The Referend Bier Blendry will have a farm full of grapes, grain, and fruit to add to its creative blends as it takes over the former Pinnacle Ridge Winery space in Kutztown at 407 Old U.S. 22. Owner James Priest says his blendery’s new tasting room will open sometime this spring between March and May, contingent on licensing approval and COVID.
The Kutztown property is 5.75 acres, 3.4 of which serve as the vineyard, and will have two separate tasting rooms in its 1850s barn. The upstairs tasting room, the Barn Bar, will have seating for 80 guests in the warmer seasons. The Cellar Bar is smaller with 20 seats and is climate-controlled, unlike the upstairs bar.
“Both bars have dedicated draft systems for 5 of our draft beers and 2-3 guest taps from our favorite other PA breweries. In the winter, we’ll pull cask beer from our handpumps, and, when it’s truly arctic and/or festive, we’ll ladle our mulled fruited wild beer, a tradition we’ve indulged in for many happy years,” Priest told What Now Philadelphia.
Locally grown and made snacks like breads, pretzels, and cheese will be available in the tasting room. Food offerings could potentially be expanded in the future. Priest also plans to have live music and entertainment at the Kutztown blendery.
For Priest, who originally opened The Referend in their now-closed Pennington, NJ location in 2016, the act of making beer is art. You see, the Referend doesn’t actually brew its beer. It “practices the neglected art of waiting, of letting nature run its course.” It instead uses a process called spontaneous fermentation, that pumps hot wort (which is water, grans, and hops or beer before its fermented) on what is called a coolship, which is basically a gigantic pan, where the soon-t0-be-beer is cooled and exposed to the open air where the air’s microbiota starts to ferment the sugar in the wort.
It is then placed in oak barrels, sometimes mixed with locally grown grain and fruit, where the “wild” yeast and bacteria turn the beer into an alcohol beverage. In a typical brewing process, a yeast catalyst is added to spur fermentation instead of letting it occur naturally. Mother Nature creates unique acidic flavors and aromas in these “wild beers” that can take anywhere from nine months to five years to properly ferment. These beers are ready when they decide they are ready. They are then bottled, canned, or put in a keg. The beer at The Referend Bier Blendry is unfiltered, unsweetened, and untouched by chemicals or mechanical processes.
The Kutztown farm won’t only be used to blend beer. Priest will utilize the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, and Vignoles grapes from the vineyard to start his own line of wines called Therin Wine. He’ll also be planting herbs, fruit trees, buckwheat, rhubarb, rye, and elderflower to add to their blends. The current farming process will all be converted to an organic farming process. While going O’natural isn’t better for-profits, Priest stays it’s better for what actually matters: environmental health, taste, as well as supporting local farms/small businesses and making connections with them.
“A rotating vintage bottle list is available in both bars to purchase our long-cellared [beer] bottles, best enjoyed with friends or friendly strangers. Once our first wines are available from Therein Wine, those will be available by the glass or bottle in The Referend’s tasting room as well,” Priest said.
Priest also plans to offer a bottle membership. The Referend Bier Blendry will also distribute a small amount of their blends to a few spots they have an affinity for in Pennsylvania.
“For those new to The Referend, I’d say ‘expect the unexpected!’ We like to make beer that surprises even ourselves, finding that to be a fairly reliable fountain of joy, so if the taste of the wildness is surprising to you, let it be happily so,” said Priest.
You can learn more about The Referend Bier Blendry at www.thereferend.com.
