The Malted Monthly June 2019

This month's Brewery of the Month is Aeronaut Brewing Company out of Sommerville, MA. We would like to thank Technical Director, Mike Smith, for taking the time to talk to us about everything Aeronaut Beer!

When did you open: June 2014- we are about three weeks away from our fifth anniversary. Our brewery follows the modern brewery/taproom model. About 40-50% of what we make we sell over the bar. The rest is sold on draught and in cans.

Where are you located: Sommerville, MA

Where can people find you: MA, RI, VT, ME

What is the history of the Brewery: It started with the 3 founders Dan, Ben, and Ronn- 3 friends bumming around Sommerville. They were all academics- Ronn was getting his PhD at MIT, Ben was studying at MIT, and Dan was their friend. It was during this time that the three of them got into homebrewing in Sommerville together. As what happens with so many brewers that eventually turned pro, their hobby continued to grow and grow until they felt that it was only logical to start their own brewery. In 2014 we produced 500 barrels, and we have been doubling each year since we opened. Today we brew 4,000 barrels in a 9 barrel brewhouse.

Do you have a philosophy behind the beers you brew: The company philosophy is the spirit of exploration- in fact that’s sort of the whole meaning behind the name of the brewery. It’s the idea that our brewery is all about controlled chaos. We love to explore different beers and beer styles. Over the years we have gotten more and more experimental. We have been playing a lot with barrel-aged beers, saisons, and spontaneously fermented beers. We take a lot of pride in our lab and its ability to isolate different types of unique yeasts. Those unique yeast strains can ferment beer and produce flavors with a variety of different characteristics that one does not typically find in most commercial beer. My personal philosophy is to keep things simple. Pick the thing you want to highlight and build a recipe around that.

What styles of beer do you prefer to brew: We make a lot of very good New England-style IPAs (in fact, it's what we are known for). But even though we are good at making those beers (and making them well), our real strength is the variety of beers we are able to do. With our brewing system, we are able to do both large scale and small scale beers (based on whether it’s one of our core beers or something a bit more fun and experimental). There are a LOT of beers that are exclusive only to our taproom (like saisons, kettle sours, mixed-culture fermentations, fruit beers, etc.). I encourage everyone to visit the taproom to see the variety that we are able to offer!

What are your core beers: We have 2 flagships- A Year With Dr. Nandu IPA (named after a good friend of the founders with a great sense of humor), and Hop Hop and Away Session IPA.

Plans for fun/cool beers: We are experimenting a lot with legitimately spontaneously fermented beer (meaning we do not add any yeast that was grown in a lab setting). Here we will brew a beer, and cool it down naturally (which will take a very long time), pitch no yeast, and add it to barrels the next day. We have been calling these beers Somerville Lambic (an homage to Belgian Lambic that also relies on native yeast from their surrounding environment).

Also, for the past few brewery anniversaries, we have brewed 2 years with Dr. Nandu, 3 years with Dr. Nandu…up to this year which will be called (you guessed it) 5 years with Dr. Nandu Double IPA. We also plan to re-release the previous anniversaries as a mixed 4-pack this year along with 5 years with Dr. Nandu as its own 4-pack. It'll be very challenging to get all of these beers out at the same time, but it's something we are really looking forward to!

What can we expect from Aeronaut in the Future?: We are extremely excited for our 5 year birthday party on June 21st . The beer will be flowing at the brewery along with great music, and we will be releasing the mix 4-pack of the 4 years plus the 4-pack of the 5 year. Check here for details! Beyond that- we are going to continue doing what we do best- make great beer in the spirit of exploration!

Thanks again to Mike Smith for taking the time to talk to us! You can currently find A Year With Dr. Nandu on tap at the Malted Barley in Providence!