The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 2 was inspired by an article in the Boston Globe Magazine: 10 great craft breweries to try in Central Mass. - The Commonwealth’s midsection is becoming a hot spot for beer businesses.
Read about The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 1 here.
Read about The Central Mass Brew Tour, Part 1 here.
The route was 68 miles with 4 breweries on tap--Wormtown, Medusa, Jack’s Abby, and 3Cross.
We rode the East Coast Greenway for the first 25 miles and the last 6 miles with no overlanding planned, but there was one stretch of dirt road due to construction. We also rode two short segments of nicely paved bikepaths--the Assabet River Rail Trail, and the Blackstone River Bikeway next to the very busy Worcester-Providence Turnpike.
We started in Worcester and rode nice roads through Boylston, Berlin, Hudson, to Framingham. We left Jack's Abby in Framingham after sunset, and rode in the dark on fairly busy streets through Ashland, Westborough, and Milbury back to Framingham.
We rode the East Coast Greenway for the first 25 miles and the last 6 miles with no overlanding planned, but there was one stretch of dirt road due to construction. We also rode two short segments of nicely paved bikepaths--the Assabet River Rail Trail, and the Blackstone River Bikeway next to the very busy Worcester-Providence Turnpike.
We started in Worcester and rode nice roads through Boylston, Berlin, Hudson, to Framingham. We left Jack's Abby in Framingham after sunset, and rode in the dark on fairly busy streets through Ashland, Westborough, and Milbury back to Framingham.
We parked at 3Cross a bit before noon, and got back about 7pm to end our brew tour with a few other cyclists hanging out at the brewery.
Wormtown was our first stop, after only 15 minutes of biking.
My favorite was the 'Murica Porter.
The Men's room was plastered with brewery stickers. My favorite was Magic Hat's "Apres-ski it if you can" with a photo of the Mad River Glen single chair.
We didn't stop for photos, but every time we stopped to make room for more beer, I snapped a photo or two. There were a few colorful spots along the route, but many trees were bare, and most of the remaining had brown leaves.
Medusa won the prize for best names. Island of Misfit Hops was brewed with leftover hops. Freudian Sip (my favorite here) was a amber German-style lager.
Assabet River Rail Trail
Ahhhh! New pavement is awesome.
A couple of bikes outside Jack's Abby had fenders made out of beer cans.
Jack's Abby served the best beer of the day, and their Framinghammer Barrel-Aged Porter was my favorite. I could have had a flite of 4 different Framinghammers: the standard, the chipotle, the PBJ, and the cocoa-nut.
The local cheese and charcuterie plate was delicious.
The 3Cross owner/brewer is a young (20-something?) bike enthusiast. He has a friend who collects bikes and has them on display at the 3Cross brewery / tap room.
Planning Details
Our route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10944186- Wormtown - opens at 12, tour at 12:30
- Medusa - opens at 12, BYOF
- 3Cross - opens at 5, BYOF (Price Chopper across the street)
Worcester's Wormtown Brewery takes top honor in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship
The Wormtown Brewery beat out powerhouses of the brewing world such as Samuel Adams, Stone Brewing, Yuengling and Saranac Brewing to take home the title of Grand National Champion in the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship. “We try our best to make the best beers we can and to get that recognition on the national level is icing on the cake," said Wormtown Brewery Master Brewer Ben Roesch. "The brewing team all really works hard and to have us all be recognized like this is something great to cherish.” Complete Story
3Cross looking to make mark in craft beer brewing
Entering the brewery, would-be imbibers are greeted by a long concrete-topped bar with bicycle gears set into the molding. Performing a 360-degree turn, guests will immediately notice a slew of bike hooks and Howland behind the bar with his cycling cap on.
Aside from brewing beer, one of Howland’s other passions is cycling, and while he moved on from working in the bicycle industry prior to founding 3Cross, his passion for the sport is carried on in his craft.
The Mosaic Pale is one of Howland’s single-hop series, a beer hopped exclusively using Mosaic hops. The Mosaic Hop is a unique hop only recently created by Hop Breeding Company, an organization that has roots stretching back over a century in creating uniquely-American hops, and Howland uses it to achieve a terrific variety of flavors, claiming that “this beer changes with every sip” as flavors of passion fruit, guava, lime, pine and even bubblegum percolate on every drinker's tongue. Complete story
Estimated itinerary:
- 10:45 - drive from Winchester to 3Cross
- 11:45 - ride to Wormtown
- 12:00 - Wormtown tasting (if skip tour at 12:30, leave 30m earlier)
- 13:00 - ride to Medusa
- 14:20 - Medusa tasting
- 14:40 - ride to Jack's Abby
- 15:45 - Jack's Abby for dinner
- 16:45 - ride to 3Cross
- 19:00 - 3Cross tasting
- 19:30 - drive home (or longer if A&J join me)
- 20:30 - arrive home
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