Horseneck Haze anyone? Check out these SouthCoast breweries for National Beer Day.

Things will be hopping in more ways than one Easter weekend.

Beer lovers, unite. National Beer Day is Friday, April 7, and Greater Fall River has some fun places you can celebrate, and kick off the weekend with a cold one.

National Beer Day marks the end of Prohibition in the United States thanks to the Cullen-Harrison Act, which was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Today, it's become a celebration of the beers brewed in the U.S.

According to the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, there are more than 200 operating breweries across the Commonwealth. Mass. Brew Bros. notes there are more than 150 visitable breweries in the Bay State. Three of those can be found right here in the Fall River area.

So toast the return of warm weather, get your local beer fix and chill at these nearby breweries:

What breweries are in Greater Fall River?

In Greater Fall River, there's a trio of breweries offering the trifecta of fun, night-out essentials: good drink, good food, and entertainment.

Canned Heat Craft Beer, 52 Ferry St., became Fall River's first brewery in 50 years when it opened its doors in September 2018 with a brewery and tasting room by the waterfront, next to Borden Light Marina.

Not far from there is another waterfront-adjacent Spindle City favorite for beer enthusiasts: Troy City Brewing at 16 Anawan St., which shares a former textile mill building with the popular event venue the Narrows Center.

Both brew small batches of unique styled beer, many with quirky names that serve as an ode to Fall River. If you haven't yet, try Troy City's Snake Hill, Lafayette, Anawan Street, Highland, Broken Hatchet and 7Hillz. Canned Heat has one called Riverline, a New England IPA “named for the luxurious Fall River Line steamboats that once operated to and from destinations around the Northeast," their website states.

In the backroads of Westport, not far from Horseneck Beach at 98 Horseneck Road, you can also head to the picturesque Buzzards Bay Brewing, a family-run fixture in the area for 25 years.

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What's on tap for National Beer Day

Folks can celebrate National Beer Day at Buzzards Bay with the return of food trucks to the Westport brewery. Gnarly Vines from Tiverton will be there serving up Brazilian American cuisine.

From there on out, they'll have food trucks on site every day they're open — a diverse rotation of fare from Tacofied to Fancheezical to Food Fighters serving up Smashburgers — through the summer. Topping that off is the return of live music April 14.

You can also mark the occasion with Buzzards Bay's two newly released brews — Horseneck Haze, a New England grown and New England-styled IPA, and Dumpling Rock Bock, a lager beer that took four months to make.

"There's such a history to beer," Buzzards Bay owner Bill Russell said. "Every style of beer has such a story behind it — how it developed and where it developed and why it developed ... where do the flavors come from. So we try to keep our spectrum of beers lively and interesting."

With an array of creative, locally made and one-of-a-kind craft beers to try, it can be hard to know where to start. So let the people behind these unique brews help you decide.

Buzzards Bay currently has four beers on tap at their taproom, and another five available in cans. Two are available year-round — the Golden Flounder and Buzzards Bay IPA — and everything else rotates by season.

Russell's recommendation: the Golden Flounder, which he described as "far and away, our most popular beer," accounting for about 60% of BB's production.

Other top picks include the Onset Amber — "a great example of how delicate and how beautiful lager brewing can be" — the Pink Power Raspberry Sour (made with real fruit), Mad Truckers' Bogberry Sour (made with local cranberries), and the Quacker Oat Stout, "a delicious oatmeal stout and the darkest of the options at this point."

Troy City currently features 11 craft beers on tap, and six available in four packs to go, including their recently released spring seasonal 508 Pomegranate Blonde Ale.

Keith Carvalho, Troy City Brewing owner, suggests those looking for something clean and crisp should try their flagship beer Troy (a German Pilsner), which he said has "always been our No. 1 since the day we opened." Other Troy City go-tos are New England IPAs like the mango Lafayette or 7Hillz, both available on tap.

"We try to keep it local so most of our beers are named after places in the city," he noted.

At Canned Heat there are currently 10 beers on tap, including Riverline El Dorado IPA, Where's the Freakin Clickah IPA - New England, Mill Stone Porter Porter and Mad Professor IPA - New England.

Care for a fruited beer with a side of nostalgia? Canned Heat suggests you check out their Cranberry Waves of Wheat Wheat Beer, inspired by the classic Massachusetts-based Table Talk miniature snack pies. Sample it with a side of that same pie available in their taproom.

Can't make it out to the brewery? You can grab Buzzards Bay brews to go at about 100 stores throughout the SouthCoast, from Seekonk to Bourne. Troy City craft beers are also available in about 50 area stores as well as restaurants.

As always on a Friday night, there's live music on deck to enjoy while sipping your brews at both Troy City and Canned Heat. Carvalho said National Beer Day plans at Troy City also include free koozies with every purchase, while supplies last.

"We'll have fun with it," he said.

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Why head to local brewery vs. package store run

So why head out for a pint when you can just grab some beer to go at your local package store? For most, it's the brewery experience that makes it special.

It's a combination of the unique craft brews you can't find anywhere else, the atmosphere of the taproom, the family — and often dog-friendly — atmosphere, topped off with a lineup of live entertainment.

"Our big thing is making sure when you walk through the door that you feel like you're at home," Carvalho said of Troy City.

At Buzzards Bay, the emphasis is on local malt, local hops and local flavor. Every beer they craft is brewed with locally grown and malted grain — the barley used in all their beers comes from Maine and is malted in Wareham, and the wheat used in the Flounder is grown on their Westport farm — and Massachusetts grown hops. For Russell and his team, it's about "developing community connections."

"Our beers represent American farmers, so on National Beer Day you can actually drink a beer grown by someone in the regional community," Russell said. "We think American farmers grow just as nice grain and hops as anyone on the planet so we don't have to go find exotic things from New Zealand when we have such high-quality materials available locally."

What's in store beyond the brews

The cozy Canned Heat taproom is quite the hangout, with couches to chill on, barrels that serve as tables to gather around with friends, and snack food to munch on.

There are arcade games throughout and plenty of room for their regular Cornhole League to face off. They regularly play host to musicians and events like Drag Bingo and karaoke.

At Troy City, their relationship with neighbor Narrows Center of the Arts has led to some fun collaborations, including their most recent Skeleton and Roses beer release and live event to coincide with the Narrows' popular Grateful Dead poster exhibit. 

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Throughout the year, but especially as the summer nears, food trucks serve up an array of tasty fare — from brick oven pizza to gourmet grilled cheese to tacos — just outside the building, steps away from their outdoor beer garden, which Carvalho said is hugely popular. He looks forward to seeing a more bustling beer garden as the weather warms up and Fall River's food truck festivals pick up once again at the nearby Gates of the City.

Buzzards Bay has a pretty steady loyal local following through the colder months, as well as visitors on weekends, but summer is when things really pop, Russell said.

Unlike most bustling bars and clubs, it’s a place where people put down their phones to talk, play games on their wide open lawn, picnic with fare from the nearby food truck, enjoy live music and take in the scenery.

"In the summer it's a pretty cool scene," Russell said. "One of the coolest things is seeing families just enjoying time together."

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River area breweries where you can celebrate National Beer Day