One of the best things about living in Cambridge is the Cambridge Brewing Company. It’s a nice, spacious location, with a lot more restaurant space than bar space (the food’s pretty decent though I’m not too impressed by the pizza), not too crowded on the weekends. And, of course, they make their own beer; the sides of the rooms are lined with enormous vats of beer, and you won’t be ordering a Corona here.

The biggest downside is that it’s at Kendall Square, so if it’s too full you’ve got a bit of a hike to get anywhere else. Also, they close at 1 for some reason, probably related to the fact that it caters more to adults who appreciate artistry, and less to grad students who want to get thrashed. I wear both hats, as the situation warrants.

This is an ale-only establishment; they’ve got I think four house beers that are always on tap (a golden Kölsch, an amber, a pale, and a porter), plus another five to ten seasonal beers that they rotate through as they become ready.

On Friday afternoon, a coworker knocked on my door: “So you know, it’s the CBC’s nineteenth anniversary? Nineteen beers for nineteen years.”

I considered it, studiously pretended to examine at my non-functioning MATLAB script for a second, and duly went through the motions of giving up: “When are people going?”

“About ten of us are leaving at 8:30.” Note that most grad students go home from work about that time. “You can come later if you want–”

“–No, I’ll be there.”

The place was jam-packed when we got there; it took us a bit to form a fortified position with access to the bar. Once we did, though, things went pretty nicely.

I didn’t take notes (that’s way too nerdy, and it was way too crowded anyway), but I can reliably tell you the following:

• The cask ale (a kind of pale ale) was special in a way that words hardly describe. It’s served cellar temperature (of course), pumped out the old-fashioned way, and it tastes like peaches and oak and all that’s right in the world.
• The Late Harvest IPA is better than the (early) Spring Training IPA, but of course you’ll have to drink them both to say for sure.
• Fruit + beer is a brilliant idea if the fruit is sour cherries.
• The barleywine whose name escapes me doesn’t taste that much like alcohol. That might be because of the preceding beers though.
• It’s well established that I love IPAs, so this is biased but: the Red God is really freaking good. It was, however, a terrible decision at the time.
• I really should have had a real dinner.

So I made it through six beers, remember four of them pretty well and two of them in passing, and completely ruined the next morning. I guess that damages my connoisseur-cred. Still, if I’m going to overindulge, I’m glad to do it at a Cambridge institution.

If only hangovers from craft-beers felt better than hangovers from PBR.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Bar, Boston, Review.