We stopped at the Three Penny Tap Room in Montpelier, Vermont on our way to the Vermont Brewers Festival in Burlington, Vermont. There has been nothing but great buzz about the Three Penny Tap Room so we had to go see for ourselves.
Montpelier turned out to have a quaint downtown full of shops, restaurants and our state capital building, which gleaming in gold is quite the site to see. We strolled through the streets of Montpelier until we came upon our destination, the Three Penny Tap Room and were greeted by a BA friend out front. Once inside we were greeted by another friend from Stone Brewery – a good sign – clearly this was a craft beer lovers bar. I already liked this place and felt right at home with the clientele. The entire place is one big bar with a few seats in the front window. The walls are covered with black boards listing all of the wonderful beers on draft, 24 of them to be exact. We choose to sample number 25, the cask conditioned offering of the day, which in this case was a tasty Cisco IPA. They also have a growing bottle list as well, which is for some reason a rarity in Vermont.
We luckily also ran into one of the owners, Scott, who was gracious enough to show us around and tell us a little about the place. Scott explained that he and his partners Matt and Wes feel strongly not just about great craft beer, but also about supporting local food producers. While they do not have a full kitchen they are turning out some creative small entrees full of healthy and fresh local foods. For Scott and his partners it is clear that their really passion is for craft beer and a mission to “convert macro beer drinkers into craft beer lovers”. These are my kind of guys.
Check out the video and be sure to stop in for a pint, you’ll probably run into someone you know! If you do head up to the Three Penny Tap Room, they are open at 1pm Monday – Friday and at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. They are located right downtown in Montpelier, at 108 Main Street. Be sure to say hi from us and let them know that you too are here for the beer!
In April, the first ever Slow Fest was held in Boston, MA. Put on by Dig Publishing (the folks who publish Beer Advocate Magazine), Slow Fest was a celebration of low alcohol beers (under 5% alcohol by volume or ABV). As a big “session beer” fan (a term used to describe lower alcohol beers) I was excited to get a chance to attend this event.
The Slow Fest included over 30 breweries, including some that would surprise you to know brew quite a few low alcohol beers, like Stone and Victory. In addition, the Slow Fest incorporated an element of slow food to accompany the “slow” beer.
Slow Food is a movement that is centered around getting people to be more aware of where their food comes from and taking the time to enjoy meals. It’s essentially the complete opposite of “Fast Food”. A perfect pairing for craft beer, which despite a debate on the definition of the term, really is the opposite of mass produced beer.
The event was a great chance to try a lot of flavorfull beers, perfect as the temperatures rise and session beers become more of what I crave.
Hopefully they will do this event again next year. If they do I will certainly be there, and as always, I”’ be here for the beer.
In this quick episode, I take a trip out to Boston for the night to check out the East Coast’s largest craft beer event – the American Craft Beer Fest.
With over 80 breweries and 400+ beers available to sample, the fest is well equipped to handle the 12,000 attendees that will pass through in the weekend.
I had the chance to talk to the founders of Beer Advocate and this event, the Alström Brothers, Jason and Todd, about this 3rd year event. Even as the doors just opened, they shared expansion plans for next year. The Bro’s have really raised the bar on craft beer festivals and often tailor those events to the craft beer lover. In this case, they share that the ACBF is geared more toward introducing craft beer to those who may not make it an everyday first choice.
Overall the event had that feel to it, but not in a bad way. There was a strong regional representation, with most brands being from MA and the surrounding area. It gave me an opportunity to revisit some of my local favorites, as well as sample some new breweries I had yet to try. I attended the Friday night session, which is usually the quieter of the 3 sessions, and didn’t have to wait long to taste anything. I was impressed that the longest lines were at some of the smallest breweries, a testament to the crowd and the work that Beer Advocate (and other craft beer supporters) do to put focus on these smaller brands.
