The Cradle of LiBEERty: Baahston - Part 3

Things got off to a great start on Sunday afternoon at our first stop, Mystic. For some reason, I thought I'd had some of its beers before, but a quick scan of my Untappd credentials indicated that, nope, I hadn't. Perhaps I was familiar with the name. Either way, I was glad to be here.

Into the Mystic.

Mystic came onto the scene in 2009. Taking its name from the nearby Mystic River, its actual logo and name is also inspired by the "mystic knot," a symbol synonymous with infinity. The brewery made its mark by embracing difficult-to-brew yet traditional styles such as saisons, gruits, and wild ales, and also by employing antiquated techniques like square fermenters and native fermentation cultures. As a matter of fact, the brewery prides itself on being the first brewery to win a GABF gold medal for a beer brewed with an American indigenous yeast strain. Turns out the Mystic folks enjoy gallivanting around New England to collect native yeast for its R&D endeavors. Pretty cool, eh?

But enough geekery. Let's dive right into the beer.

Pour me my breakfast, Dolores!

A solid crowd was already beginning to assemble around opening time. Due to its dog-friendly policy, many patrons had their four-legged friends in tow. This is always fine by me, because Brewslut and I both love dogs. We parked ourselves over in the far right-hand corner of the bar area and perused the beer selection, which featured eight offerings of varied styles.

I opened with DDH Saturation, a double dry-hopped variation of its hoppy pale ale, Saturation. Boasting Mosaic pellets and lupulin powder, these are freshly layered on top of Amarillo, Citra and yet more Mosaic hops for an explosion of citrus and tropical fruit flavors and aromas. This was a nice introduction to the brewery, although I quickly discovered that Mystic was all about the aforementioned farmhouse-style ales.

While we were enjoying our initial beers, we struck up a conversation with a regular customer named Justin, who was sitting next to us at the bar. I can't remember how we got sucked into the vortex, but it turned out to be a fantastic back-and-forth about our lives, beer travels, working in the industry, and a little bit of background about Mystic. Coincidentally, I'd just mentioned to Brewslut that morning that we hadn't yet had one of those encounters we love so much where we get lost in a conversation with someone at the bar. Better late than never, right?

Pleeps was busy posing for Brewslut.

Justin urged me to dive into the saisons, saying they were highlight of Mystic's portfolio. He suggested starting with, Saison Dutronc, which I ordered next. The beer itself is a modern version of Mystic's flagship saison, Saison Renaud. It's essentially the same base recipe with a few tweaks to give it more shelf life since they now package it in cans. This was a complex, semi-dry and slightly fruity saison with a good bit of funk. All of the hallmarks of the style were present, making it an enjoyable quaff. (OK, that just sounds dirty... kind of like British slang for "afternoon delight.")

From there, we moved on to Luminous Ruins, a dry-hopped sour farmhouse Ale that straddles the line between sour ale and saison. It opens with a bit of lemony pucker before segueing into spicy/fruity territory. Hints of apple, pepper and a tinge of oak appear in the flavor, with a toasty malt backbone emerging as it warmed it.

Justin wouldn't let us leave without trying a beer called Chien Andalusia, a saison brewed in collaboration with one of Vermont's finest, Foam Brewers. He was kind enough to buy a can to share with us. This was another fine saison, although I preferred the Saison Dutronc a bit more, if only for its spot-on classic farmhouse flair.

Look out below!

Next up was a visit to Idle Hands Craft Ales, a Belgian and German-inspired brewery situated in Malden, MA, in the greater Boston area. This was one of a handful of Boston-area breweries that I hadn't been familiar with prior to organizing the trip's itinerary. The name and logo reminded me of Tired Hands, and the beer list looked interesting so I felt a visit was necessary. Sadly, I don't have much recollection of this place. Even checking some photos on Google Images didn't really jog my memory too much. The place is cool and I remember having no issues with the beers, but for some reason I just must have been in that hazy zone. Rare for this time of day, I know; but hey, what can you do?

Once we settled in a perused the beer selection, I settled on Double Crossroader, a toasted oak-aged version of its American Stout amped up by an addition of real maple syrup. This one featured pleasant aromas of toasted coconut, maple, and fudge with hints of burnt sugar, coffee and vanilla in the finish.

