New nanobreweries are popping up in the Boston area all the time. The latest to attract attention from the craft beer community is Night Shift Brewing, founded by three friends. They set up shop in Everett and this year began putting out 750-milliliter bottles, priced roughly from $9 to $13.

Night Shift has five different beers on local shelves, and all of them put distinctive twists on established styles. Interestingly, these guys are altering the recipes from batch to batch, obviously in an effort to perfect them. One of their beers -- a Berliner weiss, or sour wheat beer, called Somer Weiss -- is apparently so popular already that it's difficult to find. I tried three shops before giving up and resigning myself to trying only the other four:

Trifecta: An outstanding rendition of a Belgian pale ale, Trifecta is the best of the four. Made with vanilla beans and fermented with three strains of Belgian yeast, it's dry and peppery, with hints of orange and mango poking through the surface. Everyone at my tasting loved it. 7 percent alcohol.

Taza Stout: Brewed with chicory root and ginger, this stout is not as thick as some, but it's very chocolatey, owing to the cacao nibs that are added. The aroma has a lot going on -- dark chocolate, licorice, molasses, wood --  and coffee accents peek through at the finish. Another winner. 7.2 percent alcohol.

Bee Tea: This is a wheat ale, but it's like no wheat ale I've ever had. Brewed with sweet orange peel and orange blossom honey, and aged on green tea, it smells clean and tastes tart, with an astringency that lingers. Herbal notes abound. Hopefully the recipe will be tweaked for the next batch, because none of the folks at my tasting cared for it. 7.6 percent alcohol.

Quad Reserve: Another iconoclast in terms of style, this is not a traditional Belgian quad along the lines of St. Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, or Chimay Bleue. This is more vinous, no doubt because it's fermented with grape juice (and brown sugar). It smells like grape juice, has the mouthfeel of grape juice, and tastes like grape juice with a big dose of warming alcohol (10.5 percent). Some of us enjoyed it, and some didn't, but all of us found it interesting.

Now, if I can get my hands on some Night Shift Somer Weisse...

Last week I sang the praises of Hoponius Union, an "India pale lager" made by Jack's Abby Brewing of Framingham that until recently was available only on draft. Now, happily, it is also sold in bottles. But Hoponius Union isn't the only Jack's Abby beer to go into bottles. The brewer is now putting all of its year-round lagers in 500-milliliter bottles, along with some seasonals. Each retails for about $2.75 to $3.50.

Jabby Brau: Known as Jack's Abby's "session lager," this beer is only 4.5 percent alcohol. Sparkling golden with a huge foaming head that resembles meringue, it's highly carbonated with an aroma of tame hops and light grains. Mildly bitter with hops upfront, this is a perfect beer for a hot summer day.

Maibock Hurts Like Helles: A Munich Helles lager, this is Jabby Brau with more attitude and more alcohol (6.5 percent). Deep golden with an earthy aroma suggesting grapes and grains, it's a bit peppery with a bitter finish. It tastes darker than it looks.

Smoke & Dagger: Brewed with beechwood-smoked malt, Smoke & Dagger (5.8 percent alcohol) falls somewhere between a schwarzbier and a smoked porter, according to Jack's Abby. It tastes closer to the smoked porter. One might be tempted to call it a rauchbier, but that would be misleading, since it doesn't taste as smoky as it smells. Dark brown with a coffee head, it smells like barbecued ribs. But rather than tasting like a bonfire, there are pronounced notes of bittersweet chocolate.

Now comes word that Jack's Abby is bottling a summer beer called Leisure Time Lager, a wheat beer brewed with lemongrass, coriander, citrus peel, and chamomile. Bring it on.

Email me at greenlee@globe.com. Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Cambridge Brewing Co. will host the official kickoff party for Boston Beer Week on Tuesday starting at 5 p.m.

At the event, CBC will release a new beer called Mass Appeal -- a dry-hopped golden ale brewed with citrus zest and juice -- that was made in collaboration with four of Boston's newest breweries: Mystic Brewery, Enlightenment Ales, Idle Hands Craft Ales, and Night Shift Brewing. Beers from each of the breweries will be on draft as well.

