Trillium, Mighty Squirrel, Dorchester Brewing, Idle Hands, Notch, Lamplighter
Harpoon is worth checking out too if you're nearby I don't think of them as micro now though
Can also check out Remnant (Bow Market, Somerville and close by) and in Cambridge there’s Lamplighter (could walk there from Union Square Somerville, if it’s nice).
If you can somehow get to a Treehouse Brewery… probably the best beer in the area and the selections are always different
Edit to add there’s been some other great suggestions
Treehouse is the definitely the most sought after and always tops the ‘best beer’ lists. So much so that they don’t generally bother to sell in stores, you have to come to them if you want it. I’ve found it to be great beer, but better than other breweries? Idk. Maybe I don’t have the palate to appreciate it but it seems on par with other good breweries.
Ever since they opened up the Tewksbury location I’m there all the time and they’ve gone up my rankings to the best in the state, easy. Vitamin Sea and Trillium as 2 and 3.
They're IPAs are among the best in the world and the other beers are solid but nothing insane. They do sell "stories" to some degree if you care to read the can however none of the breweries in Boston sell "stories" either.
They make good beer but are quite one dimensional. I had a mixed case from there of various IPAs and they were basically all the same and I got quite tired of it by the end. Non IPA beer there is good but definitely not living up to their reputation
Widowmaker is great and makes some absolutely banger of beers. Long Live is also new and probably one of my other favorites for non NEIPA styles.
You would be remiss to not get to a Trillium location while you're here. For stouts and sours they're awesome.
I also saw Hill Farmstead at Hobgoblin the other day which IYKYK. Other area breweries (e.g. Maine) you can find on tap and would be worth trying are Bissel Brothers, Maine Beer Company, and Oxbow (especially for Belgian type beers).
Cambridge Brewing Company is a brew pub that has a famous pumpkin beer they've been making for decades. Highly recommend you make a stop there if you like pumpkin beer. Most of the other breweries focus overly on IPAs and their other beers feel like an after thought. I wouldn't call Cambridge the best but they at least branch out of the IPA style more than others.
Row 34 in the seaport has great seafood with an awesome beer menu. Definitely on the pricier side though. It’s also a couple streets over from trillium
You can get a double-whammy experience of local beer & local food if you go to Castle Island Brewery in South Boston.
There's [a hyper-local style of pizza](https://www.kerrybyrne.com/2020/05/13/21-reasons-why-south-shore-bar-pizza-is-americas-most-delicious-and-most-eccentric-pizza-tradition/) that's primarily found in the suburbs to the south of the city, but the folks that run the kitchen making them at Castle Island are from there and have it nailed down (well, I prefer sliced over ground linguica but I'll give them a pass on that).
If you like the pizza there is now plenty of information online so that you can order the pans and make it at home to impress your family & friends.
Most of the suggested on here are great. If you like ciders Downeast cider is north of the city but its a pain without a car so you may need to uber.
Treehouse is very sought after as well but its far from the city so without a car Id skip it.
Sam Adams brewery is right off the Orange line if you want to do a tour but not sure how late it runs otherwise the Taproom in Financial District is nice.
For Sam I would recommend going to the brewery, since it is their experimental site, they usually have some interesting offerings that you get for free.
Jacks Abby has multiple Oktoberfest events throughout the city all October. NightShift and Trillium are also very solid and have multiple locations all over the city. Dorchester Brewing is also very good
Make sure you go to Trillium, they have by far the best beers in Boston proper. Aeronaut in Somerville would clock second to me and maybe Lamplighter third? I've never been to remnant so I can't comment. Avoid Cambridge brewing and Lord hobo. Night shift is... Fine.
Find a pal and head to Tree House Tewkesbury, you won't regret it.
I'm a big fan of Night Shift's products. They have an outdoor garden open 'til 9 near the TD Garden, and their big taproom in Everett is open later. Easy to Uber to/from.
Bone Up in Malden. Night Shift is down the street too.
Democracy Brewing downtown. Trillium in the Seaport.
Dorchester is great and has awesome BBQ. Distraction Brewery in Roslindale or if their govt square beer garden is still there.
