OEC Brewing / B. United Trip.

OEC Brewing / B. United Trip.

Oxford, CT

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a road trip down to one of the newest New England breweries that just opened called OEC Brewing, short for Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores, which translates to "the order of eccentric brewers" or just "eccentric brewers". I have been excited about the opening of this place since I caught wind of the project at an open house B. United had held a year or so ago. If your not familiar with B.United they are a great importer that brings some excellent selections of beer to the US from places like Belgian, Germany, Italy and Japan just to name a few. Some of my favorite breweries they import from are:

Birrificio del Ducato / Birra del Borgo / Baladin / Wild Beer Co.

Loverbeer / BFM / Bahnhof / Hanssens / De Dolle / Alvinne / Hitachino Nest

and the list goes on....

I won't go into a lengthy explanation why I love this importer or the great lengths they go to make sure the beer they distribute is served with the integrity and care that the product deserves and the brewers expect. Along with a dedication to the product B.United is also bubbling with creativity that is very apparent when you tour the warehouse and come across the renowned Zymatore barrel room where the importer sources some of the most obscure and niche barrels and fills them with some of the very beer that they import. This is possible because they also do a good amount of their own kegging and bottling in house and choose to have the beer they import shipped over via tanker trucks and small batch containers. A very unique perspective that I have never thought of as a possibility. My mind was blown when I visited last year and a tanker truck was parked in the driveway serving different variations of Bahnhofs Berliner Weisse from a tap on the side of the truck... its true there was a oat and potato berliner being poured out of a tanker truck !

Here you can see the side of the warehouse of B.United. 

Oh did I mention that the trip wasn't just about visiting OEC brewing but they were also holding a "Meet the Brewer" event so the place was crawling with some of my favorite brewmasters from all over the world !

As usual B.United threw an amazing party with some BBQ being served in the parking lot, a few tents were pouring great selections from the brewers on hand, a jazz trio was setting the mood and the brewers were lingering and sharing some great info about their process as well as things that were in the works. 

The crowd was mellow and my co-pilot and I ended up running into a good amount of familiar faces as seems to always be the case when good beer is being served.

On the grounds they also have started a small vineyard and orchard where they are growing Marechal Foch grapes, Mission & Kadota Figs, Peaches and a greenhouse full of obscure fruits like Kumquats, Yuzu as well as lemons and limes that all will find their way into barrels and batches of the Zymatore project and OEC brews.

Inside the brewery was an impressive selection of beers, spotless equipment and a clearly enthusiastic staff who were as excited about serving the beer as I was about drinking it !

I found the beers to be way above average across the board and the styles to be right up my alley.

On draft for samples and 750ml's to take home, they had a few sour saisons, a berliner, a grodziskie, porter and sour porter ! Along with growlers they offer sample paddles, full pours, glassware and a relaxing environment to sit chat and take in the focused brews that were offered.

After a lot of sipping, in depth conversations about beer and of course some relaxing, we were able to get a behind the scenes tour of the warehouse and the Zymatore room.

Warehouse

A new container that will be used to ship beer across the Atlantic for limited small batch goodness!

I think we interrupted a secret meeting happening just outside the Zymatore room...

Barrel Aged Goodness.... Keep your eyes peeled for bottles and draft options of the highly esteemed Zymatore project !

Long blogpost short. If you love beer and are looking for a new place to visit, go check out OEC brewing and forage some tasty growlers when you arrive ! 

Cheers.