CBC will also begin offering a three-course prix fixe menu featuring dishes that will be paired with Mass Appeal and other CBC beers. The $35 prix fixe menu will be available through Sunday, June 3.

Hoponius Union, made by Jack's Abby Brewing, has become my first-choice beer when I'm out at a pub. So imagine how happy the Framingham brewer made me when it recently began bottling this fine beverage.

It's an innovative beer. Jack's Abby, a three-brother operation that launched last year and has carved a niche by focusing on lagers, calls Hoponius Union an "India pale lager." Indeed, it tastes more like an India pale ale than a pale lager, which is what it is. That's because it's intensely hopped -- this beer measures 65 IBUs, bitter even by IPA standards.

I poured my first bottled Hoponius Union hard into a nonic pint glass, creating a huge, fluffy, longlasting head that captured the beer's amazing aroma: grapefruit, lemon, grass, and bits of tropical fruit. Crisp, light, and highly hopped, like an aggressive IPA, with a dry finish, it's one of the most satisfying, refreshing beers I've ever had.

Thanks to Jack's Abby's new bottling line, I don't have to go out to a bar to get it, either.

More soon on Jack's Abby's other bottled beers...

Hoponius Union is 6.7 percent alcohol. A 500-milliliter (16.9-ounce) bottle costs about $3.50.

Last week I told you about the Boston Beer Co.'s new IPA Hop-ology variety pack, which includes two bottles of five previously released beers and two bottles of a brand-new beer called Grumpy Monk. My quick impression of Grumpy Monk: It's the second best beer in the 12-pack. (Tasman Red is the best one, says me.)

Grumpy Monk is labeled a Belgian IPA, but to me it seems more like a Belgian amber ale with perhaps some extra bite. It doesn't taste quite hoppy or bitter enough to bring it into IPA territory, but that could be because of the strong malt character, which balances out the brew.

Brilliant gold/amber with a lumpy head, the beer has a complex aroma of Belgian yeast and citric hops, a full body, and a robust taste that suggests biscuits and tropical fruit. It's not the best Belgian IPA out there, but it's solid and a bold choice for a Sam variety pack. Kudos to the Boston Beer Co. for breaking out some adventurous brews for mix packs.

Incidentally, I realize a few people out there think I write about Sam Adams too often. Well, there's a reason I write about its beers more than others. Actually there are two reasons: (1) The Boston Beer Co. is -- by far -- the biggest and most popular craft brewer in the country. (2) The Boston Beer Co. is based in Boston, which makes it of great interest locally. Whether you like Sam Adams or not, craft beer drinkers buy its beers more than any other brewer's. It would follow that people want to know about new Sam Adams beers, good or otherwise. (For a fuller explanation of how I view 99 Bottles, go here.)

Samuel Adams Grumpy Monk is 5.7 percent alcohol. The IPA Hop-ology variety pack costs about $16.

The Boston Beer Co. has a new release for summer: Porch Rocker, a radler-style beverage. Not familiar with the German radler? Well, another name for "radler" is "shandy." Starting to make sense?

Yes, it's what you fear: Porch Rocker tastes like a hybrid of beer and lemonade. And that's pretty much what it is: a pale beer mixed with some sort of lemon drink.

It pours pale yellow with a soapy head and lots of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is all lemon, as though lemon Pledge had been sprayed generously into the glass. It tastes tangy and sweet -- and almost exactly like a glass of (barely) spiked lemonade. After 3 or 4 ounces, I'd had enough. I gave it to my wife. Pardon the stereotype, but she liked it. And she hates beer.

Samuel Adams Porch Rocker is 4.4 percent alcohol. A six-pack costs about $8.

Last of three reviews this week of locally made tripels

Slumbrew's new Trekker Trippel shows a real independent streak. The latest offering from the brewer, also known as the Somerville Brewing Co., looks like no other tripel -- bright orange, crystal clear, with no head. And it smells almost exactly like bubblegum.

