Since 1986, Boston proper has been home to only three breweries. Harpoon Brewery is still on the South Boston waterfront and Samuel Adams has a development brewery in Jamaica Plain, but Tremont Brewery in Charlestown has long since closed.

Boston's newest brewery, Trillium Brewing, opened in March in the Fort Point neighborhood. Jean-Claude Tetreault and his wife, Esther, shoehorned a 10-barrel brewery into an industrial space on Congress St. The brewery's vibe, like that of neighboring businesses and residences, is edgy and modern. Trillium's simple flower logo stands out amid the grit.

Trillium markets itself as a farmhouse brewery in the middle of the city. The beers are unique, with yeast, hop, and barrel-aging treatments towing the line of traditional. Triullium can brew a mean IPA (Fort Point Pale Ale), but it isn't their focus.

Sunshower, a recent release, is a "super saison" dry-hopped with Amarillo and Falconer's Flight. By name this beer should be citrusy in aroma and spicy in flavor. "Super" references the beer's 8.5 percent alcohol by volume.

Sunshower pours a the color of watered-down iced tea. There's a steady grapefruit present in the nose along with whiffs of dandelion.

The first sip produces lemon peel and white pepper. There's an initial IPA quality from the hops, but spicy Belgian yeast reminds you that this is a saison. The mouthfeel is light while the flavor is complex (more and more this is the sign of a great beer). The beer is dry, offering a crisp finish. The alcohol content is hidden well. This feels like a summer sipper, but it would be dangerous to treat it as such.

Trillium is open Thursdays and Fridays from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for growler fills. You can find their beer on tap at the Publick House, Local 149, and Lord Hobo, among other local bars.

The summer solstice officially came and went over the weekend, ushering in the season of Banana Boat and beach chairs. Readers are always asking for new seasonal beer suggestions, and with the temperature rising, they're getting a little impatient (also: sticky). Here's a six-pack of summer beer suggestions that goes beyond ales with a hint of lemon.

Smuttynose Summer Weizen Ale: Wheat beers are a common albeit popular summer option. New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing brews theirs with a German malt bill and Belgian yeast, adding a twist to a traditional style. This one has hints of citrus and spice that are subtle enough to please most macro-lager drinkers. 15 IBUs, 5.3 percent ABV

Newburyport Plum Island Belgian White: Newbury Brewing Company is a kegs-and-cans only operation founded in 2012 by two bandmates with a love of beer. Chris Webb and Bill Fischer conceived the brewery while watching a Bruins game, then secured financing from a loan officer who knew Webb's father. That loan officer, Mike Robinson, was an award-winning homebrewer, and he is now Newburyport's head brewer. Considering it's canned, Newburyport's pale ale is a solid summer go-to, but try the Belgian White. It's cloudy, fruity, and effervescent, not to mention portable. 5.4 percent ABV

St. Feuillien Saison: You know saisons are becoming more than a beer geek thing when your father starts to ask you about them. My dad has discovered that saisons, also known as farmhouse ales, pair well with food. That makes this St. Feuillien canned offering great for your next barbeque. Whiffs of lemon and a dry, peppery finish make this more complex than some summer offerings. Pour it into a glass and taste the terroir of southern Belgium. 6.5 percent ABV

Goose Island Sofie: I love tart beer, and when the warm weather hits I find myself gravitating to them more and more. Sour beers are gaining in popularity. This is not a sour beer, per se, but the yeast strain used in this saison imparts sour cherry notes in both flavor and aroma. It also provides a lightness to this farmhouse ale, of which 20 percent is aged in wine barrels with citrus peel. Try some sour beers (Berliner Weisse is a great style) and you'll find yourself going back to them when the temperature rises. 6.5 percent ABV, 25 IBUs

Founders Rubaeus: As with many limited-release beers from the standout Michigan brewery, you may have trouble finding this one. This is Founders' answer to over-sweet, over-lemony summer ales and shandy. Fresh raspberries are added at multiple stages during fermentation. I still found this one quite sweet, but it's also refreshing. 15 IBUs, 5.7 percent ABV

Baxter Brewing Summer Swelter: It's good to squeeze one "traditional" summer beer in. I went to school in Lewiston, Maine, and "Vacationland" seems like an appropriate place for another keg-and-can brewery. Baxter is rapidly expanding. You can find many of its beers in Massachusetts, including a stellar IPA (Stowaway) and stout (Phantom Punch). Summer Swelter is unfiltered and flavored with Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. You won't suffer summer beer fatigue with this one, however, because there's a nice hop underbite to crisp things up. 4.7 percent ABV

Andy Husbands of Tremont 647, Michael Lombardi Jr. of The Salty Pig, Joshua Smith of Franklin Cafe, Josh Harrison of The Publick House, Brian Young of Citizen Public House

Brewery Ommegang and Saveur Magazine are bringing their beer and food pairing showdown "Hop Chef" to the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts (539 Tremont St, Boston) on Wednesday June 26 at 7 p.m.

The lineup of Boston-area chefs includes Andy Husbands of Tremont 647, Michael Lombardi Jr. of The Salty Pig, Josh Smith of Franklin Cafe, Josh Harrison of Publick House and Brian Young of Citizen Public House. Each will create one dish showcasing their imaginative beer and food pairing skills. Yours truly will be a judge. The winner from each Hop Chef event around the country will compete in the main event later this summer.

