Visiting Beaver Run Brewery

Tess had a good time running around the yard,
so when we went into the brewery she sacked out.

During the winter, I made a check-in spot on Foursquare for Beaver Run Brewery – that’s my neighbor’s garage near Hawksbill Cabin, when Dan has outfitted a pretty sophisticated operation that includes about a quarter-acre hopyard.  On Sunday, Mary and I made a visit over there to check in (I'm the mayor, after all, with four check-ins in the last 60 days), and to offer a sample of my latest batch of honey porter, which was reciprocated with Dan’s new pilsner.

We had a good visit out in the garden, comparing notes about how busy we’ve been.  Dan and Sally have been following the crew circuit around the mid-Atlantic – their daughter is a junior at WVU.  And we’ve had a lot to do that kept us away from the house more than usual.  We decided to make up for that with a brief stopover this weekend.

The hops are climbing past 6 feet already.

We took a walk through the hopyard, where Dan showed me that he now has five varietals going:  Willamette, Cascade, Centennial, Kent Goldings, and US Fuggle.  I have some packs of the Cascade and US Fuggle I’ll be using soon, by the way.  After that it was over to the brewery.

Quite the set-up they have over there at
Beaver Run Brewery!

Dan added a couple of new pieces of equipment in there, including a new floor that was recycled from a river raft, and a new kettle that he hand-fitted with a new spout.  He can do an all-grain batch now, and it’s an automated set-up with a pump and plate wort chiller.  We chatted about my plans to do an all-grain batch using the Brooklyn Brew Shop recipe for Honey Grapefruit Ale, so I have that to look forward to!

Dan’s moved on up like this because he’s had a couple of requests to brew for parties and celebrations – he even has one of those kegging set-ups that he can use for this purpose.  He tells me he’s been a very busy brewer!

Not to mention a very busy hop farmer!