It is sticky sweet, too, with bubblegum, grapefruit, and lemon poking through the taste. Trekker Trippel is so far from the norm -- so far from traditional Belgian tripels anyway -- that it stretches the definition. It's quite good, but anyone who expects a beer to adhere strictly to style might be disappointed. So approach it with an open mind.

Trekker Trippel is 9.5 percent alcohol. A 22-ounce bottle costs about $8.

Second of three reviews this week of locally made tripels

Triplication, the new beer from Idle Hands Craft Brewery in Everett, is a major success. It's an interesting and unique take on the tripel style -- an unexpectedly dry, citrusy variation on the theme.

Cloudy orange with a billowing head that lasts for a long, long time, Triplication has an subdued aroma and a tart taste that are somewhat at odds. The beer has a muted scent of citrus and sweetness, but it's strong on the tongue. Oranges, pink grapefruits, and pepper intermingle with the grain bill. An atypical tripel -- and an excellent one.

Triplication is 9 percent alcohol. A 750-milliliter bottle costs about $9.

First of three reviews this week of locally made tripels

It would be a challenge to anoint any of the beverages made by Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project as its best, but Fluffy White Rabbits is surely a contender for the title. The annual spring release from the Somerville-based brewer is one magnificent beer.

Straw colored with a quickly dissipating head, it emits an aroma boasting citric hops, bananas, apricots, and Belgian candi sugars. This is a generously hopped tripel. Grapefruit and floral notes spill forth on the tongue, along with a tinge of sweetness. Despite all the hops, it's not one iota bitter. Superb.

Fluffy White Rabbits is 8.5 percent alcohol. A 22-ounce bottle costs about $8.

Cambridge Brewing Co. and the Boston Beer Co. have won gold medals at the 2012 World Beer Cup.

Cambridge Brewing won gold for its Sgt. Pepper saison in the "herb and spice beer" category. Boston Beer won gold for 2011 Samuel Adams Utopias in the "wood- and barrel-aged strong beer" category.

There were other local and New England winners. Cisco Brewers on Nantucket won silver for its Monomoy Kriek in the "Belgian style flanders oud bruin or oud red ale" category, and Wormtown Brewery in Worcester won silver for its Pro-Am Porter in the "robust porter" category. Allagash Brewing Co. in Portland, Maine, took home two medals: gold for Allagash White in the "Belgian-style witbier" category and silver for Mattina Rosa in the "American-style sour ale" category.

The World Beer Cup is a major international beer competition held every two years. Known as the "Olympics of beer," its winners were chosen by a panel of 218 judges from around the world. Eight hundred breweries from around the world entered 4,000 beers in this year's contest, whose winners were announced last week in San Diego. The complete list of winners is here.

The Boston Beer Co. has a new mix pack for hopheads.

Samuel Adams IPA Hop-ology Variety 12-Pack, a celebration of hops, contains two 12-ounce bottles each of the following six beers: Latitude 48 IPA (an India pale ale), Third Voyage (a double IPA), Dark Depths (a Baltic IPA), Tasman Red (a red IPA), Whitewater IPA (a hybrid of an IPA and a wibier), and a brand-new beer called Grumpy Monk, a Belgian IPA. The 12-pack will retail for about $16 and is already showing up in stores.

Three of the Hop-ology beers -- Third Voyage, Tasman Red, and Dark Depths -- were previously released only in 22-ounce bottles. Getting them in the 12-ounce size is a positive development. The only drawback: The Hop-ology pack means we won't be getting the Latitude 48 IPA Deconstructed box this year.

Hopefully I'll get around to reviewing Grumpy Monk this weekend, along with another new Sam Adams beer called Porch Rocker. Watch this space next week.

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Here's a very focused sort of beer festival: Drink Craft Beer, an online beer community and beer education website, is sponsoring a festival in July that will celebrate farmhouse ales. Farmhouse ales, also known as saisons, are light Belgian ales -- typically consumed in summer -- that American brewers have recently had a lot of fun (and success) replicating and modifying. "Summerfest: A Celebration of Farmhouse Ales" takes place July 13-14 at the Somerville Armory. It will feature more than 70 farmhouse ales and other summer beers from 25 New England brewers, including the likes of Mystic, Pretty Things, Slumbrew, Backlash, Notch, Jack's Abby, Idle Hands, Night Shift, Hill Farmstead, and The Alchemist. There will be three sessions: 6-9:30 p.m. on Friday, July 13, and 1-4:30 and 6-9:30 on Saturday, July 14. Tickets are $45 (plus an online fee of $3.47) for unlimited 2-ounce pours. Because of space limitations, only 395 tickets will be sold to each session. More information is available here.

