Boston: Cisco Beer Garden Is Now Open

Ignore all the torrential rain and heavy winds for a minute and try to envision being outside on a beautifully sunny day, drinking great beer. The Cisco Beer Garden at the Boston Seaport is now open for the season.

Back by popular demand, this is officially the seventh year of this popular and quite large beer garden. The beer garden is located at 85 Northern Ave. in Boston. Upon opening, the official hours of operation will be Monday thru Thursday, 4 pm-11 pm, Friday 3pm-11pm, and Saturday and Sunday 12 pm-11 pm.

Aside from the numerous stations where you can grab an ice-cold beer, there will be an array of food and entertainment. "Daily live music from local artists, and an expanded food menu featuring an all-new pizza truck, tacos, quesadillas, fried clam rolls, lobster rolls, and burgers," will be part of the experience, Boston.com explains.

Over the years, Cisco Brewery has become quite a popular brand in the New England area, and it has generated a ton of local support. Their history will also be associated with their Nantucket roots, but as the Seaport location proves, Cisco has also branched out throughout the region.

That is in part due to the good vibes and casual theme that their products are associated with. It doesn't hurt that their many beer variations taste great as well. "Since 1995, we’ve bottled up that “happiest place on earth” energy into every beer we’ve served and instilled it at every brewpub we’ve opened, across New England," Cisco states.

Here are their year-round brews that have become Cisco favorites. They are:

Then, there are the special seasonal brews. These include:

Nantucket Vineyards wine is also quite commonly found at Cisco locations. There are other notes to be aware of with their specialty brews. The Wandering Haze IPA contains the highest alcohol volume at 6.8%. Typically all the other options range from 4.2% - 5.5%.

Of course, part of the appeal to Cisco beers is the creative signature cans they are all served in. As opposed to a traditional color scheme and logo, each Cisco brew variation comes in a different color can. They then contain an artwork that is specific to that brew. For example, the season Cold Wave IPA is a white can with a surfer in the middle, and the Summer Rays Golden Ale is a yellow can with a surfboard planted on a sunny beach.

Ben and Jerry's new flavors couldn't be more different from each other. The popular New England based ice cream brand has added three options to their creative family so far this year, and here I will rank them all.

Coincidentally, I tried each of these in one sitting. This was an unplanned taste test. With a house full of young kids, a visiting friend recently stopped by and knew the way to quickly win over the youngsters. Pints of ice cream.

Before I get into explaining which was best, I should note I am not an ice cream (or dessert) enthusiast by any means. Dare I say, I hardly seek out ice cream, even in the summer months. However, if it is put in front of me, I will eat it if it's one of my favorite varieties.

If I'm going for ice cream, though, Ben and Jerry's is easily my brand of choice. Being a New Englander, I have toured their Vermont location a handful of times. Their half-baked in a cone is my go-to choice.

If you are not familiar, these are the Ben and Jerry's new flavors that have rolled out in 2024. Impretzively Fudged, PB S'More, and Marshmallow Sky. Now, it's important to note that Marshmallow Sky is new just to pints. Meaning, it was available in their scoop shops only.

Another flavor entitled Strawberry Cheezecake was also unveiled earlier this year. This did not qualify here as a new flavor ranking because it had been an ice cream flavor (branded "cheesecake). The new "cheeze" version is a vegan dairy-free dessert.

Upon seeing these at my house, I realized they were new. So, instead of selecting one pint to scoop, I took one for the team and realized I needed one proper scoop of each.

My process was to try one at a time and not have all three in the same bowl. Blending flavors might compromise the intended taste.

As a result, there was a flavor where one bite was enough. Another where I couldn't get enough, and the third was somewhere in between.

Here is my official ice cream ranking of Ben and Jerry's new flavors.

It's chocolate ice cream with fudge covered pretzel pieces and pretzel swirl. The problem here is that I do not like chocolate covered pretzels. Oddly enough, I love pretzels alone. Dip them in sugar and ice cream and it either compromises the flavor or classifies as "too much." So, this was my least favorite.

Here we have toasted marshmallow ice cream with peanut butter cups, graham cracker pieces, and marshmallow swirl. The graham crackers are the star of this show. They pair better with the ice cream and chocolate than the typical marshmallow of a S'More. This was certainly a tasty delight, but I feel if the marshmallow swirl did not need to be invited to the party.

Admittedly, I was a little cautious about the blue ice cream color thinking it could suffer from cotton candy syndrome (where too much equals upset stomach city). That is not the case here. It's marshmallow ice cream with swirls, and then chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. The latter of the cookie dough bites just brings this to another level. Some sweets get forced together and some just belong together and make each other better. That's the case here. It's no wonder Ben and Jerry's decided to promote this flavor. It tastes as cheerful as it looks.