Notch Brewing (2021)

I would think a sanitized hair curling iron would do the trick? Hot enough to warm it up, small enough to avoid a mess.

 

Cast iron. I let it rock on the stove for a good while, so it's super hot. It's rather cumbersome to do it this way (because you'll want to use an oven mitt), but the results are awesome.

 

Ordered 12 gates of the west on mail order and am thinking it may not be enough. I love this beer, excellent caramel and toffee notes, nice mouthfeel.

Drinking this in April really has me pining for NERAX and British beers on cask.

 

Okay, so since we're all in on Gates of the West, who else is doing a dope British Bitter?

 

Not enough places that’s for sure.

Crue brewing in raynham has everyday ESB, which I haven’t had but gets very good reviews. small change brewing has a nice mild ale called the future is unwritten, very nice for the style. Other than that, they are few and far between to my eyes. Hopefully others can recommend more.

 

I really enjoyed Bunker’s Chick-a-Dee. They’ve made some solid beers with some not so sexy styles (mild, brown, oatmeal stout, and the aforementioned bitter being my favorite).

 

https://www.1571f.com ?

 

Back Beat just put their house bitter back on via handpumb

 

Haven't had Bunker's bitter, but I am a big fan of Bunker in general. They aren't talked about much on BA. My theory is that because they aren't located on Industrial Way or near downtown, they don't get the tourists who need to have one beer in six different locations during a single two or three hour afternoon beer blitz. Plus Bunker doesn't specialize in NEIPAs, and their original "flagship," if they ever had a flagship, is a Czech pils. The brewery is a great hang too.

 

100% agree. I always do this thing, too, where I say I'm going to go there, but end up just parking my ass on Washington at never leaving.

 

I do...not think this would be a good idea haha

 

Strange times at Notch right now, was at the Biergarten and the only lager on right now is Tenner (Zwickel just kicked). Did not complain and got a Gates, already had a Tenner, was just strange to only have one lager on at the time.

 

Think you could just shorten this to, “Are there any bitters in New England”.

Know it’s not that bad...but it’s close.

I saw a four pack of a beer from Bone Up called “Mild Child”. It’s a 4.6% Brown Ale.

I think the not specializing in New England IPAs part is the likely culprit. Bissell is way off the beaten path with no other breweries at Thompson Point and they’re arguably the most talked about brewery in Portland aside from Allagash.

 

Coincidentally I grabbed Bunker's English bitter this week and just wrote it up on New Beer Weekend. For anyone interested in the long story:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-39.657560/page-4#post-7236655

Short story: I liked it a lot!

 

Thompson Point is hardly off the beaten path. It’s right off the highway and has a lot of things going on beyond the presence of Bissell. Anyone heading into Portland from the south can actually see Bissell Bros/Thompson Pt. from the highway. Bissell is also the first and probably still the best brewer of NEIPAs in ME. They also had a huge pre-established reputation from their original location on Industrial Way, they have a robust social media presence, etc., etc.

Bunker shares building space with an Express Copy Center or something and is actually in the rear of the building. The first time I went there I thought my GPS was playing games with me.

 

BA is a small slice of the beer world. Bissell is much more in demand and talked about than Oxbow broadly. Same with Trillium vs Notch as previously discussed.

 

Not a bitter but worth noting Origin Beer Project in RI has a 3.3% nitro British Mild out right now. Their first beer was a Czech Pale lager aged in foeders that was probably a top 5 beer for me.

 

Another RI brewery called Bravo does a bitter and an English pub ale. I’ve had neither.

 

But it didn't used to be that way! Not to go too far OT but in the late 90s/early 00s the ESB/bitter was a standard offering at many microbreweries in New England. I loved McNeil's ESB; Gritty even made a few good bitter-style offerings, my extremely-local at the time Northampton Brewery made a nice bitter.

Things change.