Ale Street News Online

FX Matt Brewing Co., brewers of Saranac beer are back in business. Well, they were never really out of business – but they could have been.

Thanks to the help of their customers, distributors, the beer industry (even government regulators), they have been able to survive the aftermath of a fire that broke out at their Utica, NY plant in late May.

The brewery was hosting a VIP party for the first of its Saranac Summer birthdays when the fire alarms went off. At first, no one was overly concerned, even Utica’s fire chief who was in attendance. Very quickly, however, the seriousness of the blaze became apparent.

Maintenance workers who were repairing a bottling line in the brewery’s bottling/canning facility had inadvertently set fire to a conveyor on the second floor of the building. The fire shot up through a reciprocator which acted like a chimney to the third floor where combustible packaging and POS material was stored. One of the workers, who had been overcome by fumes, was rescued by a local police officer.

"There’s considerable structural damage to the third floor," said FX Matt president Nick Matt. "There were temperatures of 1500 to 2000 degrees. The clean-up’s been fairly amazing. Everything’s been cleared out of the second floor."

While the first floor bottling line was down for just over a month, the second floor canning line was totaled. "We hope to restore the second floor and canning line. If we have to build a new building, things will go slower," said Matt.

In the meantime Matt praised the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau) who has "bent over backwards to support us." The federal agency has issued the brewery variances to allow them to tank their beer to other breweries for packaging. High Falls in nearby Rochester has taken on canning of Matt beers and some of the longer bottling runs, while Harpoon in Boston has been helping with shorter bottling runs. "We are terribly appreciative," Matt said. "The outreach from the community – from customers and even from competitors has been special."

All-American2 is a great tasting British Ale from Vermont-based Wolavers and it’s all-organic. Following the success of first run of All-American Ale, brewmaster Steve Parkes teamed up with homebrew champ Richard Lawrence of North Falmouth, MA who won the eastern title at the 2007 Organic Homebrew Competition in Santa Cruz, CA. Fuggles and Goldings give some nice hoppy notes in this otherwise malty brew. Unfortunately it is only available on tap or in growlers from the brewery Wolavers shares with Otter Creek in Middlebury, VT. Make sure you stop in if you are in the Green Mountain State. Look for organic pumpkin ale in the fall.

Also, look out for consumer tastings for two Samuel Adams prototype beers. The public is being asked to choose between a Blackberry Wit and a Coffee Stout for seasonal release next year. I enjoyed the rich but not overly sweet taste of the former, but then I’m not much of a coffee drinker.