For some time I’ve been wanting to gatecrash one of the meetings of the Mansfield Brew Club, a long-established group of local beer enthusiasts and home brewers who get together regularly to share recipes, plan events and sample each other’s brews.
I asked around and discovered the next get-together would be at the Meadowood, a secluded 50-acre property tucked away in the rolling Clear Fork Hills. The location was at this time closed to the public, but owners Connie and Monte Young, our hosts for the evening, happen to be long-standing members of the club.
The night was just warm enough for us to sit out in the open, and about 25 of us gathered by some tables in the shade of the property’s impressive 200-year-old barn. Most were members, but a few, like me, were here for the first time.
I recognized one of the other new faces: Nick Copley, local foodie and purveyor of exotic herbs and spices. As we waited for the official business to start, I asked Nick if he had experience brewing his own beer.
“Yeah, but it’s been a couple of years,” he told me. “The last one I did was dandelion, ginger and orange peel.”
Club President Chad Vanderpool was getting ready to initiate the evening’s proceedings.
“Wait a minute,” said Nick, “does he have a beer gavel?”
Indeed he did, a wooden gavel with the head shaped like a beer bottle, which he brought down sharply on the table to bring the meeting to order.
Items on the agenda included the success of the recent “Big Brew Day,” plans for the upcoming “Barn Bash” and an update on the push to standardize state laws regarding home brewing. But more importantly, the beers started to pass around, and the brats and burgers were thrown on the grill.
I found myself sat next to Eugene Johnson, a member of the club since 2000 and an experienced brewer. His beer, a delicious lager in the the Pilsner style, was the first to go ’round the table, and as we supped he told me about a new kind of IPA (India Pale Ale) that’s beginning to gain popularity.
“It’s a New England IPA,” he told me, “have you heard of it? It’s a new style. It’s cloudy, but it’s low in bitterness and high in flavor and aroma. I’m working on my own batch with Sauvignon Blanc hops.”
Eugene gave me a sample of a New England IPA that he’d brought along. It was very smooth, and fruity, but not overwhelmingly so.
We’d reached a part of the meeting known as “What’s in Your Fermenter?” which gave the group a chance to talk about their latest brewing projects, and there was plenty of variety: IPAs, lagers, brown ales, stouts and even a couple of meads.
One member told us he was working on something called a gruit beer that’s flavored with herbs.
“It’s an ancient beer style,” he explained, “before they started using hops.”
Vice-President Chris Tadijanac announced he was working on a particularly potent stout.
“I’m thinking of calling it ‘The Monstrosity,’” he told us, “because it’s going to come in at around 22.4 percent (alcohol by volume).”
“That’s gonna be nuts!” someone shouted.
“It’ll be tar!” said someone else, “or sulphuric acid.”
Personally I’m very wary of this trend for high-strength beers. A few weeks ago I accidentally ordered a pitcher of 18 percent beer at the Red Fox Tavern. As soon as I realized what I’d done I did my best to give it away so I could avoid total carnage.
I gave two pints to my next-door neighbor who happened to be in the pub. He hasn’t spoken to me since.
“The highest-strength beer I’ve heard of,” said Chris, “is 65 to 68 percent.”
I told him this was absolute insanity.
“Well, you know,” he said, “the price on something like that is prohibitive anyway. But I’ll go low, too. I brew an orange hefeweizen that comes in between 3.5 and 3.8 percent.”
I mentioned my one and only disastrous attempt to brew beer. Chris sympathized and told me about one of his early misfires.
“It was a Scottish ‘Wee Heavy,’ about 10 to 11 percent. It’s what I’d call ‘prison hooch.’ It tasted of metal and butter. With a hint of band-aid.”
I’d heard some talk about “all-grain” brewing versus “extract” and I asked what that was about.
“Extract is what a lot of new brewers start out with,” explained Eugene. “It’s a kit, it’s kind of like a cake mix. All-grain is a little more work, but you can do more things with it. And it’s fresher.”
A number of home brews had passed ’round the table by this point and I told my companions that I was impressed with the quality.
“Well, we’ve got two professional brewers in this group,” said Dave Palmer, the club treasurer. “That kind of sets a high bar.”
One of those professionals is Elmer “Goose” Steingass, a former brewer at Akron’s Hoppin’ Frog Brewery who even has a beer there named after him: “Hopped-Up Goose Juice Rye IPA.”
Also with the club is Duncan Macfarlane, the head brewer at Mansfield’s Phoenix Brewing Company.
“Yeah,” laughed Darren Collins, another longtime member, “we taught Duncan everything he knows!”
“The great thing is we all share information and ideas,” said Dave, explaining that he’d been able to take one of Duncan’s recipes and tweak it to make it his own.
“I put my own twist on it,” he said, “I made it a different beer, you wouldn’t recognize it.”
Chris said, “I love picking the brains of the others. I’m the youngest of the regular members, and there’s so many years of brewing knowledge here.”
Dave told me that he first got the idea to brew his own beer after frequenting the Wooden Pony, the former brewpub in downtown Mansfield that is fondly remembered by many of the club’s members.
“Now,” he continued, “I’ve been doing this long enough that I can just look at a recipe and taste what the beer would be like.”
He looked round approvingly at the happy gathering.
“You know, I think this is the biggest turnout we’ve ever had.”
The club’s slogan is “You can do that!” and the ethos is: if you like beer, why not try making your own?
If you’re interested, click to join the the Mansfield Homebrew Club facebook group and find out more.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/496012584119902/
