nerax 2026

The New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX) was held again at the Lithuanian Club in South Boston. I went twice again this year, on Wednesday and Friday nights, but unfortunately, I lost my Friday notes somewhere between NERAX, dinner, and the uber ride home. 2026 is the 27th year of the NERAX, and the program points out that NERAX is the longest running cask conditioned ale festival in North America.

As usual, after the cover or entrance fee ($10  this year) and a $5 deposit for a glass (you can keep the glass, if they can keep the deposit) you're in. We got there early on Wednesday, but not as early as on Friday. On Friday we got into the hall before they rang the bell for the tap opening. Picture one of the older volunteers running around the room with a hand bell, like schoolmarms used to ring at the end of recess.

Lets get to it, and at the end, I've tried to cobble together some memories of what I tried on Friday night after reviewing the program, scribbled with Wednesday's notes, and some photos of the individual menu boards my son took. [Good thinking, son!]

American casks are listed in Blue on the white boards above the bar, UK casks are in Red, and ciders are listed in Green. No cider for me this year., altho they did have a lager or two! Up first, I went to the shortest line, and picked the lowest ABV beer on the UK list. The plan was to try as many as I could without falling over, so I sampled quarter pints (Imperial) so that about 5 ounces per sample, which were $3 each.

I tried 6. Well, 7 after I gave the 6th one back (see below for why). Most were from the UK, which is usually my goal, given that my opportunities for UK cask conditioned ales are limited. 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT 

The Taps on Wednesday Night

Guardsman - Windsor & Eton Brewery, Berkshire, England (ABV 4.2%) - Best Bitter

Clear, deep honey, maple syrup color. Bright, fresh bread on the nose. The taste kept that brightness with a sharp bitterness with smooth, dry breads and pizza crust finish. It was a great start!

Haggis Hunter - Harviestoun Brewery, Alva, Clackmannshire, Scotland (ABV 4.3%) - Amber Ale

I was going to try one from Amory, but the line was too long, so the name caught my eye! Huge, thick, foamy head with an almost undetectable scent of floral and fruit, Beautiful golden yellow color, which sparkled in the setting sun. Smooth and refreshing, with a pleasing sour bitterness that reminded my of the Belgian beer taint (basement) on the first sip, but which evaporated by the second sip. Soft and tangy mouthfeel, and a long, long bitter astringent finish. {this one kicked partway thru Friday's session, with a visit from the reaper.}

Not Now, Chief - Amory's Tomb Brewing Co. /Clover Road Brewing Company, Hudson, MA, USA (ABV 4.6%) - Best Bitter

The line was shorter so it was time for the Amory/Clover joint. Loose, lacy head on a deep gold, brassy orange cloudiness with a bread on the nose and is that musk? A second opinion from my kids and they agreed that the scent was that of a wet (but clean) dog. I'm glad that wasn't what I smelled. Lingering tang, semi-sweet with mango tartness and a sharp, bitter finish. After a short chat, I had one last sip--had it warmed a little in my hand?--the scent on the last sip: soup. What a ride!

Rowan - Deciduous Brewing Company, Newmarket, NH, USA (ABV 5.5%) - Irish Stout

Black. No head (ring of micro bubbles around the glass) on thus long pour [Thanks Bro!] Creamy, melted snow and malty molasses on the nose. Clean, dark chocolate, the 93% kind! Lush, velvety mouthfeel with a soft sparkle. Where is that carbonation hiding? Dark fruit, boiled cherries and preserves.

Fen Skater - Papworth Brewery, Earith, Cambridgeshire, England (ABV 4.0%) - Pale Golden Ale

Honey color with a fine, cream colored head. Bright fruit, lemon and pithy citrus. Clean and crisp, with a dry cracker and jam finish, balanced with a pithy bitterness.

Shere Drop - Surrey Hills Brewery, Dorking, Surrey, England (ABV 4.2%) - Best Bitter

No review 

I don't know if it was me, but I brought this back after one sip. There was a strong sulfur taste to this. When I'm making wine, that sulfur smell means something has gone wrong. I was looking forward to this one, but unfortunately, things happen with real ales sometimes. No review.

Black Grouse - Loch Lomond Brewery, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland (ABV 4.0%) - Black Forest Mild

Deep brown-black with glints of rose in the light and a fine, white head. Burnt caramel on the nose. Barbecue sauce which fades to Pepsi on the first sip! What sorcery is this? [That taste profile/description was confirmed by all three others in my party after a sip.] Fruits, sauce, glaze, molasses, and malty goodness. Clingy, juicy mouth feel with a syrupy, sticky finish, which then disappears in frost and snow. What a way to end. It was like dessert before dinner. Magic.

 FRIDAY NIGHT 

After a look through the program, here's what I can remember trying. I know I had 6 samples again, but I don't recall the order, and whatever came to memory I put down here. Next time, I'll be prepared with a spot in my clothes to tuck the program away with my notes. It ended up hanging out of my back pocket, and was easily lost it seems. Again, mostly UK beers for me.

