Timberyard Brewing Company, Brookfield MA

25 November 2023

This was my second visit to Timberyard but the first where it wasn’t so crowded that I could barely get in the door! Still, it was certainly full; Ron and I were lucky to get seats at one of the tables. Fortunately, we arrived just at the right time as we had almost no wait to order at the bar; the rest of the time we were there, the line to order was consistently 10-20 people long.

The taproom is pretty good sized and there’s a very small area overlooking their brewery floor with just a couple of high tables. All seating is common-table style with most of the tables having benches. Apparently, the crowds were partly due to (a) an indoor craft fair and (b) a reunion! On my first visit, there was also a craft fair; perhaps this is a regular Saturday event.

They had 22 beers on tap, all their own, in a variety of styles. The beers in my flight, left to right, were these:

Practice What You Peach – Farmhouse Ale / Saison, 5% – They use both peach and apricot in this brew and while I found it interesting, it wasn’t one I’d order a pint of. On the other hand, Ron had the raspberry version of this same beer — “Raspberry Awakening” — and I thought it was very, very tasty. If we’d been staying for more beer, that would have been in the running.

Oktoberfest – Märzen, 5.4% – I thought this was just outstanding! It’s just the way I like my Oktoberfests, beautifully balanced between malt and hops and not too heavy.

Mosquito Ballroom – Farmhouse Ale / Grisette, 5.2% – As good as the Oktoberfest was, this was even better in my book. It’s dry-hopped with flavors of lemongrass, lavender, and rosemary which sounds odd, but it was such an interesting and satisfying taste that if it hadn’t been for the long line to order, I would have happily taken a 4-pack or two home with me.

Rosie Porter – Porter, 5.3% – This was a good, solid Porter. The surprising part was reading the description and realizing that it is brewed with Black Cherry Juice and Bourbon-Vanilla Beans. You don’t really notice those flavors, but I’m sure they add depth to the taste.

I also ordered a Smoked Turkey Ranch Wrap that was good, but a massive amount of food. By the time I made it through as much of that as I could eat, we decided to head out. There was so much noise we really couldn’t have a conversation, and we certainly didn’t feel like standing in line indefinitely for more beer (there were up to 3 bartenders but none of them seemed to be in a rush).

Timberyard is obviously well-liked, but it’s a good hour away and I’m not sure the interesting beers are worth the hassle of fighting the crowds. Maybe if I were 40 years younger … or could get there at a better time … 🙂