Yard To Table

Tapping into Passion & Pilsner - Rich Ruggiero of Berlinetta

• Trevor Crafts and Ellen Scherer Crafts • Season 2 • Episode 4

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This week, Ellen and Trevor's guest, Rich Ruggiero began his career in the Entertainment Industry before pursuing his passion...brewing classic European Czech-style beers. Rich started home brewing (close to his yard!) and expanded that into Berlinetta Brewing in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Ellen and Trevor chat with Rich about becoming a noted brewmaster and the joy found in creating and growing things you love - all while sipping some of his signature lager. They lean into the table side of things on this week’s episode of Yard to Table! 

Rich's recommended reading on beer: Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers

And don't forget to follow Berlinetta on Instagram at @berlinettabrewing and plan a visit the Taproom at 90 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport, CT!  

"Na zdraví!" (Cheers!)

Questions? Ideas? Things you need to say? Message us!

Follow Yard to Table on Instagram at @yard_to_table_podcast 🌱🍽️ and see what’s happening with Ellen and Trevor by following @stonebrookhouse. And don't forget to follow, like and leave a review wherever you listen to the show! TY 💙

Trevor:

Well, hello Ellen.

Ellen :

Well, hello Trevor.

Trevor:

Here we are again, back at the table for another amazing, fantastic and what I hope will be truly tasty episode of yard to table.

Ellen :

Oh, I mean, how could it not be? I mean, I know. I know who the guest is, so

Trevor:

I also know who the guest is. We both know, but no one else knows right now, no one does. Not a single person out there listening knows who this is.

Ellen :

That's true,

Trevor:

unless they look at the show notes or the title of the episode. Other than that, nobody has any idea, as our daughter would say, dang it, yeah, that's true. That is a problem. Season Two. Season two, yeah. So another wonderful episode in Season two, and this one, I am very excited about me too, because as it becomes spring and we think about all the wonderful things in our yard and the amazing meals that we'll have at the table, I think about outside yes and parties,

Ellen :

parties, and spending good times with friends and family, and that involves delicious food and beverages.

Trevor:

Funny enough, yes, our guest today hits every single one of those parts.

Ellen :

It's kind of amazing

Trevor:

friend,

Ellen :

yes,

Trevor:

neighbor,

Ellen :

yes,

Trevor:

makes amazing food,

Ellen :

yes,

Trevor:

amazing drinks,

Ellen :

yes,

Trevor:

all those things,

Ellen :

all of those things

Trevor:

combined.

Ellen :

Yes,

Trevor:

it's like, for those of a certain age, a fun Voltron that all comes together, yeah, into one amazing person.

Ellen :

There's really only a certain it's

Trevor:

a very for this audience. It's a very small niche. It's gonna remember those cartoons. People who are listening can look it up on the internet. Yeah? Figure it out.

Ellen :

This is the, I mean, this is the time of year. It's warming up here in New England. It's beautiful. We're super excited, of course, to be back for the podcast, but we're super excited to start thinking about these amazing occasions we're going to have outside,

Trevor:

yeah, all the good stuff that we're going to do coming up. And speaking of amazing our guest today. Tell us more about I shall thank you. Trevor Crafts, this. This person's a lot like us in a way

Ellen :

I can't wait to share sort of the origin story. It's going to be fun,

Trevor:

yes. So our guest has spent time in the world of entertainment, and is also super comfortable in a yard growing but also at the table, serving delicious meals.

Ellen :

So I've had some of his meals have had

Trevor:

recently, and they're wonderful. I think our guest is a little bit more on the table side than the yard side, but definitely does a little bit of both. Our guest creates delicious and incredibly interesting check style beers in his brewery and tap room in Bridgeport, Berlinetta brewing now Berlinetta, it's a family business, something we know an awful lot about. We love a family business. I do love a family business. So our guest, along with his brother, opened Berlinetta in 2021 now their goal was and still is, to bring fresh, high quality beers to Fairfield County and beyond with a focus on really classic European styles. Our friend, our guest, was born and raised in Connecticut. This master brewer developed a love and an admiration for classic check style beers during his many trips there with

Ellen :

my good friend, his wife, Olga, who I adore

Trevor:

the most wonderful. And she's a native, obviously, of Czech Republic. Now, Berlinetta offers carefully crafted easy drinking beers in a warm and inspiring space, which I can personally we both can personally vouch for. It is the coolest tap room, period.

