2013 Breweries
Ommegang
Brewing as an Art
Before light bodied lagers and mass produced Pilsners ruled the earth, brewers used a variety of yeast strains, spices, grains, and artisanal methods to produce rich, heady brews full of robust aromas and exciting flavors. For years, the tiny nation of Belgium, situated at the crossroads of various European culinary traditions and agricultural regions, has been at the center of this brewing heritage, where hundreds of breweries produce countless styles and varieties of beer.
Partaking as a Passion
At the end of the twentieth century, American tastes were rapidly evolving to encompass a rich and expanding multicultural cuisine. Home brewing was becoming a popular hobby, and sales of cookbooks and cooking magazines were growing at an astronomical rate. It was obvious: America was hungry (and thirsty) for something different.
Brewery Ommegang
In October of 1997, not far from the birthplace of baseball, ground was broken for what was to become America’s most unique microbrewery. Based on traditional Belgian farmhouse architecture and set on a former hop farm in upstate New York, Brewery Ommegang was born with the philosophy that truly unique ales must be built from the ground up. Now brewing five award-winning Belgian-style ales and offering daily tours and tastings, plus a full calendar of special events, Brewery Ommegang is the place where brewing is an art and partaking is a passion.
Founders Brewing Co.
Founders has built its brewery on the exploration of recipe development and brewing techniques. The philosophy is simple. We are not the standard microbrewery; rather, we have traveled a path that breaks from the “standard” craft brewer. Carving a niche out of the craft industry, we at Founders Brewing Company have built our reputation on producing very unique beer. Our focus is to offer a product that stands alone on the shelf and offers a true drinking experience to our friends: you.
Green Flash Brewing Co.
Mike and Lisa Hinkley took their interest in the craft beer industry to a new level in 2002 when they founded Green Flash Brewing Company. Former pub owners, Mike and Lisa jumped into brewing, and in 2004 renowned brewmaster Chuck Silva joined the team.
With Chuck on board we began brewing premium style beers, modern twists on traditional styles, and our beers began to develop a following. Cutting edge brews, Green Flash Brewing Company’s beers don’t fit traditional guidelines, instead we let our hybrid, benchmark beers blaze their own trail.
Located in San Diego, CA, we specialize in brewing assertive and distinctive beers, such as our West Coast I.P.A.: an award-winning beer whose wide acceptance has helped define a category. We also brew seasonal, collaborative and barrel-aged beers.
Our award-winning beers are on draft and bottled and are available throughout the United States in bars, restaurants and retail outlets.
Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery makes beer. Good beer. Not only does it taste good and make your meal better but we like to think that since its founding in 1988, Brooklyn Brewery has brewed flavorful beers that enrich the life, tradition and culture of the communities it serves. Its award-winning roster of year-round, seasonal and specialty beers have gained the Brewery notoriety as one of the top craft beer producers in the world. While striving to brew the best beer possible (and make time for our growing families), The Brewery promotes the proliferation of good beer and good food whenever it can. Brooklyn beers are currently distributed in 25 states and 20 countries. Throughout 2011 The Brewery underwent an expansion that will double overall capacity in 2012 and quintuple by 2013. Brooklyn Brewery probably exports more beer than any other American craft brewery.
The leaders of Brooklyn Brewery have also led the industry in publishing. Brewmaster Garrett Oliver, widely acknowledged as the world’s foremost scholar on beer, wrote The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering The Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food in 2003. The book was firmly established as the first and final word on beer and food pairings in addition to being an entertaining guide to the world’s best beers and breweries. In 2005, Co-Founders Steve Hindy and Tom Potter wrote Beer School. Beer School’s real world stories about starting a brewery from scratch continues to inspire entrepreneurs today. The Brewmaster’s Table is reportedly selling for about a dollar more than Beer School on amazon.com and that does not bother Steve. More recently, in 2011, Garrett acted as the editor-in-chief of the comprehensive Oxford Companion To Beer. Essentially a beer encyclopedia, the book documents everything from malt disease to beer clubs to the ancient process of bottle re-fermentation.
Troegs Brewing Co.
