Blog Archives

In Which We Turn the Page to Pulpo Season

10/31/2023

Hello again! It's almost Weekend O'Clock around here and have we got a wild weekend for you (we do have a wild weekend for you)!

But first we're gonna start things off with a Minor Bummer Note which is that there's once again no cask this week on account of how we didn't brew anything caskable for a couple weeks. But it'll be back next week!

And to "soften the blow" of that ol' lack of cask, we've got a new beer! Just for you! And also some other people! Mostly, other people, actually, since it's a wedding beer. But you can still drink it! You don't even have to be invited to the wedding, you can just go for it. Anyway the beer is a tasty little raspberry number called South of Italy and we brewed it to celebrate the nuptials of Alex and Julia (who met in our taproom! How cool is that?!) and it's available in cans right now and also it's on draft for a limited time so come on out and getcha some!

Aaaaannnnnndddd moving right along to the "fun times" portion of this here internet missive, we've got some fun times for y'all! Things kick off on Thursday with music trivia and this time around Matt decided to make us all feel old and/or challenge our understanding of linear time (or maybe that's just me? That might just be a me thing) by making the theme "2013: A Year In Music" which makes sense since that was an entire decade ago and not, in fact, several years ago (as my own extremely With It brain continues to insist) and anyway it's gonna be fun and we'll probably have prizes that aren't just leftover halloween candy but you'll have to come out to find out!

And then on Friday we're doing something that is definitely a very good and well-thought-out idea and is in no way ill advised. More to the point, we decided that since we can't use our promised-but-never-delivered new space for shows we would just host shows in the space we do have! Why not! Let's see what happens! More to the point, we thoroughly enjoyed that acoustic show we had in our front room so we figured we'd see what happens when we put a whole-ass band in there, so on Friday we're puttin' a whole-ass band in there! Several of them! Specifically it's gonna be The Outlourdes, Sordid Spell, and Blast Shield and doors are on the early side (doors are at 6:30, music at 7:30, $10 cover) and it's gonna be a good time and also a loud time so you should come rock out with us!

Then on Saturday we've got the return of Hot Sauce Day! This time around we have Craic Sauce, The Bone Sauce, and Rhed’s Hot Sauce settin' up shop and making it hurt so good and gettin' your tongue tinglin' all afternoon and you should swing by and get your sauce on!

And on Sunday our regularly-scheduled cooking class is once again "Cooking With Korean Flavors" which is also taught by the delightful Chef Harold and the food he makes in this class is straight-up good as hell so you should probably learn how to make it!

And then moving right along to The Future, we've got some fun times lined up for future times! Next Thursday we've got more Simpsons Trivia (the theme this time: Season Eight) and then Friday and Saturday we're throwing one of our top three made-up holidays and that's Pulpo Day! Basically we're gonna release El Pulpo (our wintertime chocolate orange imperial stout) and also its whiskey-barrel-aged-counterpart (creatively titled Barrel Aged El Pulpo) and also we're gonna be tappin' up a whole mess of vintage versions of Pulpo (both barreled and otherwise) so you can do some side-by-side comparisons and anyway it's a hoot and you should come on by!

Oh! And! We gots to announce the coloring contest winners for October! Spooktacular work, everybody!

In Which the Great Beer and Candy Pairing Commences

10/25/2023

Howdy friends! We're here to bring you more of The Good Stuff (beer, friendship, good times, probably snacks) so read on and check out what all we've got lined up for y'all!

But first we have to "kick things off" with some "news of the suboptimal" on account of how we don't have a cask this week (we mentioned this last week)(don't worry cask will be back)(probably not next week either though), but we'll "sally forth" and/or "soldier on" because we've got hella tasty beer on tap; including The Blurst of Times which is mighty nice, and also we've still got several draft lines full of rotating barrel-aged treats (including a couple things that have been bottle-only for a little while now) and anyway let's just get on with it.

And on that note we're gonna get right on with a little anecdote that we completely forgot to mention last week and that's The Bestowing of the Paddle! For those of you who don't know the Lore behind this lil' tradition of ours (it's been a little while), its origins date back to when Jared got his first-ever brewery job and his friend Dave got it in his head that all the brewers would have their own mash paddles that they'd bring to work. This is maybe impractical on a 100+ BBL brewhouse like where Jared was working at the time, but it turns out that it's an incredible idea for a tiny little brewhouse like ours so whenever one of our brewers reaches a certain tenure in the brewhouse (somewhere in the 1-2 years range) they get their own paddle and just last week (you guessed it) Macon got his paddle! And while many Paddles Past have been made by Jared (who is very much Not A Woodworker), this one was largely made by T-Bone (Jared's dad, who made both of our bars, all of our tables, a fair amount of our tap handles, and who is also not a woodworker but he's a lot less likely to accidentally glue his hand to his face, which is apparently something that can happen when making a paddle out of a single piece of wood) but anyway the actual point here is that we're stoked to have Macon in the brewhouse and now he's officially One Of Us!

