Meet Sarah Real, Owner and Founder of Hot Plate Brewing Co.
Name: Sarah Real
Title: Owner/Founder/brewer
Name of Brewery: Hot Plate Brewing Co.
Location: Coming soon to downtown Pittsfield!
#1) What made you decide to get into the craft brewing industry?
When I was still in grad school, there was a bar that served a lot of imported beers, which first showed me that beer could be so much more than just domestic light lagers. After grad school, I took a cross-country drive and visited a lot of breweries out on the west coast and really fell in love with both the art and science of brewing, as well as how breweries like New Belgium were really focused on taking care of their people and being good stewards of the environment. I really felt like this community was something I wanted to be a part of.
#2) Which of your beers do your customers enjoy the most and why?
Since we haven’t officially opened yet, we don’t have any “customers.” However, we’ve been giving away samples at community events and through our “growler share program.” One of the beers that people have enjoyed the most is the base saison recipe I wrote, which I make with a different locally sourced ingredient like beets, rutabaga, or other unexpected produce.
#3) What's your favorite thing about your brewery?
One of the things we love about craft beer and breweries in general is its ability to bring people together. In fact, our tagline is “Crafting Connections,” and since we recently relocated to The Berkshires, I really love how starting this brewery has allowed me to meet and collaborate with so many other brewers, non-profit organizations, craft beer fans, and even individuals who don’t see themselves in the craft beer community but have been intrigued by our story and our mission. We’re constantly working to make the industry more inclusive, and so connecting with people who previously felt like this wasn’t their thing has been so exciting to me.
#4) Besides your own, what Massachusetts craft beers or breweries impress you the most and why?
I’ve got to give a shout out to our friends at Big Elm. Not only do they make excellent beers, but they’re really committed to supporting their community—both in the industry, and in Berkshire County. To see an organization live its values while remaining humble and doing a lot of work behind the scenes to support other brewers, hops farms, maltsters, and other local businesses never ceases to impress me.
#5) What’s a little known fact about you or your brewery that you think customers would get a kick out of? Something unique, funny or unusual?
So while some of our friends and family know this (and are all too familiar with the insanity of it), the reason we have the name Hot Plate Brewing Co. goes back to when we were literally homebrewing on a hot plate for a number of years. Due to a code violation in the condo we were living in back in Brooklyn, the NYC DOB shut off our gas in 2017, and rather than giving up on my dream of learning how to brew beer and one day opening a brewery, I decided to buy a Cuisinart hot plate and keep brewing and writing recipes. Now it makes for a good story, but it was a huge challenge at the time.
#6) What’s a style that you think is under-appreciated that you’d encourage other craft beer drinkers to try?
Without a doubt, I would say English Bitters. From the time I had my first beer (I was a rule-follower growing up and drank a pint of ale in England because I was 18 and legal there) to the years I’d spent traveling to London for work, English ales have always been a big part of my life, and one of my favorite styles. Because they’re more malt-forward than their hoppier American cousins, it’s sometimes a challenge to get people on board with me, but when it comes to beer styles, I am willing to die on this hill.