Must try beers available in Massachusetts

If you have a car, and would like to explore some of the best IPA's in the country, I highly recommend visiting Trillium or Treehouse, depending on which one you're closer to.

 

And I would recommend going to the Craft Beer Cellar with the same question. They've always been super helpful to me.

 

This. Anyone working at a Craft Beer Cellar will be an excellent resource. If you enjoy Allagash White, maybe try something from Enlightenment or Mystic?

 

Ipswich Oatmeal stout, and Route 101(IPA), Pretty Things Babytree(Quad) and Fluffy White Rabbits(Hoppy Tripel), Mystic does some very good Belgian styles you may be into as well. All very available and very good. Asking for recommendations at the store is a good plan. The guys/girls at the CBC are built for that.

 

Mayflower Porter is MA's best.

Then run through Jacks Abby's line up and Clown Shoes. Both breweries have tonsnof options and have perfect examples of the style. Plus both and Mayflower Porter are always on store shelves.

 

Anything from Jack's Abby, especially Hoponius Union, Mass Rising, and Framminghammer, but even their other styles (schwarzbier, helles, etc.) are great, inoffensive versions of their respective styles. You should be able to find fresh bottles anywhere in the state, and they make some of the best lagers available.

 

You first need to figure what you like.
try following local beer stores on facebook many have tasting events each week where you can get to try beer before you try. Or go to some of the beer festivals around and try different styles. I started on hefes but soon found belgain strong pales were an awesome choice. How? I was at a bar and asked the bartender for a recommendation, totally ruined my bank balance. its not a big leap from allagash white to pranqster, duvel, le chouffe etc
then ask at your beer store, certainly at cbc they love to help.
be open to change, be friendly and take small steps to find new beers. The best way to figure whats out there is to look and ask. And from your current palate mystic, cambridge brewing co and idle hands are good choices again the breweries have the ability to try samplers which helps.
Good luck...

 

Forgot about idle hands. Great recommendation.

 

I have to echo what @Janeinma says above ... the best way to find new beers/ styles you like is by spending some quality time on a barstool in a good beer bar with a talkative bartender - maybe one who is willing to toss you a few samples throughout the night. IMHO, the best place to hear about new beers is from the guy sitting next to you at the bar. Another thought I had after reading your post was that, as you figure out what you like, you should rely primarily on your taste buds, not on BA/RB scores or message board hype. There are some beers that I absolutely love that folks here give pretty pedestrian ratings, and others with high ratings that I am not into.

For breweries in Mass, there is a thread going right now where folks are ranking their top MA breweries that has a good range of names you can and should check out.

Mass also gets distribution of a good number of well-regarded national or regional breweries: Avery, Ballast Point, Boulevard, Firestone Walker, Founders, Lagunitas, Lost Abbey, Ommegang, Oskar Blues, Rogue, Sixpoint, Stone, Troegs, Victory.

And if you ever are wondering if a particular beer you see someone raving about on a message board is available in MA, check out http://seekabrew.com/distro/index.html.

 

Try some beers that are "seminal" for the style that are available in the state. You've already got the Allagash White and Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse, both of which I'd consider seminal.

Most of these should be on every good beer shop's shelf in MA and many are in 12oz to be "mix-a-six"'d. Seems like you already have some Belgians covered and Sucks is great for a DIPA.

Pale Ale - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Amber Ale - Maine Beer Co. Zoe
IPA - Ballast Point Sculpin (or just go to Trillium, depending on how early you want to ruin everyone else's IPAs)
Barleywine - Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (seasonal, but may find some lingering)
Brown Ale - Sam Smith Nut Brown
Porter- Founders Porter
Oatmeal Stout - Ipswich Oatmeal Stout
Milk Stout - Left Hand (Nitro)
Imperial Stout - North Coast Old Rasputin
English Pale/Bitter - Fuller's ESB
Old Ale - North Coast Old Stock
Scottish Ale - Belhaven Scottish Ale
Wee Heavy - Oskar Blues Old Chub (Nitro?)
Saison - Saison Dupont
Belgian Strong Pale - Duvel
Belgian Strong Dark - Gulden Draak
Dubbel - Chimay Premiere (Red)
Brettanomyces Beer - Orval Trappist
Flemish Sour - Rodenbach Grand Cru
Oud Bruin - Liefman's Goudenband
Lambic/Gueuze - Lindeman's Cuvee Rene (maybe not seminal but easiest to get).
Berliner Weisse - Frtiz Briem 1809
Other Wheats - Try the Weihenstephaner Kristal and Dunkel
Helles Lager - Weihenstephaner Original Premium Lager
Doppelbock - Ayinger Celebrator
Weizenbock - Schneider Aventinus
Smoked Beer - Aecht Schlenkerla (any)
Marzen - Ayinger Oktober-Fest Marzen (in October)
German Pilsner - Rothaus Pils
Czech Pilsner - Pilsner Urquell

 

Then head to Armsby Abbey in Worcester for some Hill Farmstead.

 

IPAs/DIPAs: Ruination 2.0, Sculpin, tree house and trillium as suggested by others, Morph, Be Hoppy

Tripels: Allagash, La Fin du Monde, Chimay White, Tripel Karmeliet

Quads: Rochefort 10, St Bernardus 12, Chimay Blue

Lagers: Jack's Abby, any Andechs

If you like triples and whites, I'd check out the other lighter bodied yeast-forward Belgian styles. Belgian Pale Ale (e.g. Delirium Tremens, Duvel), Saison (e.g. Saison DuPont).

 

I was in the same boat as you not long ago. Definitely go to Jack's Abby. Really friendly guys and great beers. Just went to Trillium for the first time (Im drinking Vicinity right now), it was a pain to get parking around 2 on a Thursday...but the beer was worth it. As others have mentioned, the guys at Craft Beer Cellar (Belmont) is my closest are super helpful. I went in and said a beer that I had that I enjoyed and would like to try more in the style and they were super helpful. I'd be happy to let you know some other good stores depending on where you live specifically.