Location: Bristol, CT
The Skinny: You may not be overly familiar with Firefly Brewing Company. You may not have ever tried any of their surely tasty brews. That would be because Firefly, out of Bristol is a brewery in the making! They are growing up right before our eyes.
The successful development of Firefly Brewing Company hinges on the Connecticut Craft Beer community even more than people might realize. This is because they are coming up with the capital needed to establish their brewery through a partnership with Kickstarter.com.
What is kickstarter??? To put it simply (and to use their own tag line haha), Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Basically when someone has an idea, they can partner up with kickstarter. A monetary goal is set to get the project launched. People are then able to go to kickstarter and pledge various amounts of money in support of the project and in return get rewards (the more you pledge, the better the reward!)
The "kicker" is that the projects get launched in an "all-or-nothing" style. Sooo, what that means is that if the financial goal is met, the project launches, if the monetary goal is not met, then the money gets returned to the donors, no project and no rewards :(
You can probably now see why it is beyond vital for the folks at Firefly Brewing Company to reach their goal ($30,000). Their Kickstarter campaign started about a month ago and has a month to go (ends on August 5th). As of this morning they have almost $19,000!!!
You probably would like to know a little bit more about exactly what you would be contributing towards, right?
Firefly Brewing Company plans to be a craft brewery based in Bristol, Connecticut. This will be an offshoot the homebrew supply shop Brew & Wine Hobby out of East Hartford.
The fine minds behind Brew & Wine Hobby (Rich Loomis, Bill Collins and Dana Bourque, plan to open their brewery & taproom right in the heart of downtown Bristol. The immediate plan is to start with a 7 barrel brewhouse, using re purposed dairy tanks, modified syrup tanks and miscellaneous stainless tanks (what a cool idea!!!).
Here is a rundown of what will be their initial beer offerings:
Train’s Midday Bitter – I currently have two different runs of a sessionable English Bitter in process. Both feature Mt. Hood hops in for a pleasant peppery aroma, and English malts provide a mild biscuity, toasty flavor. The malt bill varies slightly between the two brews so I can get an idea of which direction I’d like the beer to take. Malt : Crisp Ale Mat, Biscuit, Carastan 35L, Amber Malt. Hops: Mt. Hood Yeast: Wyeast British II
Prototype Amber - The combination of rich English malts and citrusy American Hops can be a wonderful thing. I’m developing this amber to feature some of the caramel, toasty, and toffee notes from English Crystal, Belgian Aromatic, and Kilned Coffee Malt complimented by the light citrus and floral notes of Ahtanum and Crystal Hops. Malt: Crisp Ale Malt, Crisp 60L, Dingeman’s Aromatic, Kilned Coffee Malt. Hops: Chinook or Northern Brewer, Ahtanum, Crystal. Yeast: Thames Valley, Denny’s Fav 50.
The Darkside Cream Ale - A classic American Cream Ale with a dark twist. We’ve added a bit of black malt and put the beer through a rigorous Double Decoction mashing procedure to pull out some coffee notes and subtle malty tones. Flavorful yet dry and drinkable, this beer is accessible to almost any palate. Malt: Best Pilsner, Best Vienna, Flaked Corn, Carafa Special III. Hops: Northern Brewer, Hallertau Yeast: Cream Ale Blend
Tropical Steam - New Zealand hops give this brew rich flavors of passionfruit, kiwi, melon, and white grapefruit. We’ve fermented the beer with a lager yeast at warm temperatures (steam technique) to produce a dry, crisp brew with some subtle fruity yeast characteristics. Malt: Domestic Pale Malt, Victory Hops: Galaxy, Motueka Yeast: Bohemian Lager
Luciferin IPA - A big double IPA loaded with luscious American Hops. Big, bitter, and unbelievably hoppy. Enough said. Malt: Domestic Pale Malt, Vienna Malt, Crystal 10L Hops: Nugget, Palisade, Chinook Yeast: London III
The folks at Firefly Brewing Company plan to use the $30,000 in donations to get this operation off the ground. They will look to spend the money on things like:
Steam Jacketed Kettle
Conversion process for our mash-tun and hot liquor tank
14 barrels of fermenter space
1 year lease on 4- 7 barrel brite tanks
counter pressure bottling system for our bottling of growlers
tap set up for tap room
Here is the link to see their Kickstarter page and make a donation!!! (you can also see the various rewards offered)If you can't make a donation yourself, please try to spread the word. Every little bit helps :)
