Northampton, MA

Northampton is a college town with diverse venues for dining and drinking. We enjoyed both activities tremendously at The Dirty Truth on Main Street. The dimly lit interior with red walls and black accents struck me as a contemporary wine bar, but the long line of taps quickly corrected that notion.

We hopped up to a bar table and spread open the artful menu. Now, I realize this is a beer blog but allow me two sentences to gush about our food...grilled corn on the cob with herbed citrus compound butter to start, then pulled BBQ duck breast sliders (with impossibly delicious carrot jam that they make in-house and would not sell to me). Kelly was presented with a humongous, glass dish of baked mac and cheese jacked up with cayenne pepper and a couple add-ons.


As for the liquid portion, I sat out the first round - content in foodie paradise - then ordered Beer of the Gods, an American Blonde Ale from High and Mighty Beer Co. in MA. It would have paired better with the currywurst but I still deemed it unoriginal. (Kelly thinks I'm being harsh, but hey, I want impressive brews in my glass and assume our readers do too.)


Kelly enjoyed:

• De Ranke's Noir De Dottignies, a Belgian Dark Strong Ale and nice change of pace from the American styles he had been favoring
• Bear Republic's Apex, a double IPA which he couldn't resist

On our final day, we appropriately moseyed over to Northampton Brewery, the oldest operating brewpub in New England. The brewery itself is located in a restored carriage house (c. 1894) but years of renovations have expanded the facility to include a basement, new kitchen, sunroom, and 150-seat rooftop beer garden where we sat!

We both ordered 4 samples:

• Scuba's Marzen, Blackberry Porter, Hoover's Porter, and Black Cat Stout for Katie
• Summer Fling, Scuba's Marzen, Blackberry Porter, and Blue Boots IPA for Kelly

Inside, Kelly also tried Black Cat on cask. Our only complaint is that Northampton did not have any unique or experimental beers aside from the subtle blackberry porter. This could be a product of our timing though, and we thought the history and outdoor dining made the trip worthwhile.