Overall it was a nice night out in Boston and it was great to see some fellow beer geek friends that I tend to only run into at these events. I look forward to the next Beer Advocate event, sure to be shared right here – on here for the beer!
We are happy to say that the first ever Brattleboro Brewers Festival was this past weekend and it was a great time. 40 breweries were represented, with many brewmasters and owners actually coming out to show their support and pour. Big breweries and small came together with great music from local favorites Peter Miles and Terrapin Island as well as great food from Vermont Country Deli (who actually created 7 dishes with beers from the festival), North End Butchers and Top of the Hill Grill. Thankfully the weather held out and it was a beautiful day for a festival.
Check out our video to see a quick overview of the event (we were pretty busy during and didn’t get to give it a real “hereforthebeer” production). There is also a great series of photos of the festival taken by Mallory Finnley over on her Flickr page.
If you were able to come out for the fest, we would love to know your thoughts – post a comment here or on facebook. If you didn’t make it this year, we hope that you will be able to make it next year. Keep an eye on the Brattleboro Brew Fest website or right here on here for the beer for the details. Cheers!
We have been busy getting ready for the Brattleboro Brewers Festival recently and unfortunately that has put a damper on editing our videos. So that explains Amy’s winter clothes in this video from our great Portland Maine trip. In this episode we check out Novare Res Bier Cafe. A killer downtown beer bar hidden in the back of an alleyway in Portland.
We got a full tour from their beer manager Shahin Khojastehzad and shared a few great beers including the Rosé de Gambrinus from Cantillon which we had never tried (Side note, we are completely getting into the sour beers recently. Chris Lively would be so proud).
Novare Res has probably the coolest mug club we have ever seen, with a chained up gated room for mug holders to secure their belongings and chill on busy nights. The atmosphere, food and of course beer list, were all top notch.
Fun fact, the Novare Res was opened by the former Moan and Dove manager Eric Michaud. As a tribute to the connection, one bar stool from the Moan and Dove is at Novare Res while one of their bar stools is down at the Moan and Dove.
Well, back to preparing the beer list for the Brattleboro Brewers Festival, hope to see you there and if you stop by Novare Res (as you should) tell them that here for the beer sent you!
Novare Res Bier Cafe novareresbiercafe.com
4 Canal Plz
Portland, ME 04101-4034
(207) 761-2437
A few weeks months ago we took a trip to Portland Maine and were lucky enough to get to peep into Maine Beer Company. Co-Founder David Kleban gave us a tour around the small startup brewery and talked to us about their beer and their plans.
The Peeper Ale (or Spring Peeper as it was called at the time) is a fresh west-coast style (their description) hoppy pale ale. The beer was certainly good, but it seems that David and his brother Dan will be hanging onto their day jobs for now, only brewing as time permits. The folks over at the Portland based beer blog www.blogaboutbeer.com did a nice post on the brewery and the beer, so be sure to check that out.
Maine Beer Company will also be at our first ever Brattleboro Brewers Festival this May, in Brattleboro Vermont. So if you are looking to meet Dan and David or to try their newest brews, be sure to swing by the here for the beer tent at the fest.
On a side note, sorry for the delay in getting these out there. We have some really exciting news (that we can’t share until the end of the summer!) that has kept us from being able to upload anything for a few weeks. We appreciate your patience (and the couple of “are you guys ok?” emails!) as we get back in the swing of things here.
We were lucky enough to score a few bottles of Spring Peeper Ale so I think we will be popping one open this evening in celebration of our getting back to the blog :)
In a shocking move this morning, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas announced that, in an effort to support local brewers, out of state beers would no longer be allowed in the State of Vermont.
“It’s a difficult time for small businesses and breweries in Vermont are feeling the impact.” Said local beer mogul, Moe Szyslak. “This move will help Vermont beer thrive.”
One of the biggest concerns is the border towns. Many Vermonters already cross into tax free New Hampshire to do their shopping and some are concerned that this may lead to them heading over the border for their drinking.
