Metro Boston's Best Brewpubs

Lately beer has been touted as good a pairing with food as wine. While most gastronomic elitists will scoff at the idea, it seems that Boston brewpub chefs seem to have caught onto this trend years ago and have perfected their craft around great food going with even greater food. The food has got to come fast, it has to be hot and it needs to be fresh. With a fresh group of young people coming into Boston every year with worldly taste buds and discerning preferences, Boston area eateries are continually having the bar raised on them.

Boston Beer Works
112 Canal Street
Boston, MA 02114

Located close to North Station and the TD Bank North Center, Boston Beer Works is a great place to enjoy a few beers and munchies on a summer day. Outdoor seating and some of the best nachos in the city are just part of the charm of this chain. The beer is excellent with constantly changing options to choose from. The Pilsner is a light and crisp option to cool off your palate after eating a spicy basket of buffalo wings. If Canal Street isn't quite your scene, check out their two other locations by Fenway Park and in Salem, Massachusetts.

Grendel's Den
89 Winthrop St
Cambridge, MA 02138

A true happy hour can be tough to find in or around Boston. Come Five O'clock there may be drafts for a few dollars or some mediocre munchies on sale. Grendel's Den looks down upon this lax policy for happy hours. Why not let the happy hour spread into several hours? Maybe even a happy day? Evenings during the week are divided into early evening happy hours and late night happy hours and Sunday has a long stretch of happy hours where the creative and deliciously prepared menu can be sampled at half price with the purchase of just one single alcoholic drink. Don't ask for Budweiser or Miller though, because you'll only sympathetic look and a shrug towards the chalk board displaying the craft beer specials. Talk about a reason to sleep in and get your calories in at a single sitting! Grendel's can get quite packed with Harvard students when school is on, so be careful to not drink too much if you're feeling chatty; you'll need your wits about you!

The Publick House
1648 Beacon St
Brookline, MA 02445

Located on the C-Line in Brookline, Washington Square's Publick House offers an intimidating list of local and import brews at reasonable prices. The service can be slow and lacking for food, but the beers come steadily. It pays dividends to be assertive in a place like this and jabber at whichever waiter or waitress comes by to get some sort of attention. When the food comes out hot and on point, you'll be hard pressed to find a more satisfying experience. If it wasn't for those pesky concealed weapons laws in Massachusetts it would be a grand pleasure to smuggle a 12 inch bowie knife into the establishment and carve names and slogans into the massive square footage of antique looking wood decorating the entire restaurant.

Boston is a great sports town with a young population that loves to eat up and be merry with strong drink. This can lead for lots of stiff competition for local chefs and pub owners, but I'm sure they'd tell you if you can't take the heat, don't get out of the kitchen, just grab a cold beer and eat up!

Resources:

http://www.beerworks.net/
http://www.grendelsden.com/