September 20, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

Beer here

Tuckerman is one of the region's local breweries.

The Snowfields, “The Beach” and a cold beer might well come to mind as one ponders Sugarloaf/USA in March, perhaps in that order. But the ’Loaf doesn’t have a monopoly on après ski beer in spring. Wherever you are, spring snow and cold beer go well together, although tastes among skiers and riders are as different in beer as in choice of gear.

Since the late 1980s, craft beers, microbreweries and brew pubs have surged across New England’s après ski landscape, as gourmet coffee has claimed the urban American workplace, with the same appeal to class and taste.

“Modern brewers such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors have created the unfortunate image of beer as the beverage of mass consumption,” said Seth Wyman of Long Trail Brewing Co. in Bridgewater Corners, Vt. “Craft breweries brew beers that are more easily paired with meals and that are consumed for the flavor they produce. The same art, the same passion and dedication that goes into making fine wine goes into making craft beer.”

Long Trail, founded in 1989, makes what some consider the most popular ski beer in Vermont: Long Trail Ale. Wyman said Long Trail has gone into partnership with Ski Vermont as the ski industry’s official brew. Long Trail Ale is being paired for the palette with the Ski Vermont Burger, a local offering made from Vermont-raised beef in an effort to promote local food and help sustain the farms that are Vermont’s iconic landscape feature.

In addition to Long Trail Ale, the company bottles IPA, Blackbeary Wheat, Double Bag and Hefeweizen, and two seasonals, Harvest and Hibernator.
Julia Herz of the Brewers Association said 1,442 brewers operate in the United States, and just less than 1,390 are considered craft brewers.

That means they are small, producing 2 million barrels or less; are independently owned; and are traditional, in that they ferment mostly malt, she said.

Herz explained that malt is barley that has been moistened and allowed to sprout, then kiln-dried, sometimes roasted, cracked and then fermented to produce the beer’s alcohol content.

“Craft brewers are the artists of the beer world, (producing beer that is) fresh, handcrafted and best consumed locally on tap or in bottles,” she said.

The Brewers Association reports that among U.S. brewers of modest stripe, Boston Beer Co. is No. 1 with a 2006 production of 1,613,000 barrels, Harpoon of Portland, Maine, is No. 2 with 104,565 barrels, Magic Hat Brewing Co. of South Burlington, Vt., is No. 3 with 79,000 barrels, Shipyard Brewing Co. of Portland, Maine, is No. 4 with 69,700 barrels, Long Trail Brewing Co. of Bridgewater Corners, Vt., is No. 5 with 60,000 barrels, Otter Creek Brewing Co. of Middlebury, Vt., is No. 8 with 30,000 barrels, and Wachusett Brewing Co. of Westminster, Mass., No. 50 with 15,542 barrels.

Tuckerman Brewing Co. of Conway, N.H., a microbrewery, produced 3,200 barrels of brew named after the storied ravine on Mount Washington, including Tuckerman Pale Ale, Headwall Alt and 6288 Stout.
The Woodstock Inn Brewery, a brew pub in North Woodstock, N.H., produced 940 barrels.

The Boston Beer Co., founded in 1985, marked the rebirth of brewing in a family that goes back six generations in the business. Samuel Adams Boston Lager was the first offering and remains the company’s flagship beer. Others include Sam Adams Light, eight seasonal beers — White Ale, Double Bock, Summer Ale, Octoberfest, Winter Lager, Old Fezziwig Ale, Cranberry Lambic and Holiday Porter — and the Brewmaster’s collection of Boston Ale, Cherry Wheat, Cream Stout, Hefeweizen, Pale Ale, Scotch Ale, Black Lager, Brown Ale, Honey Porter and Irish Red. The company’s extreme beers include Utopias, Chocolate Bock, Millennium, Triple Bock and Hallertau Imperial Pilsner, and Hallertau 24 on tap.

Harpoon Brewery, started in 1986, bottles Harpoon IPA, Ufo Hefeweizen, Munich Dark, Brown Session Ale and Ufo Raspberry Hefeweizen, and seasonals that include Hibernian Ale, Summer Beer, Octoberfest and Winter Warmer.

Magic Hat was founded in 1994, and the brewery’s beers include Fat Angel, Mother Lager, Single Chair Ale, Circus Boy and Blind Faith. Seasonal brews include Hocus Pocus, Roxy Rolles, Jinx, and hI.P.A. (highly hopped India Pale Ale). Magic also makes a line of 11 mystery beers that include Lemon Ginger Hocus Pocus, Humble Patience and Ravell.

“One of the legends we tell here at Magic Hat is that years and years ago, when Mad River was thinking about taking down the single chair, we made Single Chair Ale to commemorate the chair and its history, and then the longtime Mad River skiers said, ‘No, no, you can’t take the chair down.’ Well, they kept the chair, and we kept the beer,” said Meech Crowley, the voice of Magic Hat.

Shipyard, founded in 1994, bottles Carrabassett Pale Ale, a local brew of the Sugarloaf region. Offerings also include Export Ale, Old Thumper, Light, I.P.A., Bluefin Stout and Chamberlain, with seasonal offerings of Brown, Summer, Pumpkinhead, Prelude and Longfellow.

Wachusett Brewing Co., founded by three Worcester Polytechnic Institute students in 1993, has a list that includes Country Ale, Blueberry, IPA, Green Monsta Ale, Nut Brown Ale, Black Shack Porter and Quinn’s Amber Ale, and seasonal offerings of Summer, Octoberfest and Winter Ale.

Kirsten Neves of Tuckerman Brewing Co. said the famous ravine was the inspiration for the name of the company founded 10 years ago by her and husband Nik Stanciu. Four of them now run the brewery, which produces 60,000 cases of beer each year.

“We make three beers, all oriented toward Mount Washington: Tuckerman Pale Ale, named after the ravine, Headwall Alt, a German-style brown ale named after a group of rocks at the top of Tuckerman, and 6288 Stout, named after the elevation of the mountain,” Neves said.

“We make all ales,” said Butch Chase of Woodstock Inn Brewery, which began operations in 1995. The brewery idea arose when the owner of the Woodstock Inn noticed his clientele favored higher-end craft beer and wondered why he couldn’t find a way to offer them local brew.

“We’re a seven-barrel brewery, that’s how big a batch we make, about 217 gallons per batch. We rotate our beers seasonally, but our mainstay is Pig’s Ear Brown Ale, named best brown ale in the Northeast a couple of times and best brown ale in the country at brown ale tasting championships,” Chase said.

Enough talk, already. One burger, please, medium — and, let me see, what kind of beer? So very many from which to choose.

Roger Leo is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts.

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