Beacon’s Bagel Queen
At Bagel-ish, Everything is Made from Scratch
By Lambeth Hochwald
Photos by Jiatong Lu

If you’ve ever wondered how most bagels are made versus how they should be made, you’ll learn all this and more when you spend time with Beth V. George, owner of Bagel-ish, a cozy, bright yellow and orange shop she opened on Main Street in Beacon in 2024.
Best of all, on most days you’ll probably see George, 63, outside the shop’s front door holding a tray of delicious samples—and evangelizing on their all-natural wonder. “I always say, if someone tries what we make, they’ll be able to taste the difference,” says
George, who divides her time between running the shop (open Thursdays through Sundays) and BYOB Bagels, the bagel consulting firm she co-founded in 2013. Since then, she’s become the doyenne of dough, helping entrepreneurs open over 60 bagel stores globally—in such faraway locales as Ethiopia, Sweden, and Taiwan.
And take it from this taster: there is something special about George’s sourdough bagels. Hers have maximum crispness on the outside with just the right light and chewy “bite” on the inside and, because they’re made using specially milled flour with no bleaching agents or bromides, they’re easier on the gut, too.
George, a lawyer and mother of three adult children, says she was originally bitten with the bagel bug when she and her family were living in Maine and her now-29-year-old son was in elementary school.
“He was really struggling in school,” she says. “He had serious food allergies and couldn’t eat wheat. Back then, we didn’t connect the gut to the brain. When I asked him what foods he was missing the most in the bread world, he said ‘bagels,’ so I set out to remake them.”
With that, she opened her first bagel business, Spelt Right, in Maine and New York City, where she created artisanal bagels made of spelt (a more forgiving cousin to wheat) that would suit her son. She also spent several years “squatting” at a bagel equipment company in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she test-baked her bagels, tinkered with her recipes, and taught other bakers her craft.
Today, she’s as passionate as ever about every variety of her bagels, from basic sesame and poppy seed to za’atar and extra-virgin olive oil. And then there are her schmears—cream cheese spreads flavored with everything from savory fresh jalapeño and garlic to blueberry or strawberry for those seeking a sweet topping.
When you ask George what makes her happiest these days, she’ll tell you that becoming part of the Beacon community has been a dream come true, thanks to the town’s diversity. “I’ve never felt at home anywhere, but I’ve found community here with people who are all over the spectrum, politically and religiously,” she says. “That’s the kind of community I’ve always wanted to live in. If there’s any place where people of all backgrounds could sit and talk kindly over a bagel, it’s here.” ––bagel-ish.com