The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [138]
DOYLE’S CAFÉ
3484 Washington St. • Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 • (617) 524-2345 • doylescafeboston.com
Low tin ceilings, acres of dark wood, Kennedy campaign posters, and fresh Sam Adams brews—this was Jim Koch’s first account in 1984—make this stop essential for anyone touring the nearby Boston Beer Company. There’s a small draft list with Sam Adams and Wachusett seasonals, the obligatory Guinness, and bottles of Samuel Smiths and Chimay, among others.
THE PUBLICK HOUSE
1648 Beacon St • Brookline, MA 02445 • (617) 277-2880 • eatgoodfooddrinkbetterbeer.com
With 36 taps and about 150 bottle selections the Publick House has garnered rapturous reviews since 2002 from beer geeks and casual fans alike, drawn in by its vast menu, candlelit interior, and broadly Belgian-influenced pub-grub menu. The beer list is divided into Belgian, Belgian-style, Here (domestic craft) and There (imported craft), and yields some very unusual treats, such as a recent sour, dark Flemish red beer called Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge (5.5% ABV) from Brouwerij Bockor.
THE MOAN & DOVE
460 West St. • Amherst, MA 01002 • (413) 256-1710 • moananddove.com
The Moan & Dove serves no food except peanuts, and then maybe only if you’re lucky. The strip-mall-like location is random, near a gas station. And yet, this is not a problem: to a certain stripe of beer lover, it wouldn’t matter if this beer selection were for sale inside that gas station. You’re here for the beer. There are twenty-three taps and over a hundred bottles on offer—a smart and wide American and European array—and a tribe of loyal, mug-club member locals to share beer stories with. Order up a Mahr’s Ungespundet Hefetrub (unfiltered lager, served by the half liter for $8) and see what happens next.
The
MID – ATLANTIC
Pennsylvania
THERE IS NO MORE HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT BEER SCENE IN AMERICA than in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, going all the way back to founder and brewer William Penn himself (who tied up his boat on arrival next to a pub, the Blue Anchor) and the Founding Fathers, many of whom were avid brewers and regulars in the area taverns and public houses, those “nurseries of liberty.” By the early twentieth century, Pennsylvania was home to a world-famous beer brewing industry and America’s oldest brewery, Yuengling (founded 1829), still in operation. Thanks to the work of a new wave of enterprising small breweries and hardworking tavern, bar, and brewpub owners, it’s an absolutely superb place to explore beer, just as it was in America’s earliest days.
And there’s something else about Philly. The conversations, the approach to bar keeping—it’s a no-nonsense town. You ought to discover and drink craft beer and craft-beer cuisine without worrying about it all too much. And getting to know it will take repeated visits, because you will meet more than one tour guide who’d like to show you his or her favorite watering hole, and before you know it, you’ve discovered ten new perfect places you never knew existed. That’s Philly beer.
Today, there are some ninety breweries in the state, with about twenty in the Philly vicinity, and countless places to enjoy their creations. There are more than six hundred beer-friendly bars, including some of the very best in the country, in Philly alone. And then there’s that famous Philly “attytood,” the bluster and tough talk about the neighborhoods before they cleaned up, giving it soul, authenticity, and depth. In a way—and no disrespect to the excellent breweries—Pennsylvania feels like it is even more of a craft beer drinking state than it is a brewing state, and beer travelers will undoubtedly face many tough choices on a swing through.
Another reason Philly is such a great beer-drinking town is the trifecta of Monk’s Caf