Yankee Brew News Archive

Brewer's Profile: Dann Paquette

Originally Published: 06/97

By: Kate Cone

The dedication of a guy who leaves Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous to work in the beer business can't be questioned. Dann Paquette, a Berlin, Connecticut native and Emerson College graduate made that decison a few years ago and hasn't looked back since. Part owner and head brewer at North East Brewing Company in Boston's Allston section, Dann brings a lively, enthusiastic outlook, and some interesting brews, to the industry that has always claimed his heart. The day we spoke, a film crew was roaming throughout the brewery, shooting footage for an academic thesis.

YBN: How did your interest in the beer business mesh with your plans for a career in television and radio?

DP: When I graduated from Emerson College and left for New York City, the Boston micro scene had begun and was being well received. Even though my goal on graduation was to make documentaries, I always had this yearning to be part of the microbrewing industry.

YBN: How did the New York beer scene compare to Boston's?

DP: The only place making beer at the time was Zip City, while Boston had at least four places operating.

YBN: Tell us what it was like working in television.

DP: I had a couple of interesting jobs in t.v. First, I worked for a show called "Preview," which went on to replace "Evening Magazine" in Boston. We had just survived the ratings for that year, but our show was cancelled anyway. Then I went to work a block away as a production assistant on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. We were featuring the record producer Don Kirschner, and I was responsible for transporting everything in his office to a studio where it would all be set up and videotaped for the show. I ended up losing one of his gold records and a photograph of him with Sammy Davis, Jr.

YBN: Oops.

DP: Yeah. Anyway, I finally figured out that the t.v. business is a cold one. You could be fired and within a half hour someone would be there to replace you and offering to work for free. I wanted to be producing documentaries and I wasn't. People in New York weren't that friendly. I visited friends in Boston and realized that I missed this place. The subway here was like this quaint old trolley. Not like the system in New York.

YBN: So that's when you decided to ditch t.v. for beer?

DP: Yes. I moved back to Boston and began pitching a beer talk show to National Public Radio. I thought I'd meet everyone in the beer industry worth knowing by doing the show. As it turned out, I met them while just pitching the idea. The show never got produced, but I made a lot of connections.

YBN: When did you finally "get in" to the business?

DP: I waited on tables and worked at just about anything to survive while I worked up more ideas for a beer radio show. I wrote a real slick proposal and was encouraged by my roommate (who is now my wife) to bring it to the Boston Beer Festival and talk it up. It was there that I met Don Gosselin, publisher of Yankee Brew News. I asked him to host the radio show, and he in turn asked me if I would like to work at YBN. I was an editor, then the general manager. Don told me that ninety-nine percent of the people in the beer business are the nicest people you'll ever meet. He was right. Back then, everyone I called shared information. Even Jim Koch talked to me.

YBN: And you finally landed a job in the industry?

DP: I called Pilgrim Brewing Company and brewed with them a few times. I told them to give me the worst jobs they had: scrubbing the insides of fermenters, etc. I worked there part-time, and also brewed at Lowell Brewing Co. (now Mill City) and John Harvard's. I also completed the Siebel Institute short course for brewing technology. At one point, Tod Mott of Commonwealth Brewing Company told me about some investors opening a brewpub in Allston. I met the owners, who had been planning this place for two and a half years. I always thought Allston would be a great location for a brewpub, and here I am.

YBN: NEBC is located between Boston University and Boston College. Do you cater to a primarily college-age crowd?

DP: No. Frankly, most college people are not legal drinkers, they don't have much money, and frankly, the local civic association would never have approved our business if they thought it was going to be a two-story frat house. So even though we're in this neighborhood, we cater to the young career people living here. Many of them are graduates of B.C. or B.U., but they're between 25 and 30 years old and older, they're working, and they enjoy the finer dining we offer.

YBN: Tell readers about your menu.

DP: We don't have burgers or nachos, yet value for value, we offer chef-prepared food at comparable prices to the standare pub fare offered all over this neighborhood. Our chef, Jennis Heal, came to us from the Ritz Carlton Hotel and trained in France. He offers a menu that includes grilled swordfish, crab cakes, crostini and pork loins in a price range of $9.95 to $16.95. You can walk down the street and get an order of nachos for $7.95, so I think the food we're preparing is a great value.

YBN: How about the beer?

DP: We usually have eight of our beers on tap, but have had up to eleven at one time. We'll add a cask conditioned ale this summer. Our lineup has included: Bostonia Blonde, Nor'easter Pale Ale, Lobsterback IPA, Palatine Porter, Black Sow Stout, MacFearsome Scotch Ale, Triple Black Wheat (which has black raspberry, blackberry and black currant in it), Northdown Brown Ale, St. Brendan's Bock, an ESB, Dortmunder Export, Oktoberfest, Schwarz Lager, Bier de Garde, and the wackiest beer I've ever brewed, Christmas Keeper, which was an old ale with apricots and peppermint.

YBN: Whose idea was the peppermint Christmas Keeper?

DP: (Laughs). Mine. You either loved it or hated it. But I was damned if I was going to do one of those cinnamon stick beers! Yet, a lot of people came in asking for a cinnamon or spiced beer, and were mad that we didn't have one. Next year, I'm thinking of having a keg of Budweiser and dumping some cinnamon sticks in it. Or I could go down to Sam's Club, buy a lot of Quaker Oats with Cinnamon, and dump that into the mash tun!

YBN: The cask conditioned beer sounds interesting. What will that be like?

DP: This is an exciting beer. It started with an experiment. We got some oak barrels from the Jack Daniels bourbon company, put in rubber bungs and put in some of our porter. The beer soaked up the bourbon flavor. People loved it. The problem was, the improvisation we had to do just didn't work.

We contacted a company in England that supplies the British beer industry with casks. Their spokesperson heard me out, then said, "We'd like to put you in touch with a cooper, but they're all pushing up daisies!" He scavenged for us and found some bushings. We finally found the proper tools with which to install the bushings, and we're aiming for producing more of the bourbon Porter for this summer.

YBN: Bourbon and beer. Sounds like a good excuse for a field trip. You mentioned some other unique aspects to NEBC. Care to elaborate?

DP: We've got a dart league that convenes on Tuesday nights. It's part of the Minuteman Dart League, the largest such league in the world, with over 10,000 members. We have a Sunday jazz brunch with special menu, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Then there's the live entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And we also have Brewer's Dinners every other month.

YBN: Brewer's Dinner. Do you have a special menu?

DP: Not only that, we have different, guest chefs who help prepare the food, and they come from the region of the world whose cuisine we're featuring. For instance, we had a German chef from the Dortmunder region, a French chef from Calais, France, and we're working on hosting a British chef who will prepare food that will complement English style beers. The cost is $45.00 for a four-course meal, featuring five beers and a reception course with hors d'oevres, valet parking, gratuity and tax included.

YBN: Any other news you'd like to share?

DP: I have to get in a mention of my daughter Aven, who is six months old. I'm thinking of creating a beer for her, because Avena was the goddess of rye. A rye beer, maybe?

Kate Cone is the author of "What's Brewing in New England: A Guide to Brewpubs and Microbreweries," June, 1997, Down East Books, Camden, Maine. She lives in Harpswell, Maine. E-mail her at [email protected].