Small Mass breweries...any love?

I've never bought any Cape Ann beers in a bottle but everything I've had at the brewpub in Gloucester has been really good. Their Blackburn Imperial Stout is great and I would definitely pick that up if it was ever bottled. I've had a few Elements that someone got me that were good from what I remember but I never bought another so I am guessing they didn't blow me away. I think the overly elaborate packaging for some reason also makes me skip picking it up.

 

cape ann... i need serious incentive to try again.

torn on element. have met them a few times at fests and really like them, and love how passionate they are about the beers. plus what i've tried at fests and from the occasional buy has been good. ...just not good enough for the large format price. i wish it was... i would advise visiting the brewery, it's supposed to be a good time. they're the kind of brewery i want to throw my loyalty behind, but they need to make a few basic decisions differently to get me there. hopefully they're doing fine without me.

cody = don't know them.

 

Element seems like a brewery that would benefit from different, less elaborate packaging. I don't really recall a time where I've even seen them on draft around Boston either. Maybe they focus more on their local market than the city?

I've haven't heard much other than bad quality from Cody Brewing. Never tried their beer because of it.

 

Cody - their sloppy handwritten test batch labels just scream quality to me. I tried their beers when they had the pub in danvers - ok at best.

Trillium ipa and ffpa are my faves from MA small brewery, but they get plenty attention here.

Favorite sleeper is Backlash DIPA's and out on draft now is Grit - a pretty damn hoppy drinkable pale ale.

Portico anyone? Only had a pretty sad sample of a "kolsch" at acbf last year.

 

Potentially out of the picture (for the moment), due to the closure of Watch City?

 

I've had a few from Backlash and I'll always order them if I see them on draft. Unfortunately they're typically pretty old (and more expensive than I like in bomber form) when I see them in stores. My favorite was an Imperial Stout called Death.

I also agree with your quotes on "kolsch" from Portico. I had that at a restaurant and I had to look up what a kolsch was again to make sure that I wasn't crazy.

I don't really go too far out of my way to locate the small MA breweries, so don't have much more beyond that.

 

Cape Ann: Love the Imperial Pumpkin Stout but nothing else I've had from them really interests me to drink regularly. That said, they have enough decent offerings to get me into their brewpub when I'm in the area.

Cody: Never heard of them.

Trillium: Awesome.

Element: I've also been intrigued by them but never seem to pick up one of their bottles. Maybe it is the packaging or the price compared to other stuff on the shelf?

Idle Hands and Mystic are the two I'd most like to try more from. I am very partial to Night Shift but I am not sure if you all consider them "small" anymore with their new place.

 

Glad I'm not the only one that looks at the Element bottles and says "Wow, that's expensive for a local brewery without much hype or local draft presence".

 

Cody is near the bottom of the barrel. I've not had a beer from them that was even decent. I won't be trying more.

Backlash I love. Chaos was one of the better DIPAs I have had this year.

Cape Ann has some decent beers. I enjoyed the alt quite a bit.

Trillium is nails much of the time.

I am going to give Navigation Brewing a go now that they are filling growlers. Hopefully decent as they are 5 min from my house.

 

come to think of it, my friend (with very similar taste and "beer experience" to me) always praises the pumpkin stout. i'll give it a shot if the opportunity arises.

 

Been by the Element Brewery. Its tiny. I agree with the price point and bottle sizes, but I don't think they could go with a smaller format and keep up. Just my 2 cents.

Had a few Stoneman offerings and have been impressed.

Tree House basically rules at the moment. Everyone else is a level below. Would be very excited for a few more local options!

 

Two that haven't been mentioned that I really enjoy are:

• Enlightenment: former CBC bartender now brews for Enlightenment & Idle Hands, and he's made some wonderful IPAs, bitters and other styles under the Enlightenment label
• Newburyport Brewing Company: I've enjoyed their IPA and heard a decent amount of buzz about it last summer, but lately I've really been enjoying their pale ale at the Flatbread/Sacco's in Somerville--a wonderfully balanced pale that straddles the line between American and English styles.

 

I finally had a Cape Ann Double Dead Eye this past weekend. Excellent beer. Easily top 5 DIPA from MA

Also a nano brewery who is getting better is Bog Iron out of Norton. Their blonde and rye have been good. Stinger IPA was not my style but still a decent beer, especially if fresh and I mean days or right at brewery. They also attempted 2 DIPAs Stung and Middle Child of which Middle Child had a ton of potential. I think they expanded just recently, so hopefully more improvements are on the way soon.

 

Brewmaster Jack is a sleeper in my opinion. Their single hop series IPA's were excellent. Especially the Simcoe. The 2 latest pale ales are ok. Like to see them get back to the IPA's. Their new recipe for Ambrewsia is really nice too.

I second the Backlash hoppy offerings. Really solid beers. The latest coffee RIS is worth a try too.

Navigation out of Lowell is showing some promise. CBC in Westford gets some bottles.

Anyone try Big Elm or CanDo? See their stuff around but never pulled the trigger.

 

The beers I've had from DoCan have been memorable, as in avoid spending the money on them again. Surprisingly haven't seen them restocked anywhere.

Idle Hands/Enlightenment are making some great small batch beers. Cotton was delicious. And the Saisons under enlightenment are great.

I really wish Backlash would start dating bottles. Stop spending the money on wax seals.

 

I live in Gloucester and I love Fisherman's. They unfortunately only bottle their mainstream stuff, which I can take or leave (I like the pumpkin stout and the sunrise saison.) The brewpub though is worth a visit, they always have something new up, and their specialty beers range from good to amazing. They also usually have something on cask nowadays. The food there is awesome too: its just pub food, but they do regular specials, the fish tacos are amazing, and for my money they make the best fried clams in the area, without having to deal with the clusterfuck that is Woodman's or Farnham's.

I tried a Cody brewing beer but it was infected and I haven't been back since. I don't see their stuff around very often.

Element is too expensive for my tastes, I haven't pulled the trigger on that.

Backlash, I really enjoyed their Apocalypse series.

 

Does anyone know if Cody paid those people they screwed over last year. Enough info in that thread to make me not buy their beer.

 

I really enjoy the Cape Ann brewpub. Agree that their best beers are brewpub-only. I almost never buy their bottles.

Enlightenment is a shining star to me. Loved the 3 beers I've had from them, but purchasing them is more of a treat.

Backlash and Idle Hands - I'm not interested much in domestically made belgian styles. Haven't been impressed by either, though I haven't had the hoppy offerings from Backlash that seem to be more common from them now (I see people like those)

Element - I like their beer quite a bit. Nice people. But format and price prohibit purchasing them a lot.

Cody - waste of my time

Portico - tried 2 beers, disliked both. As hinted above, their Kolsh is not what a kolsch should be in my book. Found it way too sweet and confusing.

Bog Iron - pretty solid. They make one of the best English-style session beers I've ever had, called "Campout Milld". Just 3.5% and full of tasty malts (toffee, caramel, nuts). They just opened a new taproom (very needed as it was very small in there before) and I plan on going back to see it soon.

Anyone been to Buzzards Bay since they changed their name back from the "Just Beer" moniker? I see their current IPA recipe gets good ratings. Love the setting there and hope to revisit soon.