“Vermont has so many great beers, I don’t know why anyone would have to leave the state for a beer.” Szyslak continued, “I personally sell a lot of Duff in my Springfield pub, but I am not averse to selling some Otter Creek or McNeils up here.”
We will continue to keep you up to date on this story. A follow up press conference is scheduled for today, April 1st, at 4pm.
VIDEO – This video is just a quick look at another fun filled Kate the Great day at Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth New Hampshire (check out last year’s adventure here). While the bottles were gone by 5:30am, the taps were flowing with what brewmaster Tod Mot called “his best work ever”.
We love “beer day’s” as they bring together a community of like minded (beer geeky) people and allow for a day of great beer conversation and sampling. Even though there was some talk of the desperation to get a bottle of Kate, the talk was more often about the individuals quest than it was of their disappointment. The moral of the story shared by most: be here really early next year if you want a bottle of this great beer.
In the end it was another great event hosted by Portsmouth Brewery and another tasty glass of Kate the Great for here for the beer. Who knows, one of these years we might just get out there early enough to meet this guy…
VIDEO – Our trip to Portland had to include a visit to the legendary Shipyard Brewing Company. What we didn’t expect was to be offered the opportunity to chat with founder and Master Brewer Alan Pugsley.
Beyond Shipyard, Alan has been instrumental in the building of many breweries around the globe and introducing the distinctive Ringwood yeast to New England. Alan is certainly an icon in the brewing world, especially in New England. Pugsley built the brew house and helped to design Geary’s Pale Ale for D.L. Geary’s Brewery, which is the oldest brewery in New England and one of the original “micro’s”. Alan continued to design brewereies for Gritty McDuffs and Federal Jacks among many others, before launching his own brewery and brand – Shipyard Brewing Company – in 1994.
In this video we talk to Alan about the brewery, Shipyard’s plans for 2010, Pugsley’s work designing brew houses and Shipyard’s current large contract brewing operation.
In a related note, we received an email today from Shipyard sharing that the Pugsley Signature Series beers which are mentioned in the video will be available soon in 12oz 4 packs as well.
Be sure to check out all of our Portland adventures, and stay tuned to here for the beer for even more from our trip to Maine. Cheers!
During our recent trip to Portland, we stopped in at D.L. Geary Brewery and got to talk to David Geary about his beers and Geary’s brewery. Geary’s brews traditional styles and focuses on session beers, including their Pale Ale and Hampshire Ale. However, recently they have dabbled a bit in more “experimental” styles, “knuckling under the tyranny of the hop” as David shares and brewing an Imperial IPA and a crazy dry hopped creation which will be coming out this summer.
David gave us some of the background of the growing brewery and their need to expand (anyone have a 100 barrel system for them?). According to David, they are currently running a “22,000 square foot brewery in an 18,000 square foot building”. But you wouldn’t get that feeling (ok, aside from the row of storage boxes out back) as the facility is really well laid out and organized.
We really appreciated Davids matter of fact personality and his focus on lower alcohol beers with flavor. There is something to be said for how solidly rated every beer from D.L. Geary’s is on the major beer rating sites. While we all appreciate the occasional extreme beer, it’s the staples like Geary’s Pale Ale that are my go to, more often than not.
For more from our trip to Portland, check out the Portland Maine section of here for the beer or follow along with us on Twitter. For more about Geary’s check out their website (and yes, you can order your Geary’s thong here!).
It’s winter in Vermont, which means some quiet weekdays at our Inn. Perfect time of year for another road trip – and this time we head to Portland Maine for a week of awesome beer adventures.
We start our trip at the Great Lost Bear after hearing about it from some of you on Twitter. It’s no surprise that you recommended it, what a cool spot. A great draft list of dozens of Maine beers, as well as some random New England favorites and of course a few Belgians – all served up in a comfortable casual atmosphere. Not to mention a solid menu of good reasonably priced food. A great combination in any beer lovers book.
