HereForTheBeer.com » Breweries

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!

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 :)

Shipyard Brewing

Tim Brady — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:50:01 +0000

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!

Geary’s Brewing Company – Portland Maine

Tim Brady — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:19:23 +0000

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!).

Women and Beer – Mariah Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery

Amy Brady — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:04:46 +0000

Welcome to another in our Women and Beer videos series. Meet Mariah Calagione, wife of Sam Calagione, from Dogfish Head Brewery. Filming took place at the Sierra Grille in Northampton, MA at their Night Before the Night Before Christmas – Dogfish Head Vintage Beer Dinner. Mariah talks to us about her role with Dogfish Head Brewery.

Men tend to dominate the beer world. Through this series of videos we hope to show the world that although women are not always on the front lines, they are an integral part of the craft beer industry. Certainly more integral than bouncing around in bikinis on beer commercials.

The craft beer industry with its many flavorful offerings, has made beer more appealing to a female audience. Through this series we hope to dispel the myths and perhaps help some of the guys out their understand the female palette so they can share their love of beer with their wife or girlfriend. If you missed it check out our interview with the Beer Babe, a fellow advocate for women and craft beer. Stay tuned for more videos in this series, until then cheers from here for the beer.

Dogfish Head – The Story Behind the Name and the Brewery

Tim Brady — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:41:44 +0000

VIDEO – On the night before the night before Christmas in 2009, we attended a beer dinner at the Sierra Grill in Northampton Massachusetts. The dinner was hosted by Sam Calagione, the founder and president of Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehoboth Delaware. Throughout the night, Sam shared some great stories about himself and the brewery. This is the first is a series of episodes sharing those anecdotes with you.

In this video Sam talks about how Dogfish Head got its name, how the brewery was started and a bit about the recent world of Dogfish Head. Be sure to check out the other segments from this event right here, on here for the beer!

Cheese Discriminator

Tim Brady — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:06:34 +0000

Victory Brewing Company posted this video today that we shot when they were up visiting Vermont prior to their big debut. We were lucky enough to get to sample some of these delicious cheeses paired with Victory‘s beers. Of course, in the video I also reveal myself as a cheese discriminator, but I promise to work on that, especially after the great pairing.

For all the details on the pairing check out VictoryBeerBlog.com but here are their suggestions:

Here is the pairing you should try at home:

Jasper Hill Farm Bleu Cheese and Storm King Stout.

West River Farm Goat Cheese and WildDevil

Willow Hill Sheep Cheese and Prima Pils

Cabott and Grafton Cheddar with HopDevil

Twig Farm Washed Rind and Golden Monkey

Thanks again to Bill and Dave for putting together these videos and for the great beers! By the way, want to try these pairings yourself and visit with us at our inn? Check this out!

Victory In Vermont

Amy Brady — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:46:15 +0000

VIDEO – Victory Brewing Company has recently been doing some expanding at the brewery. One of the reasons for the expansion is that as of today, Victory Brewing Company is now distributing in our great state of Vermont. We were lucky enough to get the first keg of Victory beer in Vermont at our Inn, and even more lucky to have Victory Co-Founder Bill Covaleski come up to share the first pint poured in Vermont with us!

In this episode we chat with Bill about the expansion of their distribution area and plans for New England. While Victory makes 30 different beers all of which are available at their pub in Downingtown, PA, Vermonters can look forward to trying the Hop Devil, Prima Pils, Golden Monkey, Storm King and Wild Devil starting this week. Your interest and demand will determine what other of their brews may make it our way.

A short while back we toured the Victory brewery and checked out their new restaurant space with Ron, the co-founder. If you haven’t seen those videos yet, check them out – Ron doesn’t make too many appearances on camera ;)

Victory is one of my personal favorite breweries. It was Victory’s Hop Devil that turned me onto those glorious bitter sweet hops nearly 10 years ago. It was also the Victory Golden Monkey that taught me a hard lesson about ABV. Bill’s motto is “Respect the Monkey”, I know first hand why … hehe.

According to Bill Victory is now available in 39 states across the US. So grab yourself a Victory beer and tell us which one is your favorite, and which you are hoping to see near you. We will see you next time on here for the beer, Cheers!

Otter Creek Quercus Vitis Humulus and Wolavers Alta Gracia Coffee Porter

Tim Brady — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:54:15 +0000

This is a quick video with Otter Creek brewmaster Mike Gerhart sharing their 2 new brews. First a new “Imperial Series” beer from Otter Creek, the Quercus Vitis Humulus- which literally translates to Oak, Grape and hop. The brew begins as a bold 27 degree plato barley-wine, warm-fermented with Bohemian lager yeast, then blended with Sauvignon Blanc grape juice and fermented a second time with a pure culture of Champagne yeast. Finally it is aged for a short time on lightly toasted French Oak. The six week process results in a complex ale which comes in at 12% ABV, with 38 IBUs. More about this beer here.

Also released this week from Wolavers is the next release in their Organic Farmer Series, Alta Gracia Coffee Porter. This is brewed up with organic roasted barley and chocolate malts for a rich, dark and robust flavor with an infusion of organic vanilla beans, and coffee from the Dominican Republic farm community Alta Gracia.

Alta Gracia is a non-profit farm that works to empower farmers with tools and techniques to grow quality shade-grown organic coffee. The result is growers who feel pride in their stewardship of the land, are paid fairly for their labor, and have healthy sustainable farms.

Growing coffee is hard work. Harvest must be done by hand so that only the ripe berries are picked. The farmers of the Alta Gracia farm community are paid fair wages for their work. It is the mission of the farm to teach neighboring farmers techniques to grow high quality shade-grown organic coffee that will allow them to get a fair price for their product. More about the beer here.

Victory Brewing Company – Brewery Tour

Tim Brady — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:00:30 +0000

In this follow up video from our trip to Downingtown PA and our visit at our beloved Victory Brewing company we take a tour of the brewery with co-founder and brewmaster Ron Barchet.

From the hop freezer (which smelled so wonderful I wanted to move into it) to their lab, to their crazy bottling line (which in true form of the folks who built a 20 beer automated growler filler, is designed to operate with just 3 employees) we get a glimpse into Victory‘s incredibly streamlined operations.

We enjoyed our trip to Victory Brewing Company and really love their beers. We anxiously await their introduction in Vermont. Until then, we will have to settle for rationing the Golden Monkey we brought back with us! Cheers from all of us at Here for the Beer!

HereForTheBeer.com » Breweries

Northshire Brewery in Bennington, VT

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Maine Beer Company

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Shipyard Brewing

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Geary’s Brewing Company – Portland Maine

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Women and Beer – Mariah Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery

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Dogfish Head – The Story Behind the Name and the Brewery

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Cheese Discriminator

Here is the pairing you should try at home:

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Victory In Vermont

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Otter Creek Quercus Vitis Humulus and Wolavers Alta Gracia Coffee Porter

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Victory Brewing Company – Brewery Tour

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