Jack's Abby Brewing

Whenever I have some free time traveling, I try to visit a new brewery or two.  I just got back from a trip to Boston to visit family, and of course Sam Adams and Harpoon both came to mind, but I had been to both previously and they both can get super crowded on the weekends.  So I was happy to learn about a new brewery that just opened last summer even closer to my relatives home.  The brewery is called Jack's Abby and is located in Framingham, MA.

The entrance resembled the typical So. Cal. microbrewery, a non-descript building in an industrial park

I did a little research on them before showing up, so I knew a little bit about their story, but was welcomed by a friendly tasting room staff who was able to fill in the details and also give me a tour of the brewery.

They are run by three brothers who are all full time employees, as well as two other full time employee's.  One of the brothers is Jack, and his wife is Abby, hence the name of the brewery.  Abby was manning the tasting room when I showed up.  Jack was the head brewer, and the other brothers were in charge of sales, marketing, operations, and other duties.

The current selections on tap in the tasting room.  

One of the first interesting things about Jack's Abby was their decision to brew only lagers.  Lagers are typically more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to brew.  But Jack told me for those same reasons most microbreweries stay away from lagers and he thought it would be a way to differentiate themselves.

Descriptions of the beers

Even though they have only been in business for a short period of time, they have some pretty impressive equipment.  Their brewhouse is a 20 barrel kettle with mash tun, and then they have five 40 barrel fermenters.  They recently ordered a bright tank and two more fermenters.  Plus they have a bottling line capable of bottling 1300 bottles an hour.

The brewhouse, 20 bbl capacity

They currently have five 40 bbl fermenters and are planning to get a few more

Another part that was interesting to me was the contrast in liquor laws between California and Massachusetts.  Breweries in MA aren't allowed to sell beer to drink in their tasting rooms.  For this reason, Jack's Abby offered free tastings of all of their beers, but only 2 ounce pours, and no pints.  They sold bottles and growler fills in the tasting room also, and seemed to be doing a pretty solid growler business.  The entire time I was there, there was a pretty constant flow of people coming in to fill growlers.  Also, all of the breweries in MA sell their growlers for refundable deposits.

Huge logo on the wall

Finally, on to the beers.  All of them were pretty tasty.  Jabby Brau, their session lager, was nice and crisp, light and drinkable, but still with some nice hop bitterness to give it some character.  Hoponius Union was their IPL, which apparently they can't officially call an India Pale Lager since it isn't a recognized beer style, but it was pretty solid as well.  My favorites were the Biere de Garde which had some nice spiciness from the hops and the rye, as well as the baltic porter.  I went with a growler of the Biere de Garde, and it was a definite crowd pleaser that evening.  Overall, all six were pretty tasty, and I will definitely be heading back there again on future trips to the area.  If you happen to find yourself in the suburbs of Boston, be sure to look them up!