On Saturday, April 1, I (along with 5,000 others!) was fortunate enough to attend the “Brew Woo” beer festival in Worcester, MA. This was the seventh iteration of the yearly festival, which is held at the DCU Center and was co-sponsored by Austin Liquors and Wachusett Brewing. All told, there were almost 80 different breweries or cider mills (there were technically 82, but I’m excluding the ‘non-beer, non-cider’ stations; for example, Nauti Seltzer, Budwieser’s line of [X]-A-Ritas, and Red Bull were all present at the event, but that’s not what I’m here to write about) pouring samples of over 250 beers or ciders. Sadly, I did not get to try everything, which you may have surmised simply based on the fact that I lived to write this article; nonetheless, I was able to check out my fair share, and I came away from the event quite impressed with the quality of what’s being brewed in and around central Massachusetts.
Hoppy beers continue to dominate craft brewing. My best guess is that there was about a 50-50 split overall between hop-forward styles (i.e. Pale Ales and IPAs) and everything else. In fact, the majority of booths were offering multiple varieties of hoppy ales to go along with either a milder ale, such as a Stout or Porter, or a Belgian-influenced beer of some kind. Blame Sierra Nevada, blame Dogfish Head, blame Stone – the inescapable truth is that hoppy beers have long been synonymous with craft brewing, and that doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. Even Sam Adams, who didn’t even sell an IPA outside of their variety packs until just a few years ago, was pouring 5 hoppy brews at their booth: four varieties of Rebel IPA and a mixpack-only IPL. (They were also pouring their criminally underrated Noble Pils, which I was happy to see.) The hops weren’t just limited to craft beers, either; just about every cider booth had hoppy offerings as well.
Haze for days. The general presence of hoppy beers was no shock, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the hoppiest brew of all was well-represented among the craft tables: the New England IPA. Relative newcomer Fort Hill Brewery (Easthampton, MA) stole the show with their “Farmer’s Fresh” session IPA and “Jigsaw Jazz” double IPA, while Greater Good Imperials (similar in approach to Mikeller, they don’t appear to have a physical location just yet – more on this in a bit) also had the audience buzzing about their massively flavorful ‘Pulp’ and ‘V’ IPAs. For those unfamilar with the NEIPA designation, it’s a relatively new – and somewhat controversial – style of IPA that typically is not filtered or pasteurized after brewing. Because the hop particles aren’t removed from the beer, NEIPAs are characterized by a ‘hazy’ appearance – you’ll barely be able to see through glass, if at all – that bears as much resemblance to fruit juice as it does beer, and a strong aroma of tropical citrus and pine. The end result is a turbid, aromatic, velvety-smooth hop bomb; this style is also known to hide alcohol quite well, so NEIPAs typically clock in at 7% ABV or higher. Vermont’s Alchemist Brewing kick-started the NEIPA trend with their famous Heady Topper, while Massachusetts breweries such as Trillium and Tree House have built their reputations on NEIPAs as well. Even Ballast Point is rumored to be releasing an unfiltered version of their Sculpin IPA in the near future, suggesting that NEIPAs might be the next big thing.
Speaking of trends – Session IPAs are still alive and kicking, but sours were underrepresented. With summer (a.k.a. ‘crushable beer season’) just around the corner, it’s natural that brewers would want to showcase some of their most refreshing offerings. I’m not entirely sure when the Session IPA trend began – maybe 2013 or so? – but it seemed like virtually every booth I visited had at least one sub-5% ABV offering that didn’t skimp on hops. Of course, there’s more to the session category than just IPAs; several booths were pouring other varieties of session beer that proved low ABV doesn’t mean low flavor. However, the ‘best in category’ award for session beers definitely goes to Notch Brewing (Salem, MA). In fact, Notch is dedicated to brewing nothing but sessions; along with their IPA, they also offer a Wheat Ale, Pilsner, and Saison. On the other hand, conspicuous by their absence were last summer’s trendiest offering: sour beers, such as Berliner Weisse or Gose. Prior to the show, there was a special event for VIP ticketholders that prominently featured sours, so it’s possible that the festival organizers made a conscious choice to keep sour styles limited to the earlier tasting. Still, I found it interesting that White Birch (Hooksett, NH), who are probably best known for their variety of Berliner Weisses, was only pouring a session IPA, a Saison, and a Black Ale.
Boston has a great beer scene, but don’t sleep on Central Mass. If you’re interested in taking a beer road trip but don’t want to drive 3+ hours to Vermont or Maine, just follow Route 9 west out of Boston. You first stop could be Jack’s Abby (Framingham, MA), who makes some of the finest Lagers that the region has to offer. Sadly, they were not pouring their Sunny Ridge Pilsner, which is a personal favorite of mine, but it’s tough to go wrong with any of their crisp, refreshing brews. (And if you’re in the Framingham area, also check out Exhibit A – they weren’t at the show, but I’d be remiss not to mention them. They’re brewing up some pretty top-notch stuff.) Heading a bit further down the road, Worcester itself was represented at the show by three craft breweries – Wormtown Brewery, Flying Dreams, and 3Cross – and a fourth, Cold Harbor, is located just 15 minutes away in Westborough. I was particularly impressed by Cold Harbor’s ESB, which stayed true to its European roots; their balanced, old-world ale made for a refreshing contrast with some of the outrageously hoppy offerings that other booths had to offer. Greater Good, who I mentioned earlier, is currently contract brewing but has plans to build a taproom in Worcester this year. This is exciting news, as they were one of the most intriguing breweries at the show: Greater Good is the first all-imperial brewery in America, which is to say that they only brew beers that are 8% ABV or higher. In addition to their two NEIPAs that I touched on earlier, they also offer a Milk Porter (11% ABV), an even stronger IPA (12%), a Saison (9%), and a sour cherry Altbier (10%). I’m definitely interested to see what they come up with next.
The craft cider scene ain’t too shabby, either. Although there were only 8 cider mills in attendance, I have to give props to Artifact Cider Project (Springfield/Everett, MA), Bantam Cider (Somerville, MA) and Far From The Tree (Salem, MA). Of the three, Artifact was easily the most creative, with some intriguing offerings that included a cider fermented on rum-soaked oak chips and a cider fermented using wild yeast. Bantam was the most quaffable – their “Americain” cider tasted just like apple pie, and their “Wunderkind” cider was a perfect balance of sweet & dry. But the best overall cider I sampled was Far From The Tree’s hoppy “Nova” cider. The piney, tropical-citrus flavor from the hops compliments and balances the sweetness of the apples in a delicate push-pull, with neither side being overpowering; I’m a beer lover first and foremost, but I’d have no regrets about drinking this cider all day long. Actually, that’s not true – Nova clocks in at a surprising 8% ABV, so there would almost certainly be some regrets. Regardless, Nova is well worth a try, even if (or perhaps especially if) you’re not a fan of hard cider in general.
