Yankee Brew News Archive

The Boston Wort Processors

Originally Published: 08/96

By: Gregg Glaser

The Boston Wort Processors, informally known as the Worts, is the homebrew club of note for metro Boston. The club was formed twelve years ago after a chance meeting between Bill Murphy and Tom and Kim Ayres. The three were checking out the beer selection at the Wellington Circle Kappy's Liquors in Medford, Massachusetts. Avid homebrewers, they decided to form a club. Karin Baker, owner of Beer and Wine Hobby in Woburn, Massachusetts, helped to pass on word of the club to local homebrewers.

The Worts meet on the first Friday of each month, with a separate business meeting the following Wednesday. With over fifty members regularly in attendance, the Worts have grown too big to meet at members' homes. Meetings are held at breweries or beer-related businesses. Recent meeting places have been the Sam Adams brewery in Jamaica Plain, Mill City Brewing in Lowell, Atlantic Coast Brewing in Charlestown and International Beverages in Canton.

A Friday night meeting of the Worts begins at 8:00 p.m., with about a half-hour of business (announcements of activities, competitions, and local brewing happenings), followed by tasting and socializing. Each meeting usually focuses on a specific beer style, with a National or Master judge from the Beer Judge Certification Program leading a discussion of the night's style. Tastings are informal, with both homebrewed and commercial beers available. Members also bring food. The socializing goes on to 11:00 p.m. or midnight.

Besides the Friday general meetings and the Wednesday business meetings, the Worts also hold several special events and contests throughout the year. In May there is the Mayfest, at which members taste Maibocks they've brewed during the winter, including a club-brewed Maibock brewed at The Modern Brewer BOP in Cambridge. There is a summer picnic in June, a pub crawl in August, a cider picnic in October, held at apple orchards in Acton, and a Lounge Slither in January. The Lounge Slither is a pub crawl to Boston's toniest hotel bars. Members and guests wear tuxedos and evening dresses to fit in at places such as the Ritz Carlton. A Spam and Beer Tasting is also an annual event sponsored by the Worts.

Homebrew contests are always a part of a homebrew club's activities, and the Worts are no exception. They regularly enter the six annual club-only competitions sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association, and for the past two years the Worts have sponsored the Boston Homebrew Competition. This event is one of the five New England Homebrewer of the Year competitions. Each April the Worts put on a Clone Contest, in which a commercial beer chosen by the previous year's winner is reproduced as a homebrew. The prize is a mixed six-pack of beer of the winner's choice, with value not to exceed $25.00. Finally, each year there is an internal competition to pick the Wort Processor of the Year.

The Worts maintain a club yeast bank that includes about 140 isolated cultures that are made available by member Seth Cohen (known as the Yeast God) on a monthly basis, typically announced in the club newsletter as the Yeast of the Month. The yeast cultures are of commercial quality, produced in a commercial yeast propagation lab.

Worts president Peter Langlois says that the club is in need of a permanent location for their Friday night meetings. "We need a location that can be used on a regular basis for at least eight months of the year. This will help us coordinate better, and allow us to incorporate and obtain insurance," says Langlois. "Perhaps someone will take pity on us and offer a reasonable deal on a meeting location."

The Worts get news out to members with a monthly newsletter, Brewprint!, and the Wort Web Homepage: www.rsi.com/wort. Dues are $20.00 per year, with special rates for associate and family memberships and newsletter-only subscriptions.