Foleys brew up business

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BRANDON The first brewery in Rutland County is now open.

Dan and Patrick Foley of Brandon kicked off their new beer-brewing business at the Neshobe River Winery on Saturday. Foley Brothers Brewing offers Ginger Wheat and Brown Ale beers in 22-ounce bottles; both will be available on a wholesale basis in the coming weeks.

The Foleys were all smiles yesterday as locals and beer connoisseurs traveled from near and far to sample their beers, eat wood-fired pizza, and enjoy falls last hurrah.

Dan Foley, the brewmaster, said he and Patrick Foley wanted to diversify the products they offer and also because … they love beer.

I just love it, Foley said with a laugh. My brother is a winemaker, Im more into beer. But were striving to make a beer thats all Vermont ingredients. Its a passion.

The Foleys gave beer brewing a shot because wine production was limited over the last couple of years, they said. They already had much of the capital with which to brew beer, and also sought help from others they know in the business.

According to Dan Foley, he uses Vermont maple syrup, some Vermont-grown hops, and ginger wheat for the new beers. They are seeking out more hop growers in the local area and they will also grow their own next season.

We go through three to four pounds of hops per week, Foley said. Were putting out six barrels a week, and our beers will be available in stores where our wines are already being sold.

Patrick Foley oversees Neshobe Winery and Foley Brothers Brewings production. He said they brewed 30 gallons of beer for nine months as a test run. Once they got the hang of it, they brewed 60 gallons or six barrels a week.

The Foleys will start selling kegs in the winter to local bars, restaurants and ski areas. Foley said they plan on being small brewers for the time being.

Were not a big start-up company. We just want to sell our product in order to pay ourselves and see where it goes from there, said Patrick Foley.

As for Dan Foley, hes looking forward to starting another business venture with his brother.

Its been fun getting it started. Its all a family business, Dan Foley said.

For more information on Neshobe River wines and Foley Brothers beers, visit www.neshoberiverwinery.com.

christian.avard@rutlandherald.com

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BRANDON — The first brewery in Rutland County is now open.

Dan and Patrick Foley of Brandon kicked off their new beer-brewing business at the Neshobe River Winery on Saturday. Foley Brothers Brewing offers Ginger Wheat and Brown Ale beers in 22-ounce bottles; both will be available on a wholesale basis in the coming weeks.

The Foleys were all smiles yesterday as locals and beer connoisseurs traveled from near and far to sample their beers, eat wood-fired pizza, and enjoy fall’s last hurrah.

Dan Foley, the brewmaster, said he and Patrick Foley wanted to diversify the products they offer and also because … they love beer.

“I just love it,” Foley said with a laugh. “My brother is a winemaker, I’m more into beer. But we’re striving to make a beer that’s all Vermont ingredients. It’s a passion.”

The Foleys gave beer brewing a shot because wine production was limited over the last couple of years, they said. They already had much of the capital with which to brew beer, and also sought help from others they know in the business.

According to Dan Foley, he uses Vermont maple syrup, some Vermont-grown hops, and ginger wheat for the new beers. They are seeking out more hop growers in the local area and they will also grow their own next season.

“We go through three to four pounds of hops per week,” Foley said. “We’re putting out six barrels a week, and our beers will be available in stores where our wines are already being sold.”

Patrick Foley oversees Neshobe Winery and Foley Brothers Brewing’s production. He said they brewed 30 gallons of beer for nine months as a test run. Once they got the hang of it, they brewed 60 gallons or six barrels a week.

The Foleys will start selling kegs in the winter to local bars, restaurants and ski areas. Foley said they plan on being small brewers for the time being.

“We’re not a big start-up company. We just want to sell our product in order to pay ourselves and see where it goes from there,” said Patrick Foley.

As for Dan Foley, he’s looking forward to starting another business venture with his brother.

“It’s been fun getting it started. It’s all a family business,” Dan Foley said.