Hop Chef Boston tickets are $60 before June 25 / $75 at the door. Admission include tasting dishes with open bar, with a portion of proceeds going to support the Boston Center for the Arts.

Complexity can be good or bad for a beer. Two weeks ago I reviewed a messy IPA. Aged in Chardonnay barrels and with no sense of balance, Nebraska Brewing Company's Hop God Reserve Series was a lesson in bigger not always being better. A Belgian tripel recklessly hopped and aged in Chardonnay barrels doesn't know what it wants to be. As has been happening more frequently for me as I discover what I like and what I don't, the beer was a miss.

Not all complex beers are bad, however. It is possible for a brewer from the midwest and one from the west coast to collaborate, to age a beer in barrels, to combine disparate ingredients, and for everything to be alright. "Terra Incognita", a collaboration between Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing and Chico, California's Sierra Nevada Brewing, renewed my faith in highly-involved beers.

A limited release from the two proven brewers, "Terra Incognita" was the gift beer at Savor 2012, the annual food and beer pairing (My friend John Karalis wrote a guest review of Savor 2013, which took place in New York this past weekend). The beer celebrates the homelands of the two breweries and combines ingredients from each. Starting with an ambitious grain bill of pale malt, amber malt, and wheat, the beer is hopped with Bravo and Styrian Goldings, dry-hopped with East Kent Goldings, then barrel-aged for three months. Brettanomyces yeast provides a funky bass note.

"This is a tough beer to dial in, but we have a lot of fun with the challenge," said Sierra Nevada head brewer Steve Dresler.

Pop the cork on this one and foam comes gushing out of the 750-ml bottle. That's a sign that the beer was tilted from vertical at some point (we regret the error). I press on, pouring the beer into a tulip glass to reveal a big, dirty-brown head.

What a nose on this one. I smell tart cherries, brown sugar, and banana bread. Nothing out of whack about this aroma, which is a good start. Chocolate, plums, and a touch of coffee are present in the first sip. The head sticks in the glass as you sip; I get some on the tip of my nose.

Mouthfeel is an underrated aspect of beer enjoyment. The feel on this one is robust at first, but tart yeast and a layered hop bill dry out the beer without adding bitterness. The result is a clean finish. Overall "Terra Incognita" has the tendencies of a Belgian dubbel with the modern twists that two of America's great brewers can provide. It's supremely balanced in addition to being complex. That's something every barrel-aging, IBU-wielding brewer should tuck in their back pocket when trying to push the boundaries of new releases. Seek this one out if you can. Even better, get a couple of bottles and cellar one to bring out even more subtle complexity.

The following is a guest post from John Karalis, who attended Savor 2013, the craft beer and food experience held in New York City on June 14 and 15. Karalis is co-founder of the Celtics website RedsArmy.com.

“A seven-course beer dinner is a pizza and a six-pack.”

Those words, which Sam Adams founder Jim Koch (below, left) used to describe the perception of food pairing, sum me up nicely. The closest I’ve come to pairing beer with food is holding a hot dog while picking through the 12-packs everyone brought to the barbecue.

But what I walked into in Manhattan was no backyard grilling party.

It wasn’t long after I walked into the Altman building in Chelsea for the annual SAVOR American Craft Beer & Food Experience that I was trying a Brooklyn Black Ops stout with chicken liver and dark chocolate. A minute later, I was figuring out how the cherry in Ommegang’s Three Philosophers complemented the pulled lamb cassoulet. And then there was the Sam Adams Honey Queen, a braggot I sipped while eating baked apricot with toasted farro and honey tuile.

And it was glorious.

Here’s the beauty of these craft beers and those who brew them. That last paragraph drips with pretentiousness, but there wasn’t a hint of it when I walked around. The food was prepared and presented with a five-star flair, but the beers stripped away whatever elite overtones may have existed.

If this had been a wine pairing, I’d have been surrounded by blue bloods with upturned noses. The beer, though, brought it back to earth.

“With wine, you’re always thinking there’s a better, more expensive wine out there,” Koch said. “No matter how much money you have, I can’t make a better Sam Adams Boston Lager. Anybody who can afford a six pack of Sam Adams can get the best beer I can possibly make.”

SAVOR is in its sixth year of spreading the gospel of beer as a complement to your meal. And while this isn’t a “beer versus wine” thing, it’s something that hangs over events like this. Wine is supposed to be paired with food. Beer is something you drink outside Gillette for three hours before heading in to watch the Pats.

“It is a new world where beer is being brought up to the level of wine as far as pairing,” said Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart. “It’s different. One thing that makes beer different is that it’s cooked. It has that commonality with food. Wine is more of a contrast where beer is more of a compliment.”

“Most people would rather have beer than wine,” added Koch. “It’s more accessible. It’s simpler. It doesn’t carry a lot of fancy baggage. Beer is democracy.”

It’s not a new concept, really. Beer has been around for thousands of years. I’m sure it’s been used to wash down a meal or two in that time. Somewhere along the line, though, wine cut the line. What SAVOR does is show us that once you strip away the preconceived notions of when, where, why, and how beer is consumed, it can be quite the compliment to even the highest class of meals.

“We seat beer at its rightful seat at the head of the table, “ said Ommegang’s Allison Capozza.

