The only Latina-owned brewery in Massachusetts has ranked third place in USA Today’s Best New Breweries poll.

Hot Plate Brewing Co., located in Pittsfield, was the only brewery in Massachusetts to make the 10Best Reader’s Choice list. A panel of beer experts selected the nominations through USA Today, reviewing hand-crafted breweries founded within the past three years.

The poll released on Wednesday shows Frazier Creek Brewing & Distilling Co in Stuart, Florida ranked as No. 1, followed by RAK Brewing Co in Frederick, Maryland and then Hot Plate Brewing Co. in Pittsfield.

The dream of Hot Plate Brewing began in 2017, when homebrewers Sarah Real and Mike Dell’Aquila lived in a New York City condo and were issued a code violation, losing gas in the building.

Rather than giving up on their aspirations to brew beer from home, they shifted their plan to brewing on a hot plate, which inspired their future business endeavors.

“Before we made the transition to joining the craft beer industry, we were fans for almost twenty years,” said owner and head brewer Real. “Whether traveling across the country or even in different industrial neighborhoods in Brooklyn, we saw how breweries could become anchor tenants and lead to all sorts of development around them.”

In 2020, the pair moved to western Massachusetts and were drawn to downtown Pittsfield. Seeing the community’s efforts to boost the economy with local businesses, Real and Dell’Aquilla put their own vision to work.

“Hot Plate has been a wonderful addition to the downtown and has capitalized on the economic incentives the city has provided,” said Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti. “The city of Pittsfield is committed to continuing this work on attracting new businesses, to not only downtown but all across Pittsfield.”

Hot Plate Brewing largely employs a female and queer staff and collaborates with many mission-aligned organizations to raise funds for local organizations. Women of color own less than 1% of all breweries, so the impact of Hot Plate’s efforts has not been lost on the staff and the city.

“There’s a lot of chatter in this industry about how beer brings people together,” said co-founder and General Manager Dell’Aquila. “The question is, what do you do once you have those people together, and can you create a diverse enough audience to create a real-world impact?”

Hot Plate Brewing Co. has 12 beers on tap, including lagers, porters, ales, stouts, and IPAS. The brewery also serves coffee, tea, and home-baked goods.