Yankee Brew News Archive

Amherst Brewing Company Brings Craft Beer to College Town

Originally Published: 10/97

By: Chris Houston

Do you remember the first time you visited a pub which had on-site brewing? Did you get the tour, or were you lost in the experience of tasting your first non-mass-produced beer? The Amherst Brewing Company hopes to bring this and other happy experiences to a town well known for its colleges (UMass and Amherst College) yet sadly lacking in beer literacy.

"This will change Amherst,'' owner Gregg Noonan said after opening the town's only brewpub on July 30. "There will be an education process which hasn't happened here. Thirty-thousand college students come to this town every year; now they will learn about beer sophistication."

ABC's brewhouse sits at sidewalk level on busy North Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst. Brew kettle, mash tun and antique grain mill are displayed proudly in a ceiling-to-floor glass window. School is in session as patrons of the pub's outdoor patio and passersby observe brewer John Korpita as he grinds grains and measures water temperature for a batch of Smoked Porter.

Opening a brewpub in Amherst is the realization of a dream for Korpita, who hails from the neighboring town of Sunderland. Korpita brewed professionally in Vermont (Windham Brewery) as well as in Massachusetts (Northampton Brewery) before locating the site for ABC.

Korpita and Noonan, the owner of Vermont Pub and Brewery in Burlington and 7 Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, worked for months with a team of craftsmen (beer-loving craftsmen) to convert a former bank building into a fully functional brewpub. Using cement saws and jackhammers they cut through 2-foot thick concrete walls. Removal of the bank's 4,000-pound vault doors posed other problems.

"We originally wanted to mount the vault doors on the wall," Korpita said. "When we saw how dangerously heavy they were..." He paused. "We decided against it."

Now occupying wall space instead are three cedar-clad fermenters - Moe, Larry and Curly - named in homage to some of the more colorful contractors who worked on the project. A dozen 10-barrel conditioning tanks occupy a vault-like cellar room behind the bar. Also in place is an elaborate serving system, "McDantin Mixers," which will provide a nitrogen/CO2 blend "customized for the serving situation of each ale and lager," Korpita said.

Currently on tap are five of ABC's own with more on the way: Righteous Red (truly righteous - malty and hoppy), Allagash White, Massatucky Brown Ale, an India Pale Ale and a smoked porter, made with German beech-smoked malt.

Due to construction and licensing delays the brewing had not completely caught up with the menu at the time of this article, but an oatmeal stout and extra special bitter are on the way just as soon as the brewing schedule allows.

"At Windham I was brewing three times a month," Korpita said. "Here I need to be doing it three times a week."

Food at the brewing company is more than just a side dish to wash down the beer. It ranges from steaks and seafood to burgers (five kinds of fries), salads and desserts. The menu is printed in newspaper format, with informative articles on beer history, local beer lore and a description of basic beer terminology (ales, lagers, stouts, etc.).

Operating with the philosophy that good beer works as well for cooking as it does for drinking, ABC adds their brew to some of the recipes, including Black Angus steak made with Massatucky Brown Ale, beer-battered scrod, and even a vanilla ice cream and oatmeal stout--a "Dublin Float."

While Amherst Brewing Company is located in the "Five College Area," it promises a more enlightening atmosphere than the typical college bar.

"Our focus is to offer something that a wide range of people will feel comfortable with: couples, families, older folks, singles...everyone," Korpita said.

Korpita recalled when, while still working as a carpenter, he would take his family camping in Vermont--a state which even then was booming with craft breweries.

"It didn't take long," he said, "for my wife to figure out that we were really going up there to see Gregg (Noonan) and to try some beers."

These days John Korpita needn't drive to Vermont to find a good pint of brew, but Gregg Noonan feels that there is still a lack of beer savvy in the Amherst area.

"In Burlington (Vermont), most people would be embarrassed to order a Bud Light," Noonan said. "Here, it's still the order of the day."

"But," he added, "that will change."