Ellen :

It is a really I think the first time we visited, we said this space is way cooler than we ever could be. That is 100%

Trevor:

there's no way we could be even remotely that cool

Ellen :

and yet friendly and welcoming.

Trevor:

That's correct. You're cool. You can go if you're not cool, you still go. Go every night time. Please welcome to the table, our good friend, our neighbor, the guy who's in charge of all the awesome things to drink. Rich Ruggiero, yay. Hello, Sir,

Rich:

hello. Thank you guys. You really made me sound pretty good. I appreciate it. We do that.

Trevor:

It's not hard. It's really not hard. I just basically read a history of you, which we know a good bit about, because we are very close friends and very close neighbors.

Ellen :

We talk a lot on this podcast about moving to this town of Weston and the incredible people that we've gotten to know and like. Let's talk about how we met. It was literally we always, time and time again,

Trevor:

every time it was in our yard. We met in a yard, in our yard. Yeah, we met Olga first, and and Olga brought your amazing kiddo. And

Ellen :

let's talk about what it was, too.

Trevor:

Oh, is it was an open porch.

Ellen :

It was an open porch event. Yeah, that's right, which

Trevor:

you did not attend, by the way.

Rich:

I think he was that during COVID.

Trevor:

Oh, it was, it was, yeah, towards the end of that,

Rich:

yeah, probably had COVID.

Trevor:

It did happen. It did unfortunately, it did happen. But it's funny, because so we had Olga come and and literally rich and the family live walking distance from our house, the dirt road up the dirt road not that far from where Phoebe's farm was, and we had a wonderful time hanging out. And for quite a while, Ellen would tell me, you've got to meet rich, because we hadn't, you and I hadn't met for a while. It took, like, I think, a good chunk of time as it happens, as it happens, but then we hit it off. You're awesome, and it was a lot of fun, and the rest is history. Many dinners, many events, many fun hangouts at Stone Brook later, here we are,

Ellen :

yeah, but rich, you guys live in the woods, right? I mean, you pretty woodsy, but that's something you're used to, right, growing up in reading Connecticut, right? Oh,

Rich:

yeah, no, I'll pick the woods over anything every day.

Trevor:

I did mention that you and I were, we are all similar in entertainment. Tell me a little bit about where you started and how you ended up with Berlinetta, like going all the way back. Give me, give me day one. Yeah. So was born, right? It's a nine hour podcast. So there you go.

Ellen :

Were you born in reading?

Rich:

Danbury hospital. We lived in Bethel. Okay, moved to reading when I was in maybe kindergarten, okay, but, yeah, I grew up in reading, and then after college, moved to New York, as so many do, as so many do, and was in several bands and worked in production, like you guys, you know, lot of post production and then more shooting. I mean, it's really all I did out of college was TV and commercials and stuff like that, and and music, a lot of music, I was gonna say, you worked in music a little bit too, right? Yeah, being in bands and recording music for for TV and stuff like that. And then I decided to not do that anymore. We love a pivot. And get into beer. It's like, it's a common, common pathway. I'd say you start home brewing, and your

Trevor:

common pathway from music to drink,

Ellen :

just working in production, entertaining in production, to drinking. That's also because that is true 100%

Rich:

Yeah, right, right. And when the beer is, like, close to free. I mean, that really works out totally,