Anyway, moving on from the long rambling section of the blog to the other long rambling section of the blog, we've got some fun times lined up for y'all! First on up is on Wednesday (which would be tonight) and that's a Wire Tree Workshop! It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like - you take some wires and wrap them around a rock (pretty sure you have to supply the rock) and then do a bunch of twisty art stuff to the wires and then you get a cool ass wire tree! On a rock! Anyway I'm pretty sure there are still tickets available, so come check it out!

Then on Thursday we've got Tim Burton Trivia! Burton's done a bunch of great movies that are definitely thematically appropriate for this, the most spooktacular of months (and the prizes we got are similarly spooktacular), but given Matt's tendency to try and throw trivia curveballs it's worth noting that he also directed Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and was apparently an uncredited puppeteer in The Muppet Movie. Anyway, thus concludes our Blog Exclusive Burton Facts* that I definitely did not learn by googling his name just now, and thus begins me telling you that you should come out because it will be fun!

And speaking of the spooktacular, this weekend is our Halloween Beer and Candy Pairing extravaganza! And while we may have gone a little less "all out" than the candy pairings of yesteryear** but we've got TWO kickass flights full of curated pairings (each flight has two chocolate pairings and two non-chocolate pairings) and we're offering that all weekend (and also past the weekend until Actual Halloween) and we'll entertain suggestions for future spooktacular beer/candy pairing ideas*** so come on out and "trick or treat" the way god intended - by sitting around at the bar!

And if you want something a little more savory to start off with before you get to the sweets, we've got Code 1 BBQ in the house all evening on Friday!

Then on Saturday we've got a big day lined up and it kicks off with Halloween Yoga in the morning! Then in the afternoon (on what currently looks like it'll be the first non-rainy Saturday since friggin' forever) we've got our much-awaited (by us) dog costume contest! The setup is simple: dress up your pup(s) in their best spooktacular duds and come on out and you (or rather your dog) might win a prize! (And yes, the real prize is getting to spend the day surrounded by dogs in cute costumes, but there are also tangible physical prizes too). And as an added bonus we've got Craig Mac 'n Cheese in the house slingin' some cheesy goodness, so come hang out with us!

And then on Sunday we have our regularly-scheduled sushi classes which continue to be fun as hell.

And takin' a little "sneak peek" into next week, we've got fun stuff next week too! On Thursday we've got a "look back in time" music trivia that focuses on 2013 (a year which I frequently insist was "a couple years ago") and on Friday we've got a last minute doom and sludge show in the taproom (details below) then on Saturday we've got the triumphant return of Hot Sauce Day! Anyway the point is that next week will also be lots of fun and you should come hang out with us because we do fun things and we are fun.

* I had it in my head that he was the one who wrote Stuart Little, but that was M. Night Shyamalan.
** We used to come up with a chocolate and a non-chocolate pairing for every beer on the menu, and then build-your-own-flights would come with their respective candy pairings. The bartenders kind of hated us for it (finding four specific candies out of a selection of like twenty is kind of a pain in the ass, especially if you're in a hurry) and the menu was physically painful to write (we do not advise drinking five beers and eating thirty pieces of "fun size" candy in one sitting) so we pared it back a bit.
*** We are not accepting suggestions from Adam of DnA's Evolution, as he is King Of The Food Crimes.

In Which We Get Extra Funky!

10/18/2023

Good evening! Or whatever. We're pleased as punch to be pourin' a bunch of spooktacular beers (including one or several new beers) and hosting hella fun times, so check out all the spooktacular stuff what we got goin' on!

And first up isn't quite a new beer but it's a limited-time-this-week-only beer and that of course is cask! This week we're returning to a spooktacular old favorite (Extra Naked) and we dry hopped the crap out of it with a different old favorite (spooktacularly pineappley ol' BRU-1) which adds a damn fine punch of fruitiness to ol' XN and we daresay you'll enjoy it! It's gettin' tapped Thursday and pouring until it kicks - and this is gonna be the last cask for a little while (we haven't brewed anything caskable in a couple weeks) so enjoy it while you can!

And speaking of putting a spooktacular twist on Extra Naked, we should probably introduce you to Extra Funky! It's a fully-Brett-fermented* version of the best damn beer we make (Extra Naked) and it adds a fistful of funk and a whole buncha fruity tartness to brighten things up and it's mighty delightful and it also happens to be on tap right now (it'll be in bottles soon) so come grab a glass!

