I'm from Seattle visiting Boston until the 4th. I'd like to pick up some good beers for my cellar and wondering if anyone has suggestions. My current cellar is about 60 bottles, mostly strong winter ales and barley wines. I like to keep beers at least 5 years. Thanks in advance for the suggestions. -=Toddlikesb33r=-
In the immediate Boston area I would check out Night Shift and Mystic. Jack's Abby makes some dark stuff that could do well with some age. Trillium has a Barleywine right now, and there is a stout coming out next, but both are made with cold brewed coffee, and the brewer has said he likes them better fresh, and thinks the coffee flavors will fade with age. Take a ride to a few bottle shops and see if you can find some Idle Hands, they are currently relocating so you can't visit the brewery but their beers can be found at some shops.
The Jack's Abby (barrel-aged) Framinghammers (regular, Cocoa-Nut, Coffee, Vanilla, PB&J) are a good start. At the brewery, looks like you can get reg and Coffee bottles, as well as Lager Ness Monster. Respected local brewer, Pretty Things, recently announced they are closing up shop. There are many who love their barleywine, Our Finest Regards, and Russian Imperial Stout, Barbapapa. However, since making their announcement, local beer geeks have been snapping up their beers, so might be tough to find. Seekabrew lists limited Clown Shoes distro in WA? If you don't have any of their stuff, you've come to the right place, as they are known for their barrel aged dark beers. Exorcism At Sunset, Breakfast Exorcism, Undead Party Crasher--they literally have about 15 beers you could age... I'll throw some love out to Backlash's stout, Death, and the Mexican stout version, Muerte. You might be able to trade for Night Shift's Darkling. Was pretty hot when initially released in 2014--and I've heard the same for 2015--so I'm cellaring bottles to do a vert in a couple years... Finally, in the name of science, since you like to cellar for 5 years, you could do us all a favor and trade for a Tree House Good Morning growler and let us all know how it tastes in 2020 Hope that helps. Enjoy your stay -mike
Mystic. Pretty much any of their stronger beers should go a distance. Spectral Evidence (imperial stout) for sure. Should be easy to find a range of their beers at just about any decent bottle shop.
Not so sure about that. I was at Jack's tonight and they've been cleaned out. Not much left except the standards and a couple of the sours.
Remember when this was an easy question? There are so many solid MA breweries now, most putting out several cellaring contenders. There are literally dozens to answer your question. Focus on the better shops, and ask the beer guys, they will steer your right, but you will miss out on special brewery only releases.
I don't know if it ever found it's way down into MA, but Henniker's King Misanthrope promises to age well. I have several bottles tucked away in the basement.
A lot of good stuff already mentioned. I'll second Clown Shoes, they're making great stuff right now. Here's a few more options: Kelsen is a small NH brewery that makes two very nice stouts, Vinatta and Vendel. You may see those in your travels. Brew Master Jack out of Northampton MA makes a BA quad (Tennessee Prinse) that would probably age nicely. Lawsons just released a maple barleywine called Double or Nothing. So you may see that as well. Looking at seekabrew it doesn't look like you get Revolution brewing in Washington. If that's the case, they have a boxed beer out called Deth's Tar that I think is pretty great and should age nicely. Happy hunting and enjoy your trip.
Pick up two bottles of Pretty Things Our Finest Regards. You could also pick up two bottles of their Fumapapa. The former is an English Barleywine, the latter a smoked imperial stout. I've never had their Barleywine, but I had the stout last weekend, it's excellent. One of the brewer's told me they preferred the Barleywine fresh, but you can certainly try aging each. Highly regarded brewery in New England, as @patto1ro can attest to I'm sure. They're closing up shop, and their beers are only going to be available through January. Both beers should be excellent for aging, so try one each fresh, then let us know how the others end up. Cheers!