Moonshine - Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (ABV 4.3%) - Pale Ale

Schiehallion - Harviestoun Brewery, Alva, Clackmannshire, Scotland (ABV 4.8%) - Lager

This was rich and deep colored, with a complex flavor that still had the bones of a nice lager.

Sneck Lifter - Jennings Brewery, Cockermouth, Cumbria, England (ABV 5.1%) - Dark Ale

Described as polished mahogany in color. Don't say that to a woodworker; it was maple syrup color at best. It was good, and we were sad when it kicked. My son more than I as he hadn't tried it yet.

Planet Caravan - Remnant Brewing, Somerville, MA, USA (ABV 5.5%) - Smoked Porter

Double Stout - Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England (ABV 4.8%) - Stout

Dark and chocolatey.

The People's Smoke - Idle Hands Craft Ales, Malden, MA, USA (ABV 5.9%) - Rauchbier

Something is on fire in Malden! More smoky than the Black Grouse from Wednesday night. Wet wood smoke flavors. It was wild, in a good way.

 

Don't Fear the Reaper!

We went to Capo to eat after BOTH nights. [Great idea, Alessia!] Its just across the street, and what a treat. Loud on Friday night however, when its more of a night club after 9 it seems, but the food was really good. On Wednesday night we sat at the back where it was quiet, near the stone fireplace, with a huge elk's head hanging there. The house made pasta alla Bolonese was great, as were the apps. The wine on Friday was also great. The chef there is just one degree of separation from my oldest, who went to school with his spouse, and knows them both. He wasn't in on Wednesday.

 

 

 

vineyard in tuscany

Ferenc Maté has been writing for years; this book is from 2007 but the time period it recalls is closer to the 1990s I think, after Maté and his wife moved from New York to Tuscany, and bought a small house near the vineyards with their young son. After staying in that small house, becoming friends with their neighbors--who operated their own small vineyard--Maté became enamored with the idea of owning his own vineyard. A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream is his love letter to Tuscany's wine making culture and history, and is his story about how his dreams came true.

Organized in a mostly chronological order, this book follows the Maté family's journey from wine lovers to wine makers. The text appears to be based on Maté's diary entries from the period when the story takes place. The notes aren't complete enough to form an entire story arc, but enough to help you follow along. Its a curated glimpse into the origins of the Maté Winery, which is by all accounts, a very successful, small, family run winery.

Many chapters of the book are stand alone stories and anecdotes related to their search for and eventual purchase of a collapsing ancient villa, its restoration, the clearing and preparing of the fields, the planting of vines, to their first run of wines. They had a lot of expert help in all of these endeavors, and it seems to have cost a pretty penny. Maté acknowledges the help he received through stories and in explicit thanks in the back matter. The back matter also includes a number of recipes of the simple foods Maté raves about in the book. My guess is that you'll really need to have local ingredients to make them taste the way he describes them, but it can't hurt to try! one of these recipes is cooked on burning grape vines. yeah, hold my wine whilst I grab some of my vineyard trimin's

If I had to guess, this book appears to have been roughly outlined by Maté and then given to his editor along with the copies of his journal entries for polishing. I may be wrong, but if that's the case, then perhaps the editor deserves more credit. I have no evidence of that however, and it could just be that this book was meant to read like it does; a relaxed, slightly disorganized, free associative remembrance of a wonderful time in the author's younger life with his family.

A fun book to read before a trip to Italy, for sure.

essential ingredients

The School of Essential Ingredients is the first novel by Erica Bauermeister, which I picked up in paperback at my library's on-going book sale. Lillian owns a small restaurant in a quiet neighborhood, tucked into a old house with a front porch and small gardens in the yard, where she mixes flowers with herbs she uses in the kitchen. Once a week, Lillian hosts a cooking class, on Mondays when the restaurant is closed. The story opens with Lillian, and why she got into cooking, what she thinks it did for her, and how she thinks that it may help others to connect or re-connect with people, feelings, memories, and their own sense.

Each of the following chapters is focused on one of her students in this particular class, what their history is, what they bring to the class and its explorations of flavor, memory, confidence, and connectedness. Lillian sees food as more than sustenance, she sees it as one of the essential ingredients in life. The point seems to be, that there are a number of things that we as human do throughout our lives, maybe even most of our lives (such as work) which are really essential to human life. What we need is food, water, air, and in some or most cases shelter, clothes, and to procreate. That's it. Of that short list, only food gives us the opportunity to dazzle all of our senses, or perhaps just comfort them.

The cooking class is not really about food--although the descriptions of the food and the cooking are well done, and help form the backbone on which this sweet story is about. This story is about the people in it, and how slowing down and allowing their senses to indulge can help unlock other feelings they may not have been allowing themselves to have.

