E-Malt.com News article: USA, CT: Stubborn Beauty Brewing Company opens newest brewery in Connecticut

Connecticut's newest brewery opened March 1, drawing a steady stream of weekend visitors so far despite its out-of-the-way location in a former factory building in the city's North End, Hartford Courant reported on March 25.

Stubborn Beauty Brewing Company owners Andrew Daigle and Shane Lentini, who met in high school in New Britain, have been brewing beer together for about six years. They offer free Saturday afternoon tastings and sell large and small growlers of their unique beers.

"We don't really follow style guidelines," Lentini said.

The beers have unique names and flavors – the Kommandant Lassard dunkelweizen, for example, has a banana aroma and a rich chocolate flavor. The Speaking In Tongues black IPA is a hybrid of a hoppy dark IPA and a stout.

"The response has been really good so far," Lentini said. "Everyone has been extremely supportive since we opened. It's a great area."

The two brewers went from amateurs to professionals a year ago. After deciding they wanted to try brewing as something more than a hobby, they started making several batches at a time to enter in beer festivals in the area.

Lentini, 37, works in information technology for a company in Enfield. Daigle, 37, is an MRI technologist at a hospital in New Haven. Both hope the brewery can become successful enough for them to quit their day jobs, but said until then they are happy putting in the work on nights and weekends to bring their passion to beer drinkers in Connecticut.

"Personally, it has been worth it," Daigle said.

Daigle said the first beer they brewed as a team was an IPA, which they have refined and sell now as one of their signature beers: Nummy Nummy.

New brewing equipment will come in soon, allowing Stubborn Beauty to increase its capacity and start selling kegs to restaurants throughout the area.

The brewery already has a deal with the nearby Eli Cannon's Tap Room, and will try to get their beer in other local restaurants as they continue increasing production, Lentini said.

"Middletown didn't have a brewery and we base our stuff on local beer, so we did everything we could to help them get started. We're already seeing the benefits," said Phil Ouellette, owner of Eli Cannon's, a popular craft beer destination.

Ouellette and Stubborn Beauty have made an agreement for a series of seasonal beers brewed by Stubborn Beauty to be sold exclusively at Eli Cannon's. Lentini and Daigle also brewed the bar's 20th anniversary beer, Traaxx, a Belgian-style blonde ale they said appeals to both beer aficionados and average drinkers.

"We just feel like it's a good partnership," Ouellette said. "People ask us if a brewery opening close by is going to hurt our business, but we only do better if the industry continues to grow."


26 March, 2014