Yankee Brew News Archive

What's Brewing: Massachusetts/Rhode Island

Originally Published: 12/96

By: Kerry J. Byrne

By

Yankee Brew News Staff

Here's a few things the crack YBN football/beer staff (that would be me) suggests you keep in mind during this great football/beer season:

Do not:

1. Drive to Penn State University for a football game with 18 people and two kegs in an eight-person RV. The police in several states are under the impression that this is illegal.

2. Demand loudly that an otherwise respectable Irish pub shut off soccer and put on a football game pitting two relatively unknown Div. 1-AA college teams. Large, muscle-bound representatives of said pub may ask you to leave.

3. Ask New England Patriots coach Bill Parcells if quarterback Drew Bledsoe is the "weak link" on his team. Not only will the Big Tuna get mad, but later, when you're drinking beer with your friends, they'll make fun of you.

Do:

1. Buy the book Saturday Afternoon Madness, a story by, for and of two guys from Newton, Massachusetts who quit respectable professional careers to spend an entire autumn driving cross country to watch college football.

2. Get up very early Thanksgiving morning, cook out, drink good local beer, and go to the nearest high school football game.

3. Tell your non-pigskin loving mate that football is not a stupid game but a battle of physical domination and territorial acquisition in which we see a manifestation of our nation's desire for conquest.

Anyway, now to the beer stuff that you probably came here for.

Massachusetts

The Bay State's newest micro, Concord Junction Brewing Company (152 Commonwealth Ave., Concord), introduced draft versions of its flagship product, Concord Pale Ale, in late July.

Concord Junction has about 20 accounts. It can be found at the West Concord 99 Restaurant & Pub, Amigos Del Norte in West Concord, Walden Station in Concord, Scupperjack's and Crossroad's Cafe, both in Acton, and the Horseshoe Pub in Hudson.

In the Boston area you'll find it at Sunset Grille & Tap in Brighton, Redbones in Somerville and Coolidge Corner Clubhouse in Brookline.

"Things are going very well, we're pretty much working at capacity which is 40 barrels a week," said Concord Junction brewer Brett Pacheco. "It's selling where available, people like the packaging and seem to like the product. There's enough reorders to indicate that. We didn't expect to be making so much all at once. We thought there would be ramp up, but it's kind of like 'make as much as you can and hurry.'"

He said bottles of Concord Pale Ale were made available later in the summer and are "scattered around the Commonwealth." The beer is being distributed by East Coast Beverages of Littleton. Concord Junction has a Web page describing the company and where its draft beer is available. It can be reached at http://www.tiac.net/users/cjbc/.

Rumor has it that Seattle-based Pyramid Breweries Inc., makers of Pyramid ales and Thomas Kemper lagers, is eyeing Boston as a site for a new brewery.

"As far as I know Boston is one of several sites under consideration. No determination has been made yet," said Pyramid spokesman Benjamin Myers. He said if a Pyramid brewery is built in Boston, it will likely be modeled on the one the company is building in Berkeley, California. That one is a full production brewery with an attached ale house. It has a capacity of 80,000 barrels per year, with the potential to double the output.

Pyramid's Snow Cap Ale, by the way, will soon be available in New England. It is the first time the winter seasonal will be found anywhere outside the Northwest. Other Pyramid ales and Thomas Kemper lagers are already available in this region, including a tasty Thomas Kemper Bohemian Dunkel which won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the "Dark Lager/Munchener Dunkel" category.

The heavy push of Pyramid products in this region would indicate that a brewery may not be far away.

Brew Moon was the only New England brewery to win a gold medal this year at the Great American Beer Festival (a fact, by the way, which seems to have many brewers in our region up in arms) Brewer Tony Vieira captured the award in the "Munchener/Helles Export" category with his Munich Gold

"We had high hopes for (the Munich Gold)," said Vieira. "Actually, I have lager background so lagers are kind of my favorite category." Vieira spent several years working for Anheuser-Busch before being tapped to head Brew Moon's growing staff of beer makers. In celebration of the award, all three Brew Moon locations (Boston, Cambridge and Saugus) have rebrewed the pale lager and are expected to have it on tap by November 1.

Main Street Brewing Company in Worcester recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but will remain open. "This is just a reorganization, getting our financial situation in order," said Main Street's Eric Persons. "It will probably be a positive thing for us, getting our house in order."

Main Street was to host the Central New England Homebrewers Competition November 2. The grand prize winner will have their beer brewed and served at the Worcester brewpub. When I spoke to Persons in October he said brewer Dana Fisher was formulating a hefty Workmen's Warmer to be the pub's first winter seasonal.

Boston-area brewers, attempting to live out yet another teenage fantasy, will gather at the North East Brewing Company (1314 Commonwealth Ave., Boston) December 7 for a Battle of the Brewery Bands. Bands representing John Harvard's Brew House, Tremont Brewery, Ipswich Brewing Company, Modern Brewer, Lowell Brewing Company, North East and others will take part.

The event begins at 3 p.m. and the $2 cover charge will go towards the Massachusetts Brewers' Association. North East brewer Dann Paquette said the battle will be a "freakin' hilarious time."

Mass. Bay Brewing Company (306 Northern Ave., Boston), the undisputed king of the beer bash, has its next event scheduled for December 7. Harpoon's fifth annual Holiday Party begins at 1 p.m. and goes until 11 p.m. Featured at the event will be bands ranging from rock to reggae, and, of course, Harpoon's seasonal Winter Warmer.

The cover charge is $7 and includes a Holiday Party pint glass to keep. Pints of beer are $3 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Horizons Initiative, a non-profit organization which provides programs and services for homeless children in Boston.

