In the flurry of breweries and beer companies that have opened in Massachusetts lately, I feel like I’ve almost overlooked a few. Jack’s Abby out in Framingham, MA is one of those. They haven’t had a high profile launch event in the city and they’ve only recently started putting bottles out onto the market despite have draft lines for what seems like quite a while. With that in mind, when I saw a bottle of their Kiwi Rising, I had to grab it. I had a chance to try another of their hoppy offerings at Bukowski’s Boston recently and it was great, so let’s see if this one lives up to what I’m hoping for!

Jack and crew sure nailed at least the color of this beer; they call it a Double India Pale Lager and it’s definitely pale! Surprisingly, it’s a bit hazy which you don’t see much in lagers. Normally the cold aging period (aka lagering) makes the beer quite clear, but in this case there must be enough hops in it to stay a bit hazy...not a bad thing! And this brew is aesthetically complete with a nice, dense white head on top that falls to a craggy, white cap.

As I was pouring this one I could smell sweet, citrusy hops and that’s still what I smell now. You’ve got to love a beer that smacks you in the face with aroma as soon as the first drop comes out of the bottle! Beyond on the hops you can get a bit of light, bready malt but, despite the 8.5% abv, you don’t get any alcohol. Yep, this smells like a lovingly lagered clean, hoppy beer...I can’t wait to taste it, so I won’t wait!

You might think a beer with this much hop aroma is going to be tongue-numbingly bitter but instead what I find on the first sip is hop flavor that goes right along with that wonderful aroma. Rather than leading, as many big, hoppy beers do, with bitterness this one leads with an almost-sweet, orange citrusy hop burst and a creamy mouthfeel. The bitterness? It’s there...it just hits you at the end on the back of the tongue in the finish.

This is a pretty impressive beer, and Jack’s Abby is definitely doing something different! Like I mentioned, I had a chance to try a sip of another of their hoppy offerings at Bukowski’s Boston a couple weeks ago with a new friend of Drink Craft Beer and it was equally delicious. Now that I’ve found out that a brewery from almost-my-hometown is making delicious beers (and some lagers at that!) I’m really looking forward to more from them. Hey Jack, you guys ever want some visitors? Happy to see another local brewer putting out quality beer. Boston (and I’m counting the Greater Boston area) has always been a great beer city but, in the past year or so, we’ve added a whole bunch of great local brewers too. Look out beer world!

Have someone in your life who loves craft beer? Or maybe you're hoping for a bit of craft beer under the tree yourself. Either way we've put together a short list of gifts guaranteed to satisfy the beer love in your life.

Craft Beer Clubs

If you want to do something extra special this Christmas we'd suggest the rare beer club (large bottles pictured below). This club goes beyond the standard offerings offered by most clubs and offer and provides two 750ml bottles of unique beers. You'll get a great selection of barrel aged, brewery collaborations and Belgian styles. You can order as few as 2 months which allows for a range of budgets. Click here to join the Rare Beer Club

Have someone who is just getting into craft beer? More traditional beer clubs offer a lower price point and still offer plenty of great craft beers. Check out our full guide to beer clubs here to find the one right for you.

Home Brewing Equipment

There's nothing quite like brewing your own beer. We've been doing it for years now and the fact is anyone can do it. There are lots of elaborate kits on the market but the fact is you don't need to spend a lot of money to make your own beer. A basic kit like the one pictured below is perfect and it's what we use to brew our beer. When you order be sure to check off the 5 gallon brew pot in the options and you're good to go. Point your new brewer to how to home brew guide and they'll be brewing in no time.

Click here to buy the beginners hombrewing kit

Books

So you've got your beer, you're brewing your own but you want more. We've put together a selection of our favorite books covering everything from home brewing to beer pairing.

Glassware

The fact of the matter is you can never have too much glassware. Having the perfect glass for each beer just makes each sip that little bit better. We've put together a selection of glasses covering everything from pints to snifters.

Earlier this year a small brewery in Red Hook, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, made a lot of people in the northeast very happy when they chose to start canning their brew. That brewery? Sixpoint Craft Ales. Up until recently you could only enjoy their fine, and often experimental, beer on tap which meant in the bar or, rarely, from a growler at home. They initially launched 4 options and then began putting out seasonals, starting with Autumnation. Their newest seasonal is one of Sixpoint’s oldest recipes, Diesel, a hoppy stout meant for winter and based on Founder Shane Welch’s homebrew recipe. We’ve been fans of Sixpoint since Devon and I visited the brewery back in 2006 so we were happy when they released cans. It’s with that excitement that I dive into a 16 oz can of Diesel Stout.

Diesel pours just like raw crude, jet black and totally opaque! If you look close and think real hard, you might see some light showing through...but I think that’s just your mind playing with you. A tawny head on top completes the picture of a delicious looking brew. Overall, it’s got what I look for in a stout: it’s black, not highly carbonated (at least it doesn’t seem to be) and it’s in my glass.

While it looks delicious, it smells perhaps even better. Smooth, creamy and super chocolatey. It almost smells like chocolate milk...with hops! Piney hops complement the aroma that once so delighted you as a child and lets you know that you are, in fact, dealing with a beer and not a dessertified milk drink.

Once you sip it you come to find that while stunning looks and a great smell are important, the key to a great beer is the taste. And this one has it to spare, it’s delicious! It’s so smooth on the tongue, which is hard to do given the hop bitterness that Diesel brings. Once you’re passed the hops you get a chocolate-filled, smooth stout that finishes dry and lingers in the back of your throat with a dry cocoa-like finish.

I picked this bottle up at Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont.

With December finally smacking the Northeast with the cold weather we've come to expect in this time of year, we find ourselves reaching more and more for the comfort you can only find in a nice, roasty stout. Sure, you can drink them in the warmest days of summer (in fact Guinness Foreign Export Stout, quite a hearty stout indeed, is produced and sold mainly in tropical regions) but there's a unique satisfaction to be taken from sipping a serious stout on a blustery frigid New England evening from the comfort of your living room while people outside are halfway to frostbite and snow blindness (excuse the hyperbole).

That in mind, to say you like stout is like saying you like food. There's many types of stout, all with their unique merits and characteristics. Some people only like an Irish Dry Stout. Others like an Imperial Stout. Then there are those who like all stout. But you've got to have a favorite, and that's what we want to know!

Vote below then let us know which way you went on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!