Dan R.
Yelp
"Please don't bother trying to find her,
She's not there"
(The Zombies)
If you want a beer, and scan the beer list for Miss IPA, you won't find her here at Jack's Abby. No IPAs, no DIPAs, no NEIPAs, no hazy or juicy or sour IPAs. None at all. Zip, nada, zilch.
Why not? Because Jack's Abby only brews Bavarian style lagers, that's all. And they take that statement very seriously, because they have an incredible 24 lagers on tap.
I need to say this - Jack's Abby is one of the biggest, most different, and best breweries I have ever been to.
It's massive, and in the German style, it's set up like a huge Beer Hall. No table reservations are accepted and seating is "open". So expect to see a ton of very long picnic tables with benches. People sit wherever there is an open spot on a bench, so you'll probably be sitting with some new friends!
You and your new friends will have a dizzying choice of lagers to drink. To me, this is what makes Jack's Abby different, because they haven't joined so many of today's breweries in falling head over heels with IPAs and offering an IPA-centric beer list.
Look, I'm not an IPA guy, so whenever I visit a brewery, one of my first actions is to scan the beer list for something that doesn't say "IPA". I had no worries here !
Between their tap list and bottled beers, they have five "core" lagers, six specialty or seasonal lagers, twelve Kellerbier lagers, seven limited specialty lagers, and fifteen barrel aged limited specialty lagers. That's a lotta lager!
Want more? Sure you do. Well how about this- Jack's has an in-house kitchen and offers you a ton of food options made on sight, so you won't see any food trucks here.
They have a wood-fired pizza oven, so expect to see a lot of pizza on the menu, along with "Beer Bites" (meatballs, wings, pretzels, bratwurst, charcuterie), "Lighter Fare" (four salads and an interesting Charred Cauliflower dish), a cheese platter, and eight pizzas.
We were driving home from Boston, and since we had 90 miles ahead of us, we wanted to be prudent about what we drank. We each had one beer, their very popular Blood Orange Wheat (15 IBUs and 4% ABV). Light, refreshing, delicious!
We had dinner along with our beers, and went for two pizzas (one red and one white). Each was $15. The House Meatball included crushed Italian tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and outstanding meatball slices. It was terrific. The Wild Mushroom included leeks, gruyere, tarragon and a slew of sliced wild mushrooms. It was also terrific.
Each pizza was cut into six slices. Of the twelve slices, we had three each, and took home the other six. Seriously, a single pie is way more than enough for one person, unless you're an offensive lineman or a frat boy.
So there you have it. Five stars all the way for one of the very coolest brewery restaurants I have ever seen.
Nice job Jack's Abby !