Small Mass breweries...any love?

I recently had Buzzard's Bay "81 Whacks" Imperial Red IPA, which is a Lizzy Borden theme, and was extremely impressed. It is the best beer I have ever had from the brewery BY FAR.

 

Lefty's is in growlers at The Big Y. Haven't tried one though.

 

Not sure how fresh any of their lighter offerings would be, but if you find their big brekkie (breakfast stout) grab that one. I think it is pretty good.

 

I have been enjoying the Abandoned Buildings Pennhurst Pale Ale lately.
Also really enjoyed the recent offering from Element a slightly sour red ale.
The Stoneman Pale Ale is earthy, and interesting.
Lucky to have em.
Cheers

 

Another Lover from High Horse is a fantastic IPA. Highly recommended for anyone passing through Amherst or that sees it on tap anywhere. Satisfaction IPA is another good one from them, quite a bit hoppier than Another Lover last I had it. They had a barrel aged imperial stout last I was there too, not sure if that's a regular thing but it was great.

 

is this the element beer you mean? sounds pretty good. how are they pricing it?

 

Thanks for the words...
and just to clarify.
We currently are pouring our Anti-Imperialist IPA (4.1% abv) and Satisfaction IPA. Another Lover will be brewed in about a month and available from mid October through late spring. Like every batch of Lover, this one will be different once again. This time… a touch of Chinook and a heavy hand with Galaxy.

in addition… we are pouring Yellow(a kolsch), Moan(belgian pale), Minx Saison, The Business and Barrel Aged Biz(Imperial Coffee Stout), Beastie Rye, LadyK Pale Ale, Velvet Nitro, Mr White, and Libertine Porter. We also have released the first of many sours. Soleil d'Or is our Saison aged in white wine barrels with brett, pedio, lacto, and various sacc yeasts from Fantome.

 

i want all of this.

 

You want that PLUS their garlic fries. Seriously delicious stuff.

2 flights, an order of garlic fries and you are set for the night.

 

Bog Iron is doing some cool stuff. I really enjoyed the Stinger IPA.....so fresh. A great tap room experience. Really nice guys as well.

 

Acidium, was the slightly sour red I was referring to, price point was $11
Cheers

 

Whats everyone opinion on Night Shift? I follow them on the Twitter and they seem to have a lot of interesting beers. Always wanted to try them, especially Jojo.

 

Worth a try definitely. They have some real gems on occasion. Very experimental so they don't always hit the mark, but when they do they hit it pretty hard. The Berliners are worth a visit alone.

 

I was gifted a Barrel Society membership last Xmas and after three releases I am pretty impressed so far. I usually stop by the brewery two or three times a month and they always have something new and interesting to offer. The past few months in particular seem to have brought a nonstop flow of new beers which I love since I can try something new with every visit.

Their sours and barrel aged stuff are very good and they put out a solid IPA every so often as well. Almost all of their beers have an innovative aspect to them so while some offerings might not please all palettes they have all been worth trying in my opinion. The brewers seem to especially like tropical and citrus fruits a lot which is OK by me

As far as distributed bottles go, I think their best stuff tends to be brewery release or growler only though the JoJo bottles and Whirlpool cans are good buys if you're in MA. I have a few friends in NJ that are very into Night Shift, so it looks like they may be building quite a following down there!

 

I would saw the poutine, but I haven't tried the garlic fries...next time I'm there.

Might as well add that Satisfaction is a damn good IPA. All in all, High Horse has done a pretty good job at helping me get over CBC since moving out west. Looking forward to trying the sours. More things should go in white wine barrels.

 

Generally, I find their beers to be hit or miss, though I’ve only had 1 I didn’t like at all. Their creativity keeps me interested. More than once I’ve had a beer of theirs that I thought missed the mark, but was still tasty in its own way. For example, I thought the Grove saison didn’t come across saison-y much at all, so…negative points on that front. However, it did drink like an enjoyable, juicy pale ale. So while the critic inside me docks points, the consumer inside me enjoys it in the end anyway, so I always keep tabs on what they’re doing. I’m really looking to find time to make it to the new tap room and try some of the brewery-only stuff.

 

Good point. And great avatar.

 

For some reason I often wonder about the growth paths of Night Shift and Element. To me, they started from a somewhat similar position. In that, they don't make "normal" beers. Yet, it seems that Element is growing very very slow, perhaps that's what they want, and Night Shift seems to have really taken off.

I think one element that speaks in Night Shift favor is location. But more importantly, they seem to embraced, and excelled in, this "abnormality". I think in general, this is what the contemporary consumer wants: something crazy and something new. And Night Shift excels in making new beers, or a new take on beer, again and again, and again. And this includes jumping on a barrel craze early on. Element, on the other hand, seems to be chugging along without generating much of excitement. But again, perhaps that's what suits them and they don't want to go any faster.

I hope my so-called analysis doesn't come out as negative towards Night Shift.

Regarding the styles: I agree with @jbertsch, some of Night Shift styles are the styles in the name only and would never be recognized as such in a blind tasting. Yet they're tasty or at the least interesting.

 

Not mass but about a half hour away in pawtucket RI they have Foolproof brewery. Nice little brewery that is on the rise.

-xICooRsYIx

 

I don't think Element beers can be considered that expensive anymore. Many local, and small, breweries release equally as expensive, if not more, offerings. Agree with @BearsOnAcid, perhaps their elaborate packaging makes them look more expensive. I liked what I tried from Element, but I can't say I got excited by anything.

I also want to give props to Brewmaster Jack. I think Tyler is doing a really good job with his beers and seems to know in which direction and how fast he needs to go to grow.

Idle Hands make very interesting beers, very true to style, imo, but nothing crazy ) Their started making German style beers, I tried only Adelais and thought it was excellent for the style.