BTN: Butternuts Beer & Ale (Garratsville, NY)

By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall

Butternuts Beer & Ales is a partnership between Chuck Williamson and Leo Bongiorno; both were involved with the (now closed) Long Island Brewing Company. In a converted dairy barn in Garratsville, New York they operate a brewery with the capacity for up to 8000 barrels a year production.  (Though, no doubt they aren't producing that much yet.)  They started shipping Porkslap, a Pale Ale, and Heinnieweisse, a Hefeweizen, in March 2006. These beers are distributed in New York and in parts of New Jersey. In the fall they expect to add an India Pale Ale and a Milk Stout to their line-up. (I can't wait to find out what those beers will be called.)

I asked Williamson about the decision to can Butternuts beer rather than to bottle it. "The first reason to put the beer in cans is that it's different," he said. "Also it's more shelf stable. You won't have any problems with the beer getting light struck. And, canning is environmentally friendly. Aluminum cans are ninety-seven percent recyclable." He said they wanted to market the beer to markets where bottled beer couldn't go like golf courses. "We want to brew an approachable beer for the common man," said Williamson. "That's why our beer is priced so reasonably." 

Of course, canned beer historically has been viewed as a second-class product by the craft beer community, but that's all changing. A number of craft brewers are starting to can their products. 21st Amendment Restaurant and Brewery are canning some of their beer. The Brookston Beer Bulletin has an excellent article on canning beer. The New England Brewing Company is canning their beer as well. They have an Amber, a Lager, and an IPA -- all in cans.

Butternuts is using a five-head canning system from Cask Brewing Systems Inc. a Canadian company supplying "small scale brewers and packagers worldwide." Butternuts is the only brewer in New York using this type of canning system.

Chuck Williamson said, "We want to have a strong presence on Long Island and in the five burroughs.  You should be seeing a lot of our beer in the future."

But what does the beer taste like?

Porkslap pours orange and crystal clear producing a frothy white head.  There's a initial vegetal aroma when first popping the can, but that gives way quickly to a malty aroma livened with lemon spice. When you bite into the beer the first thing you will notice is the hop bitterness. The character of the bitterness is tea-like. I found this beer easy to drink and most thirst quenching. I would drink this straight on a hot day or pair it with spicy food, perhaps spicy pepperoni pizza or Mexican food. Williamson said this beer was not a typical Pale Ale. It's a new interpretation of a Pale Ale. The lemon-spice character is unique in my experience. Butternuts has certainly added something new to the Beer World with this creation.

Williamson described the Heinnieweisse as a traditional Hefeweizen. Prior to opening the can and decanting, give the can a good roll on the countertop to rouse the yeast.  When you pour you'll want to see that nice wheat cloudiness. Immediately on opening you should note the estery aroma. This beer is a fine balance of banana and clove. It's a pale straw color. The taste is a combination of effervescence, sweetness, and tart with a peppery finish. Any one of those elements if dominant could throw the beer out of balance, but in the Heinnieweisse the combination is superb and fresh. Freshness is important.  Hefeweizens are not beers that you should let hang around in your beer cellar.

Buy these as fresh as possible and drink them promptly. To my taste the Heinnieweisse stands up to any of the German Hefeweizens. There's no way that a beer imported from Germany can be as fresh as a beer you buy in your own state. For all you beer drinkers who think you don't like Hefeweizen, give Heinnieweisse a try, it might show you what this style was meant to be.

Comments

[Bill]

My first taste of these two brews left me flat and I posted on Catch & Release how unremarkable I thought they were. However, after drinking a bit more under different circumstances my tune has changed and Porkslap is rapidly becoming one of my favs. Heinnieweisse is not far behind either.

The problem is I can’t smell the morning coffee anymore. Yeah, it sucks getting old and at the tender age of 47 my gustative and olfactory systems are just not what they used to be. So if I want to smell or taste something accurately, I have to do it not after a long day of inhaling who-knows-what, but after a nice hot shower.

That’s how I tasted Porkslap and Heinnieweisse the second time. And what a difference it made. I could actually smell and taste the stuff, and I liked it. Karilyn and I finished two six-packs in no time and we’re looking forward to buying more.

I noticed two things: the Porkslap tasted better as it warmed up (not unusual) and the low carbonation was a welcome surprise. I usually give bottled beer a good hard pour to break the carbonation a little. That’s not needed here.

I’m growing fonder of Hefe the more I drink. Not just the Heinnie, but I’ve been sampling others too. Good stuff. A far cry from what I was getting on tap at my local (recently defunct) pub.

I love the cans. Cans means I can bring these on my sailboat (no glass allowed for safety) and enjoy them in my favorite anchorage. It’s gonna be a good summer…

[Rob]

Just tried the Porkslap for the first time. Liked it quite a bit. Not a real strong ale. It reminded my taste buds of Murphy's Irish Stout. I would definitely buy it again. Paid $5.99 for a sixer where I live in NJ.

[patrick]

I agree that everyone must try their beers and go for a visit. i love microbreweries and the people that run butternuts are all about the beer.

[beer]

Brew low cost beer. The amount of time you spend on brewing beer makes the small difference in cost between "just OK"

ingredients and top quality ingredients a minor point. Either way, the cost of brewing a 5 gallon batch is much cheaper

than buying a couple of cases of beer in the store.

Beer is made of cheap ingredients, so it doesn't hurt to buy the best. Surprisingly, the cheapest way to brew beer gives

you the best results: all grain brewing is the cheapest way to brew when grain is bought in bulk.

You do need a grain mill and a mash tun, so there is a small investment in equipment needed. But you should be able to

brew excellent quality beer for less than $2 per gallon, and you could brew a mild ale for as little as $1 per gallon, or

less than 10 cents per bottle (one gallon is about 10-1/2 12oz bottles). Most of my pilsners are about $1.50 a gallon

brews.

Other ways to reduce the cost of your beer are by growing your own hops and reusing yeast from the fermenter. Easy to do,

and it means that I don't have to buy yeast more than once every half year or so. The hops should last e through most of

the winter brews. So all you need is grain, which is about $0.70 per pound in a bulk purchase (much of the cost is in

shipping).

Beer Brewing Equipment Basic, simple, cheap equipment that gets the job done. Sometimes it adds to the challenge. But

through the mystique of brewing and remember that illiterate alewives brewed for centuries using tried and true recipes

and procedures before the dawn of kegerators, ph meters or hydrometers.

Beer Keg Brewing. After using bottles for years, you can jump to the corny keg (Cornelius keg). This is an important step

because it makes brewing so much easier. You can still bottle, but just a few bottles per batch, and use a corny keg to

fill the bottles. You can use corny kegs as secondary fermenting vessels. You can try out method where you leave the beer

in the primary for about two weeks until it clears nicely, and then upi carefully siphon it over to a corny, avoiding

transferring any trub.

[alex]

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