Anyone been to the Ipswich Brewpub?

According to the website they've at long last opened the brewpub. The website doesn't have much info (though it does promise 15 lines of beer) and it looks like they're in the process of overhauling it.

Been looking forward to seeing this open since it will make a great twofer with Cape Ann Brewery (and soon a threefer with Notch).

Anyone been?

 

I was wondering the same thing. Since it seems like no one around here has been up there yet I guess we'll have to wait for them to finish the website for more info.

There are a couple of photos on their twitter feed and the place looks pretty impressive.

https://twitter.com/ipswichalebrew

 

Kind of tacky to respond to my own thread but I figured people might be curious for some info given the under-construction website.

So we made it up there this past weekend and were pretty impressed overall. The space itself is interesting because it's sort of a building within the brewery itself, so you look out of windows at the canning lines and tanks and such. It's smaller than it looked in the pictures and they have typical pub food as well as some fancier entrees. The pub food was quite good (burgers and soup) but I can't vouch for the rest. Service was excellent (out bartender was particularly friendly) and everyone seemed excited to finally be open.

Beer experience was a little bit of a mixed bag depending on what you were hoping for, though it's going to get more interesting in the future. On the plus side, 16 oz. pours are only $5 and they have nearly everything you're used to seeing from Ipswich in bottles on tap. I'd forgotten how good an old school Ipswich IPA was after only buying the route 101 for so long! On the downside, that's basically all they have on tap and they do not offer growler fills. They did have a DIPA version of route 101 (called 1A) that I'm not sure I've seen before which was delicious, and they were offering bombers of it at the gift shop for $8. There will apparently be a "featured beer" every month or so that will be sold that way.

For the future, the bartender told me that there will be a cask offering in the rotation starting within the next few weeks and she also said that they are open to offering taps from their contract clients as well, but that that will ultimately be up to the clients since it's their product.

So if you like Ipswich beer and want some pub food in a cool space it's a great trip. If you're hoping to taste some new stuff you might want to wait a little while until they're operating at full speed. They have 15 taps and 3 of them were sitting unused when we were there, so I would guess they'll be offering either client or experimental brews (or both) as time goes on.

Ipswich was amongst the first craft beers I ever bought back in the day - I remember my friends back in the early 90s thinking I was a weirdo for showing up to parties with growlers of the original Ipswich Ale in hand. Glad to see them still going strong and to finally get up there to see the new space.

 

The best and simplest review I can give is that it tasted pretty much exactly like what you'd imagine a DIPA version of 101 to taste like.

ETA: and I should have mentioned that everything is a 16 oz. pour except for the 1A which was only 10 oz. Still not bad for $5 if you're used to drinking in Boston.

 

Ha, that's exactly what I had

Thanks for the additional info on the client taps. What you heard sounds much more definitive on that front.

 

For anyone who isn't on their email list, the DIPA version of Route 101 (Route 1A) is being released in 6 packs as a year round offering this month. I only had it once at the brewery but I thought it was pretty damn good.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact...11941&ca=b8f31919-f20c-43d5-abc7-304539f584ab

 

Came across a sixer of this at Berman's in Lexington. Apart from being hazier than I remembered on tap, it's interesting to drink a local DIPA that isn't at all trying to emulate the current trends. Lots of grapefruit peel and a fair bit of malty sweetness. I'll need to have a couple more to fully get my thoughts together, but my first impression is that it isn't the home run that Route 101 is. Nonetheless, at $11.99 a sixer it's certainly worthy of at least an occasional purchase.