Lasting Brass Brewing

Brass Balls
Lasting Brass Brewing, Waterbury

September 2, 2013

Go here for my reviews of Lasting Brass beers

757bab8f1b0c03bae8e0796a7167e260Nothing demonstrates all that is right with me and what this website has become and all that is wrong with me and what this website has become more than this very page you are reading. I don’t wish to make this page about my friend Ed Silva’s kickass home brewing operation about me, but if I didn’t at least a little bit, I wouldn’t be me.

[Aside: It also wouldn’t be me without a fairly excellent page title. So Ed, please, if you ever have parties at the “brewery,” always, always call them Brass Balls. Thank you.]

This site started out with the goal of going to all of Connecticut’s museums. Hence the name. Then I started adding things and categories and lists and lists of lists and lists within lists. And now, CTMQ is straight up insane. And that’s the good thing about it.

When I added the Connecticut’s Breweries list back in, I think 2008 or so, it was a simple list to complete. Now, in late 2013, it’s not so simple. Although, if I made it a goal, I could hit the few I’ve not been to in a few weekends.

sbaBut then a new one will open. And then another.

Which brings me to my Breweries/Brewpubs sublist; the one where I decided I’d drink and review “every Connecticut beer.” Once again, when started that project, it was actually maybe doable. Two years later? It’s impossible.

Well, I suppose if I was a single professional writer who made a good living writing goofball reviews of beer I could almost do it. But even then, it would be very difficult.

Which brings me to this page. I’m writing about a home brewing operation in a Waterbury in-law suite in a nice suburban house in suburban Waterbury.

What am I thinking? Have I lost my mind? Do I plan on visiting and reviewing the beers borne from the bubbling pots in basements and garages all over the state too? In short: No. Longer version: No effing way.

So why did I find myself poking around Ed’s stand-up shower full of empty logs and marveling at his impressive stench-destroying hood exhaust system? Because Ed and his little “hobby” – Lasting Brass Brewing – is:

a) Awesome
b) Making beer as good as any of our licensed breweries
c) As professional a non-professional operation as you’re going to find
d) Potentially on the road to “legal” status and I want to look cool with this page in the future.

As to (d), I’d like to say “hey” to future cool me. And, “dude, remember back in ’13 when you were such a loser with your ‘OMG, Gandhi Bot is just as good as Heady Topper so who cares that you can’t drive 4 hours to Vermont to maybe get some anymore!” And, “that’s all so lbsilly now in the future, right? Now that Lasting Brass is the best brewery on the East Coast and how you were there nearly at the beginning supporting him and how you became a partner with no financial outlay? Haha, yeah, awesome. Now, to the elevator down to my beer cave!”

Ahem.

There are a couple other home brewers in Connecticut that have very “professional” looking labels and stuff too. And I’m sure there will be more to come. Also, many of our newer brewery breweries are simply home brewers who made the leap. The two newest as of this writing – Broad Brook and Firefly were exactly that.

Ed has never said he plans to make a go at this full time. He is humble and simply gets joy from the whole process of creating good beer – and giving it to friends to enjoy. He is genuine and quiet and very, very good at what he does. (I’m sure he’s very good at other stuff, too, but I’m just focusing on the beer here.)

Lasting Brass has won more than one home brewing competitions. He’s on untappd and has already developed a following of sorts. (I include myself in that group). There’s more, but you get the picture.

lbbIs there a tenuous parallel between Lasting Brass and CTMQ? Sure. We both love our hobbies and have been asked/told to “go professional” a million times, but we both sort of find comfort in our professional careers and families “as is.” We love to share what people seem to enjoy us sharing. And we both make no money via our hobbies at all. (In fact, we happily lose a lot of it.)

Ed’s creativity extends beyond his recipes, as the names he comes up with for his beers are all (pretty much) odes to his hometown: Waterbury, aka The Brass City aka The Dirty Water. His graphic artist friend has made some eye-catching labels and designs for the brewery-to-possibly-be. (The art reminds me a bit of Charlie Harper’s art – and I love Charlie Harper.)

And as for reviewing all of Ed’s beers? Again, no way. He’s pretty ambitious and brews a lot of different beers – and since they are such small batches, I’m not even sure his wife has had them all. But I’ll do my best, of course.

So there you go. That’s why I have now written this page about Lasting Brass Brewing. Now let’s get to the good stuff – to the beer!

Go here for my reviews of Lasting Brass beers
Will Siss wrote a Rep-Am article about Ed

Lasting Brass Facebook page
CTMQ reviews every Connecticut Beer
CTMQ’s visits to Breweries, Brewpubs & Cider Mills

lbbig
That right thar is the pumpkin saison in process

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