Shovel Town Brewing, North Easton MA

23 November 2024

I’m late with this entry so my memories of the individual beers are suspect, but I’ll do my best. They had twenty-two beers on tap for our visit and I sampled eight, so return visits will definitely be in order!

Shovel Town is located on the back side of a small building that houses a number of businesses. If you don’t know it’s there, you may never find it — there’s no public parking on the side of the building they’re on, and access from the front of the building is only through a specific door that was locked when we were there (and the Shovel Town sign at that door is rather small and inconspicuous). Fortunately, we knew it was here and just had to find the entrance! There’s a good-sized outdoor seating area at the main door, as you can see. Indoor seating is at the bar (but only a few seats) or at either communal tables or four-person high-tops.

Since we had just enjoyed a large breakfast, we each had two flights and shared an appetizer. Here are my two flights, each described left-to-right:

Tricentennial – Blonde Ale, 5% – This beer was commissioned by the Easton Tricentennial Committee and is based on a British-Style Golden Ale. It was good, but not my favorite; in spite of the light color, I found it more heavy than I prefer for this style, but it was true to the description.

Little Bock of Calm – Single Bock, 6.6% – This German-style lager was quite tasty! If you like your beers with a heavy malt profile, this is right up your alley. It’s a good, robust, malty lager.

Patriot – Czech Pilsner, 5.2% – Lightly bitter and crisp with a clean, malt finish — what’s not to like?

Pumpkin Ale – Pumpkin, 5.2% – ‘Tis the season and all, so I had to try this. The flavors are great but I personally prefer a more subtle pumpkin flavor in my ales. It was well balanced, just heavy on the flavors.

PB Crunch – Milk Stout, 7.7% – The description says this is a “rich, bold, Peanut Butter Coffee Stout” and it certainly has all that going for it! It was a lot of flavor to pack in and deal with, but I actually did enjoy it. I’m not sure I’d like a full pint of it, but it was excellent in this size.

Broad Blade – American Stout, 7% – I liked this just as much as the PB Crunch except that this is a stout I could easily handle in a pint. It’s big and smooth with a wonderful chocolate flavor.

Twine Ninja – West Coast DIPA, 8.5% – I loved the description’s reference to a “copious, almost reckless, use of Mosaic, Michigan Chinook and Citra hops” and you certainly get all of that from this beer! It went down easily but I felt the alcohol was a bit too present; I’ve had other strong DIPAs and TIPAs that hide the alcohol brilliantly.

Golden Maple Stout – Imperial Stout, 11.8% – “Deceivingly full-bodied” is a good description for this stout, which includes coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans, and a “huge” dose of dark maple syrup. It was a full-on party in a glass and I liked it far more than I expected I would.

In the background of the photo of the second flight, you can see the appetizer of four pretzel bread sticks, soft and warm. They came with three dipping sauces, Jalapeño Mustard, Beer Cheese, and Stone-Ground Mustard. This the perfect size to split and they went with the beers quite well. I only wish I’d been hungry enough to try other items on the menu as everything sounded great.

“Grab a Shovel …” is an interesting and memorable slogan. We’ll definitely return here in the future.