Boston has been good to us in terms of beer. It gave us shelter and an imperial stout when it was cold. It gave us reprieve and a refreshing hefeweizen when it was hot. It gave us a place to come every few days after work. It schooled us in everything from the finest Belgians to the sweetest of fruits. It offered us hundreds of beers to sample at various beer fests. It helped us celebrate holidays and the change of seasons. And it makes great beer.
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Results tagged “drinkinginboston”
Moving to a new city is overwhelming: new neighborhood to explore, new transit system to get lost on, new grocery stores to negotiate…and new bars! This Bostonist is soon heading off to the big scary New York City. And what is she afraid of most? Not of crime, not of getting lost, but of not being a regular.
“Um, excuse me? Where’s the Natty table?” said one girl to another, both clutching tasting cups and joking their way to the next booth over. Natural Light was certainly not present at last weekend’s American Craft Beer Fest, but 88 other breweries were, each with two to six different brews to sample. Below are a few of our favorites.
Somewhat surprisingly, tickets for all three sessions of BeerAdvocate's American Craft Beer Fest seem to still be available online. The festival has sold out quickly in past years, so if you've never been this is a good opportunity to try tons of beers and get a little tipsy in two-ounce increments. And even if you're not able to snag tickets, never fear: a few Boston Beer Week events are still "on tap" (ha, ha). [Tickets]
Starting tomorrow Friday, June 11th and going through Sunday, June 20th, Boston will be celebrating beer. Not that we don’t every day, but this is the official Boston Beer Week, full of tastings, dinners, tours and pub crawls.
Ever find yourself at a bar with so many beers on tap you struggle to make a decision? You wish you could try every one without falling off your stool or otherwise doing something you'd strongly regret the next morning. You leave three or four later, full and warm, but feeling as if you've missed something. The cure for this is simple: The American Craft Beer Fest!
We were recently at a sporting event (which may or may not have been the Kentucky Derby) where nary a "good" beer could be found. In fact, beer in general was hard to find under the proliferation of one other certain drink (which may or may not have been a mint julep). But the lesson learned there, while sipping our traditional spirits through a straw, is that there is a time and place for every drink. Likewise, there is a time and place for every beer.
But why celebrate this new made-up holiday when you complain about the others? (And what would the greeting cards look like? Cover: “Happy American Craft Beer Week” Inside: “You’re Beerific!”) What did craft beer do for us?
It is a date to remember. Or maybe one to forget. Or maybe one you forgot whether you meant to or not. Your 21st birthday. In fact, now that we think about it, perhaps it’s more fun to help others celebrate theirs than it is to try to survive your own. That’s why this weekend should be a blast when Cambridge Brewing Company celebrates their 21st.
In the spirit of our own impromptu tastings held at the kitchen table, we’re trying the tastings and tours of local breweries. Last Friday we visited the Harpoon Brewery in Boston for an hour-long tasting and talk.
It would be great to think of beer as the great equalizer; this magic elixir that brings people of all kinds together. A drink that leaves no group behind or excludes any party from the fun. But is it?
April may be known for its showers, but it makes up for lousy weather in beer events. There are a number of events celebrating the worthy elixir this month from tastings to all-out beer festivals. Below are a select few to wet your taste buds.
You can't judge a book by its cover...or so they say. But can you judge a beer by its label? There seem to be two basic styles of labels that a brewery can choose from: that which stays basically the same regardless of the style of beer, and that which changes radically depending on whether an IPA or porter is inside the bottle.
Okay, here’s one: you’re on a deserted island and can only have five beers with you. What would they be? A book coming out may do little more than frustrate you with your choices, but it also could be a helpful reference: 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die by Adrian Tierney-Jones
Remember what you drank last St. Patty’s Day? No? That’s distressing but not surprising. Odds are, though, that if you weren’t guzzling something “lite” dyed green, you were having yourself a stout.
The optimists among us smile as the wintry mix pelts them in the face and say, “Spring is just around the corner! Can’t you smell it in the air?” The pessimists among us pull the covers closer and vow not to emerge from our bedrooms until June. May we suggest a middle ground? Spring beers! A way to celebrate the upcoming season and simultaneously drown your wintry woes.
You could give her roses or chocolates or diamonds, but that’s all been done before. This Valentine’s Day, go with a girl’s true best friend: chocolate beer. Below is a sampling of some chocolate beers we tried. Oh, it was a struggle.
The Super Bowl is a grueling game. It’s one of grit, strength, cunning, and above all, endurance. What we mean is, it’s a long game to get through even if you’re playing in it, but if you’re on the sidelines drinking for hours it may be even more of a trick to be standing at the end. Here is where picking the perfect beer comes into play.
When the weather vacillates between vicious snowstorms, chilling
rainstorms, and frigid days of skating down the sidewalk, there's only
one thing we want to do: hibernate. Unfortunately, the real world
beckons, and we must trudge on. Here are a few events in the next
few weeks to get you out of the house.
Next Thursday the Cambridge Brewing Company is putting on a Barleywine Festival. Ten of brewmaster Will Meyers’ barleywines will be available, two on cask. The brews are different vintages and expressions of the Arquebus and Blunderbuss barleywines. They will also have a tapas menu paired to the beers including such intriguing delights as coffee rubbed lamb lollipops and pomegranate marinated quail.
Here at the Bostonist Beer Drinking Department, we have occasionally been accused of being beer snobs. At first we were offended, the word “snob” having something of a derogatory connotation. But we eventually decided to embrace it; after all, part of being a snob involves knowing your subject well. (Naturally an incentive to becoming a snob is all the taste tests.) There is no reason to dumb yourself down or hide your knowledge of beer. Just because beer is not seen as the highfalutin’ stuff that wine is doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know the good from the bad when we taste it. And settle only for the good.
It’s that holly jolly, manicky panicky time of year again. At this point, with just less than a week to finish up your holiday shopping, it’s a little late to be puttering about on the Internet. But have no fear, there are other options when buying for the beer lover on your Secret Santa list. First and foremost, there is the option of going to an actual physical store to buy something (gasp!).
As it spits a mix of snow and sleet and rain outside, we realize it is well into the Winter Warmer and Winter Ale season. So, what’s keeping us warm this time of year?
Tired of trying to guess which wine goes with which dish? Afraid you’re not going to impress the guests? This year really impress them by pairing the right beer with the right dish. Or maybe the right dish with the beer, depending on your priorities.
You can’t beat a nice strong Belgian beer on a cold winter night. Then again, you can’t beat it on a hot sweaty summer day, either. Some would have it that you can’t beat a Belgian beer period. But what exactly are they referring to when they say “Belgian?”
Ever been afraid that you’re being judged by what kind of beer you’re drinking? Ever judge others based on what they’re drinking? Of course you have. Well now one market research company, Mindset Media, thinks they have cracked the code on beer drinkers’ personalities.
When was your first time? And where? We all have a story. When was the first time you sipped a beer, held the glass up to the light reverentially, and said, “I kind of like this stuff”? Drinking in Boston’s survey of beer lovers last week also included this question: What changed your beer-drinking life? And then, what beer are you drinking now?
What is good? And who says so? How bad is bad? Drinking in Boston performed a quick survey of several beer lovers last week to see what the good beer drinker’s position was on several key beer questions. This week we’ll look at “good” beer versus “bad” beer.