Sysco Boston’s: Spotlight on Business: Gardner Ale House Brewery & Restaurant

Get ready for some rustic atmosphere, live music and the most exclusive menu you’ve ever seen.. The September “Sysco Boston Spotlight on Business” is all about The Gardner Ale House!

The Gardner Ale House is a community centered establishment, meaning not only are they located in the center of their community, but they manage to get themselves involved in all kinds of community events including several charities.

The Ale House, as it is locally known, brews their own award winning beers. Yes, their beers win medals, and lots of them; more than 50 since opening! However, being sensitive to the population, they choose to keep a few guest beers and popular domestic beers on tap as well. Does this make them special? Try to find another brew pub in the area or even nearby; ain’t happening!

Their menu is something else that differentiates them. It is a menu that you might expect to find in Boston or New York or Atlanta or San Francisco or San Antonio or – you get the idea. The chef, Rick Laakkonen, is a born and raised New York City restaurateur and he has too much fun with the menu. He gets the basics because he knows how a good hamburger can please the multitudes, but after the basics he breaks out of the box and delivers stunning plates of food. You’ll find things like “Duck Duck Grilled Cheese”, house made veggie, turkey and salmon burgers, a Roman Style Eggplant Parmesan, and Skillet-Roasted Happy Chicken which uses chicken in a confit served over yellow rice and garnished with peas, mild green olives, crumbled chorizo and roasted red peppers – there is something for everyone to enjoy. Oh there’s more, but you’ll have to visit to try them all!

How else is the Ale House special? Their friendly and numerous staff are always smiling and happy. Just look up and see at least 5 people in immediate view, ever present and ready to help. The pub, which could be called the ‘hearth’ of the restaurant, is perfect for dropping in for a quick drink or a quick bite. A long bar with one, two or three bartenders stays busy with regulars and new faces. They have a mug club with 242 members – regulars who have chosen their spot in the area and have secured it with this badge of honor – a 22-oz glass mug. They are well loved and the feeling is mutual! Stop in for their regular Blue Monday live act and music every weekend, plus a live jazz Sunday brunch and a special music man who runs Thursday music.

The Gardner Ale House is the lifelong love of Rick Walton who has been talking about opening a restaurant since about 1985. It’s the kind of talk that many young men must make at some time in their lives. “I’d love to run a bar.” What a life, huh? But when Rick said it, he had a crazy look in his eyes that his friends noticed and several even understood to mean “He’s gonna do it.” Rick’s mantra wasn’t just about a bar; it involved the words brewpub, restaurant, third place, local, fresh, Main St., and downtown. His dream was to help bring back an area that may have seen better days and to do it with beer, food and celebration. Rick was and is all about people and local. He began his search for a place when he moved out to central Massachusetts in the early 90’s. He would spend Sundays driving around with his family and peeking in windows ‘casing’ the area for his dream gig. In the end he decided on the old Sully’s Eating & Drinking Place in downtown Gardner which was, at that time, being run as an Italian restaurant. The Ale House was opened in the summer of 2006 and Rick has never looked back. He loves what he does, and it is very apparent in the way he runs his business.

On a final note it must be said that the Ale House loves a party. They’ve cast their identity with the Germans both in beer and in celebration by hosting the area’s largest outdoor Oktoberfest celebration. The streets of Gardner are shut down, music fills the air, beer and food fill the stomachs and Gardner, Massachusetts enjoys 12 hours of outdoor fun which includes 4 live bands, a comical gravity race called the Chair Luge Challenge and a downtown celebration joined by all the merchants of Gardner in the main drag of downtown. And that’s not the only party, just the biggest, at about 3,000 people! Oktoberfest this year runs from 11:00 am until 10:00 pm on Saturday, September 26th, so mark your calendars and don’t miss it!

Stop by the Gardener Ale House, located at 74 Parker St. in Downtown Gardner Massachusetts for one of the best dining experiences you’ll ever have!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GardnerAle
Instagram: @gardneralehouse
Twitter: @gardnerale

Source: Sysco Boston, LLC
Posted 3rd September 2015 by Shannon Sivertsen