More 5 Napkin Burger Beer Dinners

5 Napkin Burger in Boston's Back Bay is bringing back their burger and beer dinners! In fact, they're already here. We went to the Long Trail Brewing dinner in April, and had a great time! 

Last Tuesday, the folks at Samuel Adams invaded this local burger joint for a fantastic beer dinner. The menu featured an eclectic mix of seafood, burgers, and some of the favorite Sam Adams beers such as Whitewater IPA and Boston Lager.

The fun continues tomorrow on Huntington Avenue, when the arrogant bastards at Stone Brewing Company storm into town. Here is the menu set for tomorrow, although the menu is subject to change:

Menu Includes: Port Taquitos, Lobster Endive Spears, Deep Fried Pickles & Pistrami, Spinach & Artichoke Crostini, Bacon, Ale & Gruyere Soup, Choice of Avocado-Ranch Burger or Veggie Burger, Smoked Porter Creme Brûlée.

The food is to be paired with: Stone IPA, Stone Levitation Ale, Arrogant Bastard Ale, and Stone Smoked Porter.

Tickets are just $45, and includes the meal, drinks, tax, and gratuity! Stop by and see Jeff Nelson and Casey Gruttadauria from Atlantic Importing as they talk all things Stone for the worthy (or not so worthy) guests.

If that wasn't enough, the Cape comes to Boston next Tuesday when Mayflower Brewing Co. brings a unique mix of food and beer for hungry and thirsty patrons. Join Drew Brosseau, founder and president of Mayflower Brewing Company, Marissa Jacobs, Territory Manager, and Sarah Richardson, Marketing and PR Specialist for a great night of food and drink.

The Mayflower Brewing menu includes: Tuna Tataki Wontons, Grilled Chicken Skewers, Guacamole & Housemade Chips, Cheddar Tots, Mussels Steamed in Ale, Choice of Caprese Burger or Veggie Burger, and Porter Granite.

To wash down the menu, the Mayflower Beers will be: Mayflower IPA, Mayflower Golden Ale, Mayflower Porter, and Mayflower Autumn Wheat.

Tickets again are just $45, and includes the meal, drinks, tax, and gratuity.

Both of these events start at 6:30pm with informal and casual cocktail receptions. These are great opportunities to meet the brewery representatives, enjoy some delicious passed apps, and of course great beer! Guests will then be chauffeured to the dining room where the three course meals meticulously crafted by Chef Andy D'Amico and the breweries.

Tickets are still available, but tickets are likely to sell out for both as space is limited. Both events are available to purchase individually, but you can save a few bucks and purchase tickets to both events for $85. Click here for all ticket info!

Mohegan Sun BrewFest

Last weekend Sarah and I headed to Mohegan Sun for their first ever Sun BrewFest. Neither of us are big gamblers, save for Keno when at choice restaurants in Massachusetts or the occasional scratch or lotto ticket when we're feeling lucky. If we needed an excuse to visit one of the premier resort casinos in our region, a brew festival was a great reason - one which we took full advantage of.

The Sun BrewFest had three sessions, as most festivals do - two one day, and one on another. A lot of the times the festivals have an opening session on Friday evening, and then they have two sessions on Saturday. Perhaps because it was Columbus Day weekend, the folks at Mohegan Sun did it a little bit differently. They had two sessions on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Fortunately, our media passes were for all three sessions.

On our way, we decided to stop in at Armsby Abbey in Worcester, and later Willimantic Brewing Company for some lunch. It was the first nice day in Massachusetts / Southern New England for what appeared to be weeks, which only added to the drive. We arrived at the casino about a half hour before the second session kicked off, just in time to get in line for the brewfest.

The line was quite long, but it was moving quite quickly. The staff seemed to have this well rehearsed and they shuffled thirsty beer drinkers into the Uncas Ballroom one after another.