Chris and John Trogner have been working hard to get Central Pennsylvania on the brewing map. Since 1997, these Mechanicsburg natives have been handcrafting world-class beers that combine traditional English brewing techniques with the eclecticism of new American brewing. But how they reached this point is as compelling as where they are headed.
Tröegs Brewing Company was established in 1997. Today, the brewery produces six year-round and five seasonal beers including: HopBack Amber Ale, Troegenator Doublebock, DreamWeaver Wheat, Perpetual IPA, JavaHead Stout, Tröegs Pale Ale, Nugget Nectar, Dead Reckoning Porter, Sunshine Pils, The Mad Elf, and Flying Mouflan. Tröegs currently distributes its product in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
Cisco Brewery
Since Massachusetts’ infamous Blue Laws were enacted in the late 1600’s, the state’s liquor laws have been considered some of the most stringent in the country. Despite this fact, and born out of a passion for producing quality beverages, in 1997 Nantucket Vineyard and Cisco Brewers collaborated to found Triple Eight Distillery on Nantucket Island.
The Triple Eight story began in 1981 when Dean and Melissa Long founded the Nantucket Vineyard. While Dean and Melissa tried for many years to grow grapes on the island, Mother Nature refused to cooperate. They now import their grapes from the finest growers in California, Washington state and New York. This has allowed the vintner a chance to focus on the fermentation and production side of wine making, which has resulted in some of the regions best wine. Production continues to increase to meet the influx of summer tourists and new wines are constantly being introduced.
Cisco Brewers was founded by Randy and Wendy Hudson. Wendy started home brewing with some friends while living in California, but in 1992 she returned to the island and met Randy. Instantly, she not only knew that Randy was her soul mate, but that he would make a great brewer. And so she bought him a kit.
Randy tried one recipe using malt extract, then ditched the book and converted a little pasta roller machine (they never used it anyway, who does?) into a grain mill. All the time he had spent working at Something Natural, a bakery on Nantucket, had given him an intuitive feel for working with yeast and grain. He was right in his element as they say. If Wendy needed to be further impressed to stick with this guy, after trying his beer, she was!
Southern Tier Brewing Company
Founders Phineas DeMink & Allen (“Skip”) Yahn started the brewery in 2002 with the vision of bringing small batch brewing back to a region rich in brewing tradition.
The Brewery began distributing regionally in February 2003. By 2005 sales covered the majority of New York State and the eastern half of Pennsylvania. Since the beginning, Southern Tier has experienced steady growth, currently distributing to over 50% of the United States. Multiple expansions have been made to keep up with demand and the brewery continues to innovate and produce new products.
Brewery Weihenstephaner
The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan, founded in 1040, is the oldest existing brewery in the world. As a regulated enterprise of the Free State of Bavaria it is run as a modern company, which brews beers of the highest quality and successfully sells in over 40 countries worldwide. The unique combination of tradition and science gives the brewery the quality standard "premium Bavaricum" and national and international awards for its’ Weihenstephaner beers ".
Allagash Brewing Company
Allagash Brewing Company started in 1995, as a one-man operation in a small space on the outskirts of Portland, Maine. Founder Rob Tod had worked in a brewery setting before and recognized a void within the craft brewing movement. While both German and British styles had become prevalent throughout the U.S., the ever-creative Belgian-styles were very difficult to find. Through his travels, Tod had sampled many of these unique beers and felt that the flavors and traditions of Belgium needed to be shared with the American drinking public. He designed a small 15-barrel brewhouse, gathered the finest array of authentic raw materials and began his quest towards the production of traditional Belgian style ales. Rob sold his first batch of beer in the summer of 1995.
Smuttynose Brewing Co
At Smuttynose, we pride ourselves on making a wide variety of distinctive beers, from our five full-time beers, to our seasonals and four pack releases, our famous Big Beer Series and our experimental Short Batch Series.
Smuttynose Brewing Company is the Granite State’s leading craft brewery, located in the historic seacoast city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Smuttynose was founded in 1994 by the folks who started the Northampton and Portsmouth Breweries. Our beers – Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, Star Island Single, IPA, Robust Porter, Big A IPA, The Big Beer Series, & our seasonal specialties – are distributed along the entire East Coast; from Maine to Florida as well as in Ohio and Wisconsin.
