Yankee Brew News Archive

Editor's Desk: Covering New England Craft Brew, A Growth Industry

Originally Published: 06/96

By: Brett Peruzzi

The first thing you perhaps noticed is that this column is no longer called What's Brewing. That's right, my regular soapbox has been renamed, and for a reason. First a little background.

Way back when, 1991 to be exact, when Yankee Brew News was a 16-page quarterly, the brew news of the entire New England region could be easily summed up in a single short column called we called What's Brewing. Of course, that was about sixty breweries and countless pints ago. As the number of craft brewers grew, we expanded to two columns, North Country Brewings, covering northern New England, and Below the Frost Line, covering southern New England. What's Brewing became an editorial column, primarily written by me but occasionally taken over by another YBN staffer with a strong opinion on some aspect of craft brewing--and strong opinions we have--just ask anyone who has sat through one of our staff meetings!

As you can probably guess, it's time for yet another expansion in the number of regular news columns we need to properly cover New England's burgeoning craft brew scene. Starting with this issue, we'll have four regional news columns--and returning to our roots, they'll be named What's Brewing for each of the states the column covers.

That irrepressible antagonizer of the powers that be, Kerry J Byrne, of Quincy, Massachusetts, will refocus his Below the Frost Line column about southern New England and cover strictly Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Gregg Glaser, our ebullient Connecticut Yankee in Fairfield County (Wilton, to be exact) will now cover the growing Nutmeg scene. Our latest addition to the staff, Mark E. Hall of Portland, Maine, will handle the explosive Maine scene as well as emerging New Hampshire developments, while homebrewing maven Tom Ayres of Richmond, Vermont will cover the solid Green Mountain State growth.

As always, we welcome feedback, hot tips, and whatever else you want to share with us about brewing in New England. Each writer's e-mail address is listed on the masthead, or send snail mail to our P.O. box. And with the way breweries are popping up in the region, I wouldn't be surprised if we launch separate columns for New Hampshire and Rhode Island too. Big or small, there's something brewing in almost every corner of New England.