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CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

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Things to do in Boston when you are not at NERAX

Here is what we ended up doing during the daytime when not at NERAX 2025.

Yes, it’s the long-awaited (hey, it has been a week) tales from the streets of Boston, with some more NERAX casky stuff thrown in at the end, just for the hell of it.

We Walked

Thankfully, my foot has almost completely recovered, and I was able to get the gentle walking miles in again.

And, just as well.

With an expected 10 – 12 cask pours each day over the four day festival, I was hoping to get in at least 36 and preferably 40+ miles walking, over the four days we were in Boston.

The weather tried its best to deter us; we experienced, in order, cold and windy, cold drizzly and windy, warm and sunny, cold rainy windy and miserable.

We beat it back.

We did consider finding something free to do indoors (Harvard Art Museums were recommended) for two of the days, but ultimately decided to just put on our hoodies, unpack our umbrellas (totally useless because, windy), get our heads down and do some serious trudging.

We chalked up almost 41 miles, with the two longest walking days being the wettest.

Good job too, my cask tally totaled 49 5oz (maybe closer to 7oz) pours.


Seafood at the Seaport (Wednesday, April 2nd)

We stayed at the northwestern end of the South Boston Seaport this year, almost within earshot of that annoying tin whistle music at the Tea Party Museum (the folks who work there must go nuts, the tune is on repeat all day and all night), but we wandered down to the southeastern end of the seaport for our first pre-NERAX meal.

There is no shortage of seafood restaurants in Boston, particularly along the waterfronts; James Hook & Co. were a couple of blocks from the hotel just across the Fort Point Channel, the Barking Crab was even closer, and we briefly checked out the Legal Seafoods branch by the Fishing Pier, but our destination was the Yankee Lobster “shack” at the far end of the civilized part of the Seaport District.

We spotted it the first year that we came to NERAX and were staying right across the street from it, and we have returned to eat there on several occasions over the last three years.

The food is fresh, uncomplicated and delicious and we have been slowly working our way through the menu; the lobster bisque is a particular favorite of mine.

The inside was full on a cold dreary Wednesday mid-afternoon, but there was room available in the outside covered “patio”, which was thankfully heated.

Great seafood, reasonable price (for Boston), paper plates, assorted hot sauces, what more do you need?



Quincy Market in the Rain (Thursday, April 3rd)

Proper pub crawling weather.

But no pubs for me, I was saving myself for the evening NERAX session.

We took our umbrellas along, but they pretty much stayed in our pockets as it was too windy, and the rain was actually just a piddle.




Started off with a short walk to Mul’s Diner on West Broadway in Southie, just to test out the weather conditions and to get me some breakfast, I must have breakfast!

This was another discovery from a prior NERAX; they do a great Irish Breakfast and an even better Corned Beef Hash, I did both again on this trip.

Very interesting beer pump in a museum case in their windowfront.

We skipped the recommended walk to Cambridge and opted instead to walk back to our hotel first, and then head towards the Quincy Market area, because we knew we could get under cover there if the rain got worse, it didn’t.

But what rain there was, was enough to keep the tourists away from the market.

This was as quiet as I have ever seen it; we were able to take a slow stroll through the inside without having to dodge the crowds, and actually got a chance to check out each vendor’s products, and prices, oy.

A quick stop in Bathroom Central, under Faneuil Hall; if you take nothing else from this post, I highly recommend the “facilities” downstairs in Faneuil Hall should the need arise.

I have never seen them busy, even the ladies room (not that they let me in there), and should you find yourselves looking for somewhere to rest your legs for a while, there is a cool video presentation about Boston’s black history, abolition, and the underground railroad; get there quickly before our Dear Leader replaces it with reruns of Roseanne.

You can even learn something new about Paul Revere’s employment history while you are drying your hands in the men’s room.

The New England Holocaust Memorial (Thursday, April 3rd)

The Boston Holocaust Memorial was right around the corner and was even quieter, except for a handful of folks who used it as a shortcut while we were there, rushing back to the office with their sandwich bags; shame on them.

We always take our time walking through, leaving stones on the granite slabs at either end, and reading every single inscription.

They are starting to look like a roadmap and action plan this year.

And I am starting to feel like a stranger in a strange land.



Tracking Down Charles Dickens (Thursday, April 3rd)

As did my old mate Charles Dickens back in 1867/68 on his second and last visit to the United States, where he hid out for much of the time in his room at the Parker House Hotel; annoyed at all of the fanboys, and disgusted by the cruelty of the American prison system at the time.

We went off to the now Omni Parker House next, in search of evidence or memorabilia of that Dickens visit.

We found his door.



Eight foot tall; compare that to the pint-sized entry doors to some of the houses on Beacon Hill.