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

The British Beer Company in Walpole is about to host what it's calling Mass Brewers Weekend. The event, taking place Friday and Saturday, will feature beers from 14 local brewers. Some brewery representatives will be on hand, giving away glassware and other "cool free stuff." The lineup is as follows:

Friday

1 p.m.: Wachusett

4 p.m.: Samuel Adams

5 p.m.: Haverhill

6 p.m.: Wormtown

7 p.m.: Harpoon

8 p.m. Mayflower

Saturday

noon: Cisco

5 p.m.: Blue Hills

6 p.m.: Berkshire

7 p.m.: Backlash

8 p.m.: Clown Shoes

Beers from Pretty Things, Slumbrew, and Jack's Abby will also be on tap.

The Boston Beer Co. is getting more and more daring with these Samuel Adams Single Batch beers. The latest two, which come out this month, are styles less familiar to most beer drinkers, but they're interesting, well-crafted brews.

Samuel Adams Verloren is a gose, a German ale brewed with both malted barley and wheat. In the case of Verloren (the German word for "lost," since gose is considered a lost style), the brewers used Munich and two-row pale malts, and both malted and unmalted barley, as well as Saaz hops, coriander, and salt. (Sam Adams' marathon-themed beer, 26.2, is also a gose, but a tamer one.)

Cloudy orange wth a creamy head, Verloren has an aroma that recalls a hefeweizen but incorporates delicate perfumey esters as well. It tastes a bit like a wheat ale too, but it's more complex -- lemony with hints of apple and pear; a bit peppery and spicy; and mildly tart at the end. I'm not quite sure how this style got lost, but it should find its way back. Verloren is 6 percent alcohol. A 22-ounce bottle costs $6.

Norse Legend is a sahti, a Finnish beer traditionally brewed by women, often incorporating juniper berries. Indeed, Sam Adams's sahti was a project of the company's head brewer, Jennifer Glanville. The beer was brewed with juniper berries and then aged on them as well.

Murky brown with a tan head, Norse Legend gives off an earthy, floral, spicy aroma. It tastes woody and slightly smoky, and finishes sweet and floral. Norse Legend is 7 percent alcohol. A 22-ounce bottle costs $6.

I enjoyed both immensely. Despite their moderate alcohol contents, they're both good sipping beers, so spend some time with them.

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Dear Yard House,

I'm impressed with your huge array of taps. Keeping 140 beers on draft is a feat in and of itself. But six weeks after your chain opened a new restaurant in the old Boston Billiard Club a block from Fenway Park, I continue to have a few issues with you:

(1) While you have the biggest tap list in the area, your staff seems unable to keep track of everything. (Given a choice, I'd take the much smaller, but well-curated, tap list at Deep Ellum any day.) When I stopped in at Yard House over the weekend, one bartender didn't know which beers were on the rotating taps -- he told me I should look on the electronic screen listing them -- and another told me he had "Dogfish Head Palate Wrecker." Palate Wrecker is made by Green Flash Brewing Co. Perhaps he was confused because Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA was newly available in bottles. One of the bartenders was also unable to give my buddy guidance on trying a Belgian beer that wasn't (as he put it) white and cloudy.

(2) Prices are not listed. This is a problem. I'd like to know -- before ordering -- how much that small goblet of Gulden Draak is going to run me. Every other craft beer bar lists prices. You can too. Which leads to my next point:

(3) Pour sizes are not listed. This is a problem. I'd like to know -- before ordering -- whether I'm getting a pint of beer or merely 10 ounces. I realize that not all beers are equal and that it wouldn't be wise to down three pints of a beer containing 10 percent alcohol, but there's no reason not to tell people how much they're going to get. (I'll hold off complaining about my goblet of Piraat, which admittedly pours with a big head, but my glass was nearly half filled with foam.) Which leads to my next point:

(4) Alcohol content is not listed. This is a problem. I'd like to know -- before ordering, and especially if I'm driving -- whether my beer is 5 percent alcohol by volume or 12 percent ABV. There's no excuse in 2012 (or 2007) for a craft beer bar omitting alcohol content from menus.

