Boston During Memorial Day Weekend

A couple more data points could help folks point you in the right direction for places to stay and things to do:
Where is the wedding? In the city or one of the surrounding towns?
Are you traveling solo, with a +1, with a group?
Rental car / cab / subway?

As far as annoyances, you may find moving trucks clogging the residential streets as college kids leave their apartments at the end of the month.

 

Trillium is a must visit. They are killing it now.

 

It's not the best tour honestly. Smallish area away from where the big scale brewing happens. Not much action. The tasting is Boston lager, the seasonal, and a wildcard pick. If a brewery tour is a must, I would be more inclined to suggest harpoon. The beer hall is pretty cool (some people really like the pretzels) and the tour has more actions and a much better tasting at the end. It is not far from other desirable locations either.

This thread may help you plan your day:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-boston-summer-13-edition.99268/

Hope the wedding and the day in Boston go well. Enjoy.

 

Memorial Day should not really be a massive factor.

I would read up on the visiting Boston thread linked above and just pick based on that

 

Totally agree with this statement. Memorial Day is actually fairly quiet in Boston because lots of people head out of town and it's not peak summer tourist season. The thread noted above will have just about everything you need to know.

 

The Boston Calling music fest is downtown that weekend in City Hall Plaza so that area will be busy.

If you have only 1 day I wouldn't do Sam Adams. I'd focus on doing either Cambridge Brewing company and Lord Hobo or Trillium and Row 34. If you do go to Sam Adams then check out Brendan Behan or Canary Square for good draft lists near the brewery.

Cars are the worst way to get around Boston, especially if you are drinking, so don't rent one for that day.

 

If you are at Trillium, Harpoon is right down the street, the beer hall is worth checking out.

 

There's no good reason to go on the Sam Adams tour. Unless you have a serious hard-on for Boston Lager.

 

Don't go to Trillium. It's basically a tiny filling station. I think you can get samples there now, but otherwise you're going to have to buy a growler that's going to be a pain to lug around the city and that you're never going to use again. Go to any one of the local bars that sell Trillium. The brewery does a good job publishing such places on its website.

You would be much better... "served"... to pub crawl your way around Boston and see the sights if you've only got one day. IMHO. Hopefully it won't be snowing.

 

I was going to say pretty much the same thing. I'd especially recommend heading to Cambridge: there's much more of a concentration of good beer places not far from Kendall Square than anywhere in Boston. Head to the Cambridge Brewing Company and Lord Hobo, which seems to always have at least a few Trillium beers on-tap. The weather will be nice by then, so I'd also recommend hitting Atwood's for a solid beer selection and an excellent patio. CBC, Lord Hobo and Atwood's are all within reasonable walking distance of each other, and CBC isn't far from the Red Line.

Sam Adams is okay, but with just one day I'd definitely skip it. And I would absolutely not drive to get around in Boston. You'll spend plenty of money to park, and besides that, it's just more of a hassle than walking or taking the T.

 

I would second this. While I love Trillium (they're our best brewery not named Jack's Abby) it's not really the best place to go out of your way and visit. If you're in the neighborhood you should definitely check it out, but it's really just a small place you can stand around a get a couple ~2oz samples.

 

FYI: Off-premise sale of alcohol is prohibited on Memorial Day in Massachusetts, so alcohol will need to be consumed on site. Shouldn't affect you unless you're planning to bring something back.

As an LA transplant, the days of buying beer at any CVS or grocery store is gone now that I live in MA.