Whatever you’re eating, even if it’s fluke crudo on cucumber with rhubarb and vermouth, there’s something like 21st Amendment’s “Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer” that dances around your palate with it quite nicely. And if you choose not to eat the fluke, or if you don’t like wheat beers, that’s cool, too. And that’s the beauty of the folks at SAVOR.

Not once did I get hit with a “this is what you should be drinking with this food” vibe. They were excited about their beers, and why they thought they went well with what was being served. But they all know that we don’t all like the same things.

“Pairing beer to food is like pairing beer to people,” explained Fred Bueltmann of the New Holland Brewing company.

We’ve all got our tastes. An oatmeal stout is one person’s heaven, and another person’s hell. So there’s no point in force feeding someone that stout just because that’s what’s been determined to pair well with a certain food. You have to like what you’re drinking, and then work within that realm to find something that works with what you’re eating. There are plenty of ales that work just as well if that’s what suits you.
SAVOR has only been around for six years, which means this movement to bring the beer and food pairing to a higher level of sophistication is still in its infancy. In a room full of people so passionate about their craft of concocting new beer recipes, this may be what excites them most.

“It’s still not entered the mainstream that most of the food we eat today is better paired with beer than wine,” said Koch before returning to the scrum of beer brewers and beer fans. “That’s still a frontier. To me the cool stuff is there’s still frontiers where we can work to push the boundaries, break new ground, change people’s thinking. We’re just at the beginning of this.”

Bauer Wine & Spirits is the rare Newbury Street business geared toward residents rather than tourists (the antique jeweler Small Pleasures is another, but we're getting off track). A friend who lives in the area raves about Bauer's selection and service.

The store is holding its second annual Big Beer Tasting on Thursday, June 20. The tasting takes place at the College Club at 44 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay and runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. In light of the recent events, 100 percent of the proceeds from the event are being donated to One Fund Boston.

Among several tables of distributors and brewers, there will also be a raffle for some hard-to-find bottles and a big gift basket from Craft Brewers Guild. Tickets are $25.

Here's a list of the beers being poured:

Mayflower Brewing Co: Summer Rye, Porter, IPA and Golden Ale

Jack's Abby Brewing: Jabby Brau, Leisure Time Lager, Hoponius Union, and a surprise brew.

Mystic Brewing Co: Saison Renaud, Table Beer, Mary of the Gael and Descendant

Merchant du Vin: Trappistes Rochefort 10, Orval Trappiste Ale, Westamalle Tripel, Ayinger Brau-Weisse, Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, and Traquair House Ale

Origin Beverage: Theakston Old Peculier, Theakston XB, Rosenbach Grand Cru, Rodenbach Vintage 2010

Shelton Bros: Stillwater Cellar Door, Timothy Taylor Landlord (if available), Ridgeway IPA (if available) De Struise Pannepot Reserva, Jolly Pumpkin, The Bruery, Evil Twin, Petrus Aged Pale, Fritz Prof. Briem 1809 Berlinerweise

Farnum Hill Cidery: Farmhouse, Dooryard, Summer Cider, Extra-Dry, Semi-Dry, Dooryard Still

Troeg's Brewing Co: Perpetual IPA, Hop Back Amber, Dreamweaver, Sunshine Pils, Pale Ale

You can buy tickets here.

Clown Shoes Beer will debut "Crunkle Sam", a barleywine dry-hopped with Citra, during a tap takeover at Jacob Wirth in Boston on Thursday night (June 13) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Along with the new beer four others will be on tap, including Galactica IPA, Tramp Stamp Belgian IPA, Chocolate Sombrero Mexican Chocolate Stout, and Muffin Top Belgian Tripel. There will be merchandise giveaways.

If you listen to the radio or watch television, you know that all dads love grillin', golfin', nappin', and watchin' sports. The man in your life naturally loves all of these things, but with Father's Day approaching you should also consider these beer-themed gift ideas for dear ole' dad:

-- A "growler" of local beer:

Taking a trip to your friendly neighborhood brewery has become the equivalent of taking a ride to the grocery store. Most small breweries sell beer to carry out, and the choices vary depending on the week. In the Boston area, Harpoon, Idle Hands, Night Shift, Trillium (pictured), and Mystic all pour "growlers" to take home. Folks who haven't heard the term seem to get a kick out of the word "growler", and dad will appreciate fresh beer and the thought that went into it. trilliumbrewing.com

-- Hermetus bottle opener and resealer:

If you've ever opened a large bottle of beer and just couldn't finish it, this one is for you. The device opens beer bottles but also provides an air-tight seal if you wish to put your bottle away for the night. I was sent one of these several months ago. For a long time it worked great; a little rubber stopper slides over the lip of the bottle so tightly that removing it becomes difficult. It's hard to imagine any air getting in there. Thick stouts and other lightly-carbonated beers kept very well (capping a double-IPA or Pilsener seems like bad form), and the product was a minor miracle. I'd probably be considered something of a heavy user, but over time the rubber stopper became less effective. kaufman-mercantile.com

-- Tickets to Beer Advocate's Belgian Beer Fest:

Tickets to one of the best beer festivals in the country just went on sale. Beer Advocate puts on great events that allow you to sample from dozens of beers, including new and rare offerings. I just spent a Saturday at their American Craft Beer Festival and was blown away by the quality and breadth of choices. The Belgian Beer Fest has three sessions, including Friday night's highly sought after "Night of the Funk", where sour is king. beeradvocate.com/bbf

