I don’t even know where to begin. A couple of Saturdays ago our group of friends were able to take a private tour of the Half Acre Beer Company brewery in the North Center neighborhood (just a couple blocks away from our old apartment over Bowman’s). If you haven’t had their beer, you’re missing out. Bookmark this page, shut down your computer, go out and buy some Half Acre right now. I’ll be here when you return.
Half Acre’s founder Gabriel Magliaro was our tour guide for the evening and he couldn’t have been a better host. We were able to try three or four different beers (including the not-sold-in-stores Gossamer session beer) and when the Baume tap blew, Gabriel was nice enough to open a bomber bottle up so we could sample it.
The tour started up on the second floor where we were able to see some of the cask conditioned experiments that Half Acre is working on. There were various casks used to finish the different beers including a bourbon cask.
Next we moved on to the barley grinding room where we even got to taste the barley used in their beers. It had a very familiar cereal taste to it that, as was later explained to me by Clare, probably comes from the fact that Grape Nuts is a wheat/barley cereal. Gabriel talked about the roasting process that gives the malted barley, and eventually the beer, its color. New vocabulary word learned that day: lovibond.
Lastly Gabriel took us down to the mash tun and the fermenting tanks. Some of the equipment they had on hand were purchased from another brewery that either upgraded or went under. Either way, the craft brewing industry is apparently quite incestuous that way.
Throughout the tour Gabriel answered our many questions graciously. In this regard, Half Acre separates itself from all the other brewery tours that I’ve been on by being quite open with not just what goes on in the brewery, but within the craft brewer community and the business side or brewing as well. It was quite enlightening to learn that the different local brewers will help each other out when hops or yeast is running low. I think this sense of community is most clearly reflected in the collaborations that craft brewers have been engaging in as of late. This is definitely something you would never see Anheuser and Miller do.
All in all, this was a great evening and I can’t recommend it enough. Half Acre holds free tours on Saturdays at 1pm but you must sign-up. If you’re looking to try any of Half Acre’s brew check out their list on the site.
Some tid-bits that we learned on tour:
- Half Acre is named after Devil's Half Acre in eastern Pennsylvania
- Part of the 22oz. Bomber series, Daisy Cutter is named after a specific kind of anti-personnel bombs.
- Half Acre is going to be transitioning from glass bottles to aluminum cans. Reasons for the switch are that overall it's better for the beer because the aluminum blocks sunlight more effectively, it is lighter and therefore easier/less costly to transport, and it is easier to recycle.
- All beer labels, throughout the country, need to be approved by one guy in the federal government whose name is, no joke, Battle.
- Half Acre doesn't make a beer we don't like.
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