• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU: RANSACK THE UNIVERSE

Written by CITIZEN STRAIN Posted April 2, 2019 Filed Under: Better Boston Beer Bureau, LIFESTYLE

 

 

Welcome to the Boston Better Beer Bureau, our latest incarnation of the trusty suds reporting we’ve done at DigBoston ever since people referred to beer as suds. Really, we remember the days when we’d spend half our checks on fancy German bottles just so that we could review them, whereas these days breweries from all around New England kindly send us samplers and stay in touch. The BBBB is a new attempt to return that love, all while sharing more news about the innumerable microbreweries and pubs among us.

 


 

Holy crap Collective Arts, that’s one seriously hot set of cans.

 

I’ve seen them on the shelf over the years, ogled the unique decor, and even sipped some of this sunshine (on occasions when I wasn’t in the mood to jot down notes and crank out a review), but I am mighty glad that we are finally making this formal. For they are truly among the standouts of late.

 

Specifically, I’m talking about Ransack the Universe India Pale Ale by Collective Arts. I’ve also enjoyed the Ontario brewery’s Life In The Clouds New England-style IPA, which floats perfectly somewhere between the better bitter brews and those that abut the beefier borderline, and it’s phenomenal, a rare demonstration of balance in this world of hop overdoses. As is the brewery’s IPA No. 7, which is tropical without being too fruity, and hazy sans the sandy.

 

Of the lot, however, Ransack is the winner.

 

With Galaxy and bright Mosaic hops for taste and sniff-worthiness, these yellow-canned West Coast-style IPAs hit multiple high notes. It’s wholly satisfying without the unnecessary thickness that sticks in your throat with comparable selections, and light enough to slug through an entire four-pack at the same speed that your uncle chugs a Silver Bullet sixer. Fresh product that it is, Collective Arts selections may sip slightly different from season to season and city to city, but the cans we sampled were as smooth and sublime as the illustrated snake painted by Sarah Shook that’s wrapped around some cans. (Each artistic specimen has a suggested soundtrack as well, which in our case was the song “Years” by one Sarah Shook and her North Carolina band the Disarmers).

 

So, why am I sucking up to this particular Canadian export? Simple, Collective Arts is that superb. And we’re seeing it show up in more and more cold cases, even in average stores that don’t often skew higher end. Compared to Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing and some other brands making a splash around here, the Ransack brewers are in a class all their own. And they give a damn about New England as well; as Brewbound reported in 2016:

 

Collective Arts expansion into New England is a big and exciting step for these craft brewers from north of the 49th parallel. They are hiring a local team and have partnered with the Craft Brewers Guild across New England … Also, they have recently launched a Call for Art with a focus on artists and urban art from the North East. Collective Arts will be launching with a portfolio of eight beers, with a series of launch events that are listed on Collective Arts website.

 

While the aforementioned excerpt sounds like the sort of sentiment that looks good in a press release but ultimately amounts to empty promises to artists, Collective Arts has followed through, pumping resources (and great beer) into Greater Boston’s ecosystem; some of the illustrations found on Ransack cans actually came from an open call for artwork at the 2018 Boston Tattoo Convention. So while we may typically limit our coverage to New England beers, if these Canadians keep showing that they care about the Commonwealth and its creatives, we’re thrilled to swallow anything they’re pouring.

CITIZEN STRAIN
+ posts

Citizen Strain/Grain is an amalgamation of a bunch of us who, in addition to the hard and oftentimes depressing journalism we report for the Dig, also enjoy sampling and writing about the various beers, spirits, and cannabis products that vendors from near and far send our way. If you want us to check out your product, please contact us at info@digboston.com.

  • CITIZEN STRAIN
    https://digboston.com/author/citizen-strain/
    This New Camino Gummy Put Us To Sleep Without Boring Us
  • CITIZEN STRAIN
    https://digboston.com/author/citizen-strain/
    Bite This: Koko Gemz
  • CITIZEN STRAIN
    https://digboston.com/author/citizen-strain/
    The Solubles: Cannabis Products That Melt In Your Mouth
  • CITIZEN STRAIN
    https://digboston.com/author/citizen-strain/
    These Are The Preroll Packs We’re Bringing To Holiday Parties

Filed Under: Better Boston Beer Bureau, LIFESTYLE Tagged With: artists, Beer, Boston, Boston better Beer Bureau, Collective Arts, craft beer, IPA, Ransack the Universe

WHAT’S NEW

The Legendary Past And Uncertain Future Of The Harvard Square Theatre

The Legendary Past And Uncertain Future Of The Harvard Square Theatre

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • Does Massachusetts Underestimate Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
  • The Most Expensive Massachusetts City For Car Insurance (No, It’s Not Boston)
  • If You Find A Mini Felted Animal Around Boston, This Is Where It Came From
  • FOTOBOM: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND @ TD GARDEN
  • Daring Greatly: TikTok Star Alden McWayne (aka Gucci Pineapple) On Scheming And Dreaming

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com