Brewing Diary

We're super crazy busy right now. Mostly all fun stuff! Tomorrow is the Beer Advocate Belgian Beer Fest, which we are really looking forward to. This time last year we went along and looked wistfully at the brewers; we'd brewed our first batch of Jack, but it wasn't packaged. This year, we've got two beers going, so that's progress! We'll have Jack D'Or and Baby Tree. That's all we're making in Belgian styles right now, but watch this space!

We're also sending out our first order to Minnesota next week, which has left us with a slight flurry of activity at the brewery today. Labeling just never seems to get easier for us!! Thank heavens for the brilliant winery staff at Westport, and for our friend Jim Barnes who has heroically stepped into the breach as well. Here's a picture of the team helping us out!!

Hi all, thought you might want to see this Edible Boston article on Pretty Things: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/boston/fall-2009/not-just-another-prett...

Well, we've had a great start to our project. We've been outselling our supply on a regular basis. Although people tell us often that this is "a great problem to have", it kind of sucks. We need to take Pretty Things up a notch, and well, we just did!

We've found a new brewing home at Buzzard's Bay Brewing in Westport MA. It's a big facility: we can do 50 and 100bbl batches here, rather than the 20bbl batches we've been doing in Holyoke. This is fantastic, because it gives us a lot of growing room, but it's also a scary prospect for me and Martha. 2.5x the beer means 2.5x the costs, and basically 2.5x the risks. But we are really excited to make the leap, it's going to be great, and we are loving this brewery!

So last Friday I went down to brew a 50bbl batch of Jack D'Or. We'll be making Baby Tree in a few weeks, and then undoubtedly we'll be brewing something new. We were getting inspiration for our new beer last night at Deep Ellum, which was a fun time, but that's another story.

The brewery at Westport is kind of a dream come true for me. It's a top notch facility, but in a farmhouse brewery setting. We might be able to have some tours and visits there for Pretty Things, so watch this space and we'll keep you posted.

The brewday went great, and apparently the brewery smells great now, filled with Jack D'Or sacrificing himself for our palates! On that note, keep an eye out for some new funky Pretty Things merchandise! Cheers, Dann

Hi folks, just wanted to let you know. If you've been having a hard time finding our beer in our regular accounts we apologize. Summertime has been busy and loads more people are finding out about Pretty Things. We have many new accounts and many new admirers. We're going to be making some adjustments in the near future to assure we keep up with demand. Thanks for your patronage and patience!

Cheers,

Dann

We bottled Baby Tree batch 2 and our new summer lager, American Darling this week. Baby Tree is a bit stronger, and Dann thinks it's better than Batch 1. I haven't tried it yet, so I'll tell you tonight!

American Darling is a crystal clear, filtered, hoppy lager, around 7% abv. I haven't tasted this post-filtration yet, but it was tasting like a great lager, with nice sulfur and great hops, during conditioning. Dann just sent me a picture of the finished beast, so here it is. He says it's got a big presence for such a light colored lager with a real nose full of Hallertau hops a malty palate. Sounds pretty good to me. Again, I'll tell you what I think later!

We have to label these two beers this Saturday, and they should be hitting the shelves next week. You might find them in a bar near you before that!

Cheers!

Wasn't it lovely? We had a total blast. We met lots of you, and you met lots of us. We had a cracking good laugh, loved being next to Stone, and we hope that any of you who came to us fresh from their Imperial Stout will come back and see us another time!

Of course, rain during a festival is the best. Unfortunately, the rain kind of hung out throughout our vacation in a tent in Maine, so we're feeling a bit damp.

We want to thank our amazing Pretty Things bar tenders: in case you weren't introduced, on Friday we had Sarah our intern and Matt Tremblay, a Boston Craft Beer Bartending Icon. They did a fabulous job, and I bet a lot of people learned a lot of stuff about our beers from them. On Saturday we were blessed with Tim Dudek, a herpesvirologist/bar back and all round superstar punkrock moshpit fun loving mad surfing bald man. Oh, and Dan Tompkins, whose palate, passion and freaking awesome T shirt we will not forget in a hurry. This guy can teach you about beer: so get yourself to Marty's in Newton and learn from him!!

Serious thanks to them. Apart from that, it was just Dann and his ever expanding moustache, and me.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to tell us they liked our beers, our banners, our shirts, or anything else! Believe us, it's nice to hear it, and we promise not to let it go to our heads.

We even have another booking! We'll be at the:

and at Beervana, a new and really great-sounding fest on October 2nd in Providence. Come and see us if you can!

Before Pretty Things Martha and I were living in North Yorkshire, England. Last July we made the transatlantic move, old-school, on the Queen Mary II. It sounds extravagant, a five-star, one week journey on the North Atlantic. It was, but it was also less expensive than buying one-way flights and having our luggage shipped.

As we pulled into Brooklyn at five in the morning, our friend Jim Barnes was waiting on the Brooklyn Bridge with his 8mm film camera and black and white reversal stock. This is what he got:

Video credit: Jim "Bocky" Barnes

We've been pretty busy lately, what with events and brewing and making videos. But I wanted to drop a quick line and let you know that there's a new beer on the way. In fact we'll have it on the shelves in a week or so locally. So for those of you who like to be among the first-to-know: the next beer is called "Confounded Mister Sisyphus". It's a one-off brew and there will be plenty more information about it when it's released.

Cheers,

Dann

When people ask me about the inspiration for Pretty Things, I list the various ones listed already on this webpage: Ripon Cathedral, Lewis Carroll, the four basic ingredients of beer, vintage German post card art... but I always forget one person who's right up there at the top of the list: Igor Fokin (http://www.igorfokinfamily.com/).

Igor was the vastly talented Russian puppeteer and marionette-maker who used to grace the streets of Harvard Square until his tragic death in 1996. Familiar with the golden statue of "Doo-Doo" on the corner of Brattle Street in the square? I spent many hours watching performance after performance, milling about in between shows and feeling happy to be alive on that corner. That was Igor's corner (though I saw him in a few other places as well). His show was a whimsical performance by musicians,the devil, a witch, Louis Armstrong and yes, Doo-Doo! My favorite was the guitar-playing "Petrosha". The soundtrack was a mix of scratchy old Russian folk music obviously recorded from vinyl and there was a lot of very fun dancing. Still as cutting edge in my memory now as it was back then.

Igor's death was a very big deal in my life. Strange since I never actually met him. But I still think about his shows to this day - 13 years after the fact. I wouldn't be surprised if many others don't as well - especially considering the state of street performers in Harvard Square these days.

I miss Igor and all of his puppets and wish that Pretty Things could in some way celebrate his memory.