Hartford Better Beer & Thomas J Hooker - CT

Grey Sail Brewing Company - Westerly, RI

Beaver Beer - Westport, CT

The great part about this brewfest is that it was giving us an opportunity to try some beers from breweries we don't see distributed in the Boston area and north. Willimantic Brewing Co, Cottrell Brewing,  Hartford Better Beer Co, Cambridge House Brew Pub, Southpoint Brewing Company, Old Burnside, City Steam, and Beaver Beer, all from Connecticut were there pouring several beers each. Additionally, Grey Sail Brewing Co. - Rhode Island's first and only all keg and can brewery were handing out samples.

The brewery list also included some staples of craft beer; Samuel Adams, Otter Creek, Long Trail Brewing, and Sierra Nevada. Additionally, there were some breweries you don't typically see being represented, such as Guinness, Shock Top, and Heineken.

The Saturday evening session was packed. Like, really, really packed. It was a Saturday though, so that was not to be unexpected. Nevertheless, it was so packed that we only hung around for about an hour and a half. This was a huge ballroom and there seemed to be plenty of space to host some 30+ breweries, but it seemed like there was a lot of wasted space. Most of the breweries were lined up next to the entrance, which made for some traffic problems. There was a lot of standing and milling in line, and you often had to fight the crowd to find the line to a particular brewery. Had there been at least another 30 or so feet between the opposing rows of brewers, there would have been less congestion.

On the bright side though, the people at the event were quite friendly and seemed to be in great moods -it's kind of hard not to with so much beer being poured! We chatted with a few of the guests to see what brought them to the event, and more than once we heard that the trip to the casino was planned around attending the brewfest, which is great news for the many Southern New England breweries in attendance that weekend.

Seeing how our media passes were good for all three sessions, I went back for the first hour or so of the Sunday session. Needless to say, there were far less people there. I was able to chat with some of the brewers, spread the good word about Brew England, and try some new (to me) beers. Some of the stand outs were Old Burnside Dirty Penny, Grey Sail Cream Ale, and Beaver Beer Brunette, but there were plenty more to chose from. If this turns into an annual event though, it would be great to see even more regional craft brewers and less of the macro beers.

Behind Backlash: Helder Pimentel

While scrolling through the old Facebook feed today, I came across the blog post on the Backlash Beer Co. website called "Behind Backlash: Helder Pimentel." It was a nice little read, and gives a bit more behind the scenes look at Helder as a person. I thought I'd mention it here as he took some time to talk with us last October in a Meet the Brewer segment, which you can read here.

Backlash Beer Co. recently released Conquest, a white-IPA and first beer of four in their Apocalypse Series. The label is a departure from their other beers, which Helder explains the nature behind it in his other blog post here, and it makes us excited to see what the next three beers are going to be like and what label will make it on the bottle.

All we can say is that each new beer this company puts out seems to be better than the last. If you haven't had any of their beers, do yourself a favor and pick them up.

2nd Annual Metrowest Brewfest

We posted about this event last year and the Holliston Business Association was able to raise over $10,000 to donate towards local community charitable funds. Please read the below press release, and if you are able to make it it sure seems like it's going to be a great time!

The Holliston Business Association’s 2nd Annual Metrowest BrewFest will take place on Thursday, October 11, 2012 from 6:30pm - 9:30pm at the Holliston Historical Society.

Thirty-eight (yes!! 38!!) breweries will be represented, pouring over 100 of the finest brews and meades in Metrowest and Massachusetts.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the gate. Tickets available to purchase at Fiskes’s General Store in Holliston, 5th Avenue Liquors in Framingham and Millis and online at www.hollistonbusinessassociation.com.

Metrowest Brewfest 2011 will include live musical performances from local groups Morris Les and The Stray Tones and HillBilly Pop. Food will be available for purchase and provided by Superette, Pejamajo’s. The Candy Cottage, Dogs on Fire and Bertucci’s.

100% of the proceeds from Brewfest will benefit the Holliston Community Action Fund. The fund is an emergency grant fund designed to provide timely financial assistance to community people in need as well as provide annual financial assistance to charitable and civic organizations serving the Holliston community.

Call 781-492-4337 or go to www.hollistonbusinessassociation.com for further information.

EverLocal at Night Shift Brewing

As you may have heard, the two of us moved to Somerville recently. Like, three weeks ago recently. We're walking distance to some really great places, and a short drive from many others. Notably, two up and coming breweries - Night Shift Brewing and Idle Hands Craft Ales.

