A glorious pushing of buttons: Rauchbier at Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton MA.

Several years ago, when I was at peak NABC, we were approached by a local businessman who had purchased property in Starlight, very near Huber's Orchard, Vineyards and Winery and their rapidly growing Starlight Distillery.

To make a long story short, his idea was to build a German-influenced brewery up the road from Huber's, under the plausible theory that if hundreds of people are wiling to drive to Huber's for the day, they'd also stop at the brewery -- not only to buy take-away beer, but for the rural ambiance.

Nothing ever came of it, but now I've seen the real-world manifestation of what he envisioned. Clone this, drop it there. First, as noted at NAC ...

Eastern USA Road Trip 2016, Day 6: A trip to Gator's in Rhode Island.

After the excursion to Rhode Island to count coup with clams and beer, Ben drove directly to Fort Hill Brewery outside Easthampton. As the crow flies, the brewery is located only three or four miles from Ben's and Jen's house, but owing to the location of bridges on the Connecticut, it's a big 10-12 mile loop.

No matter, because I wasn't behind the wheel, and the point of the visit can be summarized by a single German compound word: Rauchbier.

Smoked beer.

When Ben first told me there was a brewery just a few miles away from his house that brewed Rauchbier all the year round, I started salivating. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and upon arrival, there was a musical duo playing inside, drinkers with picnic lunches spilling onto the front patio, and a mellow vibe overall.

I sampled a few of the house brews, drank a pint of Rauchbier and bought a case of mixed six packs to take back to Indiana. Every beer I tried was solid, even the spiced Doppelbock, and it strikes me that specializing in German styles is an idea too long ignored according to prevailing craft beer orthodoxy (even if Fort Hill offered Session IPA, too).

A final point of "wow" was on-premise six-pack pricing: $8 for six 12-oz cans. OF SMOKED LAGER ... or Märzen, or Hefeweizen ... and that's a steal given the quality.

At Fort Hill Brewery, we like to stand out. That's why we decided to use different colored tabs on our cans to identify our beers.

Red is for Red Flag
Black is for Rauch
Green is for King Mark
Blue is for Dopplebock

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An inspiring Rauchbier at Gordon Biersch in downtown Louisville.

On the topic of the Gordon Biersch restaurant/brewery outlet in downtown Louisville, I'll have more to say a bit later in the year, as my column in Food & Dining Magazine (3rd quarter, circa August) will profile it.

First, having been called upon to represent NABC in a "throwdown" evening at Biersch, with our Helles and theirs flowing at the same time, I had a wonderful time on Tuesday with beers, pizza and Nicholas Landers, who brews at Biersch.

Given my habit of antagonizing the peanut gallery with rote chants of "Death to Chains," there'll be an inevitable rejoinder alleging hypocrisy, or worse. But life isn't black and white, and localism is about principled shift -- and at Louisville's branch of Biersch, all the beers are brewed on site, and a greater degree of site-specific latitude than ever before is offered to Landers. I think his core portfolio of German-style lagers (and the occasional Teutonic ale) is delicious; meanwhile, he's doing an American-style Pale Ale and IPA.

In particular, if you like Rauchbier of the Spezial model, get over there now. Nick's made a fine version using Weyermann malt. There's a growler in the fridge as we speak, and it isn't expected to last very long.