Favorite local breweries and craft beers (Boston, Worcester: purchase, restaurant, centers)

[timberline742]

Well, Tree House is still king, though not at the levels they were two locations ago. Tough to scale up like that. And too many milk stouts, I'm not a big fan of the lactic trend.



Henry and Fran in West Boyslton does some interesting and good things, I've liked some of their stouts they've been doing recently.


Vanished Valley in Ludlow is solid as is Greater Good in Worcester. I was pleasantly surprised by Stellwagon Bay. Night Shift is better than they were 3-4 years ago, definite improvements.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Well, Tree House is still king, though not at the levels they were two locations ago. Tough to scale up like that. And too many milk stouts, I'm not a big fan of the lactic trend.

Eh, they are only kings to legions of neckbearded beer bros looking to score their limited allocation of 16 cans per person at $4 each. I made that drive once, enough to know that there are plenty of other options so that I and several thousand others don't need to burn gas in a car, drive an hour each way, wait 20min-2hrs in a line only to partake in an "experience" that is becoming irrelevant thanks to competition who distribute. All juice, meh. If they distributed they'd just lose their "charm" so I get why they keep that on lockdown.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Night Shift is better than they were 3-4 years ago, definite improvements.

I agree as well. They've definitely moved up in terms of my personal favorites. Tree house is up there as well. Fortunately I have a coworker that spends his weekends out that way so he picks me up some

[piffler]

Night Shift and Mystic are my two favorites.

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by G-fused

Another vote for Jack's Abby. Hopponious Union.

I've had Altruist and Trillium. Good but not worth the hype IMO. Then again, I'm not a huge beer guy but do like what I like.

For the cheap stuff, nothing beats Miller High Life...nothing.

Agree X 10 about Highlife. Also Coors Banquit.
As for local, I'm not a connoisseur by any means. Turtleswamp in JP has been making some interesting stuff. They are opening a beer hall in the Roslindale sub station where trillium was last year. It was fun. But paying $11 for a 9oz pour and getting rocked off 1 12% double IPA was not my cup of tea for social hour.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Eh, they are only kings to legions of neckbearded beer bros looking to score their limited allocation of 16 cans per person at $4 each. I made that drive once, enough to know that there are plenty of other options so that I and several thousand others don't need to burn gas in a car, drive an hour each way, wait 20min-2hrs in a line only to partake in an "experience" that is becoming irrelevant thanks to competition who distribute. All juice, meh. If they distributed they'd just lose their "charm" so I get why they keep that on lockdown.

They don't need to distribute as they sell out over everything, selling at retail price, at the brewery. They did distribute, kegs anyway, when they could.


And I still haven't had this competition that is as good. There are some, like Grimm, that are close, but I don't think they are distributing their IPA cans here yet (they were distributing non IPA bottles before their new brewery opened, not sure now). I also took "local" as being Massachusetts, so I wasn't going to compare it to River Roost or anything.


I've hit a chunk of the others, Slumbrew, Bone Up, Mystic, Medusa, Idle Hands, Aeronaut, Mystic, Cape Ann, Winter Hill, True West, Lamplighter, Dorchester... all fairly middling. True West did make a nice Belgium Quad though. Nothing else earned a return.

[mwj119]

The breweries that immediately come to mind:
Springdale
Tree House
Trillium
Deciduous
Night Shift
Mystic Brewing
Lamplighter
Aeronaut
Backlash
Idle Hands
Turtle Swamp

[Cape Cod Todd]

I am a fan of Cape Cod Beer located in Hyannis. They give tours and have tastings. Their experimental brews tend to be on the heavy side with their porters and stouts if you like that but if not their Blonde and Red are crowd pleasers and are on tap at many local taverns and for sale at "packies".



They sell by the can and the Growler that you can have refilled at the brewery.

[bohemka]

I'm anti-hop. Before the craft explosion, I liked a beer with some meat on its bones, but now it's difficult to find anything that doesn't scream HOPS. It's like HDR photography. We're stuck in this weird hop hole, where people think hopping everything is being creative. There's nothing subtle about it, and it stomps all over every other flavor.

So I like Notch in Salem. Nice Czech- and German-style pils and ales. Even their IPA is a session (Left of the Dial). And they've got a pub right on the harbor.

If I could cast a wider net, I absolutely love Moat in North Conway. Great food too.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by bohemka

I'm anti-hop. Before the craft explosion, I liked a beer with some meat on its bones, but now it's difficult to find anything that doesn't scream HOPS. It's like HDR photography. We're stuck in this weird hop hole, where people think hopping everything is being creative. There's nothing subtle about it, and it stomps all over every other flavor.

So I like Notch in Salem. Nice Czech- and German-style pils and ales. Even their IPA is a session (Left of the Dial). And they've got a pub right on the harbor.

If I could cast a wider net, I absolutely love Moat in North Conway. Great food too.

I find that the new trend of NEIPA's are less hoppy and bitter compared to west coast IPA's, but super juicy.