-- Draftmark tap system:

There's an easy way to get draft beer in your refrigerator. The Draftmark home tap system, which sells for around $49.99, requires very little effort to set up. You can purchase gallon refills of Anheuser-Busch InBev beer brands, including Budweiser. Shock Top, and a couple of Goose Island beers. I was recently sent a system and a Goose Island Honkers Ale insert. The beer pours easily and cleanly. It could be great for a party. The refill options are decidedly not craft, but many of my readers here don't care much for the distinction. You're not saving any money here, but it's a fun concept. draftmark.com

-- A 'Gansett tie:

Let's face it. Father's Day is all about kitsch. I was recently sent a book with instructions on how to make knitted hats out of used bottle caps. That one didn't make the cut, but there's room for frivolity sometimes. Narragansett is an iconic brand capitalizing on a recent revival. You can buy your guy a "Hi-Neighbor" tie and he'll look no more absurd than a modern-day NBA player during a postgame press conference. costore.com/gansett

-- Beer soap:

An earlier version of this post mistakenly left this out. I certainly don't need another means to reek of IPA, but the makers of this soap promise you won't smell of beer after washing. Instead, the soap will "make your skin rejoice at the exfoliating properties of beer." Available in IPA, porter, apricot wheat beer, and more. swagbrewery.com

From a new IPA to an old one, Nebraska Brewing Company sells a $20-plus bottle of Hop God IPA aged for six months in Chardonnay barrels. Like it or not, pricy beers are establishing a foothold in the market. The process to produce some of these beers is costly; the barrels are wildly expensive. The beers are not for everybody, but both the consumer and brewer have the free will to decide how much they'd like to invest.

For review's sake I invested in this one. Hop God, the IPA, is a cross between a Belgian tripel and a west coast IPA. It weighs in at 9 percent alcohol by volume. The beer is complex and bitter (101 international bitterness units!) even before being soaked in oak.

The barrel-aged version pours a cloudy orange with a billowy white head. It smells tart and musty. One detriment to aging an IPA is the loss of most of the symphony of aromatics that usually accompanies highly-hopped beers. The brewer says there's a ton of citrusy goodness in here, and the IBUs back that up, but there's little citrus present in the nose.

Another wrinkle to remember is this is a Belgian style tripel hopped to very high amounts, not a traditional IPA. Belgian yeast makes its presence known throughout. Bitter and sour, sweet and tangy flavors mingle in this sipper, which hovers around 10 percent ABV. I get peach, lemon, and ripe cheese. It's hot as I drink this, and the liquid in the glass becomes tarter and funkier as it warms.

This is a hard beer to wrap your head around. The 6-month aging process mellows out the hops somewhat, but the beer is still bitter. I'm not the biggest Chardonnay guy, so the oak is somewhat bothersome. What's most troublesome, though, is that despite all the hops almost no aspects of a traditional IPA remain in this beer. If you want the sensation of biting into a grapefruit you're barking up the wrong barrel.

When the Brewers Association released its list of the top 50 craft breweries in the country for 2012, Chicago's Goose Island wasn't on it. Goose Island isn't categorized as craft, according to the association, because it's now owned by Anheuser-Busch Inc., the beverage conglomerate that makes Bud Light, Landshark, Michelob, Rolling Rock, Shock Top, and other brands. AB InBev bought Goose Island for $38.8 million in 2011.

So what's changed? According to Goose Island brewer Brian Taylor and educator Suzanne Wolcott, not much. The merger has taken the responsibilities of brewing flagship beers Honkers Ale and 312 Urban Wheat away from the brewers and allowed them to focus on speciality beers like Bourbon County Brand Stout (that's the beer aging in a barrel to the left) and Lolita, a tart ale brewed with raspberries that will soon be distributed in Massachusetts for the first time. Taylor has brewed at Goose Island since 2007, and to this point the merger hasn't been what he feared.

"When it happened, I was a little nervous," Taylor said ."What this has done has allowed us to brew one Bourbon County a week. It takes 36 hours to brew a batch of Bourbon County. You can imagine when we have 312 orders to fill, Bourbon County is going to suffer."

On the company's specialty beers, including an expansive program of sours, Taylor said, "I want to brew these beers non-stop. That's my baby. That's where I want to go with it."

Because of previous demand for the company's flagship beers, Taylor said Goose Island didn't even brew a batch of Bourbon County in 2011. Wolcott admitted that when it first happened, she was one of the more vocal opponents of the merger.

"We got a lot of push back, people saying 'Oh no', but it actually worked out fine," said Wolcott. "Even if you walk into the brewery it looks and feels exactly the same except there's a few more safety lines on the floor [laughs], so you don't run into a forklift or something."

Goose Island first brewed Bourbon County in 1992 and was the first brewery to age beer in used liquor barrels. Everyone has since jumped on board, but Wolcott stresses that the Chicago brewery has had the time to perfect it.

"We've gotten to make more awesome beer," said Wolcott. "I wouldn't say our beer has gotten better, because it's stayed the same as it always was. But now we have the ability to make a lot more of it."

Taylor said Anheuser Busch brewers have been hands off but offer advice when solicited. He said he has a ton of respect for the knowledge AB brewers bring.

"As a brewer, not much has changed," said Taylor. "I get a lot of Twitter and Facebook stuff, and I tell them, 'I was brewing your beer in 2007. I'm brewing your beer in 2013."

