Fall brought two additions to the growing southern Berkshires café and bar scene with the opening of the lounge-like natural wine purveyor Half Rats in late August, followed by beloved North Canaan specialty roastery ilse coffee installing its second location on Railroad Street in mid-November.
Head up to Great Barrington this holiday season to caffeinate, then ingurgitate (in moderation) – just don’t forget to hydrate.
The bright interior of ilse is simple and elegant.Alec Linden
(47 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts). Hours: Thursday - Monday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday open at 9 a.m.
Stylized lowercase, this sleek coffee brand does away with pretense and lets the brew speak for itself. Sourced ethically and with a focus on partnerships between producers, consumers and the roastery itself, a black coffee at ilse is served on a tidy tray in a clear glass mug, alongside a ceramic cup for the drinker to transfer the elixir into at their leisure. The whole set up feels emblematic of the transparency and collaboration at the core of the roastery’s ethos.
Situated in the airy space formerly occupied by Marjoram + Roux, the new coffeehouse builds on the concept inaugurated by ilse’s first public location in a converted auto body shop in North Canaan. Rebecca Grossman, who co-founded and co-owns the business with her fiancée, Lucas Smith, is local to the area, leading the couple to move roasting operations north from Stamford when they decided to expand from the wholesale production they had focused on the previous four years.
ilse’s sleek coffee packaging and merch lineup is eye-catching beneath the register.Alec Linden
With the new shop, the brand moves even further into the food-and-beverage service game, aiming to build out a full breakfast and lunch menu as it ramps up operations on Railroad Street. Currently, the bites on offer are primarily provided by Canaan-based baker Pastries By Hanna, with the addition of one item produced in-house: a fluffy scone stuffed with cream and jam – Smith’s mother’s recipe; she’s English. In the coming months, the open kitchen that takes up about half of the café’s interior will roar to life as the team develops the culinary program.
Stylistically, the space follows the minimal, elegant example set by the North Canaan location, but lower ceilings, tighter quarters and a communal table that abuts the bustle of the above-mentioned open kitchen make for a decidedly cozier atmosphere. Tuck yourself into a window seat and sip a cup of steaming, ethically-sourced coffee while gazing down at the brick-lined streets beneath the hulking ridgeline of East Mountain, and you’ll find it easy to remember why you love the Berkshires.
The comfortable lounge area, where games and wine-related literature are available for those who have exhausted their conversation quotas.Alec Linden
(343 Main Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts). Hours: Wednesday and Sunday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday – Saturday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Natural wine and resurrected Victorian slang are unlikely partners in Abby Pendergist’s new downtown venture that happily marries modern tastes with classic appeal.
“Half Rats” references 19th-century parlance meaning slightly tipsy, or buzzed, which is exactly what guests are invited to become – responsibly, of course – as they swill Pendergist’s rotating ensemble of natural wines from around the world. The snobbery that sometimes hangs over wine-forward enterprises is nowhere to be found here, perhaps booted out by the semi-deranged rodents who decorate the menus, clearly half rats themselves. Instead, the vibe is decidedly relaxed, inviting drinkers to approach the wines with an open and playful attitude.
The space, designed and decorated by Pendergist with help from her boyfriend, Nick Speidel, indicates a well-practiced eye is behind the madness. Located within the tall brick walls of the 1924 Whalen & Kastner Garage, Pendergist has tastefully decked out the room with quirky paintings, a hemlock sapling adorned with string lights, rat-themed T-shirts and the taxidermized head of an antelope wearing an evergreen garland as a necklace. Memorabilia is all around – Pendergist has a background in selling antique clothes, including at a former brick and mortar on Railroad Street.
Paintings and palm fronds are just two of many types of idiosyncratic decor that fills the room at Half Rats.Alec Linden
Amid the mayhem, there is a carefully-wrought logic to the space. Guests freely move from seats at the pounded steel bar to a comfortable lounge, where games and wine literature await, or simply peruse the walls as one might in a gallery. A massive communal table dominating the center of the room is highly modular in its function, hosting large parties of wine drinkers or pumpkin carving contests alike. Several window tables and high-tops offer couples seeking a quieter drink the opportunity to do so with some privacy.
