Hey guys! Gay Beer Club (GBC) founder, Andy, here with another update on the great beers happening in our beloved city. While GBC is committed to Cambridge Brewing Company (CBC), our Sunday night home, the rest of the week we’re free to philander and get some strange at another beer bar. So last week, when I found myself around Back Bay and thirsty, I stopped into Bukowski Tavern for a pint or more.
Don’t let its little red facade fool you, Bukowski Tavern is a Back Bay institution for local beer lovers. Bukowski’s boasts one of the best beer menus in Boston and a dead authors mug club the membership to which most assuredly requires a tough skin, the bartenders there have alluring attitude, and might require a second liver. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised to find only one barstool open when I entered on a Thursday night.
To some, a beer menu of over 20 choice taps and too many bottles and cans to count can be intimidating, but keeping your options open can be a good thing. When in doubt, my instinct is to order the best Porter on the menu because, as many of you should know, I’m a Porter (shameless previous blog plug). Well apparently, I had this thought out loud because the gentleman to my left chimed in with,”They have Mayflower on tap.” To which I replied, “Oh cool, I like their Porter!”
It turns out this suggestion was a sales pitch, and a welcomed and effective one, from my new friend, Ian, the Mayflower Brewing Company sales rep. Ian served me a plastic cup shooter of Mayflower Porter, delicious as always, and then suggested another Mayflower offering:
Mayflower Thanksgiving Ale, Mayflower Brewing Company, Plymouth, MA: 8% ABV
The Mayflower Thanksgiving Ale is a bountiful oak barrel-aged American strong ale. Visually, this beer is a dark crimson/brown suspending a beautiful beige foamy head. Dark fruit sweetness saturates the nose and the first sip of this robust beer greets you with vanilla, caramel, and toffee maltiness. As your palate adjusts, the sweetness mellows, instantly transporting you to Thanksgiving dinners past and future where a generous slice of homemade caramel apple pie finishes the feast. A full-bodied banquet of a beer, Mayflower’s Thanksgiving Ale is yet another reason to be thankful this season.
Thanksgiving is my favorite meal to prepare and I will definitely be picking up a sixer of this delicious brew to imbibe while basting. Being the amazing salesman he is, Ian even hooked me up with a Mayflower pint glass so that I can “Taste the History” in style at home. Of course, as the spirits began to dissolve my inhibitions, I became more interested in his story than in his beer’s history. But I kept it cool.
I did go with a Porter for my second beer. Fuller’s London Porter, a great beer in itself.
Postscript: Apparently Mayflower is having trouble keeping up demand for its Thanksgiving Ale. After leaving Bukowski Tavern I stopped by three well-stocked places for that six-pack only to come up empty each time. If anyone can find this beer please let me know. Here’s a link to Bukowski Tavern, which if you haven’t checked out, you should: http://bukowskitavern.net/home