What's On Tap: Cape Ann Fisherman's Brew

A traditional beer that's designed for easy drinking

For A.V. CLUB *NEW YORK*
By Paul Caine
November 20, 2009

In What’s On Tap, we speak to the sort of people for whom beer is life—brewers, bar owners, writers, and others who have devoted their time and energy to elevating the wondrous nectar—about a specific beer, be it one they've made or one they just happen to enjoy. Up now is Dylan L'Abbe-Lindquist, assistant brewer at Cape Ann Brewing Company in Gloucester, Mass., speaking about the brewery's nautical flagship, Fisherman’s Brew.

On the beer's flavor profile...
The Fisherman’s Brew is an amber lager, a Vienna-style lager. Vienna-style is just a mildly hoppy, more malty-backboned beer that has some nice biscuit flavors to it. We’re going for a nice crisp hoppiness and a good malt backbone. It’s not an overly hoppy or an overly malty beer. It’s got a nice toasted malt flavor and sort of a dry hoppy finish to it, and it's just a clean, crisp, nothing-too-crazy beer.

On the process behind the Fisherman's Brew...
Our brew house is set up in a very German style—we don’t filter our beer, and we use bright tanks, which is basically a [method of] passive filtration. After the primary fermentation, we pump that into our bright tanks. We’ll drop the temperature down to right about 28-30 degrees. What will happen is any sediment, hops, and yeast that have made it over to this tank will settle out and you end up with a layer of sludge on the bottom. It allows us to get away without filtering our beer but still gives us a clear product. With filtered beer, all the good stuff’s taken out. So we still leave some of that goodness in there.

On the contrast between Fisherman’s Brew and heavier, hoppier beers...
It’s an easily quaffable beer. You look around at a lot of the microbrews that are coming out in the United States and there’s a lot of the extreme beer: IPAs that are absolutely decimated with hops and these crazy alcohol contents. We try to stick more to traditional beers, the way they were meant to be brewed and the way they were originally brewed. Fisherman's Brew reflects that.

On how the brewery reflects its waterfront location...
Being on the seaside, our brewpub’s bar is shaped like a boat. Damn near every other day I’ve got somebody coming in here looking for a job on a boat. And I tell ‘em, “The dock’s over there. You’re better off asking at the dock than at the bar.”

Cape Ann Fisherman's Brew can be found at a number of bars in New York, including The Hop Devil Grill in the East Village (129 St. Marks Pl, 212-533-4468), The Gutter in Williamsburg (200 N. 14th St, 718-387-3585), and The Stag's Head in Midtown (252 E. 51 St, 212-888-2453).

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