Moan & Dove

Bizarre place where (immature)? people own a bar and refuse the right to offer customer service in any consistent or meaningful way.

Bartender was very helpful and polite, me and my girlfriend aren’t beer drinkers so he helped us find a beer we each liked, discussing the different types and giving us little samples. Also free peanuts are always appreciated.

Moan and Dove had a high quality beer selection and the overall environment of the bar was very casual. The bar was very dimly lit and wasn’t very big. The bar itself only has around 10 stools and the rest of the seating was five booths and two larger tables with bar stools to sit at with them. They seem to only have one person working and he was behind the bar the whole time, which made it somewhat a hassle when you wanted to order something. The prices weren’t listed, and I hate when bars do that especially being in college because people like me have budgets and when I order two beers and my bill is $ 22 it can get frustrating.
When it comes to the beer, Moan and Dove had a lot of beers I had never heard of such as «Be Hoppy». There is also an employee’s favorite beer sign which informs you of beer that the employees enjoy. I used that sign to pick my beer because like I said I had never heard of any of the beers on tap. Their on tap selection was very small, but they did have a good amount of bottled beers, but don’t expect to find anything like Bud Light or Coors Light. The closest thing to that was the nostalgic beer section on the menu which pokes fun at the bad beers your dad used to drink and this includes beers like Narragansett.
I did not try any of the food, but I am very tempted to come back and try it. The bar offers you free peanuts right by the bar for a great bar snack.
The bar itself was very laid back, there was music playing, but it wasn’t very loud. Everyone’s conversations were at an inside voice level, so it made it easy to talk with everyone without having to yell or get really close like it is in most bars.
However, on of the only downside were the bathrooms. The bathrooms were very small and the toilets were uncomfortably close to the wall, which made for a difficult time in the bathroom. Overall I enjoyed myself and would come back.

Very wide selection of draft beers and bartenders are super friendly and helpful.
It’s always a treat to stop by for a pint at the Moan & Dove.

Cool beer bar. Local hipster crowd and depressing music playing. That combined with it being super dark… made for a good time… I cried a few times. Good beer selection, no major standouts… I was hoping for some local special brews. They had a worm town on tap, but so did the Mexican place across the street.
If I lived close by, I’d go. Back… but prob not again.
I give it 3.5. But Unilocal hates half numbers

The location is kind of strange (in a stripmall/​warehouse next to a gas station), but the beer selection is fantastic and wide ranging. The overall atmosphere is perfect. Dark, lots of wood. Its not rowdy at all.

Hell no.
Never again.
Too bad because lots of Unilocal people love it — but I was treated extremely rudely, as if, as another Unilocaler said, I wasn’t worthy of being their customer.
First, my friend and I sat at the bar and weren’t greeted or even acknowledged for a good 10 minutes. It wasn’t busy. Sunday afternoon, just a few patrons. Then, when the rude bartender came over rolling her eyes, I ordered a beer and got carded. Cool, I’m 37.5 yrs old, I like that. But shit, I messed up, didn’t have my ID. Had left it in my car after a hike with my friend and we went in his car to the bar for one drink. OK, well, I understand. I’m clearly way, WAY over 21, but it’s the law. It wasn’t this, though. It was the delivery. Condescending, rude, and ridiculous. She refused to let us sit at the bar and was just a total jerk about the whole thing. Seems we’re not the only ones who’ve experienced this type of «service» at Moan & Dove. Too bad because it’s enough to make me never want to go again.

Quiet, dark and chock full of top shelf brews.

Pack your favorite pub game, grab a pizza from Sibies across the street and plop down at a booth for hours of drinking Nirvana.

Moan & Dove is one of the best bars in the Pioneer Valley. The beer selection is incredible and generally the atmosphere is laid back and welcoming. When we go we love to sit at the center high top tables with a large group while devouring their stockpile of free peanuts. The other great part about this bar is the fact that if you are incredibly hungry, you are more than welcome to pick up a meal from one of the local restaurants and bring it in to the bar.
The only downsides to this bar is that sometimes it is so busy that waiting for a beer takes an eternity, and also that at times the lighting in the bar is so dim that you can barely see you beer mug.

The Dove is the single best bar in the Northeast. The staff is knowledgable, friendly and fun. The beer menu is like no other and feel free to bring your own food in while you enjoy a beer or 6.

Lots of beer.

Great beer menu, if not the best in Amherst. Wine menu is short, sweet, and well chosen. Prices are decent for the quality of selection. Cute, bearded bartender was attentive to everyone’s needs, while handling the checks promptly. It’s dark, so if you are trying to hide out from an enemy, or get away from you normal bar scene this place is well suited to you. The air in the place can be pretty stuffy though, pompous grad students complaining about nothing. I can do without this after a long hard day at work. All in all a decent local hide out for the beer & wine connoisseur.

