I think you still need beer bars. We have many, start with:
Deep Ellum in Allston
Lord Hobo in Cambridge
Also worth mentioning are:
Bronwyn in Union Sq Somerville for German beers
Harpoon Taproom on S Boston waterfront for more and better Harpoon beers than you see in stores
Cambridge Brewing Company in Kendall
And there are many many non-specialists serving great stuff, including many already on your list.
Some excellent local breweries:
Jack’s Abby
Mayflower
Cisco
Mystic
Berkshire Brewing Company
People’s Pint
What are good local IPAs which are strong on the hops ? On the last trip to Boston I tried 6-7 local IPAs (didn’t write down the exact names but some were from Harpoon, Mayflower, Berkshire and Mystic ) and they taste watered down and nearly sweet. I guess I am used by now to high IBU IPAs
I tend to avoid high ABV beers and am a bit burnt out on the hella hoppy trend, so I’m not your best guide on that topic. Lord Hobo will have your number, for sure.
I honestly think that will be your biggest mental change (other than the Mexican food not being what you were used to in SD). Knowing we can’t get local but for a few weeks or months a year, we take advantage of when it’s available. Yes, we can always get it “from away”, but it’s not the same thing to say you know the strawberries were picked from a farm just a few miles away from Boston (and yes, that can be very common with farms located in the suburbs of Boston).
We do, however, have the best damn Autumn with amazing fall colors at almost every turn of a highway or side road.
much like super high-alcohol zinfandel wine, i think this trend has already peaked in these parts. you might still be able to get your fix with smuttynose ipa, the alchemist’s headytopper, maine beer company lunch, and hill farmstead abner.
there are literally hundreds of local beers, so please don’t write off the whole scene before you even get here.
fwiw, many would consider a beer so exaggerated in its hoppiness to be “unbalanced”. the one-upsmanship can be exhausting on the palate and a recipe for a crushing hang-over.
http://belmont.craftbeercellar.com/ There’s also a Fenway location of this national retail chain. I’m a cider fan, and have found a good selection and knowledgeable staff at their Westford store.
Ugh minutes too late. Lol. I literally just drove through there coming home from iggy’s (I hate that intersection of concord to concord). I’ve been searching for good US cider. I love the cider of Brittany and can’t find anything like it here. Will have to check it out.
Yep, the concept of seasons is quite particular to locality.
We usually have four seasons, though sometimes spring starts really early and then gets hit by snow, recovers, disappears, and then summer comes.
I had a really hard time moving here from SF Bay area in 1989…both restaurants and local produce, such as it was then. Adjusting mentally, as suggested, will serve you well.
You aren’t where you used to be. Take advantage of where you are now.
It’s hugely better now since 1989 with restaurants and we do treasure our own seasons. The fleeting local asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, strawberries are amazing.
We don’t get tomatoes and corn until August, but the season can go until October if there isn’t an early frost. Some years it’s rainy and cool, and not great results, other years, spectacular.
Autumn is stunning. The farmers markets are full of the harvest and the leaves are beautiful. We have great apples, some heirlooms. Snow can be beautiful when it doesn’t keep the public transportation, or any transportation, from working, and if you have supplies in if you can’t go out, well, stay in and enjoy it. I grew up in NC and at the first word of any snow or ice, everyone goes out to buy “French Toast”…eggs, milk, bread. Here, supplies are different. Cooking at home a wonderful long braised stew on a snow day can be comforting and peaceful.
I worked in a grocery store in high school, and believe me, bread, milk, and eggs, are huge sellers here in bad weather. I never understood why, since you either already use these things and should have them, or don’t use them and don’t need them, but man, we went through voluminous amounts of them anytime a storm hit. Now here, we consider a snow storm to be 6 inches +, so THAT’S certainly different than in NC!
they do have more ice storms than snow storms in NC with lots of electrical outages. And they have very few snow plows. Personally, cheese, artisan bread, wine, and soup/stew ingredients to braise on the gas stove are important to me if a storm is coming, but I usually have the anyway. Charge everything, but you can always charge the phone in the car, if you can get to your car with a shovel.
or which towns are in which states. since every New England state has the same town names. The same street names in Boston and environs are often very misleading, and since the greater Boston area doesn’t seem to have street signs in most places, even more confusing. The street name changes midway through and then goes back again in a few blocks. Or, the street changes one way in the other direction halfway up the street. It’s an old place, for the US, and that’s interesting in itself.
So far off the “food” topic (which was such a no-no on Chowhound, so I’ll be brief)
Driving around Boston is rough to learn. There are “church”, “school”, “summer”, “river”, etc streets every 50 feet it feels like. So many intersections that have 5 or 6 spokes to them - so when GPS says “turn right”, which right? Hard right? 90 degree right? veer right? 1/2 the lines are scrapped off the roads, so who knows if there are one or two lanes. 2 lane roads that, without warning, merge into one lane - one lane roads that become 2 lane for the 20 feet before and after a light - two lane roads that one lane becomes a turn only lane without warning, only to be followed 20 feet later by the other lane becoming a turn lane only in the other direction. Some strange unspoken rule that when you’re at a light on a one lane road, and the first car coming towards you at the light has their turn signal on, they turn left right in front of you . . . - Roads make all sorts of twists and turns and since nothing is square if you make a wrong turn you can end up miles away from where you wanted to be and no easy way to get back on track. I can go on and on.
You adjust to it all and it is all interesting in how history caused all the crazy development - but wow it is crazy to start off.
I’m still amazed how specific everyone is about “Chinese” food (I like it but wasn’t prepared for it). I’m still amazed about New England “seafood” - wow people up here love everything fried. That is a huge adjustment from SoCal fish eating.
I’m amazed how many small shops don’t take Amex (I get it, no need to explain) and how many small restaurants are cash only. I’m amazed how my favorite little family farmers markets and farm stands still have just an unattended room and a little box to put your check in - all on the honor system (love that, reminds me of the old days).
So much to love and so much to adjust to - but that is why I like moving.
Seasons are not really something new to us - we grew up in the northern part of Germany and even though the winters are not as bad as in Boston everything else is quite similar. I wrote already somewhere that Boston is for many Northern Europeans the most “European” big city in the US (climate, layout of the city, types of buildings, “people” living in the city etc). What I am sometimes a little bit more “afraid” (and I am not sure if it is true) quite a few people who either live now in Boston or have lived there before told me that during the cold months even the supermarkets have little variation in produce. It’s great to live by the seasons but I am also fine to buy non-seasonal produce in the supermarket (coming from California or Mexico) as long as it is at least available.
