Okay, I have to be honest with you all -- this episode wrecked me a little bit, in the best way. I sat down with Andy Day, the owner and chef behind Cask & Vine in Derry, New Hampshire, and by the end of our conversation I was getting emotional right along with him. I'll get to why in a minute.

Andy Day is the owner and chef of Cask & Vine, a craft beer, wine, and spirits bar in downtown Derry, New Hampshire, and the founder of both Doire Distilling and Daydreaming Brewing Company. Three completely different concepts, one roof, all in the same small New Hampshire town. He's also a 2026 finalist representing New Hampshire in the national Favorite Chef competition.

If you don't know Cask & Vine yet, here's the short version: it started as a tiny bottle shop under the Tupelo in Londonderry, turned into "a big empty box" of a building in downtown Derry that Andy and his business partner (and wife) Alana decided to fill with beer and wine, and it has since grown into three businesses -- Cask & Vine itself, Doire Distilling, and Daydreaming Brewing Company. I told Andy I run four locations of the Red Arrow Diner, but that's all one concept. His is a different kind of juggling entirely.

It all traces back to one pour. Andy was at a beer and film festival in Concord, New Hampshire back in 2010, tried a barrel-aged Belgian tripel he'd never had anything like before, and that was it. "I fell in love with it," he told me. He tracked down the brewer, found out where else he could get it, and the rest is history -- sixteen years of it now.

The Favorite Chef competition is a national cooking contest hosted by Chef Carla Hall that raises money and awareness for the James Beard Foundation. Chef Andy Day of Cask & Vine in Derry, NH is a 2026 finalist, representing the entire state of New Hampshire in the competition.

Here's the part that got me, though. Andy didn't start as a chef. He was always the face of the bar. But when their original chef, George Craft, finally burned out after eight and a half years, Andy had to step into that kitchen himself. "It was terrifying," he told me.

"I said, 'Nobody serves duck.' So here's what I'm going to do -- I'm going to take duck and I'm going to smoke it."

That's how the Super Duck Three Way sandwich was born -- Andy's own spin on a cult-favorite New Hampshire roast beef sandwich that half the state seems to have an opinion about. Smoked duck, duck confit, herbed aioli, house barbecue sauce, melted cheese. It's on the menu now, and it's one of the dishes that helped land him a spot as a Favorite Chef finalist.

We talked about the pandemic too, and honestly, I don't think people realize what some of these small New Hampshire business owners actually did to survive it. Andy pulled every beer he had out of the tanks, started running his still around the clock, and turned the whole operation into a hand sanitizer factory -- putting out up to 400 gallons a week at the peak. A regular customer connected him with a company managing 27 assisted living homes, and Andy was sending them over 120 gallons a week, no charge. "That was weird times for everybody," he said. I don't think "weird" quite covers it, but I understood exactly what he meant.

And then there's the bottle law story. For years, New Hampshire wouldn't allow a beer called Founders Breakfast Stout into the state because the label had a cartoon kid on it. So Andy started a petition, gathered ten thousand signatures, and eventually walked into the New Hampshire State House with a bag full of bottles -- including a vodka shaped like a Tommy Gun -- and asked the committee to explain the difference. They changed the law.

Then there's Beach Week, which might be my favorite thing I've ever heard on this show. A few years back, Andy and Alana were sitting around at the end of a night, and the idea came up: what if they filled the whole restaurant with sand? Not a dusting -- four inches deep, tarps under the floorboards, a tiki bar, beach chairs, the whole thing. It became a community event -- regulars showed up with shovels and wheelbarrows to help clean it up at the end.

And then there was the moment that actually got me a little choked up. Andy told me about a regular named Joe, who came up to him a couple rounds into the Favorite Chef competition and said, "Congratulations, you made it to the next round." Andy tried to brush it off. Joe wasn't having it: "No, you cook for us night after night. We're doing this. We're winning this thing." Andy told me, plainly, that at this point he wants it more for his regulars than for himself. That's the kind of hospitality this show exists to talk about.

Oh, and one more thing you need to know: Andy is the reigning, undefeated Mr. Greater Derry. He won the title back in 2016 -- dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, no less -- and since there's never been a follow-up competition, he's still holding the crown almost a decade later.

Looking for where to eat in Derry, New Hampshire? Start with Cask & Vine on East Broadway, and while you're in town, Andy pointed us toward two other local favorites: Amphora, for a bartender who reads the room right and a killer Aperol spritz, and Sumo Sushi, just across the plaza, for surprisingly fresh sushi and a Mai Tai he swears by. Three Derry, NH spots, three completely different vibes, all recommended by someone who eats and drinks in this town for a living.

If you're searching for a New Hampshire food podcast or a restaurant podcast that goes beyond a simple review, Beyond the Plate with Carol is a hospitality-focused interview podcast hosted by Carol Erickson, owner of Red Arrow Diner since 1987. Every episode sits down with the people behind New Hampshire's food and hospitality scene -- chefs, owners, brewers, and the community around them -- to talk about the journeys behind the food, not just the food itself.

If you want to meet Andy yourself, Cask & Vine is right on East Broadway in Derry, New Hampshire.

Go watch the full episode, and go say hi to Andy for me.

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant in Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years. belmonthall.net

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ABOUT CAROL ERICKSON

Carol Erickson has owned Red Arrow Diner since 1987 -- four locations across New Hampshire, open 24/7. She started Beyond the Plate to tell the real stories behind the people who make New England's food and hospitality scene what it is. Not just what's on the menu. What's behind it.