Yankee Brew News Archive

What's Brewing: Massachusetts/Rhode Island

Originally Published: 02/97

By: Kerry J. Byrne

Come summertime, Martha's Vineyard should be home to its first brewpub. With that said, it seems an appropriate time to battle the winter blahs and prepare for the summer hedonism ahead with a list of do's and don'ts for your next Vineyard visit.

Do:

- Pick up random girls hitch hiking. Great way to meet single 19-year-old chicks out for a good time.

- Shotgun beers at John Belushi's grave. It's an excuse to drink with one of the greats.

- Visit Al's Liquors in Edgartown for all your beverage needs. I don't know if they have the best beer selection, but you can go in there wearing nothing but your shorts and pick up those great bumper stickers that say 'Al's Pals.' Chicks dig 'em.

- Make sure if you ditch paying your weekend parking tab in Falmouth, that you make it out of town before stopping for gas. As Kenny Rogers once said, 'You can't outrun the long arm of the law.'

Don't:

- Go to the Black Dog Tavern. Vineyard Haven is a dry town. That means the Black Dog is a tavern without beer. What's up with that?

- Get up without saying a word and walk away from the hot girl you've been talking to all night at a bar in Oak Bluffs. She'll take it as a hint, and your friends will yell "Fumble!" the rest of the weekend.

- Stop and talk to the naked guys holding hands on the beach at Gay Head. Trust me on this one.

- Steal beer from the random Irish girls you're sharing a taxi with while Big Wally from New Joisey serenades them with a rousing rendition of Sunday, Bloody Sunday. It's not as romantic as it sounds.

Massachusetts

The aforementioned brewpub on Martha's Vineyard will be Cottage City Brewing Company on Kennebec Street in Oak Bluffs. Brewer Forrest Williams said he is not sure if Cottage City will remain the working name of the brewery-restaurant when it opens in May, so stay tuned.

Williams, formerly of Coddington Brewing Company. in Middletown, R.I., will work on a 10-barrel Liquid Assets system. The brewpub will serve six beers on tap and two via handpump. Williams said he is working with the folks at Emerald Isle Brew Works in Rhode Island to aid in the development of the cask beers served by handpump. He's said taking with him the recipe for the amazing Hazelnut Porter he brewed at Coddington, which is very good news.

Oak Bluffs has the great fortune of being one of two towns on Martha's Vineyard which allows low-life cretins such as me and you to consume beer, otherwise regarded as Satan's Swig on the rest of the island. So drink and be merry.

While one North Shore brewery, Ould Newbury Brewing Company, is closing up shop (see story elsewhere in this issue), another in that region is looking to make a go of it.

The newest microbrewery in the Bay State is the Peabody Brewing Company in, ironically, Peabody (26 Walnut St. (508) 538-9995).

Owners Mark and Michael Manning will be out with their initial product, Nor'Easter Ale, "hopefully by the Super Bowl," said Mark. He said they have several accounts set up. "Now we just have to get the beer out there."

The Mannings were still waiting in December for final federal licensing approval. Mark summed up nicely the joy he felt dealing with a monolithic federal bureaucracy: "I'm pulling out of my head what little hair I have left."

(If it's any comfort, Mark, just remember that no one--not even high-powered beer scribes such as myself--is worth a brewer's hairy ass in the eyes of a federal government allegedly of, by and for the people.)

Anyway, the Mannings will brew on a seven-barrel system they've created from dairy equipment. Nor'Easter Ale, a pale ale, will be available on tap and in 22-ounce bottles.

Wachusett Brewing Co. (175 State Road East, Westminster) is kicking on all cylinders with the recent release of 12-ounce bottles of its superb beers.

The bottling is done on the company's own bottling line. In January, Wachusett's Black Shack Porter was to released for the second year. Quinn calls it a "good, hearty English porter." He also referred to it simply as "The Stuff!"

Wachusett will continue to sell its beers in growlers, said Quinn.

"We're still seeing a great market for them, especially in Central Mass. We're doing well enough to hold on to them."

Wachusett may be throwing a brewery party in the spring, said Quinn. Call (508) 874-9965 for information.

