After Hours with Switchback Brewing

Last night I spent some quality time at the Switchback Brewery chatting with brewer Tony Morse and my good friend and soon to be NECI grad Chris Galbraith. We rolled in, after business hours of course, to find a hard-at-work Tony tromping about the brew house, casually nodding his head to some heady metal from the Dethklok album. He invites us in and we spent some time touring the facility, sampling the oh-so-fine fresh brews, and waiting for him to clean the brew kettle with some rather caustic chemicals. Here's what I found out...

Times are busy at Switchback, with selling beer in NH, NY and Vermont, there's burning the midnight oil. I can safely say that Beverage Warehouse sells more kegs of Switch than any other beer, even though it's twice the price of our cheapest keg! I've seen kegs come into the Warehouse that were filled only hours before! So if we're moving that many kegs alone, I can't even imagine how they have any beer to sell in other markets...kudos! Oh, and the Porter, let's not forget about the Porter! For those of you lucky enough to sample this dark pint at the Burlington Brewersfest, you know what I'm talking about. Tony says that they need to tweak it a little but plan on releasing a batch just before next year's Roasted Red come out. It's very dark in the glass, but is spry because of the carbonation level and doesn't feel cloying or necessarily creamy on the palate. On the finish there's a definite earthiness that Tony says comes from using unmalted barley in the mash. Not an easy trick, but they pulled it off with great success. I can't wait until Winter so I can have some more! And Tony gives one hell of a tour. This man knows his beer and didn't dumb it down for us. He used real working terminology, interesting chemistry explanations and answered my dumb questions in a way that both made sense and helped me to learn more. Some brew tours, well actually most, are just generic this-and-that, but not at Switchback.

Here's what I learned about the brewery: Their actual Brew-house is only a fifteen barrel operation, but they manage to squeak out around seventeen and a half. Their proprietary yeast strain has been helping them brew beer for over 180 "generations" (meaning the yeast, not the people), that's over six years! Same good ol' yeast gets "pitched cone to cone" in the fermenters and keeps on making that sweet, delicious alcohol. Kegs are still filled by hand. Tours are available on Saturday, I believe, but give a ring over to the brewery to verify times. They also sell hats, shirts and tap handles (for you die-hards with Switch on draft at home) at the brewery. Stickers are free, if I remember correctly, and they'll stamp your VT Brewery Passport. And yes, asking for a keg-stand is frowned upon no matter what time of night it is.

It was a great night, and a fun time. As Chris and I got into my truck, we waved back at Tony who was carting home his very own new Guitar Hero III set-up while locking up the doors for the night. Thanks Tony for the hospitality. Oh, and like I promised I'd say - and please hear this! - NO PLANS TO BOTTLE anytime soon. From the horses mouth, please stop asking and stop spreading rumors. Just enjoy it on draft at your favorite watering-hole or pony up and get a home draft system. I'll even come over any help you set it up.

Cheers,
Jeff Baker

PS> Harpoon has announced a new four-pack series called "Leviathan" and the first round to hit VT will be an Imperial IPA in Sept.! Click for more.