It was an interesting, and sensual look at what simple pleasures can do for us, and how they may not be so simple after all. This is a great first book, and I bet was popular with the book club folks, and cooking clutch folks as well.

lion for easter

So for those of you who don't know, I typically try to predict whether or not March will actually go out like a lamb, and I usually make the call around the 15th ides of march, right?

Given that I can cheat my way through by waiting until the middle of the month, I'm typically pretty good at guessing, but this year, because Wednesday is no longer Prince Spaghetti Day in the Boston area, its Nor'easter Day, I blew it.

The bet I made this year is: If I'm right we'll have lamb for Easter. no brainer But if I'm wrong we'll have lion. Little did I know how difficult it would be to make good on this bet. Its really difficult to find lion meat, as it is (of course) illegal, but I did find a source on line you have to dig pretty deep and took a ride to Vermont yesterday to meet a guy who brought it over the border from Canada. Don't think its legal in Canada either, but I didn't ask a lot of questions. I won't say any more, as I'm sure that the guy I met with isn't looking for publicity.

So, one squishy package into a cooler in the trunk, and some last-minute advice to try juniper berries to help with the gaminess from my guy really, where the hell am I going to find those? and I'm off home to try and cook this stuff up. I've had it in a brine all night, with salt, peppercorns, vinegar, bayleaf, and rosemary (which I read on line is a pretty good substitute for juniper berries.)

It just went into the oven to slow roast for dinner, I'm going to deglaze the pan with gin, which is flavored with juniper berries! I hope it comes out good! In any case, I'm glad its April.

Happy Easter everyone!

united states of beer

First off, thanks so much to the folks in Erving, who were nice enough to bring this book for us to help celebrate my office's 20th anniversary. The book came with a wonderful bottle of beer for us all to enjoy as well.

The United States of Beer, sub-titled: A Freewheeling History of the All-American Drink, is by Dane Huckelbridge, and is a follow-up to his previous endeavor, Bourbon: A History of the American Spirit. I think that he learned a lot about beer, doing his research for his bourbon book, and luckily for us, he decided to turn that research into this fun little book about America's beer history.

For the uninitiated, bourbon and beer are related; The first step in making whiskey, is to make beer (without the hops) and then distill it. Beer is therefore whiskey's daddy. It also predates the development of whiskey by millennia. Seems like a good place to start any history project, but just how closely beer is intertwined in the history of this nation is remarkable. But its as simple as one of the first (of many) take-away facts from this book: 

TAKE-AWAY FACT 1: People couldn't drink the water, it wasn't clean in most of Europe. What people drank--men, women, children--is beer. All day, every day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At home, and at work.

For centuries.

Huckelbridge walks us through the history of the nation from New England, to the South, to the Mid-west, to the coast. Each of the regions begins with its history, and importantly, where the predominant immigrants come from, and the beer styles they brought with them. Huckelbridge describes the traditional European beer, and its own history, and then the version the new American make for themselves when they arrive, working with what they have.

TAKE-AWAY FACT 2: American versions of European beers were (and are) often very different from their beery ancestors, because the conditions, and ingredients in America are not the same as they were in the countries of origin. 

By the time we get to the Mid-west, America has been around for a while, and the Germanic folks who began to move into the Mid-west brought lager beers with them, and eventually the lighter, crisper Pilsner style beers. But these beers were not (NOT) the pale, yellow, watery beers that are the standard American Big Beer company products we have today. So you know what that means...

TAKE-AWAY FACT 3: American pale lager used to be deep, rich, and flavorful. We ended up with yellow, watery American beer--produced, by the way, by some of the same companies that originally produce those better beers--due to mass marketing, and cost cutting to stay in business through prohibition.

There are lots more, and obviously, the changes to the standard American lager happened slowly, and Huckelbridge walks us through it all, ending with the history of beer making on the west coast, and how a small company in San Francisco kicked off the rebirth of American microbrews in the mid 1960s.

Read this book, while drinking a beer.

 

kitchen confidential - ii

This was one of the most entertaining non-fiction books I've read in a long time. Bourdain is brutal in his honesty, which I give him credit for. It must have been hard, but not too hard. Bourdain's personality comes through pretty clearly in this mostly autobiographical story of how he came into cooking professionally, how he got where he is now, and the many, many mistakes he made along the way. But its his personality that brightens, and darkens, this story.

I say that it mustn't have been too hard for Bourdain to make these confessions about what goes on in restaurant kitchens, while we sit in the dinning room, or about the choices he's made in his life, because I get the distinct impression that he doesn't care what you or I think. He's lived a different life than the rest of us, so who are we to judge, seems to be the message.

But after what he's been through, he's still not all hard edges and callus, there is a softer side that shines through as well, albeit, not that often. I said earlier that reading his stories was like hanging around at a party with an old friend telling war stories. I still think that. It think it would be great fun to hang out with him for a night, and maybe bar hop, in Hong Kong or somewhere, and listen to him talk about food, how its made, and why we love it so much. In the end, Kitchen Confidential is a love letter to food, from the old boyfriend whose been thrown out so many times, he can't remember, but he can't give her up.