On Monday I posted a write-up on my recent visit to Amory’s Tomb, the Maynard establishment that specializes in saisons and other Belgian styles. The day before my visit Amory’s Tomb released three beers in bottles, all part of their barrel program. The importance of the barrels is obvious at Amory’s Tomb, a stack of […]
My brewery visits are relatively limited right now, between the demanding job, house stuff and two young kids I don’t often have a free hour to kill sitting down at a brewery. Most of my visits are very brief, I happen to be in a specific area for something else and I am able to […]
Last week I wrote an article about the saison style, why I love the style and why I am so disappointed that it doesn’t sell very well, leading some significant local breweries to cut back their production. I am going to keep harping on saisons this spring, and if the articles are ignored by all […]
On Monday I wrote a post recounting my first trip to Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont, a visit I made with a group of my college buddies a couple weeks ago. In addition to enjoying a couple pints at the brewery and a sampling of growler pours later in our hotel I bought a range […]
Earlier this week I reviewed a couple of New England style IPA’s from Hill Farmstead, widely considered one of the best breweries in the world. Hill Farmstead makes some amazing hoppy beers and are rightly credited with helping develop the trendy NEIPA substyle featuring fruity hops, a soft mouthfeel and low bitterness. The thing that […]
The advantages of selling beer directly to the consumer have been well documented, but most breweries quickly realize that there is a limit to the amount of beer they can move on premise without distribution. The Mass Brew Brothers recently wrote an article on the top 25 breweries in Massachusetts by volume, and the vast […]
I has been an interesting journey for Spencer Brewing, the first American Trappist Brewery. Spencer started with a single beer, their Belgian Pale Ale named Spencer Trappist Ale, and intended to run the brewery on the back of that one beer for a while. They clearly underestimated the obsession with variety and novelty that drives […]
It has been an eventful month for Night Shift Brewing. First they launched their new light lager Nite Lite in cans, with the goal of syphoning business away from the big macro brands. It will be very interesting to see what kind of sustained market that beer attracts. Next they announced that they are opening […]
I hear a lot of complaining about the prices of beer, and only some of it is justified. It does feel like some places intentionally inflate their prices, I am amazed how many 4 packs of local IPA break the $20 mark. In fairness, a lot of popular breweries could pump up their prices even […]
It is no longer news when a brewery starts canning their beers, in fact I’m struggling to think of any Massachusetts breweries with a significant distribution footprint that don’t can. One of the last hold-outs was Mystic Brewing in Chelsea. For years Mystic brewed a lineup dominated by flavorful saisons and other Belgian styles, mostly distributed […]
