The Wall ‘O Beer at the amazing Sunset Tap and Grill in Boston

In August I spent a few days hanging out in Boston. Mostly I was there to attend a conference for work, but I did find a way to sneak in some beer time while there. I think Boston has a very under-rated beer scene. It most certainly leaves in the dust anything on the prairies. There are more than 100 breweries located within a couple hours’ drive from downtown Boston. As might be expected, many of those breweries are nothing to bring home to your craft beer drinking mother, but they do have their share of renowned American craft brewers, like Sam Adams, Allagash, Magic Hat and Smuttynose (just to pick a few examples).

I made a point of drinking only regional beer that I can’t find at home (although I did bring home a couple bottles of U.S. classics, like one-offs from Stone – which I reviewed here – and Lost Abbey). And then, as you might expect, I wrote a beer column about it. The Vue Weekly version (a Planet S edition is coming in the next couple weeks) ran this week – and you can find it here.

I won’t repeat what I wrote there, which is a summary account of some of the best beer locations in the region (including my personal favourite, the Sunset Grill and Tap, which had the only server I have ever met who could match me for beer knowledge – which is saying A LOT!), but I do want to provide a bit of a sense of the kind of beer town Boston is.

Oddly, we have them beat in liquor store selection, thanks to Sherbrooke, but given what they can find in beer cafes and pubs they don’t need killer liquor stores. The highlight of Boston was its beer pubs Almost every restaurant and pub has at least a couple of regional craft beer on tap, and there are more than a handful of places that specialize in solid craft beer (I highlight some of my favourites in the column).

But what separates Boston from Edmonton, Calgary or Winnipeg is that craft beer is an integral to the pub scene. No half-respecting establishment would eschew all local beer. It might just be a Sam Adams or a Harpoon (both big craft brewers), but they feel the need to offer something other than Bud or Coors. The better places offer a broader range of craft brewers in the region, while the average pub will tap only a couple of well-known versions (like Sam Adams Boston Lager). My point is that almost every bar needs to stock at least a couple craft brewers.

Wouldn’t it be grand if that were the case in our part of the world?

Sure, Boston is bigger, and it is home to the largest craft brewery on the continent. The U.S. has a longer history with independent craft beer. But that is not why craft beer is found in almost any pub. It is because consumers made craft mandatory. And that is what we need to do up here. It is up to us, the customers, to not accept anything less from our pubs and restaurants. And I know I am preaching to the choir, so to speak, as many of you are leaders in making craft happen in your respective cities. But the point still stands.

My hope is one day we have the same kind of under-rated killer beer scene like Boston.