Great Awakening Brewing, Westfield MA

28 May 2023

I’d never been to Great Awakening and decided it was time for a visit. This is a HUGE space, upstairs in an old mill building. These two photos only show about half the space, but one of them does have all the brewing equipment and supplies in it:

They have a good number of beers on tap and 3 “standard” flights that are $2 cheaper than a “make your own” flight. I started with the Brew Club flight with a cross section of their standards:

There really wasn’t a bad beer in the bunch although they didn’t all hit the spot today. From left to right:

Louie (6.5%) – This “Classic Saison” has just the right amount of interest without any particular part of the flavor being overpowering.

One Cup and Then I’ll Go (6.5%) – This and the Louie were my two hands-down favorites from this flight. One Cup is an interesting cream ale that’s been conditioned on several varieties of coffee beans; the coffee flavor is subtle but gives this a character that puts it a step above most cream ales I’ve had.

Long Voyage (7.8%) – This one is a Wee Heavy, a style I tend to avoid. I couldn’t find much to object to in this one, though – even though it’s still not my cup of tea (pint of beer?), I have to admit that they do a great job with this style.

Do You Beer What I Beer? (10%) – What a great name and an amazing flavor from this Imperial Pastry Stout. I was perfectly happy with a taster size; perhaps a pint would be nice in the dead of winter, but then again, this is a lot of flavor to deal with.

Their food offerings change depending on when you’re there; the Sunday menu is biased toward breakfast items, but there was this Tacos de Cervesa and it was really tasty. I like that I didn’t have to get through a mountain of food, either.

Flight #2 was another “standard” one, the “Hoppy” flight. Again, from left to right:

Nektar (6.5%) – This IPA features Nektaron hops from New Zealand for an interesting taste, a bit out of the ordinary.

East Mode (7.2%) – They describe this as a Juicy IPA and it uses Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic hops to get a great fruity flavor.

Odyssey #20 (8.2%) – Now we’re into the DIPA end of the flight. The alcohol wasn’t overpowering in either of these, but neither were they overly sweet. #20 is brewed with “a very expressive yeast strain.”

Sky Guy (8%) – Another DIPA, also good.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have a favorite in this flight. That’s surprising, especially with an IPA flight, because there’s usually at least one that really, really stands out for me. On the other hand, I didn’t dislike any of them. They were just all really good brews and I’d probably be happy to drink any of them again.

The only negative about the visit was that the staff on the bar – which where you had to order drinks and food today – didn’t seem terribly focused on service today. Whether that is normal for this place or an aberration is unknown, but if I return and have the same experience, that will definitely be my last visit.

I’d also like to go on a different day of the week to check out a more complete food menu. Breakfast is great, but I wanted lunch 🙂