Crop Hops
The Brewmaster’s Blog – 3/28/2013
28th March
Signs of spring are blooming here at the brewery, read about it in today’s note from our Brewmaster, Will Gilson
We have been looking at the BIG Picture in the first days of Spring as we continue to peck away at small installation objectives for the brewery and prepare the property for the seasons ahead.
Our apple trees have been receiving some long awaited attention as we prune and shape them for health and fruiting potential. We will collect them in the fall and make an apple beer that should hit the taps towards the end of foliage.
Our garden will be prepped in the next few days to receive our first batch of scallions and leeks that need to be put in. Wish us luck that the ground defrosts a bit more!
Next week we will brew a Maerzen with a fresh pitch … Read More »
The Brewmaster’s Blog – 3/26/2013
26th March
The latest from our Brewmaster, Will Gilson
We had only two brew days last week. We brewed our Brown Ale, which has been selling well at the pub. I still am amazed that when staff and customers find this one, it quickly becomes their session beer of choice. It has long been my overall go-to beer, along with my lovely bride.
The second beer I made is a wonderful Bock which was just moved to a conditioning tank today. I was torn between making a traditional spring Maibock, a Maerzen, or a bolder Bock. I wanted to see how this Bavarian brewery handled moving a double decoction so I opted for a bolder Bock. That was a long day in the brewhouse! The lauder tun was the biggest challenge in … Read More »
Saint Patrick’s Day – Oatmeal Milk Stout
Our Irish-inspired Oatmeal Milk Stout has just started flowing from the taps and has received rave reviews!
The stout is big and creamy. It finished at a 5.7 ABV, has a smooth mouthfeel with a nice roast malt and chocolate malt finish.
Saint Patrick’s Day only comes once a year, so come and celebrate with us!
Thursday from the Brewmaster…
Office time, and a short call to Germany this morning. Finally, that time spent learning German gets used quite often these days! Fixed the photocopier for Jo-Ann this morning, I guess she figured out that there was cleaning involved and wrangled me in.
We moved forward on ordering our Sampler racks today and we will have them made locally, yipee! We are seeing many folks making the brewing pilgrimage from north to south and adding the Crop Bistro and its beers to the list of stop overs.
We are sending a big thank you out to the Alchemist for giving us first dibs on their glycol lines whose size became obsolete as they triple production and need more cooling power.
Ahh… Time to clean kegs.
–Willi
From the Brewmaster…
We brewed our version of an American I.P.A. on 3-6-13 and had a BIG gravity harvested from our very Bavarian and new Caspary Brew House. I was excited to hit my brewing targets as I strive to dial in a recipe and a recently commissioned system.
Spring lagers are next on the brewing schedule.
–Will
Crop Beer mentioned in the Stowe Reporter
Our general manager Tim and our brewmaster Will were interviewed by the Stowe Reporter earlier this month.
For Baur and the rest of the staff at Crop, the event marked the culmination of a full year of planning. Located at 1895 Mountain Road, Crop has been developing its own brewery since replacing the iconic Shed Restaurant in January 2012.
Read the full article on Stowe Reporter.
Tapping our first house-made beers
31st January
Official tapping of our first beers
Friday, February 1st | 4:00PM – 7:00PM
Munich Style Helles Lager – 4.5% ABV
Very smooth, subtle, light malt mouth, gentle bitterness and light golden in color.
Bavarian Weizen – 5% ABV
Golden straw color, unfiltered wheat ale, classic aroma derived from interplay of wheat malt and yeast.
If you’re eager to see what we have been up to, this is a great time to check out our gorgeous new brewery and sample the fruits of our labor. We will have more beers to follow in February as we complete our install and focus on production.
Batch 5!
We are now fermenting a total of three different kinds of beer styles in five batches:
Two batches of Bavarian Lager
Two batches of Bavarian Weizen Beer
One batch of Brown Ale
As soon as any of these are ready for drinking, we’ll let you know!
Upcoming House-Made Brews
We currently have three craft beers in the fermentation stage (when the yeast produces alcohol).
Helles Lager (two batches)- light colored, super drinkable, traditional Bavarian Session style
Bavarian Weizen Beer - traditional Bavarian wheat beer
On January 9th, we commissioned our brand new Bavarian Brew House with equipment from a German company called Caspary. Mr. Rudolf Caspary flew in from Germany himself to help us install his systems and assist our brewmaster with the first and second batches (both of which were the Helles Lager – we think it’ll be a hit).
The third batch, the Bavarian Weizen, was more of a challenge because of the method we used to infuse the large amounts of malted wheat that is required for the style. We did what’s called a ‘decoction mash’, which will give the beer a superior flavor. Decoction is a common practice for … Read More »
The Brewery is up and Running!
16th January
We’re happy to announce…
The Brewery is on line right now and we have Mr. Caspary from Bavaria, Germany whose company made our brewery equipment.
He and Will, our brewmaster, brewed our first batch of Lager.
The place smells wonderful.
The lager will need at least 3 weeks to ferment, but we expect to do a couple of Ales in the meantime, too!
