Members of the Conicalogical Home Brewers Collective
Brass Hat Brewing
Where's Your Hat?
Ron & Craig of Watertown, CT have combined their neighborhood forces into the fledgeling, Brass Hat Brewing. Self proclaimed successes include our "Brass City Black" black IPA, and "Weizen Hopper" (affectionately known also as "Fat Bunny") a hop amped Hefeweizen. Ron has years of experience at wine making and both guys feel well versed in the pleasures of beer consumption. With 2011 being our first year of brewing beer we have been immediately inspired by these nascent results and have inclinations to consider moving into something of a more serious nature at some point. But for now it's a blast to experiment and conspire with our fellow home brewers, most of whom join us here at Conicalogical. And as if the reward of great beer fashioned from our own bare hands isn't enough...check out some great tee-shirts and such at http://www.zazzle.com/brasshatbrewing . Craig is also a collector of breweriana (BCCA, Red Fox Chapter). Ron hoards pint glasses and 6-pack holders not to mention anything related to the Pittsburgh Steelers. We both worship hops with a special liking for double IPA's.
Outer Bass Brewing
Sorry, folks. I shed constantly
Mike (a.k.a Gambrinus) of Avon and Nick of Thomaston (a.k.a. Outer Bass Brewing Co.) originally hail from the Brass City. That's Waterbury to all of you outside of Connecticut and, well, in Connecticut for that matter. Although we're arguably the most novice (re: youngest, but not necessarily hippest) members of the Conicalogical Collective, we both have a profound addiction to high alpha acid hops that beckon for that extra dab of dextrose to help tame the beast. Believe me, we do not want it to be tamed. This spurred an interest not only in IPAs, but American IPAs. Big, nasty, herbacious and good gracious IPAs. I (Mike) blame (adore) Dogfish Head for making me a hop-fanatic. In my craft beer infancy, I thought Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was the hoppiest darn-tootinist beer I had ever had. Foolishly (luckily) I tried a 60 Minute IPA and the floodgates have been wide open ever since. Thanks, Sam Calagione, you criminally insane and magnificent bastard of craft brewing. Oh, yea, the black lab. You're probably wondering why he's reading this too. Let me try and explain briefly. Nick and I had each brewed separately in the past. I'll detail my follies in the future. But in July of 2011, we brewed an Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA clone and gave it several names. Black Dog IPA seemed like the best fit, so we went with it. Talk to Nick's dog, Gordie, over a beer and he'll tell you allll about it. We think it came out great, which means nothing, but a few others think so too. We're also an ambient noise a-capella duo who have been known to cause a racket in parking lots, breweries and Craig's house. We hope to bust out some brews in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned and keep supporting craft beer, or Garret Oliver won't be able to afford any more smarmy 3-piece suits or Pashmina afghans! Catch Nick at Quench in Waterbury and Gambrinus at Beer Advocate for braggadocio & reviews.