In my latest Ms. Mug column for Ale Street News, I make the case for Boston as a great beer town. Writers from Philadelphia and New York City have already weighed in on their respective metropoli. I was more than happy to add the Hub to the fray, as anybody who read Three cheers for beer in the Hub knows. And coming up: a review of Boston’s first American Beer Fest, which took place over the weekend at the World Trade Center.
That’s how many beers will be on tap this weekend at the Cambridge Brewing Co.’s 19th anniversary fest. Red God IPA — a hop bomb that the brewpub created years ago as a rebuke to the Miller Brewing Co’s insipid and briefly popular fake microbrew, Red Dog — will be featured. So will selections from head brewer Will Meyers’ new cask cellar, a rich breeding ground for complex, aged, Belgian-inspired sour ales.
Which is to say that the CBC has come a long way since 1989, when it opened with three draught beers that seemed exotically flavorful at the time: Regatta Golden, Cambridge Amber and Charles River Porter. Recently, the CBC expanded its brewery, installing some new tanks and upgrading things a bit. That’s to get ready for next year’s 20 beers on tap, I imagine.
Come five o’clock tomorrow, I’ll be there, doing my part to empty those casks and toasting to the longest-running brewpub in greater Boston.
Established: 2002
Specialty: Beer
Prices: Moderate
Atmosphere: Beer-loving ladies and gents congregate here en masse for top-notch Belgian and other artisanal beers, a friendly vibe and a choice of two bars adorned with authentic Belgian taps and brewery decor.
See Best Boston bars for address and contact info.
If the ho-hum lager Stella Artois is what you equate with “Belgian beer,” then get yourself over to the Publick House in Brookline (1648 Beacon St.) ASAP. As you confront the beauty of a complex Trappist ale or bottle-conditioned saison (the Champagne of the beer world), you’ll realize what you’ve been missing.
The Publick House has so successfully schooled Boston-area residents in Belgium’s myriad beer styles that David Ciccolo, who owns the pub with his wife, Ailish Gilligan, was knighted in that country. Seriously. Shortly after opening the Monk’s Cell, a tap room adjacent to the Publick House, in 2007, Ciccolo traveled to Brussels to be inducted into the Chevalerie du Fourquet des Brasseurs, or Knighthood of the Brewer’s Mash Staff. Formidable! I’m guessing the fact that he used to be an actual brewer, at the defunct Tremont Brewing Co. in Charlestown, didn’t hurt.
The Publick House’s beer menu leans heavily toward Belgians (roughly 100 of them), but it has a very respectable selection from the best American craft breweries (Allagash, Sixpoint, etc.), plus the occasional tasty treat from elsewhere in Europe. Belgian breweriana decorates the walls, and the proper glassware is used. I loved my Atomium Grand Cru in its wide-mouthed goblet emblazoned with the beer’s namesake: Brussels’ kitschy monument to molecular science built for the 1958 World’s Fair. Naturally, there are mussels and frites on the menu, along with several dishes in the gastro-pub vein. And one of my favorite bartenders, Matt Tremblay (pictured above) — whom I’ve known since he worked at the Cambridge Brewing Co. back in my brewing days — is the top tap man there. His attitude echoes that of the Publick House as a whole: respectful of good beer without being snobby about it.
Beers range from $4 to $8 (and more for the rare stuff); dishes from roughly $8 to $20. Astute barflies will remember that the Publick House originally opened under the gaelic name Anam Cara. Naturally, confused patrons would walk in expecting an Irish pub. Ciccolo says that was an “admitted mistake,” and changed the name. The most frequent complaint about the Publick House is that it gets too crowded. “I don’t understand why more people aren’t doing what we’re doing,” Ciccolo says. Not surprisingly, he has plans to expand his empire, which now includes not only the Publick House and the Monk’s Cell, but Publick House Provisions (1706 Beacon St.), a specialty grocery store that features the beers on the Publick House menu, cheeses, Belgian chocolates, etc. Personally, I’m lobbying for a Belgian tap room in the Cambridge-Somerville area.
Just in case you didn’t read to the end of the last post, I thought I’d point to the latest installment of my Ale Street News column, Ms. Mug. In The Pink Elephant in the Room, I call beer writers (and by extension all drinks writers) out for avoiding ever mentioning the fact that they drink for the buzz as much as the taste.
“…We’ve been policed, and have policed ourselves, into a sometimes comically polite way of talking about beer.”
And I admit I’m among the guilty. Not that everyone wants to hear the details of what a contented, appealing genius I become over the course of an evening at the bar (I’ll leave that kind of writing to commenters on Yelp.com). But to give the impression that all that gin and whiskey I knock back spends quality time with my taste buds would be dishonest. Kind of like when someone says he subscribes to Playboy for the articles.
By Scott N. Howe
Chinese New Year is almost here. For some of us, that means a trip to Chinatown to check out the pageants and dodge the firecrackers. For the rest of us, that means a better-than-average excuse to order some Chinese take-out and throw down a few cold bottles of Tsingtao lager.