And while we're talking about spooktacular things that will be available soon it's worth mentioning that we've got a new IPA waiting in the wings called The Blurst of Times! The spooktacular story behind this one is that we needed an IPA for draft so we brewed one (not everything has to be a lengthy personal anecdote, you know) and anyway it's gonna get tapped as soon as a line opens up (lookin' at you RPM) so keep them eyes peeled!

And moving on to the "spooktacular fun times" portion of this week's blog, we've got some fun times lined up for y'all! On Saturday we've got our spooktacular Ghastly Gala Art Market! We'll have Shoe Bones Gallery and Constant Disappointment Records and Motionless Visions comin' by and slingin' a buncha art and/or wares (and/or music, but that probably counts as "wares") and we've got Craig Mac 'n Cheese poppin' up with some cheesy goodness for y'all and it's gonna be a good time, so come on out and hang out with us and our cool art friends!

And on Sunday we've got our regularly-scheduled (spooktacular) sushi class with Chef Harold and I totally dropped the ball on that last week because last week it was "Cooking with Korean Flavors" and the food from that was also spectacular (as one might expect) and I think that one's coming back around 11/5, so check it out if that one "suits your fancy!" (this week is definitely sushi though, I checked)

And then next week we've also got a buncha spooktacular stuff we're doin', so check it out! Next Wednesday we've got a Wire Tree Workshop (and the event is "bring your own rock" but we'll look the other way if you need to smouch one from our rock pile) and then next Thursday we've got Tim Burton Trivia and then next Friday starts our weekend full of spooktacular Beer and Halloween Candy pairings and then next Saturday is chock full of the spooktacular times with Halloween Yoga in the morning followed by our much anticipated (by us) dog costume contest and anyway you know it's gonna be a great time, so come hang out with us!

* Specifically Brett C. Most of our wild beers undergo a secondary fermentation with Brett B (with some other fermentables added to get things going) after being fermented with our "normal" yeast. Brett C is known for being fruitier but less funky than the other Brett species, but that's definitely not what we're seeing from using it for primary fermentation.

In Which Things Start to Get Spooktacular

10/11/2023

Well hey there! We've got a whole buncha spooktacular stuff lined up for all y'all but first we'd like to thank everyone who came out to that show we had on Friday (the one we had to move inside on almost zero notice) and we hope you had fun because we thought it went pretty well and at one point we were like "you know what? Fuck it, let's throw some more shows in the space that we do have." And there might be a bit of an "Allston basement show" vibe for a bit (albeit with better beer and ideally an audience that's comprised mostly/entirely of people who have showered recently) but "making the best of what we've got" is pretty much our whole thing so let's see how this goes! Anyway nothing is set in stone but we've got our "feelers out" so keep them eyes peeled for updates!

Anway movin' on to some spooktacular suds for your sippin' pleasure we're tappin' yet another cask on Thursday and this one in particular is one that we're pretty jazzed on* and that's 700! As you may have guessed, this beer was brewed to celebrate the brewing of our 700th batch (and also it's on tap right now by the way) and this time around we decided to take a recipe we'd brewed before (specifically the recipe for We're All Doomed because of Reasons) and then we just boiled it for 4X as long as we normally do which darkened it up a fair bit and gave it some really nice caramel undertones on account of all the caramelization that happened in the kettle and anyway it's tasty as heck and you should come drink some!

And speaking of new beer, it's worth mentioning that we're also tappin' up a buncha spooktacular old beer as well! Or rather, we've been diggin' through the ol' Aging Cellar** and we dug up some tasty treats from Bygone Days (and/or several months ago, which was a less spooktacular time) so we're gonna have a couple lines that are rotating through some cellared and/or barrel-aged beer that we've been squirrelin' away, so come on by and grab some while we've got some!

Currently on from the cellar:

The Hourglass, tripel
Horatio's Reserve, barrel aged barleywine
Undercurrents, mixed fermentation farmhouse ale
Artificial Reaper, barrel aged dark strong ale
El Pulpo, 2019 cellar vintage (tapping today!)

And speaking of fun times (we were speaking of fun times, right? That seems like the kind of thing we would do) we've got some spooktacular fun times! First up on Thursday is Simpsons Trivia! The theme once again is "brewhouse of horror" and it'll honestly be interesting to see how Chris manages to milk more questions out of the same twelve halloween specials, but you'll have to come out to find out, so come hang out!

Then on Friday we've got more live music in the taproom! This is an acoustic set (a normal one, not an acoustic extravaganza like last time) featuring new-to-the-taproom Michael Boezi so come on out and give a listen!

But wait! Did somebody say "spooktacular?" Probably not, because people don't tend to say "spooktacular" that much in normal life (especially without reason) but that's okay because we've got some spooktacular Halloween Metal Yoga happening on Saturday!

And of course on Sunday the spooktacular times continue with another hella fun sushi class, but you knew that already (and you're probably all like "those look like fun, I really should do one at some point" and yes, you totally should, because they are fun dammit).

