Hello! My name is Bob and no, I don’t want sugar on the rim of my Broken Latch, thank you very much! To make up for my refusal to engage in this fall beer tradition, I am writing this month’s Amory’s Tomb Brewing Newsletter! Here’s what’s happening at the Tomb:
New Farmhouse Ales - in Bottles!
Are Coming
If you are like me, you’ve enjoyed the abundance of really top-shelf lagers at the Beer Garden recently. Man Bun Pilsner, Broken Latch and whatever they are calling their Italian-style Pilsner this week have all been in regular rotation recently. It’s an embarrassment of riches!
But while Amory’s Tomb makes excellent and, if anything, underrated lagers, we all know that Allen and Rick’s true passion is farmhouse ales. Heck, in the early days of the old taproom the only beers you could purchase to-go were bottles of farmhouse ales.
As much as I have enjoyed the Amory’s Tomb 2025 Beer Garden Lager Bonanza, something’s been missing in my Beer Garden life recently, and I think it is the pleasure of drinking a great saison out of the bottle. Well, things are changing in a big way! Allen and Rick have not 1, not 2, but 3 new bottle offerings coming!
First up, and already available, is the second batch of Puncheon Classic. Puncheon Classic is the most straightforward name Allen and Rick have given one of their beers since they decided to call their robust porter “Robust Porter”. It’s exactly what the name says it is. It’s the Amory’s Tomb OG farmhouse ale, Saison I: Classic, aged in puncheon barrels.
Puncheon Classic is also the first beer to “graduate” from the Dead Sparrow Society (see below) to wider release, and it isn’t hard to understand why. Saison Classic has always been a great beer, and aging it in puncheon barrels changes the flavor a bit from regular Classic, but not too much. It’s really great!
Next up is Decopaged Volume 4. The Decopaged series of beers dates back to the later years of the old taproom. Each version of the Decopaged series has been different from prior ones, though all are blends of different ales combined with other ingredients. For Decopaged 4, Allen and Rick have blended 28-month barrel-aged saison with fresh saison, then conditioned the whole thing on passionfruit. Wow! Decopaged 4 will be available in bottles very soon. As for why it’s “Decopaged Volume 4” and not “Decopaged Volume IV”, you’ll have to ask Allen.
Finally, Amory’s Tomb will soon be releasing its first in a series of beers that use tea as ingredients, Tea Service Volume 1. Tea Service Volume 1 is conditioned on blueberries and jasmine tea with a tea simple syrup. I’m really intrigued by this one since two of my favorite beverages are tea and beer, though not necessarily in that order. I can’t wait to give it a try!
The lagers (and porters, and IPAs) in the Beer Garden have been great. They all go wonderfully with Perico’s on Fridays and Saturdays and Ben’s Raclette on Thursdays. But saisons are Amory’s Tomb’s true speciality, and I am excited that they will have an array of offerings available soon.
Who knows, I might choose to wash down my Perico’s Tacos with a bottle of farmhouse saison just like they do in Belgium! At least that is my understanding of what they do in Belgium. Surely they have tacos in Belgium, right? Maybe made with a waffle instead of a corn tortilla? No?
Speaking of bottled beer…
2025-26 Dead Sparrow Society Waiting List Open Now
The Dead Sparrow Society is Amory’s Tomb’s beer subscription program. It’s simple. You sign up at the start of the year, and then you receive bottles of Allen and Rick’s most adventurous and interesting beer. You also get a cool t-shirt and glass, too.
The current season is ending this Autumn (if you are currently a DSS member, be on the lookout for a separate email from Allen.) and the final season bottle drop looks like it will be a doozy. At the risk of stealing Allen’s thunder, it’ll include:
A whiskey barrel aged imperial ESB
A Brett IPA
A farmhouse ale barrel-aged 2 years with rhubarb
A barrel-aged rye farmhouse ale aged on blueberry and lychee
Do those beers sound intriguing to you? If so, you’re in luck because it is almost time to sign up for the new season of the Dead Sparrow Society! If you are already a member, you’ll receive information on the new DSS year sometime in November from Allen.
However, if you aren’t yet in the DSS, now is the time to put yourself on the waitlist for the new year. There is always some turnover from one year to the next, and the wishlist is the first place Allen and Rick look in order to add new members.
If you like Amory’s Tomb’s farmhouse ales - heck, if you like well-crafted, adventurous beer of any type - I heartily recommend signing up. The DSS beers for the first 2 years have all been excellent, and I would imagine the new year will be just as good, if not better. You can use this link to put yourself on the waitlist.
https://www.amorystomb.com/dead-sparrow-society
Halloween in the Beer Garden
In case you hadn’t guessed from the brewery’s name, their logo the name of their beer subscription plan, the general vibe of their merchandise, the dark color scheme of the tap room, the music, or that plastic gravestone next to the shed in the Beer Garden, Halloween is a big deal to Amory’s Tomb.
There will be a couple of special events to celebrate spooky season this year. First, Maynard will be having its Annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat on Thursday, October 30th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Of course, the Amory’s Tomb Beer Garden will be open with candy for the kids. And of course, Mom and Dad deserve a treat, too! Stop in for a draught!
October 31st brings the final Friday Night Garden Party of 2025, with a spooky set of dance music beginning at 6pm.
Then on Saturday, November 1st, it’ll be the annual Amory’s Tomb Halloween Movie Night! This year’s double bill will begin with Messiah of Evil from 1974.
IMDB describes Messiah of Evil’s plot as “A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.” Ah, a good wholesome movie about an adult daughter reconnecting with her estranged dad. I’m sure it will be heartwarming!
Second up will be Savage Weekend, from 1979 Here’s IMDB’s description of this one: “Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Unfortunately they are stalked by a murderer behind a ghoulish mask.”
OK, reading that description, this must be some sort of romantic comedy with a “city slickers end up stuck in the country and learn about themselves” twist. Sort of a “Sleepless in Seattle meets My Cousin Vinny” vibe, maybe.
Come on out and see for yourself whether my descriptions are accurate. The movies start at around 7:00pm on November 1st.
Toss on a costume and grab a blanket or two. We’ll be giving out prizes for best costume each night!
The New Cans Are Finally Here
If you remember last month’s newsletter (c’mon, throw me a bone and at least pretend you remember!) you will recall that I wrote about all the new cans coming for sale at the Beer Garden. And then if you went to the Beer Garden for the next few weeks after this newsletter, you noticed there were…no new cans.
It turns out there was a water main break at the production facility where Amory’s Tomb brews their canned beers. How’s the facility doing? I have no idea! I didn’t even ask! But I did ask Allen about the cans, and he assured me that no beer was harmed, it’s just they couldn’t get the cans as quickly as they had wanted. Thank goodness!
Well, the cans are now safe and sound, and available for your consumption on premises in the Beer Garden or to take home, including new Broken Latch, Robust Porter and Saison XLII. I am sure Broken Latch and Robust Porter need no introduction, but Saison XLII is a true surprise.
Saison XLII is a farmhouse ale brewed with pilsner wheat and Munich malts and flaked spelt, as well as crystal and meridian hops. It tastes like a proper Amory’s Tomb beer, and is never something I thought Allen and Rick would make available in a can. This one is definitely worth getting your hands on!
In fact, I might need to head down to the Beer Garden right now to get a can of Saison XLII, so that’s it for this update. See you at the Tomb.
