2019 New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX)

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Beer Festival, Beerd Brewing Company, Boston, Brass Castle Brewery, Cask Ale, England, Fyne Ales, Massachusetts, NERAX, New England, Real Ale, Red Bones, Scotland

After a two year hiatus, I was finally able to make my way back to the annual New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX) festival in South Boston.  Scheduled to feature over 100 different cask ales and ciders from a wide variety of US and UK breweries, this is a can’t miss event for aficionados of the format and any beer drinkers interested in trying something a bit different.  It opened last night and has sessions running through Saturday, April 6 so definitely consider checking this out if you’re in the area. You can pre-order tickets here on the event website at a nice discount from the price at the door.

I am a huge fan of this event and find it a lot more approachable than any other beer festival that I have been to.  The pay as you go format and ability to order quarter, half, or full pints effectively put less emphasis on rapid consumption and chasing sample pours and more on actually tasting and appreciating the beer in your hand.  It also makes for a much more laid back and relaxed atmosphere than your typical fest and I found myself really appreciating the difference. As an added bonus, the catering is provided by the long time NERAX supporters Redbones BBQ in Somerville, MA!

The beer, of course, is pretty exceptional as well.  While the available offerings can, and often do, change throughout the course of a session, there is never a shortage of beer to be had and the selection is like none other.  With offerings from local favorites across the New England region and stuff from overseas you won’t find anywhere else in the area there are plenty of intriguing options to explore in a wide range of styles.  Everything from light Pilsners and ESBs to big Double IPAs and Imperial Stouts are on the list so one can go as heavy or as light as they want and still have plenty of options. As for myself, I focused a little bit more towards the UK breweries to take advantage of the opportunity and paced myself by making sure I tried out some of the more sessionable brews despite all the heavy hitters that kept catching my eye.  Upon entry you are handed a booklet with short notes about every beer being poured, so don’t be afraid to take a step back and look up beers you don’t know about. More often than not, being adventurous is rewarded here! With that in mind, my winners of the evening from each side of the pond were:

 

From the US: Beer’d Brewing Company (Stonington, CT) – Dogs & Boats: A 9.1% Double IPA hopped with Citra and Mosaic with an addition of pomegranate juice to the cask.  It started out with a subtle, mildly bitter juicy sweetness before the pomegranate addition brought on a slightly sour, smooth haze over the beer.  It finished dry with just a hint of hops and tasted every bit as good as it smelled.

From the UK: Brass Castle Brewery (North Yorkshire, England) – Annexation: An 8.3%, gluten-free Russian Imperial Stout the brewers call “as smooth as the Volga and as bonkers as Putin.”  This was crazy smooth for the style and was amazing on cask. A little bit sweet, a little bit creamy, a little bit boozy it also had some great chocolate and molasses tastes going on that I would love to get some more of.  The fact that it also happens to be gluten-free is simply mind-blowing. This was a superlative brew in its own right, but for a GF beer it is completely unequaled in my experience.

Honorable Mention: Fyne Ales (Cairndow, Scotland) – Highlander: A super drinkable 4.8% Amber Ale that perfectly balanced a lightly sweet malt backbone and a mild blend of ctirusy and earthy hops.  It was one of my last beers of the evening and an excellent brew to unwind with.

Once again I had a really great time at NERAX celebrating the joys of cask and drinking some amazing beer.  Definitely check this event out if you can!

 

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Trillium Brewing Company – Storrowed

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, DIPA, Massachusetts, Trillium Brewing Company

Hi everyone!  I feel like it has been a while since I’ve kept to my regular posting schedule but with Fall rapidly approaching I am hopefully inspired and ready to start getting back on track.  I drank this timely release over the holiday weekend, happily far outside the city of Boston. Not only does Labor Day weekend mark the end of summer in these parts, it also means the return of the college kids as the city’s many campus welcome back their students.  As you can imagine navigating the city is somewhat hectic at best during this time of year, and a central stretch of road named Storrow Drive can be a particularly challenging place to be.  Although it is clearly marked as inaccessible to trucks and buses on account of its low clearance bridges, inevitably some unfortunate driver of a small moving truck misses the signs and ends up hitting a bridge, much to the anger of everyone that piles up behind them.  This event is something the locals call getting “Storrowed” and I actually witnessed it happen once several years ago when a do-it-yourself moving truck nearly tore its top off hitting a bridge and did not emerge from the other side.