As the retro beer trend has taught us, context can trump taste. Grill me a hot dog at a backyard barbeque, and I want a PBR. Order me some greasy fried rice and a carton of crab rangoons at 2:00 a.m. after the bars have closed, and pour me a Tsingtao.
The nice thing about Tsingtao is that it gives you context and taste. It is the number-one imported beer from China, and you can find it in virtually every Chinese restaurant — and for good reason. As the nice folks at Tsingtao assert, “Tsingtao complements spicy or flavorful Asian cuisine.” They’re right. The beer is light, but not bland, malty, but not bready. From my experience, it goes great with high-end, authentically prepared Chinese cuisine, low-end, indifferently prepared take-out, and everything in between.
Crisp, tasty and hard to pronounce, it’s the beer you should be drinking as you celebrate 2008 — the Year of the Rat.
While the rebirth of quality classic cocktails features heavily on this site, attentive readers also know that drinkboston.com gives beer its props. “Micro,” “craft,” “artisanal” beers — whatever you want to call today’s non-megabrews — are thriving, and I have been known to compare their emergence a couple of decades ago to today’s developing taste for well made, sophisticated cocktails.
It’s dumb, then, that I have neglected to introduce drinkboston readers to my other identity, Ms. Mug. I have been writing a column by this name for the beer newspaper Ale Street News for about the past six years. Basically, I write about beer and other drinking matters from a woman’s point of view … or just my own point of view. The latest column, Beer Finally Gets Invited to Dinner, quotes personnel from some of Boston’s best restaurants/bars about how an interesting beer selection is finally becoming an essential part of any serious establishment’s overall beverage program.
Ale Street has been around for over 15 years. It’s published every other month and can be found at beer bars and brewpubs throughout Boston. The newspaper’s website is undergoing a redesign, and with any luck I’ll be able to provide a link to an archive of Ms. Mug columns in the near future.
Where does a Boston-based drinks blogger go to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Montreal, of course. Assuming you’re a seasoned barfly like me, you probably have conflicted feelings about going out on the town for New Year’s only to drink overpriced drinks, eat overpriced food and fight for cabs with all the smashed club kids pouring out of the Alley at 2:00 a.m. One way to go out and enjoy the evening without experiencing this hometown malaise is simply to reach for a change of scenery. That’s what I did. Selfish of me, I know, because it means I have absolutely no advice for anyone looking for cool things to do in Boston for the big night. If you’re desperate, you might get a few ideas from last year’s NYE post.
Canada’s ultimate New Year’s celebration is happening in Quebec City, which is kicking off its 400th anniversary celebration. But we ended up in Montreal because it happens to be the home of one of North America’s best bars, Le Cheval Blanc (809 Rue Ontario). Cheval Blanc is a brewpub that has been around for 20 years. It is not like the brewpubs that most New Englanders know, with lots of gleaming tanks and sterile, un-bar-like decor. No, it’s a great bar that just happens to have a brewery downstairs. The stainless steel, reach-in coolers and faux marble wall panels appear to date from the 1950s. Spiky snake plants on the wall, red lanterns and a big neon clock complete a look and feel that’s retro and original all at once. The house music veers from punk to klezmer to soul. Probably the best brew in the place is a Belgian-style white beer simply called blanche. There’s also an amber (ambrée), IPA, porter and few specialty beers in bottles — including a nice barleywine (strong, British-style ale) that we shared last night with one of Cheval Blanc’s regulars, an ivy capped guy named Pat.
The clientele and the staff are laid-back and friendly in a cool, Quebecois way. We hear both the brewer and the bartender will appear on stage tonight as part of a special New Year’s band. Looks like we’re heading back to Rue Ontario. Cheers, Beantown.
Boston is known as the Hub, and it is indeed a hub of many things. Higher education, of course. Sports, especially now. Also, as you know if you’re a regular at drinkboston.com, Boston has lately emerged as a hub of cocktail culture. But well before the Red Sox and Patriots started winning championships, and before Beantowners rediscovered cocktails made with rye whiskey, brewers, tavern owners and beer enthusiasts made Boston into a hub of beer.
The Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams), established in 1984, was one of the first craft breweries in the country. The first brewpub east of the Mississippi opened in Boston in 1986 (the Commonwealth Brewing Co., now closed). And the city’s first multi-tap beer bar, the Sunset Grill & Tap, opened back in 1987. Today, there are eight breweries and brewpubs and seven multi-taps in greater Boston. Oh, and did I mention that BeerAdvocate.com, the world’s biggest online beer community (and now a print magazine), is based in Boston? All of this makes for a vibrant, nationally recognized beer scene that has spilled over into the city’s other, non-beer-oriented bars and restaurants. The number of establishments that make an effort to stock good craft beers (domestic and imported) is increasing, and the variety of beers available is huge. (See below.)