Lagunitas Brewing Co
From points distant and beyond we all converged on Petaluma in 1993 and ’94 with an unenunciated desire to be more than we were before. The core of Lagunitas came from Chicago, St Louis, Memphis, Walker Creek, and the highlands of Quincy.
The Chicago contingent initiated the brewing and the gravitational effect of its suchness did the rest. We all loved the beer but the mission was larger than the ordinary joy of a hoppy-sweet quaff. It was driven unseen by an urge to communicate with people, to find our diasporidic tribe, and to connect with other souls adrift on a culture that had lost its center and spun its inhabitants to the four winds to wander lost and bereft with a longing to re-enter the light. Beer, we have learned, has always been a good lubricant for social intercourse!
The Lagunitas Brewing Co. was not so much an act of ordinary ‘foundling’ as it was willed into being by the unspoken desire of supportive beer-lovers in Northern California after which they continued to nurture their creation and urged us forward to fulfill the unifying needs of that same beer-loving diaspora from coast to coast and beyond. It is good to have friends!
Oskar Blues Brewery
America’s First Canned Craft Beer- We be kickin’ down the door of what the status quo expects from a craft beer in a can.
Oskar Blues launched the canning operation in a crappy 60-year-old barn next door to the pub in the fall of 2002. They were the first American Craft Brewery to brew and can their beer; today over 150 craft breweries are doing it. The original crew used a hand-canning line on a table-top machine that sealed one can at a time. Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont packaged 41,000 barrels in 2010 and grew to 59,000 in 2011.
Berkshire Brewing Company
In 1992, Chris Lalli and Gary Bogoff of Montgomery, MA, came to the conclusion that they both had a similar interest in life—to make beer. Not just any old beer, but fresh ale. Ale that was produced with the same ethics and craftsmanship of an artisan. Applying that ethic, born from his work as a master tradesman, Gary found an enthusiastic partner in Chris.
After three long years of planning and test brewing and months of searching up and down the Pioneer Valley for the right location, BBC found a home in historic South Deerfield, MA. The building, a former cigar manufacturing plant, became the prime choice for the brewery. In December 1993, after the site was chosen, Chairman of the South Deerfield Select Board, Franklin Sherburne, voiced the town’s unanimous approval, “You’re the type of business we’d want here.” In many respects the choice of South Deerfield was a stroke of genius. South Deerfield is an immensely popular tourist attraction due in part to Yankee Candle Company, located less than a mile down the road. The town of South Deerfield saw the brewery as another feather in its collective cap.
www.berkshirebrewingcompany.com
Tree House Brewing Co
Passion. Friendship. Beer.
Tree House Brewing Co. is a brewery located in a small red barn overlooking the Pioneer Valley in Brimfield, Massachusetts. We create articulate and flavorful ales that contribute character and finesse to the burgeoning local movement – ales inspired by a deep respect and awe for the landscape surrounding us. We think great beer can enrich lives in countless ways. We think the good life is about the experiences you have and the friends you laugh with.
Peak Organic Brewing Co
Peak is a craft brewing company, dedicated to making delicious beer using local, artisan and organic ingredients.
With roots in home brewing back in the 90s, brewer Jon Cadoux set about combining his love for beer with an ethic for sustainability. Whenever possible, he would go out and find ingredients from local organic farmers for his homebrews. It was a defining day when Jon discovered that you don’t need to sacrifice flavor for sustainability, but that better ingredients actually made the beer more delicious.
City Steam Brewery & Cafe
With its upscale casual menu, City Steam has something for everyone. The multi-level floor plan provides breathtaking seating on 9 levels and areas for private functions, including the elegant 160 seat Richardson Room.
When steam was introduced to the brewing process in the mid-1800’s, it was the epitome of modernization. No more stoking fires or shoveling coal to keep the kettles boiling! All a brew master had to do was turn a few valves and the vapor started rolling. Better yet, steam provided a faster, more consistent flow of heat and, in turn, a better brew of beer.