Brewslut kept things sour with a pour of a beer called Kill Your Idles, part of Idle Hands' rotating sour fruit beer series. We swapped sips of each others' beers, but for some reason (again with the brain fog), I can't recall which variation we had. I'm pretty sure it was the mixed berry version featuring strawberry and raspberry. Regardless, it was quite tasty!

That darn Pleeps is two-fisting again!

We seemed to enjoy the beers here, because a third shared beer was on the table. The beer, a NEIPA called Four Seam, turned in a cloudy performance with soft bitterness and massive hop character reminiscent of citrus, mango, guava and ripe melon. Despite not remembering much about our visit, the beer was enjoyable. Perhaps we were too excited to get to our next stop on the agenda.

With that said, Night Shift turned out to be the highlight of the day for us. To be honest, this didn't come as a surprise to us, as we'd enjoyed its beers for many years and had a great time during our last visit to the brewery. Known for great beers all across the board, Night Shift is definitely one of our favorite New England breweries. Particularly, its stouts are some of the best we've had in our travels. No small words there, as we rarely visit a brewery and don't try at least one stout. Plus their owl-hop logo is pretty badass, so they've got that going for them as well.

Front bar at Night Shift.

We kicked off our lengthy visit with a pour of The 87, a bright hop bomb with a simple malt bill and refreshing blend of citrusy hops. This tasty DIPA is named after Night Shift's mailing address of 87 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA. It was a great way to start our session.

Following The 87, we dove into some Bourbon Barrel-Aged El Lechedor. This yearly release is a horchata-style (i.e. Mexican) milk stout aged in bourbon barrels with poblano peppers, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla beans. God damn, was this delicious! Featuring rich notes of chocolate, vanilla cream and cinnamon rolls, this colossal stout finishes on the piquant side with a dash of pepper and some bourbon warmth. I might favor NEBCO's Mexican Stout Trooper, which we had a few days prior, but this was definitely a close second. These Mexican stouts are liquid works of art, because the heavy-handed use of one of the many ingredients can lead to an unbalanced mess. I've had plenty of cinnamon bombs and equally as many pepper bombs in my travels. This was neither. In a word: delicious!

Then came Stout's Honor, a decadent "salted caramel" Imperial Stout brewed with cacao nibs and coconut. Cacaobunga! Brewslut was pretty infatuated with this one, and I must concur that this was something special. There's something about the combination of sweet and salty that makes my tastebuds perk up. Again, this was a very balanced beer despite its inherent sweetness. I mean, it has to be sweet if it's got caramel, cacao nibs and coconut. The coconut cut through a little bit, offering a nice toasty contrast to the sweetness of the caramel. But the hint of salt pulled everything together. We liked this one so much that we took home a 4-pack of pounder cans, because that's what everybody needs... 16-ounces of an over 12% ABV Imperial Stout in one sitting. OK, make it two.

Back bar at Night Shift.

By this time, things started to get a bit silly. In the middle of our session, I bowed out to visit the restroom (as one tends to do frequently when drinking all day). On my way, I noticed a reserved table with a bunch of tasty-looking food. On the table was a sign, which read: "Reserved for INSERT NAME HERE 1 to 3 p.m." It was well past 3 p.m. and there was nobody surrounding the table. So, my pretty-close-to-being-drunk logic chimed in, urging me to grab a snack for me and the wife. On the way back to the table, I grabbed a few delicious-looking Rice Krispie treats occupying the table that I assumed were left behind, and the good folks at Night Shift hadn't had time to clean up yet.

Nope. Not the case.

When I returned to our table, someone from a neighboring table got up and moved a bunch of the food to another table. No, they were not amused. Oh well. The moral of this story is: Clean off your table when you're done using it; otherwise, a semi-drunk guy is gonna walk by and bogart some of your snacks. I mean, c'mon. I don't know about you readers, but I'm like a stoned teenager when I'm drinking. I always want to shove some tasty grub in my face.

By now, we were on a roll with the Imperial Stouts, and two others - Dynasty and Darkling - followed suit. The former is a straight-up traditional Imperial Stout featuring notes of chocolate, molasses, and stone fruit. The latter is Night Shift's annually-released bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout. The 2019 version was aged in bourbon barrels and Short Path apple brandy barrels. Needless to say there was a lot going on with Darkling. Both were enjoyable, although we preferred the previous two Imperial Stouts over these.

