MANSFIELD — The Phoenix Brewing Company is a bustling brewpub located in the former Schroer Funeral Home and Mortuary on Diamond Street.
I’ve been a fan almost since the day I moved to Mansfield, but I’ve put off writing about them before now as I wanted the chance to sample their brews first, several hundred times, as part of my “deep background” research.
Now, with a major expansion of their brewing capacity underway and the big “Oktoberfest” weekend around the corner, I felt the time was right to seek out Head Brewer Duncan Macfarlane and get some inside scoop.
Last Monday at 10 a.m. I knocked on the brewery’s basement doors. Duncan opened up and showed me into what used to be part of the mortuary.
“Yeah, this used to be the embalming room,” he explained. “Over there was the casket elevator that went up to the chapel. When we first took this over that was all intact, all the pulleys and ropes. We actually found some bones down here … but it was determined they weren’t human. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Nowadays, the old bones are long gone and the basement houses the shining tanks that are used to brew and store the popular range of Phoenix beers. If all goes well, this weekend will see the installation of a brand new 20-barrel brewhouse in the property next-door, something Duncan tells me is much needed to keep up with demand.
Next weekend, the annual “Oktoberfest” celebration takes place featuring seasonal beers and live music (including a traditional German “Alphorn” band playing dance and polka tunes), along with plenty of bratwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad from the Altered Eats food truck.
Among the beers on tap will be the “PBC Oktoberfest,” Duncan’s own version of the traditional Bavarian brew. I asked him whether he’d stuck with a traditional recipe or gone with something a bit different.
“This is very much the traditional style,” he told me. “I try to keep to that, not just with the Oktoberfest but with all the styles we brew.
“This one uses German barley, German hops, and Czech lager yeast – all the ingredients are from that region. It would conform to the ‘German Purity Law.’ There’s nothing added.”
The German Purity Law, also known as the Reinheitsgebot, strictly limits the ingredients that are used in beer and has changed little since 1516.
I asked Duncan what distinguishes the Oktoberfest style.
“Well, it has a longer brewing process, and uses a strain of yeast that ferments at a colder temperature. The taste has a maltiness, almost a sweetness. You can drink it as a session beer. It’s not overly strong and it won’t overwhelm you.”
I told Duncan it seemed dark like an ale but drank like a lager. Which was it?
“Oh it’s a lager – like I say it’s made with Czech lager yeast. I like to think of it as a lighter beer that has flavor.
“You know, a lot of craft brewers don’t do so much lager,” he told me. “We do quite a few, but it takes more time, and if you have flaws it’s harder to hide.
“Some American Oktoberfests use an ale yeast strain rather than a lager strain, which adds a fruitiness, whereas the lager strain leaves the malt profile at the front end.”
“I should add,” he continued, “that we’ll also have Paulaner Oktoberfest on tap [a genuine German Oktoberfest] next weekend, so you’ll be able to do a direct comparison.”
Paulaner is one of the six Munich breweries that provide Oktoberfest beer to the original German Oktoberfest, which by tradition must be brewed within Munich city limits.
Also on tap will be Orange Eyes Pumpkin Ale. So there’s orange and pumpkin in this one?
“No, just pumpkin,” Duncan explained. “The name ‘Orange Eyes’ comes from an orange-eyed monster sometimes seen around Charles Mill Lake. He came from Cleveland, I think. It’s a local legend, you can look it up.”
I did. Apparently Orange Eyes is a large, hairy ape-like creature that escaped from his home in a sewer tunnel near Cleveland’s Riverside Cemetery and took up residence in the lake, sometime in the late fifties. Confirmed sightings are rare and his taste in ale, pumpkin or otherwise, is not recorded.
I suggested to Duncan that his output seems to cover a wide range of styles without any noticeable favoritism for one over another.
“Well, there’s very few I don’t like. I’ve been homebrewing since 1999 and from the beginning, I wanted to try everything out. I would brew a style just to see what it was like. I did my own Baltic Porter, for example, before I’d tried anyone else’s Baltic Porter.
“I still do a lot of homebrewing, particularly with the more complex styles. Beers with fruits and spices – getting them right requires trial and error.”
The Phoenix always has a good range of guest beers on tap, and I asked Duncan if he spoke much with other brewers.
“Yes, I used to travel a lot and visit other breweries in person. If they didn’t have a distributor, that was often how we got hold of their beer. I’d turn up unannounced, and talk with the owners and the brewers. Then I’d buy a keg and bring it back.”
A name like Duncan Macfarlane is about as Scottish as you can get, so I didn’t feel like I was taking a wild stab in the dark when I asked if this was indeed Duncan’s heritage – and had he ever produced a Scottish beer?
“Right, Macfarlane – my dad’s parents were from Scotland. I haven’t done a Scottish beer yet but I have one in mind. I’m thinking of calling it MacPharlane’s – close enough to my name but with the ‘ph,’ which is an older version of the spelling if you trace it back through the Gaelic origins.”
What other new brews are coming up?
“Let’s see – next month we have the Ferryman Vanilla Infusion for our ‘First Friday Firkin’”.
This perhaps needs some further explanation.
On the ‘First Fridays’ of the month, a firkin (a 9-gallon container) of ‘cask-conditioned’ beer is tapped and served, ‘cast-conditioning’ being a process of secondary fermentation within the cask. The first Friday in October sees the tapping, in this manner, of the popular ‘Ferryman’ stout infused with vanilla beans. Got that? Good.
Before all that, though, is Oktoberfest Saturday and Sunday, directly preceded by the last ‘Final Friday’ brickyard concert of the season, right next door to the pub. It’s going to be quite a weekend at the Phoenix – come on out and join the fun!
Friday, Sept. 30 from 5 to 10 p.m. in the Brickyard, 13 W Temple Court, Mansfield: Final Friday Concert featuring Jeff Boyd & S’yvelt, Rumplestiltskin and Mojoflo.
Saturday/Sunday October 1 and 2, Oktoberfest at the Phoenix Brewing Company, 131 N. Diamond St, Mansfield.
Phoenix Oktoberfest Saturday events
3 to 5 p.m. “Cheese with Music” – German Dance and Polka featuring traditional alphorn.
8 to 11 p.m. “Joe Rollins Porter” – traditional folk and early rural blues.
The Altered Eats food truck will also be serving from 2 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, featuring brats n kraut, potato salad, chicken sliders with sweet n sour slaw, chocolate stout brownies and beer cheese soup.
