Massachusetts Beer

Massachusetts Craft Brewers Festival is for local brewers, by local brewers

Our marquee event returns with a new name and the same dedication to Bay State beer.

What better way to support Massachusetts craft breweries than with a big ol’ beer fest? So that’s exactly what we at the MBG are doing: Bringing our fans and friends together for our biggest fundraiser of the year. The Massachusetts Craft Brewers Festival, coming up on Saturday, April 29, at the Cyclorama in Boston, showcases more than 40 local breweries pouring the beers they’re most excited to share.

Known as the Power Beer Fest since our first foray in 2017, we changed the name this year to amplify that the Massachusetts Craft Brewers Festival is run by local brewers, for local brewers.

From the Berkshires to the South Shore, areas throughout the state are represented in the brewery lineup. With great anticipation, we’re watching as they share their draft lists ahead of the festival: Beer fans will have a chance to try:

  • Holy Schnitt! Munich Helles by True North Ale Co., a 2022 Best of Craft Beer bronze medal winner

  • Quaffable Waffle Blueberry Pastry Stout by Bright Ideas Brewing

  • a plethora of New England IPAs

  • a few flavor-forward finds from new-to-Mass. brewery Long Live Beerworks

  • and many, many more. (Here’s where we remind everybody to please drink responsibly!)

Check out the growing beer list here.

As the beverage landscape has changed and craft brewers are producing more seltzers and hard ciders, so, too, has our festival adapted. New this year: There will be a limited number of non-beer offerings available from breweries making alternative drinks. 

We’ll have water stations available, so BYO bottle to fill. Attendees are also welcome to bring snacks and pretzel necklaces. Our friends and food purveyors The Burgundunian, The Sausage Guy, and Wild Fox Pierogi will be on hand with more substantial fare for sale. Hands full? No problem. Phygit Foods will be selling pretzel necklaces and wearable snacks with proceeds benefiting the Federation for Children with Special Needs.

Sound fun? You better get tickets soon—the first session is nearly sold out. 

The Massachusetts Craft Brewers Festival spans two sessions, from 1-4:30 p.m. and 6-9:30 p.m. Tickets are $55 for general admission and $10 for designated drivers and available on Eventbrite. As always, all ticket proceeds support the Mass Brewers Guild’s mission to protect and promote the interests of craft brewers. 

Six Pack Questionnaire Series: Aeronaut Brewing Co.

Meet Mark Bowers - Brewmaster at Aeronaut Brewing Co.

Full Name?

Mark Bowers

Your title? 

Brewmaster

Brewery Name? 

Aeronaut Brewing Company

Brewery Location? 

14 Tyler St, Somerville, MA 02143

   

#1) What made you decide to get into the craft brewing industry?

Since an early age (16 or so!) I've been fascinated by beer and brewing it. Although I did not start my career in professional brewing, after a long stint in R&D in chemistry & medical devices, I changed careers and went into craft brewing, a great love of mine.

 

#2) Which of your beers do your customers enjoy the most and why?

Hop Hop & Away. Labeled as a session IPA, this beer that has a wonderful hoppy flavor but lower bitterness. It also fits nicely between a traditional American pale ale and the newer NEIPAs (New England IPAs). It's very approachable by beer neophytes but also appeals to typical beer consumers.

#3) What's your favorite thing about your brewery?

I really like the way our brewery (in Somerville) is almost part of the taproom. Most breweries rarely, if ever, have the actual brewery area where beer is made in the same room as the taproom. 

Having the brewhouse and fermenters right up front and close appeals to the beer nerd and gear head in me. I also like to think that this fosters the feeling that we at Aeronaut want to be up front in showing, explaining, and telling people about our beers.

 

#4) Besides your own, what Massachusetts craft beers or breweries impress you the most and why? 

Jack's Abby make wonderful lagers and show the US that craft brewers can specialize in lagers and make a go of it. Also, Notch Brewing; not only do they also make wonderful lagers but most of their beers are lower in alcohol and still full of flavor.

 

#5) What’s a little known fact about you or your brewery that you think customers would get a kick out of? Something unique, funny or unusual? 

Although we've occasionally explained the origin of the name of one of our flagship or core beers, A Year with Dr. Nandu, it likely remains unknown to the majority of our customers. Here is what one of our founders, Ronn Friedlander has to say about it:

“Dr. Hari Nandu, is a radiologist that makes vulgar jokes. [Our first beer] was named after we sat around with Dr. Nandu for a few hours trying to come up with a name for the brewery. He kept coming up with really funny, but inappropriate names. So we came up with the name A Session with Dr. Nandu to commemorate those naming sessions with a session IPA. On our first year anniversary we brewed A Year with Dr. Nandu, a retrospective on our first year as a brewery to reflect the things we’ve learned over the past year as a re-imagining of the Session.” 

  

#6) If you could only drink one beer for the rest of your life what would it be? (Doesn’t have to be your own!)

That would be Schönramer Pils. The first beer I fell in love with was a German pale lager beer, Lowenbrau Export, that my great uncle introduced me to. And although I've enjoyed and still enjoy a lot of different kinds of beers, I always greatly prefer a well-made lager, and the pilsner from Private Landbrauerei Schönram is simply superb. This beer is being brewed by a transplanted American brewer, Eric Toft, who is considered by many well-known, accomplished brewers to be on the short list of best brewers in the world. His pils is not only great tasting, but it's so easy to keep drinking it...and ordering another and another!