Boston breweries and bars, little help needed

Meadworks in Cambridge blew me away with their selection

 

Lots of threads about this, but my top bars to stop at would be:
- Cambridge Brewing Company
- The Publick House
- Lordo Hobo
- Meadhall
- Stoddards
- Deep Ellum
- Sunset Grille and Tap
-Picco
- Common Ground
- Lower Depths

For Breweries:
- Sam Adams
- Harpoon
- Jack's Abbey - Framingham
- Wachusett Brewing
- Watch City
- Wormtown
- Blue Mountain

 

Cambridge Brewing Company and Lord Hobo for sure! Just blocks away from a T station.

 

Yes, correction from above. Meadhall is the bar. I think Meadworks was a slip unless I'm mistaken.

The list above is pretty comprehensive. If you've done a ton of brewery tours in the past, I'd skip Sam Adams and Harpoon unless you really like them or if you just enjoy them in general. Those are the only two on that list that is in Boston proper and easily accessible without a car. Fun enough, but not all that fantastic.

IMO, that time is better spent checking out a new neighborhoods in the area. Kendall Square in Cambridge (Lord Hobo, Cambridge Brewing Company, Meadhall, a ton of great restaurants), Allston (Sunset Grill, Deep Allum, new Texas Taco place, Publick House in Brookline a quick cab ride away but also not far via public transit), and Somerville (Both Davis and Union have some good bars and bottle shops) are accessible via public transit and are actually easier to navigate that way as opposed to worrying about parking/driving.

The funny thing about Boston is that it is a great beer town, but most of the best spots are in neighborhoods outside of the downtown/Back Bay area. Lots of great spots in the directory if you want to know solid spots near where you are staying.

 

Meadworks in a speakeasy in Cambridge, need to know the password to get in. Tell them Keyser Söze sent you.

 

I love Sunset Grille. Every time I go to Boston I end up there. Huge draft selection and a ton of bottles as well.

 

Nay to Boston Beer Works (pretty mediocre local mini-chain of brewpubs) and Sunset Grill (not sure why everyone wants to put an "e" on the end). Sunset has a large tap list, but truly dreadful and problematic ownership/management.

Cambridge Brewing Company is THE brewpub around here, and very accessible from downtown. Right down the street is Lord Hobo, arguably the best beer bar. Meadhall's nearby and has got some things to offer, but notoriously awful service. Publick House and Deep Ellum are destinations if you want some longer T rides.

Breweries aren't much to visit around here, in my experience.

 

Would love to know why you think that. Those are some pretty strong adverbs/adjectives to throw around. While I've never had direct experience with the management, Sunset has knowledgeable staff, fair prices and very well maintained keg/tap lines, which are the truest indirect ways to see management's effect on a craft beer establishment, IMO.

 

cambridge brewing company = 1st priority.

 

I'm not sure what all the posting policies are, but I suspect that any complete answer would be removed. It would be a lot of somewhat serious accusations and may be construed as personal attacks. I'll tell you my thoughts in a private message, but just wanted to make it known here that I wasn't ducking the question.

I can say, though, that the "well maintained keg/tap lines" claim is most definitely false.

 

Can also say that the 14 days on tap is a load of bull. A friend of mine owns a small brewery and the same keg was on for about 5 weeks.

 

Yeah, that's one of the things I guess I can say here for sure. The "freshness guarantee" is a blatant lie. Stuff stays on tap until it kicks, which can be up to a few months.

 

My experience has been different. I find their prices to be pretty high, with it being harder and harder to even find a pint pour on the beer list. I usually have to work pretty hard to find a beer that's well-priced. Of course, as I write this, I'm looking at the current beer list and it looks much better (a number of $5-6 pints, etc). Maybe it's a transient problem?

The other thing that bugs me is going on the weekend and having to order my fourth choice beer after the server tells me that choices 1, 2, and 3 have all kicked. I know it's hard to keep a list updated, but I really hate having to pick a beer on the spot from a long list as the server is hovering.

Fwiw, I haven't experienced any cleanliness/freshness issues there in a long time. But while I appreciate the discounts they give for buying pumpkin beer in February, it does make me nervous about their other beers.

Does anyone know what the prices are like at Meadhall these days? When they opened, they had some absurd prices, like $10 for 8oz of Chimay or something.

 

That obviously isn't true. They had pumpkin and fresh hop beers at the end of January.

I still like Sunset a lot though.

 

I moved out of Boston a few years ago after 7 years (why? I dunno. Stupid, stupid, stupid.), and I miss Lord Hobo a lot. Great list (though a little heavy towards bottles), and FANTASTIC food.

One spot not mentioned on here (all of these are great places, fwiw) is Cambridge Common (easy access to the red line). Not an inspired list by any means, but the rotating taps are usually good and they've generally got one or two nifty things on tap, and the prices are better than most of these other places.

 

Every time I have tried to enjoy Sunset, I have had wierd tastes from the line; regardless of which beer I selected. Chemicals, funk, ...yuck

 

As everyone else said Cambridge Brewing Company is awesome.