Headed to Boston

[randmc]

I'm meeting up with an old friend and fellow home brewer this weekend in Boston. He is an ex patriot coming to the states for vacation. Long story longer we are looking to drink some good beers while we are in the area. Also we'd like to swap some homebrews and do some tasting comparisons.

Any restaurants you know of that do byob? If not any recommendations on a place with some good taps?

 

[zachattack]

I can recommend tons of places, and I'm sure others can as well. Where exactly in Boston are you going, Boston proper? I actually haven't been out much in Boston itself, and I'm not familiar with any BYOB places. But here are some of my recommendations for some places surrounding Boston:

Allston/Brighton:

Sunset is a big bar with a zillion taps and decent food. The draft selection isn't very inspired or organized however, and they'll be out of a good bit of it. But they do have a lot.

Deep Ellum is one of my favorite bars, ever, it's a true gastropub. Much smaller beer list but very very well picked, and the food is beyond incredible. The service is great (they know their beer) and they have a really good whiskey/cocktail list as well.

Cambridge:

Cambridge Brewing Company (aka CBC) has been voted the best brewpub in the country before. They have amazing homemade beer and decent food (solid burgers). They just started bottling in the last year I think, but there used to be only a few places in town where you could get their beer. So if you want something that you can't get back home, you might want to head here. A lot of their stuff is seasonal, and most of it doesn't get bottled. Plus I'm not sure how far their distribution goes.

Lord Hobo: Nice gastropub, same type of place as Deep Ellum. Good food, great beer list and awesome cocktails as well.

Meadhall: this place has a ton of taps and overpriced food. Like Sunset, they boast a lot of taps but it's not the most inspired selection and they're always out of things.

Somerville:

Redbones BBQ has a really fun bar area (complete with a "wheel of fortune" style device, but to help you choose your beer!) with some great beer. The food isn't mind blowing but it's not bad.

I used to live in Somerville so there are a lot of other places that I like, but most of them are more neighborhood type places.

I'd recommend Deep Ellum, CBC or Lord Hobo if you're picking one place.

 

[eandersen]

Check out the Publick House in Brookline! Great Belgian leaning gastropub

 

[jdauria]

Not sure about any BYOB in Boston, only one I knew of was the No Name, but they have a liquor license now.

Cambridge Brewing Company, which is across the river from Boston in, Cambridge (duh!) is a great place. Very good beers and food.

There is Sunset Grill and Tap in Allston (Boston neighborhood) with 112 taps and a ton more in bottles. Mead Hall in Cambridge, John Harvard's Ale House in Cambridge, Boston Beer Works (near Fenway Park and near Boston Garden). That's just a few of the top of my head. There is also the Yardhouse near Fenway Park on Brookline Ave, it's a chain out of Colorado but they have decent food and 130-150 beers on tap. However, I don't think they treat their beer well, served too cold, no head, etc. The other places are more true craft beer bars.

If you go to Beer Advocate's website and select places from the menu on the upper left side of screen, then go to Mass and Greater Boston, you will get a full list of restaurants/bars and breweries in the area, and you can go into each one for reviews.

 

[zachattack]

I've heard Publick House is great, haven't been yet. I'm personally not a fan of Boston Beer Works or John Harvards. Their beer and food seem pretty generic.

 

[GravyTrain77]

Old Magouns Saloon is a great pub in Somerville. Really good beer selection and the food is great too. Lots of projector screens for games.

All the other recommendations are great as well.

 

[Evan_L]

You could do a tour of Sam Adams. From what i've heard, they sell a tasting glass at the end and if you bring it to this local bar (forget the name) you get either free or ridiculously cheap (almost free) fills of Sam products. Nothing special but it's definitely a cheap way to drink tons of beer

 

[randmc]

Thanks for the input everyone. Bummer about the byob, but perhaps we can drink on the hotel lobby beforehand ND then head out. CBC sounds awesome, I will be checking that out for sure. I've done the Sam and Harpoon tours, the tasting at the end is fun but the tour is boring. "This is a mash tun, this is a Brite tank, I get paid minimum wage." I'd rather go someplace with good variety and food.

 

[zachattack]

The good thing about CBC is it's only a couple blocks from the Red Line and you can walk (stumble) to Lord Hobo, Bukowski's, Meadhall, and a bunch of other places.

 

[randmc]

Thanks so much for the suggestions to head to CBC. I lived the apps and such a rad beer selection. I had a sour porter to start while we waited to be seated, which was the most unique sour I've ever had. What I can't stop raving about is the Blunderbuss barleywine. Oh my god. All barley wines should be compared to this I would give it a 10 out of 10. Does anyone know any clones that are close to this? What a great beer.

 

[zachattack]

I love CBC. Come back to Boston for the ACBF!

 

[GravyTrain77]

Did you try the Sgt Pepper? Great black pepper taste

 

[randmc]

No I did not try that. I was so excited about the blunderbuss I couldn't move on.

 

[GravyTrain77]

Turn around and get some. Great spring seasonal.

Also Larry Bird's haircut... just because it is the greatest beer name

 

[zachattack]

Did you try the Sgt Pepper? Great black pepper taste

Is that the pepper saison? I think I had that a couple years back, it was great.