Ellen :

but you were a home brewer first, is that right? Yeah,

Rich:

yeah, home brewer. And I've said it a million times best hobby in the world. If you're looking for something to do and you like beer, get into home brewing. It's amazing. It hits on everything. It's like cooking, engineering, doing stuff with your hands, and the best homemade product. So it's it's awesome. Now, did you have an elaborate setup for that? No, it was pretty basic. It was a regular, like, Coleman cooler, which was the mash tun, a turkey fryer, okay, yeah, I don't even think I cooked a turkey, and I think I just used it for beer and then a five gallon plastic, safer, safer for fermenting. I mean, it's, it's really easy to make beer. People you can go overboard with, like, you know, stainless steel, everything, and pumps and all this stuff, which at a bigger brewery you need, but on the small scale, it takes nothing, I think, for like, 100 bucks, you could be making beer. It's so easy.

Ellen :

And so then you were like, this home brewing thing is not enough. I need to go bigger.

Trevor:

Was there something specific that that really clicked with you, that that created something in your mind, that was, this is something I this is now my passion outside of home, brewing, because a lot of us have hobbies and things that they do, but was something that you saw or you read that really was a key element.

Rich:

I don't know if there was that one moment I saw that on your shelf, that's what got me into brewing beer. So this book is what got me into brewing beer. Friends tell us, Trevor, what I'm so glad I have your own copy, as

Trevor:

I reached over because I had yours for about a year. So there's a wonderful book that inspired rich called sacred and herbal healing beers by Steven Bucha. That's a great it's a great time. I have not read this yet, right? I have read it. I know you super interesting just about all the different places. So, I mean, this book was one that you found that was the beginning of a lot of things.

Rich:

Absolutely, that book got me into brewing beer. I forget how I initially heard about it, but the premise of the book is that beer, well. Been around forever, but beer was always many different things. Nowadays it's kind of one thing. It's barley and hops as the two key components to beer. But beer used to be a lot of things, different sugar sources, many different bittering agents, herbal, you know, different roots and leaves and whatever flowers. But then a certain point, it kind of got narrowed down to just be being barley and hops, and hops, like all the other herbs they talk about in this book in herbal medicine, have a particular function. You know, like you're the medicine person in your village would give you hops for certain things, just like they'd give you other herbs for other things. And I really wanted to try to make these other types of beers to see how they tasted. And also, well, if hops, if a hopped beer, makes you feel this way, what does the other beer with the herbs that are supposed to give you energy? What does that beer do? Oh, I love it. So both from a flavor and a feeling standpoint, I was so into this idea of trying to make some of these beers. So I'm like, I'm gonna get a home brew kit and I'm gonna start making these beers very quickly. Discovered you can't find any of these, like, unless you're scouring the Scottish Highlands on the coast, like, you know, you're not gonna find

Ellen :

a great trip. We, you know, sounds like a great trip. Let's do that. But go ahead,

Rich:

I managed to make one beer using Wormwood, which, you know, is the thing in Absinthe. Yeah. It was disgusting. It was so, so bitter. Totally undrinkable.

Ellen :

I love the spirit, though I love it.

Rich:

I made some beers with maple sap from the trees around the house. Actually, that was pretty good.

Trevor:

Now you are you talking my language?

Rich:

But I basically got the home brew kit, and then just started making, like, a pale ale. And I was like, Oh, this is pretty good success. Then I just kept making regular beer. So I so here we are.

Trevor:

And how did you get from the brewing and the failed sacred beers to erlaneta, you said, you just said, I'm gonna do beer now, is that really, was that like, a decision point where it was just, it was just that, like, I'm done with all this other stuff, and I'm just gonna make beer.

Rich:

Yeah, that was it. I mean, you know, one, one particular project I was on, I was just like, I threw in my hat. I'm done. I've had I've had it. Now it was really a clean break, yeah? And I just went full on into beer. Yep, that's, that was the pivot point. I really don't do much video anymore, besides the, you know, for the business,

Trevor:

I have to say, and this is something that I, you know, we've had other guests on the podcast too, that I just, I find it so fascinating and so brave and so hard to take something that you know really well, production, in your case, and you just push it aside, and you start something that is so of a passion of yours, and it's really inspiring. And we hear these stories so much, and it's so much fun to to know that there is a whole nother side of every person that you can really get into and and find something wonderful that you're growing and you're making and you're creating. It's so much fun.

