Mayflower Brewing Company, Plymouth, MA

I've decided to do an occasional blog post that focuses on one particular American brewery at a time.  One reason for doing this is simply that I enjoy doing this.  It's an opportunity .... okay I admit it more like an excuse .... to try as many of the range of beers of one particular brewery that I can get my hands on.  It's not possible for me to do this in one sitting because many of these breweries will have at least 1/2 dozen beers and some of them are very strong.  I think the timing is good because I've recently gotten into discussions online and in person with folks about how American brewing really gets a bad rap because of it's long black hole period from post prohibition up until the craft beer explosion in the last couple of decades.  The truth of the matter is that the American brewing industry has seen a massive explosion of number of breweries, variety, and quality in the last 20 years or so that I think might be unprecendented in the history of beer brewing.  I think this fact sometimes goes unnoticed by many people that still identify American beer as cheap industrial lager like Budweiser, Miller, etc.

Okay so here goes with blog Post #1 in this series.  I figured I'd start local with a set of beers that I drink from time to time and that is Mayflower Brewing Company based in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Mayflower is only about a 30 minute drive from my home and when you first drive up to it you would think it was just an office building but they do indeed brew their own beers and have a bottling line and like a lot of small breweries in Mass. they distribute the beer themselves thus circumventing the archaic and unhelpful distribution system that is in place in this state. 

I think most microbreweries kind of have a certain character or identity to them.  In other words, what is this particular brewery trying to accomplish with it's products?  What styles are they focusing on and why?  Mayflower is kind of a no-brainer.  They are for the most part brewing classic english style beers and being that Plymouth is one of the original British American colonies I think that creates a nice synergy that makes a lot of sense considering the history of the town they reside in.  Also the fact that the town of Plymouth itself definately has an English feel to it.  On the website, the founder and president of Mayflower Brewing claims to be a descendant of John Alden.  I'm sure he wouldn't make that claim if it weren't true since the people of Plymouth tend to be very persnickety about claiming lineage to original members of the original settlement in Plymouth.  So again there is more synergy. 
Reading between the lines, it seems the founder of the brewery made a fair bit of money and contacts in his previous career as an investment banker and invested that into a nice little brewery in Plymouth.  Nice idea.

So like I said they brew a range of beers that is definately English derived.  Their core/year round beers are a Golden Ale, IPA, Porter, and Pale Ale.  Like most microbreweries they also do seasonal beers such as Imperial Stout, Thanksgiving Ale (Barleywine), Oatmeal Stout, Summer Rye Ale, and Autumn Wheat.  I didn't have access to all the seasonals at the time but I got 3 out of the 5.

I started out with the Golden Ale.  This one might be the sleeper in the whole bunch.  Very refreshing beer with a nice little hop zing (but not too much) to it.

The Pale Ale was just average for the style but no complaints.  I'd certainly order it in a bar if it was available. 

I actually was surprised by the Autumn Wheat.  I didn't expect to like it much because I'm not a huge American Wheat beer fan in the first place but this one was very nice.  It was kind of Altbier-ish (i.e. nice caramel flavor) and I think making it an Autumn seasonal is a good choice not that I'd complain if someone handed me a glass in April.

Their Porter is very solid.  One of the nicest microbrewed Porters I've had.  Very, very drinkable.

The IPA is definately more like a modern American version of the style rather than classic English.  It is quite bitter.  A perfectly fine beer but not one I can drink a lot of.

Now we get to the heavy hitters.  First off the Thanksgiving Ale.  To be honest I don't like it much.  Too much alcohol flavor in it.  Now in fairness, I'm not a fan of Barleywines to begin with and this is very reminscent of a Barleywine (I'm not sure if that was their intention or not).  It is very strong and that fact is not hidden.  It's a tough one for me to get to the bottom of.  I could probably enjoy it more in smaller doses.  I think maybe I need to turn the Pilsner Urquell log around when taking these pictures. 

But now to finish off with the real winner in the whole lot.  The Imperial Stout.  Absolutely, frigging delicous.  One of the best Imperial Stouts I've had.  This one I savored.

So all in all Mayflower brews very solid beers.  I don't love all of them but that's only natural.  A couple are just "meh" and then there are 3 or 4 that I really enjoyed (Golden Ale, Autumn Wheat, Porter, and Imperial Stout).  I think they really focus on doing a solid job with the range of beers that they have. 

So where is the best place to enjoy a pint or three of Mayflower beer.  Well the BBC in Plymouth of course.  They usually have several of their offerings on tap and I think sometimes in the cask as well.  Also it's a beautiful little shoebox size pub right off main street Plymouth with a great selection of beer for the size of the place.  IMO it's the best pub (for beer and atmosphere only) in the BBC chain.