American Craft Beer Week: Where To Celebrate Around Tewksbury

TEWKSBURY, MA — Eighty-five percent of adults age 21 or older, as the Brewers Association puts it, live within 10 miles of a brewery, including the residents of Tewksbury.

With two breweries in nearby Lowell, the Brewers Association is urging craft beer drinkers to support local breweries as American Craft Beer Week approaches. The 15th annual weeklong observance will run from May 10-16 this year.

At Merrimack Ales in Lowell, owner Adam Pearson is planning to roll out their summer seasonal lemon-blueberry gose sour for Craft Beer Week.

"We zested 95 lemons and over 200 pounds of Maine blueberries went into it," Pearson said. "It's a good thirst-quencher."

Pearson said Craft Beer Week has never been a huge draw for Merrimack Ales, but it's always good to have attention on craft brewers.

"It's always good when there's a concerted effort to get people paying attention to us," he said. "It may not give us a big bump but it certainly doesn't hurt."

Merrimack's taproom was licensed just before the pandemic hit, and all of a sudden it was no longer an option, but it is open again now, Pearson said. So is the taproom at nearby Navigation Brewing Company, also in Lowell.

Many other breweries have had special releases for the week in years past. Those included on the South Side of Chicago in 2018, when two breweries — Open Outcry Brewing and Horse Thief Hollow — teamed to create a flight of beers as a tribute to the four flavors offered by the “Rainbow Cone” ice cream shop.

Newer releases, discounts and other creative ideas will be offered at craft breweries across America this year as well, the Brewers Association said in a statement.

American Craft Beer Week in 2021, which takes place 14 months after the coronavirus pandemic began its significant financial impact on local businesses nationwide, presents a prime opportunity to support local brewers, association officials said.

“America’s small and independent craft breweries have faced many hardships over the past year,” Brewers Association marketing director Ann Obenchain said in a statement.

In recent decades, craft beer has become the more popular choice for Americans. Craft breweries in the United States date back to the late 1970s, the first opening shortly after President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that made home-brewing legal in 1978.

Now, craft breweries are opening in communities across America. Small and independent brewing companies accounted for 40 of the top 50 top producing craft brewing companies in 2020 based on beer sales volume, according to the Brewers Association.

Even as in-person craft beer consumption and unique local events were shut down for months following the pandemic’s start, craft breweries in the country provided more than 138,000 full- and part-time jobs in 2020, according to the association.

At Merrimack Ales, Pearson is just happy to still be operating, he said.

"It could've been absolutely horrible," he said. "We're here, and there are a few others that are not."

While closing the taproom so soon after it opened was hart, the brewery's regular customers were very supportive, Pearson said, and they did alright with pickup and delivery orders. Over the summer, they had an outdoor beer garden.

"The city of Lowell was good to work with there," he said. "Each time the rules changed we were able to roll with it."

Now, with COVID-19 restrictions eased in many areas, 2021’s American Craft Beer Week “is about more than just delicious craft beer,” Obenchain said.

“It’s about community and showing support for hometown taprooms, brewpubs and breweries,” she added.