As mentioned on another thread, I have been noticing more taprooms and breweries open up around me in Massachusetts. Thought it would be fun to share our recent experiences. Any New England state is fair game. This is a great region for roadtrips!
Last week we had an errand in Nashua, NH so we decided to check out Spyglass Brewing Company just north of the MA border.
I was drawn in by the beer list at Spyglass, which that day promised among others a Czech dark lager, a Czech pale lager, and a Polish smoked wheat beer (gone now). Here’s the beer lineup from that day.
Our beer flight included both hits and misses. Loved the low alcohol (3.5%) smoked wheat beer, which to my palate had a hint of sourness that complemented the beer’s smokiness.
Their Czech dark lager appealed to me as well. Seemed to have been influenced by the excellent dark lager at Sacred Profane in Biddeford, Maine. Alas, my husband forgot that I wanted to taste the Czech light lager when he ordered. Next time.
The German style beers, a Schwartzbier and a Doppelbock, were too sweet for our tastes. We also tried their Citra Singularity double IPA, a miss for us.
Our lunch of fried chicken sandwiches was just okay. Next time we’ll get a snack instead. Still, props for them having a full kitchen.
We’ll give Spyglass another go on a warm
day when we can sit on their outdoor patio. Here’s hoping that the Czech light lager we missed ordering will be on tap.
Treehouse in Tewksbury is not a favorite for us, beautiful facility that it is. I decided not to write about it as we had quite an experience there with unsupervised kids running about the premises and throwing water. Hopefully an off day for them.
Maybe a little out of the way but I hear great things about the Fiden’s new taproom in Albany. While I haven’t had the chance to visit I hear the food is very good and of course great beers at Fiden’s. Can’t speak to unsupervised kids running around and throwing water.
I’m finally getting around to this awesome thread, subject near-and-dear to our hearts (especially B). These days, I can’t drink much beer and eat but I love visiting taprooms. I finally understand the “tastes great, less filling” slogan!
That’s too bad—I’ve only gone when B made a beer run before the clubhouse opened for visitors. B visited with a friend on a weekday shortly after they opened the clubhouse and it was blessedly empty. They enjoyed their pizza and beers and B took photos of the interior and the furnishings for me, knowing I would dig them. He and I will probably do a weekday visit. We’ve now visited every Treehouse location, except for CT. Charlton is a beautiful spot but gets crazy; at least kids can take their energy outdoors. (Spring Onion has never been allowed to wander from the table, much less run around inside a busy restaurant. Adults consuming high-octane beers combined with antsy kids is a recipe for disaster; I tend to blame the adults and not the kids. The kids are learning (or, rather, not learning) how to behave in public from someone. And then there are the recent legal troubles. We’ll see how things pan out.
We’ve visited numerous taproom, and I can’t recall them all now, but I’ll start a list and keep adding to this thread, so the data are all in 1 place with the caveat that some of these visits are ±2 years old. We sadly never visit VT, which is an embarrassment of riches in terms of beer, so I have no VT data to contribute.
Stream of consciousness list grouped by state (minimal color commentary):
The Guild, Warren RI: awesome setting, food is adequate (I think B likes it more than I do); they brew their own beers and also have guest taps; we’d like to try out the Pawtucket location soon
Narragansett, Providence, RI: again, awesome setting, food was meh but we haven’t been in at least a year
Mighty Squirrel, Waltham MA: haven’t been back in some time but we used to go a lot (it’s ~10 minute drive); we don’t love eating from food trucks, with all the disposable dinnerware; Spring Onion learned to play Monopoly here
True North, Ipswich MA: We took B here for father’s day some years ago and had a great time, good food and beers
Bright Ideas, North Adams MA: located in the Mass MOCA courtyard, which is convenient; I remember beers being fine, not great
Faces Brewing Co, Malden MA: we enjoyed our 1 visit; beer was good and I remember excellent house-made hot sauces
Lord Hobo, Woburn MA: we’ve been several times as the pandemic was waning, so sitting on their pleasant patio was great; we don’t love their beers and they were fancy’fying their menu…I remember some hits and misses
Goodfire Brewing Co., Freeport ME: excellent food, kind of fancy millennial-ish atmosphere; I think B liked the beer (I had wine)
Oxbow Brewing, Newcastle ME: we don’t love their beers, but the rural setting is tough to beat. The Oxford location looks appealing, too (you can cross-country ski there, advisedly before consuming beer)
Odd Alewives Brewery, Waldoboro ME: excellent visit, with delicious beers and pizza and smores kits for the firepits; we visited just as covid restrictions were being lifted so being able to rent a firepit and to commune outdoors with others felt like such a relief. Spring Onion could stretch his legs and feel free
Banded Brewing, Biddeford ME: good beers, we visited before they offered food so B and SO brought in KFC getting many envious looks from other patrons
Bissell Brothers, Portland ME: some of our favorite beer and the food was good, too
Maine Beer Co, Freeport ME: a must-stop for us on our way further north, excellent beer and decent pizza
Places that are on to-do list (all in RI because we are there fairly often now):
Proclamation, Warwick RI
Foolproof, Pawtucket RI
Tilted Barn, Exeter RI
Pivotal, Bristol RI
Vigilant, Bristol RI
All in good time, grasshopper.
