Democracy Brewing

I went here for some beers and dinner. Located right off of the Commons, I was worried it would be slammed, but maybe being located on a side street hides it a bit from the masses.

As you approach, there is an outdoor area in the front. It is one of those gardens that takes over a few parking spots. It wasn't open when I was there.

As you enter, the long bar is on your left and the rest of the space is a mix of different sized tables. There is an overflow/event space in the back. Bathrooms are downstairs as is the brewing equipment.

There is an exposed brick wall, some cool architectural arches and TVs.

My bartender was friendly, and the service was quick but not hovering.

I think they offer 8 to 10 house beers plus a few seltzers. I had a good pils and then a hazy APA which was fine but not great.

The food is interesting with a mix of options from all over the western hemisphere. I liked the Venezuelan dish that I tried.

Not a bad stop if you find your self in this part of Boston!

 

 

Democracy is located near the Boston Common park....so its a great place to wet the whistle after a stroll. The outside is a kin to irish/english type pub. Inside is long an narrow with exposed brick like in an old cellar. The quality of the beer was really good. The service was kind and attentive. They had eight beers to choose from of different styles.....so everyone should find something they like.

 

 

 

long space, high ceiling, dark. long bar along one side, seating and booths along the other. they had an Irish folk band playing in the rear. The theme is historical based or inspired beer recipes - so not a huge selection - I think there were 6 draft lines. They serve in imperial pint glasses. The two beers I had were decent, and same with the snack food.

 

Workers of the world—Audition!

I’m a former BOH employee at Democracy—I was hired as a baker, and eventually took on some line cook work as well.

Democracy Brewing is not, in truth, an entirely worker-owned collective. There are worker-owners at the top, but all new hires essentially “audition” to be worker-owners after a year’s employment. If you make it through the year, you are invited to invest in a share—and that is how you become a worker-owner. But if, in that time, you garner positive reviews, but they still just want to fire you anyway—they will totally manufacture a reason, claim that they are “laying you off,” and you will be left with no union representation, no security, nothing to do but circulate your resume and start again. Democracy presents itself as espousing principles that are positive towards labor, but they are, in truth, really committed to their fiscal bottom line—to the point that being fired from Democracy is about as soulless & exploitative an experience as being fired by any horrid corporation.

I was the only female BOH employee when the business opened. I’m an experienced bread baker, but the head chef arbitrarily raised another, pointedly male baker to a position of nominal authority over baking decisions, and when I expressed dissent over some wrong-headed decisions of his, my ability to be “a team player” was questioned, and they fired me literally on a day that I had arrived early, with my own home stand-mixer, in order to complete the day’s pars after our only industrial mixer had imploded.

I recount this experience as someone who had been devoted to this business, and truly believed in its professed ethos. But a kitchen that so blatantly disregards the work of women and the contributions we make—all while exploiting suffragettes as a workable theme for naming beers—needs to be called out for its hypocrisy, and willful manipulation of a sentimentalization of working-class history in order to sell frankly overpriced scratch kitchen menu items (the beer is actually pretty decent).

Breweries that utilize working-class history as a part of their decorative mural decisions, beer-naming, and overall marketing plan need to do something other than pay lip service to workers’ rights, and need to actually espouse democratic principles in the workplace. Anything less is over-priced beers and hand pies in an otherwise economically decimated neighborhood in Boston, where liberal consumers in search of labor-history-as-kitsch will find themselves gingerly stepping over the sleeping homeless in order to enjoy a “worker’s pint.”

With nine diverse beers on tap, this is the quintessential brew pub. Even the food matches the expectations for pub grub. I had their wings which were fine but not spectacular.

Located within a block of the Boston Common, it may be difficult to find. Having lived in Boston for six years, I only recently found out about its existence. All that said, it's a worthwhile 2nd tier visit.

Very young place, but overall solid. Decor is a bit confused, but the vibe is relatively happy and the service is good. Beer is brewed on site, with Velouria sour being their home run (they need to make more of this). The 1919 stout is very good too. Food features some traditional Portuguese dishes (I was amused by this because I share that heritage), which are a little odd considering the colonial vibe, but taste like my grandmother made them. Can’t complain about price at all. Watched game 1 of the 2018 ALCS here. There were a few small touches that put it over into the 4+ category (build your own flights with a labeled display to avoid confusion over which beer is which, a $2.5 option to try any beer in 5oz format, and a fairly large late night menu). I hope they succeed, and they do have a fair number of points to improve on (decor isn’t indicative of what kind of vibe they’re going for, not enough NE-style IPAs, no non-beer alcohol for that asshole friend you bring along who doesn’t like beer), but I am confident that they will continue to improve, and for that reason rate them highly.