Last weekend was a good one for Cask Ale in Boston.We had two nights in town and went on the usual search for Cask and good beer in general.
Cambridge Brewing delivered a surprise on Friday night. Every week CBC puts a cask on at 5:00 on Tuesday; many weeks it’s gone by 8:00 pm. This Friday the cask was still there, and it was perhaps the finest pint of cask I’ve had at CBC. Apparently between the heat and Summer vacations the regulars never showed up, and the tourists ignored the cask. The brew was the Pale Ale with Cascade hops, and with three days to settle it was bright and delicious.
CBC is a bit of a walk from the Kendall Red Line stop, but it remains a terrific place to enjoy good beer. They serve only their own brews, but you can count on finding eight or ten beers on offer. Their range of beers is nicely balanced in terms of style, from reliable session beers to wildly creative, Belgian-inspired brews.
Saturday lunch was at Deep Ellum in Brighton, where we enjoyed a cask ale that was new to me, the Ipswich Brown Mild. Ipswich is usually in the “clarity isn’t that important” camp, but Max is firmly in the “my cask is served bright” camp, and our pints were beautiful. The beer is 5.5%, on the sweet side and very hoppy, with a creamy mouth feel and a lovely head. It’s definitely a beer worth a search.
There are many reasons to visit Deep Ellum, but two stand out in my mind. First, these people are very, very serious about serving good beer.They have a diverse list of excellent tap and bottled beers, well cared for, and usually have a cask ale available. Second, the place looks good, and is a very comfortable venue in which to enjoy great beer. It’s long and narrow, with black and white tile on the floor and good woodwork behind the bar. Squint your eyes and you could be in Belgium…