Neighborhood Beer Co.

 

 

 

Awesome place to visit. Stephan and Eric lead the team with enthusiasm and love. The beers are amazing with Joe at the helm. You should not bypass an opportunity to visit and sample the selections. My favorite is the Decadent Eclipse (Barrel aged of course!)

Before I visited Neighborhood Beer and tasted the beers, I had very low expectations.

The web site makes it seem like it is three guys, with little brewing experience, opening a brewery. The marketing seems random as they are a “neighborhood place” but have cute beer names like “boss flamingo” which does not scream New England.

When I drove to neighborhood Beer, my first impression was an uninteresting tap room, set in a strip mall, with a phony brick wall added for ambience.

However, when you taste their clean, well brewed, true to original German Lagers, with well thought through modifications for the American palate, every else just fades to a trivial back ground issue.

This brewery is doing something almost unique in the United States and filling a niche long over looked. Some people brew German lagers, true to their style, say Gordon Biersch, or others brew lagers with a bit more American focus, say Jack’s Abbey’s. But no one, at least no one in this region, has evolved classic German Lagers, brewed true to style, for an American palate that wants a bit more Hop character and malt intensity.

They have an imperial Schwarz bier, one of my favorite German Styles and a Stike Altbier and a “triple-strength” Dampfbier. All are extraordinarily well made and conceived. I am not sure what their secret is, but they have a very high level of insight into German Lagers styles, evlved recipes and brewing process. This tastes like German Brewing gone wild (or American).

Even the Chili is darn good.

Everyone in New England should have this little storefront on their very short list of places to visit. I know I plan to visit, every few weeks, as I can. This is really a spectacular addition to the New England beer community.