For more information on Neshobe River wines and Foley Brothers’ beers, visit www.neshoberiverwinery.com.

christian.avard@rutlandherald.com

Build Your Beer Brewing Brain At Rockingham Community College

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Written by

Lauren Melvin

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Video: Brains Of Brewing Beer: A New RCC Program

Wentworth, NC — A community college in Triad is helping students get in on the fastest growing sector of the beer business.

Right behind the baseball field at Rockingham Community College, you’ll find the hops field.

“In Rockingham County, we have an abundant supply of farmland, have an excellent water supply. We are right at the perfect temperature and humidity that hops need to grow,” said Bradley Overby, Lead Horticulture Instructor at Rockingham Community College.

Rockingham Community College decided to use the perfect storm of conditions to expand the school’s mission.

“Prepare people for jobs and to be a leader in economic development. And there’s just untold opportunities with the craft beer, craft beverages in North Carolina,” said Laura Coffee, Dean of Continuing Education.

Coffee said last February, they started offering a few craft beer brewing classes, and students wanted more.

So this spring, Rockingham Community College’s “Beer School” will focus on chemistry. The school will also offer a tasting room workshop.

“How to be more profitable in your tasting room, but also how to get some skills, so you can be hired if you’re interested in running as tasting room or working in one, as far as what the laws are, presenting and what glasses you use for what,” said Coffee.

Rockingham Community College is also converting an old storefront on Washington Street in downtown Eden into a hands-on educational brewery.

“We will have a sampling and tasting room where people can come and try some of the Rockingham beers,” said Coffee.

Next fall, the school will offer a Brewing, Distillation, and Fermentation Technology Program, the first associates degree program of its kind on the east coast.

“There is a need for some technical expertise and for people to continue learning, as they begin to brew or open their businesses to share ideas and improve in their skills,” said Coffee.

“Everything that’s needed for beer, can be grown actually within this county,” said Overby.

So far, more than 100 people have completed brewing classes at Rockingham Community College. And officials are hoping the new degree program will attract more students, even those who live outside of North Carolina.

“I think there’s a real awareness that this is an area of great potential,” said Coffee. “From the plow to the pint.”

If you want to sign up for spring courses, or the associates degree program, you can visit http://www.rockinghamcc.edu/.

Classes cost anywhere from $45 to $175.

Ray Schavone at one of the beer brewing kettles. Photo/Nancy Brumback

By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer

Ray Schavone at one of the beer brewing kettles. Photo/Nancy Brumback

Business name: Deja Brew

Address: 510B Boston Turnpike Rd. (Rt. 9), Shrewsbury

Owners: Ray and Donna Schavone

Contact Information: 508-842-8991

www.deja-brew.com

What do you do at Deja Brew?

“You can brew your own beer and wine and make soda. We provide all the recipes, ingredients and instructions. We guarantee the results and we clean up the mess,” said Ray Schavone, who, with his wife, Donna, has been running the brew-your-own business on Route 9 in Shrewsbury for 15 years.

“We were the first in the state to do this.”

How long does it take to brew beer or make wine?

“For beer, end to end, two weeks. It takes two visits, two hours each visit. You make six cases, 12 22-oz. bottles per case, so 72 bottles,” Ray explained.

“We have over 200 recipes people can choose from. We help you decide, based on what you like in a beer.

“Wine takes longer because it’s higher in alcohol. Wine takes four weeks, end to end, from when you make it to when you put it in the bottle. And then we tell you to age it in the bottle. The flavors need to blend and mature. You’ll sample your wine the day you bottle it so you know what the flavors are. But we recommend at least six months aging.”

How do you make beer?

“You pick out a recipe. Our recipe books have an index, based on type of beer. Once you determine what you want to make, you weigh out the grains and start making the ‘tea’ with them. When that’s finished, you add extracts. We bring it to a boil and add the first set of hops, then go through a timing sequence. You come back in two weeks and bottle it.

“The cost varies depending on ingredients, but our average price is $165 for the six cases of beer. At that price, it’s very competitive with what you buy in the store. A lot of people get together with friends and make different kinds of beers and trade off.”

Do you have the recipe for the White House beer?

“Yes, we now offer the White House beer. It’s not among my favorites.”

