The Beerhunter
Brew Years Resolutions: 16 tips for a fun year of beer
Happy almost New Years, beer fans! Let’s draw 2015 to a close in style, drink responsibly, and make some plans for the year to come. Hint: there will be craft ales aplenty. Here are 16 items on my personal checklist that I hope you’ll take to heart when you do your...
Stoneman Brewery is a Beershare Off the Beaten Path
I drive until I lose cell service, then I keep driving. Downtown Colrain falls away behind me as I follow the North River up into the wooded hills. I park my car on a quiet road, two miles from the Vermont border, at Justin Korby’s house. Colrain’s small population is...
Raise Your Glass (Ceiling): Where are all the women brewers?
Two years ago, Kate Telman started making beer at her home in Easthampton. She planned to perfect a few brews, then shop her skills around to area breweries in the hope of getting a job. “I knew there weren’t really any job postings for what I wanted to do,” said...
The Magical Mountain Mystery Tour: What craft beer adventures await in the Berkshires?
As the Advocate’s resident Beerhunter, my reportage on the art of the local craft brew has taken me up and down the Pioneer Valley, with the occasional stop in Brattleboro, Boston, and beyond. But there’s one big region on the Western Mass beer map that I’d been...
King of the Pumpkin Patch: 12 pumpkin craft beers face off
In 1923, when The New York Times asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the adventurer quipped: “Because it’s there.” That’s not the most promising mantra to cling to — Mallory perished on the mountain the following year — but I fear it’s one that...
The Beerhunter: Brick & Feather Brewery in Turners Falls
The 11th-Hour Taste Test Lawrence George pours a hazy-gold sample of beer from the tank and passes it to me in a small glass. It is a bold and flavorful take on an American pale ale: hoppy, tangy, and delicious. In another tank, George is fermenting a slightly sweeter...
The Beerhunter: Drink Local! The Valley’s Top 10 Must-Try Craft Beers
Welcome back from summer vacation! Sadly, the heat wave isn’t over just yet. But the Beerhunter predicts cool evenings ahead, so be sure to make time to kick back on your couch, porch, or at your favorite neighborhood bar and appreciate everything the Valley’s craft...
The Beerhunter: Brattleboro by the Glass
The southern Vermont town of Brattleboro does a lot of things right: green hills, friendly people, fun bookstores, and a few stellar swimming holes. But this month, the Beerhunter looks into this town’s newest promising trend: craft brewing. Out of the beer spots in...
The Beerhunter: The The Other ‘L’ Word, never fear, good light beer is here
Thinking about “light beer” brings up distasteful, albeit fun, memories. Long nights in college spent pouring cans of Keystone into red plastic cups; fly-fishing with grouchy uncle Roy, paddling around with a cooler full of Molson; going to that barbecue last summer...
The Beerhunter Abroad! Perusing Peruvian Brews
Peru The American craft beer landscape is an ever-expanding picture, but if you want to call yourself a seasoned beerhunter, you need to wander off the map from time to time. So in late May I set off on vacation to Peru, primed to enjoy a break from routine — and to...
The Beerhunter: Black and White and Red All Over, jump on the beer color wheel
At the beginning of The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo a choice: Swallow the blue pill and wake up to his old boring life, or take the red pill and discover everything he’s been missing. I felt like Neo the other day as I stood in the package store, gazing at an...
The Beerhunter: You’ve Got to Try Sour Beers
Who’s up for a fresh glass of saccharomyces cerevisiae? I’ll take one! Though, personally, I like to mix this yeast variety with water, hops, and barley. Combine those four magic ingredients and you’ve got yourself a beer — tastier, and much easier to pronounce. But...
Beerhunter: Tips for your next brewery tour
Up in Vermont there’s a glow-in-the-dark circus party at the end of the world. Neon streamers and Mardi Gras beads hang all over the place. Colorful string lights set the room aglow. Some visitors hunker down at the long bar counter, but others try on jester hats,...
Dive! Five unpolished gems with cheap drinks and charm to spare.
Everyone has a favorite dive bar; a place you can go in your old jeans and sweater, have a beer for under $3 and watch some “Wheel of Fortune” with townies looking to unwind. Dive bars — and we use the term lovingly — tend to be physically and metaphysically secluded....
Beerhunter: Lager Gets Crafty
In the warm, bright tasting room of Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton, my friend took a sip from a sample glass and frowned. He took another and made the same face. “It’s a lager,” I said. “They’re all lagers here.” He looked surprised. Then he finished his drink and...
The Beerhunter: Save a Keg. Tap a Cask: Cask beers make a slow, sweet comeback
Nothing screams American mass-market beer like that big silver “Coors” bullet train. TV spots show it rocketing through a winter blizzard, smashing huge glaciers into ice rubble before steaming into town like the Polar Express for the college set. Ahh, refreshing!...Beerhunter: Iron Duke Brewing’s Signature “Baby-Maker” is Born
The new Iron Duke Brewing facility in Ludlow might be a bit of a trek for some Valley beer chasers, but the visit pays off in small pleasures. One of those is sitting at the bar in their busy taproom listening to college kids and grandparents alike shout, “I’ll have a...
Introducing the Beerhunter
Throw down your coasters and pull up your stools — there’s a new beer column in town. You’ll be seeing the Beerhunter every month in the Advocate. But who, exactly, is this wanderer of the night? Well, I could pretend to be a jaded, salt-of-the-earth...E-Edition
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