Best of all, whether you’re drinking Porter, Pilsner or City Steam Ale, you know you’re getting the best brew in the state–at City Steam.
Blatant Brewery
Founded in 2010, Blatant Brewery, LLC is an exciting new beer company offering local and regional markets an exceptional selection of beers. Blatant beers are forceful but never forced. Like our people and company, these beers are dynamic and creative. We work with the beer on its terms, nurturing and developing its unique personality and taste. We are true artisans and we craft a flavorful and vibrant drinking experience for not only the fanatical beer geek, but the everyday beer drinker as well.
Only a true artisan can craft a flavorful and vibrant drinking experience.
No shortcuts. We pay extra attention to what goes in.
We smell, taste and study each of our choice ingredients.
Mayflower Brewing Co
Mayflower Brewing Company is a craft beer microbrewery located in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. Founded in 2007 by a tenth great grandson of John Alden, beer barrel cooper on board the Mayflower, we are dedicated to celebrating the history and legacy of the Pilgrims by creating unique, high-quality ales for the New England market.
We brew and package all of our beer at our brewery in Plymouth. and use only traditional brewing methods and ingredients. Our product line includes a set of year-round beers that honor traditional English ales, seasonal beers that celebrate our New England weather, and small batch releases that give us a chance to try out new ideas.
Lefty’s Brewing Co
At Lefty’s, we use only quality ingredients and take pride in our attention to detail. It is important to us to provide you with a fresh, locally made brew, showcasing our passion in every pint. If you are interested in visiting our brewery, just contact us! We would love to give you a tour and tasting with your friends and family.
We donate all our spent grain and hops to local farms to reduce our waste and provide the farm animals with wholesome food. We have also joined with other local businesses to create new and exciting products. Because we believe in being involved in our community, we participate in local events which support important community organizations.
After years of practice as a home brewer, Bill’s passion grew into a profession.With determination, creativity, and a lot of fun along the way, Bill and Melissa opened the doors to Lefty’s Brewing Company in 2010 and have never looked back!
Cape Ann Brewing Co
Fisherman’s beer — whose bold flavor and character reflect the spirit and courage of the sailors of the North Atlantic fishing fleet — is a tribute to hard work and a salute to friendships that endure. Cape Ann Brewing Company is an award-winning, family-owned, craft brewery in the heart of downtown Gloucester, Massachusetts on Boston’s North Shore.
Element Brewing Co
We actually make our own beer here in Millers Falls, Massachusetts. We don’t contract brew, we don’t buy pre-hopped wort, or compromise on ingredients. Combining the best malt, finest hops, pure unadulterated Montague water, and our own strain of yeast, with art and science we create the best beer you will ever find in the world.
We currently distribute our beer throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. You can come into the brewery anytime during business hours and try samples of our beers, buy beer to take with you , and take a tour of our operation.
Amherst Brewing Co
Our 10-barrel (310 gallon) brewhouse was constructed from equipment found in various places. The roller mill was used for grinding corn for feed on a farm in Ashfield. The now defunct Newman’s Brewery once used the mash tun as a brew kettle in upstate New York. The fermenters and bright beer tanks were imported from England. They were originally 7 barrels (217 gallons) and were expanded to 10 barrels by a stainless steel fabrication company in Canada. These same people constructed our brew kettle. It was the only piece of new equipment in the brewery until we moved to our new location and purchased a new fermentation vessel.
The Amherst Brewing Company is a full-service brewpub located in Amherst, Massachusetts. Established in 1997 by a small group of investors, the ABC originally occupied the lower level of the former First National Bank building off North Pleasant Street. Over time, ABC went through three expansions. The first took place in 2002 with the creation of a game room and lounge on the second floor called “The Upstairs at ABC”. In 2004, the upstairs was expanded by adding a larger bar, two more pool tables, and other facilities. In 2008, we expanded the downstairs dining room, creating a new entrance and adding much-needed space to the kitchen and storage facilities. A retail nook was created to display ABC merchandise and growlers for sale from the brewery.
Samuel Adams
Jim Koch founded the Boston Beer Company back in 1984 after brewing the first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen. It was his mission to reshape the way American beer drinkers thought of American beer.
