Massachusetts Newbie from Bedford, MA Checking In

[Blokko]

Hi

I'm mid way through brewing a Brooklyn Brewshop kit that my wife got for me as a Christmas prezzie almost 18 months ago.

I have ambitions of trying some different styles of beer, typically not the sort of stuff I can already get from Wegmans. As a Brit who has been over here for about 6 years, it took me a while to convert to US beers, but I'm now a big fan of American IPA's.

I don't *think* I want to reproduce what I can already buy - I'm more interested in trying to see if lower ABV hoppy IPA's could work and I would also like to try some Brit -style session bitters. I'll be doing plenty of research on here before I take on my next brew.

 

[day_trippr]

Welcome, @Blokko, to our little corner of homebrewtalk.com!
I actually grew up in Bedford, and my (now 96 yo) mom still resides there.

This place is the ultimate cornucopia of brewing information for the home brewer, it truly helped me a ton in the early going.
Plenty of recipes to check out as well. Have fun, hope you stay awhile

Cheers!

 

[Trevor Mack]

Welcome to the club and the fantastic hobby. I lived in Bedford for a season, but now living down in Newton.

Enjoy your new hobby, let us know how to help. This forum is a great source of knowledge and inspiration for sure.

 

[Dland]

Welcome from Tisbury Ma. Here's to your brewing success! (even though I'm drinking coffee at the moment).

 

[paulthenurse]

Another one over the edge of the wonderfully slippery slope. BTW, Brit beer rules.

 

[Transamguy77]

Welcome from Pa! There is no shortage of knowledge and characters here

 

[jpakstis]

Hi! I'm in the next town over (Lexington!). If you're looking for beers, Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont is good stuff and due to Covid-19 they can deliver! Also Mighty Squirrel brewery moved into the area (Waltham) relatively recently. Their stuff is pretty heavy on the "NE" part of NEIPAs but its nice to have a local brewery!

Brewing some bitters would be great! My wife is not a fan of anything but IPAs so that's what I primarily brew. Although I've been getting more and more intrigued in the whole concept of brewing for the season. I studied in London and loved sitting outside a pub during the summer drinking bitters!

 

[Trevor Mack]

I'm also relatively new (again) in New England brewing. There used to be an active homebrew club in Watertown I think it was. Anyone know of any active clubs (goes without saying that "active" is mostly past/future tense given current situations)?

Would love to get together with fellow homebrewers in the area every once and a while and share some tasters to get some honest feedback... how much positive feedback can one take from their own family of in-laws?

Mighty Squirrel folks are super awesome gang. I did reach out to them initially when this whole thing started to see how we homebrewers could potentially support them (grain buy, etc). They were open to the idea, just weren't setup to fulfill individual orders. I'll keep the communications open with them as they liked some of my "collab-a-brew" ideas to engage the homebrew community there. I'd go out on a limb and say they would offer to host a gathering if we had enough interest once things open back up.

 

[jrgtr42]

Late to the party, but welcome from Framingham.
I have a couple friends living in Bedford, depending on route, (and where in town) it's maybe 20 -30 minutes ride.
There was a HB club based out of Strange Brew HB shop in Marlboro, but the shop is now closed. I don't know what the status of the club is. There's another based in Worcester, the WIZARDS, or at least there used to be.
I know of a few HBers here and in the BA forums that are pretty close by.
Once things open back up, I'd be up for a meetup now and then.

 

[day_trippr]

Brian had a relationship with WIZARDS for sure. While the WIZARDS web page has been basically moribund for years (indeed it's non-responsive at the moment) they have an FB page that has a bit more currency...

https://www.facebook.com/wizardshomebrew/
Cheers!

 

[Trevor Mack]

Yeah I originally found http://potiondevotion.com/ which was a club in Newton, MA which would be super convenient ... but looks like it has gone dormant years ago though still holding on to the domain lol.

Once things open back up for sure I'll look further and further out, thanks for the tips of a few you know of in the area. On the bright side I've been brewing more since being required to stay at my residence for work... too easy to put a pot on and watch from my computer.

 

[jdauria]

Hi and welcome to HBT! Another Masshole here, from the South Shore. My club the Mash Holes meet in Weymouth which would be too far for you, but check out the Boston Wort Processors which for some reason I think are based out of Woburn. Here's a list of all the Mass clubs registered with AHA Find a Homebrew Club | American Homebrewers Association The Merrimack Valley club from Lowell are a great bunch of guys in a good size club too.