Beer Name: Storrowed

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston, MA / Canton, MA)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.4%

Description: To summarize the official notes provided on the company website, this double IPA was brewed with Vic Secret and Citra hops to give a smell and taste bursting with tropical and stone fruits.

Appearance: Dark yellow/amber/orange body topped off by a yellowish/white head of foam.

Smell: Huge blast of tropical fruit juice, coming out of both the can and the glass.

Taste: Juicy to the extreme with tons of pineapple and mango upfront.  The fruits slowly blended into a haze of sugary, tropical hops and finished with a throat warming bit of heat.

Mouthfeel: Creamy body on the heavier end of the spectrum with a carbonation level just a bit shy of moderate.

Hype: Elevated, and not just because it’s from Trillium.  They’ve canned this one a few times now and compare it Headroom, one of their most anticipated releases.  For reasons discussed above, it was seasonally appropriate as well.

Overall: I was a fan of this.  Despite the big juicy flavors and warm finish, this somehow managed to be a rather mellow drinking experience that I really appreciated.  Definitely glad I was able to check it out.

Trillium Brewing Company – Keytar Bear

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Keytar Bear, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

For those of you not from the Boston area, Keytar Bear is a beloved local street performer who appears at subway stops and other hotspots throughout the city dressed in a bear costume and playing a funky keytar.  He’s unable to perform this summer after getting injured in a motorcycle accident, so Trillium is donating some of the proceeds of this beer to his recovery effort.

Beer Name: Keytar Bear

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston, MA/Canton, MA)

Style: New England Double IPA

ABV: 8.8%

Description: This release was originally planned to coincide with Keytar Bear playing a gig at Trillium’s beer garden, but the brewery moved up their brewing schedule to help out the injured performer.  You can find the full specs of the beer here, but to summarize it is a double IPA brewed with wildflower honey, lactose, and vanilla beans and hopped with Citra and Galaxy.  Cost is $22.20 for a four pack or $5.05 a can if you want to buy singles.

Appearance: It had murky and nearly glowing yellow/light orange body topped by a thick foam that steadily bubbled away to lacing.

Smell: A combination of vanilla, cream, and hazy tropical hops.

Taste: Started out with orange and tangerine sweetness coupled with a fruity/floral bitterness.  Honey and heavy cream came in shortly thereafter with vanilla popping up just before the finish.  Tropical fruits reasserted themselves on the end and brought the beer into a sweeter finish that packed a bit of heat in the form of alcohol and raw hops.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy body with a bit less than moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: High.  I thankfully didn’t have to wait in line for this (my guess based on the one case purchase limit is that they brewed a lot), but the brewery was a bit busier than I usually see it on a weekday afternoon.  Local media also picked up on this release, so there are a whole bunch of news articles out about it as well.

Overall: This was a really interesting brew that offered a wide range of flavor.  On the whole I really enjoyed this, but there were a few sips where I thought that either the vanilla came in too strong or the ending was just a bit too hot going down.  I may sit on my other can a week or two to see if any changes develop. Definitely worth checking out though.

Trillium Brewing Company – Permutation Series: Number Thirty-Three

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

You know I couldn’t get just one beer from Trillium last week.  This new arrival came out the day before my visit and seemed like a pretty good choice as well.

Beer Name: Permutation Series: Number Thirty-Three

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 7.6%

Description: The most recent entry into the brewery’s line of small batch, experimental beers, this double IPA featured pilsner and honey malts in combination with Vic Secret and Citra hops.  Full specs are available here.  My can was all of four days old when it came up for review.

Appearance: Cloudy, straw yellow body that looked quite a bit like juice once the thin white head bubbled/got drank away.