Just six weeks after introducing Samuel Adams Boston Lager to the public, it brought home the “Best Beer in America” honors at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. An honor it went on to win 3 more times before that particular award was discontinued.
Today, Samuel Adams makes more than 21 styles of award winning beer and is recognized around the globe as a hot house of new beer ideas.
The culture at Samuel Adams is centered around a love of the beer and a wondrous curiosity for all things beer.
If you share our passion, join us here as a fan!
Take Pride in Your Beer!
CHEERS!
Boulevard Brewing Co
Boulevard Brewing Company has grown to be the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest, with full or partial distribution currently in 24 states. Since 1989 our brewery has remained dedicated to the craft of producing fresh, flavorful beers using traditional ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing techniques. Our selection of fine ales and lagers include the Midwest’s best-selling craft beer, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer, our flagship Boulevard Pale Ale, and The Smokestack Series line of artisanal beers. We are proud to be Kansas City’s Beer, and Missouri’s Largest Independent Brewery.
Wormtown Brewery
Wormtown is the first and ONLY brewery to use Massachusetts grown ingredients in EVERY beer we make!
Master Brewer Ben Roesch is a Worcester native and graduate of Wachusett Regional High School and UMass Amherst. It was during his time at UMass that Ben began enjoying craft beer and home brewing. The Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts is full of micro-breweries like Berkshire Brewing Co., Paper City, Amherst Brewing, The Peoples Pint, and Northampton Brewery to name a few. During a memorable evening of drinking, Roesch contemplated the differences between the local craft beers and the mainstream macro brews. Unable to get any definitive answers from his drinking buddies Ben started reading home brewing books and was soon brewing ten to fifteen gallons a week on the kitchen stove.
Harpoon Brewery
We started the Harpoon Brewery in 1986 because—like today—we loved beer and wanted more quality choices.
At Harpoon, we have always worked hard at two things: brewing great beer and welcoming our customers to our breweries. Our beer styles were created to provide you, our beer-drinking friends, with fresh, fun and interesting choices. We draw on numerous brewing traditions to make our beers, but we always add our own “interpretation” of how the styles can be best matched to our – and your – tastes.
COME VISIT US! We invite all of you to visit our Boston brewery, where it all began, and our beautiful brewery in Windsor, Vermont.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co
We set out with a simple goal: brew the beers we wanted to drink. We started small, with a homebrew shop, a love of American hops and plenty of passion. In the process, we changed the beer world forever. Decades later, we’re still at it, and the passion burns brighter than ever.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. started out with no financial resources, but through the ingenuity and drive of its founder and his team of master brewers, has transformed into a remarkable success story. The success of the operation is directly related to Sierra Nevada’s focus on creating quality beer. Today, the brewery is considered a benchmark for consistency and quality of other ales, and Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale is considered the number one craft brand on the market.
To this day, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. remains true to its roots. Grossman is still personally involved in every aspect of brewery operation. Most importantly, the Sierra Nevada commitment to quality remains the same. Premium ingredients and time-honored brewing techniques make Sierra Nevada ales and lagers truly exceptional beers.
Goose Island Craft Beers
Goose Island is an innovator and leader in the craft of brewing. Striving to create beers that define styles, win awards, and captivate the hearts, imaginations, and palates of beer drinkers.
When the first Goose Island Brewpub opened its doors in 1988, domestic, mass-produced beer was deeply ingrained in Midwestern culture. The craft beer industry was still in its infancy, with only a handful of brewpubs in existence in the Midwest. In his travels across Europe, beer-lover John Hall had enjoyed a distinctive local brew in each region he visited. Hall was convinced that Midwesterners could produce beers as good or better than those he’d tasted in his travels. Living on the shore of the largest system of fresh water on the planet Earth, in a city with rapidly evolving tastes – John decided that his hometown, Chicago, would be the ideal place to do just that.
Today, Goose Island continues to brew an innovative selection of over 50 craft beers at the brewpub, the best of which are then bottled at our Fulton Street brewery. Goose Island beers are now enjoyed in all 50 states and Europe.