Meet Cambridge House Head Brewer Chris DeGasero

At the Cambridge House, Granby’s only brewpub, new head brewer Chris DeGasero is working hard and happy to be doing it.

DeGasero, a Queens, NY native who moved to the area in 2011, has taken a personal passion and hobby and turned it into a career in a span of about three years. He started at the Cambridge House in the early days of April.

“This is my first actual head brewer position,” DeGasero said from the front room of the brewpub and restaurant that serves as both the brewery and his office, hoses and pipes running inches from his desk to the brewery’s tanks and equipment.

Encouraged by his wife Kyle to turn his enjoyment of brewing beer at home into a full-time occupation, DeGasero left his steady but unfulfilling position doing editing and broadcast work at a TV production company in New York City.

He worked his way up from apprenticeships at a brewery in Chelsea, NY and a restaurant startup in New York City to hands-on experience and employment at Hartford’s City Steam Brewery, cleaning tanks and kegs – doing the grunt work, he said – but also helping to brew the company’s beers one day each week.

DeGasero’s home brewing work, apprenticeships and time at City Steam gave him enough experience to earn the head brewer position at the Cambridge House and he’s excited to be there.

The immediacy of feedback from customers helps him craft, change and otherwise alter his beer recipes to suit the local palate. DeGasero pointed to his focus on the local community and the more organic feel of making beer that is served only a few feet away from the brewery as major positives.

“I get direct feedback from the clients,” he said, noting that the ease of interaction with patrons as well as their honesty about his beers makes him happy to be in his current position.

DeGasero has focused on seasonal beers since he began brewing in Granby. Current offerings at the Cambridge House include: Oktoberfest, a German red lager that is a little sweet and very clean; an India Pale Ale (IPA); a Kolsch, a German ale that drinks like a lager with a clean and crisp taste; and Oakwood Mild, an English mild ale crafted with Dana Bourque of Bristol, the winner of a homebrew contest held by Cambridge House.

Other new and soon-to-be-poured beers include: a pumpkin beer, made with 200 pounds of pumpkins sourced from nearby Southwick, MA; an oatmeal stout; an ESB, or extra special bitter, a type of English ale; and a Washington Imperial Stout being aged in large Jim Beam whiskey barrels for a few months to pick up flavors from the barrels.

“We’re always coming out with new beers,” DeGasero said.

Another project for DeGasero is crafting more session beers, beers that have a lower alcohol content. Session beers are somewhat comparable to mass-produced light beers but are of a higher quality and have a much better flavor profile. They also allow for a lower cost and a more social atmosphere – friends and visitors at the bar can sit down and have a few of the beers but not take in too much alcohol.

“There’s a lot you can do with a little,” DeGasero said. “Beer doesn’t always have to be big and bold.”

Without having to worry about distribution, wholesalers or other aspects of selling beer in stores, DeGasero focuses on what patrons at the Cambridge House want.

“I love the people, I love the creative control,” he said. “It stays right here. It’s something I don’t take for granted.”