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Matthew Tota That didn’t take long. Fewer than 80 days after breweries won the right to cut ties with a distributor without having to wage a protracted legal battle, a distributor has called the new law unconstitutional and wants to fight a protracted legal battle. Holliston wholesaler Atlantic Beverage Distributors has tried to deny Framingham brewer Jack’s Abby’s efforts to terminate its Massachusetts distribution agreement and buy back control of its brand by filing a lawsuit with the state’s Alcohol Beverages Control Commission. Jack’s Abby represents the first high-profile brew...

Opinion/The Next Draft: Time again to clean out the beer fridge of news By Matthew Tota I opened my beer fridge last weekend and shuddered. Cans from October jammed into every free space without reason. Bottles from December wedged tightly along the door. And far too many questions: When did I buy that? Why? It’s time again to clean out my beer fridge and look back at some brewery news around Central Massachusetts that got caught up in the chaos. Burudika! (Cheers in Swahili) Beyond the flavor, what makes a beer memorable is the story behind its creation. You don’t get those stories with ...

Opinion/The Next Draft: Flying Dreams leaves Worcester – for now By Matthew Tota Correspondent For the first time in more than a decade, a brewery will not call the back of Peppercorn's Grille & Tavern home. In October, Flying Dreams Brewing Co. moved out of the Park Avenue restaurant after Peppercorn’s owner Tom Oliveri opted not to renew the brewery’s lease. Flying Dreams took over the roughly 1,200-square-foot space in November 2015 when Wormtown Brewery moved production to its new brewery on Shrewsbury Street. Now, technically, Worcester is down to five breweries: Wormtown, 3cross F...

The Next Draft: The good and bad of Boston Beer’s ‘juicy’ Super Bowl ad By Matthew Tota Born in the center of Waterbury, Vermont, and perfected along the Fort Point Channel in Boston and at a small Brimfield farm, the New England IPA has finally reached the big time. A Boston Beer Co. Super Bowl ad touting the Samuel Adams New England IPA “Wicked Hazy” has gone viral. The commercial shows those majestic Clydesdales so associated with Budweiser, which will sit out the Super Bowl ad blitz this year for the first time since 1983, rampaging through Beantown, apparently let loose by the ...

Architects work with state brewers guild on COVID challenges Matthew Tota Few breweries have ever designed a taproom with a pandemic in mind. Before last March, I would have told you that’s a good thing. Taprooms should embrace close quarters and communal reveling. I should feel cramped waiting at the bar to place my drink order in a warm, crowded room. We should sit outside only in 70-degree weather under the sun’s splendor. Now, though, give me space, give me hand sanitizer stations, give me an outdoor seat no matter how cold, because not only does it mean I can still go to breweries, i...