Page 8 - BusinessWest December 9, 2024

The Hot Plate location on School Street in downtown Pittsfield has become a gathering place for everything from concerts to trivia to meetings of the Silent Book Club.
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Hot Plate
to create a venture that would be impactful on many levels and in many ways.
“We wanted a model where we’re supporting our community, but also have a foot in a much larger sandbox,” Dell’Aquila said. “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, and really combat the notion that this is an either/or proposition — you can either be mission-driven or you can make a good product that is successful in the craft-beer world. To me, that’s a false dichotomy; you can do both.”
And they are, as evidenced by the grow- ing list of accolades they’ve earned.
Indeed, Hot Plate has been recognized as everything from one of the “Best 19 New Breweries in 2023” by VinePair magazine, to one of the “Places to Check Out If You Have 36 Hours in Berkshire County” by the New York Times. Meanwhile, the brewery was selected as one of the Imbibe 75 by that publication in early 2023, a compila- tion that features “individuals, organiza- tions, and businesses that are dedicated to creating a more positive, sustainable, inclu- sive, and equitable drinks world.”
It has also won a Silver Impact Award from MassEcon for making an investment in one of the Commonwealth’s gateway cit-
ies, and it’s been recognized by Berkshire Pride and the National Alliance on Mental Illness for its work in the community.
Meanwhile, the brewery has become a gathering spot in down- town Pittsfield and a big part of the revitalization efforts there. Hot Plate has brought a variety of different bands to the site — Dispatch played there before a performance at Tanglewood, for example — while also hosting food trucks, trivia and open-mic nights, tarot readings, and meetings of the Pittsfield chapter of the Silent Book Club, which gathers members in public at bars, cafés, bookstores, libraries, and online to read in quiet camaraderie.
All these honors and efforts to activate its space speak to that change-agent quality that Real and Dell’Aquila emphasized.
“With our Community Line, we really believe that we can show that craft beer can also be a force for good.”
...into the holiday season
with your favorite Christmas songs, The 94 Foot Christmas Tree Contest & Nights At The North Pole
Details on 947wmas.com
8 DECEMBER 9, 2024
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