Every craft beer establishment out there lists ABV, pour size, and price. It's simple respect for the consumer. I realize you probably don't list any of these things on your menus at any of your locations across the United States, but here's an idea: Start in Boston.

Email me at greenlee@globe.com. Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

The Otherside Cafe is no more. The hip vegetarian cafe and craft beer bar on the "other side" of Newbury Street closed for good Saturday night. The big chalkboard read: "GOODBYE + thx!"

When I stopped in around 5:45 p.m., it was packed, and the beer was almost gone. The draft lineup consisted of Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA and six beers from Jack's Abby, one of which was on cask.

My buddy and I ordered two of the cask beers -- dry-hopped Jabby Brau. As it happened, we kicked the cask: There was enough left only for one pint. Our server joked that we were going to have to fight over it. "Got another glass?" I asked. We split the Jabby Brau and toasted the draining of the Otherside's last cask.

The Otherside's loyal patrons continued to arrive throughout the night, though. As Jack's Abby, the Framingham brewer of craft lagers, posted last night on Twitter, "The otherside is not going out quietly." At 11:22 p.m., Jack's Abby posted that it had just delivered three fresh kegs to the Otherside.

It's not entirely clear why the Otherside closed. It was originally slated to close late last year to make way for a furniture store that was supposed to move into its spot, but that deal apparently fell through.

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

This probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who's been to a Red Sox game, but the team with the highest average ticket price also charges the most for beer. That's right, a beer at Fenway Park costs more than at any other ballpark in Major League Baseball, according to this handy chart compiled by Fan Cost Experience. On average, a 12-ounce beer at Fenway costs $7.25, or 60 cents per ounce. Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals pay the second highest price for a beer ($6.75 for 12 ounces, or 56 cents an ounce). The cheapest beer? At an Arizona Diamondbacks home game, you can get a 14-ounce beer for $4, or 29 cents an ounce).

(There was some discussion yesterday about the accuracy of this data. Apparently it's been resolved, and Fenway does indeed rank No. 1 on a per-ounce basis. Miami Marlins fans pay $8 for a beer, but that's a 16-ounce pour.)

Given the high prices and lackluster selection at Fenway, I prefer to partake in a beverage before or after the game. There are many establishments nearby that serve craft beer, including The Lower Depths, Boston Beer Works, Jerry Remy's, the Yard House, Bukowski's Tavern, and the Otherside Cafe, which, sadly, is closing (yes, again).

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

The 2012 LongShot variety six-pack is out, and as usual it's among the most exciting things Samuel Adams does all year.

The LongShot pack is the result of a homebrewing contest that Sam Adams runs annually. The six-pack contains two each of three different beers -- two created by amateurs and one by a Sam Adams employee. All were chosen by a panel of beer experts.

Darkness is the theme this year, though that's presumably unintentional. The winners are A Dark Night in Munich, a dunkel boasting notes of caramel, cherries, and bread (5.9 percent alcohol); Derf's Secret Alt, a hoppy, nutty altbier that's quite boozy (9.3 alcohol); and Five Crown Imperial Stout, which has the consistency of used motor oil and a muscular profile brimming with chocolate and coffee accents (8.9 percent). All are good; the stout is very good.

The 2012 LongShot contest gets under way soon. Entries will be accepted from May 11 to May 25. Winners will be announced Oct. 13 at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. More information is available at www.samueladams.com/longshot.

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

James Bond drinking a beer? It's true. Agent 007, known for preferring his martinis "shaken, not stirred," will suck on a beer in the new film "Skyfall." Why? Because of a $45 million product placement deal with Heineken.

