Carlson Craft BreweryCraft BeerGood Beer Guide To New England UpdateNew England

The Carlson Craft Brewery (CT) Readies Its Operations…

The citizens of Branford, Connecticut, are about to add a second brewing operation to its town’s repertoire. Andrew Carlson, a career firefighter, has nearly completed efforts to open his own mini-craft brewery in the town. I first heard from Carlson about two years ago when my book, The Good Beer Guide To New England, was new on the shelves. He excitedly told me of his plans and that he hoped to be in my second edition. Then nothing but silence followed…up until a month or so ago. Carlson has completed many of the necessary bureaucratic hurdles and has but a final local inspection or two to go. He will be brewing on a surprisingly small 1-barrel system so that he can maintain his day job. Inspired by the nano-brewery of Tod Foster at the original Bar Harbor Brewing Company, Carlson plans to use his minute system to

Despite receiving his first hop and grain orders, his original hopes to have sale by mid-June are not likely to be met. Expect to see his beer, wherever he can afford to sell what little he can produce, at better beer establishments in the local area. As Carlson tells it,

I am going to have two year round beers available in 22 ounce bottles. These will be real ales being bottle conditioned and unfiltered. The first is an American style wheat ale. Its name is Vete Öl. This is Swedish for Wheat Ale. I decided to basically use a Swedish translation of their English names as their names. It is made with 100% organic wheat and malts. The second beer is kind of a hybrid Amber-English style beer called Bärnsten Öl. It is a balanced easy drinking beer. It is about 90% organic malts. I was planning on offering a third year round beer in bottles, but instead, I will be offering it as a cask ale in pins and firkins. It is an Old Ale style and it is called Gämmal Öl. I will be self distributing my beer.

Best of luck to Andrew, we know he’ll be busy this summer.

Be Social:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *