Meet the Malt Master: Down the Road Beer Co.

The Everett brewery bested Martha's Vineyard's Bad Martha in the inaugural Mass. Malt Madness tournament.


Down the Road Beer Co. taproom

Down the Road Beer Co. taproom. / Photo by Alex Weaver provided for “Down the Road Beer Lands in Everett in Early November”

Perhaps it’s the striking artwork on cans and bottles of brews like Pukwudgie session IPA, Seven Star IPA, and Rasenmäher Kölsch. Maybe it’s the bright taproom filled with arcade games and events. Or maybe it was even the brewery’s quest to be Massachusetts’s first to make a beer with marijuana-derived CBD. But something, dear readers, led you to name Down the Road Beer Co. the first-ever Malt Master in Boston magazine’s inaugural Mass. Malt Madness bracket.

The final round tallied a whopping 55,348 votes between DTR and its worthy competitor, island brewery Bad Martha of Edgartown. Both breweries that made it to the Final Pour relied on social media to help them rise to the top—Bad Martha even got some Twitter love from ESPN SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy. But Down the Road bested Bad Martha with 53 percent of the clicks.

Congratulations to DTR—Pukwudgies all around! And congratulations, too, to the recipient of a $25 gift card from our friends at Craft Beer Cellar-Fenway. That person will be notified by the end of the day Thursday.

Beginning in the regional finals round, voters who submitted a valid email address (and confirmed they are of legal drinking age) were entered to win the prize—and they were signed up for Boston magazine’s twice-weekly restaurants newsletter, the Feed. Maybe you didn’t win the free beer money, but you can still get the latest dining news delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the Feed.

Thanks to everyone who voted in this exciting new tournament. And thanks to the 64 Massachusetts breweries originally included, who, overall, engaged their fans in this friendly competition, and were extremely chill contestants in a crowded field of fantastic brews. We look forward to seeing the local beer scene continue to thrive in the Bay State, and enjoying the results.


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