Sunday, September 22, 2024

Our Spirited Tour kicked into gear again for the 2024 season with a first-time trip to the Brick and Feather Brewery in Turners Falls, MA. It was a beautiful, if somewhat chilly, afternoon that featured plenty of laughs, especially since when we left Southampton heading north. We thought we were going to Floodwater Brewing in Turners Falls, but when we neared our destination, Lisa looked at her notes and discovered that Floodwater Brewing is in Shelburne Falls, MA. After a confusing couple of minutes, we rediscovered that we were, indeed, really heading to Brick and Feather and that the confusion was due to the way our brew pub data is stored and presented on Lisa's phone. We may have been heading in the wrong direction for where we thought we were headed, but, in fact, we were headed in the right direction for where we intended to wind up. Lots of laughs surrounding this adventure and the pleasant and carefree mood we were in continued the rest of the afternoon.

Brick and Feather Brewery

www.brickandfeatherbrewery.com

78 11th St, Turners Falls, MA 01376 

(413) 863-2574

Welcome to the Brick and Feather Brewery

From the Brick and Feather Brewery webpage -

WHO ARE WE?

Brick & Feather brewery was born as the vision of a husband-and-wife team in 2015. Lawrence had been working in breweries across the country since 2007, and had always envisioned opening a small, family friendly brewery where he could fully execute a portfolio of beers true to their tastes. After moving to Northampton, the two eventually stumbled across the wonderful building in Turners Falls which the brewery occupies now. The fun little village is a perfect fit for Brick & Feather.

​Brick & Feather beers are brewed on a manual 7-barrel system, mostly by hand, by Lawrence and his small staff. We work meticulously to produce beers meeting the highest standards of quality and consistency. Our tasting room crew is incredibly dedicated and passionate about what we do here and are always happy to chat with interested beer lovers!

​Our beers are available throughout Massachusetts, thanks to our distribution partners.

Bob at entrance

Our taproom and outdoor patio are open, join us for a beer!

Thurs/Fri, 4:30-8pm

Saturday, 1-8pm

Sunday, 1-7pm

​On-site pours available until 30 mins before close. Growlers & Cans to-go available until close.

Come check out our newly renovated room, updated draft system, and a revitalized beer lineup!

VALUES

We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of employees, customers, or vendors in any form; nor do we allow any hate speech or display of items that reference or incite hate speech. We reserve the right to refuse service to any individual who cannot respect these simple expectations.

There is very limited parking in front, but there is a good size lot to the right of the building and a huge lot across the road along the canal. There was an interesting number of patrons including a few hipster types with their dog companions that looked right at home at the pub and in Turners Falls.

On tap on the day we visited -

DRAFTS

***Bayern Underground - Festbier, 5.3%***

Gramophonic - Czech-style 10° Pale Lager, 3.9%

Tycho Anomaly - Schwarzbier, 5%

In Absentia - India Pale Ale, 7.2%

Half-Light Sunbeam - 100% Citra India Pale Ale, 6.5%

Sauron's Nightlight - Robust Porter, 7.3%

A Small Group Of Reasonable People - English Dark Mild Ale, 4%

Franklin Proper - Ordinary Bitter, 4.1%

We entered the taproom and were greeted by a friendly tap-tender who cheerfully answered our questions about the various brews. After some consideration, we all decided to have the Gramophonic. 

Taproom-tender

There is plenty of seating indoors, but we wanted to sit outside if at all possible. Luckily, we were able to find a table and chairs out front, not too far from the Patch Burger Pop-Up 'food truck' grill.

Enjoying our Gramophonic

A little bit about Turners Falls -

Turners Falls is named after the 1000 foot-long, 30-foot fall cataract that stretches from the south bank of the Connecticut River at Turners Falls to the north shoreline at Riverside, Gill, MA.

The village of Turners Falls was founded in 1868 as a planned industrial community according to the plan of Alvah Crocker, a prominent man from Fitchburg who envisioned in the immense power of the waterfalls the means of establishing a great city. Crocker was influenced by other, earlier and successful experiments in Lowell and elsewhere. Crocker's vision was to attract industry to the town by offering cheap hydropower that was made by the harnessing of the Connecticut River, through the construction of a dam across the Connecticut River with a diversion canal to provide hydropower to mills. His development concept was to sell mill sites along the power canal to those companies and to sell individual building lots to mill workers who would come to work in the mills. The rest of the village was laid out in a horizontal grid pattern with cross streets numerically. Avenue A, the main commercial district, was designed as a grand tree lined avenue.

Each of us thoroughly enjoyed our Gramophonic Czech style Pale Lager. We simultaneously ordered burgers from the Patch Burger Pop-Up and our second round which included In Absentia - India Pale Ales for Kelley and I while Lisa chose a Western Mass seltzer.

Additional photos -

Seltzer from Harmony Springs bottlers in Ludlow, MA

Beer offerings the day we visited

Take out options

In Absentia India Pale Ale drafts

One of our burgers

Final thoughts -

This leg of our Spirited Tour journey was a complete success despite some early-on confusion. It provided an opportunity for some hearty laughs as well as a top shelf outing. It appeared we were not alone in having a laid back and enjoyable afternoon. Before we hit the road for our return journey, I made a restroom pitstop. The facilities were clean and well stocked. Upon leaving the restroom I joined a discussion that Kelley was having with the tap-tender. I didn't catch all that was being said, but the relevance of the name of the brewery was part of the discussion. From what I gathered; the name is a metaphor. The Brick part relating to the mechanics of the brewing process from sourcing ingredients to the equipment with the Feather part relating to the more ethereal aspects such as recipes and personal influence over the product.

Lisa was designated our return driver, but before heading south, Kelley, who once lived in 'Turners' directed us on a short guided tour of the Falls, the canal, the downtown, and some of the residential areas. All in all a beautiful afternoon to long remember.

CHEERS!