Cape Cod Beer Brewery Tour: "A Vacation In Every Pint"

This week, Brian and I have joined my family on their annual pilgrimage to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Last year, we discovered a wonderful little growler at the bottom of the beer case in the "packie" (the New England term for a liquor store -  don't ask me why- even my Mother, a native New Englander, can't explain it) just behind our cottage. Cape Cod Beer (CCB), as we discovered, was a wonderful craft brew from the area. Unfortunately, our trip was much shorter last year, and further investigation would have to wait.

This year, I suggested that we venture out to Hyannis to root out the source of this delicious nectar. Despite Brian's insistence that we wake up early to make the once-daily tour that he claimed started at 10 am (it started at 11), his detour to Dennis to find craft doughnuts, and the cool drizzle that cropped up along the way, we made it to the brewery. Tucked neatly into a small industrial park with a tiny beer garden set out front, I've learned from their website that before Labor Day the Cape Cod Dawgs food truck parks out front. Rats! I love a good food truck. But I digress.

Our tour guide was a delightful young man named Austin, though the "tour" ended up being more of a circle around the large brew room than an actual walking tour. Energetic and clearly passionate about the brewery and the process, Austin dropped a lot of knowledge on us in the hour-long presentation.

The only microbrewery in Cape Cod, CCB officially opened in 2004 as the brainchild of Brewmaster and President Todd Marcus. A former electrical engineer and home brewing enthusiast, Todd decided that brewing was more his speed than engineering and went to work at several different breweries and brewpubs in the New England area. When the beloved Hyport Brewing Company in Hyannis went out of business, Todd had the foresight to buy up the brewing side of the operation and brewed there as CCB for two years. In the first year CCB had 12 customers and one employee, and delivered kegs in the back of Todd's wife, Beth's, minivan. In January 2006 the brewery moved to its current location with a total of three employees.  From there, demand began to grow and the brewery began to expand right along with it.  Today, CCB inhabits over 9,000 square feet of production, office, warehouse and retail space.  In 2012 they brewed over 150,000 gallons of beer, and the growlers alone are carried in over 130 "packies" on Cape Cod.  That's impressive!

Austin gave us the standard spiel about how beer is made, etc., etc.  The interesting thing to me is always the water source, since, you know, that's 95% of beer.  Located smack-dab in the middle of the Cape, CCB is located on top of a single-source aquifer (there are 310 ponds and lakes in Cape Cod served by this aquifer- so now you know). They use the water straight from the municipal supply since it is so high-quality and the municipality can handle their demands.

What struck me most about CCB was their clear commitment to serving the freshest beer you can humanly consume. CCB is unpasteurized, unlike most beers on the market today, so it is pretty much in its most pure state, and, more interestingly, still alive. By virtue of not being heated to kill off the yeast, the beer still has fresh yeast in it. Also fairly unique to CCB is its distribution. CCB is widely available in "packies" in Cape Cod, but only in 64 oz glass growlers. So, as a byproduct of the freshness of the beer and the distribution method, CCB only self-distributes within 50 miles of the brewery- Plymouth to Provincetown. Another interesting item- prior to consumption, the growlers must be kept cold. Why? If it warms up enough, say, in your hot car while you're grocery shopping, the still-alive yeast will over-carbonate the beer, adding more pressure than the growler can handle. And you know what that means - KABOOM! Keeping everything cold also obviously helps the beer stay super fresh and boy, is it worth it.

We sampled four beers while on the "tour"- one by the skin of our teeth, and two of the other three coming from batches that were "born" within the last two days (again, fresh!). We were originally told the last Harvest Ale keg had been kicked the night before and they were waiting for the next batch to carbonate, so it wasn't a sure thing that it would be ready in time. Oh, the humanity!

First we tried the Cape Cod Beach Blonde Ale. Austin described this as the perfect lawnmower beer- you drink it before, during and after the job. I definitely thought it was a good beer, refreshing, but I prefer my beer with a little more heft behind it. Second, we sampled the Cape Cod Red. Brian and I both thought this beer had a dark, roasted flavor to it- almost like a porter was mixed in. Third, we were passed the Cape Cod IPA. I liked this one a lot, but I am very partial to IPAs.

Al pours a five-minute-old pitcher of Harvest Ale

Finally, Austin's assistant, Al, passed him a secret note with the coveted message- the Harvest Ale was ready for consumption!  This is the freshest beer we've ever tasted- as it was handed to us, Al advised that the "born on" date was "5 minutes ago." I don't know of anywhere else where that would happen. Overall, I liked all the beers offered. After the tour Brian took advantage of the ability to buy a pint on premises and sampled the Hop Harvest beer and some phenomenal porter chocolate pretzels made by a local vendor, the Pocasset Pretzel Company. (The lady takes the CCB seasonal Porter, cooks it down to a reduction, mixes it with chocolate and carmel, then molds it with pretzels. SO GOOD.) CCB only stocks and sells products made on Cape Cod, from the CCB t-shirts to local jams and everything in-between. Very cool.

From Al's pitcher to my tiny cup.

Stick it to "THE MAN": On most craft brewery tours, you'll get a small dig from the employees towards the larger beer conglomerates.  I love this and shall call it the "Stick it to 'THE MAN'" portion of my reviews.

According to Austin, CCB does not use American-grown malt. This is because bigger companies, such as Anheuser-Busch, sign generational contracts with American growers, ensuring that they will never be able to supply their competitors. Good thing they use that malt to make great tasting beer - not. Instead, CCB gets its malt from Canada, the UK, and Germany.

Interesting Fact: According to the website, there is a family of ospreys living above the brewery. Austin didn't touch on this and I didn't see any, but that's still super cool!

In all, this was a very pleasant brewery tour. I appreciated Austin's commitment to the story and liked the coziness of the operation. I got a pretty baller sweatshirt with a secret pocket as well, so I went home happy. If you're ever up Hyannis way, do yourself a favor and swing by.