Page 6 - BusinessWest December 9, 2024

“We wanted a model where we’re supporting our community, but also have a foot in a much larger sandbox. We can help show that you can build a mission-driven brewery that is trying to attack the problems of sustainability, conservation, and a lack of representation among marginalized communities.”
work,” Dell’Aquila said. “I think we’re starting to leave behind that novelty act of ... ‘it’s a Mexican-American woman making that beer,’ to the fact that Sarah’s just a brewer who makes good beer. We’ve gotten over that hump.”
In the meantime, Hot Plate has made inroads with other aspects of its overall mission to push boundaries and make an impact. This includes work in the com- munity, specifically support of neighbors and mission- aligned organizations, as well as intentionality and act- ing as good social and environmental stewards through responsible sourcing, usage, and disposal.
In the community, the brewery has partnered with an interfaith group on a fundraiser helping local fami- lies pay for heating oil — an initiative inspired in part by nights in that cold Brooklyn condo, which raised $13,000 that went to more than 200 households.
Hot Plate has also been involved with many of the initiatives to bring more people, and vibrancy, to down- town Pittsfield, including the taking of a lead role in the return of First Fridays, street festivals focused on the arts and dining.
Meanwhile, Hot Plate has put a special emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, said Real, noting that both its hops and malt are from Massachusetts produc- ers, and such buying brings attention to the expensive, and not-so-eco-friendly, supply chain within the brew- ing industry.
Add it all up, and Hot Plate has earned a designa- tion you don’t hear often in association with a brewery: change agent.
Lager Than Life
Returning to Brooklyn for a minute ... it was there that Real and Dell’Aquila were witness to the transfor- mation of that borough into a sought-after zip code and one of the hottest real-estate markets in the country.
And it was there they saw the broad impact that breweries, restaurants, and other hospitality- and cul- ture-related ventures could have on the revitalization of neighborhoods.
“We had seen how an underutilized area could suddenly come back to life through interesting shops, stores, and retail places, but also bars, restaurants, and breweries as well,” said Dell’Aquila, adding that a desire to make such an impact — somewhere — was one of the things they talked about while cooking din- ner, and brewing beer, on a hot plate.
They were inspired by what they saw in Brook-
lyn, but quickly ruled out the borough because of the high cost of setting up shop there. They explored the Catskills region of New York, but after several visits to the Berkshires, they settled on Pittsfield because of the population of that city and also the relative dearth of breweries. Thus, they became part of an entrepreneur- ial exodus of sorts to the Berkshires during and just after the pandemic, bringing their corporate jobs with them, but immediately setting about starting that afore- mentioned second act.
They were able to sell their condo as it was at mar- ket value — testimony to that hot housing market — and relocate in the summer of 2021. After a thorough search for a location, they settled on the School Street site, which lacks parking, but is otherwise well-situat- ed, and opened their doors in early 2023.
Since then, the venture has consistently added new beers to the portfolio, evolved and expanded offerings — including the addition of coffee, tea, and pastries to appeal to non-drinkers and draw traffic more hours of the day — and address all aspects of its broad mission.
Indeed, as noted earlier, they didn’t come to Pitts- field just
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