British Beer Company Opens New Location

If you weren't aware, the British Beer Company - a Massachusetts based restaurant company, opened their 10th location last week in Franklin, MA. My buddy Mike lives in Franklin and told me a few months ago that the BBC was planning on opening a new location in his town, but I hadn't heard that they in fact opened. But, as I was cruising through the blog of Norman Miller, aka: the Real Beer Nut, today, I found out that they have.

Here's the official press release:

"The British are coming to Franklin, Massachusetts!

In Great Britain, Ireland and across Europe, the pub or “local” is the center of town life: a place to relax, refuel the body and spirit, share news and be entertained. The British Beer Company is excited to bring this same atmosphere and service to the community of Franklin.

The BBC offers an eclectic menu, unparalleled beer, wine and cocktail choices and an array of free live entertainment at all their locations. Settle in to one of the several snugs (a private cozy booth) and enjoy a traditional flaky Pasty Pie (chicken and leek perhaps), a crisp Wensleydale salad or a tasty bar pizza (traditional, gluten free or with multi grain dough). Most important; the BBC wants customers to relax and enjoy themselves. At the BBC servers don’t throw a check on the table before the meal is done and rush customers out the door.

Massachusetts owned and operated, the BBC is a refreshing alternative to the surrounding cookie cutter chain restaurants. It’s easy to see why they’re growing so fast – with Franklin being the tenth BBC location to open in Massachusetts since being founded in 1997. Each location has a unique vibe and personality all its own, yet shares its best features with its other siblings – for example, the carefully crafted mahogany bars shipped in from the UK. The BBC in Franklin boasts 36 tap lines of imported brews and specialty craft beers, 91 bottled beers from around the World and Franklin’s first cask conditioned ale. Live entertainment at the BBC is always free with live bands Friday and Saturday nights. Unique lunch and dinner specials are available daily (a couple weeks after the opening).

Whether it’s a business lunch, an after work get-together, a family dinner in friendly surroundings or a late night soirée fueled by great music over pints with friends…the BBC is destined to be Franklin’s new and only local."


Sarah and I during our first visit to BBC Walpole

If you haven't been to a BBC, you really should go. To date Sarah and I have been to the Pembroke location once and the Walpole location several times; however, we plan on visiting the Franklin restaurant soon! They always seem to have a great line up of American Craft Beers as well as some great British offerings - typically by Fuller's (and a few others). They also have a very extensive bottle selection; however, I have kept exclusively to the draft beers so far.

Although we haven't reviewed any of the restaurants, you can expect one soon. We haven't visited the Walpole location in a few months, but on a good day we can get there in about 10 minutes. The food is great, the beer is equally as good, and the service is typically very good. They have had a few bad reviews on Yelp, but honestly we have never experienced anything close to that. So, if you find yourself anywhere near one of these restaurants, definitely stop in for a bite to eat and a few pints!

Tuesday Night Tasting - Blue Hills Brewery: Dunkelweizen

Blue Hills Brewery - Canton, MA
Dunkelweizen, Wampatuck Winter Wheat*
6.9% ABV, 1pt 6oz

This beer pours a medium dark amber brown concoction. It has a slight head, that disappears almost instantaneously. That's okay though, because it's better not to mess around and get straight to the drinking. Of course, it should be noted that the Dunkelweizen has a nice sweet aroma, but has a slight and subtle smokiness. You can also pick up tones of caramel and butterscotch too!



The flavor is a nice blend of sweetness with a malty backbone. It's quite dry, but clean and smooth going down. It's not very bitter, but not too sweet at the same time.

While drinking this beer, I though it would be a great barrel aged beer! I'd love to see what additional flavors and aromas the oak or cherry wood barrels would give this beer. I have to say, this is my favorite Blue Hills Brewery beer so far!

With a medium to moderate mouth feel, this beer leaves you wanting more! I chose to drink mine out of an imperial pint glass, so I was stuck with just a little more than a pint; however, considering this beer is extremely drinkable, I should have picked up another bottle. I had one with my Thanksgiving dinner, and it was quite enjoyable.

