Deja Brew

Joined a good college buddy of mine last Friday night to make my first visit to Deja Brew. Yes, first visit. We need to return in three weeks to bottle. After that, well, there will likely be other visits.

 

What is Deja Brew?

The first dedicated Brew-on-Premise in Massachusetts.

 

Yes, brew as in beer! They also do wine and soda.

 

There are six kettles along the front wall. Our group had three of them during or time slot on Friday. Putting together three different beers. Measuring the grains, making the wort, adding the hops, and following the recipe under the able guidance of two brew masters. It was light work with plenty of time for conversation.

 

There was also time to sample some of whatever they had on tap. I won't remember the names (no, I did not have that much; I'm just not great with names of things like this the first time around; I do better taking notes). They had a nice red beer but that tapped out early. They also had a nice stout. They brought out a vanilla bourbon beer. Yes, an odd sounding combination but it works. The flavor was delightful. It was not heavy, more of an ale than a lager.

 

After getting the beer brewed, the brew masters flipped the switches and levers on the tubing to draw the beer from our kettle into a plastic bag in a sturdy plastic drum adding the yeast as they did. They will monitor the fermentation process in two temperature controlled rooms. When it is ready, they will filter it and add the carbonation before we return to bottle it. They provide the bottles, labels and caps. The bottles are re-usable (hence the return trip sometime).

 

As our group had three kettles going, we should end up with three cases (one each). Each case 24 x 22 oz bottles. That should be enough to get us through the holidays and then some.

 

One of the pluses of this process is the absence of chemical preservatives in the process. Pretty cool! I can hardly wait to return to bottle "my" beer. Clearly, the other benefit to doing the brewing this way, we walked away. We don't have to worry about the kettles, the storage, the clean up... not that we left a mess but... that is part of the service we pay for.

 

So if you are in or near Shrewsbury, MA and interested in brewing your own, there are a few slots left between now and Christmas. They are filling up fast.

 

Check out Deja Brew

 

 

Technorati Tags : brew, beer, wine, soda, community, viral+marketing, DIY

 

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