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.

As we continued our travels across the Great Lakes region, we knew that New Holland had to be on our list. Having tried their Dragon's Milk about a year ago we knew this brewery was putting out some special beers. We stopped in the brewpub at lunch time to have some food and grab a couple pints before we met with their head of marketing, Fred Bueltman. Instantly we were impressed with the easy drinking poet stout and the grape fruity hoppiness of the Mad Hatter IPA. After a couple pints Fred met us down at our table in the pub. Don't shrug Fred off as just another marketing guy either. This brewery is truely run by a team here and each person's passion is very clear. Read on for some of the many exciting things New Holland is working on.

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.

Above: Joe Cleinman - brewer