Now I realize that I say a lot of the beers I review are drinkable, but I honestly wouldn't say so if I couldn't continue to drink these beers. I've been somewhat critical about a few Blue Hills Brewery beers in the past, but between the Black Hops I reviewed in September, and this Dunkelweizen, it has breathed new life into my interest in the brewing company. I love small companies, not just breweries, and local ones at that. Located just a few towns over, Blue Hills Brewery has made a name for themselves in a short time, and is picking up recognition all over the region. I just picked up another bottle of the Black Hops too, so I'm interested to see how it has progressed over the past few months.

I strongly encourage those of you in reasonable driving distance of a good package or liquor store to grab one of these Dunkelweizens. Blue Hills Brewery does a few variations on the Wampatuck Wheat beers, including the straight up Wampatuck Wheat as well as their Wampatuck Watermellon Wheat beer. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the Winter Wheat!



*this beer has a grain bill that's more than 60% wheat, as are their other Wampatuck Wheat beers!

Apricot and Soy Glazed Turkey Meatloaf

Sarah made us some double-beatloaf last night. I was extra pumped, as we haven't had it in forever. She usually tops it with a mango chutney, but this time she used an apricot and soy glaze. Let's just say, it was f'n good! It didn't hurt that it paired very well with the Magic Hat #9 I was drinking too!



The meatloaf included chopped onion, carrots, tons of great spices, y'know all the stuff that makes for a great meal. She also served an awesome pureed squash, mixed with cinnamon and Lawry's season salt. It should be noted, it was made without any fat - butter, etc. and was out of this world (if you like squash). She also served sauteed potatoes, which were good as well!

Head on over to the Pinkshoe Diaries to get the recipe! It's worth a try, especially if you're trying to lessen your red meat intake, or if you simply don't eat beef.

A Wishful Thinking Letter to Gritty McDuff's

Dear Mr. McDuff,

I write to you today as I am a big fan of your beers. I am equally as big of a fan of your Portland brewpub. It is my hope that you will decide to open a new location, in my (current) home town of Braintree, MA. Sure, we’re outside of Maine, but that’s okay. Massachusetts is home of many great breweries, such as Harpoon Brewery, Samuel Adams, Mayflower Brewing Company, and many more. If Sea Dog Brewing can open up shop in Massachusetts, why can’t Gritty’s?

It seems almost every week I get an email from your company telling me about the great benefits of being a member of the Mug Club, or your happy hour specials. I mean, who can beat a burger for $5.99 and $3 beers? And on top of that, you give away free tickets to professional hockey games and brew beer specifically for pro basketball teams? I mean, c’mon. That’s just too awesome!

It’s just not fair that I have to travel 20-30 minutes to hit anything remotely resembling a brewpub. There used to be a Rock Bottom right down the street, but they unfortunately closed their brewery doors a few years ago. Though, I must say…your Old Port brewery is one of my favorite places to grab lunch and a few pints in the summer while visiting my parents in Old Orchard Beach. The great food, the fantastic copper bar top, the awesome beer…

I hope you will strongly consider expanding your enterprise into the great Commonwealth. Hey, we just got rid of the 6.25% tax on alcohol, so that should help business! Oooooh, wait. Brewers are still taxed an insane amount per barrel of beer they brew, though I’m sure Maine gets you guys on that one too!

Sincerely,

Adam Meuse
www.brewengland.com


...maybe I should send this? If you're not on the Gritty McDuff's email list, and live near Maine, I recommend signing up!

The Year in Beer - 2010

Man, I can't believe 2010 is over. It's been a very busy and hectic, but fun year. Sarah and I started our beer adventures several years ago, but didn't start documenting it until last year. Even then, we were so busy we couldn't dedicate the time needed to keep up with BrewEngland, but made it a point to contribute this year.

And so we did! We went from blogging (sadly) only nine times in 2009 to 92 in 2010. It's still not as much as we wanted, but I think we did a much better job. We created a Facebook Fan page, and as I write this have 447 fans! I wonder where we'll be this time next year? We also started to use Twitter (@brewengland), and have had a great time with that.

In all, this year has seen the following:

32 Beer Reviews - I found 3 that I never put up...those will come soon.
11 Breweries visited - we visited White Birch Brewing, but didn't post
8 Adventures in Homebrewing Posts
5 Beer Events
3 Brewpubs reviewed

BrewEngland was also featured in an article written by Norman Miller (aka: the Real Beer Nut) in his column for the Metrowest Daily News on New England Beer Bloggers. You can read the full article here.

So what were my favorites of this year?

