Trip to Ramstein on July 9, 2011

On Saturday July 9, 2011 I took a trip to Ramstein Brewery in Butler. Every 2nd Saturday of the month, they host an Open House and Tour of the Brewery so I thought it was a great opportunity to speak with Greg Zaccardi and sample a few brews. Upon entering the brewery, I was greeted by Brian Boak of Boaks Beer. Brian uses the facilities at Ramstein (High Point Brewing Company Inc) to brews all his beer. Having had the opportunity to pour beer for Brian in the past, we spent some time catching up and went right into the wonderful beer on tap at Ramstein. No Boaks beer was on tap but they did have the following: Golden Lager, Blond Hefe-weizen and my favorite the unfiltered Amber Lager. True to it’s style, the Amber Lager was a medium to light body Lager with a nice crisp finish. I filled up a Growler so I had something to bring for a friend’s birthday and spend time chatting with Greg. We were able to discuss the bottling line and what goes into a typical “bottling day”. I was able to get a personalized tour with a great guy who brings a nice relaxed approach to brewing.

When I was leaving the brewery, Brian and I discussed the upcoming brewery expansion. There are plans to expand the current footprint by 40%! Brian will be adding 2 fermentors himself to satisfy the amazing growth of his beer. At the time of this article, his sales were at 92% of last year’s sales for the same time period. Let’s see what this expansion does for the Ramstein brand as I am sure it will grow by leaps and bounds.

Check out Highpoint/Ramstein online or visit them in person at High Point Brewing Company, Inc. located at 22 Park Place in Butler. You can also visit them on Facebook.