Woburn's Lord Hobo Honors Mystic Brewing For Craft Brewery Week

WOBURN, MA — Looking to support a local brewery for American Craft Beer Week? Woburn's Lord Hobo Brewing is offering a chance to go somewhere local while celebrating another brewery that didn't make it.

"In celebration of American Craft Beer Week, we are celebrating a favorite Massachusetts brewery that sadly closed its doors in 2019, Mystic Brewing," a Lord Hobo spokesperson said. "We'll be raising a glass filled with one of their coveted beers (Entropy - a rich and beautiful 14% aged barleywine) as a toast to one of the first and best microbreweries in the Boston area."

The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at Lord Hobo's 5 Draper Street brewery, beer bar and restaurant.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find this beer anywhere in the world right now, or ever again," the spokesperson said. "Be sure to make it here for your final opportunity to enjoy this beautiful beer."

The 15th annual weeklong observance will run from May 10-16 this year.

Other craft breweries around Woburn include:

• Gilded Skull Brewing, 19 Wade Ave., Woburn. Where to find their beers.
• Oak & Iron Brewing Company, 18 Red Spring Rd., Andover
• Spicket River Brewery, 56 Island St., Lawrence
• Merrimack Ales, 92 Bolt St., Lowell
• Navigation Brewing Co., 122 Western Ave., 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.

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.