Top 3 Beers (reviewed)
1.) Wachusett Milk Stout
2.) Smuttynose Big A IPA
3.) Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project Baby Tree Quadrupel

Top 3 Beers (not reviewed)
1.) Mayflower IPA
2.) Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Oyster Stout
3.) Cape Ann Brewing Greenhorn IPA

Favorite Brewery Tour
Mayflower Brewing Co. - Plymouth, MA

Favorite Beer Event
Lamb Jam

So what's up for 2011?

Well, the most exciting event happening in the near future is the "Cure Me I'm Irish" charitable event happening on March 5, 2011 in Randolph, MA. We're very much looking forward to solidifying the brewers line up, and hoping that you all can make it.

Sarah and I are planning to visit the new Cape Ann Brewing Co. brewery and pub in Gloucester as well as the Sea Dog Brew Pub in Woburn, MA in the upcoming weeks. We're definitely going to get to the Public House, American Craft, and Deep Ellum in the Boston area, and Novare Res in Portland, ME soon as well.

Expect reviews of the Horseshoe Pub & Restaurant, which is located in Hudson, MA. I've been there twice, and is a great place. You can expect a review of Jimmy the Greek's, located in Old Orchard Beach, ME, one of our favorite stops in the summertime. We'll also bring you a review of the Portsmouth Brewery, a sister company of the Smuttynose Brewing Co.

You can also look forward to brewery tours of (likely) Wachusett Brewing Co, Wormtown Brewery, Willamantic Brewing Co, Coastal Extreme Brewing Co., Allagash Brewing, Peak Organic, and more! We'll be on the look out for new brewpubs to visit as well.

We're also hoping to redesign the site quite a bit, to make it more user friendly. New logos, new links, etc. I'm working with Chris Cappella, a web designer and graphic artist, on a new look that will be nice! He did a lot of work for the Edison brand beer, and has been designing for a while. I look forward to the upgrade.

Finaly, I'd like to brew more of my own beer. I only got to brew four or five batches, but need to kick start the homebrewing back up. I have ingredients for several beers at home, now I just need to make time to brew them.

We want to thank all of our readers, fans, and anyone who has stumbled upon the blog. We look forward to bringing you more great beer related stuff from our great New England area breweries and brewers in 2011!

Cheers!

Adam & Sarah

Brew England Visits: Chicago, Part V

So after a very quick train ride back to the downtown area, we decided to do a little more walking to take in the sights. We continued to walk the Magnificent Mile, where there is all kinds of shopping and theaters:


A festive Macy's


the Oriental Theater


the Chicago Theater

We did a little shopping, and a little more walking, before deciding that it was time for a break. While walking in the Loop area the previous day, Sarah had spotted a pizza place near Michigan Ave, so we headed that way. As it turns out, we found Pizano's, which I guess is pretty famous for their deep dish...which was great, because that was exactly what we were looking for!



All of Pizano's deep dish pizzas take at least 30 minutes to make. But, we were still somewhat full from our lunch hat Goose Island Wrigleyville, so that bought us some time to digest. Of course, New Belgium Fat Tire and martini helped too!



Again, like most of the places we went, we had some of the most friendly bartenders around. It didn't hurt that they were young, pretty women; however, more importantly they were friendly to a couple of Bostonians. We also ran into a local/regular, who we chatted with as well. I can't recall his name, but I do remember he said he made high-end suits for many of the local politicians, business men, and others and their suits were upwards of $4k each. What was funny is that he was also sporting a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers clothing items, which I found interesting considering he was from Chicago.

Sarah and I were pretty beat after a long day of roaming around, so after a few beers and delicious deep dish pizza (the best pizza I've ever had, quite frankly), we made our way towards home. Of course, we managed to walk through Millennium Park again, as they had a few extra photo ops at night.






We quickly stopped into the Disney Store on the Magnificent Mile to get some shopping done for my niece Kaylyn, before walking back to the hotel for the night.

We still had one more day in Chicago, but unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable. It was cold and raining, but that wasn't going to stop us from enjoying our last hours in such a great city. After some breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and decided to talk downtown again. Despite the rain, we were able to get some more cool pics.