Smell: Pineapple and mango upfront with a thick layer of earthy hops hanging out in the background.

Taste: Mellow tropical fruits and various berries that gradually mingled into a palate-warming dank haze of bitter mango, pine resin, and earthy hops.  A slight hint of booziness appeared after sitting in the glass for a few minutes.

Mouthfeel: Creamy Medium-plus body with low level carbonation

Hype: Elevated because of the source and the fact that Permutation Thirty-two was very well received.

Overall: I thought this was alright, but not quite my thing.  It started out tasty enough for me, but I wasn’t a fan of that mildly hot hop finish.  From what I’ve seen online my opinion is in the minority so don’t let me stop you from checking this out if you’re interested.

Trillium Brewing Company – Black Mettle

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, IPA, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

The slow but steady return of spring-like weather has made me more willing to go for lunchtime walks at work again.  In need of a destination, I decided to take a peak at what Trillium had to offer last Friday and pretty quickly made up my mind as to where I was going.

Beer Name: Black Mettle

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston, MA/Canton, MA)

Style: Black Double IPA

ABV: 8.4%

Description: A darker, roastier variant of the brewery’s popular Mettle double IPA.  You can read up on the full story and brewing specs here on Trillium’s website.  Price point was $20.20 a four-pack (or $5.05 per individual can).

Appearance: Thick black body topped by a foamy tan head.

Smell: Sweet upfront, with citrus notes eventually backed by pine resin and roasted malt.

Taste: Started out slightly creamy with notes of bittersweet dark chocolate that gradually blended into a more citrusy sweetness highlighted by notes of grapefruit.  From there it transitioned towards roasted malts and coffee and brought on a moderate bitterness of pine resin and floral hops. The finish was quite dry and nicely blended all the different flavors.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, super dry finish with moderate carbonation

Hype: Perhaps a bit elevated as all things Trillium tend to be, but despite being a new addition this wasn’t a beer that had people lining up down the street.

Overall: An absolutely delicious black IPA with an excellent assortment and blending of flavors.  Definitely check this one out if you’re able.

Harpoon Brewery – The Craic

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Harpoon Brewery, Massachusetts, New England, Red IPA

As soon as I saw this hit the shelves in early March I knew I had found my St. Patrick’s Day brew.  Unfortunately, illness intervened and I instead spent the day recovering from a terrible stomach bug.  This review is based on notes I took from the “research” bottle I opened up last week.  I’m not quite ready yet to start thinking about drinking beer again just yet, but did want to wish you all a belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Beer Name: The Craic

Brewery: Harpoon Brewery (Boston, MA)

Style: Irish Red IPA

ABV: 6.9%

Description: Listed on the brewery website as a combination of a toasty Irish Red Ale and a citrusy IPA, the given inspiration behind this was extend the St. Patrick’s Day spirit to last an entire season.  Sounds admirable enough to me and at $9.99 six-pack this was relatively easy on the wallet as well.

Appearance: Surprisingly see-through coppery red body topped by a bubbly layer of off-white foam.

Smell: Sweet and toasted malts with a piney/grapefruit bitterness on the backend.

Taste: True to the description, there was a steady presence of toasted malts throughout the brew, though they were most prominent at the very beginning and end of the sip.  About mid-sip a citrusy sweetness appeared just ahead of a wave of bitterness highlighted by grapefruit and earthy hops. The hops and toasted malt lingered slightly after finishing the sip.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: Despite their history and longevity Harpoon doesn’t get a ton of attention in the local beer scene, at least in what I refer to as the enthusiast community.  I personally had some high hopes for this quietly being a standout brew since Harpoon’s sadly retired Red Squared and Celtic Red were two of the beers that opened up my eyes to Red IPAs.

Overall: My final verdict on this is pretty good, with bonus points for price.  The interplay of toasted malt and earthy hops wasn’t my ideal profile for the style, but that said I’ll have no problems finishing off the six-pack once I am back up to full strength.