Goose Island has some 4,000 barrels in stock for various aging projects. More specialty beer is expected to reach the east coast in the coming months.

It's been too long since I've reviewed an IPA, so this week you're getting two of them. The first is young and grassy, and it's one of my new favorites. It was recommended by the beer buyer at Social Wines in South Boston, one of my neighborhood go-tos (as an aside if you like Rose wine, they carry about 40 of them). San Diego's Alesmith Brewing Company makes a concisely-named IPA with a clean label. The buyer Isaac said it was the freshest, most floral IPA he's had in quite some time. He pointed to the bottling date which was less than three weeks old, and it didn't take much arm-twisting.

Alesmith is best known for its "Speedway Stout", a sneaky-drinkable imperial stout clocking in around 12 percent alcohol by volume. Alesmith IPA is more approachable at 7.25 percent ABV. That's still potent, but compared to some West Coast IPAs it falls in the middle of the road.

The beer pours a faded orange into a tulip glass, though there's nothing muted about the electric white head. There's a truckload of citrus in the nose. Grapefruit and pineapple sing above a bed of damp earth.

The first sip is bitter and juicy and wet and floral. It's smooth, and it's supremely balanced. To me the contrast of bitter and citrusy elements most closely resemble that of Ballast Point's "Sculpin", an amazing beer in its own right. IPAs are my favorite kind of beer, so maybe it's a stylistic thing, but I could happily drink this one forever.

Alesmith IPA retails for around $7.50 for a 22-ounce bottle. It's distributed elsewhere in the state, but be careful of bottling dates. I saw a 6-month-old bottle on the shelf on the South Shore, which is just barely acceptable but definitely not ideal. Freshness is key to the aromatics of these types of IPAs, and you're going to appreciate this one more if you get a newer bottle.

Framingham's Jack's Abby Brewing and Warren, Vermont's Lawson's Finest Liquids are two of the most respected breweries in New England. Jack's Abby puts hoppy twists on traditional German lagers. Founded by the three Hendler brothers, it's a much larger operation than Sean Lawson's Vermont nanobrewery, which is "tucked in the woods, on the east flank of Lincoln Mountain" about 90 minutes from Burlington. Among Lawson's most famous beers are an aromatic double-IPA, "Double Sunshine", and several award-winning beers brewed with maple.

The two breweries collaborated recently on a beer they called "Smoked Maple Lager", which fits snugly into the wheelhouses of both. One of Jack's Abby's flagship beers is "Smoke & Dagger", a traditional Rauchbier. Maple is a primary ingredient for Lawson. It seems like a perfect match. This beer is brewed with hand-sourced wood from Vermont and one gallon of maple syrup per barrel of beer. It's rounded out with lactose sugar and brown malt.

The collaboration pours a translucent dark amber with ample carbonation. One whiff produces charred wood smoke and brown bread. It's hard to smell the sweet.

A couple sips in and the mouthfeel is delicate. There's plenty of burnt wood up front, but it's subtle. Maple lingers in the aftertaste, leaving a sweet sensation on my tongue. Like everything these two great brewers do this beer is restrained. It's important to remember that this is still a lager, more a Rauchbier with a touch of maple sweetness than some kind of syrupy, after-dinner sipper.

Lawson's Finest Liquids has a very limited distribution area, but the collaboration is available wherever Jack's Abby products are sold. I picked up three bottles (I like it, OK?) for $4.99 each.

White Birch Brewing founder Bill Herlicka started making his own beer in 1994. He spent 15 years brewing for himself before going commercial, honing his craft making Belgian dubbels, tripels, and quads before moving on to imperial stouts, baryleywines, and finally wild ales. He had a penchant for brewing strong beers.

"When I started in New Hampshire I quickly realized that most of my favorite homebrews would have to be toned down to under 12 percent [alcohol by volume]," he said.

Herlicka founded the Hookset, N.H. brewery in 2009, progressing from the 15-to-20-gallon batches he started out with to the seven-barrel system he uses today. White Birch brews an eclectic mix of styles, and their seasonal offerings are particularly impressive. Two of their summer beers, Berliner Weisse and Hop to Wit, are currently available.

-- Berliner Weisse:

One of my favorite summer styles, this traditional German brew was described by Napoleon's troops as the “Champagne of the north” due to it's light, refreshing qualities. The beer is brewed with Lactobacillus, a bacteria which in large amounts acts like a spoiler but in the right amount imparts sour flavors into the beer.

White Birch Berliner Weisse pours a cloudy orange into a tulip glass. Effervescence produces a Colgate-white head. It smells like a white wine. I get green apple and grape must.

A traditional Berliner Weisse is low in alcohol, usually under 4 percent. Herlicka brews his at 5.5 percent.

"The reason I brew it a little stronger than tradition is I like the soft lemony sourness that is created by a fuller bodied beer," Herlicka writes on his website. "The lighter 3 percent ABV Berliner’s I’ve tried tend to be sharp, thin and sometimes astringent unless you use traditional German Woodruff or raspberry syrups when serving."

White Birch Berliner Weisse has a subtle sour kick at the end but is otherwise very approachable. It's refreshing without being tart. The mouthfeel is light like a Champagne and the finish is brief and palate-cleansing. While that may not adhere to tradition, it makes the beer a good entry point for folks who've never tried a sour beer before. This will be one of my summer go-to's. If it were available in cans, I'd take it everywhere this summer.

