Bay State brewer wants to ‘bring great beer to the masses’

Everyone is entitled to great beer. That’s the story behind Entitled Brewing Co., the Bay State’s newest beer maker, founded by a team that runs some of Greater Boston’s most sophisticated drinking and dining spots.

“We want to bring great beer to the masses,” said Entitled partner Brian Barry.

The Entitled crew celebrated the release of ­Entitled India Pale Ale with a kickoff party July 23 at Union Brewhouse in Weymouth.

The beer was tapped just weeks after Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing Co. broke into a market that moves and shakes at dizzying speed. Massachusetts is quickly­ closing in on 100 beer makers. Thirty years ago, there were 80 breweries in the entire nation.

Entitled represents the rapidly changing paradigm in the American food community in which beer, once seen by culinary sophisticates as the second-class swill of Joe Six-Pack, has gained its rightful place on the table of upscale diners.

The beer-maker’s founders are the restaurant industry veterans behind Eat Well Inc., which operates Hingham’s Caffe Tosca, Stars on Hingham Harbor, the South Shore’s 25-year-old landmark beer bar, and rustic, upscale Tosca, widely praised as the best restaurant south of Boston.

Barry is Eat Well’s beverage director; Jim Hodgdon is its managing partner and an avid homebrewer. ­Entitled IPA is based upon one of his creations.

They did not tip-toe daintily into the market. ­Entitled IPA is a bold, daring beer that attacks the palate with muscular flavor and a big hop profile typical of contemporary American India pale ale.

But it has plenty of signature qualities to stand out from the pack. Most notably, Entitled IPA is made from a heavy portion of honey malt and wheat flakes, which lighten the body and help create a cleaner, easy-drinking beer.

But don’t let that drinkability fool you: Entitled IPA boasts a whopping 70 international bittering units (a measure of hop levels) and 7.2 percent alcohol.

The beer is flavored with Cascade and Columbus hops in the boil, then finished with a unique new pellet hop called Falconer’s Flight, a blend of the seven famed American “C” hops: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus and Crystal. It gives the beer a distinct tropical fruit finish.

Eat Well customers tore through 20 kegs of an early version of the beer that was crafted by Wormtown Brewing Co. of Worcester last fall.

“I thought the beer would last three to four months,” said Barry. “It was gone in two-and-a-half weeks.”

Seizing on the opportunity, Barry and Hodgdon created Entitled Brewing Co. Their beer is now made at Mercury Brewing Co. in Ipswich In addition to the aforementioned eateries, you can sip Entitled IPA at Red Lantern and Empire in Boston, or purchase kegs at Curtis Liquors in Cohasset. ­Entitled IPA is distributed by Bay State Wine Spirits of Avon.

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