Jack's Abbey

It's a great time to be a beer lover in New England.  It seems like a few new microbreweries pop-up every couple of years.  One that has intrigued me since they've come on the scene in 2011 is Jack's Abbey Brewing in Framingham, Mass.  What caught my attention about these guys is that they are dedicated to brewing lagers and doing so with plenty of creativity.  Let's face it recipe creativity and commercial lager brewering haven't typically gone hand in hand.  On top of that a lager microbrewery in the US and even more so here in New England is a real rarity.  Okay so Jack's Abbey breaks the mold so the next question is, are their beers any good?  A few of use tried their "Smoke and Dagger" beer on Cask at the recent NERAX cask ale festival in Haverhill.  We all liked it a lot.  It is lightly smoked dark lager.  When I visited the brewery they told me they only used about 10% smoked malt but it's enough to be noticeable.  But they have a lot more beers to choose from.  So I had no choice but to go and investigate this new, upstart brewery.  So a couple of weeks ago I headed up there on a late Friday afternoon to do just that.

They're just outside Framingham center in a small industrial park off of route 135.  I had trouble finding the place at first so I gave them a call and got directions.  Its set in an old brick industrial building and you walk right into their retail storefront.  The first thing you see is the growler filling/sample serving area that consists of an about 8 ft bar with some stools to sit at.  On the wall to the left is some Germany brewery paraphenalia (coasters, etc.) hinting that the guys running the brewery have done some personal R&D into lager brewering and drinking in Germany (a very good sign).  There's a big glass window behind the serving counter giving the customers a view into the brewery shop floor.  I  noticed what appeard to be a large walk in largering room.  Next to the window is a whiteboard listing all the beers they currently had on tap.  They had an impressive selection of 7 beers on tap at the time.  I got there just in time to get the last growler of Dopplebock as they took that off tap and put the newly release Baltic Porter on right before I arrived.  What timing!!

One of the things that immediately struck me is that there were a handful of customers sitting at the serving counter enjoying plenty of samples while waiting for growlers to be filled.   The folks at Jack's Abbey are plenty generous with their visitors.

They were very busy filling growlers for locals popping in and stocking up for the weekend.  I knew it was going to be a significant wait but I didn't mind since plenty of samples were to be had in the meantime.  They asked me what I wanted and my reply was "One growler of each!".  This brought some curious looks from the other customers but when I explained that I came all the way from the Cape just to try their beer and I would be damned if I left without one of each I think they understood.  Now they just thought I was crazy from driving all the way from the Cape.  Oh well. 

While waiting and enjoying samples I scoped out the brewery, the tshirts for sale, paraphenalia, etc. and talked about beer with the other visitors. 

I was there for about 1 hour and probably sampled at least one of each beer while getting all seven growlers filled.  They gave me a free beer glass as a souvenier and of course I bought a TShirt.  I haven't been clothes shopping in a while and my wardrobe is beer and sports based so buying a TShirt was kind of mandatory.

The guys that own and run the place are really nice folks and very hospitable and you can tell they really enjoy what they're doing.  I look forward to going back and now that I'm on the last growler as we speak (Baltic Porter btw) a return visit is imminent.

Here's the rundown of the beers I left with:

Jabby Brau - This is the one probably most like a standard Pilsener or even Bavarian Helles lager.  Their weakest beer at 4.5% but tasted quite good.  Unfortunately as I got near the bottom of the growler it got really murky and not very drinkable but luckily I didn't have that problem with the others.

Smoke and Dagger - Dark and a bit smokey but not at all heavily smoked.  Probably my favorite beer of theirs.

Hoponius Union - A super hoppy lager. They call it an India Pale Lager (eyeroll) but it's a seriously tasty beer.  I broke this growler open last weekend at a feast we had at my house and everyone that tried it liked it a lot. 

Cascadian Schwarzbier.  -  Bloody hell I don't remember drinking this one.  I think I opened this at the tail end of a long brew day.  A dark lager with loads of citrusy hops.  I wish I could remember it.

Hey Diddle Diddle - Double India Dunkle Lager (another eyeroll).  Okay basically a amber lager with loads of hops in both quantity and variety.  To my surprise, I really enjoyed it.  I prefer a smooth, nutty, almost sweetish Dunkle so I figured this one would be somewhat revolting but not so.  Another growler that bit the dust on a brewday.  Maybe I drank this one first, at 8% ABV, and that's why I don't remember the other one?

Saxonator Dopplebock - Enjoyed this at Dana's brewday last weekend.  Not bad.  I think Dana and I both agreed that we liked the Cape Cod Old Man Winter Ale better.  I really think it's hard to create a truly great Dopplebock without a triple decoction and I don't think Jack's does that. But maybe I'm wrong.  Don't get me wrong, this beer was very good and the growler died a respectable death but it didn't quite stack up to some of the great Bavarian/Franconian bock beers I've had.  But I'd buy it again, just for the record.  I've been spoiled when it comes to bock beers.

Framinghammer Baltic Porter - I'm having a glass of this now.  It's thick and strong (10% ABV).  There's no doubt when you first taste this that it's got a kick but it's more of a pleasant alcohol warming taste combined with plenty of malty/chocolate/roasty flavors.  They could have called this an Imperial Stout and I wouldn't know the difference.

Jack's Abbey is a stellar addition to the Massachusetts beer world.  I'm heading back for refills soon.