2017 Favorites

Epic Triple Baptist was a nice surprise. I got my first cans of Swish. Another nice surprise for me :-).

And every sour I've had from Springdale has been fantastic.

 

Mystic Brewery dove into the IPA game, probably reluctantly, and then killed it anyway.

Then they went and canned their table beer!

 

Fox Farm in CT. Beautiful facility and the beers are wonderful. I had heard a lot about them before opening and figured it was hype. Nope. Not only not a single misstep, which can't be said for every brewery opening these days, but every beer was almost perfect. And love the range of styles.

 

Speaking of diving into the IPA game reluctantly, the Galaxy iteration of Four Seam at Idle Hands. I went through a couple of cases of that one.

And I spent a lot of time at Brick & Feather this year. No Use For Smugglers is the highest rating I've ever given a beer although, to be fair, I may have been half in the bag at the time.

 

Disappointment: Foundation. What happened there?

 

Some of the smaller guys really impressed me with their IPAs this year. I got to try River Roost, Brick & Feather, Austin St., and Vanished Valley this year. I really dug all the IPAs I tried from each.

Everyone seems to be stepping up their NEIPA game. I'm unashamed to love this style as much as I do and appreciate the access I have to great examples of it.

I'm disappointed that MBC refuses to grow up and switch their format. Shame on Finback and Singlecut for having high price points for their cans. May 2018 be the year the bomber finally dies and the competition brings everyone's prices in line.

 

Yes! I grew up not five minutes from there and I'm simultaneously excited that such great beer exists in SE CT, and wary of people finding out about it and turning it into TH or Tilted Barn

 

Honest Weight, Austin St., Oxbow, and Jack's Abby had great years. Hyper locally Backyard Brewing and Kettlehead have impressed me and are getting a share of my dollars now.

Some of the best localish beers I've had this year: JA Post Shift, TH Native One, HW Overly Dedicated, Trill Affogato, and Kettlehead Quest.

 

My favorite beer was Hill Farmstead Tequila Soigné

Oxbow really came out strong in 2017. I've been consistently blown away with their beers whether is was a simple pilsner (Luppolo) or a single barrel spontaneous wild (MBW Native/Wild).

In 2018, I'd like to see more breweries working on more sessionable beers instead of 8% DIPAs and more local pilsners

 

While I like your post, I love your avatar!!

 

Just am able to drink beer from here a few weeks a year, but two beers recently stood out. I've had Fort Hill quite a few times and have witnessed their somewhat cynical chase after the hazy ipa glory over the past 1.5 years, BUT the recent Fresh Pick, as in those available for purchase from the brewery directly right now, will make many turn their head -- especially those craving that bubblegum Tree House yeast flavor.

The other was a bottle I bought this summer while back in the area from honest weight. "They Reminisce Over You" is spectacular. The bottle says bourbon barrel aged rye old ale -- and sure, that's what it is, but with so many descriptors you might think it is a confused mess. It's not. Not so oddly it reminds me of Allagash Curieux, in other words for me it reminds me of one of the best bourbon barrel aged beers you can buy. Wow.

 

there was another similar thread to this (maybe merge-worthy) and Fresh Pick is one of my beers of the year for me. I like it as much as anything I've had from the big boys. I also really liked their marzen.

 

I bought Fresh Pick on a whim after I moved to Massachusetts at the end of the summer. At first I was ambivalent toward it, and then after having 3 left in my fridge for ~3 or 4 weeks a whole new mesh of flavors came out and it quickly climbed its way to the top of my "buy this if you see it" list.

Being new to MA, I also try to hit Tree House a lot since it's still a novelty to me. I love their beers, but the batch of Green canned on 11/10 was other worldly to me.

I also had a glass of Cascade Brewing's Kentucky Peach in June and I still think about it and get a little sad that I might never find it again. It was incredible.

 

River Roost and Schilling. At opposite ends of the flavor spectrum with most of their beers, but both are great.

 

River Roost for me - great discovery in White River Junction, looking forward to what they do next in 2018

 

Equilibrium, particularly Fluctuation and dHop2. Also Hudson Valley Brewing, particularly Amorphia and Subglitch.

 

2017 New England highlights were, under events, Western Mass Beer Week, 2nd year and lots of great offerings at the regions breweries, FOFA.
Beers
The Lightness by the Peoples Pint 3.8% lager, with excellent aromatics and flavors
Old Ale on cask at Zero Gravity near perfect in body and feel
Cambridge Brewing Co, at the restaurant a Zwickle that was incredible
Mystic Table beer in cans
Just a few
Cheers and Happy New Year