Kyle Nabilcy
Those paying attention to beers from northern New England may perceive some affinity with Tolkien.
As a Tolkien fan, I think it’s fair to consider the New England beer scene as a bit Shire-ish. Each little state kind of serves its own population. It’s a packed region, with three of the six New England states in the top five of American states by population density. As a result, these little hobbit holes can get by on keeping their beer to themselves, creating a mystique just by being small, hard to find, and off in the corner — to say nothing of delicious, which they often are.
There’s a lot of hype around New England beer right now, as the so-called milkshake IPA gains greater and greater notoriety in the craft world. These extremely cloudy India pale ales are the regional style du jour, each new release less translucent than the last. Treehouse, Trillium, Great Notion — these are the cool kids of the Orange Julius style of IPA. Treehouse even has one that’s actually called Julius.
Before the advent of the hazy New England IPA, “New England IPA” was shorthand for one or maybe two beers: certainly The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, and probably also Sip of Sunshine from Lawson’s Finest Liquids. They’re both big and juicy, and remain trade bait even as their frothier competitors steal some thunder.
I don’t have any close friends who live in New England, so I’m typically out of luck when it comes to trying these beers and others from the area. The distribution footprint for breweries like Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Trillium and others are, as I mentioned, tiny.
It helps to have the occasional friendly connection, though, which can unexpectedly open up the opportunity to experience New England beer firsthand. A friend of a friend was kind enough to pick up a bottle of Elevensies from Night Shift Brewing out of Everett, Massachusetts. If you too are a Tolkien fan, you’ll recognize the hobbit mealtime reference in the name; as a beer, Elevensies is an apple brandy barrel-aged version of Night Shift’s Second Breakfast Baltic porter. I want to get a group of Lord of the Rings nerds together to share it.
Also thanks to the friend-of-a-friend zone, I was able to discover that Night Shift’s blueberry and cinnamon Mainer Weisse is a very pretty and quite tasty elaboration on the Berliner weisse style.
Another friend was kind enough to bring back a four-pack of the somewhat odd Austri, a lager with bitters from Banded Horn Brewing Company in Biddeford, Maine. It’s not the usual 16-ounce can to emanate out of the Northeast, but it has some interesting citrus notes all the same. Kind of a shandy crossed with an old fashioned. Banded Horn made this as part of a collaboration series with Owl & Whale, the makers of Austri’s bitters.
Other New England brews reach into the Midwest and allow for slightly easier sampling. I’ve enjoyed a few Maine Brewing Company beers thanks to its Illinois distribution, and there are a couple Cisco Brewers fruited sours stashed in my basement. Before Pretty Things went belly-up, a buddy in Iowa brought me Fumapapa, a nicely smoked Russian imperial stout. Another friend managed to acquire a Trillium Summer Street IPA for sharing.
The best way to try the beers of the Northeast, other than straight from the source, is to go west. The Great American Beer Festival in Denver features excellent brewers from across the country, more than any human could possibly experience in a weekend. Attendees will find fascinating beers from New England brewers like Cambridge Brewing Company, Jack’s Abby and Allagash. The 2016 GABF is coming up soon, starting on Oct. 6. Next week, I’ll give you some Denver pointers if you’re fortunate enough to be going off on a Colorado beer quest.