On the way out, we were feeling pretty good, and we decided to grab a pour of World Tour, a Brut IPA brewed in collaboration with Boston Brew Tours. Dry and fruity with plenty of effervescence, this was a solid offering, although I'm generally not a big fan of the style. Still, it didn't match up to the stouts we'd been drinking for the last 90 minutes. Before vacating the premises, we scoped out the merch and each bought a shirt and some beer to go. In addition to the aforementioned 4-pack of Stout's Honor, we grabbed a 4-pack of Night Fever, a delicious coffee stout. Until next time, Night Shift!

Down the Road, our next stop, was much bigger than I'd anticipated. Boasting a 300-seat taproom, the space also houses an impressive collection of pinball machines and other arcade games. It doesn't look like much on the outside. See?

Check out this brewery... it's just down the road.

Inside is another story. The tasting room area is sparse with modern decor and a psychedelic bent that gives visitors the impression of being on a spaceship. The cacophony of all the pinball machines enhances the trippy vibe. The bar is also pretty impressive and sprawled all the way along the far wall opposite of the main entrance. Outside the tasting room, I was surprised to learn that they distribute throughout Massachusetts as well as into Rhode Island and Connecticut. Good for them!

Trippin' balls... PINballs, that is!

I wasn't sure what to expect, so we opted for flights. Sometimes you just don't want to get stuck with a sub par beer and have to force it down your gullet. Here's the run-down on my sampler flight:

• Seventh Star IPA - fruity IPA brewed with Idaho Experimental #7 hops. This new experimental hop variety elicits melon, grape and strawberry. The addition of Azacca hops add a splash of tropical fruit. The beer takes its name from the Seventh Sister of the Pleiades. Gotta keep that cosmic theme intact, right?
• Mariah Cherry - I see what you're doing there, guys! This beer is a spring wheat ale brewed with cherries. But can it hit all the high notes? 
• Feyborn Berliner Weisse - traditional kettle-soured wheat beer featuring blackberries. This one opens with a bit of pucker and segues into an earthy blackberry vibe with a hint of wheat bread in the finish. 
• Folktour - "Hot Cocoa Porter" brewed in collaboration with City Brew Tours. Dark malts and sweet chocolate meld into a cocoa-esque flavor with a hint of vanilla.

Our vantage point from the bar at Down the Road.

Nothing really jumped out to me and beckoned me to stick around for seconds, although nothing was really flawed either. I did, however, appreciate the brewery's outside-the-box thinking and willingness to experiment. The execution was just a little off-kilter, perhaps. Still, the place is cool and worth a stop. Pleeps seemed to be having a gay old time, though.

"What's in here?!"

Pleeps is gettin' a little lopsided...

Pleeps is hurtin'!

Our next stop, Trillium, was a hard sell for Brewslut. To be honest, I kind of jumped off the Trillium train a while back after it seemed like every IPA I tried from this super-hyped brewery tasted the same or at least very similar with only slight flavor nuances. Brewslut was always pretty vocal with her disdain for its hoppy beers, while I was typically on the fence, always willing to give the benefit of the doubt. So I drug her to Trillium with the intention of at the very least "crossing it off our brewery list." Another notch in my lipstick case, as it were.

Turns out we had a splendid time. Joey finished his session and joined us for dinner and drinks, all of which was awesome. I must admit that I had preconceived notions of rampant elitism likely to occur in the form of douchebaggery or hipster-ish behavior during our visit, but that wasn't the case. As a matter of fact, our server was friendly, extremely polite, and on the ball! And you know what? The beers were great. Expensive as all hell, but great nonetheless. It turned out to be a fantastic experience.

Outside Trillium.

Beer-wise, I opted for Day & Night, a blonde barleywine infused with Barrington cold brewed coffee. Nuanced floral, fruity, and spicy due to the nature of the lighter roasted coffee blend, this complex beer boasts notes of almond toffee, graham crackers, coffee, berries, and a pinch of vanilla.

Brewslut went with a cherry gose called Double Seesaw. The Seesaw Series allows the brewers at Trillium to experiment with different fruit and brewing techniques within the structure of the Gose style. Each Seesaw has a unique fruit addition to pair with balanced tartness, a touch of salt, and refreshing drinkability. Surprisingly, she loved it. This variant is generously fruited with sour and tart cherries to bring to life aromas of stone fruit, berry preserves, and cherry pie.

