Of these breweries, which are the best to visit?

As far as for the MA breweries, the only place you'd be able to get a pint at would be harpoon (in the beer hall).

Other breweries to think about in the "general area" if you are going to Harpoon would be:
Idle Hands in Everett - tours, samples, growlers, bottles, brewer most likely available
Night Shift in Everett - tours, samples, growlers, bottles, brewer(s) most likely available
Mystic in Chelsea- tours (advance resevation required), samples, growlers, bottles?, brewer(s) most likely available?
Trillium Fort Point Boston - (no tastings, stupid Boston legal stuff - they're working on it) growlers, no bottles, not sure about tour

Remember, MA breweries only fill their own growlers.

 

To reiterate what the above poster says - consider Idle Hands and Nightshift (right next to each other), Mystic (literally 5 minutes away from those 2) and Trillium (also quite close).

I haven't been to trillium, but I can def. say the folks at the other 3 are very approachable and easy to talk to. That and they all offer very good beers in growlers as well as corked/caged bottles.

 

MA laws I guess. Free samples have to be 2oz or under, I think.

Pretty sure that places would have to have a serving license to sell pints. Night shift gets temp ones for their release parties.

I don't remember ever seeing pints at Jack's Abby (plenty of samples though) and have never been down to Mayflower.

 

NEBCO is the most chill brewery on the planet. Other than full pours they hit every bullet point on your list. Go there, you'll love it.

 

I dunno, they give you very healthy pours for a "sample"

 

NEBCo. is simply awesome....Get there!

Smuttynose is a very informative tour,and like NEBCo.,are very generous w/pours.
And a vintage cooler too boot!

I have never been to Jacks Abby,but I'd be damn sure to hit them up as well.

Cheers/Enjoy.

 

Jacks Abby usually has 8 of their beers on tap, and they give 2 oz sample of each - so you get a pint. Very approachable place and people, and one of the breweries is usually there, good merchandise too.

 

I've been to all of those except NEBCO. Here's my opinion of the other 4:

Mayflower - Great tasting room area (feels like a pub), samples are free and generous. Expect 5 samples.... one each of their 4 core beers, plus the current seasonal offering. I did the tour, it's your standard brief tour. Mine was not done by the brewer.

Smuttynose - The most dilapidated brewery of the bunch. (But they're moving to a great new facility soon which will be fantastic...with a pub I think?). Tour is a hair geekier than your standard tour. I've done it twice. One tour guide was one of the brewers and fielded a lot of geeky homebrewer questions. The other tour guide was brand new, but informative enough for most people. The samples are generous enough. And they have some nice special beers for purchase (sometimes older vintages too). The staff was very nice. FYI - tours are popular here and you MUST reserve your spot online through their website (it's free, though). ALSO - at the end of your tour, you get a voucher for a free pint at the Pourtsmouth brewery. So go cash in afterwards and get some grub. Then, you might as well walk to something like the Earth Eagle tasting room for some seriously great beer (only 2 minute walk or so).

Jack's Abby - Very easy to just walk right in and start sampling right away...they're free. Most people there are just in to purchase a growler or two and jet. They do impromptu tours, but they don't seem to always be by Eric (the brewer) if ever.

Harpoon - frat party crowd. It's essentially a bar. It can be very busy, long lines outside are not uncommon. The only free tastings here come with a tour you have to pay for. I did this recently and my tour guide was very annoying (spoke to us as if we're all in between keg party's in our dorm rooms). You want talk to any brewer here. Their bar is an attractive space, and you can presumably walk to Trillium from Harpoon (I think).


I'll second the suggestion of hitting the Night Shift, Idle hands, and Mystic trifecta. They're all very close. You WILL talk to the brewers here who are all cool. Seriously generous samples at Mystic, and I could listen to Brian from Mystic talk about the unknown intricacies of yeast activity for hours.

Enjoy your trip!

 

About a 10-15 minute drive.

 

I have only been to harpoon from your list, but ive been there probably 5 times over the last few years and twice since they opened the beer hall. One was for a pre-opening that was limited tickets and one was on a tuesday. I havent been there on a weekend so I can't say how it is then.

I have actually always had really friendly people doing the tours at harpoon and all of them seemed really informative and answered any questions anyone had. They do growler fills and 6 packs for sale and always have at least 4 pilot brews you can only get at the brewery which are usually at the least interesting. I also had absolutely no problem getting free tastings from the bartender there along with getting a ton of samples during the tour now that its not as packed and the tasting room isnt being used for both the tours and the growler fills. I would suggest going on a weekday to avoid crowds if possible, they give tours on weekdays and you can actually see them work which they didnt let you before they added all the catwalks.

 

You should be able to hit up 2 Roads pretty easily as well, if you do NEBCO. Beautiful facility and bar area. Limited tours, and they charge you (even a sample) for EVERYTHING. The prices are also quite high considering you're drinking their beer...

 

Let me join the chorus suggesting NEBCO as a must. The brewers are happy to give tours (for what that's worth in such a tiny space) and answer all your questions, the samples are generous, the beers are delicious, and the growlers are fairly priced.

NEBCO has some of the best beer I've ever tasted brewed by some of the best people I've ever met in the industry. Period.

 

I would argue some are underpriced...

 

While I love Jack's Abby and their brewery, you won't spend more than 30 minutes there. The place is quite small and the tour is maybe 15 minutes max. The freshest 4 packs are there though. I once got a 4 pack of Hoponius that was bottled less than 24 hours before I bought it.

I haven't been to any of the other places you've listed but I added them to my breweries to visit list earlier today.

 

Yes they do. You can buy as many as you want. $3 growler deposit (that you get back upon returning the growlers) and then the price of the beer. So a growler of hoponius will probably cost you 12 bucks or so. I'd recommend getting 4 packs of that and getting growlers of the draft only brews.

 

I would agree with Smutty above. Was actually at NEBCO today. Rob Leonard, the owner, was pouring. Had 3 beers (Scrumtulescent Saison, Supernaut, and Sea Hag) for growler fills (fresh Gandhi-Bot tomorrow). Matt, the head brewer, stopped by as well. They will pour several samples of each and always are willing to engage you in conversation. I would highly recommend a stop (the tasting area is very small and is open to the brewery with boxes of cans lying around at the ready to be filled). It's what a craft brewery is--no frills just great beer and great people!