Boston Beertinerary
Background
Boston is a natural fit for a beertinerary. The most popular tourist activity is already a walking trail. The Freedom Trail winds through old Boston and passes by most of the city’s most important historical sites. is a well marked walking tour through old Boston. And it’s pretty easy to make any walking tour into a beer tour. The hard part is that there aren’t any breweries along the Freedom Trail. The Tea Party was obviously not a real party. But we won’t let that stop us.
Note: There is a ton of walking on this itinerary, but there are several times where you can hop into an uber to knock out some of that walking. And most of the walking will be done while sober. That’s by design.
The Basics
Where to Stay in Boston
Stay in Back Bay
Getting Around
Boston has the T, which is their network of subways, buses, and trolleys but, it won’t take you to most of the places on this itinerary. You will need to either walk or uber. Most places are easily walkable, but there are some stretches that you might want to rest your feet and take a short uber.
Beer
Samuel Adams is the king of beer in Boston and for good reason. It’s one of the grandfathers of craft beer and deserves it’s due. Treehouse and Trillium are the powerhouse breweries and if you can find them on tap or in a bottle shop, grab them first. You’ll also find a lot of Guinness. This town likes their Irish pubs.
Itinerary
8:00am – Breakfast at Pavement Coffee
Pavement located on Newbury in Back Bay serves breakfast but you’re here for the coffee. The coffee is really good and the breakfast will do. And you’re going to need coffee because this is a long day. And this is the launching point for your day.
9:00am – Boston Common
If you enjoy walking and got up early enough, you can walk from Back Bay to downtown and the start of the Freedom Trail. The walk goes through Boston Common which is Boston’s largest city park. But, it’s 1.3 miles, so if you’re not a walker, take a $5 uber or the T B/C line to the Park Street station to start the Freedom Trail.
10:00am – Freedom Trail
The Freedom Trail is a well marked path (literally a red brick road) that you can follow to many of Boston’s historical sights. You’re going to start at the State House on the corner of Beacon and Park Streets and then follow the trail and see the following:
- State House – seat of the Massachusetts State government
- Park Street Church
- Granury Burial Ground – The final resting place for Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and others.
- Kings Chapel
- Old City Hall
- Old South Meeting House – where they gathered before the Boston Tea Party
- Old State House
- Boston Massacre Site
How long that will take will depend on how long you linger at each spot. Most of the spots are just blocks apart and only take a few minutes to take a pictures. Other people ready every placard and sign (you know who you are!) We veer off the Freedom Trail here because you’re probably hungry and you’re probably wondering where the beer is in this itinerary.
12:00pm Lunch at James Hook & Co
Food before beer is always a good idea. Walk the half mile down to James Hook or call a quick Uber if you want to save the least exciting walk of the day. Often you want to get good food where you can get good beer, but sometimes you have to make exceptions. Grab a lobster roll or clam chowder. Or both. James Hook is a casual place. You’ll order the food from a trailer and eat on picnic benches. From here you can walk out on to a bridge and get a glance of the Tea Party Museum. You won’t get to go in on this itinerary. It’s not really worth it. But, it’s cool to see the site where it happened and in relation to rest of Boston’s sites.
12:45pm Trillium Brewing Company
Trillium is one of Boston’s best beers. There tasting room is just over the bridge and you’ll want to stay for more than 1. You’ve earned if you’ve walked everywhere so far.
2:00pm Harpoon Brewery
This is mostly industrial, but you’ll catch glimpses of Boston Harbor along the way. It’s about .8 miles, so you could uber this, too. Harpoon has one of my favorite tasting rooms as it’s designed to look like a traditional German Beer Hall. Pretty good beers and if you’re still hungry you can pick up a pretzel to go with your beers.
Faneuil Hall
Now you need to Uber. Get to Faneuil Hall and back to finish the Freedom Trail. From here you see the following:
1. Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market
2. Paul Revere House
3. Old North Church where a couple of lanterns were hung.
Still thirsty? There are some cool spots to grab some beer. The Patios by City Hall http://cityhallplazaboston.com/patios-pints/ will be outdoors in the warmer months and serves great beers from Wachusett Brewing Company. The serve on a patio overlooking Faneuil Hall.
North End
The trail ends for you right in North End. Lucky for you, the North End is the old Italian side of town and Italian food is perfect for soaking up beer. You can’t go wrong at most of these places. We ate at Cantina Italia http://cantinaitaliana.com/ because it had a fifteen minute wait and loved it. It was everything an Italian Restaurant in the North End should look and feel like. And food was fantastic as well.
Other popular choices are Giacomos, Carmelinas, Mamma Maria and La Familigia Giorgios. Sometimes, they have long waits. Especially on weekends so find your spot or make a reservation.
Night Cap
Fenway Park. If it’s April to September and the Red Sox are in town, you should uber to Fenway. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, it’s an experience you shouldn’t miss. You can uber to the game and walk back to Back Bay from there.
Back Bay nightlife. Best part of staying in Back Bay is that there is no shortage of bars to hit right by your bed. A couple of standouts include McGreevy’s Irish Pub is a typical Irish Pub and home to the Dropkick Murphys. Bukowski’s is your typical blue collar hole in the wall Boston bar that has a bunch of craft beers on tap.
That’ll keep you busy until you pass out.