I’ve heard good things about their farmhouse ales. How’s their other stuff? I’d like to maybe take a day trip to wherever Maynard is. I literally have no idea. What’s their setup like? Can I have a beer or do I grab and go?
https://www.amorystomb.com/ Maynard, Massachusetts https://g.co/kgs/qw6S3W As for the beer, farmhouse is really good (I’ve had a few, Estuarial being my favorite) and confirms what you’ve heard. I’ve had a fair amount of their stuff and enjoyed it all for the most part.
Will second the beer love. Did a curbside order a few weeks back. Been digging all of the beers I grabbed so far. Wax Galaxies is a weird hybrid of an NEIPA and farmhouse style beer- think a juicy IPA with some funk. I loved it. Yardbier was a great grisette that worked well as a post-lawn refresher for me. Kettle Hole and Estuarial were both excellent as well. Can't comment on the drinking onsite, as I was in and out for pickup. But even that was worth the drive. I will probably head back at some point soon.
Sweet. Maybe I’ll get out there this week if they have some good options. Looks like it is around 40 minutes. Not ideal but also not bad
There's no way you can get to Maynard in 40 minutes from the Indian Ocean. But I recommend their farmhouse stuff above all else.
They've begun to branch out a bit in their offerings. When they first opened I think they had almost entirely Saison's and Grisettes. Outside of Saison's, Grisette's, and Pale ales I've had the Manbun Pils and one of their Porters. The Pils was good but I thought it was a bit light on its use of malt, more of a great summer beer than a truly traditional Czech Pilsner in my opinion. The Porter was also fine but not exceptional. The others were very good to great. They've very recently started to offer IPA's and there's a NE IPA currently on their menu but that's one beer out of like 12. I'm very interested to hear your opinion of them given your love of Oxbow. They've filled the void that Mystic left for me (well the Mystic of old when they didn't make as many IPA's). They are very small, I believe they partner with Riverwalk Brewery to produce anything above their limited capacity and their canning. At least when they first released Kettle Hole to distribution that's who they used. I hope they stay true to their roots, I think they have a decent local following. What really impressed me was DaBier, a 2.9% Grisette. Being able to brew great low ABV beers, to me, is a showcase of the talent of a brewer.
I stopped by this weekend and picked up some beers to go. Riverwalk is still doing their canning and contract brewing. I picked up Citra Finch, Estuarial, Satellite Archaeologist, and Saison XLII. So far I've tried Citra Finch and Estuarial. The Citra Finch was very good, I'm interested in drinking it again tonight to get a second tasting of it. It is a good NE IPA but I couldn't help but be disappointed, not that it wasn't up to the quality of other breweries, it was more of "Why am I drinking this good NE IPA from a brewery that makes great Saisons?". Its a lot like going to a great Mexican restaurant and ordering a burger. They might make a fantastic burger but why would you go to a Mexican restaurant for a burger? I believe this is the first beer I've had that uses the Kviek yeast strain so that was another aspect clouding my take on the beer. The Estuarial was excellent and great for #SaisonSaturdy (I wasn't online to post about it). The other two beers are more modern takes on Saisons than Estuarial and I'm looking forward to trying them. The Saison XLII was in a 750ml bottle and brewed in Amory's small on site setup. $10 for a 750ml bottle is quite nice. Generally I've found their modern Saison's lightly hopped, they are hopped to create an interesting taste profile rather than hopped in order to satisfy (or attract) the IPA crowd.
I can't wait to head out there. I wasn't willing to risk the 495 North traffic on Friday afternoon and couldn't do it on Saturday & Sunday. This weekend I'm not around. So I think I'm going to head out there next weekend for the saison fix. I'm stoked that I've heard so many good things about their beer. I don't typically get excited about new breweries. Why would I? Most of them open with 12 double IPAs on tap.
Count me in on those that feel this way. I think I've done beer delivery from one new brewery this year and that was an actual success. I really don't really have the patience to wade through mediocre beer and styles that I can get easily at my local store, which is a 5 minute walk. I used to enjoy being one of the first to "discover" a new place. Now, I'm much more new brewery adverse. The few new to me breweries I've been excited about have been lager/saison breweries.
To extend the analogy put forth by @matthewp, it's very much like every restaurant that opens is a new Mexican restaurant. The menus at every place are super similar, but, hey, everyone likes Mexican and that's what the consumer wants. Each places is lauded by Mexican Food Advocate message boards for having the spiciest salsas. It's just gotten to the point where I don't care about new Mexican restaurants anymore. Once upon a time, I did. I'll still eat Mexican from time to time, but when a new burger joint opens -- and I hear they do great burgers -- I'll be even happier. (Please note that this is analogy only. I love Mexican food. I love it a lot.)
A standout is still I standout and one could argue it is tougher to standout among a hundred Mexican restaurants than a handful of burger joints.
Yes, there’s a gigantic difference between the burger at Three Penny v the one at Applebee’s (for instance), but anyone who has spent enough time in Southern California would tell you there’s as much of a difference between authentic Mexican food and what we get here in the northeast as there is in burgers.
I live not far from here now. I suppose I'll have to check it out. Likely not til Fall, unfortunately.