I generally enjoy my visits here. I Love their large selection of beers and the atmosphere.
That said, on multiple occasions the door man has come up to someone in my party and cut them off after going over the 1 beer/​hour ratio. I understand that they are located next to a gas station and generally most people would have to drive home and it is good policy to make sure patrons are not too far gone.
BUT still I have a friend who weighs 230 pounds and was cut off after 5 beers in 4 hours… I have never seen any other bar/​institution take such an aggressive stance with their patrons.

HOT TIP: If you’re in possession of an out-​of-​state ID, you need TWO credit cards or 1 extra photo ID in order to be served here. Even if your forehead/​crows feet make it already appear you are in no possible way 20 years old or less.
I felt like a kid in a candy store or as someone pointed out to me, «An adult in a beer store.» This places had an impressive selection of beer including Belgian and Trappist Ales. Highly recommend if you need to get your Belgian beer on. Don’t bother if you’re looking for mass market cheap beer, because you will be disappointed. All they serve is peanuts, so you can BYO Snacks.

Best Monday night bar outing I’ve ever had.
The beer was delicious, the ambience unassuming, and the bartender quite amiable.

i like the feel of this bar.
A small well-​stocked beer bar with a high-​end aura in a no-​frills setting, the staff is knowledgable and the clientele friendly. No food served here, but that means you can bring your pup in to join you — plus there’s a barrel full of peanuts for snacking and you can order pizza to the bar if you need more of a meal, so really, what more do you need than that?
I don’t spend a lot of time in Amherst, but if I head back, I’d definitely dig another stop at the Moan and Dove.

I’ve been habituating these corner establishments for closing on thirty years now, and I’ve always wondered what has made the Moan and Dove stick here when the many businesses that preceded it in the same location have failed.
Here’s the thing about the M&D. You can have absolutely anything you want to drink, as long as it’s an expensive high-​end beer. You can have anything you want to eat, as long as it’s peanuts. You can come anytime you want, as long as it’s after 4 PM. It’s walking distance to everything in the busy metropole of west South Amherst, which is to say, a couple of apartment complexes (which is more than when I first hit town; back then it was still surrounded, a bit, by farms).
It’s not like finding a place like this in a college town is a surprise, it’s finding this place on the outskirts of a college town that’s so strange. Usually when I hit the place to grab a couple of beers I overhear a few graduate student conversations, and the demographic seems to be in that 25 – 35 crowd that mysteriously materializes. I just hope there’s a lot of designated drivers because while the PVTA stops right outside, I don’t see a lot of folks walking there, as I do. (I call it «staggering distance».)
In any event, there’s no TV (huge plus), they leave you alone except when you want more beer (big plus) it’s dimly lit and the acceptable rock-​n-​roll on the stereo is at the level of loudness that you can make out the lyrics if you want but you can still hear the conversation of the people across from you at a booth or table, but you can use it to ignore the people next to you at the bar. They let you linger playing games (don’t bother trying to read, I gave up, too dim), letting your dog steal peanuts, or even bring in your take out from the below-​par pizza and chinese takeout joints catty cornered at the intersection.
Yes, the prices are steep, because of the incredibly good selection they stock, including dozens of draft beers. (Excuse me, «draught» beers.) It’s surprisingly unpretentious for a beer-​only bar. There’s very little, in short, not to like if you’re just looking for decent beer and a little room to shoot the, um, breeze.

Another customer and I waited outside for 15 minutes today for the place to open. Nobody was there that we could see and a phone call went to voicemail. Both of us had gone out of our way to visit, and there was no indication on either the website or at the location that they would be closed.
Very disappointed, and unlikely to bother visiting again.

This place was incredibly dope, plain and simple. I came here on a Wednesday night with a group of six Cantabrigians looking for a watering hole to soak our tired brains.
Moan & Dove didn’t disappoint! A scoop of salted peanuts at the door and (moments later) drinks in hand, our souls were rejuvenated. The beers represented all parts of the globe, and single pours of Maker’s Mark for $ 6? Heck yeah!
The atmosphere was groovy too — I love hip-​hop, and they were cranking the RZA all night. M&D, you have set the bar high for other pubs. Kudos.

If I could declare a second hometown it would be the Moan & Dove.
It’s a feel good, comfort haven. Not for everyone — thank God.
I like this place because they’re no «I’m going out to the bar (s) tonight, I have to get ready.» There aren’t people getting wasted (at least visibly), there’s no dance floor or keno, the floors don’t get sticky as the night wears on, there aren’t «YA DUDES», popped collars and sparkly outfits.
But it’s a place where you can bring your well behaved dog and it’ll lounge on the floor while «dove go-​ers» shower him with affection. You wear your regular clothes, drink beer that may be out of your comfort zone and probably like it, eat free peanuts by the barrel full and when the peanuts aren’t enough order food and from across the street and delivered to your table. You don’t go bar hopping when you’re a regular here either; there’s no other place better to bar hop to.
I’m proud to say I’m a Mug Club Alumni (inducted in November 2006) and since I’ve moved the two hour drive from Boston is always worth.