Who brews their own beer?

“People who like a better beer. It’s fresh, you don’t have to worry about a ‘born-on’ date. You know when it was born because you bottled it.

“There’s also the social aspect. We have six brewing kettles here, and we have a mix of people who come in, so there’s a lot of socializing. Sundays we’ll have the football game on, and there’s a pizza place three doors down.”

“We do a lot for weddings, that’s probably the most popular occasion. People brew their own beer with their own labels to be served at their wedding.”

Short URL: http://www.communityadvocate.com/?p=28185

Posted by Community Advocate Staff
on Nov 9 2012. Filed under Business, People and Places.
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Once Upon a Brew Pub – Long Valley Brewing

On my recent travels I was lucky enough to attend a beer pairing dinner at Long Valley Brewing in Long Valley, New Jersey. Beer pairing dinners are becoming more popular and if you ever get the opportunity you should definitely give it a shot. If done properly it’s every bit as good if not better than a wine pairing dinner. My wife and I have been to several and have always thoroughly enjoyed them.  Nestled in the hills of New Jersey, Long Valley was settled by Germans and originally called German Valley.  The name was changed to Long Valley during World War I. The brewery’s home is located in a stone barn built that was built in 1771. It has a wonderful ambience with stone walls, rough hewn beams and a high vaulted ceiling. For overall character it is one of my favorite brewpubs.

The Beer Tasting Dinner prepared by head chef Juan Mujica consisted of an appetizer, and 5 courses with a different beer pairing each.

The appetizer was a Brick Oven Pizza topped with hops, served with a cask conditioned IPA. The pizza was quite tasty with just a hint of hops. Loved the IPA.  It was poured by the head brewer Joe Saia. I asked him what the ABV and IBU’s were, but he did not have the information with him. Great match. The IPA had great hop aroma and was smooth and balanced. While waiting for dinner to start I met Joe Freiday who at one time was an assistant brewer at Long Valley. We ended up sharing a table as he regaled me with stories of brewing on the east coast.

First Course: Shrimp Creole

Sauteed Shrimp with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes cooked with their German Valley Amber in a lemon garlic aioli topped with fresh cilantro. Paired with the German Valley Amber. The moderate malt sweetness and hop bitterness in the German Valley Amber balanced well with and helped cut the spice of the shrimp Creole.  Light roasted malts and low hop bitterness. Medium malt body and sweetness with low hop bitterness. ABV 5.75%,  IBU’s  25

Second Course: Spinach Salad

Baby Spinach, red onion, portabella mushroom, and roasted tomatoes served with a warm  bacon vinaigrette made with their Hookerman’s Light. Topped with a deviled egg and paired with Hookerman’s Light. Hookerman’s light is named after a local legend who lost his arm in a railroad accident and wanders the tracks at night carrying a lantern looking for it. This beer is Long Valley’s lightest offering. An American wheat ale with a refreshing fruity aroma with a delicate flavor and body. The clean fresh floral finish went very well with the spinach salad.  ABV 4.25%, IBU’S 15

Third Course:  Chicken Caprese

Pan seared chicken, fresh buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, roasted red peppers, topped with an American Pale Ale balsamic reduction. Served with American Pale Ale. The reduced balsamic vinegar added a very pleasing sweetness to the chicken, whereas the Pale Ale balanced agreeably with the mozzarella, basil and roasted peppers.  Their American Pale Ale has a moderate hop aroma with low malt notes. Medium bodied with a refreshing hop bitterness, which lingers a bit. A very nice Pale Ale.  ABV 5.25%,  IBU’s 25

Fourth Course: Osso Buco

Braised Osso Bucco served with a white bean casserole, sautéed broccoli rabe with roasted garlic and topped with a Barleyville Rye sauce. The veal was very tender and fell easily off the shank. The broccoli rabe was a little bitter for my taste. With a moderate spice in the aroma and a medium full-bodied mouthfeel, the Barleyville Rye really enhanced the flavor of the Osso Busco. ABV 4.5%,  IBU’S 12

