WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

Right in the heart of Worcester’s bustling Canal District alongside the minor league ballpark, retail shops and restaurants lies BAY STATE BREWERY & TAP ROOM, an enormous publick house in a modern entertainment complex with two hockey rinks and sufficient game room. A grey-bricked orange-topped facility, Bay State’s large L-shaped bar services the Industrial designed high-ceilinged tap room featuring several community tables, twelve tap lines and an overhead garage door leading to a front benched deck.

Opened since January 2020, Bay State’s entrepreneurial homebrew-schooled owners, Chip Jarry and Shawn Rice, create ‘distinctive small batch lagers and ales’ in the 10-barrel brewhouse that used to be Nonna’s Pizza. Originally occupying a smaller nearby Leicester space, Jarry & Rice complement their variegated beers with a worthy pub menu (wings-hummus-nachos-soup-salad).

My wife and I settle in at the front deck to consume a classic hefe and a Belgian tripel. I also bought Blood Orange Lager, Kelley Double IPA, Becky Likes The Smell Double IPA and Velvet Revoluce Black Lager (all reviewed in the Beer Index) for home consumption.

An expectant banana-clove sweetness gained a mild lemon twist for Cuttyhunk Hefeweizen, an herbal-licked summertime moderation with sourbread wheat base.

Creamy caramelization coated the candi-sugared plum, prune and raisin dalliance plus perfumed orange sweetness of Tripel Trap, a Noble-hopped pilsner malted Belgian blonde ale.