Pretty Things. They've done it again...

- The Ledge in Dorchester is my local go-to (scroll to last page):
http://www.ledgeboston.com/pdfs/drinks.pdf

Tap list varies, but that is pretty up to date. All pints except Baby Tree, which is a 13oz tulip. Specific to PT, they rotate the handle, and serve $5 pints when it has been stuff like Botolph.


- Sophia's Grotto in Roslindale - 4 semi-rotating taps for $4.50 apiece. Typically Victory Hop Devil, their own contract brewed beer, a seasonal (currently Brooklyn Summer), and usually a rotating German seasonal (though Urquell on at the moment). Great bottle prices too ($7 Chimay/Duvel/etc)


- Fat Cat in Quincy - 8 rotating taps - $5 16oz pours - no discrimination in ABV on pours. Usually a Mayflower, a Sierra Nevada seasonal, something unique, something belgian, etc.

http://www.fatcatrestaurant.com/wines.html


- Townsend's in Hyde Park was similar, though recently closed.


I know I've seen others, but the above are the places I frequent most often, so their prices are etched into my head. Those are also all non-dives with excellent and reasonably priced food too, FWIW. I'm sure there are some great dive bars with even cheaper beer.

Most craft specific bars just charge high because they don't do the food volume. (or because they can) Lord Hobo at least has $4 Haverhill pints. CBC is cheap too.

These places are out there - you sometimes just need to dig a bit or get away from the severely overpriced Boston/Cambridge/Newton triangle.


I should add too - I haven't been to a British Beer Co in a while, but I'm almost positive they have lots of $5 16oz pints too.

 

Check out Flatbread Pizza Co in Davis square. Last time I was there they had Pretty Things, Jack's Abby, Mayflower, Notch etc.. All drafts were from New England and all were around five bucks. It's the old Sacco's Bowl Haven so they have candlepin bowling and good pizza as well. They selection isn't mind blowing but all local and reasonably priced.

 

I think it will be soon too. They sent a tweet out about a week ago that said they were doing another round of dry hopping and it would be ready to go after that.

I wish, like lots of folks here, that they would put out 12 oz. bottles. When they initially began brewing they said using 22 oz. bottles was they only way of making their beer economically viable, or something to the effect. Now, however, they sell quite a bit of beer. I can't see how 12 oz. bottles couldn't be viable now given the demand for their stuff.

About price: I certainly wish they were a bit cheaper as a brand, but when you compare them to other brands of similar quality, I think they are priced competitively. But yes, just a little bit cheaper would be great, especially here in Massachusetts where they brew. Other small MA outfits like Berkshire, Jack's Abbey, and Wormtown sell all of their beers at lower prices.

They are available in California? Jeez, who knew?

 

“About price: I certainly wish they were a bit cheaper as a brand, but when you compare them to other brands of similar quality, I think they are priced competitively.”

I have not personally tasted Meadowlark yet but permit me to compare it to one of my favorite American style IPAs: Ithaca Flower Power. Let’s assume a price of $7.00 for 22 ounces for Meadowlark. That works out to $0.32 per ounce. I can purchase a 6 pack of Flower Power for less than $12.00. Flower Power works out to $0.17 per ounce. So, Meadowlark is basically twice as expensive. From my perspective it isn’t “priced competitively”.

Cheers!

 

Good point. But I wasn't speaking only about Meadowlark. I was speaking about PT's entire portfolio. Especially as compared to other companies' beers in 22 oz. bombers. Perhaps I should have been clearer. Compare the price of Jack D'or in 22 oz. to Hennepin, Tank 7, or others in the same format. And that's just Saison. I could continue.

And I think Flower Power is a terrific beer. It's very, very good. But it doesn't come close to Meadowlark. If I wanted to compare the price of Meadowlark to the price of another IPA of similar quality, I would compare it to Sculpin, not Flower Power. And I've seen Sculpin go for $10 - $12 a bomber. Sorry, but Ithaca's beers aren't in the same league as Pretty Things, therefore, I would expect to pay less for any Ithaca beer, Flower Power included.

