Hello folks! This week we are releasing Change Up #18, The Victors. Here we highlighted the source of the ingredients: all the malts and hops came from Michigan! Because of this intense Michigan focus, we felt compelled to release it near some of the big college football games and give a nod to University of ... Read More

Part 3Beer Fermentation In the previous two posts (Part 1 and Part 2), we discussed fermentation in general, and its role in human history. This week we will look at fermentation in the context of beer. Now, to be upfront, beer fermentation is an incredibly complex subject with lots of scientific jargon and concepts. As usual, ... Read More

In Part 1 we began our examination of fermentation, what is it and how it happens. If you have not read it yet, check it out as we are picking up right where we left off! (Part 1 is available here) We learned that some of the earliest forms of life used fermentation as a ... Read More

This coming Sunday we will be hosting an event called Light & Dark. We have been kicking around this idea for a long time, and it is exciting to finally see it come to light. The idea behind this event was to change the focus of the taproom experience. These days, breweries offer so many ... Read More

It is time for another round of experimental IPA! While this is part of our Change Up series, we have found that simply numbering the beers makes it hard to remember what happened in each batch. Going forward we will be (attempting) to name these hoppy explorations to help give them a little bit more ... Read More

This Friday we are releasing a special beer, Katrin, a new take on a Munich Helles. This beer was brewed in honor of my wedding last weekend, and I could not be happier to  finally share it with all you wonderful folks.  As some of you know, Idle Hands already makes a delicious Helles called ... Read More

More often than not, when discussing beers, we focus on the ingredients or the history of the style or what to expect for flavors. Though yeast may enter into that conversation, we still treat it as something static. But in truth, beer is not a constant; it is not the same as making a salad ... Read More

Amongst the many happenings in September, we especially love the return of our Robust Porter ‘34’, named in honor of David Ortiz. While the man himself is a legend, Porters are equally rich in legacy. Contradictory tales, misread documents, rumors of bartenders blending beers, the Industrial Revolution; it is a collection of shadowy myths and ... Read More

Boy, oh boy is this a fully stacked week here at Idle Hands! We have got some massive events and beer releases coming your way; you may as well set up camp across the street. But among the chaos there is one beer I do want to make sure we talk about: this year’s Anniversary ... Read More

Finally. It is that time of year again. The best season in New England approacheth. Crisp dry air, crackly leaves, fires, sweaters, that special sunlight and the best beer styles. Yes, I am talking about Autumn and the arrival of Pumpkin beers– …haha, nope. Just kidding, none of that happens here. No, I am talking ... Read More

Working in a brewery requires a certain tolerance of chaos. Everything in a brewery is in a state of change: fermentation, conditioning, mashing, blending, etc. Yet, business requires predictability, schedules, routines, something static. Tension is the name of this game. But, tension can bring us closer to what we aim for; think of how a ... Read More

The first in a two part series on Malts, part 2 can be read by clicking here. These days, malt is often overshadowed by hops and yeast; but do not let that fool you into thinking that malt adds next to nothing. While beer is a balance of several ingredients, malt is often taken for ... Read More

Malt: Part IIFlavors and Grains The second in a two part series on Malts, part 1 can be read by clicking here. Previously we discussed the difference between barley and malt. Barley is the natural form of the grain of choice for brewing. A malt is a modified grain, one that is tricked into thinking ... Read More

In recent years, summer has become synonymous with sour ales. It makes sense since they are thirst quenching, often lower alcohol, and can have lovely fruit additions. So it is not surprising that one of the first questions we get is: ‘Do you have any sour ales?’ But this is tricky, because sourness is not ... Read More

 Hello there! We had several busy weeks in the brewery, which kept me away from the Brewer’s Spotlight. But it is well worth it. We now have more Brocktoberfest, our annual Festbier, than ever before. Quietly lagering for the next month or so, expect “Brock’ by the end of August …mmm… But till then we ... Read More

Edgeworth: our American Pils named for the Malden neighborhood we call home. We developed this recipe in early 2018, hoping to make a warm weather Pilsner. It quickly became a staff, local, and regular favorite. Now we are seriously considering brewing it year round. So perhaps it is time to shed some light on it.  ... Read More

This week’s spotlight shines on Kill Your Idles: Pluot. Part of our line of Kettle Sour Ales, these beers draw inspiration from Berliner Weiss from Northern Germany. Our version differs in our souring method, the use of lactose sugars, and adding fruit puree during fermentation. First, and most importantly, in order to prevent lactic bacteria ... Read More

I’ve been highly anticipating the time when I would finally get to shine the spotlight on this one.  Roughly two years ago in the summer of 2017, I got the chance to share the brew deck one more time with my mentor and friend, Ben Howe.  Getting to start my career under his tutelage, was a ... Read More

Hey all!  We got some exciting happenings this Sunday at the brewery!  We gonna have a new beer that we poured a whole bunch of effort into AND some of our favorite friends in the industry serving up their wonderful food!  It’s gonna be a bash… a Baltic Bash! You know we love our lagers ... Read More