In this episode we talk with Mike Dickson, the bar manager at the Great Lost Bear about the pubs choice to go “micro” (in 1990 no less) and their killer specials.
The Great Lost Bear had just what we love about a good beer bar – a comfortable and non-pretentious environment that supports their local scene (check out the Allagash Alley) and encourages folks to try new things.
If you are ever in Portland Maine, make this a must stop. And be sure to keep an eye on the rest of our Maine adventure on here for the beer!
The Great Lost Bear
540 Forest Avenue
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 772-0300 www.greatlostbear.com
In this weeks episode I head down to the ice behind our Vermont inn for some early morning ice fishing with my friend Doug (Amy was stuck inside making breakfast for the guests). Ice fishing starts early, and pretty much requires beer – so the question begged, what is the perfect ice fishing beer. This time we go with a coffee theme – sampling several coffee infused beers.
We start with Southern Tiers Jah Vah Imperial Stout, give Long Trails Imperial Coffee Stout a try, sample the BBC Coffehouse Porter and wrap with the Wolavers Alta Gracia Coffee Porter – all without catching a single fish…
Luckily, before the day was out we did catch a fish – and climb back up the hill to the inn.
The extreme cold meant these beers were a bit colder than I would have liked, which leads me to wonder what the best cold weather beer would be? Any suggestions?
VIDEO – During a recent trip up to American Flatbread in Burlington Vermont we got to meet Allagash Brewery owner and brewmaster Rob Tod. Rob hosts an annual beer night at American Flatbread and brought a host of great Allagash brews this year, including a cask of Four, a log of Bi-Curieux and some cellared kegs of Musette and Black (each delicious).
Rob was a great host and gave us a few minutes in the Flatbread brewery for an interview. In the video Rob shares a bit about the history of Allagash brewery, some insight into what’s new in 2010 with Allagash and answers some questions about both the packaging (cork and cage) and the bottle conditioning of their 12oz and kegs.
Our trip also gave us the opportunity to meet Paul Sailor, the owner of American Flatbread, and their brewer Destiny (watch for that interview coming up). We also got to connect with our friends at g.Housen and catch up with some of the Vermont BA folks. The food at American Flatbread is excellent and their beers and their guest beers are always top notch. Another great night, and another fun episode of here for the beer!
In this weeks video we answer the question – Is Blue Moon Beer? This popular beer from Coors Brewing Co. in Colorado is widely available and marketed heavily. The result – it is what most Americans think of when you talk about Hefeweizen or Wheat Beers. Is that a bad thing? We don’t think so.
First of all Blue Moon, despite the immediate beer snob reaction of “that’s a Coors beer”, is a decent beer. It’s even earned itself a solid B- with over 1,000 reviews on Beer Advocate. Is it the best interpretation of a Belgian White? No. But it IS a great gateway beer. I can’t tell you how many people in our pub, when confronted with not a single macro choice, try (and love) the Ayinger Hefeweizen because they recognize the style name from Blue Moon. From there they often ask what other beers they would like that are similar – and thus a craft beer lover is born.
Face it, craft beer is not likely to outpace the big boys anytime soon. But as long as the big boys are dabbling in the craft market, they are helping transition the macro beer drinker into a craft beer experimenter.
If AB or Coors was to try to market a new macro as an “American IPA” can you imagine the crossover that would happen as people start to gain recognition of the style? Once they were hooked on the big guys marketing message, there are so many great craft IPAs that they could transition to. It would probably be the best thing that could happen to the craft beer industry.
So while our video is short and fun and addresses a funny question of “Is Blue Moon Beer?” the reality is that we owe Coors a thank you for helping turn some of the fizzy yellow water drinkers into craft beer lovers like us.
In a shocking move this morning, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas announced that, in an effort to support local brewers, out of state beers would no longer be allowed in the State of Vermont.