Fifth Course: Hazelnut Irish Coffee Cake

This decadent cake was served with vanilla ice cream and paired with Long Valley’s award winning Lazy Jake Porter. Lazy Jake has won three medals at the Great American Beer Festival and one at the World Beer Cup.  Try replacing a cup of coffee with a Stout or Porter for a real treat with your dessert. Full bodied, with a robust roasted malt, coffee, toffee and hints of chocolate. Lazy Jake went great with this desert and accented the hazelnut in the cake. Lazy Jake is named after a dog owned by the carpenter who did much of the work when the brewery was being built.  ABV 5%, IBU’S 30

If you call in advance you might be able to schedule a tour of the brewery with brew master Joe Saia. This is definitely a brew pub I will visit again.

Long Valley Pub and Brewery
1 Fairmount Road
Long Valley, NJ  07853
908-876 -1122

Don Williams has been a home brewer since 2002. He is a recognized BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judge, and has taught brewing classes. Don’s job requires extensive travel, and he enjoys visiting brew pubs in various parts of the country. He and his wife live in Cottonwood, CA.

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Whipping Up a Brew That Is True to You

CHRIS Patafio and her husband, John, visited Cask and Kettle Home Brew in Boonton recently to pick up some beer — beer they had made themselves.

Joe Verzi, the company’s owner, poured the All Centennial Hop IPA from a plastic fermenter into a five-gallon stainless steel soda keg.

Three weeks earlier, under Mr. Verzi’s supervision, the Patafios had steeped Munich and caramel malts in water, heated it, added malt extract and then added hops. After boiling the mixture for an hour and adding more hops, they chilled the resulting wort and began the fermentation process with the introduction of yeast. They did the work in the shop’s so-called brew-on-premise, a modern workroom resembling a kitchenette and outfitted with brewing equipment.

They were taking their ale home, but for larger groups there is also another option, as Mrs. Patafio, 54, of Ringwood, pointed out.

“You can have a home-brew party here — it’s like adult Chuck E. Cheese’s,” she said.

As novice brewers, they had plenty of guidance.

“I help them as much or as little as they’d like,” Mr. Verzi, 29, said of his customers. He turned his hobby of home brewing into his profession a year ago when he opened this specialty shop. Besides having beermaking equipment for customers’ use, he sells kits, grains, kettles and other necessities for making beer (as well as wine, cider and mead).

The brew-on-premise experience — which costs $140 to $160 for a group of up to four people making five gallons — is as much social as it is educational. (Larger groups can be accommodated.)

The shop has a pubby atmosphere, with a high-top table where customers can sit and eat food that they bring in or order out from a book of menus. There’s a tap, too, that dispenses samples of various beers for customers to sip.

Shops like Cask and Kettle are capitalizing on the growing trend of home brewing. (Even the White House has been making beer.) “It’s definitely on the upswing,” said Jo Ellen Ford, 54, an owner of the Brewer’s Apprentice, a family-run shop in Freehold, which also has a space where customers can make their own beer. The company opened in 1996 in a 3,000-square-foot space, then moved to a 5,000-square-foot location two years ago.

According to the American Homebrewers Association, an organization based in Boulder, Colo., that promotes home brewing, the number of home-brewing shops has increased nationwide, as has revenue at these stores, up 24 percent in 2011 over the previous year. In New Jersey, more shops catering to home brewers have opened recently, and older ones have expanded.

“It’s not about consuming a lot,” Ms. Ford said. Home brewers are more interested in appreciating the flavors of their products, she said. “Also, there’s the challenge of ‘How do I do this?’ ”

Scott Begraft, 40, who opened North Jersey Homebrew in Sparta in 2011, said homemade beer “tends to be better than what you can get commercially.”

Mr. Begraft’s shop does not have a place for customers to make their own beer, but he stocks the ingredients they need for home brewing: fresh yeast, flavorings, sugars and raw honey, among other ingredients.

When Mr. Begraft began home brewing a little over two years ago, he turned to the Internet for ingredients to make the Belgian- and blond-style beers he is fond of. “There was nothing around here,” he said. “If you broke something or needed something, you had to wait at least over a week and pay shipping fees.”

