[BeerAdvocate] 
Boston's only lager?
Aside from Boston Beer Company's brewing of small batches out of their Jamaica Plain pilot brewery, the fine city of Boston offers us one locally brewed lager:
[BeerAdvocate] 
Hmmm ... twice as nutty
Though the beer term "imperial" once solely belonged to Russian Imperial Stouts of the 1800s—brewed for the Russian czar by UK brewers—imperial (or double) has been hijacked by today's brewers to simply denote a beer brewed to be bigger and bolder, compared to a particular style's norm. We predict that one day every style and sub-style of beer, like India Pale Ale, Pilsner and Witbier, will be imperialized or doubled (same thing) to create new beer experiences for those looking for more. Some purists may have a problem with this, but we love the direction.
[BeerAdvocate] 
You got Scotch in my Porter!
Mad River Brewing Co. has been brewing some solid brews out of Humboldt County in California since 1989. Although distribution in Massachusetts has been spotty over the last decade, it appears that they're back in town—hooray beer!— with malty and hoppy goodness like Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Extra Stout, and Double IPA, Jamaica Red Ale and Sunset IPA, and one of our favorite beers with a personality complex: Steelhead Scotch Porter.
[BeerAdvocate] 
The Rocky Mountain Pale Ale, revisited
Though canned beer has been around for decades in the US, the thought of canning beer in the craft beer world has always been a bit of a joke. However, in 2002, a small craft brewer in Lyons, Colo., became the first microbrewery to can its own beer. Hand-canning at only two at a time, Oskar Blues Brewery launched Dale's Pale Ale. Though the team at Oskar Blues started canning as a bit of a joke, the beer wasn't a joke—dancing between a Pale Ale and an India Pale Ale at 6.5-percent alcohol by volume (ABV) and 65 International Bittering Units (IBU).
[BeerAdvocate] 
Though brewed throughout the world, Blonde Ale is really an American creation. Sometimes called Golden Ale or Extra Pale Ale, the style was spawned from the German Kölsch in that it was originally made to compete with pale lagers, but brewed at higher ale temperatures and without maturing in cool conditions for extended periods of time (aka—lagering).
[BeerAdvocate] 
In a world full of extreme beers and new flavors coming out every week, we often forget to revisit the classics that many of us cut our beer teeth on.
[BeerAdvocate] 
Henry Jackson Smart had to raise six young children on his own after his wife passed away. His only daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd, organized the first Father's Day on June 19, 1910, to celebrate her dad's courage, love, selflessness and dedication to the task as a single parent times six. Fourteen years later, President Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day, and in 1972 President Nixon established permanent national observance of the day.
[BeerAdvocate] 
Lagers are underrated by most consumers and avoided by most brewers. Many consumers associate this style with some of the larger and more popular brands of American or imported lagers (and Pilsners) that often get a bad rap from beer geeks gone snob. Though arguably not as diverse as ales, lagers can actually range from pale to black, from subtle to smoky and everything in between.
[BeerAdvocate] 
Anheuser-Busch keeps it "crafty" again this summer with its seasonal release of Beach Bum Blonde Ale. Thank the beer gods they never went down the road of vaguely sexist marketing, using bad innuendos about women with blonde hair. Unfortunately, a handful of small brewers thought that anything with "Blonde" in the name meant they could slap scantily clad blonde women on the label and make a snide chauvinist joke within the branding. Wrong.
[BeerAdvocate] 
No, that's not a typo. This is a "Bière de Garde" from Flying Dog Brewery. Guard dog. Garde dog. Get it? OK. Moving on ...
The French Bière de Garde ("beer for keeping") style is sometimes referred to as the sister to the Belgian Saison, as both are Farmhouse Ales that are traditionally brewed in early spring (prime brewing conditions) using local ingredients, matured in cool storage and consumed throughout the summer months.
