The Moan And Dove

JShattuck

Massachusetts

5/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

The moan and dove is by far my favorite bar. I have yet to find a bar that compares to the moan and dove. (Dirty Truth and Lord Hobo are not quite as good).

Beer- Great selection on tap that rotates between standard styles Pale Ales, IPA, Stouts, Porters, , Pilsners, different Belgian styles, along with some rare styles of beer. Some standard beers are always on tap like Guinness, at least three IPAs, etc. Every Wednesday they have a different beer on Cask. They also have a lot of bottles to choose from ranging from $2 to $60.
Mug club if you drink the entire bottle list over a year.

Food- No food. Peanuts for free at the door. You are welcome to bring in pizza or subs from Sibies (best pizza and subs in Amherst), chinese next door, and Latinos around the corner for South American food. There is also a Hess next door for snacks.

Great vibe and great music played by the bar tenders. There is always a dog or two hanging out or sleeping on the floor. All of the bar tenders will take the time to talk to you and help you find the right beer. Tastings and half sizes for half price are available.

The majority of the crowd is friendly and regulars. I have been searching, but no bar beats or compares to The Moan and Dove.

12-03-2011 08:11:32 | More by JShattuck

FishDogHead

Massachusetts

5/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5

I can't say enough good things about The Moan And Dove. I've fallen in love with this place in a short time. This is what the atmosphere of a beer-lover's bar should be! My cousin is a regular, and now I make it there every chance I get.
The fact that they don't serve food isn't a big deal. They encourage you to support their neighboring restaurants and bring food in if you like. Either that, or enjoy a bowl of peanuts.
I made it to the Big Beer Fest, and also, more recently, a special event where they had about 10 DFH beers on tap, including Pangea (fantastic!) and World Wide Stout! Sadly, Dan (the owner) informed me that they didn't have any kegs of the 120 Minute IPA or Raison D'Extra,a 17%(?) abv version of the Raison D'Etre when he made the trip to the brewery to pick them up. I was reeeaaally looking forward to that 120.
I had the good fortune to be present for a Mug Club indoctrination that night (the 2nd female member). I won't go into the details of what is required for membership, but I'll just say that everybody had a great time, and it was truly what enjoying great beer with good people is all about!
Go there! Now!

11-20-2003 05:17:04 | More by FishDogHead

SaucyJack

New York

4.94/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5

The best beer bar in the northeast, bar none. Friendly, mostly knowledgeable staff, the best selection in Massachusetts, and a big bucket of damn fine peanuts.

The Moan has twenty taps -- a few more than I like to see, but they seem to turn the beer over quickly enough. I can't say I've ever had a bad pint there, and I've been in at least two or three times a month since they opened.

The knocks on this pub are the lack of food and fairly high prices, but I'm not buying either one. First off, if you want to eat, you can order in or bring your own, and the money you save on the food will help subsidize those 'inflated' prices. As for the pricing, it's high, but you certainly do get what you pay for. There's no other bar in Amherst, or anywhere nearby, with the atmosphere and selection of beers that this place has. The Moan and Dove may not be on the beaten path, but it's not to be missed on any serious brew tour.

03-14-2004 19:40:15 | More by SaucyJack

milagro

Maine

5/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5

My uncle told me about his Local right around the corner that had recently changed hands. He said if I liked beer I'd love this place. A few weeks before arriving to Amherst for Christmas with the family, my wife asked my favorite beer. I listed three that I hold in very high standings but told her we'd have to go to Belgium to get them and even there they'd be hard to find. Westvleteren 12, DeKonnick Cuvee, and Rochfort 10. On Christmas night we walked over to the Dove, stepped in, took a look at the draught board and smiled. Then I looked at the bottle list and literally laughed out loud with joy. A kid in a candy store. My wife read throught the list and pointed out one, two, and finally all three beers I had mentioned. What a treat.

The place was rocking, the music was great, the owner was pumping out brews, but still took a minute to talk nerdy beer talk with me. The ambiance was perfect; low, cozy lighting, nicely painted walls, none of the typical beer parafanalia crap, but enough well placed, nice items to give credit to certain beers.

Every beer I had was served in the proper glass-ware. DeKonnick, DeKonnick glass. Rochefort, you got it. I even had a Dogfish Head out of a Dogfish Head pint glass. The way beer should be served. Every single beer my wife and I had was excellent, and the rest of my family loved it too as their eyes and palates were opened to new things.

What a treat to have all this in Western Mass. Now I've got to find a new reason to take my wife to Belgium... naw, we'll still go for the beer.

07-29-2004 16:16:31 | More by milagro

Jukebox

New York

4.88/5  rDev +6.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $

Decided to go on a daytrip with fellow BA and brother Saturn to check out the number one place to have a beer and also to check out the Dirty Truth as well. Sort of hard to find, located in a sort of strip mall next to a hair place and a Hess station. Look for the gas station or you will drive right by. Opens at three weekdays and one on weekends.

