Yankee Brew News Archive

What's Brewing: Connecticut

Originally Published: 06/96

By: Gregg Glaser

Since YBN Associate Editor Kerry Byrne has complained of being turned away by the Fairfield County border patrol because of his Boston accent and plebeian appearance, it's been decided that I should now write a separate Connecticut column for YBN. Being the owner of a home in the County, with a Volvo in the driveway and a wardrobe of L.L. Bean, Land's End and Eddie Bauer clothes, I can freely move about Fairfield County, as well as the rest of the Nutmeg State. I might even be able to arrange a temporary tourist visa for Kerry, providing he can prove to the authorities that he has a round-trip ticket back to Massachusetts.

As reported in Kerry's last column, The BrŸ Rm. at BAR, in New Haven, is one of the state's newest brewpubs. An article on this unique nightclub/brewpub appears elsewhere in this issue.

Also in New Haven, the owners of Elm City Brewing Company have turned their upstairs tasting room into a restaurant featuring their beers--twelve of them in fact. So, I guess it's safe to say that another brewpub has opened in Connecticut. The Brewery, as the restaurant is named, is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, and has a capacity of 300 people. The beers on tap, as of this writing, are Elm City Gold, Connecticut Ale, Mr. Mike's Light, Blackbird Ale, Export Lager, Copper Ale, Broken English Ale, Blackwell Stout, Black and Tan, Chocolate Cherry Porter, Chestnut Roasted Ale and Uptown Charlie Brown Ale. Upcoming special brews from Elm City for draft accounts, as well as upstairs, will be Jolie Blonde Ale (a light bodied Canadian style ale), Luscious Lemon Lager (similar to Jolie, but with wheat and lemon), Indian Summer Ale (a medium bodied amber ale with New England apple cider and possibly honey and cinnamon) and Frankenstout (an Irish dry stout).

New England Brewing continues to do gangbusters business at the Brewhouse Restaurant, their brewpub in South Norwalk. In addition, they've embarked on a regular schedule of specialty beers for their draft accounts and the Brewhouse. The tentative schedule for the coming months include a rye bock and American wheat in May, a cream ale in early summer, a weizen during the summer, and a raspberry wheat in August.

Look for reviews of New England Brewing's three most recent special brews in this issue.

Hammer & Nail Brewers of Connecticut, a new micro, sold their first kegs of Hammer & Nail Brown Ale on March 6. Co-owner Peter Hammer (his partner is Kit Nagel) says that their English-style brown ale is walnut in color, finished with Willamette hops, and brewed to a gravity of 12.5 Plato. The beer, available on draft only, is currently on sale at twenty-five locations in Connecticut. Brewing industry veteran Bill Anderson, formerly of Narragansett, Piels, Schlitz and Stroh, designed the brewery and formulated the recipe for the brown ale. The yeast comes from the University of Rhode Island yeast bank, and is a Narragansett ale strain. Hammer & Nail has plans to brew a Vienna lager and a German bock in the near future.

The Farmington River Brewing Company, a new micro, is up and running in Bloomfield, selling their Mahogany Ale (an ESB) and Blonde Ale to accounts in-state. Repeated calls to owner Bill Hodkins only resulted in a taped message saying that he was either busy making or selling beer. Sounds like a busy lad. More on Hodkins and Farmington Brewing in the next issue. I hope.

The Alewife Grille and Brewery in Glastonbury, a project of lawyer Tom O'Neill, was scheduled to open on April 8. This 150-seat (plus 45-seat outdoor patio) brewpub will brew with a 7-barrel, open fermentation Peter Austin system installed by Maine's renowned brewer-consultant Alan Pugsley. Opening day beers will include Sweet Caroline's Irish Red Ale, Miss Elizabeth's Porter (guess the names of O'Neill's daughters), Bombay Express IPA, cask-conditioned Cellarmaster ESB and two Shipyard beers brewed under license--Shipyard Export and Goat Island Light. Head brewer is J.J. Ramos, formerly of Maine's Kennebunkport Brewing/Federal Jack's Brewpub. Lunch and dinner will be served seven days a week.

Bank Street Brewing Company, a brewpub under construction in Stamford, has experienced major construction delays and now expects to open at the end of May. The 14-barrel Peter Austin brewhouse is being designed, and the recipes are being developed, by Shipyard Brewing's Alan Pugsley. The two-level brewpub will have a capacity of about 200 people, and is being built inside an 83-year-old bank. Owners are Jim and Ted Steen, Jonathan Wade and Phil DeStephano.

Rumor has it The Brew House, LLC, the brewpub chain consisting of the merger between Cambridge's John Harvard and Providence's Union Station brewpubs, has bought a restaurant in Westport. A spokeswoman for The Brew House wouldn't confirm the rumor, but she did say that the company was considering a brewpub in Westport (or elsewhere in Fairfield County), as well as in Hartford. The Brew House opened Georgia's first brewpub in Atlanta last December, and they have plans to open brewpubs this year in Roswell, Georgia, and Framingham, Massachusetts.

Mystic Harbor Brewing Company, a proposed 20-barrel micro in Mystic, is still on the drawing board for lawyer Ralph Bergman. His location will be a 1932-vintage ice plant.

Wyndham Mills Pub & Brewery in Willimantic, the brewpub project of Main Street CafŽ owner David Wollner, has had its expected opening pushed back to September. Wollner says that he's still in lease negotiations on a property that is partially tied up with state financing. Over at the Main Street CafŽ, Wollner is serving the new brews of Hammer & Nail and Farmington River breweries.

Real estate businessman Larry Berkman's plans for the Adventure Brewing Company in Bridgeport are on hold as he tries to negotiate a lease for a building on the Bridgeport-Fairfield town lines. One problem is that when he mentions Bridgeport to potential investors, they all run screaming from the room.

Hartford Brewery's Phil Hopkins is still on track to open his 8,000-square-foot Pound Sterling Brewery, a brewpub, in New Haven later this year. Phil also reports that he's brewed a barley wine at the Hartford Brewery.

Chris Keller of Eli Cannon's in Middletown, one of the better beer bars in Connecticut, continually keeps me posted of his tap rotations. Eli's currently has twenty-six draft lines, including the beers of Connecticut micros New England Brewing, Elm City, Hammer & Nail and Farmington River.

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