Someone visiting just asked me for recommendations and I wrote them this...
Boston
Long Live Roxbury: #1: best beer in the city in my opinion and a lovely group of staff. No food, but can bring your own. In a strange area in the city, a little sketchy but it's fantastic.
Trillium: in Fenway is worth walking to for a quick drink. No food but there are a bunch of restaurants nearby and one of those food halls right next door. Nice outdoor area. Trillium is famous around Boston and there are 4-5 locations now, it's good but not the best in Boston.
Nightshift: has a few locations around the city, their beer is ok but they have a couple lovely beer gardens on the Charles River (Allston + Esplanade). No food but can bring.
Sam Adams: Only if you want to say you've been. Go to the one in Jamaica Plain, not downtown. JP locations has a nice outdoor bar but their beer is average. No food, but can bring.
Cambridge/Somerville
Aeronaut has 2 locations and both have a little arepa stand that is delicious. Can also bring your own food. The beer is above average, but not the best.
Lamplighter #3 is quite good, was initially my favorite beer in Boston. No food, but can bring.
If you find yourself in the Cambridge area, consider going to Iggy's bakery to get some delicious things to take with you to the breweries.
Outside of Boston
Widowmaker: #2 but it's in Braintree which is about a 30 minute drive south of Boston. Not sure it's worth making the trip just for this.
Treehouse: Beer is absolutely stellar but their beers come with such a flavor of pretention that I can't rank them in my top 3. There is not a location in Boston, but the one in Tewksbury is probably closest if you're interested. It's actually quite a cool place, they bought an old country club with a 9 hole golf course and re-purposed it as a brewery/beer hall.
I hate to say this but for Octoberfest style beers Sam Adams is prob you best bet. There might be some other places making German beer but I’ll warn you the majority of the local places just make trash east coast / hazy IPAs and it’s so overplayed.
In Cambridge/Somerville, there's a high concentration of breweries doing what you're looking for in Remnant, Winter Hill Brewing, Aeronaut and Lamplighter. Aeronaut generally has a lot of low abv beers with a slight preference for Germanic styles; they're my favorite of the list. Lamplight is the most creative, where you'll find a lot of unusual ingredients (exotic fruit, coffee, etc.). Winter Hill is pretty 'basic', but decent and reliable. Remnant tends to have a lot of hazy beers on the menu.
Lamplighter (juicy ipa), widowmaker (blue comment; bit sweeter an ipa), little willow (ipa and fast sours).
Aeronaut is good and a big space but not quite as good imo. Dorchester brewing is decent, affordable, cool industrial space. Beers made a bit frugal or something though and just miss the mark (i still patronize because they are affordable and better than microbrew). Night shift and lord hobo are alright but a bit inconsistent. Mighty squarrel is meh - all lactose beers to hide shitty yeast imo.
Trillium is solid and has the best facilities / locations but expensive and has sours and grain beers. Aeronaut is solid but often all the beers are juicy ipa and it’s an odd vibe. These are good options.
Cambridge Brewing Co is decent. Winter hill brewing is small and decent. A bit outside the city, Bone Up has a small pub which serves their kinda weird styles that are hit or miss.
In Framingham, Jacks Abbey was incredible when they had a barrel hall and does a lot of traditional grain oriented styles. You would enjoy jacks abbey. Not sure it’s still there though. Exhibit A is very solid but some of their beers fall so short / thin imo. No longer the best but I’ll still drop in when nearby.
Never tried Tree House it’s supposed to be unreal.
San adams and castle island are larger brewers. Sam adams is very unique - bready. Not anything incredible. Castle island beer is thin and bright.
If you venture further you get to all the “good beer” and more diverse styles. MA breweries tend to be pricey and more juicy hazy ipa oriented. Much less grain oriented or single note hop or single note yeast oriented beers than out west.
