On Monday, April 23, the Northampton Brewery’s deck opened for its 16th season.
If, as head brewer Donald Pacher describes it, beer is like music, then the Brewery’s rooftop deck is Carnegie Hall—the perfect environment for imbibers to enjoy the artistry of what’s brewed on the ground floor.
Designed by Austin Design, a Colrain-based architecture firm, the deck features large, curving canvas canopies that stretch over diners like the sails of some great seafaring galleon. Though the handsome brick building is wedged between a parking lot and a parking garage, the multi-leveled deck space is transporting. Seats up there are coveted all year round.
Opening the deck requires weeks of preparation. In addition to floor boards needing to be replaced and countertops re-varnished, the refrigerated beer lines that stretch from the kegs downstairs to the taps on the roof must all be cleaned and checked. New waitstaff must be hired and trained.
With the deck opened, the dynamic of the brew pub changes considerably. The servers begin discussing the vagaries of “deckonomics” and how their tips are affected by changes in the weather. Owner Egelston and her managers become amateur meteorologists—intimately familiar with the weather radar. Day and night, they keep an eye out for storm fronts that may require diners to bring their plates and their glasses inside, where seating is kept vacant for just such an eventuality.
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The Brewery Timeline
1987—The Egelston siblings, Peter and Janet, open the area’s first brew pub in a renovated carriage house.
1991—The Portsmouth Brewery, a sister operation, opens in the downtown of the New Hampshire seaside city. Janet Egelston begins almost a decade of commuting between the two businesses.
1994—Smuttynose Brewing, an offshoot of the Portsmouth Brewery, is founded and starts selling bottled versions of their finest brews.
1996—The deck opens at the Northampton Brewery.
1999—Peter takes over managing the Portsmouth Brewery and Smuttynose. Janet stops her epic commute and focuses on her Northampton business.
2012—The Northampton Brewery celebrates its 25th anniversary with a specialty brew delivered on the 25th of every month, served in specially designed beer steins.