The home-brew stores cater to customers who want to talk shop.

“Every day we have somebody come in and we explain the process,” Mr. Begraft said. He can also point them to local clubs in Sussex County, like Sussex County United Brewers and Alchemists, where they can meet other home brewers.

Mr. Begraft, along with his colleague Mike Pippitt, often gives brewing demonstrations. On Nov. 3, when the American Homebrewers Association sponsors its national Learn to Homebrew Day, his shop and many others, as well as some home-brew clubs, will hold events.

For home brewers like Bobby Mierzejwski, the opening of more shops catering to the hobby is a welcome trend.

Mr. Mierzejwski, 36, of Piscataway, said that when he first started home brewing about six years ago, he bought most of his materials online or made them (something he still does; he also sells equipment he makes on his Web site, brewhardware.com). But now Mr. Mierzejwski, who is the president of the Woodbridge Homebrewers Ale and Lager Enthusiast Society, can go to shops nearby like love2brew, a warehouse-style store that opened last year in North Brunswick, for supplies. He often runs into other club members there, he said.

While love2brew sells much of its merchandise online, the 2,500-square-foot store, with shelves of supplies and materials, has its homey aspects. The owners, Ron Witkowski and Mark Spezio, who started out as home brewers, bring a personal touch to the business.

“All of our kits have instructions that we write ourselves,” said Mr. Witkowski, 28, of North Brunswick, adding that they write the recipes, too, for their own concoctions, like a crisp and lemony Sorachi saison and a malty-sweet vanilla cream ale, among dozens of others.

On the shop’s Web site, they post content from a variety of contributors on topics like pairing beer with food and how to brew with fruit. At the front of the shop, behind the checkout counter, bottles of beers made by customers are displayed. They are also building a brew-on-premise center, which they hope to open by the end of November.

Turning their hobby into a business has not dimmed the partners’ enthusiasm for making their own beer at home. “We brewed 40 gallons this month,” Mr. Witkowski said, for Mr. Spezio’s coming wedding.

Home brewers welcome more than 80 visitors to Yough Park – Tribune

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By Mark Hofmann

Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 12:01 a.m.

Updated 4 hours ago

The second annual Tangled Up in Brew brought out a dozen home brewers and a public willing to taste the fruits, the barley and the hops of their labors.

Tangled Up in Brew is a home brewers competition featuring local brewers. Last year it was held at the Connellsville Elks, but organizers wanted to make it an outdoor event to give it a better potential to grow. Saturday’s event was moved to Yough River Park.

“There’s a flavor here for everyone,� said Geno Gallo, Connellsville’s sustainability coordinator.

Gallo said last year’s event stirred up interest and within the first hour of Saturday’s event, 85 people stopped by to visit the world of home brewing.

“We want to get people interested in home brewing,� Gallo said, adding that one of the joys of making beer is the beer maker knows what they’re putting in their beer. “There’s a lot of junk in commercial beers.�

The education included a demonstration of home brewing, and people also had an opportunity to speak with the home brewers and ask whatever questions they wanted.

While all the home-brewed beers were being judged by two judges with a home-brewing background, Gallo said there was also a people’s choice vote. Categories included Best Beer, Best Beer and Food Pairing, Most Unique Brew and Best Name.

Prizes were awarded in those categories.

A variety of beers like stouts, hefeweizens, lagers, ales and beers with pumpkin flavor and even a chilli flavor were on display for people to taste, not drink a lot and become intoxicated, as Gallo stressed.

Sustainable Connellsville sponsored the event.

“This is a great fundraiser,� Gallo said as Sustainable Connellsville and the Yough River Trail Council benefited from Saturday’s event.

Mark Hofmann is a staff writer with Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-626-3539 or mhofmann@w.

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ECO to hold beer-brewing workshop

The workshop will be held at Southern Appalachian Brewery at 822 Locust St. in Hendersonville.

