Meet OEC Brewing owner/head brewer Ben Neidhart on Thursday, April 13 from 5pm to 7pm in the back bar. Seven OEC drafts and one beautiful bottle will be featured for Ben’s visit. 

"OEC beers are brewed with intention," says Monk's Café proprietor Tom Peters. "A beer has to be brewed with integrity and intention for me to bring it in, and these guys have both in spades. They have a purpose in what they are doing; not just creating another ultra-hazy to make money. Every beer I have had from them has been, at the very least, startling, and an awesome interpretation of that style."

OEC opened in 2014 as a natural evolution of Matthias Neidhart and Ben's successful experiment transporting cold tanks of elite European beers to keg in the US as importer B. United. Through these experiments that eventually included blending and cellaring, Ben became even more interested, and dedicated to, traditional brewing practices.

"They have a copper coolship; a Baudelot cooling system inspired by De Dolle; and open fermenters for lagers," notes Tom Peters. "Their coolship lagers are awesome and really interesting–not funky, but with a sense of terroir." Join us on Thursday, April 13 at 5pm to taste what we are talking about and pepper Ben with your beer questions.

Featured OEC Draft Beer
April 13, 2023

Oak Aged Lagerbier Frigus Alchemia
Brewed using a traditional German-style double decoction mash and hopped with German Tettnang & Hallertau hops. Fermentation starts in open tanks and finishes after 3 months of cold lagering in French oak tanks. This keg is from a batch of liquid that was moved outdoors in a small shipping tank during the historical Arctic outbreak of February 2-4, 2023. 5.5%abv

Biere de Mai
Straw blonde in color with a refreshing tartness, Biére de Mai is brewed using barley malt and hopped with German Tettnang & Spalt. It is matured in oak foudres for 9 months allowing the wild yeasts to create aromas reminiscent of newly blossomed fields and wildflowers. 6%abv

Coolship Lager
Brewed using a traditional double decoction mash and hopped with fine European noble hops. After the boil it rests in OEC's copper coolship for 1 hour. It is then transferred over the Baudelot cooler into open tanks for fermentation. After a cool fermentation using a classic Czech lager yeast, it is cellared for several months prior to release. 5.2%abv.

Experimentalist
"Experimentalist is a special series we do that MUST utilize FRESH fruit and the fruit MUST be grown on the OEC Brewing property, (our greenhouses & orchards), and then aged in oak barrels. There is not one base beer for this project and there are no other limitations to this project. No release is ever the same."

This is the first PA tapping of the 2023 version made with strawberries. 5.9%abv

Obscura Classic Baltic Porter
Brewed from malts Munich (60%), Pilsner (30%), Cara Munich, Carafa III Special (Debittered roasted malt) and Midnight Wheat in the mash to create a soft mouthfeel in the body. The sweetness from the Munich malt is balanced by the roasted malts & a soft hop bitterness. Warm fermented using one of our lager yeasts at 62F for 4 weeks (9 days open & then rest in a closed tank) and then matured cold. Aromas of caramel, dark chocolate, coffee & toffee. Hops: Loral & Styrian Golding. 8%abv

Exilis
Berliner Style Weisse brewed using a traditional 3 part decoction, using the thin part of the mash in each decoction. The hops are added and boiled during the decoction process. Unboiled, the beer then sits in the coolship overnight. The next day it is transferred to the tank and pitched with some house yeast making this a “semi-spontaneously” fermented ale. 3.8%abv

Lent
Copper colored lager brewed just once a year for the period of Lent. Brewed with different Munich malts including Melanoidin (Aromatic Munich malt) in a classic German step infusion mash. Malty notes of caramel, honey and biscuit are balanced by the fruity and spicy character of the Tettnang hops. 5.9%abv

Bottle: Tempus Blend #15
Tempus is an old world sour saison brewed & blended using the production processes of yesteryear. No two blends will taste the same! 5.9%abv

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