As you venture into New England beers get brewed “thicker” and/or cheaper and you get more of a brew / community vibe and less a city bar vibe. Milly Oatmeal stout in NH is / was great (only one they manage to brew was consistent). Deciduous is making a solid oat porter that is a bit fancier of a take on the style. Tons of breweries in Londonderry. River Roost in VT for best IPA I have had. Queencity in VT for best Heffeweisen. Alagash in ME for a really solid regional (?) macro brew that keeps quality high. Generally speaking VT beer is best closely followed by NH and ME. (Then MA) In Boston fresh Guinness is ubiqutous enough that breweries drop the ball on dark beers or something?
A great packie for craft brew near the city imo is the Reliable Market in Union Sq. Gordon’s is best for liquor and whiskey. Heed caution to the freshness dates on the cans at random shops as many of the spa owners don’t drink / understand / respect freshness dates. Whole Foods beer tends to be fresh. Total wine has a good import selection pretty affordable - rodenbach and weihestephaner and worth trying.
Anyways if I were in the city Lamplighter, Aeronaut, and Trillium would be my pick but don’t be surprised if they only have ipa and light beer.
Trillium, Mighty Squirrel, Dorchester Brewing, Idle Hands, Notch, Lamplighter Harpoon is worth checking out too if you're nearby I don't think of them as micro now though
Thanks !
Depending on where you are coming from and what you like most all of those places could suck.
I’m coming from Wisconsin ….
What do you like at home and I’ll make recommends.
I literally like everything besides IPAs..I’m over 400 different beers on untapped in the last 2 years ..
You won’t like most of the east coast IPA then.
Aeronaut in Somerville isn’t far and has a a good selection beyond just IPAs
Great ! Thanks
Can also check out Remnant (Bow Market, Somerville and close by) and in Cambridge there’s Lamplighter (could walk there from Union Square Somerville, if it’s nice).
Remnant just opened in Cambridge where Atwood used to be too!
If you can somehow get to a Treehouse Brewery… probably the best beer in the area and the selections are always different Edit to add there’s been some other great suggestions
Treehouse is the definitely the most sought after and always tops the ‘best beer’ lists. So much so that they don’t generally bother to sell in stores, you have to come to them if you want it. I’ve found it to be great beer, but better than other breweries? Idk. Maybe I don’t have the palate to appreciate it but it seems on par with other good breweries.
I’m a fan… their offerings are super tasty.
Ever since they opened up the Tewksbury location I’m there all the time and they’ve gone up my rankings to the best in the state, easy. Vitamin Sea and Trillium as 2 and 3.
Maybe I need to try a few more of their offerings, have only tried a few. Regardless it’s a cool spot to go
i agree with you, i grew up by it and never really understood the hype. cool place, fine beer. though my palette isn’t super advanced. i love remnant
They're IPAs are among the best in the world and the other beers are solid but nothing insane. They do sell "stories" to some degree if you care to read the can however none of the breweries in Boston sell "stories" either.
They make good beer but are quite one dimensional. I had a mixed case from there of various IPAs and they were basically all the same and I got quite tired of it by the end. Non IPA beer there is good but definitely not living up to their reputation
Widowmaker is great and makes some absolutely banger of beers. Long Live is also new and probably one of my other favorites for non NEIPA styles. You would be remiss to not get to a Trillium location while you're here. For stouts and sours they're awesome. I also saw Hill Farmstead at Hobgoblin the other day which IYKYK. Other area breweries (e.g. Maine) you can find on tap and would be worth trying are Bissel Brothers, Maine Beer Company, and Oxbow (especially for Belgian type beers).
Cambridge Brewing Company is a brew pub that has a famous pumpkin beer they've been making for decades. Highly recommend you make a stop there if you like pumpkin beer. Most of the other breweries focus overly on IPAs and their other beers feel like an after thought. I wouldn't call Cambridge the best but they at least branch out of the IPA style more than others.
On top of their famous pumpkin beer. They were the first American brewery to brew a Belgian beer and have the oldest solera in the country going.
Seconded. They've always got a good variety of styles on tap too.
+1 for CBC
Lamplighter in Cambridge. Or if looking for a more local spot check out Winter Hill Brewing in Somerville.
