Boston area Brewery

For that scale, Harpoon is a much better visit than SA. Also it's within short distance from Trillium if that is interesting to you as well.

 

Cambridge Brewing Company has amazing beer, good food and one of the best patios in the area. Trillium makes very good beer but its just for takeaway, you can't really hang out there. The beer hall at Harpoon is really nice with sweet views but the beer is mediocre. A bit out of town is Night Shift, Mystic and Idle Hands but you can get there via a short bus ride.

 

The Sam Adams brewery is actually pretty small scale and not a big operation, and would be a really good take for the non-beer geeks. The cons is that it is a bit out of the way and not near many other attractions (unless hipster spotting in JP is an attraction).

I think Trillium + Harpoon is a good option - Trillium will not be much of a tour, but the beer is great. Harpoon does have some decent tap room only beers on from time to time, and is near Yankee Lobster.

 

The Sam Adams tour is pretty decent and there is way more interesting stuff to do for non beer types in Jamaica Plain (Arnold Arboretum, Doyle's, Brendan Behan, Vee Vee, Ten Tables, City Feed, etc) than the waterfront area (unless you like bro-bars and other tourist traps).

 

Second or Third Harpoon. For a smaller operation Jack's Abbey in Framingham would be a great take if you can get out there. They do full pours and are doing great stuff.

 

As much as I love Jacks Abby, I wouldn't send anyone from out of town with friends who don't care about beer to to a commercial office park in Framingham to hang out. The Night Shift option is at least inside route 128 and not far from cultural institutions like Kelly's Roast Beef and Revere Beach.

 

Harpoon for sure, I always thought Harpoon made mostly mediocre beers too but going on a regular basis now (5 min walk from my work) has changed my mind. They ususally have a least a couple interesting options on tap and one on cask, not to mention the pretzels are awesome. It can get expensive buying pints and pretzels though.

 

Oh, so Trillium isn't a good place to go hang? I was hoping to celebrate post graduation at the BofA Pavilion on a Sat in May. Figured what better way to celebrate?

 

Yeah, I heard UFO is super expensive there? It's like, almost $2 MORE than where I work, which just seems insane considering there's no middle man. Are they trying to keep it from being a bar/hangout spot with cheap beer?

 

They are trying not to undercut the nearby businesses they sell their beer to.

 

Go to Trillium for growler fills, then walk next door to Row 34 for some great food and beers.

 

Let's be realistic, Harpoon does make mostly mediocre beers. They do have the occasional decent 100 barrel series but id drink Bud over almost any of their regular rotation.

 

I'd take their Rye IPA over a good number of other IPAs on the shelf, Their regular IPA is a nice pale ale, certainly better than Bud. The Leviathan series and many of the 100 barrel series beers are nice as well. 99% of their beers get over a 3.00 here with the majority being over 3.5. That puts them above mediocre, in my opinion and in the opinion of the masses if we are actually being 'realistic'.

They aren't setting the world on fire, they do make solid beers even though they do put out a stinker every so often. They don't have the stench of rare, but do have a good following and put out reasonable beers at a decent pace. They seem to get the same shade thrown on them as Sam Adams does, for similar reasons. They aren't the brewery flavor of the moment but there are hundreds of breweries putting far worse beers at a much higher regularity than Harpoon. But Enjoy your Bud.

 

Harpoon is far and away the most fun brewery to visit in the area. That the beer is generally pretty good is a bonus even if little of it is excellent. The tour is actually worth taking, and it's a fun place to hang out. When prioritizing a good time over having the absolute best beer around, there isn't a close second.

I'd highly recommend tracking down some Night Shift/Jack's/Trillium beers during your stay, but I wouldn't visit any of the breweries. JA is far, Night Shift is in the middle of an industrial park in an area that is also not all that easy with public transit, and Trillium is tiny and doesn't have a license to sell full pours or flights. All three make excellent beer but unless you're looking for something specific you're much better off finding Trillium on tap somewhere (Publick House!) and grabbing some bottles of the other two at the many local stores that carry them.