Happy New Year!

Well a new year is upon us, and we are ready for it! We just finished kegging off the Halligan, so now we have a cooler full of beer. As for what we are doing for the New Year, Phil, myself and our families are off to the Balsam's in Dixville Notch, NH. It will be both work and fun. I will be giving a beer 101 lecture, on how to brew beer and get into the business, and Phil will be conducting a tasting of many of our finest products. But this leads me to think, I should probably let everyone know how I became a brewer.

Back in college I had the chance to sample some homebrews, as well as help make a batch, this piqued my curiosity. After graduating, I ended up working for a small Environmental Lab in Narragansett, near URI. URI had a program which over two weekends would teach you how to brew. So being the type who would want and education first, I learned to brew. This was back in 1993, so I have been brewing since then. My friends all enjoyed my beer and started talking to me about doing it full time. Well I decided that might be a good thing, but I wanted a brewing education first, and that costs money. After bouncing about, I ended up at a Pharmaceutical company in Massachusetts, where I proceeded to earn the necessary money to pull this off. After 7.5 years (to the day) I quit my job (everyone knew I was quiting, I basically gave a little over 2 year notice) and went to the World Brewing Academy. The WBA is 7 weeks in Chicago at the Siebel Institute followed by 5 weeks in Munich at Doemens Academy. It was one heck of an education. After returning from Germany I was able to be a volunteer Assistant Brewer at Nashoba Brewing in Bolton, MA. I followed this up, about 6 months later as the Assistant Brewer at Pennichuck, soon followed by Head Brewer at Pennichuck. It has been a heck of a ride. The nice thing about being a homebrewer for so many years, is that I have many recipes and ideas that are floating in my head, just waiting to come out. So look for new beers in '09 from all three of us here at the 'Chuck!

Hope everyone has a happy New Year, and talk to you all next year!

Damase

Filtering, Brewing and Kegging... oh my

Hello all,

To paraphrase A Prairie Home Companion... "It's been a busy few weeks up here at Pennichuck!" Just to let everyone know what has been going on. Well, we've filtered Fireman's Pail, and Halligan, brewed both the next batches of Pozharnik, and BackDraft Chocolate Porter, and Kegged Fireman's Pail. So in the fermenters at this point we have BackDraft, Pozharnik, St. Florian, Balsam's Lager and Pompier. In the bright tank (or it will be after somepoint today) is Halligan.

In other news, we also have plenty of kegs. So ask your favorite bartender to put on Pennichuck. On this note, I have been asked "Hey, I like your beer why isn't at my favorite store, or pub?" There is a simple reason for this, being a small company we do not have sales folks working for us (outside of Ryan in NH) and we rely on the sales reps from the distributors to handle our sales. These guys do a great job, but they are burdened with not only our beer, some of our competitors and friends beers, so we only get so much "face-time" with the beer managers. So what can you, the lovers of Pennichuck do for us. That is a simple solution, just ask for the beer. If you go to your favorite beer store, ask if they carry us, if not, tell them you'd love it if they carried one of our beers (you pick your favorite.) They may ask you to buy some, but they will likely start to carry us. You can do the same thing with bars and pubs. Hey it might work, it is worth a shot, and we'd really appreciate it! Let me know if you have any success with this method.

If I do not get to mention it before then, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Holiday season, whether it be Christmas, Hanukka, Kwanza, or even New Years!

Damase

Saint Florian Is Coming!

As we speak, the first batch of 2009 Saint Florian is being brewed.  Yesterday Damase started the three-day brewing schedule.  Today, I am brewing the second of the three batches and Damase will finish up the marathon tomorrow.  

Saint Florian takes six weeks to ferment which means that it will most likely be available for distribution the first week of February in the 1 Liter swing-top bottles.

Saint Florian is a live beer, meaning there is still yeast in the beer which makes it great for cellaring.  As you may know from last year's batch, the beer drastically changed over the course of the year for the better!  I have a single bottle of 2008 sitting in my beer fridge just waiting for that perfect time.  

I hope your all as anxious to try this year's batch as much as we are.

James

Hello again

I really should keep this blog updated more and more, but we've been busy here at Pennichuck. We've been brewing and packaging like, and actually this weekend we are brewing again (I am here on Saturday, James will be here on Sunday), Halligan this time. Halligan is our IPA, it is brewed with 15% Rye Malt (basically similar to Barley Malt but using Rye instead of Barley) and hopped with Amarillo hops. We find that this gives a crisp taste, but not too bitter, and very easily drinkable.

But what has been going on here at the brewery lately. Well we finished packaging out the Barley Wine (Pompier), then proceeded to package out the BackDraft Chocolate Porter (now available, ask for it at a store near you!) In between all of that we brewed a batch the beer we contract brew for Rapscallion, the Honey Ale. So needless to say we have been busy.

As for what is on deck, next week we package out the Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout into both kegs, and bottles, filter the Fireman's Pail, transfer the second batch of Pompier to barrels, and just for good measure we'll brew St. Florian's over the weekend. So if we do not update the blog as regularly as we should, please forgive us.

In other news, James is on his way to becoming an EMT, all he has left is the exams, so wish him luck!

Damase