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We’re back. In time to take a break. But watch out for 2011.

Tim Brady — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:34:24 +0000

Sorry for our absence these last few weeks. Things get hectic around our Vermont inn during fall foliage. But now things have calmed down a touch and we are back in full force with a ton of fun beer news for 2011. Starting with the official announcement of our new “Meet the Masters” series of meet the brewer weekends here at our Inn. The first weekend of each month (hopefully) in 2011 we invite you to join us to meet some killer brewers and sample some of their wares. So far we have the brewmaster from Harpoon, Switchback and Otter Creek all lined up and hope to get some more signed up soon. The details are all on our inn website but we will of course be sharing the good stuff here as well.

We were psyched to get some coverage today in the Boston Examiner too, including mentions of here for the beer and the meet the brewer weekends.

So look out 2011, we are back with a vengeance and a cellar full of good beer. Thanks for your patience with us and we wish you all a Happy New Year! Cheers from Here for the Beer!

Three Penny Tap Room – Montpelier, VT

Tim Brady — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:38:46 +0000

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!

Slow Fest – A Celebration of Session Beer

Tim Brady — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:49:25 +0000

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.

American Craft Beer Fest ACBF Boston MA 2010

Tim Brady — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:49:56 +0000

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!

PS – If you are interested in attending tonight, there are still tickets remaining on the Beer Advocate website.

Brattleboro Brewers Festival 2010

Tim Brady — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:55:12 +0000

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!

Northshire Brewery in Bennington, VT

Amy Brady — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:08:23 +0000

It’s been a great year for Vermont beer. Since January of 2010 Vermont has welcomed three new breweries including Northshire Brewery in Bennington, VT; The Brewery at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT and Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, VT.

In this video we meet Earl McGoff from Northshire Brewery. Earl and his friend Chris opened Northshire Brewery as a passion project. The both continue to hold their full time jobs, opening the brewery in a garage building right behind their current employer. Talk about taking your home brewing hobby to a larger scale. These guys scored a used 7 barrel setup from a brewery in Florida and are just putting beers into the market this month.

Their flagship beer is the Equinox Pilsner, which is kept in the fermentation tanks for a full 8 weeks. Earl realizes that this is not the most cost effective way to produce a Pilsner, but in his opinion it is the right way to produce a Pilsner. At 4.2% ABV this is the perfect summer beer. We hope you enjoy meeting Earl as much as we did and if you would like to try this beer, stay with us at Forty Putney Road B&B where we have it on draft. Or you could just try it at one of the other few lucky pubs to have it. But why not make a weekend out of it with us at our inn :)

Speaking of making a weekend out of it – this weekend we will have the opportunity to meet Allan Van Anda the brewer at The Brewery at Trapp Family Lodge and Shawn Hill from Hill Farmstead Brewery at the first annual Brattleboro Brewers Festival and Pub Crawl. Tickets are still available, we hope that you will join us there!

National Homebrew Day

Dan Keashen — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:02:06 +0000

We didn’t produce a homebrew day video this year (check out our video from last year here). This year’s video contest entries are posted and I have been watching them all morning (here) on YouTube and it’s making me thirsty.

Fortunately our newest contributor (an actual writer!) Dan spent National Homebrew Day at his first brew day event, in Maple Shade NJ. Here’s his story…

MAPLE SHADE, NJ – The cast iron bell had rung and then was rung again for good measure. It was the sign that the Barley Legal Home Brew club reached its 100 gallon goal in the parking lot of the Iron Hill Brewery. Home brewers from the Philadelphia region pitched their tents and set-up their brewing equipment on a steamy blacktopped parking lot as a tribute to National Homebrew Day.

National Homebrew Day’s lineage dates back to 1988 when Congress proclaimed May 7 to be a celebrated day by beer geeks across the country. With that said, home brewing goes hand in hand with the founding of our country. You only have to look back to our founding father Thomas Jefferson, who kept a small brewery in his home.

Under the blistering sun, Chris Lapierre, the head brewer at Iron Hill’s Maple Shade, New Jersey location, cut a steady path from the brewery to the festival assisting local home brewers with water and other supplies to make sure the event got off the ground. Wearing his brewing galoshes and wiping sweat from his brow, Lapierre said Iron Hill played a critical role in providing the space, but local motivation was the catalyst for the event.

“This how I started out – I was a home brewer before I got into the business. Two out of the three owners of Iron Hill use to brew beer and play soccer together, that was their passion and that’s how they go into this business,” Lapierre said. “We have a great following from home brewers and they are our best customers, so we do as much as we can to support them.” Lapierre said Iron Hill offers second runnings to home brewers and provides the home brew club, Barley Legal, with its back dining room as meeting place.

As the music blared and grills were turned on high, about 30 home brew teams were working on a variety of different styles of beer. Dave Greenbaum was doing his part for the celebration by brewing a wheat beer and keeping an altbier and scotch ale on tap to quench his thirst while laboring over the mash and monitoring the brewing process.

“I got into brewing back in 1993 and really enjoyed the camaraderie that is created with other brewers,” Greenbaum said. “There is no competition out here, just a bunch of guys enjoying the day talking, creating and drinking beer.”

Close by, Vince Masciandaro and his son were brewing an American pale ale. He spoke enthusiastically on the benefits of home brewing.

“We are brewing beer just as good as the big guys and this is an economical way to drink beer,” Masciandaro said. “Look at this, you got all these guys out here sharing ideas and having a good time and speaking the same language.”

As the day winded down Lapierre looked back over the parking lot and admired the equipment that many of the brewers trucked in from all over the region.

“I’ll tell you what, a lot of this equipment is really impressive and I’m jealous of some beer that is being brewed our here today.”

Novare Res Bier Cafe Portland Maine

Tim Brady — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:57:15 +0000

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

Maine Beer Company

Tim Brady — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:14:08 +0000

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 :)

Vermont Bans Out of State Beer

Tim Brady — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:20:31 +0000

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.

For all of the latest be sure to keep an eye on here for the beer or follow us on facebook or twitter.

HereForTheBeer.com » Beer Blog

We’re back. In time to take a break. But watch out for 2011.

Related Posts:

Three Penny Tap Room – Montpelier, VT

Related Posts:

Slow Fest – A Celebration of Session Beer

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American Craft Beer Fest ACBF Boston MA 2010

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Brattleboro Brewers Festival 2010

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Northshire Brewery in Bennington, VT

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National Homebrew Day

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Novare Res Bier Cafe Portland Maine

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Maine Beer Company

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Vermont Bans Out of State Beer

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