We didn’t go up to the mezzanine to check out his mirror, maybe next time.

Apparently the Parker House has several other claims to fame:

  • A JFK proposal table in the dining room, not to be confused with the JFK proposal booth in Georgetown DC.
  • Invention of Parker House Rolls. How exciting.
  • Invention of the Boston Cream Pie (yay!), which is actually a cake (doh!).

Cold Sam Adams and Friends (Thursday, April 3rd)

A few paces up the Freedom Trail we decided to check out the Granary Burying Ground.

There were two small tours going on, but it was quite empty, so we were actually able to spend some quality time with all of the good folks buried there.

Especially Sam Adams who, as you all remember, first brewed his Boston Lager back in 1984 when there were under a hundred breweries in the United States.

Or something like that.

We wandered through Boston Common to the Public Garden to check out the Swan Boats (pond closed and emptied for tree maintenance) and the brass Ducklings (festively adorned), before getting back to the hotel via Chinatown.



Veggies (Friday, April 4th)

They said that it was going to be a nice day, so we planned to check out the Haymarket, again over by Faneuil Hall; an outside farmers market every Friday and Saturday, with fresh-caught seafood and monster vegetables (cabbage as big as yer ‘ead and carrots as big as yer ambitions).

We took the long way there as it was so nice out and we knew it wasn’t going to last.

So, Southie, through Chinatown, across Boston Common and around and over Beacon Hill, before finally getting to the market by early afternoon.

We grabbed some fruit for later and made plans to make room in our rolling suitcase for some of those monster veggies; we would be coming back in the rain tomorrow to pick something up.




The North End and the Waterfront (Friday, April 4th)

But while it was so nice outside, we ventured on to the North End to grab some quick history and ogle the Italian pastries.

We finished the walk with a slow crawl around all of the piers along the waterfront.

Test out the Umbrellas (Saturday, April 5th)

As expected, Saturday was a washout, but that didn’t stop us from deploying our umbrellas again and heading back to Chinatown and the Haymarket; Chinatown to pick up some walking pastries for my breakfast, and the farmers market to get our take-home veggies.

The umbrellas were much more useful this time, so much so that we ended up walking almost eleven miles around Fort Point, the Seaport, and South Boston in the near-constant drizzle.




What about the Beers?

I had a few beers, as I detailed in last week’s post.

Here were my favorites; top-3 ordered lists for each day and the overall top-5.

Wednesday, April 2nd:

Thursday, April 3rd:

Friday, April 4th:

Saturday, April 5th:

Overall NERAX Top-5:

  • Old Hooky by Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire.
  • Double Stout by Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire.
  • Orkney Best by Swannay Brewery, Swannay, Orkney.
  • Elsie Mo by Castle Rock Brewery, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
  • Gold by Purity Brewing, Alcester, Warwickshire.

Yep, the Hook Norton ales were that good!

I cannot wait until next year.

I hope that they let the beers in, or me out.

Whatever works.




Scorecard w/e 4/15/25

In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:

Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)

4/24/25 – 4/26/25: Scratch Days @ Torst, Brooklyn NY

4/24/25 – 4/26/25: Caskalot at Fifth Hammer Brewing, Queens NY

4/27/25: 2025 Yards Invitational at Yards Brewing Company, Philadelphia PA

5/1/25: Cask Marque Celebration 6pm at Wild East Brewing, Brooklyn NY

5/4/25: 7th Annual Cask Ales FUNdraiser @ Po’Boy Brewery, Port Jefferson Station NY

5/17/25: Das Bock! @ Plattduetsche Biergarten, Franklin Square NY

5/24/25: New York State British Real Ale Festival @ Seneca Lake Brewing, Rock Stream NY

6/7/25: Log Jammin’ V @ Human Robot Beer, Philadelphia PA

Upcoming Random NYC Casks

Eckhart Beer Co. are rolling out the cask(s) around town (and country) again:

NYC Cask Venues

Known Operational/Active Beer Engines

  • Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
  • Fifth Hammer
  • Wild East
  • The Shakespeare (x3)
  • Cask Bar & Kitchen
  • Drop-off Service

Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)

  • Strong Rope
  • KCBC
  • Tørst
  • Blind Tiger Ale House
  • Threes Brewing
  • Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
  • The Owl Farm

Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA Train

Metro-North Hudson Line

  • Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
  • Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).

Metro-North Harlem Line

  • The Ambleside Pub, Mt. Kisco NY (four handpumps, Old Glenham beer range).

Metro-North New Haven Line

  • Marlowe Artisanal Ales, Mamaroneck NY (one handpump tapped Thursdays, Marlowe beer range)
  • Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
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