Turtle Swamp Brewing, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA

Jamaica Plain, about five miles south west of downtown Boston, was once the city's main brewery area as documented by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society.

The Haffenreffer Brewery was active from 1870 to 1964. The landmark chimney was recently extended to reinstate the missing letters from the top.

A plaque gives further details of the chimney restoration project.
One of the Haffenreffer buildings now houses the Boston Beer Company brewery where Jim Koch first brewed Samuel Adams Boston Lager commercially in 1985.

Nowadays, this brewery offers tours and is used for pilot brews and brewing local seasonal beers.
On a previous visit to Boston in 2015, one of the reasons I chose to stay in Jamaica Plain was to facilitate access to a Sam Adams Brewery Tour.

Visiting Boston in early October 2017, I chose Jamaica Plain again as a pleasant and convement place to stay.

Jamiaca Plain is served by Orange Line trains with stations at Stony Brook and Green Street.

South West Corridor Park
between Green Street & Stony Brook T stations

There is parkland next to the railway line and pleasant houses line the leafy residential streets.

On a visit to the long established Doyle's Cafe on Washington Street, I noticed a sign for Jamaica Plain's new brewery - Turtle Swamp. Some research showed that Turtle Swamp Brewing Co is based at nearby 3377 Washington Street.

El Ambajador - 3371 Washington Street

Washington Street is a long, straight road with a variety of residential and commercial buildings including a police station, El Embajador Dominican restaurant and Stan Hatoff's gas station where the motto is 'Gas is Gas'!

Turtle Swamp Brewing Co - 3377 Washington Street

When I walked past Turtle Swamp Brewing Co on Friday 6 October it was closed at lunchtime.

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

An advantage of staying in the area was that it was easy for me to return on Saturday lunchtime, when extended opening hours apply, after a morning walk around Arnold Arboretum, reached from Forest Hills, the final stop after Green Street on the Orange Line.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for me, due to an issue with the authorities, the Turtle Swamp bar was operating with a restricted licence meaning that only free samples for drinking in the patio or growlers and cans for sale to take away could be handled.

A line of fridge/freezers were used as a substitute for a traditional bar arrangement.

The top compartments were decorated with fridge magnets and colourful signs showing the name of the beer, the artwork for these is by Sarah May. (Fridge magnets can be purchased.)

My first sample, served in a translucent plastic cup, was All Ears golden ale (4.7% ABV), taking its name from the malted corn ingredient supplied by Valley Malt.

When co-founder/owner John Lincecum noticed me taking photos he came over to chat and agreed to pose with Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine which I left with him.
John explained that with co-founder/owner Nick Walther (Head Brewer) that Turtle Swamp are concentrating on brewing beers of low to medium strength.

They plan to supply some beers in cask form like Nik's Bitter (4%) brewed with English malt and American Cascade hops, which was my next sample.

Lindsay Donovan, Tap Room Manager, showed me how a keg was stored inside a fridge compartment. Lindsay kindly allowed me to sample further beers from the range including JP Porter (6.2%), Serendipitous paler ale (5%), Toll Gate New England IPA (5.9%) which was named after a local inn and Not a Wit white IPA (5.7%). My favourites were the Toll Gate and JP Porter.

While I had been standing at the bar, a stream of customers had been served and some were enjoying their samples on the patio benches outside the large windows of the future taproom. It was good to see a new brewery in Jamaica Plain and hopefully it will soon become fully established with a growing customer base. 

'Where Science and Nature meet'
Turtle Swamp Brewing Company website with beer details etc: turtleswampbrewing.com
3377 Washington St. Jamaica Plain, Boston. MA
Twitter: TurtleSwampBrew 
Facebook page: TurtleSwampBrewing
Opening hours (September 2017 stc):
Thursday   4-8pm
Friday       4-8pm
Saturday 12-7pm
Sunday     1-5pm