USA, NY: Mountain Roads Brewing nears opening in Henrietta

Jacob Parlett is nearing the end of one process involving a lot of testing and retesting — and testing and retesting some more — and about to embark on another process that he hopes offers a just reward.

After all, it's a lot of work coming up with a beer that's just right. Actually, make that just perfect.

Parlett, who up until two years ago worked as a software developer for a local company, several years ago was introduced to hazy IPAs, specifically those crafted by Tree House Brewing Co. outside of Boston.

He was hooked, and this could be considered step one of a process that would take him to helping his wife Rachael’s teacher curriculum business, enabling him to leave his software job, and, you may have guessed, brewing his own beer for sale.

Parlett is at the stage when he is six weeks or so from opening Mountain Roads Brewing Co., although getting here was a painstaking, but fun, process.

“It sounded like something that would be fun, but I didn’t know anything about it and wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it,” said Parlett, from a roughly 2,400-square-foot industrial space at the Genesee Valley Regional Market where he plans to sell his beer in cans to go.

But here he is, awaiting fermenters that are due to arrive in early November, giving him a few weeks after that before his Mountain Roads brews will be ready.

The actual beer part of this process is going slow, by design, even if the idea behind it seems to have gotten off to a fast start, fueled by IPAs and a dream.

Last summer, Parlett had the time and the potential to raise money to make his idea happen.

The first thing he had to do was start brewing, and last summer he started brewing at his Penfield home — and brewed quite a bit of beer at home.

“I made a lot of good friends,” Parlett said, laughing.

Feedback from friends helped him dial in his recipes and he got to the point earlier this year at which he came to the realization, “I can do this,” Parlett said, and begin looking at places to operate, equipment and developing a business model.

Parlett opted on a one-barrel system, definitely small and again, that’s by design.

No taproom, at least not yet, but when Parlett is ready, Mountain Roads will be selling cans to go from the spot at the regional market. This will save him on staffing and having to offer customers food, as well as keeping startup costs to a manageable level and prompting a clear-eyed focus on his hazies.

“That will allow me to feel out the market and figure out where I need to go from there,” Parlett said. “I think there’s a lot of room to push the envelope in the IPA market in the area. We’ll find out, I guess.”

Matt Oldfield, a friend and former co-worker of Parlett’s, knows what you’re thinking. Everybody has a friend who makes beer at home and dreams of selling it to the masses. To reference the classic film "Caddyshack," the "Cinderella story," though IPAs, not golf.

Parlett comes from the software development and engineering field, and in that kind of development work, you develop iterations of something to improve on it, Oldfield said.

Oldfield went over to Parlett's house to try one of his first batches of beer, not expecting much but leaving encouraged for his friend.

“I’m really not exaggerating when I say this. I tasted it and I was like, ‘Wow! He’s in the ballpark,’” said Oldfield, who also shared early trial runs of beer with a group of IPA-loving dads in his neighborhood who shared some of their suggestions.

Remember, Parlett made a lot of friends in this process.

Oldfield is confident that Parlett will produce fantastic products because he’s building on earlier versions of his beer, which he said was pretty good to begin with, and using quality ingredients in a process that allows for good decisions and growth.

“Good stuff makes good beer. That’s what he wants to be known for,” Oldfield said. “For him, what’s most important, is that he’s serving a quality product. If overnight he blows up, and once he’s able to sell, he’s got enough room to scale.”

While Parlett is purposely making the process a deliberate one, that doesn’t mean he can’t wait for others to try Mountain Roads beer. Several hazies will be first off the line, but for sure one of his first beers will be Green Ambition, a hazy double IPA with Citra, Simcoe and Sabro hops.

"The recipe for Green Ambition is one I have worked on a lot and is probably my most refined at this point," Parlett said. “I’m not going to rush it. I want to make sure the beer that I’m putting out there is quality.”

Parlett said he has had a ton of fun making his beer over the last year. It’s been a ton of fun just getting his place set up and thinking about all the possibilities.

Yeah, it's a process.

“I’m excited to get going,” Parlett said. “I love making and drinking beer and making it better and finding new flavors and new places to take hazy IPAs specifically. I’m excited about the whole thing.”

25 October, 2024