Bitterly tarred dark chocolate syrup drapes mild coffee roast, nutty dark-roast hop char and burnt wood sear for briskly dry Irish stout-like porter.

Taut moderation (the spiritual little sister of brewers’ Cats Meow) plies juicy Citra-Mosaic-hopped yellow grapefruit and mandarin orange tang as well as tart passionfruit-daubed Vic Secret-hopped pining, spritzy lemon licks and peachy snips to wispy floral herbage above sugary pale malts in sessionable dry-bodied setting.
Tangy orange-peeled yellow grapefruit spicing picks up herb-tinged pine lacquer over gluey pale malt pasting.
Glimmering orange-peeled yellow grapefruit sunshine gleams alongside zesty lemon fling and vodka-licked peach tang above gluey barley-flaked pale malt pasting while lacquered pine tones enhance finishing citrus bitterness.
Delicate soft-toned double dry-hopped NEIPA brings subtle Nelson Sauvin-hopped ‘wine grape juice’ to zesty lemon splurge, leaving piney residue to contrast sweet peach-pineapple tang beneath the surface alongside doughy pale malts.
Semi-sharp orange peel zesting paces mildly creamed honey-spiced moderate-medium body. Laidback lemony grapefruit bittering contrasts tangy peach-pineapple zip beneath.
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
Just half a mile down the road from Jack’s Abby, Framingham’s EXHIBIT A BREWING COMPANY was established by entrepreneurial brewmaster Matthew Steinberg during 2016. A highly experienced, well known Massachusetts zymurgist, Steinberg enjoys crafting a wide variety of brews utilizing mostly locally sourced ingredients.
Exhibit A’s large outdoor community-tabled beergarden leads patrons to the black aluminum warehouse currently staging storage but marked for a future beer hall. Across the parking lot lies the current brew room where large brew tanks sit across from the quaint epoxy-floored tannish barroom (with 12-plus taps, bronze ceiling tiles, casual high chair seating and countertop stands).
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, June ’21, my wife and I drag Roscoe the dog to an empty outdoor table to consume a few durable Exhibit A products.
One of Exhibit A’s most popular offerings, The Cat’s Meow, a zesty NEIPA, let lightly embittered yellow grapefruit zesting and spiced navel orange pickup grassy herbal-tinged pine lacquering over mildly vanilla-creamed oated wheat bottom.
Dry lemony orange-rotted fizziness gained a slight sour-candied glaze for wispily herb-spiced Goody Two Shoes, a mild clear yellowed kolsch with crisp bread crust bottom.
Light-roast coffee nuttiness consumed Briefcase Porter, overwhelming black chocolate-embittered Blackstrap molasses, burnt rye toasting, soured tobacco chaw and wispy blackberry tartness.
Creamily smooth Imperial Stout, Sunday Paper (a collaboration with nearby Barrington Coffee Factory), let milk-sugared coffee tones gain a bitterly tarred dark roast char swirling above caramelized chocolate molasses oats, picking up espresso, hazelnut and black pepper snips.
Vintage 2020 barleywine, Weights & Measures, stayed mildly caramel creamed as its brown-sugared bourbon licks gained dewy rye spicing to back its bittersweet cherry-bruised orange tang.
On tap at Ambulance, easygoing light-roast coffee permeates oats-sugared dark chocolate malting of fine Sunday morning breakfast stout. Mild Kahlua, fudged brownie and crème brulee illusions flutter. Just a tad thin for perfection. In the can circa ’25, Burlington coffee roast gains maple syrupy dark chocolate onrush plus almond-hazelnut reluctance, mild cappuccino sweetness, dark rum scrum, sticky anise snip and cinnamon coffee remnant.
On tap at Ambulance, seamless yellow-hazed New England-styled IPA leans on the tart side as candied lemon and slightly soured orange-pineapple-papaya-guava-mango tropicalia ride atop grout-y Maris Otter malting. Dank piney hop resin and light herbal snips reinforce sour fruiting.
On tap at Ambulance, well-defined kolsch unites brisk lemon spritz with tart orange juicing and bittersweet grapefruit tang above its white-floured bread crust base. Soapy floral-dried grassy hop astringency deepens the dry side against lightly creamed pale malt sugaring.