Northampton Brewery
11 Brewster Court, Northampton, 413-584-9903
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m; Sun. noon-10 p.m.; bar open until 1 a.m.
Entrèes: $6.95-$17.95
When it’s still warm and sunny at 7 o’clock Saturday evening, everyone who’s out on the town in Northampton, it seems, congregates at the Northampton Brewery’s rooftop beer garden. Tank tops and sunglasses were the rule for the swarm of patrons and staff pressing into one another on such a recent night, and it felt as if I’d been transported to some beach town resort’s sole establishment.
Northampton Brewery is the oldest operating brewpub in New England, opened 20 years ago by the same folks who created New Hampshire microbrewery Smuttynose Brewing Company. Roughly a dozen original beers brewed on site are on tap on a given night, and can be enjoyed en plein air, along with a fully stocked bar, an extensive American pub menu and—gasp!—even a cigarette, on the roof’s upper deck.
For some the bar itself is the destination, but for many it’s a prolonged pit stop while waiting for a seat at one of the umbrella-topped tables on the deck edged by planters of brightly colored flowers. On a busy night the wait can be an hour or more, and the restaurant’s indoor bar and many dining rooms downstairs fill up as well.
I elbowed my way up to the packed bar on the roof to order a Weizenheimer, a seasonal summer beer made of malted wheat and barley, and was immediately hit by the strong scent of spilled beer. When I reached for my change that had been slapped on the bar by an overworked bartender, the bills were wet.
The Weizenheimer was darker and sweeter than I usually expect of a wheat beer, and unmistakably flat. A few minutes later I noticed it had been erased from the board and I realized it had been poured from a kicked keg. My next choice was Red Headed Stepchild, a hoppy Irish style red, which proved a much better bet.
As the sun was setting I was finally seated and handed a menu. By this point I had just 35 minutes before my movie started, so I asked the server to rush my order. Ale-battered popcorn shrimp arrived just a few minutes later and though I was impressed with the kitchen’s efficiency, the bite-sized shrimp’s flawlessly crisp coating and smoky chipotle mayonnaise couldn’t mask their utter tastelessness. Caesar salad drowned crisp romaine in a bland, creamy dressing lacking the zest that garlic and lemon ought to provide.
The promptness of the meal continued into the main courses, which were also more satisfactory. Nachos were piled high enough to be an entrée or a sufficient snack for four, covered in melted jack cheese, jalapenos, scallions and olives with salsa and sour cream. Buffalo chicken quesadillas were substantial, stuffed with a thick wad of cheese and Tabasco-doused bits of chicken. I liked the grilled chicken club with bacon, lettuce and tomato the best, even though it was close to impossible to take a bite of the rectangular-shaped crusty ciabatta roll that included all of the sandwich’s components.
Northampton Brewery has gone through several expansions, and the brew pub’s popularity evidently keeps growing right along with it. The brews are not especially remarkable, and the food is rarely more than adequate, but its outdoor ambiance is unrivaled elsewhere in town. And it must be said that even though the place was slammed, I made it to my movie in time.