Wait, what? The dapper, dashing spy with impeccable taste is going to drink a Heineken? Not something a bit more sophisticated, like a Duvel? Or something more daring, like a Piraat? Or bolder, like a Chimay Bleu? Or hipper, like a Stone Arrogant Bastard? Or tastier, like this?

Yes, I realize a lot of people like Heineken (I, obviously, am not one of them). James Bond, however, is not like us. He's better than us. He's cooler than us. He's more sophisticated than us. He should be drinking an exquisite beverage, not the European equivalent of Budweiser.

But enough from me. What beer would you have James Bond drink?

Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Cody Brewing Co. in Amesbury (whose year-round beers I wrote about yesterday) has just released an exceptionally tasty seasonal, Carrot Cake Porter. Deep, dark brown with a 2-inch head, it gives off a sweet aroma boasting notes of caramel, chocolate, and -- natch -- carrots. It tastes much like a pumpkin ale -- imagine crossing Cape Ann Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout with Southern Tier's super-sweet Pumking. These are no mere carrot "hints" or "accents"; the vegetable quotient is huge here, and it should be, since 60 pounds of carrots are used in each barrel. Because of all those carrots, the price of Carrot Cake Porter (which is 6 percent alcohol) is a tad higher than Cody's other beers -- $7.50 to $8 per 22-ounce bottle.

Cody Brewing Co., which started as a brew-your-own beer operation in Danvers in 2005, has grown into a bona fide brewery over the past seven years.

After moving to Amesbury in 2009, Cody distributed its own beers at first. At the end of 2011, it signed on with Seaboard Products, a Danvers-based distributor. As a result, Cody's bottles -- 22-ounce bombers priced around $6 to $7 apiece -- are now in shops throughout the region.

On the shelves, the one that first catches your eye is the India pale ale -- because it says "No Name IPA" in huge letters. It's brewed with five kinds of hops -- Sorachi Ace, Chinook, Amarillo, Cascade, and Glacier -- but it's not crazy bitter, like today's newer IPAs tend to be. Hazy orange with a muted aroma of soft pine, it's very drinkable -- smooth, balanced, and restrained. My initial reaction was something like, "What? That's it? Where are the hops?" But that was the West Coast IPAs talking. No Name IPA (5.5 percent alcohol) is closer to an English IPA -- the original kind -- which takes a less bombastic approach to the style. The more I drank, the more I enjoyed it.

That was true of each of the four Cody beers I tried, especially the Original Amber Ale (5.9 percent alcohol). It's a solid rendition of an amber ale, with bready and nutty characteristics. The Northern Brewer and Amarillo hops imparted a pleasant bitterness on the finish.

The Wheelers Brown (5.7 percent alcohol), an oatmeal brown ale, brought the nutty notes to the fore. Caramel and toffee accents peeked through the bready malt, and the oatmeal added a few degrees of creaminess. It's just short of an oatmeal stout.

For me, the king of the lineup is the S.O.S. (5.8 percent alcohol), which Cody calls a "Belgian-style ale/American IPA hybrid." It boasts a huge aroma of bananas, cloves, spice, and citrus fruit -- like a Belgian IPA on steroids. Dry and robust, it's a lot like Flying Dog's Raging Bitch, and just as excellent. S.O.S. is brewed with American, German, and Canadian malts, as well as Cascade hops, and fermented, of course, with Belgian yeast.

Cody has also just released a new seasonable beer with limited availability: Carrot Cake Porter. Sounds good, right? Tomorrow we'll take a look at it.

Email me at greenlee@globe.com. Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Magic Hat Brewing Co. is getting back into the "big beer" business. The brewery in Burlington, Vt., is debuting its Humdinger series of beers that will be limited to 200 barrels each and put into 750-milliliter bottles priced at $10. (If the name sounds familiar, it's because Magic Hat previously had a Humdinger series of beers available both on draft and in bottles.)

The first new Humdinger beer is an imperial pilsner called Over the Pils. At 8.1 percent alcohol and 75 IBUs, it's got much more booze and hops that your ordinary pilsner (a pale lager that originated in the Czech Republic).