-- Hop to Wit:

A Belgian wheat ale brewed with grapefruit peel and pink peppercorns, Hop to Wit pours a paler yellow than its counterpart. It smells like cotton, lemon, and spice.

Bubble gum dominates the first sip. That's normal for a wheat beer, but I can't recall one with quite this much bubble gum flavor. I get a little fading cucumber as the beer lingers on my palate. This one isn't quite as refreshing as the Berliner Weisse, but it's a solid beer. The price is right on both of these beers, which each retail for around $5.

The first annual "Taste of Faneuil Hall" -- a food and craft beer festival to benefit Boston Children's Hospital -- takes place Thurs., May 23 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event features food from nearby restaurants and beer from Samuel Adams, Harpoon, Cisco, Cape Ann, Wachusett, Allagash, Smuttynose, Ipswich, Magic Hat, and Clown Shoes. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.

Dozens of brewers across the country are participating in a campaign to raise money for ALS awareness. Several Massachusetts breweries are involved, including Cambridge Brewing Co., Harpoon Brewery, Wormtown Brewery, and Samuel Adams.

As part of the program, participant brewers received a special blend of experimental hops donated by B.T. Loftus Ranches and Hopunion. Portions of the sale of beers from these hops will be donated to the ALS Therapy Development Institute.

Harpoon is tapping their beer Wednesday night, May 22, at their Seaport beer hall. The beer hall closes for a private party at 7 p.m. that night but the beer, a session IPA, will be on tap in the following days.

CBC’s contribution is called “The Cure” and will be available on tap at the brewpub in early June. Two batches of this India Pale Ale will be produced, focusing on the prominent notes of herbs, fruit, floral, and citrus provided by the hops.

ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to paralysis due to the death of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain. There is no known cure for the disease. About 5,000 people in the US are diagnosed with ALS each year.

Last July, The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vt. announced plans to double the production of its most popular beer, the double-IPA Heady Topper. Since then, Heady Topper has risen to the No. 1 beer in the world on Beer Advocate.

"We believe we will have enough Heady Topper to send to the Boston area on a regular basis," Alchemist co-owner Jen Kimmich wrote last July. "We will only know how much this will be once we see how much Heady Topper Vermonters can possibly consume… we might be in for a big surprise."

It turns out the surprise has become reality. Kimmich wrote back Monday in response to a question about production and whether or not we'd be seeing Heady Topper regularly in Boston.

"We are at full capacity," said Kimmich. "We have quadrupled production since we opened 1 1/2 years ago and, sadly, continue to run out. Unfortunately, our plans of having enough Heady to spread to Boston are not working out the way we planned.
But, you never know.

"The day might come when we are able to send occasional pallets to Boston. If you told us 2 years ago that we would be selling 150 barrels a week out of our retail room I would have called you crazy."

For now, at least, you'll have to get your beer up in Waterbury. I've been accused of contributing to the hype for Heady Topper, and that's partially true. But the beer is delicious. Waterbury is a worthwhile trip from Boston if you have the time, with the Prohibition Pig and Blackback Pub being must-stops.

Part of the fun of writing about beer is coming across bottles I've never had. A "brief" trip to the exceptionally well-stocked Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont last week turned into an hour-plus of staring at unfamiliar labels. Kind of like going to the library. The staff at CBC is beyond helpful, but even a good explanation of a particular beer isn't always enough for me to take a bottle home; sometimes I need to linger in a beer's vicinity for a while to truly get a sense of it.

When faced with an unfamiliar beer, some factors to consider are style, country of origin, price, ABV, and unusual ingredients or brewing processes. If it's a Belgian-style beer, is it brewed in that country? Is it brewed on a small farm with local ingredients? Will this beer at this price be worth my while? There are no specific requirements, but these are the questions that inform good beer decisions.

Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal checked a bunch of boxes, and because of that I was on my way home with a bottle of the Belgian brewery's Barrel-Aged Project Dark Ale. In this case, the price could have been a prohibitive factor. I rarely pay more than $12 or $13 for a single bottle of beer, so $23 was steep.

I was swayed by Hof ten Dormaal's story. The Tildonk, Belgium brewery began operations in 2009, existing as a farmstead dating back several centuries. The brewery is nearly 100 percent self-sustaining, growing all of its own grain and hops and using oil from rapeseed produced on the farm as the primary source of energy for brewing processes. The Hof ten Dormaal beers available at Craft Beer Cellar were each aged for two months in a different spirit barrel. I took a leap of faith and took home the dark ale aged in Cognac barrels. Other offerings include the same beer aged in Gin (Jenever), Madeira, Armagnac, Sherry, Port, Ardbeg Whiskey, and Sauternes barrels.

Hof ten Dormaal dark ale aged in Cognac barrels pours an opaque chestnut into a snifter glass. It smells like liquor-soaked cherries and vanilla ice cream.

The beer is rich, just as you'd expect a sweet ale aged in barrels of a sweet liquor to be. Dark plum, fruitcake spice, and burnt sugar notes dominate. The aroma of this beer does not carry over to the taste as well as it could. All of that thick, wonderful vanilla smell thins out on the tongue. This brew might do better with more aging, and I'm kicking myself for not choosing the one aged in Ardbeg Whiskey barrels (a peaty beer? sign me up). On alternating sips this drinks like a regular Belgian dark ale, which is not a bad thing but also not an extraordinary thing. The price tag demanded better.

