Affable English-style bitter brings stylish black tea pungency and raw-honeyed peat mossing to grape-leafed citric swirl. Light caramel malting and sweet-breaded sourdough sinew provides sugary backdrop for Ipswich-bottled moderation.
BAD MARTHA VINEYARD SUMMER ALE
Sessionable summer ale brings light pilsner malting and grassy Saaz hop herbage to clean-watered citric subtlety. Dainty grape-leafed Barlett pear influence stays distant.
BAD MARTHA VINEYARD HONEY ALE
Not far removed from brewers’ summer ale with its brisk fresh-watered pilsner malting and carbolic citrus spritz. Subtle honey influence and light floral snips backup sunny citric sedation to its white wheat spine.
JACK’S ABBY SUNNY RIDGE PILSNER
On tap at Ambulance, pungently embittered straw-cleared Czech-styled pilsner brings dry Noble hop herbage to balmy grapefruit-orange-lemon sequence above soft oats-flaked pilsner malt base. Alkaline-like alcohol acidity intensifies musty raw-grained pungency. Light pilsner fans may be put-off by ruggedly coarse scour.
(CANDIA ROAD) NEPENTHE NO-NONSENSE STOUT
Black patent malting, bittersweet dark chocolate and dry cocoa combine for average medium-bodied dark ale.
(CANDIA ROAD) NEPENTHE NUT-BROWN
Flagship dark ale comes across like a nutty stout with its dark-roasted mocha malting and subtle hop char. Brown chocolate sweetness overlays cocoa-dried hazelnut, walnut and pecan niceties. Minor coffee, vanilla and black cherry illusions provide backup while hefty 9.5% ABV gets camouflaged.
(CANDIA ROAD) LOTUS-EATER
Hallucinogenic design for Imperial IPA bottle represents fruitful elixir well. Stimulating spice-hopped grapefruit, peach, pineapple, mango and peach tang given brisk piney orange peel bittering as dusty floral waft fills the air. Tidy citric finish gets phenolic.
OPA OPA IPA
Sessionable English-styled India Pale Ale brings mildly pungent dewy earthiness, light resinous hop bittering and ESB-like rye malting to brisk lemony grapefruit juicing.
OPA OPA WATERMELON ALE
Brisk seltzer-watered spritz prickles subtle lemon-soured watermelon spree as mild melon, strawberry and bubblegum illusions wispily flutter. White-breaded bottom stays frail.
EVIL TWIN LOW LIFE PILSNER
On tap at Ambulance, initial sips indicated a diffident German pilsner with saison traits such as musky lemon-rotted tartness, light floral-backed lemongrass herbage and grassy hop moisting. But second tasting revealed crisply clean “hoppy” pilsner’s IPA-like tropical fruiting (grapefruit, orange, mango, peach) and brisk piney hop sharpness. Dry wood tones add astringency and grouty minerality underlines citric perfuming.
SAMUEL ADAMS 26.2 BOSTON BREW
Dedicated to 2015 Boston Marathon, easygoing gose-styled light body offers salted coriander spicing to light herbal peppering and lemon-candied tartness. Soft white wheat spine holds up.
SAMUEL ADAMS NITRO STOUT
Soothing, creamy-headed, nitro-injected stout brings bittersweet black chocolate subtlety, light coffee tones and charred hop singe to dark-roasted malting. Pleasingly astringent Band-Aid reminder provides unexpected changeup. Just a bit watery.
