Beer shop finds.

My go-to, for as long as I can remember, is House Lager, but I have to admit that the River Trip from Allagash might replace it for the foreseeable future. It's excellent.

 

We get Exhibit A/Jack's/Springdale (one of my fav spots out east), Mystic, and Lamplighter distro'd out West, but Notch is definitely a great recommendation. Only had their beer the one time I went to their taproom years ago when they first opened. Fort Point Market is definitely high on my potential stops.

Definitely going to look out for the Voll Projekt stuff while I'm out looking.

Thanks for that tip...probably going to end up stopping here on my way back. Is there a CBC between Boston and Acton that you know of off Rte. 2? I've heard they're pricier but I've never been to one and hear the selection is pretty good usually.

 

CBC Belmont isn't too far off Rte 2.

 

Fort Point Market got a bunch of Fonta Flora stuff today according to their instagram

 

CBC Belmont and CBC Westford too (per their Instagrams).

 

Notch Standard at TW Danvers. $11 a four. Lovely stuff

 

Cracked cans this evening of Schilling Georg and Allagash River Trip that I had picked up at CBC Westford. Both were thoroughly delightful. Light, smooth, but rich with flavor.

 

Cases of Cigar City Caffe Americano are starting to hit stores in MA. Already on shelves at a few places on the cape.

 

Atlas in Medford has some Lawson's Chinookered 4 packs in the cooler. It's definitely a very good beer, especially if you're hankering for an older school hop profile and a haze break.

But it's not something I'll be planning to spend $15 on again (less a comment on the beer than on the fact that I'm super picky once things get to that price range, especially single IPAs).

 

Thought Bell's Official (their hazy IPA) was pretty solid, especially for a widely distributed NEIPA.

 

I picked up some from Marty's in Brighton and although I used to hate chinook in general, I know it can be fine in the right hands. I got the beer specifically for the reason you stated. I've been craving an old school IPA done well and this hit the spot. It's nice to recalibrate my IPA tastes given the abundance of juice bombs we're all wading through.

 

found some randomly while at a pretty meh package store and I wasn't looking for it. Wasn't in a cooler, but 1/31 canning and cheap ($11.99 here) so I rolled the dice.

It's pretty good, but wasn't quite what I was hankering for, though. While I wouldn't call this a NEIPA, it's not a west coast IPA either. Bit on the sweet side even with all the C hops and simcoe.

 

getting around to drinking some random finds from the last few months. those bruery bakery: coconut macaroon cans are quite good. for a pastry stout, the flavors are pretty balanced (unlike, for example, hubbard's cave french toast; that beer was a chore after the first few sips), with the imperial stout being most prominent and adjuncts (coconut, vanilla) following in the finish. thick, rich mouthfeel. should have bought two cans.

 

Sam Smith's Organic Lager in cans is friggin' incredible right now. Super fresh tasting.

I THINK the brown ale was good too, but I had those later in my evenings and wasn't really paying attention. Just wanted something sessionable at the end of the night.

 

There might be a dedicated thread - and this beer is almost ubiquitous at this point in eastern New England - but Stoneface Full Clip has been such a nice go-to when I want NEIPA.

The latest batch has this TH Bubbalicious gum note that is killer.

Also saw the latest batch of Standard Pils which I promptly bought a case of

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned on here previously, but The Fog That Surrounds from Cambridge Brewing Co. is absolutely stellar. Right up there with the big NE IPA makers' top beers. Highly recommend to anyone into the style.

 

I didn't know they'd ever tried their hand at one. Will definitely be interested to check it out!

Has anyone else picked up the Harpoon IPA pack (6 X 2 different options). I'm definitely impressed. The double is a nice older school DIPA and both the NE pale and the Oatmeal IPA are tasty in a more modern way (the pale is particularly good and legitimately a pale at 5.5% abv).

Not a huge fan of the session or the red but those are styles I'm just generally not that keen on.

 

Just wanted to amend my previous post to say that I didn't initially realize that their session is all the way down at 3.8% ABV. I still don't love it since I just don't care much for session strength hoppy beers, but given that it has 10 to 20% less alcohol than most.other sessions (Founders All Day is 4.7%) I have to say that it's pretty well done. I would not have guessed the ABV was that low given the mouthfeel and flavor.

Definitely worth a look if you like session IPAs.

 

It was a one and done for me, but I think I took a flier on a full four pack just because it was so low in ABV. Not bad to have laying around in the fridge.

 

Picked up and tried a few beers for the first time today for a Champions League viewing. Picked up at Bacon's in Hudson. Posting in reverse order of awesomeness:

Allagash River Trip: pretty good but felt oddly heavy for a low abv beer. From memory, I preferred the straight up House Beer when I visited Allagash a couple of years ago. Solid, but I don't see this replacing my daily low abv drinkers like House Lager anytime soon. Also greatly prefer Mystic's Table Beer (which I do not find fresh in my packies anymore )

Cambridge The Fog That Surrounds, NEDIPA (8%): Very good. Quite thick and sticky. Very substantial mouthfeel. Bit of spice. I really liked it. I would love to see what they do with a NEIPA in the 6-6.5% range, because I genuinely found this a bit daunting. It's a bit of a sipper, not due to alcohol presence or anything, it's just big.

Aeuronaut Hyperfocus, NEIPA (6.8%): Galaxy + Columbus. I thought this was phenomenal. Bit of a congress st clone. Original? Maybe not, but it hits all the notes I'm looking for. Some might find it a little thin but it's not super thin and I'm a bit over the "soft mouthfeel" thing anyway. Really, really nice. Probably the best IPA I've had from Aeronaut. Would def buy this again.

Oxbow Luppolo: how have I never had this before? Holy shit this is good. Great aroma. Crisp. Clean. Well carbonated. My friend who's a pils head concurred: "this goes down smooth". I will probably buy some more before the weekend to enjoy with watching the Players this weekend. Only real downside is I'm not sure I like it that much more than House Lager for the large price/oz. discrepancy. But damn I really like this.