Yankee Brew News Archive

Jasper Murdock's Alehouse:Small Brewing At Its Best

Originally Published: 03/95

By: Karen Kane

Tim Wilson brews beer the old fashioned way, a little at a time. To be exact, 1/2 barrel at a time. As far as he can tell, Tim is the only person in the country who brews beer for public consumption in 15 gallon batches. His operation, Jasper Murdock's Alehouse, is considered America's smallest brewery.

Jasper Murdock's Alehouse is located in the Norwich Inn, a stately Victorian mansion in the well-to-do village of Norwich, Vermont. Tim and his wife Sally own the inn, which also features 25 guest rooms and a fine restaurant. The alehouse was named after Colonel Jasper Murdock, who established the Norwich Inn in 1797.

The pub's narrow room has a gleaming bar and two rows of tables, game boards and historic photos adorn its walls. On a typical Friday night, there is standing room only, the buzz of conversation fills the room. The crowd is a mix of local residents and students from nearby Dartmouth college. And everyone is drinking beer.

When Tim enters the room, he is greeted from all sides. He graciously receives compliments about his ales. He approaches the bar and orders a Whistling Pig Red Ale. He has just finished brewing for the day.

Tim's brewery is not extravagantly equipped; the operation takes place in his kitchen. The brewhouse sits where the stove used to be. the stainless hot liquor tank, mash tun and kettle are fired by separate gas burners.

Ingredients for Jasper Murdock's ales include filtered tap water, pre-milled 2-row grain, and Edme dried yeast. Whenever possible, tim uses hops from his own hop yard.

Jasper Murdock's ales are fermented in glass carboys in a super-insulated closet and conditioned in pressurized 5 gallon Cornelius kegs. The brewing process takes a week to ten days. When the beer is ready, Tim carries it to the alehouse next door, where it is dispensed from one of three taps.

Tim's fresh ales change often, sometimes daily, depending on what he's in the mood to brew. Of the fifteen beers that he produces, Whistling Pig is the most popular. This full-bodied Irish style red ale has a garnet-red color, malty flavor, and a mild hop aftertaste. It was first brewed for the Whistling Pig Game Dinner, a local Groundhog Day tradition.

Old Slippery Skin India Pale Ale is a classic English India Pale Ale named for a bear that terrorized Vermont's early settlers. In keeping with an animal that is said to have had legs the size of tree trunks, tracks as big as wagon wheels, and the strength to squeeze sap from the biggest maple trees, this is not a beer to be taken lightly.

Tim almost always has a porter ot stout on tap. Stackpole Porter is a dark and hoppy brew with aromas of chocolate and coffee. Short 'n' Stout is a classic dry Irish stout with the characteristic flavor of dark roasted barley. This ale was named after the inn's mascot, the Welsh Corgi Jasper Murdock. Sadly, the small dog is no longer with them-but the beer remains, in all its glory.

Advantages of brewing in small quantities include freshness and variety. The downside is the time involved; Tim regularly puts in 80 hour weeks. �The more people drink it,� he says, �the more I run short, the more I think it's a ridiculous way of doing things.�

This spring the process will become less labor-intensive. By the end of May, Tim will be brewing with a new 4 barrel brewing system. And the brewery will move from his kitchen to a newly renovated building next door.

The new brewing system will be housed in a 100 year old shed that until recently leaned to one side. (In December the building was lifted off the ground so a new foundation could be dug; when they put it back, the slant disappeared.) The brewery will house a 4 barrel brew house, two 4 barrel fermenters, and 25 1/2 barrel conditioning tanks. Tim will also use his 1/2 barrel system for test and specialty batches

Once the new system is in place, annual production should rise from 81 barrels to 125. Tim will add more taps in the alehouse, and hopes eventually to make 10 different drafts available. He also plans to hand-bottle ale for inn guests to purchase.

Outside the brewery will be a courtyard; a front porch will run along one side. The building's paint and Victorian stick style trim will coordinate with that of the inn. There will be a week of Grand Opening celebrations, but the brewery will not display a sign. Tim and Sally regard the new brewery as a valuable addition to the site, but plan to keep the inn the focus of their business. The beer enhances the feeling of congeniality that already exists, and gives people another reason to enjoy the complete inn experience.

The Norwich Inn has hosted visitors for almost 200 years. Early on, the inn established a reputation among stagecoach parties traveling to and from the White Mountains. After fire destroyed the original building in 1889, it was rebuilt as a grand Victorian hotel. In 1920, Charles and Mary Walker bought the inn, from which they most likely sold bootleg liquor throughout Prohibition. Mary's contributions to the inn endure: guests and staff claim to have seen her ghost during recent renovations.

Sally purchased the Norwich Inn in 1991, and she has restored many of the Victorian features that became faded over the years. On the first floor, a formal parlor features period settees, a working Victrola, and a replica of a guest register from the 1920s. A private dining area displays its original tin ceiling.

Guest rooms are located upstairs in the main building and in two adjacent buildings, the Carriage House and the newly purchased Vestry. Each room has a different sleeping arrangement, as well as color cable television, telephone and private bath.

The food at the Norwich Inn deserves special notice. Three elegant dining rooms offer seating for 75. Chef Terrance Webb, an award- winning graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a champagne brunch on Sundays. His alehouse menu features non-standard pub fare: fresh Maine crab cakes, wild mushroom and smoked slab bacon in a pastry shell, and Jasper's winter stew (this last may sound like pub food, but trust me, it is not). Nightly specials, such as flatbread pizza and duck soup, are also available.

Jasper Murdock's Alehouse offers a unique combination of fine food, fresh ale and hospitality that lures local beer lovers and home brewers alike. Even Michael Jackson has stayed there. Something tells me

Tim Wilson's brewery will not be the country's smallest for long.

For more information about Jasper Murdock's Alehouse and the Norwich Inn, call Tim and Sally Wilson at (802) 649-1143, or write them at P.O. Box 908, Norwich, Vt. 05055.