And then next week we've got a buncha stuff comin' atcha with Bonsai Bar in the house next Tuesday and then an acoustic set from Olivia Lowe next Friday and our Ghastly Gala Art Market next Saturday which is sure to be full of a whole buncha spooktacular stuff, so come on out and do all this cool stuff we planned for you!

* Not that we don't love having Extra Naked on cask pretty much every week - we actually love that - but a little variety is nice once in a while.
** The back corner of the cold room that's hard to reach (because there's fifty kegs piled in front of it)

In Which the Mug Club Doth Grow!

10/4/2023

Hi friends! We'd once again like to thank everybody for the absolutely overwhelming (in a good way) outpouring of support that we've gotten in response to our Very Unpleasant Situation (I promise I'll stop linking that depressing shit every week, just not yet) - it's honestly the best thing in the world to know that we've got so many awesome people rooting for us, and that our weird little brewery means so much to so many of you, so we're gonna keep doin' what we always do and serve up a whole mess of tasty beers with a side of some fun times, so let's get to it!

And first on that ol' docket is Mug Club! If you haven't already heard, we're trottin' out the blue mugs and offerin' up a truncated second round of mug club memberships that start right now and last through the end of the year! As of this writing we still had a handful left (like 12 spots), so if you wanna be part of the coolest mug club around, click on over and grab yourself a mug!

And if you're looking for something to fill your mug with (or just a regular glass, we still fill those too) there's nothing better than CASK! And as luck would have it, we're tappin' up a fresh cask of Extra Naked - dry hopped with a double dose of Crystal from Four Star Farms, which just so happens to be one of our favorite hops (and also it's one of two hops in XN,* so now we've just got more goodness) - on Thursday and you'd better believe it's gonna be a treat, so come try some!

And speaking of beer, it doth behoove us to mention that we've got a new beer for draft just waitin' in the wings and it just so happens to be our 700th batch (and you better believe we brewed up somethin' extra special/stupid for that ol' milestone) and we're waiting for something to kick before we can tap it, so let's kick some kegs!

Moving right along to the "fun times" part of this missive we've got Halloween Music Trivia comin' up on Thursday! It's gonna be a damn fine time and we've been boning up on the history of "The Monster Mash" and trying to remember the names of the people in The Misfits other than Danny Glegg who I don't actually think is even in the band anymore but the point is that we (team name: The Management) are gonna be even more formidable as opponents than we usually are (we might even get two questions right this time) so you should come on out and test your mettle!

Then on Friday we've got a whole buncha music! Specifically we've got Adam McGrath & Stephen Brodsky performing a special set of Cave In songs, plus Marquis Lavoie of Actor Observer, Hall Monitor, and T. Bloodhound playin' acoustic sets and we have to host this show indoors (thanks Everett) so things are gonna be interesting from a logistical standpoint but if it goes well then it opens the door for us to do even more shows with the space we've already got (we should probably come up with a better name than the "Fuck It Concert Series" but that's our starting point) but anyway back to this week it's worth mentioning that we did add a few more tickets after the event originally sold out (it gon' get cozy in there, that's for sure) so if you're looking to check out some tunes, grab yourself a ticket while there's tickets to be grabbed!

And of course on Sunday we've got our weekly sushi classes and we're gonna keep mentioning those every week because they're a lot of fun, dammit (and also Chef Harold is pretty much the nicest person ever), so come check one out if you haven't already!

And then looking forward we've got more fun times up ahead! Next Tuesday we've got InebriArt in the house for a bong painting workshop (I did that one last time and it was super fun) and then next Thursday we've got Chris back for more Simpsons Trivia (the theme is, naturally, Brewhouse of Horror) and we've got an acoustic set from Michael Boezi in the taproom next Friday and some Halloween Metal Yoga next Saturday and anyway the point is that we've got lotsa fun times comin' on the horizon, so come hang with us!

Oh! And! We've picked the September coloring contest winners! Adequate work,everyone! And speaking of coloring contests, we're gonna be rerunning some "old favorite" coloring contest pages over the next few months because there's a couple pages we'd like to revisit, so if you feel like you were robbed of the glory or whatever last time, now's your chance to prove yourself worthy!

* And since we've still got some Bad at Maths on hand, you'll get to do a cool three-way comparison - draft Extra Naked vs Extra Naked with only Crystal (casks get filled before the normal dry hop happens) vs Double Dry Hopped Extra Naked. If, like us, your sweet spot is right in between "drinking beer and having fun" and "being a nerd" then you're in for a good time!

In Which We Turn the Page to Pulpo Season

In Which the Great Beer and Candy Pairing Commences

In Which We Get Extra Funky!

In Which Things Start to Get Spooktacular

In Which the Mug Club Doth Grow!

BUBco Blog

Archives

Categories