Your NE Top 10

VITAMIN SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA
All of the others are trash.

























yes, it's a joke.

 

Again, my comments are about the beer, not about the 'brewery experience'.

Ipswich - while they seem to have upped their game recently, have a fair bit of mediocrity in their roster. For almost every style they have, there are likely a bunch of better choices (at least 10).
Cape Ann - To have this mentioned with the others in the thread is suspect.
Smuttynose - I guess if you can only drink in New Hampshire, but it's just not in the same league as the rest here. Maybe there's something available at the brewery that I haven't seen or had elsewhere, but it still seems like a stretch.

Oh, where are all of the Sam Adams supporters? When I send a zinger their way, folks seem to come out of the woodwork.

Lastly, what's great is that there are 25+ great breweries in the thread, which means we are damn lucky beer consumers here in NE.

 

The thread is about what is YOUR top ten favorite breweries in New England, not what is THE top ten in New England. My favorite movie is not necessarily the best movie, but it's my favorite. Same goes for beer.

And apart from that, we'll have to agree to disagree that Ipswich or Smuttynose are somehow bizarre outliers on any list of great breweries in New England considering they've both been making great beer for about 25 years.

As for Cape Ann, I love the place and have a personal connection to it. That is why it gets an honorable mention on my top ten list of my favorite breweries.

 

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Tree House
3. Trillium
4. Allagash
5. Alchemist
6. Bissell
7. Barreled Souls
8. Sam Adams
9. Night Shift
10. Earth Eagle

 

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Castle Island
3. Idle Hands
4. Tilted Barn
5. Fox Farm
6. Trillium
   
7. Lamplighter
8. Jack’s Abby
9. Relic
10. Tributary

 

In no particular order outside my top 3:

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Alchemist
3. Allagash
Bissell Bros.
Jack's Abby/Springdale
Night Shift
Notch
Tree House
Trillium
Von Trapp

Medusa and Exhibit A are close. Both have done some really nice barrel-aged beers and hopefully that continues. I also think that Schilling has loads of potential.

 

Based on all the lists I am really interested in checking out Idle Hands, Fox Farm and Medusa. I don't think I have tried anything from these breweries.

I see a stop at Idle Hands while down in Boston for EBF in my future, and Fox Farm is really close to where I grew up (and parents still live). Medusa seems a bit out of the way for me, but at some points seems like a worthy endeavor.

 

That would be Stellwagen in Marshfield, MA
https://www.stellwagenbeer.com/

They are opening this summer.

 

Hmmm, no mention of Garrison City or Great Rhythm? Not to say that most of what has already been mentioned wouldn't make my list as well. Living in NE means being blessed with tons of awesome breweries and at times not so awesome weather. Cheers!

 

I also won't argue with many of the names that are showing up consistently as I would put some of them in my top 10 as well, but I'm surprised by the lack of Stoneface mentions. They are consistently pumping out some great beers in a number of different styles - I'll put their IPA, double IPAs (Hopulization and Double Clip, in particular), Porter, and RIS up against the best of the bunch....clearly not a one-hit wonder. If you want to add in the tasting room experience, they have a great menu that is very reasonably priced. Personally, I wish their bar & restaurant space was bigger because it's been packed the few times I've been able to visit.

To this poster's last point, the fact that breweries like Stoneface, Garrison, Great Rhythm, Deciduous, Banded Horn, Barreled Souls, Mast Landing, Mystic, Medusa, Exhibit A, among many others, aren't showing up more frequently goes to show how spoiled we are to live in ths region.

 

Ok I'll try, limited to breweries I've drank/visited in for the past year. (So no HF.) No particular order:

Proclamation
Austin Street
Tree House
NEBCo
Trillium
Long Live Beerworks
Bissell Brothers
Barreled Souls
Fox Farm
Allagash

 

I'll give it a shot...and for me, availability is a factor, so missing are the rare.

Allagash




Jack's Abby
Oxbow
Mystic
Proclamation
Flying Dreams
Harpoon
Spencer
Earth Eagle

I am looking forward to trying Shaidzon beers. It's likely that when I do...you know what happens when I like a brewery??? They'll just make the list...

But Allagash is my binky by far, and availability is much improved so I don't have to make a field expedition to find delicious things. And kudos to Harpoon for being the steady Eddie in the bunch - easy to find, reasonably priced, perfectly acceptable beers.

 

Oh, you'll like them.... they are realllll good.

 

If I lived a bit closer to Portsmouth these guys might make my list as well. I can't say that I typically leave there wanting to take home gallons of what I drank, but they are the only place I can think of where you legitimately don't know what the hell you're going to find on the menu. A flight there is almost the mandatory way to experience the beer.

Nice vibe at the bar too and I've always had great servers taboot.

 

Josh...is that you???

 

Exactly - great service, food is very good. The missus and I got hooked on Chaga Groove and they we tried some other stuff... I like that they are off the wall, but I will agree that gallons aren't the way to go. More like go see what they are up to, try a bunch of stuff. It is a little over an hour from me, so it is a bit of an expedition.

 

Mine would weigh heavily to VT, so I'll do my top place to visit in each state.

Maine - Banded Horn
NH - Schilling
Mass - Honest Weight
CT - Firefly Hollow
RI - ?? But hearing great things about Proclamation

VT - current fave is Frost.

 

No specific order, and there are a lot that could be changed in and out...

- Smuttynose
- Cambridge Brewing
- Trillium
- Schilling
- Hill Farmstead
- Notch
- Lamplighter
- Exhibit A
- Stoneface
- Oxbow

 

Hill Farmstead
Trillium
Tree House
NEBCO
Foley Brothers
Alchemist
Foam
Fiddlehead

Haven’t done Maine or NH so I’ll cut it off there

 

LOL. Just really enjoyed my visit there.

Now, the name on the other hand.... ugh.