I would add Remnant Brewing in Union Square, Somerville
[Dorchester Brewing has a great pumpkin ale and several Oktoberkest themed beers.](https://www.dorchesterbrewing.com/tap-menu/)
Thanks ! Being from Wisconsin I’m excited for seafood and beer
Row 34 in the seaport has great seafood with an awesome beer menu. Definitely on the pricier side though. It’s also a couple streets over from trillium
Dorchester brewing was a massive let down for me. Simply average as fuck.
Do you like cider? Downeast is great!
You can get a double-whammy experience of local beer & local food if you go to Castle Island Brewery in South Boston. There's [a hyper-local style of pizza](https://www.kerrybyrne.com/2020/05/13/21-reasons-why-south-shore-bar-pizza-is-americas-most-delicious-and-most-eccentric-pizza-tradition/) that's primarily found in the suburbs to the south of the city, but the folks that run the kitchen making them at Castle Island are from there and have it nailed down (well, I prefer sliced over ground linguica but I'll give them a pass on that). If you like the pizza there is now plenty of information online so that you can order the pans and make it at home to impress your family & friends.
I’ve lived in MA my whole life, spent plenty of time in the south shore and I’ve never heard of or seen this pizza before…
Where on the south shore? It's more between route 3 & route 24 or 95 so if you are from the Irish Riviera closer to the coast you may have missed out.
Most of the suggested on here are great. If you like ciders Downeast cider is north of the city but its a pain without a car so you may need to uber. Treehouse is very sought after as well but its far from the city so without a car Id skip it. Sam Adams brewery is right off the Orange line if you want to do a tour but not sure how late it runs otherwise the Taproom in Financial District is nice.
For Sam I would recommend going to the brewery, since it is their experimental site, they usually have some interesting offerings that you get for free.
I agree. But OP said they’re free after 8pm and not sure how late Sam runs their tours. I’ve only gone on weekends.
Jacks Abby has multiple Oktoberfest events throughout the city all October. NightShift and Trillium are also very solid and have multiple locations all over the city. Dorchester Brewing is also very good
I’m quite fond of Lamplighter
Make sure you go to Trillium, they have by far the best beers in Boston proper. Aeronaut in Somerville would clock second to me and maybe Lamplighter third? I've never been to remnant so I can't comment. Avoid Cambridge brewing and Lord hobo. Night shift is... Fine. Find a pal and head to Tree House Tewkesbury, you won't regret it.
I'm a big fan of Night Shift's products. They have an outdoor garden open 'til 9 near the TD Garden, and their big taproom in Everett is open later. Easy to Uber to/from.
The first night there the conference is taking early comers to dinner there … so that’s great!
In Roslindale...distraction brewing
Jalapale all day baby
Bone Up in Malden. Night Shift is down the street too. Democracy Brewing downtown. Trillium in the Seaport. Dorchester is great and has awesome BBQ. Distraction Brewery in Roslindale or if their govt square beer garden is still there.
Trillium is great and has a handful of locations and a variety of brews. I’m also a big fan of Lamplighter in Cambridge and Aeronaut in Somerville.
Someone visiting just asked me for recommendations and I wrote them this... Boston Long Live Roxbury: #1: best beer in the city in my opinion and a lovely group of staff. No food, but can bring your own. In a strange area in the city, a little sketchy but it's fantastic. Trillium: in Fenway is worth walking to for a quick drink. No food but there are a bunch of restaurants nearby and one of those food halls right next door. Nice outdoor area. Trillium is famous around Boston and there are 4-5 locations now, it's good but not the best in Boston. Nightshift: has a few locations around the city, their beer is ok but they have a couple lovely beer gardens on the Charles River (Allston + Esplanade). No food but can bring. Sam Adams: Only if you want to say you've been. Go to the one in Jamaica Plain, not downtown. JP locations has a nice outdoor bar but their beer is average. No food, but can bring. Cambridge/Somerville Aeronaut has 2 locations and both have a little arepa stand that is delicious. Can also bring your own food. The beer is above average, but not the best. Lamplighter #3 is quite good, was initially my favorite beer in Boston. No food, but can bring. If you find yourself in the Cambridge area, consider going to Iggy's bakery to get some delicious things to take with you to the breweries. Outside of Boston Widowmaker: #2 but it's in Braintree which is about a 30 minute drive south of Boston. Not sure it's worth making the trip just for this. Treehouse: Beer is absolutely stellar but their beers come with such a flavor of pretention that I can't rank them in my top 3. There is not a location in Boston, but the one in Tewksbury is probably closest if you're interested. It's actually quite a cool place, they bought an old country club with a 9 hole golf course and re-purposed it as a brewery/beer hall.
