Yankee Brew News Archive

Microbrewery Profile: Berwick Brewing

Originally Published: 06/97

By: Mark E. Hall

Some say bigger is better...however in the case of Berwick Brewing it doesn't hold true.

Located in the backwoods of the southwestern part of the state, also known as South Berwick, Neil Bryant, head brewer and owner of Maine's smallest brewery is doing his best to make a mark among the ever increasing number of breweries in Maine.

His odyssey began in 1989 when he started home brewing on the side while working full-time as a Naval Engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. He was thinking of going full-time about 5 years ago, but rumors of a 1992 shipyard closing never came to fruition. Instead, he continued home brewing and in early 1994 decided to open Berwick Brewing on a part-time basis.

The decision to open his own brewery was the easy part. As he carefully dealt with the ATF, he realized the process was going to take a little longer than projected. For those who have dealt with the ATF themselves, I'm sure you'll concur.

While waiting for the OK from the ATF (which eventually came in late 1995) he began to order equipment for his 5 barrel brewery. Neil has put a lot of time and labor into this venture and basically traded this in return for the start up cost, which he admitted he was "floored" by.

His brewing system , which I will call a "Bryant system", is nothing like the conventional system you see with a basic start up brewery. His hot liquor tank is essentially an unused commercial hot water heater, and the mash tun, which doubles as a fermenter is a 5 barrel bulk milk tank which he purchased from a failed upper Maine dairy. The wait for the milk tank took three months, but it was "worth the wait," he said.

It's basically a cylinder cut in half. He uses a false bottom comprised of plastic PVC pipe with slits cut out of them. It allows the mashed liquid to drain through without any spent grain as the slits are smaller than the grain.

The boiler was fabricated by Limerick Machine, and although modeled after a normal boiler, it's truly one of a kind. There is no whirlpool per se as Neil improvises by sticking a pipe in after everything settles. To help weed out additional proteins, he takes a very "holistic" direction and uses Irish moss in the boil.

While the mash is in the boil, he removes the pipes and feverishly cleans the bulk milk tank as it will now become a fermenter and house the cooled wort. After the boil, the wort goes through the heat exchanger. However, this is not a typical heat exchanger, but more like a "tube within a tube" or as Neil calls it: a counter flow heat exchanger. The hot liquid flows through a tube inside another housing the cool water that will eventually be sent back to the hot liquor tank. The chilled product eventually makes its way to the recently cleaned milk tank/fermenter.

Neil brews on a 7 day cycle and transfers the fermented product directly into kegs where it undergoes a secondary fermentation.

His first entry, out in early 1996, was Berwick Brown Ale (4.75%), which was formulated to emulate the brown ales of Northern England which are on the dark and bitter side as opposed to those from the South which tend to be sweeter.

Neil told me a great story which coincided with the coming out of his first beer. He was out selling his beer to local establishments and he came upon one restaurant owner who said "you've got a great dark beer, but what are you doing for a light beer? The second, coming out about the same time was Berwick Stock Ale (4.0%), a light colored brew which is malty and slightly hoppy. According to Neil, "It's a good beer for the unadventurous."

Early 1997 brought the arrival of Berwick Maple Porter (5.0%), his strongest beer to date. It's described as "a classic porter, on the chocolatey side with a touch of maple syrup. He adds maple syrup at the end of the boil to give it a "distinctive tang."

Neil's had his beer on draft at Portland's Great Lost Bear and recently participated in one of their infamous microbrewery showcases, but for now, he is happy selling his product to local establishments in the Berwick area.

At this point, Neil is trying to decide whether or not to go full-time. If so, he would be joining the company of more than twenty breweries in the state that are currently full-time. Would he miss working at the Naval Yard? "If I could work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week brewing beer, I'd still have a smile on my face," he observed.

Neil welcomes anyone who'd like a tour of the brewery. I'm sure you can help him with a batch or two. But you better call first, you'll definitely need directions.