What is your favorite Beer?

[FCMA]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Been several times. I really don't get the love for Brick and Feather. At all. Each time I left without buying anything.

I think we had this discussion before. My appreciation is limited to these two excellent beers and the rest - Meh. My opinion on Smugglers is not an outlier. The final one I kinda like is Sauron’s Nightlight porter, which is good when in the mood for a really dark beer.

[FCMA]

If anyone is interested, here’s how that Mass Brew Bros blind IPA tasteoff went back in 2019. There were some interesting lesser known beers involved. Interesting to see that Tree House’s Haze fell to Feather Edge by Cold Harbor Brewing (Westborough) in the central bracket. Love me some Tree House, but it’s good to remember that other breweries are getting good at making trendy IPAs too.

https://massbrewbros.com/best-ipa-in...-be-surprised/

[RLCMA]

Heady Topper

[WestRiverTraveler]

Athletic Brewing Company Freeway IPA.

[BostonMike7]

I wonder what MA breweries may not make it through the latest crisis?

From a recent FB post from Lord Hobo, seems they aren’t doing well. I wonder if the oversatrurated New England brewery market might get a slight correction in the next few months

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by FCMA

If anyone is interested, here’s how that Mass Brew Bros blind IPA tasteoff went back in 2019. There were some interesting lesser known beers involved. Interesting to see that Tree House’s Haze fell to Feather Edge by Cold Harbor Brewing (Westborough) in the central bracket. Love me some Tree House, but it’s good to remember that other breweries are getting good at making trendy IPAs too.

https://massbrewbros.com/best-ipa-in...-be-surprised/

We did the Mass Brew Bros. blind test in Somerville at the beginning of March this year (right before things ground to a halt). These were the results. The lists below aren't rankings - they're the numbers affiliated with each beer (they number each beer and participants submit their favorite number). Most weren't too surprising. I'd expect VSB to runaway with the IPA category, but I think they came in 3rd (and Due North is middle of the road as far as their offerings go). But hype does play a big role in all of this stuff. I have some of the Vitamin Sea/Trillium Collab. in the fridge and people in online groups are going nuts for it. It's very good. But it's not near the best of what either brewery offers. There are also lots of other small breweries that brew stuff that is as good, if not better than the big players. We'd take Channel Marker's IPAs over all of Bissell, most of Trillium, and put them up there with Vitamin Sea. But Channel Marker is small, new, and doesn't have the hype that the others do.

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I wonder what MA breweries may not make it through the latest crisis?

From a recent FB post from Lord Hobo, seems they aren’t doing well. I wonder if the oversatrurated New England brewery market might get a slight correction in the next few months

It's going to be interesting. I think it's going to depend on business model more than quality for some. Trillium, Vitamin Sea, etc. sell themselves. They'll be fine. Some very good ones, like Lamplighter, have a taproom heavy model in that most of their revenue comes from butts on bar stools. While they've tried to keep cans to go sales alive, I don't know if it's been super successful. They also have a ton of capital sunk into a major expansion at Cambridge Crossing. So I worry about them. On the other hand, a place like Bone Up which would have worried me a few years ago seems to be doing well with their big beer garden, and the increased quality and distribution reach. But I would expect some casualties as well as some nearly-opened breweries to never see the light of day (Cold Cuts, Medford Brewing Company).

[timberline742]

I'm surprised to see Cold Harbour getting any love. Its near my office, and after two tries walking away empty handed, I gave up.

[charolastra00]

Slumbrew just announced they are shutting down for good. They've been in trouble for awhile. When their space at Assembly Row closed down, there were a lot of rumblings. They also were heavily distributed through restaurants, which hurt them even more. Slumbrew's beer garden was my first foray into craft beer, so I feel extra sad about it even though I had not bought their beer in some time.



The breweries that will survive are those whose name carries a lot of weight (Trillium, Tree House), those with strong distribution in package stores (Night Shift & Might Squirrel even distribute to my Trader Joe's DEEP in the burbs), and those with outdoor seating + a strong fan base + above average beer (Medusa, Bone Up). Even better if the latter has been able to pivot to canned. I'm worried about any brewery that has limited/no outdoor seating and didn't already have cans as part of their business model before March.