The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [137]
Even more remarkable? Koch only uses delicate European noble hops. As the vividly fresh, spicy, tangy smell of Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops infused the room, Koch described how the Stanglmair clan, a hop-growing family in Bavaria supplying the hops used in Boston Lager, had helped him arrange an unprecedented air drop so he could be the first American brewer to brew with European hops picked the same day. It was a stunt, sure, but one that underscored his daring side, and one that guaranteed an extraordinarily aromatic finish to a batch of Pilsner already steaming out of the copper-clad kettles. Chalk it up to old-fashioned Yankee optimism, and Koch’s flair for marketing the craft of brewing.
“It’s a lot of work for seven hundred cases of beer,” he added, making an obvious point, but one that truly illustrates what separates craft brewers—the revolutionaries of beer making—from the old guard. “To me, it’s like a responsibility. We’re big enough so we have the resources to try something like this, yet we’re still small enough to be crazy. That’s what makes it fun.”
KEY BEER
Koch has overseen the development of some one hundred different beers of almost every conceivable style and some that didn’t really exist before, for better or worse. But it’s still the Samuel Adams Boston Lager, a smooth, 4.9% ABV lager now ubiquitous in the United States that has held up the best since it was introduced in 1985, when it won a GABF gold medal mere weeks after Boston Brewing Company opened for business. It’s a spicy, malty, and faintly nutty-fruity elixir with a gorgeous, new-penny color, fluffy white head, and smacking dry finish.
BEST of the REST: MASSACHUSETTS
DEEP ELLUM
477 Cambridge St. • Allston, MA 02134 • (617) 787-BEER (2337) • deepellum-boston.com
With its light beige walls, beautiful polished bar and dark wood accents, white tile floors, airy garden patio, and reasonably priced upscale comfort fare (meat loaf, mac-and-cheese), Deep Ellum would be a go-to spot even without its excellent, even world-class tap and bottle list. But what a list. There are twenty-eight taps and about a hundred bottled varieties at any one given time (with matching logo glassware); look for beers from such insiders-only producers as High and Mighty and Pretty Things, both of Massachussetts, and Belgium’s De Ranke (Belgium).
SUNSET GRILL & TAP
130 Brighton Ave. • Allston, MA 02134 • (617) 254-1331 • allstonsfinest.com
With an eclectic, breweriana-stuffed interior, four handsome ceramic bar-top tap towers, 112 total handles, and some 380 bottles on offer, selection is definitely not an issue. But with so many beers on tap, and so many lines to look after, beer emporiums such as this one can overreach, letting beers stale and mix in the lines. Early on, freshness was an occasional problem here, but today the Sunset gets high marks for service, decent pub grub, quality glassware, and tapped-on dates that tell you which kegs are freshest.
REDBONES
55 Chester St. • Somerville, MA 02144 • (617) 628-2200 • redbones.com
A dependable, down-to-earth barbecue place open since 1987 and serving up big heaping piles of Memphis–, Texas–, Arkansas–, and St. Louis–style ribs, Redbones has always had a strong beer list. And with beer bars all over the country raising the bar to unheard-of heights in terms of hard-to-find beers, this affably rough hewn two-story place has kept pace, adding a total of twenty-eight taps, a smart little bottle list, and cask-conditioned ales. Recent drafts included California cult beers, such as Lost Abbey and Ballast Point, two makers of bighearted beers that go well with the spicy, juicy barbecue feast coming off the grill.
LORD HOBO
92 Hampshire St. • Cambridge, MA 02141 • (617) 250-8454 • lordhobo.com
Lord Hobo took over the space of B-Side, a fabled cocktail bar in Inman Square, in late 2009. With forty taps balanced between obscurities and crowd-pleasers, three hand-pump lines, regular appearances by well-known craft brewers,