By Bert Poole, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – If you ever have wanted to learn to brew beer or make wine, Deja Brew in Shrewsbury is the place for you. With over 200 beer recipes and 70 wine recipes to choose from, there are plenty of options for anyone, from the novice to the experienced homebrewer.
Whether your choice is beer or wine, each batch requires two sessions – the first to choose and craft the recipe, the second session two to four weeks later to bottle your creation.
Owner Carl Persson and head Brewer, Keith Abramo, will be right there to help you every step of the way.
“We tell people to bring nothing when they come to Deja Brew for their first visit, we will have everything to guide them through the process,” Persson said.
For brewing, you’ll work with Keith on picking a recipe based on your beer preference. They have over 200 recipes that have been developed by past head brewers, customers, and the current head brewer Keith, who has worked at Deja Brew for 17 years. You will then be guided through measuring and cracking of the grains and the selection of the correct hops and extracts. The hands-on brewing process then follows: steeping the grains, adding the extract and hops, chilling the wort, and then adding the yeast. This initial session for beer-making takes approximately two hours.
For wine, the staff will guide you through the crafting process: sanitizing your fermentation vessel, adding the concentrate and filtered water, any additional ingredients, and yeast. The initial wine-making session takes approximately 30 minutes.
At any time during the first session, you can work on designing your personal labels for your bottles. Two to four weeks (dependent upon the recipe) after the initial session, you’ll return for the second session to bottle your creation. For your second visit to Deja Brew, beer or wine bottles, or kegs will be needed to take your creation home. Bottles can be purchased from Deja Brew, or any local homebrew shop. Deja Brew encourages everyone to reuse their bottles, kegs, etc. on subsequent sessions at Deja Brew, you just need to keep them clean, and then sanitize them at Deja Brew. The bottling session typically lasts two hours.
Deja Brew caters to events such as: corporate outings, team building, bachelor or bachelorette parties, adult birthday parties, couples’ nights out, or groups of friends. With six brewing kettles available with batch sizes of either 5 or 15 gallons per kettle, Deja Brew can accommodate various-sized groups.
For those who do not have a group of like-minded brewers or wine-makers, Deja Brew periodically holds events where individuals can come in, meet new people and create great beer or wine which is split amongst the customers when they come back to bottle.
“We try to foster a sense of camaraderie here, where people can enjoy their time here crafting beer or wine,” Persson said. “With the growth of craft brewing over recent years, we invite people to come in and craft their own beer!”
One such group has enjoyed their Deja Brew experiences so much that they have brewed over 720 batches of beer at the Shrewsbury shop.
To try your hand at brewing, have a unique afternoon or night out, corporate event, or group get-together, you can contact Deja Brew at 508-842-8991 or make your reservation online at www.dejabrew-ybfy.com. You can also follow them on Facebook or Instagram for information on upcoming events. Deja Brew is located at 510 Boston Turnpike Rd., Shrewsbury. It is owned by Perssonal Diversions, LLC. Owned by Carl and Amie Persson of Worcester, Mass.
