Great Stott! Man catches lightning in beer bottle
By Chip LeClerc
Journal Inquirer
March 28, 2007
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It's often said that one should never cry in his beer. However, please pardon Bruce Stott if he sheds a few tears of joy when he talks about his Dortmunder Export that is part of the Samuel Adams Longshot Six-Pack Mix. The retired music teacher and former Rockville resident was one of three winners in the 2006 Samuel Adams Homebrew contest. Stott, 62, beat out a competition of 1,500 entrants to earn the right to have his own home brew — the last one that he actually brewed in Connecticut before moving to Cape Cod — bottled and sold in stores by Sam Adams. Not bad for someone who became a home brewer after receiving a home beer kit from his wife as a Christmas present in December 1993. "Friends that I haven't seen in years are calling me or e-mailing me, telling me how much they are enjoying the beer," says Stott, who taught at Silver Lane and Robert J. O'Brien schools in East Hartford. "Amazing how many of them actually recognized me in the commercials." Stott's winning beer is named after Dortmunder, Germany, and it is made with a combination of German and French hops. It resembles a lager that is pale in color that has a malty, hop balance. |
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"It actually takes seven hours to brew from start to finish," Stott says. "It is harder to brew beer than it is to make wine."
Stott made his winning batch right in his Rockville kitchen on Prospect Street on Feb. 15, 2006. Using two brew kettles (a 10-gallon and 15-gallon) placed on his island stove, an immersion chiller (a copper tube he made himself), a picnic cooler for mashing, and old microbrew bottles with the labels removed, Stott created the pale-gold lager with a blend of Pilsner maltiness and mild hops aroma that impressed the judges.
"When I tasted this batch I knew it was a good beer," Stott says.
However, his creation almost went unnoticed. Stott sold his home in Rockville and moved to East Harwich, Mass. During that time he missed the 2006 National Home Brewing Competition. However, he happened to see an ad for the Sam Adams Home Brew Contest and decided to enter his Dortmunder.
Stott's beer was chosen as one of five finalists in the competition. He and his wife, Sheryl, were flown to Denver to the Great American Beer Festival, where it was announced that his beer, along with two other home brews, had won the contest and would make up the six pack to be sold in stores.
"They treated us well," Stott says. "They put us in a nice hotel and gave us passes to the event. It was great"
Stott also got to meet with Sam Adams brewer and founder Jim Koch.
"He wanted me to know how I was able to maintain the temperature during the brewing so well," Stott says. "In Rockville, there was a room in my basement that had a constant 50-degree temperature, so it was easy. Even the basement of the house on the Cape keeps a 50-degree temperature. I am lucky."
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For his victory, Stott and his wife even got to see Sam Adams brew his creation in Cincinnati, where he put the hops in the brew kettle himself.
"For 10 gallons I usually use about 5 ounces of hops," Stott explains "There, I put 100 pounds into the brew kettle."
Stott says the Longshot beers have been a good sell. He was told that there were only 150 cases left in the Boston warehouse. And once they are sold, the brews will not be made again. The six packs retail for between $6.99 and $7.99 and include Stott's Dortmunder Export, an Old Ale and Boysenberry Wheat.
What started as a fun hobby has now turned into a passion. Stott was named National Home Brewer of year in 2003 and he is currently a certified beer judge through the Beer Judges Certification Program. He will be judging beers at the Eastern Connecticut Home Brewers Festival in the Willimantic section of Windham on Saturday, March 31. He is also planning to enter four beers in that contest as well and may enter the national competition, too.
Stott says he keeps meticulous records and can tell you the exact dates of the more than 200 batches of beer he has made. He has long since dropped the original beer maker and has upgraded his equipment with visits to the Beer and Wine Hobby Shop in East Hartford and Zocks in Williamantic.
"The first one used a malt extract," Stott says. "Now I make beers with actual grains." And even after all of his quick success, Stott isn't ashamed to laugh about his first-ever batch.
"It was totally undrinkable," Stott says "I found out that hard way how hops reacts to ultraviolet light. I literally watched the liquid in the glass container ferment expand like a volcano. When it does that, it creates mercaptain and skunks the beer."
Sam Adams will accept entries for the 2007 American Homebrew Contest from Sunday, April 15, to Tuesday, May 1.