The Modern Brewer (99 Dover St., Somerville), now officially classified by the BATF as a brew-it-yourself/homebrew supply/brewer halfway house/microbrewery, is selling growlers of its beer from its Davis Square store.

Modern Brewer's beers have been found on tap in the Somerville area ever since the store added microbrewery to its designation in 1996.

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The Cambridge Brewing Company (1 Kendall Square, Cambridge) was cranking out the beers during the holiday season. A winter stout ("we don't know what to call it," said brewer Darryl Goss) heavy with dark roasted coffee was tapped in mid-December.

Their Winter Warmer--a high-gravity amber colored beer, said Goss--was slated to be served starting around Christmas. It is flavored with allspice and cinnamon.

A "damn good" barleywine (Goss, again) was slated to hit the taps at Cambridge Brewing Company in late January. Goss claims it was the most well-received barleywine served at Redbones last year during winter beer month at the House That Pork Built.

Rumors: a brewpub in Amherst? That's what we're hearing. More information later.

Also, we're still looking for information on a possible brewpub or micro in Allston. A lot of people are talking, but no one says a word. Everyone is listening, but no one hears a sound. Everybody's drinking. But no one's getting drunk.

If you know anything more about this, send me e-mail: [email protected].

A final note: It seems single brewers are dropping like acid at Woodstock.

Peter Quinn of Wachusett Brewing Company decided to tie the knot (probably after tying a few too many on) after a whirlwind seven-month romance. Everybody: Aww, isn't that nice.

Meanwhile, Forrest Williams, formerly of Coddington Brewing Company and now brewer at the new Cottage City Brewing Company, will marry long-time girlfriend Jessica Russell. Everybody: Awww, isn't that sweet.

Anyway, good luck fellas. And congratulations.

Rhode Island

John Jaynes recently took over as head brewer at Coddington Brewing Company in Middletown, replacing Forrest Williams.

Jaynes has made the rounds, working previously to help get Post Road Brewing Company in Waterford Connecticut started. (By the way, it's not to be confused with Post Road Ale of Old Marlboro Brewing Company in Massachusetts. Can you say "lawsuit?")

Before that Jaynes worked at Modern Brewer in Somerville. He's also interned at Old Harbor Brewing Company in Hudson, Mass. and studied at the Siebel Institute.

Williams worked with Jaynes for about a month to help ease the transition.

"I'm an English beer fan," said Jaynes. "The first thing I did was change the yeast. I went over to a Whitbread yeast. It's a yeast I'm familiar with."

Among the first beers he created were a Scottish ale and a barleywine.

The barleywine is potent, with 10.5 percent alcohol and 99 IBUs. "It balanced out really nicely," said Jaynes. He said a bock will be on tap soon.

The folks at Coddington are planning a wild game dinner some time in January. Call (401) 847-6690 for information.

Coddington also recently hosted a homebrew contest in conjunction with the Eastern Brew Society.

The winning brews, a Milk Stout and a Raspberry Pale Ale, will be brewed at Coddington in the near future.

Jaynes did not have the names of the winning brewers at press time.

Emerald Isle Holiday Ale from the Emerald Isle Brew Works of West Warwick should be found through January at Aidan's Pub in Bristol Harbor, and "probably" at Twin Willows in Narragansett, said brewer Mike McConnell. Emerald Isle Stout will be out for St. Patrick's Day.

McConnell called it an Irish stout with a "fairly low gravity and nice, dry roasty flavor. It's really good off the handpump."

New places to find Emerald Isle's handpumped ales are the Custom House Tavern in downtown Providence and the Celtic Pub in Pawtucket.

To close, I'd like to clue you good folks in on the best press release line of the year: "(Harpoon Winter Warmer) is the star jewel in the tiara of Harpoon seasonal beers." - Nick Godfrey, Mass. Bay Brewing Company.

You're still talking about beer, right, Nick?

The release went on to say: "If you like pumpkin pie, you'll love the Winter Warmer; if you don't like pumpkin pie, don't worry, it doesn't taste anything like Winter Warmer!"