Like everything else, the menu is eclectic and changeable. A core selection of Pendergist’s favorite bottles remain while others rotate, though no bottle is safe from being swapped out. In addition to the main lineup, special bottles are also on offer until they run out. On a recent Thursday, a chilled and unchilled red, both Austrian, graced the specials menu, joined by another red, this one Georgian, as well as a Portuguese orange and a white gleaned from the faraway lands of Maine.
A short, rotating list of craft beers, alongside cheaper standards ($4-$5), are also available, as well as non-alcoholic options such as Mexican coke and espresso. Simple but enticing bar snacks — including olives, a goat cheese plate and “Spanish skewers” of anchovy, olives and pepper — are also available for those who like a snack with their Syrah.
For those who want to bring the experience home, small souvenirs and knickknacks, including Christmas cards, are available for sale at the bar. A Syrah, and snack and a sticker it is, then.
Max Amsterdam reaches out to pet a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam is a senior at Millbrook School and serves as the zoo’s head student curator.
Stahl said the zoo has been engaged in a long-range master planning process for several years as part of preparing for its next Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation review in 2027. “We knew we had to make a plan and look toward the future,” Stahl said. “We had to think about what more we could be doing for the animals, for students and for the community.”
Construction is nearing completion on a new animal holding barn, the first step toward housing off-exhibit animals. Funded by philanthropist Barbara Tober — whom Stahl described as the project’s “catalyst” — the facility is required under AZA accreditation standards. The holding barn will serve as a first stop for new animals required to quarantine before entering an exhibit. It will also safely house animals when enclosures are being repaired or when they need rehabilitation.
The new animal hospital, which zoo staff are referring to as an animal wellness center, is poised to be four times larger than the existing space. Stahl said the team is looking forward to dramatically expanding the zoo’s ability to treat animals on campus, eliminating the need to transport them off-site for procedures like X-rays or ultrasounds.
Max Amsterdam feeds a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on the Millbrook School campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam said he became interested in the school's zoo in his freshman year when he watched an older student perform a biopsy on a wolf that had passed away at the zoo.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Stahl said a primary goal of the master plan and the animal wellness center is to “bring the outside in.” The public will be allowed to watch certain procedures and operations to learn more about the veterinary work that goes on behind the scenes.
In addition to the zoo’s around-the-clock staff, rotating veterinarians visit the zoo each week to check on the animals and perform routine procedures. The current space is limited, and zoo staff are eager to have an expanded footprint.
“Right now we’re very limited space-wise,” Stahl said. “This new facility will let us have more space, more vets and more learning happening.”
Max Amsterdam has lived at the Millbrook School as a boarding student for four years and has held a working role at the zoo throughout that time. Today, in his senior year, he serves as the zoo’s head student curator — a coveted leadership role that requires a formal application and selection process.
When Amsterdam first applied to Millbrook School, the zoo was not front-of-mind. Although he wanted to become a veterinarian as a young child, the desire dissipated until he set foot in the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo as a freshman.
“I watched a senior perform a biopsy on a red wolf that had passed away from a uterine tumor,” Amsterdam said. “I didn’t even know that students could do that. I realized right then how incredible this place was and the zoo became my thing.”
Over his four years at Millbrook, Amsterdam has assisted veterinarians, shadowed medical procedures, conducted necropsies and even traveled with staff to national AZA conferences. “As you grow, you gain a relationship with the staff and vets, and when they know you can handle it, they let you do more,” he said.
With graduation on the horizon and plans to study biology at Bucknell, Amsterdam admits he’s a little jealous of the future students that will benefit from the new zoo facilities.
At the end of the day, he is grateful for the hands-on experience he has received in his leadership roles at the zoo. Millbrook School is the only high school in the country with an AZA-accredited zoo on its campus.
“I’m jealous, but I’m also so grateful that the zoo got that donation because it’s needed,” Amsterdam smiled. “We deserve it, too. It’s a lot of hard work by the staff and students — it’s 200% effort seven days a week, and not many people see that.”
