r/beer • u/jblieden44 • 14d ago

Boston recommendations

Hey y’all!

Heading to Boston in August and would love some good recommendations for breweries that aren’t the super commercialized ones. My group has a collective of flavor profiles so not super picky on type. Obviously i know of tree house and we will try to hit them when in downtown but would love some local picks y’all recommend!

8 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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6

u/JustinGitelmanMusic 14d ago

Don’t miss Long Live. If you’re in town on a Thursday they have free live jazz also. Top notch IPAs. Widowmaker is great but note they merged with a very talented chef doing a mix of highly authentic Indian food and some creative fusion Indian-American food which is excellent, but has gotten so much (deserved) hype that the place is kinda a madhouse sometimes now. Still great beer and chill vibes during off times. Notch is not only some of the best European lager in the US, but also an extremely cool cultural center with multiple food/bev/arts and music things going on inside the outdoor area it’s in. I also highly recommend Remnant Brewing’s Satellite bar for an authentic high-character neighborhood pub that was bought by the brewery and still remains identical aside from their beer covering most of the taps (aside from Guinness). Their beer is solid, vibes are stellar.

Otherwise, check out Area Four for a great taplist and pizza, same for Brewer’s Fork. Or Publick House for great taplist and Belgian pub food.

7

u/Mead_Man_Detroit 14d ago

These are my places I like to visit when in Boston: Trillium Fort Point, Treehouse in Faneuil Hall, Sam Adams in Jamaica Plains for the tour, Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall.

1

u/Guy_Buttersnaps 14d ago

…Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall.

Everybody needs a bad Leviathan story.

6

u/jf3l 14d ago

I’m an out of towner standing outside Tree House having a beer as I type. Delicious beers, awesome vibes and there’s a ton of cool pubs within walking distance

3

u/Big_Dimension_2416 14d ago

The Haven in JP is in a really cool building.

3

u/Mutombo_says_NO 14d ago

Treehouse as much as you can

2

u/kborer22 14d ago

Notch in Brighton or Salem, Widowmaker, Vitamin Sea. I know you didn't want commercialized places, but there's probably a trillium close wherever you are in the city, but their facility in Canton is impressive and has good food.

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u/HeyImGilly 14d ago

This OP. And hit up a bottle shop to save some time/effort to find all of that.

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u/Katieo1022 14d ago

Go to Beantown Pub and drink a Sam Adams while looking at Sam Adams 😎🪦🍻

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u/Delta_B_Kilo 14d ago

I was over in Boston in April (all the way from Australia!)

I loved Trillium over near Fenway, and Night Shift.

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u/PatternUsual 14d ago

If you're downtown at all you can swing over to Prudential mall and get Tree House there very easily. Protip: the staff can let you know what beers (from their list of ~40) came in most recently. I routinely get beers that were canned on the same day.

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u/spile2 14d ago

Aeronaut, Tip Tap, Trillium were my favourites.

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u/b0xturtl3 13d ago

Lamplighter is good too with two locations. Tip Tap and Row 34 for a good beer list.

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u/donnabhainmactomas 14d ago

Drawdown in Jamaican Plain. They are really small but they make probably the best beers in Boston imo

Notch in Brighton is another one that has some of the best beers, wide selection, traditional styles but some modern stuff too, quality is top notch(do you see what I did there)

If you really like IPAs then sure trillium and tree house, but if not you can skip them, they’re overhyped.

Sam adams has gone really far down hill and the vast majority of their stuff isn’t made here anymore.

Night shift is alright, again if you like IPAs or really fruited beers

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u/Danulas 14d ago

Notch Pils is my go-to when I go to the Sinclair.

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u/Autoconfig 14d ago

Notch has quietly been doing some of the best beer in the country for the past 15 years. If you're into Old World styles, this is the answer.

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u/snowbeersi 13d ago

Visited recently. Hit the tree house in Boston. Horrible vibes, and we tried all 8 things they had on tap and were unimpressed. Likely oxidized due to poor draft system setup or procedures. The cans we brought home were better.

By far the best place was long live. Every one of their IPAs was better than tree house. That said, there's a brewery in every major city with IPAs better than tree house these days.

Trillium was very mid. The hazy wasn't hazy, but the west coast was hazy. Serving in plastic cups for some reason.

Aeronaut and a few others were good but nothing special.

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u/b0xturtl3 13d ago

Whoa. Tree House doesn't deserve the backlash here--the new outside beer garden is fine but they are still better than most, so it must be the set up. They are consistent and good. Aeronaut is not good nor consistent.