E-Malt.com News article: USA, MA: The Mystic Brewery launches its first batch of beer

The first batch of beer from the Mystic Brewery, a new Chelsea brewery, hit shelves recently and the reviews have been positive, Chelsea Record reported on December, 15.

The Mystic Brewery, LLC’s signature beer Saison can now be found a local liquor stores like Fernandez Brothers and restaurants like Larry’s House of Q on Broadway.

The owners of Mystic Brewery, who signed a lease in March and begun preparations to bring a Belgian-style brewery to Chelsea, completed its first batch in late fall and the craft beers like Saison and Suffolk Dark Ale will give any other small batch brew a run for its money.

Mystic Brewery concept has been to make pre-industrial style beers, like those from Belgium, but with a distinct New England agricultural influence.

The brewery is run by MIT trained fermentation scientists Dr. Bryan Greenhagen, PhD, his wife Emily Greenhagen and professional brewer James Nicholson.

When the three brewers first opened, they said the focus would be on their flagship beer, Mystic Saison. Mystic Saison was built from Greenhagen’s fourteen years of home brewing experience and his career in flavor and aroma fermentation science. That coupled with the knowledge and experience of commercial brewing that Mystic’s head brewer James Nicholson gained at Capitol City Brewing Company in Washington, DC, as well as during his internships at Sly Fox Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania and Brauerei Merkel in Freudenberg, Germany has resulted in a solid craft brew.

“I have a pretty singular focus on making the absolutely best beer possible,” said Nicholson. “We worked extraordinarily hard to create and refine the recipes for Mystic and we think this kind of hard work is what people deserve from their local brewery.”

Mystic has made its Saison in line with Belgium tradition, style and ingredients.

“We see our efforts as a part of the evolution of craft brewing,” said Greenhagen. “First we rebelled against a near total lack of choice in the marketplace. Then we found we could not only make great beer but we could also push the boundaries of what Americans see as beer. Today we can finally return to the kinds of beer that were beloved and even thought to be sacred for millennia.”


16 December, 2011