This program will teach participants the skill of brewing their own beer. Chambers will provide a live presentation on the beer-making process, and participants will get to walk away with a basic knowledge for making beer at home.

The process includes the creation of wort with malted barley and the addition of hops for certain flavors and aromas. An explanation of the purposes and benefits of certain ingredients will coincide with the presentation.

The next step involves the fermentation process and what to look for in a successful homebrew. The final product can either be kegged or bottled, both of which are viable options for homebrewers. As a bonus, this live presentation will include how to make hard cider, a similar process to brewing beer.

Chambers is representing Asheville Brewer’s supply as a product resource, as well as for future questions and needs of the homebrewer.

After the presentation, attendees can participate in an optional beer tasting and social at Southern Appalachian Brewery, which has a number of different styles of beer on tap. The instructor will explain the different styles of ingredients that go into a variety of beers, which the participant can taste afterward for an additional cost.

The demonstration begins at 6:30 p.m., with the doors opening shortly before. Bring extra cash for the beer tasting. Registration is $15. Pre-register online at www.eco-wnc.org or call 828-692-0385. Seating is limited.

It’s way past time to legalize the home-brewing of beer in Alabama (Your Word)

Last week, when ABC agents
hauled more than $7,000 worth of home-brewing equipment from Hop City, a
Birmingham beer and wine store, they did so to the letter of the law

According
to Alabama statutes, as ABC Board attorney David Peacock notes, “You can
have sugar, you can have malt, you have barley, you can have hops, you can have
tubing, copper and everything else, but if you put it all together in a store
and market it like it’s going to be home-brewing stuff and have a book about how
to do it, it’s a problem.”

But that’s not the real
problem here. The real problem is the fact that home-brewing in Alabama is
illegal to begin with, and the reaction to the stories on AL.com about the
ABC’s actions show that a lot of readers agree.
Although the hobby was
legalized on a federal level more than 33 years ago, lawmakers in Alabama and
Mississippi — the only two holdouts — have stubbornly held on to the past when
voting on legislation to allow brewing at home.

It’s time for that to
change, because this is not about cousin Billy mixing up some moonshine in the
bathtub, as some lawmakers seem to think.
Nor is it just a fast,
cheap way to get children drunk on hundreds of gallons of beer, another
argument put forth by our elected officials.

This is about personal
freedom, and allowing everyday Alabamians to enjoy a hobby that’s legal in 48
other states.
Alabama is obviously not
averse to alcohol — each state-owned ABC store acts as a reminder that being in
the alcohol business brings a lot of revenue to the state — so why is
home-brewing shunned so vehemently?

Without home-brewing, there
would be no Samuel Adams, no Sierra Nevada, no Good People Brewing Company.
There’s little doubt that Alabama’s booming brewery scene — now at nine
breweries, with at least six more in planning — would cease to exist if
some of the state’s brewers hadn’t taken the risk to illegally ply their trade at home and develop their craft.

Nearly every weekend across
Alabama, friends gather in driveways and back yards to brew their own beer,
often without much worry that armed ABC agents will raid their illegal
operations. But, as the ABC enforcers in Birmingham proved when they removed
the home brewing supplies from Hop City, there’s still a very real fear of
prosecution, a cloud of uncertainty that hangs over each illegal brew day and,
simply put, that needs to go away.

We live in a state where
many residents applaud limited government and fewer controls over our daily
lives, yet here’s just one example of the state intervening where it doesn’t
belong — in the kitchens and driveways of its residents. You can’t have it both
ways.
Right To Brew, the state’s
home-brewing advocacy group that has been working for years to change the law,
will bring legislation back to Montgomery when they convene in 2013.

While it’s hard to see the
short-term good that can come out of the events at Hop City, I think the light
that’s been shone on this ridiculous law will be beneficial to the cause of
every closeted home-brewer in the state, and will help lead to reforming these
outdated statutes.

It’s time for all Alabamians, whether they enjoy home-brewing or not, to stand
up for personal freedom and tell our elected officials that we want the hobby
legalized. To learn more, visit alahomebrewing.org and freethehops.org.