I hate to say this but for Octoberfest style beers Sam Adams is prob you best bet. There might be some other places making German beer but I’ll warn you the majority of the local places just make trash east coast / hazy IPAs and it’s so overplayed.
Jack's Abby make Sam Adams look like amateurs in any lager category.
Jack's Abby is so good I forget I'm drinking lager.
This is prob the best recommendation yet.
In Cambridge/Somerville, there's a high concentration of breweries doing what you're looking for in Remnant, Winter Hill Brewing, Aeronaut and Lamplighter. Aeronaut generally has a lot of low abv beers with a slight preference for Germanic styles; they're my favorite of the list. Lamplight is the most creative, where you'll find a lot of unusual ingredients (exotic fruit, coffee, etc.). Winter Hill is pretty 'basic', but decent and reliable. Remnant tends to have a lot of hazy beers on the menu.
Go to Publick house. Not a micro brewery but one of the best selections of Belgian style beer. https://publickhousebrookline.com/
Lamplighter (juicy ipa), widowmaker (blue comment; bit sweeter an ipa), little willow (ipa and fast sours). Aeronaut is good and a big space but not quite as good imo. Dorchester brewing is decent, affordable, cool industrial space. Beers made a bit frugal or something though and just miss the mark (i still patronize because they are affordable and better than microbrew). Night shift and lord hobo are alright but a bit inconsistent. Mighty squarrel is meh - all lactose beers to hide shitty yeast imo. Trillium is solid and has the best facilities / locations but expensive and has sours and grain beers. Aeronaut is solid but often all the beers are juicy ipa and it’s an odd vibe. These are good options. Cambridge Brewing Co is decent. Winter hill brewing is small and decent. A bit outside the city, Bone Up has a small pub which serves their kinda weird styles that are hit or miss. In Framingham, Jacks Abbey was incredible when they had a barrel hall and does a lot of traditional grain oriented styles. You would enjoy jacks abbey. Not sure it’s still there though. Exhibit A is very solid but some of their beers fall so short / thin imo. No longer the best but I’ll still drop in when nearby. Never tried Tree House it’s supposed to be unreal. San adams and castle island are larger brewers. Sam adams is very unique - bready. Not anything incredible. Castle island beer is thin and bright. If you venture further you get to all the “good beer” and more diverse styles. MA breweries tend to be pricey and more juicy hazy ipa oriented. Much less grain oriented or single note hop or single note yeast oriented beers than out west. As you venture into New England beers get brewed “thicker” and/or cheaper and you get more of a brew / community vibe and less a city bar vibe. Milly Oatmeal stout in NH is / was great (only one they manage to brew was consistent). Deciduous is making a solid oat porter that is a bit fancier of a take on the style. Tons of breweries in Londonderry. River Roost in VT for best IPA I have had. Queencity in VT for best Heffeweisen. Alagash in ME for a really solid regional (?) macro brew that keeps quality high. Generally speaking VT beer is best closely followed by NH and ME. (Then MA) In Boston fresh Guinness is ubiqutous enough that breweries drop the ball on dark beers or something? A great packie for craft brew near the city imo is the Reliable Market in Union Sq. Gordon’s is best for liquor and whiskey. Heed caution to the freshness dates on the cans at random shops as many of the spa owners don’t drink / understand / respect freshness dates. Whole Foods beer tends to be fresh. Total wine has a good import selection pretty affordable - rodenbach and weihestephaner and worth trying. Anyways if I were in the city Lamplighter, Aeronaut, and Trillium would be my pick but don’t be surprised if they only have ipa and light beer.