By closing time, the floor of Bone Up Brewing Co. was covered in spilled beer, neon-orange cheeseballs, and drops of blood (both real and fake). These are the signs of a successful US Air Guitar competition.
Joel Macleod submerges a case of empty cans into sanitizing solution before filling them with beer at Brato. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
March is finally here, but Massachusetts craft brewers are still struggling to reach the end of this long, cruel, pandemic winter. We reached out to a few brewpubs, tap rooms and breweries to find out how creativity, community and a getting a lot more beer into cans is helping them survive.
Mobile canners State 64 cans Brato Brewhouse’s N. Beacon Light Helles Lager in a tight space inside the brewery. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Our first stop was Brato Brewhouse and Kitchen in Brighton where the clinking, whooshing sounds of aluminum vessels being filled with sudsy beer rang in a momentous day.