Get Crafty With Beer Week

By: Sam Houghton a/k/a Bootleg Sam, May 16, 2012

ELISE HUGUS - Bootleg Sam raises a sample in toast to his favorite brewery of all time, while Kevin Fitzpatrick of the Offshore Ale Company explains the Oak Bluffs' brewery's philosophy of crafting great beer.

Beer Week is here—and so are your favorite beers that you might not even know about yet.

For those of you who do not follow Beer Advocate on Twitter, American Craft Beer Week is one week out of the year where the bars, liquor stores and breweries celebrate—you guessed it—beer.

How is this different than having a couple of Guinness Girls strutting around with frothing mugs and short skirts, teasing you into buying overpriced beer? Well, if that’s what you like, you can enjoy that as well, but for those in search of the most arrogant and pretentious and most orgasmic beers the South Shore has to offer, this is YOUR week! 

Beer Week, started in 2006 by the Brewer's Association, is a way of introducing beer lovers to the bearded beer geeks brewing their favorite beverages. Essentially, it is an opportunity to find out about local craft beers that taste better (and are better for you) than, say, Bud Light – much, much, much better.

And what better time to enjoy it? Over the last six years, this event has grown exponentially from 124 breweries to 1,521 in 2011. Who knows how many will participate this year?

If 1,521 sounds like a lot to you, Bootleg Sam has picked out what he thinks are the best picks for the Cape Cod area. Choose for yourself with this complete list of events taking place across the South Shore.

• Wednesday: Cask Night with Cape Cod Beer at Flynn’s Irish Pub 5:30 PM – Cape Cod Beer is taping their newest brew: a Cask of Batch #1000, an Imperial Red. You can’t escape Beer Week on the Cape without trying something from Cape Cod Beer. They have been putting out some good brews lately and with this Red fresh out of the cask your taste buds are sure to be tantalized.

• Thursday: Pint Night at J.R. Brody’s with Offshore Brewery, 6 to 8 PM – Offshore is perhaps–and I’m being as subjective as I can here–the best brewery. Period. For those who have not been to the Offshore Ale House in Oak Bluffs, you are sorely missing out. Unfortunately, perhaps because their operation is quite small, their bottled beer isn’t as good as fresh from their taps. But, Their Hop Goddess is like a beer enthusiast’s wet dream: insanely hoppy, seductive and smooth ale, hoppier even than a Harpoon IPA. I am hesitant to promise it will be on tap here at Brody’s, but either way, the rest of their beers on tap are just as delicious (the Goddess is on sale in growlers this week at Kappy’s in Falmouth for those in the know about this brew).

• Friday: Tasting at Portside Liquors on MacArthur Boulevard in Bourne with Cisco Brewery, 5 to 8 PM – Nantucket’s Cisco Brewery has a full spectrum of beers, all quite tasty. For a small company, their bottled beer is well done. My favorite is the Summer of Lager, a rich and malty beer, yet sweet and light, perfect for a heady and hot summer afternoon. I am looking forward to trying their Barleywine, a 9.6 percenter. Their Whale’s Tale Pale Ale and Sankaty Light have made some relative success in the wider national market, so give those a try as well.

• Saturday: Provincetown Craft Crawl starting at 3 PM – Enjoy world winning crafts and great food. Crawl from bar to bar selecting different crafts. Hit the bars in order: the Squealing Pig, Governor Bradford, Surf Club, George’s, Underground, Nor’ East Beer Garden, Waydowntown, Crown & Anchor and Bubula’s.