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Dry County Brewing: Trip Report
Posted on Tuesday, January 25 @ 09:38:52 CST by andy
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dojopub writes "The Brewmaster of Dry County Brewing, Mark Smith, invited our club for a tour yesterday. Dry County headquarters is located in the Smith family garage at their home in north Bentonville. Given the short notice from Thursday’s regular club meeting and the fact that our club is based in Fayetteville, turnout was low with Alan Gann and myself in attendance. Or perhaps it was due to the general fear among the membership that if they come to Benton County and have one drink to many, the Republican party will swoop in for the conversion. Whatever the case, the absence of several members meant more beer for Alan, me, and the GOP reps hiding in the bushes.
While the suburban home surrounded by devout, non-drinking folk my seem an unlikely location for an award-winning brewery, the attack dog posted at the entrance was the first indication that there was certainly something there worth protecting. After braving an affectionate mauling by an 8-month-old golden retriever (grown to full size, but still a pup at heart – very nice dog), we made it to brewing central where Brewmeister Smith was already tending to mass volumes of barley and water.
On the agenda today was an IPA brew consisting of 10 gallons of wort and 30 pounds of barley. The equipment at Dry County was quite impressive. Among the tools implemented for this brew was a pair of 20-gallon stainless steel kettles, an insulated, 10-gallon mash tun, and a counter-flow wort chiller. Water and wort were transferred via a rather quiet and efficient electric pump. A stainless, 10-gallon, conical fermenter was housed in a heated and cooled environment that maintained fermentation within one degree of dial-in. Very cool!
On tap during the brew was a delicious ESB and the award winning Fire in the Hole (whose name reminds me of a redhead I knew in college, but that’s another story). Snacks were provided by Mark’s wife (argh, here I go with the name deficiency again… Janice? Anyway, it started with a J and it seems lately you can call anyone in the club “Jay” and be correct half the time, while the other half will offer contraband, but I digress…).
I was able to stick around until the boil, but not the entire brewing process. But by the smell of the wort and the look of the hop schedule, I think it is safe to say that this will be an excellent and very hoppy ale. I can’t wait to try it when Mark brings some to a future meeting (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). And I hope to see more of you guys at the next event in the northern county. Cheers to Mark and family for their hospitality yesterday; I had a great time.
Cheers,
Tom Ford"
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