Some Boston brewing history

Interesting article in the Boston Herald about Boston’s brewing history, worth checking out.

Few visible reminders remain – except a two-decades-old beer named after one of the city’s fieriest Revolutionary War patriots – but the Boston of a century ago was a beer-brewing hub to rival Midwestern suds capitals such as Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago.

Research by local historians who pored over city records has turned up evidence of 31 operating breweries inside the city limits in the late 19th century. A city better known for its baked beans and clam chowder had the greatest number of breweries per capita at the time, said Michael Reiskind, a Boston historian who has researched Boston’s brewing history.

But efforts to preserve the past have gained little momentum. That has left the Samuel Adams Brewery Tour and its Boston Beer Museum the chief repository of the city’s brewing history – a place to learn about the past and toast the legacy by downing some sample Sam Adams varieties….

The Sam Adams tour, which is free with a $2 donation to charity encouraged, promotes the city’s most well-known current beer brand. It also recaptures some of the city’s brewing past through historical displays, memorabilia, and even a 30-foot-long glass-lined brewing tank that has been cut open and placed on its side to walk through.

Sounds like a good reason to visit Boston someday…