When Dave Higgins, one of the brewers at Wachusett Brewing Company, invited us to check out their brewery we gladly accepted. As we've mentioned in the past, it's no secret that we're fans of local beer. To be honest, though it's almost in our backyards, we'd only tried a couple of their offerings. Everybody knows their blueberry beer, but we wanted to see what else was going on there. We met up with Dave on a very rainy Saturday morning and began with a full tour of their facility. Having been to a fair number of breweries, we're used to seeing the same old things as far as equipment goes. For the first time in a long time we had to ask questions about the equipment, and there's a good reason why. Wachusett was started by three Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) graduates; this place was built by engineers and you can tell. They built their own mash tun, converted milk tanks to brite tanks and the list goes on. To be honest we've never seen anything like it, and it really was impressive. 

Our tour ended and we sat down to speak with Dave, it's here our interview begins:

DCB: How did you start brewing?
Dave: I did some brewing at home, like a lot of home brewers. Did a lot of home brewing, a lot of self education, everything I could get my hands on the internet and came with that knowledge. Totally came here just to get my foot in the door bottling wise. I worked as a cook at a restaurant before I came here. They told me my reputation preceded me as to how clean the restaurant was, how good the food was, temperatures. They basically said OK, we're going to teach you our system, you have the basic knowledge, and I basically flourished here. It's basically the perfect environment if you don't mind getting dirty and getting tired there's a lot to be taught and learned.

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We here at DrinkCraftBeer.com want to extend our congratulations to the winners of the Great British Beer Fest's American Cask Ale Competition. We had some notable locals and friends win awards and would like to give credit to all! The results are:

Gold: Opa Opa - King Oak Milk Stout
Silver: Gritty McDuff's - Gritty's IPA
Joint Bronze: Gardner Ale House - Facelift IPA & Three Floyds - Romulus

Above: Dave Richardson, Award Winning Brewmaster at Gardner Ale House

Congratulations to Dave Richardson at Gardner Ale House, who we recently had the pleasure of sitting down with and sampling his beers! Opa Opa is always putting out good stuff as well. While we haven't gotten out there yet, their reputation precedes them. Way to go to probably one of the most heralded US breweries, Three Floyds! We will be speaking with them on our road trip in September. And, Gritty McDuff's, way to go! We will have to make our way up to Maine soon.

Anyway, shoot any of them a congratulatory email if you're so inclined, and tell them DrinkCraftBeer let you know!

We’ve known about the best brewery on Martha’s Vineyard for a while now. And, while it’s Martha’s Vineyard’s only brewery, if there were others it would still be the best. We’re of course speaking of Offshore Ale Company. We came to speak with new brewer, Joe Cleinman, who has had a short but interesting time in the industry so far. He started out with a love of beer in college at Vassar, where he started teaching a beer tasting class and home brewing classes. He also worked as a tour guide at Brewery Ommegang, the Belgian style brewery in Cooperstown, NY.

 

When his friends bought a complete brew structure, it seems he basically took over the operation of brewing on that. After setting it up for them, he would brew often while showing people how it worked and how to brew. As a junior in college, earning his degree in Biology, he became friendly with some of the Ommegang brewers and moved up to become an assistant brewer.

After graduation, he saw a position for assistant brewer at Offshore and applied. After a 3 hour interview and some time brewing with Matt Steinberg (then head brewer for Offshore), he was hired. A few months later, Matt announced he was leaving Offshore to start Mayflower Brewing Company. Joe was offered the job as head brewer after only 5 months of professional brewing experience.

We got to Offshore quite early for our interview so we could enjoy some of the quality beer and food that they make. While we were sitting at the bar, we struck up a conversation with a gentleman named Jürgen from Germany. He says he comes every summer and one of the big reasons is Offshore Ale Company. He was drinking the Hefeweizen and said it’s one of the best; comparable to anything in Germany. Now we’ve traveled far for beer, as many of you know. But from Germany? Most people go there for beer. We were duly impressed at the reviews he gave to Offshore, and were even more excited than ever to have this brewery just a short ferry ride away!

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We recently discovered Gardner Ale House at a local beer festival. Having never tried any of their offerings, we were amazed at the quality of the beer. We knew then that we had stumbled upon something special and wanted to learn more. We headed out to Gardner, MA to speak with Dave Richardson, the brewmaster, to get the inside scoop on this brewpub.

As you walk in the bar is instantly inviting, with a nicely dark atmosphere that just makes you want to relax with a nice pint. A long bar runs almost the length of the brewpub along with ample seating at tables.

Dave Richardson, Gardner’s brewmaster, began his path to becoming a brewer in college. While at school at UVM Dave discovered the craft beers of Vermont such as Catamount (now defunct), Otter Creek, The Shed and others.  His summer after college Dave tells us: “I was home, looking for a job. So my mom, she’s probably sick of me or something, says “You know Rick down the road? He brews beer once a week. You should go over and check that out.” Rick Walton, a family friend would later become the owner of Gardner Ale House.  

Out of college and working a state job, Dave began apprenticing for free with Jeff Browning at Brü Rm. At BAR in New Haven CT. Working on a 10 gallon system he became more interested in brewing. Dave continued to brew with Rick Walton when he headed home for holidays the two often pipe dreaming about opening a brew pub. Expressing dislike for his current job Rick mentioned how he heard about some brewing schools. Two weeks later Jeff Browning mentioned the same schools. In a twist of fate Dave was laid of from his job, there were cutbacks and anyone new they got rid of. It was then that he took out loans to attend UC Davis brewing school.

After leaving brewing school he went to work for Redhook in Portsmouth for 3 years. Its here that the story of Gardner Ale House, and our interview begins.

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Hi all!

It's time for our third beer tasting down at Bauer Wine and Spirits on Newbury St. Its officially summer now and its time we presented you with some good summer beers. Without giving too much away up front we can say there will be some very special surprises at this tasting. Surprises that involve us taking a car, then a bus, then a ferry to get them for you. If you've figured out what we're talking about, well then we know you're excited, if you haven't, well come by and find out why people are excited. 

But enough of that, on to the beer! 

 

 

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