Dr. Beer, Jay Hersh, will introduce his beer education classes soon at the Cambridge and Brookline centers for adult education. Hersh has been teaching Dr. Beer seminars to home brewers and commercial brewers since 1988. He has previously taught at the Boston Center for Adult Education. Class will be held at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (42 Brattle St.) Thursday, November 21. A January 23 class will be conducted at the Brookline Center for Adult Education (Brookline High School).

Dr. Beer said that both are one night overviews which include a slide show, lecture and tasting of 12 to 14 British, German, Belgian and American beers. He will describe aspects one should be tasting and smelling in the beer, as well discuss the unique history of each of the classic styles served. The good doctor anticipates continuing to teach his one-night course at Boston CAE as part of their Friday night sequence, and hopes to generate enough interest to offer more exhaustive multi-part courses with entire evenings devoted to each of the principal brewing countries.

Two Boston-area beer establishments continue to show their support for local artists and the art community.

The Tremont Brewery (AKA The Atlantic Coast Brewing Company, 50 Terminal Street., Charlestown) is sponsoring a November 23 benefit for Mobius, a performance art center in South Boston. The benefit takes place 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 23 Stillings Street, Fort Point Channel, South Boston. It will include performance art, visual art, film and video, with Tremont as the official beer sponsor.

Redbones (55 Chester Street, Somerville), meanwhile, has added handcrafted wood tap handles created by local woodworker Matt Pelrine. Pelrine crafted and installed 22 custom tap handles to dispense one of the finest selections of fresh local beer anywhere. Pelrine's pieces at the upstairs bar join those at the downstairs bar created by Charba, an association of three area artists.

Based on the response his work received at Redbones, Pelrine is pursuing a new venture, Pelrine Brewpulls, which he operates out of a workshop on Nantucket. The pulls are made from exotic woods including purple heart, fishtail oak and bubinga, and can be custom made for other breweries, brewpubs and beer bars.

November promises to be an exciting month at Redbones. It's again Northwest Fest time at the House that Pork Built. Dozens of the finest beers from the Pacific Northwest will be featured on tap, making Redbones one of the few places in the East were you can sample so many of the Left Coast's finest.

Redbones will also have a selection Belgian beers--at least three on tap--throughout November. Among the beers offered are Boon's Kriek, Corsendonk Pale and Brown ales, and Grimbergen Dopple and Tripple from Maes brewery in Flanders. Northwest Fest beer dinners will be held November 4 and 18. Call (617) 628-2200.

The Ipswich Brewing Company was slated to reintroduce its seasonal porter in mid- to late-October and premiere its new seasonal barleywine in mid-November. The porter will be available in liter bottles and is one of the few beers to feature all Columbus hops. Brewer Mike Duffy said it had a lighter body and less roasted flavor than Ipswich's Oatmeal Stout and Dark Ale.

As of press time, Duffy could say only that the new barleywine would be a high-gravity beer. "We expect it to be basically an all malt beer. We're not looking for it to be very balanced. It will be strong with alcohol and malt," said Duffy. It will be available only in a new 8-ounce bottle.

Rhode Island

Coors Brewing Company dedicated a state-of-the-art microbrewery at Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts in Providence on October 10. It is believed to be the first brewery of its kind on any college campus. Brewing classes will be taught by a variety of instructors, including brewmaster Edward Korry.

All students enrolled in the College of Culinary Arts are required to take the microbrewing class during their freshman year. "This microbrewery...will allow our students to have a thorough knowledge of all aspects of the beverage industry," said Thomas L. Wright, vice president of culinary education at Johnson & Wales.

The Coors Beverage Laboratory is actually a 2,400-square-foot classroom which has the appearance of an upscale brewpub with hardwood floors. Ten linen-topped tables accommodate the 20 students in the class. A slate and oak wood bar occupies one section of the room. Behind it is a large glass window which looks into the school's mixology lab. The microbrewery can be seen behind French doors at the other end of the laboratory. The walls feature Coors memorabilia.

Union Station Brewery (36 Exchange Terrace, Providence) will be offering a spiced pumpkin ale through the month of November and Katie's Christmas Stout in December. Katie is a reference to brewer Norm Allaire's woman friend. I was told it would not be politically correct to refer to her as Norm's chick, so I won't.

The pumpkin ale promises to be particularly noteworthy. It is "dry spiced" in the conditioning tank, said Allaire, with sliced ginger root, whole cinnamon stick, whole allspice and cracked nutmeg. "We wanted to spice it just like pumpkin pie," said Allaire.

The stout will basically be a stronger version of standard stout. Allaire described it as a sweet stout in the export style with about 6% alcohol. The brewhouse at Union Station has also undergone recent renovations with and upgrading up the cooling system and the addition of an auger and mill.

"We now mill all our grains before we brew," said Allaire. "The closest analogy would be to fresh ground coffee. It's a little more work, but makes a better product."

I got a chance to attend Union Station's October brewer's dinner and found it simply outstanding. The evening was highlighted by plate-sized, paper thin filet of house smoked salmon which has served with Goldenspike Ale. It preceded a main course of things we'll refer to simply as really yummy meat, though the chef may think it worthy of more eloquent praise. Union Station's dinners are held monthly. For information call (401) 274-2739.

Emerald Isle Brew Works (1454 Main Street, West Warwick) will introduce its Emerald Isle Ale in growlers soon, though no definite date had been set, said owner Ray McConnell. McConnell was happy to report that his cask IPA received favorable responses at the Great British Beer Festival, where it was one only a few dozen American beers to be served.

Emerald Isle's splendid Holiday Ale will be out at the end of November. It will feature cinnamon, coriander and orange peel. Emerald Isle's hand-pumped cask products can be found at several new accounts, including The Chieftain, Route 1 Plainville, Massachusetts, and Wes's Rib House in Providence.