After two non-hoppy beers, we had to delve into a bit of humulus lupulus. Enter Sunrise Valley, a double IPA brewed in collaboration with Garage Project and featuring Rakau and Nelson Sauvin from Freestyle Hop Farms in New Zealand. The beer's moniker pays homage to the part of the world where these hops were grown. Dank and citrusy with aromas of grapefruit rind and bright tropical fruit, this beer was actually quite clean and balanced compared to some of the muddled, hazy offerings we've had in the past.

The food was solid as well. I had a Brewer's Bowl (been loving these recently at local places like Millworks and EverGrain), which featured an assortment of barley, farro, seeds, greens, and seasonal veggies. I most likely added tofu into the mix, but I'm uncertain. Either way, just pile my food into a single bowl. Right Patton? 'Cuz that's how I want my luuuuuunch... or dinner, in this particular instance.

As we were looking for the car following our visit to Trillium, I'd noticed another brewery just down the street that looked interesting. However, it seemed as though there was some discrepancy with where we parked. This happens from time to time in congested metropolitan areas where you have to drive around in circles and take side streets to find suitable parking. Add alcohol to the equation, and sometimes you just get turned around. It doesn't happen to Brewslut too often, but me? I'm definitely what you'd call "directionally challenged." I can read a map just fine, but I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. I get lost in hotels, parking garages... just about anywhere for that matter.

After we found the car, we popped into the brewery in question: Hopsters. Turns out is was pretty much a waste of time. Still, we crossed another one off our list, right? This place looked like a legit place. The beers sounded amazing on the chalkboard. The decor was interesting. The chalk art was quality. The beer? Let's find out.

Beer selection at Hopsters.

The pair of beers we tried - The Yard and Newtonian - sounded great on paper but were uninspired and lacking depth of character. The Yard, a milkshake IPA brewed with lactose and vanilla and double dry-hopped with Denali and Mosaic missed the mark of the style and was kind of thin. Honestly, it came across as a sweet, fruity IPA with a thin body. Certainly not up to "milkshake" snuff. Newtonian, a NE-style DIPA was described as a "double dry-hopped juice bomb" promising a burst of mango pineapple. Eh? With this place setting up shop in such close proximity to Trillium, one can't help but wonder if they are trying to cash in on the popularity of their neighbors. Plus their prices were out of control... $18 for two beers. Fuckin' Boston. One and done. See ya!

Inside Hopsters.

We closed out the night at a local spot near Joey's apartment called The Bebop, an apt name for a drinking establishment on the campus of a renowned music school. This place features live music 7 nights a week, which is something any working musician should likely appreciate. There was a jazz combo playing there the night we stopped by. We were joined by Joey and four of his Berklee friends: Connor (who you may remember from Part 1), two female vocal majors (one from London and the other from South Africa), and a drummer dude from France. Since tuition at Berklee is ri-God-damn-diculous, I decided to buy a round for the youngsters. Having just learned about our love for beer, each of the group allowed me to choose his or her beer. As for me, I went with Nite Lite from Night Shift, an unfiltered, unpasteurized, all natural, craft light lager. Brewslut had just purchased a tank top during our visit to Night Shift, the front of which depicts this beer's logo, a throw-back to Lite-Brite. Remember that, nostalgic children of the 80s? I had one! Speaking of the 80s, sometimes I love being the "old guy" of the group. I like to impart some worldly wisdom on the younglings. They probably thought I was an old dickhead. That's why I bought them a round. You always seem cooler when you buy a round of drinks. 

I also enjoyed a pour of Road 2 Ruin from Two Roads, which I'd had back when we visited the brewery on the way home from Drinksgiving 2016. This is a moderately hoppy IPA brewed with seven American hop varieties for an array of pine, citrus, and floral notes. Meanwhile, the French drummer dude bought a round of tequila shots for the group. Ouch! I'd gone on record in the past during my more youthful days and called tequila "liquid ass." Well, I'm afraid not much has changed since then. Even with my refined palate, I had trouble enjoying this shot. I think I'll stick with bourbon as my new liquor of choice when not drinking beer. 

Well folks, that's about it! Since 99% of breweries are closed on Mondays, we decided to get up early and just punch in the coordinates for the homestead. We headed home from Boston, which is about six-and-a-half hours. Not bad! So that's a wrap. Tune in next time as we travel southward to Virginia for my annual beer-soaked birthday weekend jaunt to a random cabin with Deuane and Carolyn. Until next time...