We stumbled on the Chicago Cultural Center, so we used it as a break to get out of the rain. As it turned out, it was free admission, but it was a great time. I've been reading the book "Devil in the White City" by Eric Larson for what seems like forever. It's about the murder and magic that took place at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which saw many iconic items show up, like the world's largest Ferris Wheel, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (it's when it won the blue ribbon!). Nevertheless, the city needed to build many, many buildings. The head architect Daniel H. Burnham designed many of the buildings, and the Chicago Cultural Center had a HUGE section dedicated to him. Although we didn't see most of the buildings he designed, we plan on doing so during our next visit.

We walked around a little more, and found a place to grab some lunch. The place was called the Tilted Kilt, which we assumed was a small Irish pub - just our style; however, it was not quite what we were expecting. It turns out it was the Scottish Hooters, with the waitresses and servers in knee high white socks, skimpy kilts, and even smaller shirts. Their food was actually pretty good and their beer was decent as well (I didn't realize until I linked their site that they're seemingly all over the place, especially in the Midwest and south). The train runs right along the building, and the CTA Santa Holiday Train made a (very) quick stop just outside the Tilted Kilt's window. Unfortunately Sarah missed it, but it was pretty cool to see.

After lunch we made one last stop at O'Toole's as I wasn't leaving Chicago without trying a Ska Brewing Co. beer. When we landed at the bar for the first time, I saw that although they didn't have anything by Ska Brewing on tap, they had a bottle of it. I figured I would seek it out on tap first, and if not I'd go back to O'Toole's to try it out. Surprisingly, I couldn't find it on tap anywhere we went, so I ordered a bottle of True Blonde Dubbel.



The beer was a nice, smooth, and potent concoction. It comes in at 8% ABV, but is clean and crisp. It had that subtle flavor you see in great Belgian beers, and was very drinkable. It's a shame I couldn't find it anywhere, but Sarah and I are interested in visiting Colorado soon, so this will be a must see brewery while we're out there.


Sarah enjoying one last martini at Timmothy O'Toole's

We also met a guy named Randy from Cincinnati, who happened to be sitting at the bar. We talked beer, and especially homebrewing as we both partake in the craft. He was an extremely nice guy, and before leaving I gave him one of our business cards. I hope he finds the site and keeps in touch!

Alas, it was off to the airport. Chicago was about to get hit with a major snow storm, so we were lucky, but sad, to be leaving. As we pulled up and checked our bags, we learned that Southwest Airlines had cancelled ALL of their flights for the next day, so we were getting out at the right time. We found Miller's Pub at Midway Airport, had a few drinks, got our picture taken with Santa, and boarded our plane for the trip back home.

To date, Chicago is the greatest city I've ever visited. Granted, I haven't visited too many places, but Sarah and I have fallen in love with the city. We were lucky enough to have her cousin take us to a place we wouldn't have seen, but there were many that we didn't get the chance to visit. We're already planning our next trip back, and we hope to visit in March or April for more antics!

Cape Ann Brewing Co. to Open New Brewery Today!

For anyone who is on the North Shore of Massachusetts, or is looking for a new brewery/brewpub, starting today you can visit the brand new Cape Ann Brewing Co. brewery in Gloucester, MA. Sarah and I visited their old brewery in March and loved it. Our bartender that day was Dylan, who is also one of the brewers, and he couldn’t have been nicer. We chatted about their different brews, snacked on a delicious cheese plate, while enjoying their fresh brews!

This visit was our first, but certainly not our last. Their full line up of beers couldn't have been better. Although we liked them all, our two favorites were the Pumpkin Stout – which I still have one or two at home – and of course their Greenhorn IPA.

Now, I’m definitely a hop head, so I was in love with this beer from the first sip. The Greenhorn goes through a process called hop backing, which is essentially a canister that holds several ounces of hops, and the beer is strained through this mechanism called a hop back. The beer picks up all the aroma and flavor of the hops, and it’s left with a CRAZY IBU level of 120 IBUs. However, it’s not as ferocious as you would expect, which is why Sarah enjoyed it so much. We couldn’t resist taking a growler home with us that day (as well as a t-shirt and pint glass).

Anyway, Cape Ann is one of our favorite breweries, and we’ve crossed paths a few times – notably at Lamb Jam and the amazing Bacon & Beer Festival. They definitely have a style that is unmatched.

We’re also very excited that they are on board with the Cure Me I’m Irish event in March of next year. If you haven’t had their beers, please pick up a six pack from your local package store. Sarah and I know you will love their selection!