The State of Massachusetts

I currently reside in Fall River, Massachusetts, and have therefore worked steadily through the Bay State's various breweries. And yes, there is more to Massachusetts than just Sam Adams.

10
Ipswich Oatmeal Stout
the best beer massachusetts has to offer

9
Berkshire Coffeehouse Porter
fantastic -- very strong taste of coffee, smooth, well balanced

Ipswich Dark Ale
the best dark ale i have had

Samuel Adams Black Lager
my favorite sam

Samuel Adams Boston Lager
a perfectly balanced, drinkable beer

The Tap Leatherlips IPA
again, the extreme ipa's aren't my favorite, but this is a great one

Watch City Hops Explosion IPA
hardly an explosion of hops, but much better balanced this way

Watch City Titan Brown Ale
darkest brown i have ever seen... amazing nut/chocalate flavor

8
Cape Ann Fishermans Brew
flavorful, smooth... this one surprised me

Cape Ann Pumpkin Stout
very subtle spice and pumpkin -- this is a smart brewer

Ipswich Original Ale
good balance, a session beer

Samuel Adams Cream Stout
excellent cream stout with a beautiful pour

Samuel Adams Holiday Porter
true holiday porter with nice subtle use of hop bitterness

Samuel Adams Octoberfest
i like the complex malts but a little too sweet of a finish

Watch City Totem Pale Ale
perfect ammount of bitterness

7
Concord North Woods Ale
a very nice beer, good flavor

Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen
harpoons only above-average offering

Ipswich India Pale Ale
solid ipa -- definitely taste the citrus

Offshore India Pale Ale
strange orangey color, but good hop bitterness... maybe even too sharp for my taste

Opa-Opa Steakhouse Red Rock
sweet, malty, drinkable

Samuel Adams Boston Ale
sweet, smooth, good

Samuel Adams Dunkel Weiss
my first dark wheat and i liked it

Samuel Adams Summer Ale
a good wheat

The Tap American Pale Ale
a pretty hoppy pale

The Tap Whittier White
could pass for a real belgian beer

Watch City Moody Street Stout
kind of thin for a stout, but good

6
Buzzards Bay Pilsner
an okay beer from this otherwise mediocre brewer

Endurance Glacier Gold
sharp bitterness, but not bad at all

Harpoon Brown
it's pretty good

Harpoon IPA
too watery

Harpoon Smoked Porter
definitely taste the smokiness... by the end of the 6-pack it had grown on me

Sam Adams Irish Red Ale
a strange red, too sweet

Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner
harsh bitter, dry hoppiness... i'd prefer a normally priced ipa myself

Samuel Adams Winter Lager
a disappointment -- too thin

The Tap Haverale Cream Ale
tasted more like a lager than an ale to me

Watch City Uber-Okto-Lager
way too sweet for my taste

5
Buzzards Bay Black Lager
solid dark beer

Harpoon Ale
nothing exciting at all

Samuel Adams Light
okay taste, for a light beer

Samuel Adams Hefeweizen
a little too sweet, but drinkable

Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale
heavily spiced so not something you would want to drink much of...

Wachusett Blueberry
better than expected but blueberry still too close to chemicals

4
Buzzards Bay Alt
unimpressed

Concord Rapscallion Creation
wasn't feeling it -- overly carbonated, overwhelming alcohol presence

Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat
no subtlety here -- cherry sweetness way over the top

Samuel Adams Pale Ale
not good

3
Harpoon Summer Beer
forgettable

Harpoon Winter Warmer
in the words of my friend link: "it tastes like pine cones." i wish i could disagree.

Samuel Adams White Ale
didn't really do it for me

2
Buzzards Bay Hefeweizen
terrible

Samuel Adams Honey Porter
undrinkable

1
Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
i poured it out, the ultimate insult

The Early Days

Now I have been enjoying microbrewed beers for a few years now and it wasn't until 2007 that I began taking detailed notes on what I was drinking. However, I was exposed to a number of delicious beers before this point... especially from Oregon and Maine. So while I will refrain from commenting on any of these beers, I would at least like to list them here with a simple ranking.

To be clear, I am not an expert, and therefore I will not be adhering to the official twenty point system for appearance, aroma, palate/flavor, and overall impression. Instead, I will be using a simpler 1-10 point system that looks at these characteristics, as well as beers that are well-crafted/true to their style and drinkable.

10
Allagash Tripel Reserve, ME

Deschutes Black Butte Porter, OR

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale

9
Allagash White

Deschutes Cinder Cone Red Ale

Deschutes Obsidian Stout

Full Sail Amber Ale, OR

Full Sail Session Premium Lager

Gearys London Porter, ME

8
Amnesia Copacetic IPA, OR

BridgePort IPA, OR

Deschutes Bachelor ESB

Full Sail IPA

Full Sail Rip Curl

Liberal Cup Alewife Ale, ME

Liberal Cup Tarbox Cream Stout

Long Trail Double Bag, VT

Lucky Labrador Dog Day IPA, OR

Roots Organic EXXXcalibur Imperial Stout, OR

Roots Organic Pond Turtle Pale Ale

Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale, OR

Widmer Brothers W06 NW Red Ale

7
Amnesia Desolation IPA

Amnesia The ESB

Casco Bay Pale Ale, ME

Henry Weinhards Private Reserve, OR

Liberal Cup Backhouse Bitter

Long Trail Blackbeary Wheat

Lucky Labrador Hawthornes Best Bitter

McMenamins Nebraska Bitter, OR

McMenamins Terminator Stout

Roots Organic Burghead Heather Ale

Shipyard Blue Fin Stout, ME

The Tap Nut Brown, MA

Widmer Brothers Snow Plow

6
BridgePort Blue Heron Ale

BridgePort Ropewalk Amber Ale

Henry Weinhards Blue Boar Pale Ale

Liberal Cup Bug Lager

Magic Hat Fat Angel, VT

Ringwood Old Thumper, ME

Shipyard Longfellow Winter Ale

5
Casco Bay Carrabassett Pale Ale

McMenamins Concordia Pale Ale

McMenamins Hammerhead Ale

Saranac Black and Tan, NY

Saranac Pale Ale

4
Belfast Bay Lobster Ale, ME

Saranac Adirondack Lager

Saranac IPA

Wachusett Summer Breeze, MA

3
McMenamins Ruby

Sea Dog Blue Paw Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale, ME

Shipyard Brown Ale

2
Mash Tun Alberta Pale Ale, OR

Beer

So apparently, I am a blogger. And no, I don't know when this happened. For those of you who don't know me, I am not what you might call "technologically inclined." You see, I am from Maine. Which I think pretty much sums it up.

Anyways, I missed blogging. (If you haven't done so already, check out my previous two blogs: http://www.workingatwal-mart.blogspot.com/ + http://www.africaisnotacountry.blogspot.com/.) So I am starting this blog to write about my fetish for microbrewed beer, that is until I settle on a topic more worthy of my (and your) time.

I really discovered craft brewers back in 2004 in Portland, Oregon. And I really came to appreciate craft beer the following year while in Africa (watery, flavorless shit over there... go figure.) Since then I have steadily worked my way through the New England breweries, and over the past few months have started seeking out some of the best domestic craft brewers.

So I guess what I am hoping is that this will be a place for me to write about what I am drinking that week. More importantly, it will be a place for you to find a referral for a beer that fits your tastes. Beyond that I am not really sure how I am going to go about this, so bear with me.

And yes, I know that I have a problem. If you have a problem too, read on.