Everett brewery crafts sour ‘pickle beer’ ahead of Boston Pickle Fair
By:Kristin LaFratta
(Photo/Down the Road Beer Co.)
Pucker up for some Pickle Beer !
Everett’s Down the Road Beer Company is very ready for the Boston Pickle Fair: the brewery announced its newest beer, Sam-Sam The Pickle Man, will debut at the fair this weekend.
Beer-makers describe their newest concoction as a “spicy dill-pickle sour with real pickle brine,” brewed in collaboration with Boston’s Grillo Pickles.
The original brew will make its first public appearance at the Boston Pickle Fair at the Innovation and Design Building on Saturday, June 23. Following the festival, the beer will be on draft at Down the Road’s Everett taproom and in purchase takeaway cans.
Tickets for the Saturday event, which boasts having all-things pickle, are already sold out, but organizers say a limited amount of tickets will be sold at the door.
As craft breweries continue to be pop up around Massachusetts, a growing trend of sour, tangy and fruity beers is on the rise. That promising trend, combined with an upcoming June pickle fair in Boston, inspired an innovative creation from Down the Road brewers.
“We crafted an American kettle sour with dill-spiced brine from our friends at Grillo’s,” Down the Road founder and brewmaster Donovan Bailey said in a statement.
The can illustration on Sam-Sam the Pickle Man includes more signature artwork by Montana-based artist Nikki Rossignol, who designs mythological scenes and characters on Down the Road’s cans. Similar colorful artwork can be seen on the walls of the company’s taproom in Everett as well.
Bailey opened a physical space for the brewery in Everett just last year, located in an area he described as once being an “industrial wasteland.” The result was a casual, comfortable and spacious place to drink craft brews — and play vintage pinball. A row of restored classic pinball machines line the walls of the taproom.