 

Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) – Cream Stout

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, Samuel Adams, Stout

Like a lot of beer drinkers in my area, Sam Adams was the gateway brewery that got me into drinking craft beer.  While this offering was by no means my first beer, it does have the honor of being the first brew I checked into Untappd way back on September 4, 2011!

Beer Name: Cream Stout

Brewery: Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) (Jamaica Plain, MA)

Style: Milk Stout

ABV: 4.9%

Description: Drawing its inspiration from English sweet stouts, the brewers describe this as a rich and creamy beer offering subtle sweetness and deep roast.

Appearance: Black body with a thin covering of light tan foam.

Smell: Blend of sweet cream and light roast.

Taste: Creamy sweetness and lightly roasted coffee were pretty much the dominant flavors throughout.  I would say the sweetness was slightly more prominent on the front end while the roast came through just a bit more on the finish where it paired with bittersweet dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a touch less than moderate carbonation.

Hype: Is reverse hype a thing?  One of the founding fathers of “craft” beer in America, a lot of beer enthusiasts today kind of turn their noses up at them.  

Overall: A solid example of the style with a nice balance of flavors.  Pretty much exactly what I expected from a Sam Adams beer.  Put prejudices aside and hold this up against similar brews; it should more than hold its own.

Book Review: Radio Free Boston – The Rise and Fall of WBCN, by Carter Alan

Tags

Book, Book Review, Boston, Carter Alan, Massachusetts, Music, New England, Radio, Reading, WBCN

I picked up this next book looking for a bit of local history.  WBCN was my go to radio station during my middle and high school years and in many ways helped set the soundtrack of my youth.  On car rides, in my room doing homework, or even late night in bed when I probably should have been sleeping, “The Rock of Boston” was there.

The book was written by Carter Alan, author and former WBCN DJ.  Chronicling an oral history of the station from its founding in 1968 to the final sign off in 2009, the book’s narrative guides the reader through the history of the station by infusing the author’s own insights with a generous mix of quotes and stories from the people who were there.  What emerges is an interesting portrait of everything from the station, the evolution of the radio business, and, of course, the music.

I had a great time reading this.  The author’s enthusiasm was infectious and the story was well crafted and interesting throughout, though undeniably reverential.  For me there were two distinct parts to this story, the first of which being the history of the station from before I was alive or listening.  Going into this I knew very little of the station’s past or how it had grown into the local institution I knew it to be.  I found the idea of it starting as a fledgling experiment in freeform radio really intriguing and had no idea how political the station was originally, having taken an active voice in opposition to US involvement in Vietnam and advocating on behalf of a variety of social justice issues as part of its regular programming.

The second part of this story began for me once the book got into the late-80s and 90s.  It was around here that my own feelings of nostalgia took over as I was able to recognize more of the bands and on-air personalities.  I found myself recalling many of the sounds of those years; from vague memories of the station’s 1988 anti-Apartheid campaign, complete with on air calls to boycott Shell Oil, to the infamous “Lunch Song” parodies and even the old station IDs.  It was also a lot of fun getting the backstories of some of the hosts I used to listen to like Oedipus, Bradley Jay, Juanita, Melissa, and (my favorite) Nik Carter, which in many ways felt like catching up with old friends.  I’ll admit I even got a bit fired up recalling the mid-90s feud between BCN and Worcester-based WAAF (a big part of which was fueled by WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony attacking on air one BCN DJ for being gay and another for being black).

It was during this time period that I started going to concerts and I have BCN to thank for more than a few of my most memorable shows; including my very first one (Gravity Kills at the Middle East in Cambridge), an intimate evening with the Smashing Pumpkin at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, and Cypress Hill at an all day festival in the Foxboro Stadium (the predecessor of Gillette Stadium).  Unfortunately it was also during this era that the seeds were sown for the station’s eventual demise.  The radio business was changing and several programming decisions began to slowly alter the audience, tone, and direction of the station.  I can’t help but feel slightly vindicated in that the programing decisions I hated the most as teenager (namely picking up the Howard Stern Show and airing New England Patriots football games) were ultimately contributing factors despite being huge financial boons at the time.

