One of the best times of the year to be a better beer fan in the eastern half of the state is about to start – Boston Beer Week.
The fourth annual Boston Beer Week is scheduled to begin Friday, March 8 and will continue through Sunday, March 17.
At the time of writing, there were nearly 60 events scheduled throughout the greater Boston area, ranging from in-store tastings to pub crawls to beer dinners. Also on the docket is one of the best beer festivals you can ever attend, Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Fest.
I’ve been a supporter of Boston Beer Week since it began, back in 2010, by the Alstrom brothers of Beer Advocate. It’s a great way for both local breweries and local beer bars to show what they’ve got to local beer geeks. I try to make it to as many events as I can throughout the week.
Here is a rundown of what I think are the best events at Boston Beer Week:
On Friday, the first day of Boston Beer Week, there are two excellent events. If you time it right, you can get to both of them.
The first is the Valley Malt/Notch/Mass. Brewers Guild event at the Craft Beer Cellar, 51 Leonard St., Belmont.
Valley Malt, located in Hadley, is the only maltster in all of New England. Owner Andrea Stanley will be on hand talking about malting and farming and working with brewers. Chris Lohring of Notch Brewing will also be on hand pouring samples of his beers, many of which use malt from Valley Malt.
In addition, Kristen Sykes of the Mass. Brewers Guild will talk about upcoming beer events, initiatives and the state of craft brewing in the Bay State. The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m.
Also at 5 p.m. is the official Boston Beer Week Kickoff/Allagash Brewing Company Tap Takeover at the Publick House/Monks Cell, 1648 Beacon St., Brookline. This event runs until 10 p.m.
The kickoff event will feature 10 different Allagash beers on tap, including some rarities such as Yakuza, which is the Allagash Triple dry-hopped with Sorachi Ace and Cascade hops, as well as the Beer Advocate collaboration beers, BAT and BAM. The Publick House will also have some special menu items available.
On Saturday, I’ll be attending the Craft Beer Meetup at the Cambridge Brewing Company in Kendall Square. The meetup, held by lostinthebeeraisle.com and B.A.B.E.S. (Boston Area Beer Enthusiast Society), runs from noon to 4 p.m.
The event will feature a drawing for several beer-related door prizes, as well as special guest Jay Sullivan, head brewer at the Cambridge Brewing Company.
On Monday, March 11, the place to be is the Samuel Adams brewery, 30 Germania St., Jamaica Plain, where the Beer Advocate’s Social goes from 6 to 8 p.m.
Not exactly sure what is planned at the social. However, I’ve been to tons of events at Samuel Adams, and they do them right – good beer, good food and good times.
If you can’t make that Beer Advocate Social, they are holding another on Tuesday at the Harpoon Brewery and Beer Hall, 306 Northern Ave., from 5 to 8 p.m.
The Beer Hall has just opened and features 20 Harpoon beers on tap and giant, spent grain pretzels. I’m hoping I can get out of work in time to head to this event.
If you can’t make it to Harpoon, head to Stoddard’s Fine Food Ale, 46 Temple Place, for the Beer Blogger’s Tap Takeover on Tuesday, which benefits Pints for Prostate.
The event, sponsored by Area Man Drinks Beer and reviewbeer.com, runs from 6 to 11 p.m., and features beers from breweries not always seen in Boston, including Riverwalk Brewing Company, Tree House Brewing Company, Bog Iron Brewery and the Wormtown Brewery.
On Thursday, March 14, Bukowski’s Tavern, 1281 Cambridge St., Cambridge, will host the Extreme Beer Fest Pre-ThrowDown Redux from 5 to 9 p.m. The “Redux” part is because the Extreme Beer Fest was scheduled to take place a few weeks ago, but had to be rescheduled due to the blizzard at the beginning of February.
The event will feature both Todd and Jason Alstrom from Beer Advocate as well as Dogfish Head’s Founder Sam Calagione. Look for a lot of drinking and a lot of eating.
The week’s big event takes place on Friday and Saturday – the Extreme Beer Fest at the Cyclorama in Boston. The event is sold out, but there are always people looking to sell tickets. It is one of the few can’t-miss festivals of the year, and I can’t wait to go.
For a complete list of events, go to bostonbeerweek.org.
Norman Miller is a MetroWest (Mass.) Daily News staff writer. Email nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut. Follow him on Twitter at @realbeernut or on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/beernutnorman.