MANSFIELD — The Phoenix Brewing Company is preparing to release its second high gravity beer since the state removed the cap on the 12-percent ABV limit.
Prior to House Bill 37, beer made and sold in Ohio could not exceed an ABV of 12 percent. Since the end of August, craft breweries like the Phoenix could begin brewing and distributing beer with higher alcohol content, known as high gravity beer.
The Phoenix is working on a series of high gravity beers above the 12 percent threshold called Transcendence. The first brew, Metamorphus Triple Imperial Stout, touted a 14.5-percent ABV. It was released on Friday, Nov. 4 during the taproom’s First Friday Firkin and it was a hit. The owners said they ran out of the beer and glasses quickly that night.
“They loved it,” said co-owner Scott Cardwell.
The high-gravity stout will be available on draft starting Feb. 1.
Head Brewer Duncan MacFarlane said the brewery is currently in the works with making other high-gravity beers, like the 12.5 percent Triple IPA Phixius — which releases officially Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the downtown bar.
And other ideas are brewing in the Head Brewer’s mind, possibly a Belgian quadruple or even a barley wine, he said.
“I just don’t know the style yet,” MacFarlane said. “But it’s certainly a possibility.”
He said the brewery has the equipment to handle the creation of beers that register up to the 18 percent alcohol-by-volume range.
The Transcendence high gravity series is one of three the brewery has started. Each series includes three beers that are similar in style. The brewery just recently finished bottling beers from the Cemetery series, one that includes more seasonal darker brews.
The three-bottle pack is available for purchase at the taproom in the Brickyard in downtown Mansfield. The bottles are also available at J&J’s Food Mart, Wayne’s Country Market and Mitchell’s in Ashland.
MacFarlane said the company hopes to start bottling the beers from the Mortuary series in Spring 2017. He was unsure when the Transcendence series would be bottled.
Eventually, the company hopes to distribute its brand of craft brews to grocery stores around the state, possibly even across state lines.
With Ohio’s non-limit on ABV, mastering the risky process will ensure the brewery stays competitive. Which is why MacFarlane has started to experiment with pushing the 12-percent threshold.
“It is more difficult to make. To get above 10 to 11 percent, you have more advanced steps and you need a special strain of yeast,” MacFarlane said, adding the special yeast costs more, creating more risk for craft brewers like Phoenix.
“There are certain details you have to get just right, or you could lose the whole batch,” he said.
The Head Brewer has not lost an entire batch yet, but the potential for risk serves as an impetus to build the business around what is known for now: flagship brews.
The start-up brewery, founded in April 2014, is on pace to sell 550 barrels of beer for 2016, a record that far outpaces where the owners thought they’d be even after five years of business. According to MacFarlane, that’s over 17,000 gallons of beer.
“We’re ecstatic to be at this point already,” said Cardwell, who heads the brewery’s sales.
To keep up with the demand, the company expanded into a next-door warehouse facility to install additional equipment in September. Cardwell and MacFarlane are currently focusing more on getting people in to their taproom downtown.
Their second priority is distributing their existing most popular brews to area restaurants and bars, of which they have 40 accounts in the Mansfield, Wooster and Mount Vernon/Fredericktown regions.
“We have 15 to 20 restaurants and bars that carry our beer at any given time,” MacFarlane said.
With one part-time driver who distributes to local retailers twice per week, that is just about all the company can handle at this point. However, when the additional brewing equipment is utilized in the warehouse next door, MacFarlane expects the company will get an additional van and make trips three days per week to serve a larger clientele base.
“We want to start slow,” the Head Brewer said, followed by a smile that indicated he is ready for the inevitability of the opposite to happen instead.
For information on the Phoenix Brewing Company, visit the website.