Considering we now live so close to both of these breweries, we paid a visit to both the week after we moved in. We stopped in first at Night Shift Brewing. It looked a lot different than the first time we visited, which was about three weeks before they opened. At the time, they had just received their brewer's license, and they were in full production. They were also in the midst of building out their tasting room - which really looks great these days.

At any rate, we chatted with the guys who run the brewery, and they let us know of their awesome event, which is happening TOMORROW from 5-10pm at the brewery. Of course we meant to post about it then, but hey...we're doing it now!

Join the Night Shift Brewing crew at their brewery, located at 3 Charlton Street Everett, MA as they host thirsty beer goers for their bottle release of their new strawberry, kiwi, and hibiscus brew called "Ever Weisse." They'll be joined by Mem Tea Imports, Taza Chocolate, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, and Darlingside (a local indie string rock quartet).

Also, apparently I did not read the information on the Night Shift Brewing website, but they were able to secure a one-day liquor license, which means they are able to sell you pints at the brewery tomorrow night!

Take a minute to hit the Night Shift Brewing website to get the full details on this event, but if you do go feel free to say hello to Sarah and I as we will be there for part of the event!

Cheers,
Adam & Sarah

Tuesday Night Tasting: NEBCO - Wet Willy Scotch Ale

New England Brewing Company – Woodbridge, CT

Wet Willy Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy 2011
10% ABV, 16.9 oz

In honor of our upcoming trip to Connecticut this weekend, we figured we would do our first Connecticut beer review! We picked up this bottle of Wet Willy Scotch Ale a few months ago while visiting Granite Liquors in Weymouth, MA, but since then have seen it in a few other package stores in the general area. It was not until a trip to Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont last week where we learned New England Brewing Co. (aka: NEBCO) had pulled their distribution to Massachusetts. We hope they come back soon.

Nevertheless…on to the beer!

The Wet Willy Scotch Ale pours a cloudy amber color with approximately one finger, thick, off-white head. The head retention is somewhat poor, but this is a 2011 bottle, which may have had something to do with that. The aroma is full of malty-sweetness, that features hints of caramel and toffee, which is fairly typical of Scotch Ales.

The flavor of the beer is much sweeter than anticipated. Again, this appears to be a bottle from 2011, so for a 10% beer to be this smooth it has likely mellowed a bit over time and as Sarah stated it has become “wise” since then. It is balanced with subtle hop characteristics that take a back seat to this malt forward beer style. It also has an almost syrup quality, possibly from being aged a bit. It also shares strong similarities to Scotch whisky and would pair up well with some heavier food dishes. The mouth feel is definitely full and the brew coats the entire palate with liquid goodness.

Finally, the drinkability of the beer depends on the quantity (of course) of the beer. We shared this bottle, so we each got about 8 oz or so and it was incredibly enjoyable. This was a 16.9 oz bottle, and at 10% ABV it was great to share. It is of course not impossible to enjoy an entire bottle by yourself. We feel it would be great on draft in 12 to 16 oz pours.

Return of the Valley Malt BSA

It is with great pleasure, and yet to our surprise, that we announce the return of the Notch Brewing Valley Malt BSA session beer. The word, as it seemed, was that owner/brewer Chris Lohring had nixed the idea of bringing back this truly seasonal beer. Hell, he basically said so in his February blog post titled "The Death of Seasonal Beers." Nevertheless, we just learned today that the BSA Harvest Ale has been born again as Valley Malt BSA.

Lohring actually made the announcement of the beer hitting shelves, taps, and happy beer drinkers' bellies on September 20th in this blog post, but we missed the announcement. It wasn't until a nice Facebook invitation to the beer launch was sent today where we learned about the beer's return.

With that being said, here are some key details about this week's beer launch:

When: Thursday October 4th at 8pm
Where: Clover HUB 1075 Cambridge Street outside of Inman Square Cambridge, MA
Why: To celebrate the changing of the seasons

Check out the Notch Brewing Facebook page to learn more about the beer and the event!