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Our August MBWG meeting featured some new members, a splendid brewery tour of the original Shipyard brewery, and some very tasty barley wine at Federal Jack’s in Kennebunkport. With one founder now out of state, another down with a stomach bug, and two members deciding to meet us at Fed Jack’s, four of us (and two DD’s, a.k.a. very patient wives) met at Great Lost Bear for a quick pint before heading down the Turnpike to Kennebunkport.

We arrived just before 7:00 PM on Wednesday to find the parking area jammed with cars. The rainy weather probably helped business, but the slow economy sure doesn’t seem to be hurting Kennebunkport’s tourism much. After Sean and Chris arrived, we shared a pint with brewer Mike Haley and then headed downstairs for a tour of the brewery where Alan Pugsley (and Fred Forsley) started Shipyard some 16 years ago.

We got a wonderful tour of what has to be the nicest 7 Bbl brewing system in the world. Brewers Mike Haley and Nick Marray run a fairly autonomous operation with minimal oversight from Portland. As something of a working museum to Shipyard and Pugsley’s widely-sold brewing system, there are numerous plexiglass windows showing the outside world what goes on inside. This, and Haley’s obsessive attention to detail, ensures that everything is clean and organized inside.

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Dave Evans from GLB emailed me to let me know that they’ve installed a new set of taps that will pour Allagash specialty brews exclusively. The current line up features Curieux, Fluxus (’08, I assume), Hugh Malone, Musette, and Victor Ale. They also have the White on tap as usual, and this week finds Black on cask from one of the hand pumps in the back corner of the bar. Seven lovely Allagash brews, and five that are very hard to find on tap. I think I know where I’m going for lunch tomorrow. And dinner.

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…

We were in Boston last Tuesday for a morning of business meetings and errands. Our mood called for a casual seafood lunch, so we made our way to The Summer Shack on Dalton Street. The Shack offers superb seafood, but alas a dreadful beer list.

Having lunched well, we felt we deserved a good beer. Fortunately, help was just up the street at Bukowski Boston.

Bukowski is a gem just off Boyleston Street, near the Newbury Street shops. It’s a small bar with a serious list of bottled beer and fourteen well chosen draft beers. Best of all they generally have a cask ale on offer.

While certainly not a rarity, the Smuttynose IPA on cask was a welcome sight on a sweltering day. To my taste the massive hoppiness of this beer in bottle or keg version is a bit over the top and can be tiring. In cask the harsh edges seem softer and the luxurious mouth feel seems to balance the immense hop and grapefruit flavors that are the signature of this beer. A superb pint of cask like this inevitably suggests another, but we faced a drive back to Portland so one was the limit.

No problem, I knew that Dogfish Head night at Novare Res awaited us in Portland…