 

Still trying to land Fluffy White Rabbits. I like Pretty Things, that has a nice ring to it.....

 

Jack D'Or is reasonable, but it's still more expensive per oz than Hennepin or Tank 7 4-packs for $11. It's also an in-state local, whereas those two are not.

Opinion is subjective, but Flower Power and Meadowlark rate about the same in the reviews. I actually prefer Flower Power. Also, Smutty IPA, and many others, rate higher that Meadowlark for even less money.

All of that said, I have no major gripes with PT pricing, except on Meadowlark. In general though, I think we'd all like to see them start doing 4/6 packs - they've certainly been around long enough and are popular enough now to justify it.

 

Yeah the BBC in Walpole is close enough to $5 craft pints. At least half of the craft offerings will be something like $5.50. And there's always something on special for a $4 pint. Last time I was there it was something from Three Heads.

 

Well, I turned in a couple of 12-packs of empties today, which I consider free money, and bought a bomber of Meadowlark because the chit brought the price down to just over what I would pay for a couple of cans of Gandhi-Bot, were it available to me at the moment. I fully enjoyed Meadowlark's flavor profile, which (I suspect due to the shit-ton of Citra they displayed on their FB page) was actually not dissimilar to GB's, only without the extra ABV, which since I was gonna kill 22 oz was actually kinda welcome. But GB is already an "occasional treat" kind of beer for me due to its price point, so having to pay even more than I would for it after I subtracted a substantial discount means to me that while I was glad to try it once, and I applaud PF's recipe and achievement in making this beer, it's priced past the top of the market for me and I can't see myself seeking it out again.

 

I am a huge fan of Pretty Things and love all of their beers I have tried. However, I would say Jack's Abby smokes Pretty Things pretty handily.

Dope

 

Your talking apples and oranges or ales and lagers. Either way, they're both excellent brewers, you just can't compare their products.

 

I thought about that after I posted. I love Jack's Abby and they are def the most exciting thing to come out of MA in recent memory. But...... IMO Pretty Things has stood more of the test of time than JA. I know it's only a matter of a few years. I love me some Hoponius, Jabby, and smoke but have been a little less excited about the one offs that have been shipping out as of late. That being said, Framinghammer is the one of the best beers I've had this year... and last.

 

Hoponious Union > Meadowlark, and it doesn't matter that one is an ale and one is a lager. Jack's Abby beats out Pretty things in my book based on value, both are of equal quality.

 

I totally agree with you on all points. I thought their Brett biere de garde was very cool, but I''m looking forward to fall and their fresh hop, kiwi rising, and more Framinghammer, especially in barrels.

 

Clover has $3 (real) pints. Allagash White is on tap at the Harvard sq. location and Mystic Renaud will be on tap at the Inman sq location on 8/9. The tap rotates often. It's not really a bar but a nice place to grab a beer.

 

Been there many times - and PT's jack D'or hasn't been in the $5 range since they first opened - its usually one of the few beers I'm willing to order there.

 

Huh... Haven't been in a while. I guess it just seemed like the cheapest place in Davis. Not that that is a very hard thing to accomplish... Looking at you Redbones/Foundry/Five Horses.

 

Last time I was there, the most expensive beer was $6. What prices were you seeing recently?

 

I love Pretty Things beer, and miss having it now that I'm back in California. A big part of me wishes that they were terrible so that I could bash them for their marketing approach that I find to be comically hipster-ific and a little bit arrogant*, but every time I have one of their beers I'm blown away and stop caring about their image.

When the beer is that good, that's all that matters to me.

*Not that Dann and his wife are arrogant, they didn't seem to be that at all, just that the marketing rubs me wrongly.

 

I think I paid either $6 or $6.50 for a jack D'or the last time I was there - and it wasn't recently - probably 6+ months ago? They were only $.50 more than the other beers when they first opened, but didn't take long before they bumped it up a bit more.

But yeah, I did forget about this place charging in the $5 range for most of their beers.