Small place with maybe 10 barstools and 5 tables. As you walk in you notice at least 30 taps facing you and the wall of glasses that match the taps. The tap list is very impressive, all good stuff. The bartender when we arrived, was getting ready for a cask festival of some sort that night, which was to start at six. However it was only three, so we ordered a Coniston Old Man and a Left Hand Milk Stout both on tap and served in proper glasses. Both were excellent. We followed that with a bottle of Achell Brune served in a Achell glass and a bottle of Anderson Valley Pale Ale.

I think the service in this place is among the best I have seen in a beer bar before. The bartender really knew his stuff and would help make suggestions or answer any questions anyone had. He even gave both of us a free tasting of Samuel Adams Utopia, because we had never tried it before.

In finishing, The Moan and Dove is perhaps the finest beer establishment that I have been to and if you are in the area you should go too!

02-11-2007 05:19:39 | More by Jukebox

ImperialGuy

Maine

3.33/5  rDev -27.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 1.5 | $$

I must have stepped into some alternate universe. I've been to this place twice, based on reviews I've read here and in beer publications. Both times I found the selection good, and interesting, but not fantastic, the number of taps not being high. Neither time was there anything on cask.

Both times the service barely existed. Young (I'm over 50) slacker guys. The first time, he's chatting with an attractive young woman, obviously a higher priority than a couple of thirsty geezers, but c'mon, the place is supposed to be legendary! The second time, the bartender did not bother to walk over, or even shout over to the booth my friend and I were in. Both times, we had to get up and ask for service.

I'll stick with the Amherst Brewing Company when I'm in the area.

12-28-2007 22:53:52 | More by ImperialGuy

cheers55

Connecticut

5/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

This place rocks. My wife and I finally made it here on a busy Saturday night and it was great. After reading reviews talking about snobby bartenders I was surprised with how personable the bartender was who took our order for first round.
Draft list is small but well chosen (Maudite for instance) and bottle line up is spectacular. Had Fantome La Dalmatienne to start and it was great. Later in the evening announcement was made that as a way of saying thanks everyones next beer was on the house! There were 100 or so very happy beer drinkers. M&D has customer service and great beer down to a science.

05-05-2008 00:55:16 | More by cheers55

NEBeerWench

Massachusetts

5/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

I'll bite - I might be a bit biased in reviewing the Dove because I've been going there since five days after I turned 21 (I realize that that makes me sound like Old Lady River; trust me, I'm not; that was three years ago). All that being said, this bar has become my basis of comparison for every beer bar that I've ever visited. The staff is all extremely competent; this note applies both to the bar-back and doorman staff, and to the bartenders themselves, who are veritable beer encyclopedias. They are all friendly, funny, and helpful: the latter being especially helpful when I'm in the mood for something different, or I'm having trouble being decisive (which, of course, never happens). I have learned an incredible amount about beer and how best to appreciate it, over the past few years.

On that note, the Moan & Dove's beer selection and atmosphere create an environment that is conducive to learning about and appreciating beer to its fullest extent. The amount of beers is enough to keep regulars and/or beer snobs from ever being bored, and yet is not overwhelming to newcomers (it's now up to 183). Coupled with this is the beer list, in which participants try to drink every beer that the M&D offers, within a year. Instead of encouraging this to be a trophy, the staff treats the list like a rite of passage, emphasizing that the point is to learn and appreciate all types of beers, rather than rushing through the list simply to say that one has done it.

Even though the Dove doesn't offer food beyond the ever-present barrel of peanuts, there are about 10 places within 5-10 minutes of driving time that deliver. Also, people may complain that the Dove is out of the way, hard to find, and is not overly easily accessible by public transportation. Although it is true that the bar is not on one of the main bus routes in and around Amherst, it has a bus stop right out front. The fact that it is not right in the middle of things is also fantastic to those of us who enjoy not being inundated by undergraduates who drink Narragansett like it's going out of style.

In short... I love the Moan & Dove. There simply is no place (that I've found, anyway) that quite measures up. Although I've been to my fair share of great bars and beer bars, I've never found any bar that could quite replace this one.

06-16-2008 02:54:15 | More by NEBeerWench

heavydrexler

Massachusetts

4.9/5  rDev +6.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

What a fantastic bar! I'm sorry, but I've never been to another bar with a ridiculous beer bottle list, an amazing rotating tap selection and different cask beers every week that also is next to a Hess and has dogs sleeping on its floor. Not to mention that it's in a college town and I will never have to rub elbows with frat boys or deal with huge crowds here. The place is fantastic, the people (both the patrons and the bartenders) are fantastic, and the beer is overwhelmingly fantastic! People may think it a little pricey, but, to be honest, it's really not that bad when you factor in how much it would cost to buy these beers at a liquor store.

10-21-2010 04:30:11 | More by heavydrexler