Massachusetts Update 8/18/17
By Dan Kochakian
beerdkr@comcast.net
As many Boston area fans know, Trillium’s Fort Point location will be moving to Farnsworth Street into a 16,000 sq ft facility, large enough for two taproom floors, a restaurant with patio and a roof deck, and obviously room for the 10-bbl system to keep cranking out those coveted juicy unfiltered IPAs. Esther and JC are looking to the end of 2018 for their grand opening.
More Mass. News
Abandoned Building Brewery crew of Easthampton, MA, at the Beer Advocate Microbrew Invitational Festival in Boston in
June: Paul Nichols (ass’t brewer), Matt Tarlecki (owner/head brewer), and Bryan Provost (head of sales).
Right, Michelle Bonugli and Jim Tucci of Clown Shoes Brewing at the Hyper Local Beer Fest in Somerville, MA, June 9.
Honest Weight Brewing crew of Orange, MA, at the Beer Advocate Fest.
From left, Sean Nolan (brewer/co-owner), Kyle Warren (ass’t brewer) and Jay Sullivan (brewer/owner).
Widowmaker Brewing in Braintree plans to be ready in August with a handful of soft openings. Brewer Ryan Lavery will also be pouring his beers at Hopfest in Plymouth in August and at the Cape Cod Beer Fest in October.
In mid-June, Castle Island Brewing in Norwood debuted its new large taproom that is open seven days a week where you may enjoy full pints of three seasonal double IPAs, a sour blonde, stout and pils.
If you need a good beach beer, Sam Adams Light may fill the bill. At 4.3%, this amber lager has Noble Hops to complement the mango and apricot notes.
We think they may be pushing the season a bit, but Harpoon’s 5.7% Flannel Friday hoppy amber ale is back to accompany the UFO Peepin’ Fall Mix Pack with four different UFO beers. UFO Cranberry is a new entry with local berries, producing a 4.8% tart, fruity hefeweizen. For a lighter touch, House Golden is a 4.7% Kolsch that was off the market but is now available in Massachusetts and Vermont, the locations of the two Harpoon breweries. The latest in the 100 Barrel Series is Nana’s Nightcap, a 5.7% oatmeal cookie-inspired porter with nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.
Lamplighter Brewing in Cambridge has begun bottling its Brett and barrel-aged beers. The first is Eponine, a 6.8% funky, fruity and tart Belgian blond ale aged in Brett-inoculated oak barrels. Expect new bottle releases every few weeks through the summer.
Dorchester Brewing on Mass. Avenue celebrated its 1-year anniversary July 22 with an all-day party with a pig roast, bacon truck, a limited edition anniversary beer and lots of giveaways.
Mayflower in Plymouth has launched Ebb & Flow, a series of brewery-only beers. First up is Dutch Courage, a 5.2% gin botanical gruit that will be available in pints at the taproom and in 4-packs of 12-oz cans at the brewery. Local artists will design the cans’ labels.
And the IPA from the new Plymouth Brewing Co. on the waterfront has shown up on draft at Speedwell Tavern and receiving excellent reviews.
On the north shore, in Ipswich, Gary and Jake Rogers took delivery recently of their 30-bbl brewhouse and a 5-bbl pilot system at True North Ale Co. The father and son duo are looking to brew soon with beer sales beginning in August. The taproom is 1700 sq ft with a large patio and windows to view the production areas. Seth Barnum, former lead brewer at Breakside in Portland, OR, is set to brew big juicy IPAs, Belgian Blondes, crisp German lagers and some creative sours.
The Road Race For The Rest of Us is sponsored by Ipswich Ale on Aug. 18. Carbo-loading after the race with Ipswich beers is complemented by a party celebrating your completion of the grueling, Charlie-horse-inducing 1K road race. Register at eventbrite.com. Ipswich Ale’s Harvest Fest on Sept. 16 will feature vintage baseball games, food trucks and BBQ as well as the Ipswich Tapmobile. An Ipswich Ale Beer Garden will be set up from 5-9pm at the Ipswich Illumination arts and lights festival on the Riverwalk on Sept. 30. The returning seasonal, Hop Harvest, is perfect for this outdoor event. Honoring hop season, Hop Harvest is 7% and loaded with Ella and Mosaics. For even more hops, New England IPA is 6.3% with Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo and Idaho 7 hops with a big, full body.
The Tap Brewing Co. in Haverhill, with a lovely flower-filled patio overlooking the mighty Merrimack River, is hosting a 5-course beer/wine/spirits dinner on Aug. 21. If you can’t attend the dinner, swing by for a pint of brewer Brad Bartlett’s Solar Plexus DIPA, hazy with star anise notes at 9%/83-IBU.
Just outside of Rte. 128 is 7th Wave Brewing in Medfield, which opened in early summer. David Strymish and Owen Hawkins own the operation and have released Mad Turtle IPA, Billy Hill Session ESB with EKG hops, Clamshell ESB and Rte. 27 Pale Ale, with Rye Saison coming soon.
Element Brewing just off Rte. 2 in Millers Falls opened its new beer garden in June and is now embarking on distilling. Owners/brewers Dan Kramer and Ben Anhalt have made Black Lightning, a 100-proof moonshine colored with dark malted barley. The Kulik, named for a local rep, is produced with hopped gin, grapefruit juice and rosemary.
A bit further west in Colrain, Stoneman Brewing, with owner/brewer Justin Korby at the helm, took a bit of a hiatus from brewing 100 batches a year on a 1-bbl system. Justin has now returned and released the first batch of All In With Western MA Hops IPA at 7%. Justin is contract brewing in Williamsburg and canned a 23-bbl batch of All In with hops from Northfield and malt from Hadley. The hops were added after the boil producing an aromatic ale with slight bitterness and a fruity haze.