ETA: I just did a search on my username and beer or brewing and got 50+ hits. This is gonna take some time to gather all those data in 1 spot.
Great job digga! Let me add Cushnoc Brewing in Augusta ME: Very good beer AND pizza!
On a related note, Absolem Cider in Winthrop ME (near Augusta) is absolutely worth a visit. Very good food from a rotating group of food trucks; meats and cheeses to make your own charcuterie plates; really good and unusual ciders mostly made with local heirloom apples and local fruits as well; a well-curated list of draft beers and wines; and finally the most interesting wall of liqueurs/liquors/spirits I have ever seen, from which they will make you some superb cocktails. Check it out! www.absolemcider.com
Uploading some photos. I’ve obviously got “too much time on my hands” (between work projects at the moment so I will strike while the iron is hot). See what you’ve started @tomatotomato?!
And how did I forget Monhegan Brewing, Monhegan Island ME in my original list, a place the 3 of us adore?! The outdoor Trap Room is brilliant, with “walls” constructed of retired lobster traps.
We spent an afternoon at Democracy Brewing in Downtown Boston after a theatre production last weekend. Sadly, the cherry sour I tried was kind of blah. Watery and bland. The bar snacks, especially the buffalo cauliflower, were outstanding, however. And the foosball table kept all our sprouts fully occupied and out of the grownups’ way so we could ruminate over Moby Dick to our hearts’ content.
Rats…I didn’t know about this production. It would’ve been right up Spring Onion’s alley. Just yesterday, we were driving home from school and he said to me, “did you know that Starbucks is a character from Moby Dick” as we were passing by Starbucks. (He’s only read a gorgeous pop-up book when he was a really little kid…he’s not that advanced lol.) I wonder if one of his classmates saw the production and mentioned it to him?
Didn’t know about Democracy, either. Whenever we’re in the big city, particularly in that part of town, we’re often at a loss of where to go that doesn’t simply cater to the after-work bro crowd (I used to work across from the Granary Burying Ground).
Rek-Lis Brewing Bethlehem NH
Had to add my 1—I think—NH data point. Really pleased to have stopped here. The vibe was great, my food was just ok but B and SO loved their food. Decent beers, too, including the fun-named Pretentious Hopper, which beer geeks will appreciate. We took some home. I think B liked it!
It was wonderful. Looks like you can watch some of the puppets at least here
I went with a group of alums from the maritime studies program I did in college and the current Literature of the Sea professor came up from Mystic for discussion over beers. To keep it brew focused, others thought their beers at Democracy Brewing were excellent so perhaps a sour just wasn’t the best choice here.
Thank you @digga, for your excellent photos and reports! I l believe your day trips with your family are what inspired me in the first place. We sure have a lot of taprooms to talk about these days.
This week my husband and I went to the Worcester Art Museum, which called for a stop at Armsby Abbey afterward. We hadn’t been there in years, so we were pleased to see that their beer selection and gastropub game remain strong as ever.
Armsby Abbey’s selection of beers from their friends at Hill Farmstead is a draw for us. Six offerings on tap this visit. Happiness.
Armsby Abbey’s selection of Hill Farmstead beers has always been a big draw for me, although with the recent availability of HF beers in greater Boston, somewhat less so, especially due to the drive home from Worcester.
We did go to a Woosox game last summer, spent the night in Wooster, and of course ate/drank at AA which was great!.
Oh man, same here! We first went shortly after they opened for business and fell in love with the cheese plates and Belgian beers. They always seemed to have exactly what we wanted to eat and drink—I can’t think of a similar place in GBA. I’m pleased as punch that it’s still going strong.
ETA: Publick House in Brookline used to fill that niche for us, but our last visit (late 2022, I think?) just didn’t feel the same.
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned the two Notch Brewing tap rooms/beer gardens (Brighton and Salem).
They get my nomination for the best beer/taproom experience in the greater Boston area. Their beers are uniformly superb and unlike most breweries, they make classic European brews that don’t absolutely knock your over your head with hops and alcohol. (I love Treehouse beers but I will not drive home after more than one of their 8+% DIPAs.)
I think that Widowmaker is also worth a mention. Their Blue Comet IPA is one of my favorite Boston-area interpretations of the style.
I visited their Braintree location a year ago and it was pretty standard for a NE brewery taproom. They have recently opened a second location in Brighton with a kitchen. I look forward to trying it later this year.
@digga, @stiv I did start with Notch on this older thread about them which did spark this new thread. But I can’t merge anything so decided to start fresh. Hope we can keep this convo going!
