Yankee Brew News Archive

First Berkshire Brewpub Going Strong

Originally Published: 01/96

By: Rodney A. Tillinghast

Mike Merrill greeted me at the door of The Brewery at 34 Depot Street with his cordless phone in hand from behind a 'Sorry, We're Closed' sign. Since the restaurant is closed on Mondays, he mans the phones for the day while busy in the brewery.

Merrill has indeed been a busy man since making the transition from working for a homebrewing retailer in the Albany area. He has stepped up to the professional level, cranking out five barrels at a time on the Peter Austin system that was installed at the brewpub's opening in September, 1994. He now brews two to four times a week, using a part-time assistant on the weekends to clean, rack, and filter. For fermenter space, he uses four open-top Grundies while he conditions, and serves out of six additional Grundy tanks.

The Brewery at 34 Depot Street is the most recent eating establishment to have occupied the backside of the Union Station office complex in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The principal owners, Paul Fortini, a Pittsfield stockbroker, and Robert Smith, a local restaurateur/caterer, teamed up to take over what was "basically a deserted restaurant in very bad shape," said Merrill. The 8,000-square foot, 200-seat restaurant expects to produce, by Fortini's calculations, 700-900 barrels this year.

Fortini became interested in the microbrewing industry through a family friend that assisted in establishing five brewpubs for the McMeneman Brothers in Oregon. "I studied the industry a year before deciding on this venture. I became convinced that Pittsfield could sustain a brewpub."

Fortini also noted that tourist traffic in the region was an additional incentive, adding, "Berkshire County gets two million visitors a year who spend upwards of $150 million. We were looking for an enterprise to capture some of those tourist dollars. A brewpub situation offers the possibility to increase profits since the costs of house-brewed beers are so low. Having in-house brewing can turn a marginal restaurant into a money maker."

Fortini said his strategy for continued growth in Western Massachusetts focuses on improving market penetration of the brewery's products along with a sustained community presence. "To accomplish that, we're going to have to expand our draft accounts and look into bottling sometime down the line. For local visibility, we do things like the Berkshire County Brewers Festival and the YMCA Wing-Fling. Hey," he concluded, "We sell three kegs a week at Pittsfield Mets games. That's a start." According to Fortini, they have three off-premise draft accounts, one as far away as Williamstown, that buy two to three kegs a week.

Merrill said finding the brewery's 34 Depot Street location was fortuitous. "It sort of fell in my lap. My wife was working in the same building as Paul's sister. They went to lunch one day and my wife was discussing how I was looking to open up a brewpub in West Stockbridge. Paul's sister found this out and called Paul before my wife had a chance to phone me. It's a strange conversation when someone calls up out of the blue at the homebrew shop and asks you if you want to be their brewer."

In addition to being a regionally award-winning homebrewer, Merrill attended weekend classes at UC-Davis and apprenticed at Kennebunkport Brewing Company. It was there he first used an Alan Pugsley brewing system, which he described as being "as easy to use as I've seen--and their technical support has been excellent. And remember, you have basically a family of brewers in the Northeast available to help if need be."

As for reputed difficulties with the beer during the early days of the brewpub, Merrill said the problems came about because "we were importing the beer from Maine for the first three weeks of operation. The cooler downstairs was not keeping the proper temperature. The beer was coming up at almost 45 degrees and it was foaming all over."

The main tap room boasts a 40-foot oak bar with expansive windows which overlook the hills surrounding Pittsfield. The decor includes TVs, antiques, and beer memorabilia. In the back room there is an additional bar, a bandstand, and room for private parties of up to 100 people

.

The day I visited, Merrill had the basic five drafts on hand for tasting: Gimlich's Golden Ale, Red Room Pale Ale, Iron Works IPA, Lenox Half Stock Irish Red Ale and Raven's Rock Stout, along with this summer's specialty, a Raspberry Ale. Most of the beer names are a result of a customer contest held during the first few months of operation. The Red Ale originally began as a specialty brew for St. Patrick's Day and was kept by popular demand.

Their IPA and Stout are the best offerings. The Ringwood yeast has a tendency to predominate in some of the lighter beers so that the brewpub doesn't have the ability to produce beer with a crisp, clean, flavor profile. Without more hops or malt, the yeast tends to give a satiating buttery aftertaste in the beers. The IPA, hopped with Clusters, Fuggles/Willamette, and Kent Goldings, weighs in at 1.058 original gravity and is the most impressive of their beers. The Ringwood yeas tends to work best with this beer since it doesn't overwhelm the other flavors

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The Stout, at 1.056 O.G., uses 6 different malts and is dispensed using a 75/25 nitrogen/carbon dioxide mixture to give the beer a densely packed head. The nitrogen smooths out the flavor profile of the beer without the associated iron-like character of beers like Guinness. Overall, it reminded me of Young's Oatmeal Stout. Of the beers at 34 Depot, this would be the most drinkable, day-in, day-out.

As for future brews, Merrill said, "The porter that we had last winter will come back with some tinkering in the recipe. Additionally, I plan a Scotch Ale and a German Alt for the fall--my goal is to not simply repeat all of last year's specialties."

Rodney A.Tillinghast, of Albany, New York, laments the long series of misfortunes which led him to reside outside the confines of New England. He has resolved to visit the brewpubs of New England as often as possible and will send us his findings.