SHEFFIELD — Perhaps the tie that binds all craft distillers, regardless of their chosen spirit, is the waiting game. For Chris Weld, of Berkshire Mountain Distillers (BMD), the most recent round of waiting (a whopping five years!) came to a close late last month with the release of three American whiskies, created in partnership with a trio of craft brewers in the Northeast as part of the Craft Brewers Whiskey Project.
The first release of beer-turned-whiskies, of which there are 12 in total, features UFO White Ale from Mass. Bay Brewing Co./Harpoon (Boston, Mass. and Windsor, Vt.); Spencer Brewery’s Trappist Ale (Spencer, Mass.); and 413 Farmhouse Ale from Big Elm Brewing, located right in Sheffield. Suffice it to say excitement is brewing for an industry — and a small town — keen on collaborations.
“[It’s like] a really geeky, fun science experiment,” Weld said of BMD’s recent feat: putting forth 12 whiskeys in the coming year, no two of which are alike. As to the connection between beer and whiskey? “Any precursor to a distilled spirit is something fermented,” Weld explained — grape juice for wine, fruit juice for eau de vie, and a mix of grains for whiskey. Long story short: a lot of scotch whiskies are made in the same way as beer.
Weld explained the genesis of this particular process at BMD which, instead of smoking grains over peat, began with taking “a glass-ready beer that has some hops to it, and some sort of botanical component that helps flavor these beers, [which then] transfers over to the subsequent whiskies.” In the case of Big Elm, Weld chose its 413 Farmhouse Ale — a Belgian saison with hints of chamomile — because the malt and hops are from the 413 area (Turner Hill Farm in South Egremont and Four Star Farms in Northfield, respectively). It is, for all intents and purposes, a Berkshire-based terroir, terroir being the characteristic flavor profile imparted on a product by the environment in which its components were produced.
“To be included in this project, as a really small brewery, is pretty humbling,” said Bill Heaton, who, with Christine Bump, owns and operates Big Elm. Collaboration and cross-promotion between the two businesses — located a scant ⅛ of a mile from one another — is nothing new. What is new is how the pair approached it this time around.
In the past, Heaton has gone to Weld’s distillery for barrels in which to age his beers; the Imperial Stout, for instance, spends about a year in a bourbon barrel, soaking up the vanilla flavors of the wood. “Chris sort of flipped this [process] on its head,” said Heaton, who calls the collaboration “super uncommon and quite fun!” It’s a process he had not heard of in all his years brewing beer, but the partnership is shaping up to be symbiotic.
“A lot of the barrels are going back to the brewery,” said Weld, who points to what could be a continuous cycle. Heaton and Bump will put the 413 Farmhouse Ale back in the barrels used in the whiskey project. “We don’t know what it will taste like … but we’ll see,” Heaton said, explaining that the whiskey, distilled from his beer, carries many of the beer’s nuances. “Chamomile comes through … [and] farmhouse yeast throws banana and clove aromas,” he explained, citing “a lot of things at play.”
For Weld, it’s about pursuing his passion and educating people in the process. His small-volume runs, like the one from Big Elm, will be available exclusively at Berkshire Mountain Distillers. The other two releases, from UFO and Spencer Brewing, will hit shelves in Massachusetts this week at select stores. “It’s been such a fun project,” said Weld, who, thanks to the collaborations being received so well, intends to keep it going. “It’s time to refill the coffers again,” he joked, albeit in earnest, of beginning the five-year process anew.
In the meantime, head south on Route 7 and check out this pair of libation destinations for yourself. The tap room at Big Elm Brewing is open Thursday–Sunday, from 12-6 p.m., for pints on the premises or beer to go. The tasting room at Berkshire Mountain Distillers is open daily from 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