Golden with a thick, creamy head and tiny carbonation bubbles rising nonstop to the surface, Over the Pils has a bold aroma -- biscuits, grass, a little bit of lemon -- a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, and a crispy, bitter finish. Over the Pils is a bit of a Trojan horse: a soft, inviting exterior with a tough core that attacks with malt, hops, and alcohol. For my taste, it's a bit too heavy for the pilsner style (does everything have to be turned imperial?). But certainly fans of imperial pilsners will take to this.

This year's Samuel Adams Summer Styles variety 12-pack is already out (don't get me started), and it contains a real gem: a new light Belgian pale ale called Samuel Adams Belgian Session.

Now, let's not get all worked up over what constitutes a session beer. Some people get their knickers in a twist over the term. Some folks say a session beer is one whose alcohol content is lower than 4.5 or 5 percent (Sam says 5); others insist it has to be below 4 percent (in which case pretty much nothing would be a session beer). Of course, using Sam Adams's definition, several of its offerings would be considered session beers, including Boston Lager, Black Lager, Cream Stout, and Noble Pils. The general idea is that the alcohol content is low enough that you can put back a few of them in a drinking session without getting drunk.

Sam Adams Belgian Session is low enough -- 4.3 percent alcohol -- but it doesn't scrimp on taste. Light amber with a creamy head, the beer has a pleasing aroma with notes of bananas and bubblegum. It's a clean Belgian pale -- light and smooth yet flavorful, with a hint of peach, and it finishes slightly spicy. It goes down fast, and you quickly want another -- which is the whole point of a session ale. In fact, the new Belgian Session is so good I'm going to suggest this: Make it a regular part of the Sam lineup, and sell it by the six-pack.

Email me at greenlee@globe.com. Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.

Good news, people: Harpoon is turning its excellent rye IPA from last year into a year-round offering.

Harpoon released Rich & Dan's Rye IPA last spring as a one-time thing, part of its 100 Barrel Series. But the brewery knew immediately that it had something extra special on its hands. (As did your humble beer critic; here's my review from last June.) Now you can get Rich & Dan's whenever the heck you want it.

Rich & Dan's Rye IPA should be showing up now in local stores as well as on draft. Six-packs will be priced in line with Harpoon's other beers, about $9 or $10.

Speaking of Harpoon, Cambridge Common's next beer dinner focus on Harpoon beer. The dinner, on April 24 at 6:30, will feature Harpoon Salamander (a new Belgian India brown ale), Bohemian Pilsner, UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen, Leviathan Imperial IPA, and -- wouldn't you know it -- Rich & Dan's Rye IPA. Harpoon Cider will even be served, with a homemade apple strudel. The full menu is here. Tickets are $49 and can be purchased here.

The lineup of brewers is set for the second annual Brew-Woo craft beer festival, happening Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester. They include several New England craft brewers making great beer (Allagash, Baxter, Notch, Watch City, Wormtown), a bunch of brewers we all know very well (Samuel Adams, Harpoon, Wachusett), and some odd choices (Anheuser-Busch's Shock Top, a couple of cider makers, Red Bull).

Here's the lineup of participating breweries: Boulevard, Baxter Brewing, Notch Brewing, Sam Adams, Wachusett, Harpoon, Innis & Gunn, Red Bull, Narragansett, Peak Brewing, Thomas Hooker Brewing, Long Trail, Shipyard, Woodchuck, Vermont Hard Cider, Crispin Cider, Magic Hat, Sierra Nevada, Redhook, Widmer, Kona, Wormtown, Shock Top, Anheuser Busch Craft, Goose Island, Ithaca, Watch City, Saranac, Allagash, Backlash, D.L. Geary, Blue Hills Brewery, Offshore Ale, Woodstock Inn Brewery, Berkshire Brewing, Tully Cross Tavern, Kennebec River Brewery, Trinity Brew House, and Revival Brewing.

The event -- which includes live music by local bands -- will be held in two sessions: 2 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $35 at the door, $30 in advance, available at the DCU Center box officer, Ticketmaster outlets, 800-745-3000, and ticketmaster.com. Or, for the same price, you could buy four 22-ounce bottles of this.

Email me at greenlee@globe.com. Follow me on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.