Dan Murphy is Head Brewer
at the Fairhope Brewing Company, which is set to open at 914 Nichols Ave. in
Fairhope this fall. You may reach him at dan@fairhopebrewing.com

Brewing beer the presidential way

To make the beer, we steeped whole-grain biscuit and amber malt in a mesh bag to add color, added two bags of dried malt and two cans of malt extract, and brought the pot to a boil. After it cooked for a while, we added two kinds of hops. Five minutes before we turned off the pot, we added the honey. We chilled the mixture, now called the “wort,” before transferring it to the fermenter (in our case a big glass jug) and adding yeast.

Barbecue entrepreneur brewing up a new project

BY CATHY JETT

VIRGINIA Barbeque’s founder is turning a hobby into a new business.

Rick Ivey, who started the restaurant chain in 2000, recently converted his Ladysmith location into the first of what could become a chain of Hops Brew Shops. It caters to people who are interested in making their own beer.

Ivey and his 20-year-old son Austin started brewing the beverage on the family’s 17-acre farm in Partlow about a year and a half ago. Ivey was interested in it as a hobby, but Austin, who wasn’t even old enough to drink at the time, became fascinated by the details of the process.

Father and son decided to capitalize on the growing interest in home-brewing, and scouted the handful of stores in Virginia that sell supplies for that market.

“We found some things we liked, and some we didn’t,” Ivey said.

One of those things they disliked was that none of the stores explained the process to people just getting started. So their first Hops Brew Shop, which is in the former Virginia Barbeque at 18043 Jefferson Davis Highway, includes a mini-home-brewery setup in addition to home-brewing supplies.

“People are spending $100 to get started, and they’re not sure how to do it or how the beer is going to come out,” Ivey said. “That was our goal, to take what we found was an issue with brew shops and teach people how to brew beer.”

Hops Brew Shop will have a free, in-store demonstration of brewing techniques around noon this Saturday.

People have been brewing small batches of beer at home since the dawn of agriculture. Today, there are an estimated 1 million home-brewers and 1,000 home-brew clubs in the United States, according to the American Homebrewers Association.

Hops Brew Shop’s website, hopsbrewstore.com, lists 14 home-brew clubs in Virginia. Two are local: Fredericksburg Area R T Brew Club and Fredericksburg Brewing Tasting Society.

“I think that’s new,” Ivey said. “It used to be that everyone did this on their own. Now they’re getting into clubs and sharing and learning from each other.”

Ivey credits microbreweries and the craft-beer movement for boosting home-brewing’s popularity.

“People that home-brew don’t brew Bud Light,” he said. “They definitely brew in the more craft-style, and make different, unique beers. That’s what people who brew it are looking for, that high-end experience.”

Austin Ivey, who started working for his dad when he was 13, runs the new store in Ladysmith.

“This is a big jump up for him,” Rick Ivey said. “He seems to be following in the entrepreneurial footsteps.”

Ivey, who parlayed his first Virginia Barbeque in Ashland into a chain of 13 stores in Virginia and four other states, plans to manage the franchise end of the new business.

“We don’t want to franchise it before we run it for at least half a year, but we do have an application on our website,” he said. “We’re only going to take a certified brewer or someone who has been home brewing for years. We really want to have expert brewers in each store so they can teach people instead of just selling equipment.”

Ivey said buying a Hops Brew Shop franchise and all the stock to open it will cost less than $30,000. That’s much less than the $120,000 to $130,000 it costs to open one of his Virginia Barbeque franchises.

“There’s a lot less cost to get in and a lot less risk since most of the money is in the stock of the store,” he said. “It’s not like a restaurant where you can’t hold onto food for months.”

During the next two or three years, the Iveys would like to join the growing number of breweries and brew pubs popping up across the state—34 at last count—by opening a microbrewery on their farm. They’d also draw on their catering background to host weddings and special events there.

“We want to go to the current Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors about this,” Rick Ivey said. “Right now there are some very pro-business supervisors on the board and in July a new rule went into effect to make it easier to open a microbrewery.”

Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
cjett@freelancestar.com