I recently took a trip to Boston and even though I didn't have a lot of time for brewery visits, I did sneak two in. Despite hurting myself in my haste to make it to Democracy Brewing before it closed, I was glad I did. My experience was brief as they close at 8pm on Mondays and I got in at 7:30pm. I would want a place in Boston to be named Democracy Brewing or some version of freedom or rebellion. I spied this place when I had breakfast across the street in the morning and had it in the back of my mind all day.
The ambiance is pretty decent inside with brick walls and a kind of stucco in the ceiling. The back wall had a bunch of booths and of course, you can see in the picture above a long bar. It was very humid out that evening and I was sweating bad, so I started off with a Edge of Summer Golden Ale. I've mentioned several times, but yellow beer is something I shy away from unless the temperature dictates otherwise. I was pleasantly surprised how flavorful it was. They say it is balanced and I agree. Sometimes you get after tastes or smell something that can lead you down a road, but it was tasty and refreshing, which is what a Golden Ale should be. I believe too many brewers try to mess with lighter beers by adding citrus or something due to the popularity of IPA's. I have had a few that were disappointing for that reason. This stays true to a Golden Ale and if you like a lighter, tasty beer that will satisfy you without filling you, this is a solid choice.
Next. I went to my go to because I had like 10 minutes left. They have a beer called Minor Chords, which is a British Dark Pub Ale. I couldn't help myself. If you've ever been drinking in England in a pub, a good English Ale has a specific taste and smell and I love it. It's one of those things that immediately brings you back to that moment. This beer didn't quite get there, but it was close. It smelled of coffee and molasses. The hops and molasses are the key to English Ales, in my opinion. A totally different hop profile makes British Ales more earthy. They also were fermented in casks in the basement of the tavern rather than in the brewery and of course served at room temperature. Colonial beer was made with molasses also. Molasses happens to be a main ingredient in rum, which was a staple of the British Navy. A case has been made that the British set the course for American revolution with the Molasses Act of 1733. It set stiff taxes on molasses imported to the colonies from non-British entities, thus creating a monopoly and a more expensive staple ingredient. Molasses was the main sweetener then and it was used in the making of many foods and of course, alcohol. Necessity is the mother of invention and colonial brewers started to use other things like spruce tips, maize, parsnips and coriander. Since the law only specified taverns, home brewing exploded. Testimonials of visitors to America at that time, often comment on how wonderful the beer tasted, far better than in England. Wouldn't it be great to taste some the original craft beers of that time? Hell, yes it would. Molasses was also used to give beers a darker color, which brings me back to this Dark Ale I had. It was pretty good and very smooth. You could definitely taste the toffee and caramel in it and instead of being bitter at the end, it was kind of sweet. I don't know what the IBU's were, but I liked the beer so much that I decided to but a t-shirt. It just barely missed my British Ale memories and I think it was from the coffee taste. It smelled right, though. You should try one.
I made the huge mistake of reading about the co-founder of the brewery. This isn't the part of my blog where I get political, but needless to say, he and I would not agree on anything political. His views are really Marxist and have nothing to do with democracy. We call that irony. Let's just try to agree that the beer was good.
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