Some sad (if not unexpected) news from Yankee Brew News:
"The South Coast of Massachusetts has lost its local beer brand. Buzzards Bay Brewing of Westport has stopped production on its Buzzards Bay line of ales and lagers. Owner Bill Russell made the decision due to declining sales and difficulties with distribution. The growing competition from national beer brands in the marketplace had become too much for the small brewery...
The brewers and staff at Buzzards Bay will still brew, however, for both Cisco Brewers of Nantucket and Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project of Cambridge, as well as partner with Irish brewer Strangford Lough. The major development in the works in a new line of beers named Just Beer, which will be self-distributed.
The beers in the Just Beer line are American-style ales brewed with a negative carbon footprint... They are currently only available on draft in the South Coast market. 'Twenty-two ounce bombers of these carbon-negative brews will be released sometime in the upcoming months,' [brewer Bill] Russell said."
Nano Breweries Opening in Western Mass
Western Mass has lucked into not one, but two micro-micro-breweries in the process of opening. The first is Element Brewery in Miners Falls, MA. They bill themselves as "the fusion of art, science, and beer." Interesting. They should have opened by now (as long as the final few papers are signed in time...) Another town called Bernardston already has a nano brewery of its own: Lefty's Brewing. The list of beers seemed pretty conventional, and skewed to the darker side of the spectrum... not a bad thing. It is on tap and bombers are already on sale at sereral locations in the area. Wonder how long it will take these brewers to make it to the Boston area?
Sam Adams Obtains License to Sell Beers from Brewery
From The Globe:
"Until now they could not buy beer there [at the brewery], even though about half the visitors wanted to, Sullivan said. Instead, they were given a card with walking directions to nearby liquor stores.
That will change next week, when Boston Beer begins selling limited- edition Samuel Adams brews in its gift shop. The company received a license from the state in August, but it delayed the start of sales to coincide with the release of its new Barrel-Aged Collection.
“Our goal is to sell beers that are harder to find - the limited-edition beers and the beers we’re experimenting with - at the brewery,’’ Sullivan said. “We’re not going to be selling Octoberfest at the brewery.’’
The three beers that make up the Barrel-Aged Collection - New World Tripel, American Kriek, and Stony Brook Red - are certainly going to qualify as hard to find. Boston Beer will only distribute them in 750-milliliter bottles, the size of a wine bottle, in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Denver, where Koch first won the Great American Beer Festival in 1985. The bottles, priced at $9.95, won’t be sold in six-packs.
Unlike the traditional brewing process, which involves metal tanks, barrel-aging includes an additional fermenting period in wooden barrels that each hold about 4,000 gallons. The barrel-aged beers are then blended with other beers. The company hopes the resulting hybrid brews will help it win over drinkers of wine and hard liquor."
Most of this latest round of foreign beers came from two very different beer drinking experiences. The first was the closing of The Jury Room in Quincy, which I posted about earlier. I got some pretty amazing beers for $3 each, but let's just say the quality was a little lacking. Whereas, when visiting my sister in Washington D.C. we went to an excellent Belgian beer bar / restaurant called Brasserie Beck. Proper glassware, serving temperature, you name it. So it goes.
