McNeill's Brewery

06/07/2022

Bill built this thing to support the roof and West wall while he eviscerates the interior floors of the building (not the pub). Ray is studying the effects of exogenous enzymes on thiol production from terpene alcohols derived from hops. It promises to be rewarding for new england ipas

02/24/2022

I'm sorry to say that opening May, '22, is off the table. At this point, I really have no idea when we will open.

06/04/2021

https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2021/05/beer-nut-mcneills-bohemian-pilsner-an-immediate-classic.html

The beer was aged on lees for more that a year.

08/01/2020

our BOHEMIAN PILSNER is now on tap. It was made from a blend of German and Czech pilsner malts, saaz hops from the Czech Republic, and yeast from the Budvar brewery (the original budweiser, beer from Budweis) in Southeastern Cz. It was cellared more than 4 months. Available in growlers by appointment for $10. Please bring your own growler.

07/27/2020

The DIFFERENCE between a LAGER and an ALE
Throughout my entire career, which is to say, most of my life, people have asked me (or told me, incorrectly) about the difference between an ALE and a LAGER. Some have been categorically defiant about their "definition". So, I have decided to publicly put the matter to rest. Some people may continue to assert that their "opinion" is correct. But some people also say the world is flat.
A lot of people think that ale yeast is "warm and top fermenting" and lager yeast is the opposite. While this may be generally accurate, it is neither objective nor entirely correct. It's a little like saying tall men make great basketball players. While there may be many tall men who are great players, there are certainly some who suck at it. Conversely, there are certainly some shorter men who are great players. Ergo...
WORT is the liquid we make that becomes beer. Conventional brewers' worts contain a host of polysaccharides, sugars, some of which are fermentable and some of which are not. One of the minor wort constituents is a disaccharide called RAFFINOSE. Raffinose is broken down by brewing yeast by the yeast enzyme RAFFINASE. One of the resultant saccharides is fermentable by brewing yeasts. The other byproduct is a saccharide called MELIBIOSE. Lager yeasts have, at their cell walls, the enzyme MELIBIASE aka MELIBIOSE TRANSPORTASE, which means that lager yeast can bring this saccharide across their cell walls and metabolize it. ALE YEAST CANNOT. The difference between an ale and a lager yeast is the presence of MELIBIASE. Given a sample of beer, a lab can tell whether the beer is an ale or a lager simply by testing for the presence of melibiose. Melibiose positive= ALE. Melibiose negative = LAGER.
I apologize for the wonkishness of this but I'm tired of the confusion, and my friend Gray Zabriskie requested more wonky science stuff.

03/21/2020

we are filling growlers to order. send us a message if you want one.
In this time of obvious crisis, a couple of people have asked about the quality of our beer after an extended closure. When I first began making beer 30 years ago, I had certain preconceived notions I thought would be correct. Many turned out to be wrong. My thoughts about beer storage were not.
The main killer of beer is O2, as it is with all food. All beers have some dissolved oxygen (with the possible exception of krausenbier). Furthermore, the oxygen dissolved in beer is greatly exacerbated during filtration and packaging. The beer in our serving tanks is not filtered or packaged. It is, however, exposed long term to yeast.
Yeast is the mortal enemy of O2. The yeast will attempt to eliminate O2. Furthermore, if the beer is kept cold, during long term exposure to beer, yeast begins to emit 3 trace dinucleotides. These dinucleotides have been found to have strong organoleptic, or flavor enhancing properties. They can be removed from beer. When blind tasters were given beers side by side with beers that had them removed, the tasters preferred the beers with them remaining every time. It is unknown why people prefer these dinucleotides...they are flavorless, odorless, and colorless. It is assumed that they have a flavor positive effect on the "mouthfeel" of the beer.
So... as our beers quietly age in our cellars, there is a strong argument that they are getting better, not worse.
Pardon the wonky technical stuff

03/19/2020

If you own a growler, we can fill it!

03/17/2020

well, we made it 25 years without closing one single day. I did my best

02/20/2020

Dem debates on the big screen at McNeill's tonight.

02/04/2020

State or the Union address tonight at 9, on the BIG SCREEN!