From: djstracher@ccs1.bbn.com
Newsgroups: alt.beer
Subject: Re: boston pubs
Date: 28 Dec 92 16:36:46 GMT
Reply-To: djstracher@ccs1.bbn.com
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge, MA
NNTP-Posting-Host: ccs1.bbn.com

In article <1h760tINN6mf@life.ai.mit.edu>, kenneths@ai.mit.edu (Kenneth J. Schneider   >i went out to the boston beer co. saturday and thought i would repo>all that happy w/ t     >compare it too,
>.....DELETED
>afterward, we went to the sunset grill and tap in allston. i had never been,
>and it was amazing. 42 beers on tap! including harpoon's winter warmer, which i
>hadn't been able to find anywhere, pilsner urquell, and sam adams triple bock,
>which they claimed was the strongest beer available (13.8 or 14.8%), with the
>exception of samiclaus, which they also had. the samichlaus was apparently from
>92--the waitress said they had run out of '91. is this right?  finally, they had
                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>around 200 bottled beers. again, i was impressed. 
>                                                                           
.....DELETED

No this is not right. Samichlaus is brewed only one day a year, Dec. 6, and 
aged for eleven months before it is sold. Therefore it is not possible for 
it to be a 1992. How was it? I just purchased a six of it but have not had the
chance to try it yet. If anybody is looking to get Samichlaus in the Boston
area, I found it in the wine store on MT. Auburn Street, opposite the
Bruegger's  Bagel in HArvard Square, Cambridge. They are a bit pricey but have
a surprising selection of difficult to find beers.

As for the Sunset Grill and Tap, I highly recommend it to everyone. The food is
excellent, especially the Pasta and Seafood specials, reasonably priced and
alot of it. The beer is the best selection I have seen in any one place around
Boston. Last I remember 49 Taps and over 150 different bottled beers with a
very knowlegable (usually) waitstaff.

The Boston Beer Works is OK. There Hercule's Ale is veryy good (~8% Alcohol)
 and there Blueberry and Raspberry Ales are also very good. The Blueberry does
usually have berrys floating in it. The food is average and the atmosphere is
fun but loud and usually packed during the baseball season (it's across the
street from Fenway Park). IMO the best Micro/brewpub in Boston is the Cambridge
Brewing Company. There beer is of consistently quality, and there seasonal's
are usually very good. I tend to prefer there pale ale or porter. Nice
flavoring, not overpowering w/o a bitter aftertaste. The only problem is the
service.

The new John Harvard Brewpub in HArvard Square has a very good Oatmeal Stout w/
a nice  choclate/coffee flavor but not an overpowering presence. The rest of
there beers were nothing special, the food was bland and the service was awful.

Yesterday, on CNN Business News there was an interesting story on the Young's
Brewery in England somewhere (I missed the beginning of the story) but they
still deliver alot of there casks to location by horsedrawn carts. Not so much
out of tradition but for economy. It is cheaper than buying atruck and horses
still have right of way on the country roads. Just thought it was interesting.


Dave Stracher

****  Life's too short to drink cheap beer  ****