Oxbow's Contract-brewed Beers

IMO contracted beer is never the same.

Sip was the Lawsons contracted beer that kind of turned me away from it. Not a bad beer. But it’s not even close to DS

 

Pretty sure oxbow contracts all of their beers now other than the barrel stuff. Interesting how many breweries turn to contract brewing right now yet continue to open new spots? Are they sick of brewing or did all the talent leave? The turnover there is shocking.

 

Think Maine doesn't require brewers to disclose where stuff was brewed and it's also very easy (from a government paperwork stand point) to open up new "breweries" (taprooms). It's a bit deceptive.

 

having someone else brew your beer is a hell of a lot more cost effective than investing millions into a larger production facility. There’s a glut of capacity everywhere in the US. Really no need to spend all the time and money (and risk) building a new facility. The ROI on $$ spent on a new tap room location is significantly better than spending that money on additional production capacity.

Also ZG has an incredibly sophisticated system that should be capable of producing some pretty fantastic beer. I think they might make some of the best readily available beer across numerous styles in New England.

 

Contract brewing can be a very good alternative. I know that one local brewery near me contracted out its bottled/canned beers (exception bombers) to a succession of companies. The local brewer described some of his adventures in evaluating and instructing those brewers. To me, those products were consistent and good. Another local brewer has used contract brewing for its canned beers, and one of its brews has been a favorite of mine for years.

 

Another potential benefit of contract brewing is that larger scale canning (and possibly bottling) facilities are likely to deliver beer in better condition than small-scale can or bottling lines, mobile canning, and/or crowler machines.

 

Cambridge Brewing Company has always contract-brewed their canned beer, notably Flower Child, and it’s been great since the beginning

 

I never realized Oxbow had any beers contract brewed, but it does make sense considering the size of the brewhouse in Newcastle. It can't be all of the clean beer though because they just posted something recently about mashing in on FPA.

 

I have purchased Luppolo a number of times in the past and I was always a fan of those beers. My most recent purchase (a few weeks ago) is a differing experience. I did not carefully read the can's label at the time of purchase but in small-ish font the can lists: "Brewed for Oxbow Brewing Co. by Zero Gravity Brewing Co. Burlington, Vermont".

I find it 'interesting' that they chose to highlight in bold the "Oxbow Brewing Co." part.

I am not a fan of this 'new' Luppolo and the fact that this beer is pricey (16 bucks at my local Retail Beer Distributor) adds insult to injury.

I will no longer be purchasing this beer. A bit of a disappointment since I did enjoy the Luppolo beers of the past that were brewed in Maine.

Cheers!

 

Wouldn’t it be funny if Luppulo has been brewed by ZG for some time and you now are just noticing it? Or do you have the receipts?

 

What I can say with certitude is that this last purchase of Luppolo is the first time the cans listed the beer was brewed at Zero Gravity.

But find your amusement where you will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

I’m seeing contracting as a way for breweries to accomplish a couple things: lower the cost of their best selling beers to the consumer, gain access to better equipment and ingredients, allows them to concentrate on innovation and their taproom operations.

Win win for consumer and the producer. I don’t care where the beer is brewed if it tastes good and the brewery is surviving in this crazy industry.

 

Oxbow contract brewed? Huh, never know it by the $.

 

They wouldn’t be able to offer their lagers at the current price on the shelf if they brewed it themselves, brew house is too small. And ya gotta consider the outrageous increases in raw materials and increase in labor costs.

 

That's all well and good. I just want them to be transparent about it. I find it pretty shady for a brewery to imply on a label that their beer was produced in one place when it was actually produced in another.

 

All brewing is a combination of ingredient selection and brewing process. Since lager beers are more involved (e.g., including the lagering phase) it could be argued it is more process intensive. It is entirely possible (probable?) that the Zero Gravity brewery configuration is different from the Oxbow brewing in Newcastle and consequently this brewing process would be 'compromised' (but with steps to 'manage' the differences?).

At the Oxbow brewery in Newcastle they list Luppolo as being available on draft, maybe this 'version' was brewed locally in Newcastle?

https://oxbowbeer.com/location/newcastle/

Perhaps a side-by-side tasting of this draft beer vs. a canned version brewed at Zero Gravity would be revealing?

Cheers!