Even though it ended with the station’s eventual demise, I thought this book was a great trip down memory lane and I read it with a smile on my face the whole time.  If you’ve ever spent any significant amount of time in Boston and regularly tuned into the station, this book is for you.

Trillium Brewing Company & The Veil Brewing Company – Adult Human

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Richmond, The Veil Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, Virginia

I do plan on reviewing something other than a Trillium beer sooner or later, but I only have so much time in which to “research” these reviews and honestly this is all I’ve been drinking these past few weeks.  Talk about a good problem to have.

Beer Name: Adult Human

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and The Veil Brewing Company (Richmond, VA)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.2%

Description: Another collaboration double IPA, this one was brewed with blood oranges.  You can get the official write-up here.  Four packs were going for $20.20 though I personally took advantage of the brewery’s willingness to split them up this time around.  It’s been an expensive few weeks.

Appearance: Super cloudy, bright straw yellow body with a thin layer of yellowish/white foam that formed with the pour and quickly faded away.

Smell: Pineapple soaked in dank hop resin.

Taste: Opened with mellow tropical fruit and gradually became increasingly bitter by mid-sip whengrapefruit and orange pith began to take over.  After sitting for a minute or two, the beer took on a nice orange cream taste here as well.  The finish I found a bit raw and hot, as a combination of earthy and piney hops joined with the aforementioned grapefruit to rather assertively close out the brew.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate carbonation that left me with some happy little bubbles on the end.

Hype: On the basis of being a special release alone I’ll say high, though there had also been some speculation online about when this particular collaboration would become available.  Despite this anticipation I was able to just walk in and out at Fort Point.  Go figure.

Overall: This was good, but not quite as good as the other collaborations Trillium has put out in the past few weeks.  That’s admittedly some tough company for comparison’s sake, but it seems like a fair standard in this case.  I loved this beer until about the halfway point and then I felt the finish was just a bit too harsh for my preferences.  It’s nowhere near Never & Again levels, though perhaps in a couple of days that will tone down some.  Still a solid pickup.

 

Trillium Brewing Company & Other Half Brewing Company – Two Hundred Thousand Trillion

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Brooklyn, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New York, Other Half Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company

I’ve been hitting up Trillium a lot lately, but still felt the need to head on out and pick up their latest special release last Friday.  Motivating factors were these two breweries previously joined forces to create one of my top three Trillium collaboration beers and that it was an absolutely beautiful day to go for a walk when this came out.

Beer Name: Two Hundred Thousand Trillion

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and Other Half Brewing Company (Brooklyn, NY)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.0%

Description: Another collaboration between two popular East Coast breweries, this double IPA was aged on peach, apricots, and guava.  As usual, Trillium has more of the specs here on their website.

Appearance: Golden/straw yellow colored body.  Lots of cloudy haze underneath a lively white head that was very quick to fizz away.

Smell: Mild tropical fruits followed by a rush of bitter resin.

Taste: Light to moderate fruit upfront; perhaps best described as a combination of peach, apricot, mango, and pineapple.  A light, crackery malt came through about mid sip.  The finish was bitter, slightly spicy, and featured a slightly tangy reappearance of the opening fruits.

Mouthfeel: Medium, fluffy body with perhaps just a touch more carbonation than I was expecting.

Hype:  Huge!  The release was announced on Twitter about 10 before the brewery opened.  Working downtown, I arrived about 10 minutes after opening and still got stuck with a 10-15 minute wait.  By the time I got out with my cans there was a line down the block.  Honestly, if I didn’t get there when I did I would have bailed.  As usual, the brewery staff did a great job moving people along but there were also a lot of people in line loading up on everything which slowed the process down.

Overall: I like this beer a lot.  It walked an immensely satisfying line between mellow fruit and harsh bitterness and successfully offered the best of both worlds.  This was another collaboration that came out a bit different than your typical “New England (D)IPA” and I really appreciated the variety.  Trillium and Other Half seem to work very well together.