"Micropub" System..thoughts?

For all intents and purposes, it's extract brewing.
Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that; it's how the extract is treated, how fresh it is and how carefully it's fermented and stored prior to serving. There are some professional breweries that use extract instead of all grain in their processes.
I also take issue with the website, where it talks about time saved, implying that all-grain breweries germinate and roast the grains before mashing. I don't think any brewery actually does this on site. (I may be wrong, but I would bet anything that I can count ones that do on one hand) (OK, Sierra Nevada with their Estate ales, though do they malt it on site?)
Anyways, truly speaking, the mashing of grains isn't really all that time consuming, it does need some careful control of timing and temperature, and somewhere to store potentially tons of grain.
If I was to open a brewpub, I would want to have all control myself, and I don't know that I would consider this a brewpub perse. I don't know what I would call it, but it appears the final user does not exert much control over the recipes brewed.

 

Kind of in line with my thinking - it is extract brewing one step removed. I know good beer can be made even transporting the wort "as is" - Mystic Brewery here in MA does that - they do their mashing off site, maintain their QC, select their own ingredients, then run the fermentation at the "brewery". I know good beer can be made by using all extracts - most HB folks start out that way, many stay that way, and there are brew on premises places that can testify to that.

So that leaves two things in my mind. The quality of the ingredients and the skill/dedication of the people. Extract brewing saves you some time and steps where you have to pay attention, but it still takes some level of dedication, skill, and basic knowledge to do properly. Do the end users watch the fermentation temperatures? How do they know what they are using - no control. Are they conditioning? Do they clean anything? Do they understand any of the basic principles? Pitching rate? Measure a specific gravity? Yeah - have your galley slave making two bucks an hour run this pseudo-brewhaus?

Totally agree that it "de-romanticizes" the art of brewing, but I bet this idea catches on some before it crashes and burns (and it just might not become an epic fail). Restaurants/pubs capitalizing on a craze with minimal investment in time and money serving allegedly "house brewed fresh" beer to the unsuspecting. I'd think the "prey" here is the casual or occasional craft beer drinker. The average person has no idea how beer is brewed and wouldn't know the difference if it smacked them upside the head. As we keep saying, BA'ers are a small percentage of a small percentage of beer drinkers overall. One thing for sure - if the beer sucks (and it sounds like it does at this place), it is bad publicity for brewing in general. Coming down on the "not a fan" side.

 

There have been these "turnkey" malt syrup breweries for a long time - one of the longest-lived companies is Specialty Products International aka "Beadle Brewing System" owned by the author of an early US homebrewing book, Leigh Beadle.

Why wouldn't it? It would qualify under the B.A.'s 3 criteria - Small, Independent and Traditional (since the only brewing ingredients to them that are "non-traditional" are corn or rice used as an adjunct).

 

Don't have a problem with something like this as long as they are forthcoming in what they are... Do have an issue however when there are new articles out there that refer to the owner as a "brewmaster" states that "brews were crafted by" and things like "It’s straight from the tanks to the tap. There’s no kegs, there’s no middleman, It’s the freshest, coldest beer you can get.”

 

Run by a guy who is (according to the article) "Clean-shaven and sporting a suit"?!!? No thank you sir.

 

Clarification: At Mystic Brewery we brew the wort ourselves at full strength, cast out to a fermenter on our truck, and do all the cold-side work at our brewery in Chelsea, MA. The only thing different from a process standpoint is that the kettle and the final location of the fermenter is miles away instead of meters.

Our model is based on a Belgian geuzestekerij, not an extract brewery. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geuzestekerij

The problems with extract is that it is heated and highly concentrated which causes reactions that don't happen in an all grain system...and thus can give you unintended flavors in lighter beers.

 

Right - thanks for the correction, sorry for the confusion on my part. I did not mean to imply at all that this is extract brewing or that you concentrate the wort. Just that the process is physically "disjointed" by miles instead of feet and that transporting "single strength" wort is not an issue.

 

Who cares if it's extract beer? I have won medals with extract brews.

 

I don't care how it's made. If it's a local pub with good vibes, the beer is good and preferable also serving food I'd support the place.

 

You can make good beer starting with malt extract if you know what you are doing. But chances are if you know what you are doing, you wouldn't be buying/using a micropub system.

 

That would have to be a pretty big hand though - Coors does their own maltings in house.

 

A quote from Dr Malcom (Jurassic Park). Mind you this was about dinosaur cloning but I think it fits regarding the ease that is promised in producing beer. . "The problem with scientific power you've used is it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box ( or in a growler), and now you want to sell it."
If you wanted to serve something a simple as mac'n cheese to people you could go about it two different ways. Open a box and follow the directions. Or source the wheat for the pasta and make it yourself. Find the best dairy for cheese and milk. Then spend countless hours and money finding just the right combination. Wring your hands about the details and fret if what you served is the best damn mac'n cheese they've ever had. How much would you take responsibility for the crap from the box?

 

"hefesweizen" lolz

 

Fair enough - but really, how many others? That was sort of my point, on the website, the Micro-pub company implies that malting is what brewers do in house, where it's very very few, numbers-wise, that actually do that. There may be a few experimenting with it, on test batch sizes, but for a commercial scale it's not some practical to do in house for most breweries.

 

I have been to a "brewery" that was like that from what I can tell. The beers were not good.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31571

 

I've had very good malt extract brews. I agree, if the place is honest and doesn't hype it for what it's not. Some do both extract and all grain, but start out doing the all grain on a pilot system like Brew Magic. I was in the tattoo industry for many years. It's no different. So many tattoo snobs/artists thinking they are Rock Stars! uuugh.....So now I see the same mentality in the beer market. If the beer is good, it's good; regardless. If it's not, it's not. Trust me, I've had many an all grain Craft Beer that SUCKED! Quit being snobs and give the place a chance. Why don't you just try talking with them and see what their plans/intentions are instead of slamming them or trying to "shame" them!? If you are that knowledgeable, why don't you try to actually help them or give some advice? Wouldn't you want someone doing the same with you? Golden Rule, people.

 

And too many self proclaimed expert Beer Snobs make it a point of "shaming" others? Shame on you!

 

Regardless of style or name or how it's made, if it's good beer it'll make money.

If it's not good, like the beer that you've described, then no money = this place'll be closed down soon. In the end beer is simple supply and demand.

 

Buster's Brew Pub in Camp Drum, NY.
http://www.drummwr.com/Commons.htm