After a bit of a hiatus, I have been brewing nearly weekly, and will be putting together my 9th batch of the year tomorrow, an Irish Red (curiously, the first style I ever brewed, but one I haven’t done again since).  Lots of competitions in the next few months, and hopefully some interesting news about the (real) brewery as well.

A short video about the competition and judging was posted on YouTube this weekend. It appears to have been very… festive…

(EDIT: I’ve removed the email from my post. No sense in dwelling on it, I guess.)

Last I checked, the Honest Town/Blackstone Aleworks collaborative 80-Shilling ale was still on tap at the Dive Bar, and probably also at the Dark Horse/12 Crane in Southbridge. Although we haven’t discussed the finer points yet, there seems to be a good chance that Honest Town will continue to brew this beer, which will really help me get my name and product out in advance of starting a proper brewery. As always, we are grateful to Ben for that opportunity. Also, Alec (of the Armsby Abbey & Dive Bar) facilitated a barrel of the 80/- getting tapped at the famous Publick House of Brookline, which is quite exciting.

At the “home bar,” we have: a fair amount of 80/- on tap and a 3% dark mild, a maibock (a touch too bitter and possibly having some questionable fermentation character), my first cider (not bad at all), and a cream ale (probably the lightest, most drinkable beer I’ve brewed to date). The maibock, cream ale, and the remnants of my last American pale ale were also submitted to the Samuel Adams Patriot homebrew contest, so keep your fingers crossed.

Lastly, I was recently contacted by Gary Glass (Director of the American Homebrewers Association) regarding my best-of-show Organic IPA recipe. Evidently, an upcoming issue of Zymurgy will feature a story on organic brewing, and my recipe will be included. I’m very honored to be mentioned in the grandfather of all homebrewing publications!

I also participated in the 2008 Southern New England Regional Homebrew Competition, which is largely rooted in the Connecticut area. My Best Bitter took another gold, and silvers were awarded for the Dortmunder Export, the Stout de Miel, the Organic IPA, and the Organic Alt. The Holy Hand Grenade snuck in with an Honorable Mention.

The 80-Shilling collaboration with Honest Town is now on tap at the Dark Horse Tavern in Southbridge, and should be landing at the Armsby Abbey and/or Dive Bar in Worcester soon. The results was a pretty close approximation of my original beer, perhaps slightly lighter in body, but still a successful endeavor; scaling 5-gallon recipes to hundreds of gallons is not always a linear process.

In other news… sometime in September, I should be stopping by Honest Town Brewery in Southbridge to “guest brew” a batch of my Scottish 80/- with their brewer, Ben Roesch. Ben graciously donated this opportunity as the prize for Best of Show in the 2008 Worcester Wizards homebrewing competition. Once it’s ready, the Scottish 80/- should be available on draft at the Dark Horse Tavern in the 12 Crane complex in Southbridge, but I’m hoping that we can also arrange to have some kegs sent over to the Armsby Abbey, the Dive, and the Horseshoe Pub. More on this later…

Now that I have some competition results worth mentioning, I’ve put up a new Awards page for those who want to see the details.

Right now, I’m in the process of working up business plans for the brewery.  I expect this to take a while, as the details can be pretty complicated, even for a tiny brewery. I’m writing up plans for several variations: nano-brewery, small production brewery, brewpub, etc.

In the meantime, I continue to homebrew quite regularly and with a good deal of success.  I’ve got a few interesting things going on at the moment, like my first lager (a munich helles) and a Flanders red (which won’t be done for at least 6 months).  The (evidently) much-hyped toasted coconut porter supply is rapidly dwindling, as is the ESB, but we’ve got an American pale ale and and English bitter ready to replace the taps here at the home bar.

At this point, however, you should not really be paying attention to me, but rather to the Armsby Abbey (there’s a link on the right), which is set to “officially” open any second now. Worcester finally has a beer venue that ranks with the Publick House, Deep Ellum, and the Dirty Truth.

Speaking of interest… a number of people have asked me how they can help us get up and running.  The truth is, I’m eager, but not quite in a rush.  The primary factors at this time are simply siting and money; I need to know my location and my budget before beginning the arduous federal and state licensing processes.  In this “pilot phase,” not too much funding is required, at least compared to a proper-sized brewery, but a little bit can go a long way.  So, as requested, I’ve put up some information about how you can help us.

This office received your letter dated June 18, 2008, addressed to the “Zoning Board”. I read with interest yout proposed project. Attached please find the Worcester Zoning Ordinance regulations that pertain to “Manufacturing Uses”. I included a small map to help you identify the uses allowed (or not allowed) in your district. This seems to indicated that manufacturing uses are not permitted in your area, as your home is located within a strictly residential neighborhood: RS-7 (Residential, Single family homes), 7,000 square feet minimum lots per dwelling. Nevertheless, I would like to help you in any way I can. Please call me to discuss your ideas further. Don’t give up yet.

As soon as I have a moment, I’ll explore this further. Perhaps some sort of variance is a possibility.