Hot Plate Brewery Debuts in Downtown Pittsfield on Thursday

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
02:30PM / Tuesday, January 31, 2023Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With all licensing secured, Hot Plate Brewery will have a soft opening on Thursday.

Owners Sarah Real and Mike Dell'Aquila will debut the micro-brewery to the public with six beers on tap starting at 4 p.m.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., transplants began planning their venture in the Berkshires two years ago, saying that the region seemed underserved from a craft beer perspective.

"Hot Plate" was inspired by the equipment that the couple used to brew beer in the city when they lost heat and hot water for three years because of a code violation.

On Monday, Licensing Board granted Hot Plate a weekday (Monday through Saturday) and Sunday entertainment license. With a local downtown beer and wine alcohol license and a pub brewers license from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission in hand, they are ready to go.

On the menu will also be wine, cider, hard seltzers, soft drinks, and light fare. In the coming weeks, more beers will be added to the tap list as well.

Attorney Jesse Cook-Dubin told the Licensing Board that the brewery will have televisions, pre-recorded music, and live music within limitations. The music will be "quiet enough to be able to hear people talk," he said.

There was some discussion about the food aspect of Hot Plate at the time of the alcohol license approval, as the downtown licenses focus on restaurants and this is a brewery.

The plan is to offer food prepared by other downtown restaurants as well as some commercial kitchen infrastructure.

Cook-Dubin said there is a microwave right now and brewery is working with the Board of Health to determine what kind of food service permit is needed.

"The hope is to have something that is compliant with the statute, with the ordinance by when we talk in June," he added. "We think it's compliant now but we understand the concern about there needs to be something cohesive there."

As a woman of color, Real found it important to see herself represented in the industry, which the Brewers Association identifies as having less than 1 percent of all craft breweries in the United States owned by women like herself.

She and Dell'Aquila describe their business as a "mission-driven organization" and put inclusivity at the forefront, designing the taproom beyond Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, offering nonalcoholic and gluten-free options, and being a comfortable gathering space for all people.

The city has welcomed a downtown brewery with open arms, last year providing a $140,000 allocation of Pittsfield economic development funds to support the acquisition of equipment.

Tags: new business, brewery,

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BRTA Sees Highest Ridership to Date

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:46PM / Monday, August 10, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority has recorded its highest ridership in the history of the authority.

The BRTA recorded 731,444 for fiscal 2026 year, with fixed-route ridership at 666,000 passengers, paratransit (ADA) ridership at 65,000 passengers, and Link 413 ridership at 952 rides since it started earlier this year.

Administrator Kathleen Lambert and Operations Manager Benjamin Hansen said the higher ridership is likely thanks to the free fare. Free fare was first introduced to the BRTA in late 2024, this was the first full fiscal year and it won't be the last.

Lambert said she feels very good about the new number and while it's in part because of the fare free initiative, it's great to just be a service to the community.

"The point is, transit keeps more money in people's pockets if they're not paying for gas and transportation," she said. "I know there are improvements to be made, especially around frequency and different forms of opportunities to travel, and I want that to be the situation. But right now, we're kind of getting everything into shape, getting prepared for new service, and prepared for the next iteration of the RTA."

The high ridership also comes at a time of high route cancellations because of a lack of drivers. Lambert said the authority currently has 26 drivers with a goal of attaining 33 to 35. The new operating company, Keolis, is still looking for more hires. This past fiscal year, the BRTA saw 3,457 trips cancelled but hopes to have no cancellations by the end of September.

Hansen gave the ridership data at the July meeting, also showing off the new data that will be easily available on the website for anyone to view in an effort to be more transparent with the public.

The most affected routes were Route 1, the Pittsfield to North Adams Connector, and Route 2, the Pittsfield to Lee, which had more than 750 cancellations.

Although Route 1 had some of the most cancellations it still remained the most popular route with 176,123 riders through 9,729 trips. Route 34, the North Adams Loop, came in second with 127,147 riders also through 9,729 trips. Again, even though Route 2 had some of the most cancellations it came in third with 76,305 riders with 8,597 trips.

The Link413 service has also grown in ridership. Some on the board contested the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and didn't see ridership high enough. The new data shows that the ridership almost doubled from the previous month from 179 in May to 313 in June.

Lambert also noted it was not possible to cut the service as it was properly approved and if they had to cut, they would have to give back their portion of the grant money, which would be impossible. She mentioned this to the group since former board member Rene Wood and others had asked to see what was possible with the service and when it was accepted and if it should still be running.

"We took the money, we ordered the vehicles. We took the vehicles. We've been running the service. To abandon the service is against the MassDOT contract. We do have a contract for the funds. We accepted all the money. If we rescind the contract, then we rescind the funds, and that means paying back a couple of million dollars, which we don't really have, and our portion would be at least one third of that, probably more because we run 50 percent of the service," Lambert said.

The Link413 service is a partnership between the BRTA and the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA). The most popular route is the Pittsfield to Northampton with over 60 percent of ridership.

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