Framingham's Jack's Abby Brewing is holding a fundraiser on May 24 and 25 to benefit One Mission, a childhood cancer foundation dedicated to enhancing the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families.

The 2d annual lager cask fundraiser will held at The Tavern at 102 Irving Street in Framingham from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fri. May 24 and from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sat. May 25. The event features 24 casks of beer and includes some rarities. You can see the complete beer list here. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

-- One other event to apprise you of:

Berman's Wine and Spirits in Lexington is hosting a Grand Beer Tasting on Saturday, May 18th from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Over 30 craft beers from all over will be poured. Berman's is located at 55 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington.

A trip to Everett's Night Shift Brewing, and to Idle Hands Craft Ales one door down, defies convention. Nestled in a neighborhood of loading docks and auto repair shops are two tiny tasting rooms pouring fresh, local beer. The breweries are different, one offering takes on classic Belgian styles and the other specializing in styles best described as "other". I've been remiss in not giving Idle Hands a full review to this point, but it's coming. (Steve Greenlee reviewed Idle Hands Triplication this time last year.)

The three friends who started Night Shift -- Michael Oxton, Mike O’Mara, and Rob Burns -- can be found often at the brewery. If one of them is pouring beer into growlers for customers to take home, another is usually somewhere in the background lugging buckets full of hops and barley. Night Shift beers are not characterized by a particular style: German Weissbiers, IPAs, Belgian ales, and stouts brewed with habanero peppers have all cracked the brewery's tap and bottle lineup. I've particularly liked the Somer Weisse and Viva Habanera offerings.

Night Shift's latest release is its most enigmatic. Snow, dubbed a white stout, is a seasonal release that just hit store shelves. I picked up a bottle at Social Wines in South Boston on May 8; the beer was bottled on May 7. It's expected to be around for a couple of months.

Night Shift packs a lot onto its labels, giving you information on the local ingredients that went into the beer (in this case Ethiopia coffee beans from J.P. Licks in Somerville and Pilsner malts from Valley Malt in Hadley), on food pairings, and on brewery tours. Snow's label does its best to explain this untypical beer:

"When the warm weather hits, we bring out the Snow. Confusing? Indeed, and so is this beer. With zero chocolate malts in the mash, Snow looks like a pilsner. With heaps of wheat and oatmeal, it sips like a creamy stout. With fresh coffee beans added, it smells like a cup of espresso. And with a fairly low ABV (3.5 percent), it drinks like a session beer."

While not exactly clearing things up as to what the whole beer will taste like, the label gives you a good rundown of its parts. Poured into a tulip glass, Snow pours a hazy yellow. A flimsy head quickly disappears. The beer smells like a cup of espresso. Power through the coffee aroma and you catch whiffs of wheat, dandelions, and bubblegum.

Taste is largely olfactory, but so is the coffee flavor in this beer, if that makes any sense. You smell the java more than taste it. What you taste most in this beer is wheat and oatmeal. I get lemon and white pepper notes. The mouthfeel is more watery than stout-y. The beer finishes clean, and here comes that coffee again. There's a lot to wrap your tongue around.

Snow is certainly complex. Is it refreshing? Sort of. Is it robust like a stout? Not exactly. It's an interesting beer, and I give credit to the guys at Night Shift for brewing it. But because it defies categorization, I also don't know when I would drink it. On a hot day I wouldn't reach for one. On a cold day I'd want something more robust. Add it all up and Snow comes off as more of an experiment than a balanced beer.

Despite my misgivings with it, I suspect plenty of people will reach for this beer to give it a shot. Curious to see what others think about this one. You can buy a 750-ml bottle for around $9.

Barrel-aged beers are nothing new. The technique of aging stouts and porters and scotch ales in bourbon barrels was so cool for awhile it became passe. Everyone did it, soaking their brews in sweet, charred wood to bring out bourbon notes in some of the denser beer styles.

Everyone did it, but conformity to a trend doesn't mean the beers aren't good. Hoppin' Frog Brewery out of Akron, Ohio makes some of the better barrel-aged beers on the market. The brewery ages its best-known beer, B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Imperial Stout, turning it into one of the top-rated beers in the world. By all means seek that beer out if you have a chance.

Another excellent barrel offering out of Akron is Hoppin' Frog's Barrel-Aged Outta Kilter. It's an aged version of a Scotch style red ale, or Wee Heavy. Scotch Ales are some of my favorite beers. Founders Backwoods Bastard, a beer of the same style that is also aged, might just be my favorite beer in the world.

I picked up a bottle of Barrel Aged Outta Kilter at Urban Grape in the South End. They're a wine store, but the beer selection is eclectic and well-curated. It's worth a run through if you're looking for rarities. The staff is friendly and helpful.

The beer pours drain-cleaner thick into a tulip glass. An off-white head quickly sinks into the muck. Little bits of sediment float about and kind of stick in suspension. I find it pretty.

There's a sweet aroma wafting off this brew. Plum and vanilla mingle in the air above the glass. Dark fruit, honey, and bourbon are the central flavors on the first sip. I get brown sugar and sweet pastry. There's more fruit here and less vanilla than found in Founders' Backwoods Bastard. The brewery says there's a touch of rye to make the beer crisp, but you'll have a hard time finding it. Barrel-Aged Outta Kilter weighs in at 8.2 percent alcohol by volume.

