Back Bay IPA – Boston Beer Works
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Before heading over to Boston Beer Works later in the evening, I pulled off one of the most amazing feats of my life: I watched an entire Red Sox game at Fenway Park without drinking a drop of beer!
Every ballgame I’ve been to has been accompanied by plenty of cheap beer with high price tags. Spending more than $7 on a Coors Light is one of those ridiculous economic realities that only present themselves at sporting events, theme parks, and recurring nightmares.
I cruised Fenway during the third inning to assess the beer situation. Most of the beer lines lead to cheap domestic drafts, but if you are picky you can find a handful of “premium” beer lines. These include Budweiser American Ale, Samuel Adams Lager, Samuel Adams Light, and Heineken; and in the Home Plate Concourse, you’ll find a concession stand that bills itself as an Irish Pub where they serve Guinness, Harp, & Smithwick’s.
The good beer waits for you outside the ballpark, as so many of my Twitter beer followers reminded me after I asked for beer recommendations. And no establishment near Fenway has a better variety of craft beer than Boston Beer Works. For weekend games, Boston Beer Works is packed before, during, and after the Red Sox take the field. But this was a Tuesday game, so it only took five minutes to get through the line and make our way to the bar.
Placards hanging above the bar announce which beers are on tap. Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale was clearly a favorite among the patrons (served with plenty of floating blueberries), and several people asked when their seasonal Watermelon Ale would be available (June). But a quick scan of the menu pulled my attention to their Cask Conditioned Back Bay IPA.
The bar was busy, but I managed to ask one of the bartenders about the difference between Cask Conditioned Back Bay IPA and the Back Bay IPA on draught. He said it was aged in the cask for about a week and that it would be less carbonated and there would be a woodiness to the flavor, so I decided to grab a pint of the cask conditioned IPA.
Back Bay IPA filled the pint after several pulls from the cask. The bar was a bit dim but I think I managed a good look at the beer — Back Bay IPA was a dark, caramel-tinged amber with a fairly narrow head. Hop aroma rolled off the beer, citrusy and pine smelling, and it felt creamy and smooth in my mouth. Piney hops bit from the first sip down to the very last, but there was also an oak-like, bourbon barrel quality rounding out the flavor. It was a good IPA, decently hopped, and with a creamy mouthfeel and oaked flavor that made me very glad I ordered it from the cask.
My next tickets to Fenway are on Friday, so I’ll be coming back to Boston Beer Works very soon for more.
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