This article was initially published in the September issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
Loved by visitors for its intimacy and manageable size, the 24th most populous city in the US offers a diverse on-premise scene spread throughout distinct neighbourhoods. Bridget McElroy reports.
Boston’s neighbourhoods are certainly distinctive. Back Bay is known to be the upscale part of town with the fanciest bars and restaurants. Home to the famed Newbury Street, it can get a bit crowded and touristy at times, but overall, it boasts an older, more sophisticated crowd than other sections of the city.
In Southie, on the other hand, you’ll find a less polished scene frequented by university-aged people and recent graduates in search of a cheap, but fun, night out. The South End, meanwhile, falls somewhere in between; a touch more refined and more trendy than Southie, but still buzzy and young with lots of live music and a dance-heavy nightlife. On the rise is Seaport, a sleek, newer neighbourhood with a concentration of late-night clubs and restaurants.
As a result of these clear delineations, though Boston is not particularly small — it is the 24th most populous city in the US and spans just under 90 square miles — it has an earned reputation for being more intimate and manageable than many other major US cities. As such, Boston, the official capital of Massachusetts and honorary capital of New England, is often amicably referred to as a town.
Seventy-eight per cent of Boston’s population is aged 21 and above, and as much as Boston loves booze – and Boston certainly loves booze – Massachusetts is one of the strictest states when it comes to alcohol distribution. On-premise establishments are forbidden from selling more than two drinks to one person at any given time — even pitcher-sized portions must be sold to parties of two or more. More than that, bars are prohibited from selling or advertising drinks at a lower price than the price regularly charged for the same drinks during the same calendar week. Nor may they offer an unlimited number of drinks during any set period of time for a fixed price. In short, no ‘happy hour’ deals, no ‘Martini Mondays’ and no two-hour bottomless brunch.
Perhaps in spite of the regulations, which existed well before the COVID-19 pandemic, and perhaps causal to them, Massachusetts, and Boston more specifically, has a rich alcohol culture.
Key trends
Last summer in Boston was all about the Espresso Martini, and the cocktail is still a staple. This summer, however, the Dirty Shirley stole the show. Bartenders and bar-goers alike reported a renewed interest in the vodka-based version of the ever-popular, ever-sweet children’s soft drink. In the same vein, on-premise venues report that Bostonians are drinking more cocktails these days. Ted Hawkins, director of operations for Coda Restaurant Group and partner at South End’s SRV Venetian-style wine bar, reports a distinct spike in cocktail consumption and a subsequent decline in beer and wine by the glass.
This local cocktail craze, however, doesn’t mean that alcohol intake as a whole is increasing in Boston, and within the bump, the on-premise has actually seen an influx of no- and low-alcohol cocktails. Vermouth consumption is on the rise, which aligns with the low-ABV trend, and ready-to-drink (RTD) and ready-to-serve (RTS) cocktails, which inherently have a lower alcohol content, are also quite popular.
Given the city’s seasonality, trends shift often. Bars are constantly changing their menus and creating drinks to match the time of year. In addition to their typical offerings, the bar at Bully Boy Distillers in Roxbury, for example, has boozy ice pops, frozen drinks and a menu of rotating ‘tiki’ cocktails during the warmer months.
International players
Despite the slight decrease in the popularity of beer, the category still has a huge place in Boston’s market. The most internationally-recognised brand owner headquartered in the city is The Boston Beer Co. Founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, the company holds a family recipe for what is now famously known as Samuel Adams Boston Lager. In 2020, Samuel Adams sold more than 7m barrels, positioning the brand as one of the largest craft brewers in the country. Some of Boston Beer Co’s more novel internationally acclaimed brands include Dogfish Head, Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea and Angry Orchard Hard Cider – not to mention Truly Hard Seltzer, which has been the main growth driver for the publicly-listed company in recent years.
Local players
The success of Sam Adams was monumental to Boston’s craft beer movement, and today there are 30 breweries in the area known as Metro Boston. Bob Kelley, the co-founder of the Mass. Brew Bros blog and the self-avowed resource for craft beer drinkers in Massachusetts, attests that “the current landscape of craft beer in Boston and Massachusetts is such that the sub-industry is still trying to recover from the pandemic. Restrictions impacted breweries’ abilities to do business and achieve growth. However, there are definitely still many options for thirsty patrons. The quality of craft beer in Massachusetts is outstanding, and there is no shortage of places to get it — from breweries and restaurants to package stores and craft beer bars. Outlets are teeming with beer, providing Boston’s customers with something they covet most, diversity of choice.”
One of the city’s distillers, Boston Harbor Distillery, was founded in 2012 by beer-maven Rhonda Kallman when she jumped to distilling after a decades-long career in craft beer. In addition to Boston Harbor, there are two other notable distilleries in the city itself: Bully Boy Distillers, Boston’s first craft distiller since Prohibition, which today produces a number of spirits and RTDs, and GrandTen Distillery which was named the 24th best distillery in the US last year by Travel + Leisure magazine.
Challenges and opportunities
Unsurprisingly, Boston’s market was hit extremely hard during the pandemic. On-premise liquor sales dropped to zero for two months early on. Between February and April 2020, according to a report on the city’s economy published in May by the Boston Planning & Development Agency, food services and drinking places lost 33,720 jobs, accounting for two-thirds of employment in the industry. Since then, sales have mostly bounced back, largely in part to Boston’s willingness to allow restaurants to apply for outdoor permits. During the first week of this year, however, seated restaurant dining was only at half of January 2019 levels.
Where the city continues to struggle, Hawkins emphasises, is on the labour side. “It has never been easy to hire in restaurants,” he says. “Especially right now, finding and maintaining staff is the biggest concern, and it’s where we’re seeing the most difficulty bouncing back.”
The same planning study reports that, by September 2020, the initial resurgence of business after COVID lockdowns brought back around one-third (11,171) of the jobs lost. Growth flatlined and even slid backwards, however, with the colder weather and continued positive cases. Employment picked up again as the weather warmed and demand ballooned; 11,791 jobs were added back between January and June 2021.
Amid this rollercoaster-style recovery, restaurants are getting creative and rethinking how they do things. Efficiency and creativity seem to be the name of the game in Boston. Bar concepts are growing more multidimensional and niche, and Andy Gelb, operations manager at Bully Boy Distillers, confirms that since the height of the pandemic, there has been something of a renaissance in the on-premise. “While we watched many establishments disappear due to COVID, … a slew of new restaurants have emerged and have begun to shape the scene in new ways,” he says. “Boston has had a really nice emerging cocktail scene in recent years, and you can get extremely high-quality drinks all over the city now. There’s been a rise in speakeasy-style bars, and also in the popularity of Amaro and Amari [after-dinner liquor] menus.”
Although many establishments remain understaffed and are operating with fewer opening hours, protracted growth is predicted throughout the city, particularly in East Boston and the Seaport. Many in the industry also believe Dorchester to be the next great on-premise frontier. As the situation continues to develop and recover, Boston, with its distinct neighbourhoods, remains a city to keep an eye on.
This article was initially published in the September issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