A sizable part of Boston’s reputation for good beer rests on the shoulders of Will Meyers, who has been brewing beer at the Cambridge Brewing Co. since 1993. (Disclosure: I was Will’s brewing assistant from 1997-1999.) With his basic, two-vessel brewhouse, he turns out many fine examples of the world’s major beer styles, including bitter, pale ale, IPA, porter, stout, barleywine, Scotch ale, bock and several different Belgian-style ales. He also taps a fresh cask-conditioned beer, dispensed through a traditional British beer engine, every Tuesday night.
In an exciting development this past year, Will cleared out a junk-filled section of the CBC’s basement and installed a cask cellar. He procured 20-odd oak barrels from whiskey distillers, California wineries and other brewers and filled them with all manner of strong, funky, Belgian-inspired ales fermented with odd yeast strains. As these specimens evolve and mellow out, Will dispenses them at the CBC’s bar, as well as brewers dinners and festivals — like BeerAdvocate’s latest Belgian Beer Fest. Making these types of beers well is a real challenge, so I was impressed by a glass of kriek — sour Belgian-style lambic fermented with real cherries — I had at the CBC recently. The beer was a natural rosy-red, with balanced sourness and cherry flavors and a fine carbonation. Really sophisticated stuff.
Another pillar of the Boston beer scene is Redbones BBQ, whose annual Northwest Fest is happening all month, with two special dinners November 13 and 14. Two dozen breweries in America’s microbrew mecca, Washington and Oregon, ship kegs to Somerville just for this event. There are some really kickass beers in the lineup, and Redbones serves them until the end of November or until the kegs run dry, whichever comes first.
This is a top-of-my-head list of places that make and/or serve good beer in the Boston area. Did I miss any? Let me know.
Breweries
Boston Beer Co.
Harpoon Brewery
Brewpubs
Boston Beer Works (2 locations)
Cambridge Brewing Co.
John Harvard’s
Rock Bottom
Watch City Brewing Co. (Waltham)
Multi-Taps
Bukowski Tavern (Boston & Cambridge)
Cambridge Common
Deep Ellum
The Public House
Redbones BBQ
Sunset Grill & Tap
Other restaurants and bars with good beer selections
The Blue Room
Charlie’s Kitchen
Eastern Standard
Green Street
The Independent
Jacob Wirth
No. 9 Park
The Other Side Cafe
Michael Jackson, the British drinks writer known as the Beer Hunter, died yesterday in London. He was 65. If you have visited a beer bar or brewpub and enjoyed the flavorful, varied selection of beverages found therein, you can thank Jackson for that. He basically invented the field of beer writing in the 1970s and ’80s and thereby shepherded and hugely influenced the worldwide beer renaissance that has occurred since then.
He inspired most if not all of the beer writers working today, including me. I have a few of his books: Great Beers of Belgium, the Bar and Cocktail Companion and an autographed copy of the Beer Companion. He also inspired artisanal brewers in the U.S. who lovingly revived the near-forgotten beer styles these books describe — stuff like porter, bock and IPA. It is in large measure because of him that mass-produced light lagers no longer monopolize the beer market like they did 20, 30 years ago.
Jackson succeeded because he wrote well. In his columns, he could be witty and poignant in the same paragraph, and his descriptions of drinks were concise and expressive, not florid. He wrote like he was talking to you, bringing you along on a pub crawl around the world. I met him briefly only a couple of times, including at a 1999 dinner at Redbones BBQ, where the above photo was taken. Philadelphia-based beer writer Lew Bryson knew him fairly well and wrote a heartfelt remembrance of the man, who had fought Parkinson’s disease over the past several years.
In the Beer Companion, Jackson describes what it’s like to drink Kolsch beer in its city of origin, Cologne, Germany. Many of us have had vivid, poetic beer-drinking experiences, but Jackson could actually put those experiences into words:
“In Cologne’s brewpubs during the early evening, small casks are raised from the cellar by dumb-waiter, tapped, and exhausted within minutes. To the visitor, in the jostled space of the standing area (known to the locals as the Schwemme, or ’swimming bath’), it is an impressive sight. The waiters, whose uniform jackets or shirts are traditionally blue, over leather aprons, carry specially designed circular trays that hold the glasses like cartridges in a revolver.”
When I was a brewer at the Cambridge Brewing Co., a brewery-restaurant in Kendall Square, two brothers named Todd and Jason Alstrom came into the bar, ordered all of the beer styles we made, and started taking notes. This was around 1997. The year before, the Alstroms had started a website where they and other enthusiasts could discuss and critique the dozens of styles and thousands of brands of beer brewed throughout the world. Ten years later, their site, BeerAdvocate.com, has attracted 100,000+ users around the U.S. and beyond. It is the world’s largest beer community. And the fact that it started here in Boston both reflects and feeds this city’s status as a craft-beer capitol. If you want evidence, check out beermapping.com’s greater Boston map of beer-friendly bars, restaurants, stores, etc.