MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS
Occupying a weathered shingled shack in the Martha’s Vineyard town of Edgartown, BAD MARTHA FARMER’S BREWERY opened in 2014 as the flagship site (with a Falmouth location in Cape Cod since September 2019). An inconspicuous Bad Martha sign at Donaroma’s Nursery leads patrons to the flower-bound pub originally built by Amish settlers years hence.
A rustic back patio and wood furnished side patio surround the cement-floored, pitched-ceilinged, wood-walled barnhouse. Bad Martha’s beautiful bronze bar top and huge windowed copper kettle add to the antiquated homespun elegance. Each tap handle features a sexy blue mermaid. Artisan pizza ovens are stored in the mezzanine.
“All Bad Martha Beer is uniquely brewed with hand-picked wild grape leaves grown on Martha’s Vineyard, so there is a piece of the Island’s soul infused in every sip,” goes the brewery’s organic motto.
My wife and I enjoyed the Beer Bacon Pizza alongside all eight available brews on our sunny Saturday afternoon stopover, April ’24.
Flagship Extra Special Bitter, Martha’s Vineyard Ale, maintained a soft buttery caramel spread for sedate floral-daubed dark honey, desiccated orange and dried grape illusions above its moist earthen peat moss bed.
Wild vineyard grape leaf crisping, mildly floral Bartlett pear sweetness and mineral grained pilsner malting gave mild blonde ale, Vineyard Summer, its casual dry splendor.
Festive mulling-spiced amber lager, Spiced (Yule), retained a lightly smoked Vienna malt sweetness and dried orange-apricot respite but its cinnamon-clove-cardamom pinch lacked resilience.
Dried fruited spicing and mild herbal pining sparked appeasing moderation, Patio IPA, utilizing locally grown hops and sugary pale-crystal malts.
Dry Mosaic/Centennial-hopped 508 IPA secured its pine lacquered grapefruit rind bittering and shifty orange-tangerine tang with baked breaded caramelized malts.
Plummy beet-sugared Belgian ale, Beach Plum Dubbel, gained subtle cherry, banana and fig snips to engage mild fruited hop esters and caramelized pilsner malts.
Soft-tongued brown ale, Bad Bad Pecan Brown, relegated its smoked candied pecan adjunct as charred walnut, buttery chestnut and dark cocoa subtleties merged above slightly burnt caramel base.
Dark-roast coffee nuttiness and chicory root earthiness combined for Woodford Reserve-aged Bourbon Street Coffee Porter, a semi-rich dark ale with only subtle bourbon hints.