By RONALD DEROSA

TORRINGTON — This week, a new permanent flavor was added to the Cambridge House Brew Pub, and it has Litchfield County written all over it.

The Litchfield County Lager is now one of the four permanent craft brews on tap at the downtown pub, along with its IPA, Kolsch and Stout flavors, said owner Steve Boucino. While Boucino operates another Cambridge House Brew Pub in Granby, the Torrington branch will be the only locale where the Litchfield County Lager can be enjoyed, he said.

“We thought it’d be fun just for the northwest county,” Boucino said.

Since February, the pub has been officially crafting its own beers, after being opened since last fall. As the pub prepares to enter its first summer in Torrington, the seasonal craft brew will have its time to shine.

Boucino said the Cambridge House will feature eight to 12 seasonal drafts a year, averaging about one each month, he said. Some of the experimental flavors the venue hopes to have include a chocolate pumpkin spice, a raspberry wheat and the newly anointed Breakfast Summer Ale, Boucino said.

One man stands behind the crafting of all these brews — 25-year-old Head Brewer Stephen Luke.

Luke brews once week, getting up at 6 a.m. to get the oats and barley rolling in the mixer, one of the first steps in producing the tap beer. The process includes several levels thereafter, and is all heavily based on accurate and exact timing, Luke said.

So how does it all happen? Luke demonstrated the crafting of Breakfast Summer Ale Thursday.

First, the malt is steeped in water for three days, along with the barley, which causes it to germinate and sprout slightly, Luke said. After the steeping stops, it activates the sugar-enzymes, and is then milled and mashed all at 162 degrees Fahrenheit.

As this goes on, water is sprinkled on the mash, which combines with the sugar to create a mixture called wort, Luke said. The wort is then transferred to the boil kettle and the remaining oats and wheat are removed from the tank into large bins, which is then distributed to a local farm as animal feed, he said.

In the boil kettle, hops are added to give the brew its bitter and aromatic taste, he said.

“If you don’t add hops, it’d be undrinkably sweet,” Luke said.

Before hops became common among brewers in the mid-19th century, brews would be made with other plants such as pine needles, spruce needles and rosemary, he said.

Depending on the type of brew, other flavors are added to each boil kettle. In the case of the Breakfast Summer Ale, Luke added several quarts of honey.

After the boiling mixture cools to 65 degrees, the wort turns to beer as the yeast eats through the sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol, the two by-products, Luke said. All of this, at Cambridge House, are done in the main fermenting machines sitting right at the window facing Main Street.

Luke said he is the main person who determines the ingredients of the beers, and he orders all of the necessary products for them. The pub tries to obtain local ingredients for the beers, he said.

As an example, in crafting his Summer Breakfast Ale, Cambridge House utilizes oats from Holly’s Oatmeal on East Main Street to mash along with the barley, Luke said.

As long as the four key brews are consistently made, it is up to Luke to experiment on what to make for the extra taps.

“When I get an open line, it’s my turn to play,” he said.

The Cambridge House Brew Pub currently offers its own brews and other microbrews and craft brews. Examples are Thomas Hooker Beer and Long Trail, which is made in Vermont, Boucino said. The focus is on craft brews, and no major macro brew companies — such as Budweiser and Miller — are offered at the pub.

“If the customer base demands it, then we would have to provide it,” he said.

So far, however, in the four-years of Granby and the past year of Torrington, nobody has asked the Cambridge House for those major beer brands.

The most important for the pub, is that people know it is a “middle-of-the-road” regular place, Boucino said.

“We came to Torrington because we saw opportunity,” he said. “We’re not high end, we’re not meant to be upscale… you can come here off the golf course, or off of a construction job, for a beer.”

Ronald DeRosa can be reached by e-mail at torrington@registercitizen.com.