This is a heavy beer, but it's one that's worth your while. Be glad that barrel-aging hasn't gone away. Sometimes, it's better to fit in than to try to be too cool.

Cambridge Brewing Company in Kendall Square is hosting a 24th anniversary bash tomorrow (Saturday, May 4). The party runs from noon until 1 a.m. and features 24 beers on tap. Two brand new beers, Mellow Gold and Shadows and Light, will debut at the party. A whole pig will be roasted, there's a patio, and a band will play from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. CBC is one of my favorite bars in the city, and it promises to be a good time.

You can get more details, including the beer list, here.

It's a busy time of year here at 99 Bottles, with spring beers and summer beers mingling and vying for attention like middle-schoolers at the local carnival. Regrettably, my focus has stopped off somewhere between South Station and Penn Station, the result of my day job covering basketball interfering with my night job sipping beer. I realize I'm not going to get much sympathy from the 9-to-5-crowd.

There's something inherently hardworking about brewers, though, and there's something admirable about a brewery that strives to use local ingredients. Worcester's Wormtown Brewery uses Massachusetts ingredients in each beer they make. Mass Whole Hefeweizen, a limited release, is brewed with multiple local ingredients. Four Star Farms in Northfield grew the wheat and Magnum hops, while Valley Malt in Hadley grew the barley.

Hefeweizen is a Bavarian style unfiltered beer brewed with at least 50 percent wheat. The beer is characterized by a spicy clove and banana aroma. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier is the standard bearer of the style.

Wormtown's take on the classic German style pours a pale straw color into a tulip glass. I get the phenolic smell of banana, spice, and bubble gum.

The first sip reveals more of those same flavors, with dry white pepper and a touch of charred wood. The beer is not as spicy as I would like, though there's a bit more of the pepper as the beer warms. The finish is smooth, barely lingering on the palate. Swirl the beer around to reveal some trippy lacing on the side of the glass.

This is a good warm-weather beer. It's also a good entry point into craft for fans of beers like Blue Moon, though it may not be super exciting for craft geeks. Mass Whole Hefeweizen checks in at 4.9 percent alcohol by volume and 13 IBUs (international bitterness units). In another sampling I found two Wormtown IPAs, Be Hoppy and Hopulence, to be above average. You can read my predecessor's review of Be Hoppy here.

E-mail me (gdzen@boston.com) and start a conversation. Follow me on Twitter. Cheers.

In case you haven't heard, The Alchemist's Heady Topper is now the No.1 ranked beer in the world. You can read plenty about the beer and about Waterbury, Vt., the town from which it comes, in my Globe Magazine story from the fall. In the new video below, brewer John Kimmich answers some popular questions about the beer.

Harpoon Brewery is offering a couple of fun nights to benefit victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Like most Bostonians, Harpoon's employees were affected by the tragedy and "felt compelled to do something," in the words of PR director Liz Melby. The brewery decided to host three "Brewed for Boston" nights, with 100 percent of pint and pretzel sales benefiting victims.

The first night took place last week, and I apologize for not letting you know about it (my Celtics job is interfering with my beer job, which isn't likely to draw much sympathy). Information for the next two nights is as follows:

Tuesday, April 30th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, May 7th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Again, all of the money from beer and pretzels sold during those times on those nights will go to charity. Harpoon's new beer hall is awesome. You can read about it here. There are no tickets necessary to attend.

Another very cool aspect of the "Brewed for Boston" nights is that Harpoon will be selling 500 raffle tickets for $50 apiece for the chance to help brew a beer at Harpoon. Anyone interested in the brewing arts will want to get in on that.

There's a lot of craft beer out there, from relative giants like Lagunitas and Stone to the three-barrel nanobrewery down the street. Portland, Oregon's Widmer Brothers Brewing falls somewhere in the middle. You can spot their taps in many New England bars. You've likely had their American-style Hefeweizen, an unfiltered brew that is the company's flagship. You've heard of Widmer Bros., but they're also not the first name that rolls off your tongue.

Widmer's latest year-round offering is Alchemy Ale, a beer that has a chance to make inroads among casual craft drinkers. My sample of Alchemy Ale came from Widmer's public relations folks, who pitch me often. It came all the way across the country in a fancy blue box with little vials of hops, grains, and yeast. As dense as I am, I realize Widmer is trying to get me to think about the ingredients that make up the beer, and that they're particular proud of the ones they've chosen in this case.

I unfurl a scroll to get an information sheet about what I’m about to drink. Alchemy Ale is an American Pale Ale brewed with Widmer’s proprietary hop blend, described as a “blend of choice hops from the Pacific Northwest.” Pale, Caramel, Munich, and Vienna Extra Special malts are used. The beer weighs in at 40 IBUs and 5.8 percent alcohol by volume.

Alchemy Ale pours a transparent liquid gold. Lots of tiny bubbles float skyward. There's a faint pine smell and some citrus, but it's mostly caramel.

The first sip is smooth though not overwhelmingly flavorful. The hops are present each step of the way without making the beer too bitter. I'm reminded a little bit of a less earthy, less hoppy Sierra Nevada and also of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. There's exceptional balance here, is what I'm trying to get at.

Alchemy Ale is available year-round. It won't blow you away, but it's a solid option at a good price point.