"Other" MA Breweries

I slob CBC's knob often, but that was me at my most eloquent while doing so. Looking forward to trying their new peach sour this weekend.

 

gold

 

I second Cold Harbor and Honest Weight. Impressed with both.

 

Also great is Brick and Feather in Turners Falls, a tiny mill village on the Connecticut River out by junction of I-91 and Route 2. Their latest batch of Letters from Zelda IPA and last week's In Absentia IPA were both nudging the Tree House echelon of IPA in flavor complexity and intensity, yet with their own distinct character. Sauron's Nightlight was also a great porter a couple months back! Others have been high quality saisons, and a great hoppy pale (Positively 11th St).

Great area for a spring beer tour, just 20 minutes from Honest Weight, and like five minutes from Element, People's Pint, and Lefty's! Franklin County: we ain't really got any jobs, but dammit we got beer!

 

Brick & Feather and Cold Harbor are definitely doing it right out of the gate, and that's exciting to say the least. Now if only we could get one of these up on the North Shore...

 

We are fortunate to have
Berkshire Brewing a veteran of craft
Brick and Feather new
The Peoples Pint both retail and the pub excellent
Ipswich veteran and wonderful
Cambridge Brewing inventive and steady

Cheers all

 

Wormtown and Medusa makes for a pretty nice Saturday, haven't been to Cold Harbor yet since Julio's carries their growlers.

Stop at Julio's, hit Wormtown for growlers maybe a pint, right on the highway for Medusa a sampler, pints, board games, pretzels and growlers. Then right around back the Horseshoe for dinner and beers

 

I would add in the stop at Cold Harbor. They are doing casks and special one-offs at the brewery on Saturdays only. Also, Rail Trail in Hudson is a great option for dinner and beer.

 

Took your advice today, good stuff

Ed - going to Cold Harbor that is

 

Massachusetts breweries are as varied and excellent as anywhere in my opinion. Also worthy of mention are 3 off the Manhan Rail Trail in Easthampton, all within a couple of miles: Abandoned Building, New City & Fort Hill breweries. Visited last summer and can't wait to return.

Visited Mayflower yesterday for the first time. Excellent and perhaps under the radar. Ipswich & Cambridge Brewing have been two of the finest forever.

 

Agreed, we tend to only hear about it because at the end of the day it can come off as being ridiculous to not only wait in line to get beer but also drive longer distances than anything else in their lives just for beer.

I know people that won't pick up family at the airport because its too far of a drive but they don't have a problem wasting the better half of a day for a few growlers. Priorities ...

There is a lot of good beer out there.

 

Wachusett's Larry is fantastic, always available and $10ish for a six pack. If Larry was the only beer I could drink for the rest of my life, I would die a hoppy man.

 

From a few trips to Aeronaut, I had dropped them in the "cool space, so-so beer" bucket, but A Year with Dr. Nandu is hitting the sweet spot for me. Can't think of a better aluminum IPA available on the shelf in Boston right now, and at $13-$14 it's competitive with other local options. I hope it's not a one-off.

 

Solid beer for sure. They canned it a few months ago for their anniversary party, glad to see it's back.

 

We really do have an embarrassment of riches here. I recently realized that apart from Founders Breakfast Stout, BP Victory at Sea, and everything Sierra Nevada, these days there isn't a beer I regularly buy that's not from the area*. And now that Jack's Abby is selling 12 packs at a great price point I suspect even my Sierra Nevada fixation will dip a little.

To answer the OPs question directly, I drink an awful lot of Ipswich and I go to Cape Anne Brewery any chance I get even though it's a bit of a haul. I agree with everyone else about CBC being outstanding, and I'm sort of surprised Brewmaster Jack isn't a bigger deal than it is. And given how strongly they've come out of the gate, it will be interesting to see where Castle Island is in a couple years.


*I'm talking about beer from a liquor store here. On tap at a bar is a different story.

 

I feel the same way. There really is no reason to buy hoppy beers brewed outside of New England. Occasionally I'll pick up something for variety, nothing close to regularly, however.

 

The good news is we have more fresh cans and growlers available than in the past.

 

We prefill the growlers which means we often run out. Not all beers are available on demand. We have a large selection of fresh cans presently.