E-Malt.com News article: USA, VT: Knotty Shamrock pub to start assembling its new brewery

Kevin Pecor, the owner of Northfield’s Knotty Shamrock pub was a very anxious man on July 10 afternoon. He was anxious because he was awaiting the arrival of what he called “the Christmas truck.”

That truck held the items that he needed to start assembling the new brewery adjacent to the Pub on East Street. “We are about to open a craft brewery and it will be named The Paine Mountain Brewing Company. It is named after Paine Mt. and Charles Paine, who founded the Central Vt. Railroad. We’re going to make craft beer and join the craft beer race,” Kevin said in an interview to The Northfield News while he was waiting for his “Christmas truck”.

There has been a lot of interior work done at the site of Northfield’s old Economy Store and now it is ready for the installation of the brewing equipment. “What we have done is rip down all the interior walls in the old Economy Store on East Street (and adjacent to the brewery) and we rebuilt the walls to build a brewery room, a dry storage room, a keg room, a keg washing room and a retail outlet in the front of the building, as well as an exclusive tap area. The third phase of construction will connect the two buildings so you can go from the Pub directly to the brewery,” he said.

While the Knotty Shamrock will serve the new brews, that won’t be the only place they will be found. “We aren’t limited to The Knotty Shamrock as far as our craft beer sales will go. One of the reasons that we didn’t name it the Knotty Shamrock Pub and Brewery is that we plan on wholesaling to restaurants. We have five restaurants under contract and the Falls General Store, which is about to open this weekend, will pour fresh growlers at the store. There will be growler service as well as brewery tours at the brewery as well as other things we plan to do after it opens,” Kevin Pecor said.

While the brewery will be new, the local brewing isn’t. “We’ve been actually brewing for a year now. Pouring inside the Knotty Shamrock for about a year. We have three “staples” one of which is a double IPA (India Pale Ale). We have one a wheat beer, which is known as “The Knotty Blonde” which is kind of a fun name, And, we have an American stout but we haven’t decided on a name yet. All three have been extremely successful. As soon as we pour them a couple of hours later they are gone. Current production is about 10 to 20 gallons a week. We have excellent reaction to our brews. We have poured 21 different styles of beer so far. We have our “flagships” and we found those “flagships” by pouring different brews and getting a feel for what people like. We’ll have three on tap here at all times and have a fourth cycling it will be a seasonal or an experimental beer. It could be anything from a “sour” beer to a “Berlinerwise” which is a European style beer where you infuse the brew with juices and syrups.

Brewing operations next door will be capable of brewing just over 100 gallons per day. Right now we are actually brewing in the kitchen. It’s just a step above a home brew operation. We have much bigger kettles than you would typically find in the home but it’s all done in the kitchen now and, hopefully soon it will be next door,” Kevin said. While Kevin is the owner of the establishment he leaves the brewing process to an expert. “I have very little experience in brewing. I actually have a Brewmeister his name is Radley Herald and he’s been brewing for about 12 years. He has brewed in England and Germany.

He has extensive knowledge of techniques and recipes. He’s just a “beer geek” by trade,” Kevin said with a big smile.


16 July, 2014