Ellen :

It's actually really interesting. I think we have had so many guests that have had this pivot moment. And I think there's a message in that about taking a turn when it's scary and difficult, but following something that you really love, that feeds your soul, that makes you happy, can be the right move to make it can also be terrifying and maybe not successful, but if you don't try, what do you That's what life's all about, right? So you made the pivot.

Rich:

It's called a midlife crisis.

Trevor:

Some people get like, a Porsche or a Lambo. Some people buy a brewery, yeah, and create something from nothing, and what depends on the person. Your brother

Ellen :

was like, Yeah, me too. He's like, let's do it.

Rich:

No, he's still keeping a big foot in that other world still?

Ellen :

Yeah, you're the full end. But you said, Let's do this together. Is that how that worked?

Rich:

Yeah. I mean, any big undertaking like this, I think is easier with a partner and to have a partner that you can, like, fully trust in, totally respect their sensibilities and so, yeah, definitely, a family business was a clear choice, and

Ellen :

it's also fun, right? But, I mean, sometimes in a family business, you

Trevor:

can wait one second, go ahead, continue. In a in a family business,

Ellen :

one can have moments of joy that's and period and end of sentence, that's never any disagreements, right?

Trevor:

Good. I thought that's where this conversation was going. I was worried for a second, but no, no. Continue.

Ellen :

You find this with your brother, Chris, you're always on the same page. 100%

Rich:

Yeah. Okay, good. That's really exactly the same person.

Ellen :

This is, this is like Instagram versus reality,

Trevor:

family businesses, everybody's greatest idea on paper.

Ellen :

So I so why the Berlinetta, the name and the style of beer, obviously, we gave away with talking about the fabulous Olga of the Czech Republic, but tell us a little bit about the journey to naming the beer and actually growing the business.

Rich:

The name the style of beer is a little more straightforward. The name is, I'm not gonna say random, but it's a little further. From being that direct. So there was a car, a Camaro, Berlinetta, sweet 80s ride my brother in navy blue. Oh, there's a Ferrari as well. They might still make it, but it was because of the Camaro. And I think a long time ago, Chris's wife Emily said, If I ever had a bar, I'm going to name it after your car, Berliner. That sounds like a good name for and so we were thinking about names, and he mentioned that, I was like, Yeah, you know what it sounds, right? It sounds well, it's Italian. We're Italian. We like that. And we do these continental style beers, you know, Berlin, even though it's more Czech than German, whatever close enough. And it just kind of the right ring to it,

Trevor:

yeah, yeah. I love that. That's so cool. And, and the focus was, it really with Olga that you went to Czech Republic and you honed in on the specific Czech style that you really loved

Rich:

Absolutely I mean, if it was not for Olga, I would not be doing this, because I really

Ellen :

fell in love, which is the story of everyone's good influence. Hope she's listening true. I'll send her the link,

Rich:

because I fell in love with beer being over there. I didn't come into craft beer, like, being a super big craft beer guy, like IPAs and all this stuff like that was huge in America. I mean, I always drank beer, but, like, we would just drink beer because it's there. But like, in terms of, like, really appreciating beer, it was spending a lot of time there, so I fell in love with their beer, and that's when I was like, I want to make that beer, gotcha. And also when, at the time, when we were getting started, it was like a check Pilsner was like, not really very rare. Now they're everywhere. It's like a very popular style, like even Czech dark lagers, which we do, these things are very popular. But when we were starting, it's like the Czech Pilsner was was not a big thing, but that's what I wanted to do. So the

Trevor:

real origin is Olga home brewing in the book to Berlinetta. I love it. That's really cool.

Rich:

And actually, Olga bought the turkey deep fryer. So there you go.

Ellen :

Did she ever intend to use it to fry a turkey?

Rich:

Well, she was intending for me to fry the turkey better. But we, did use the fry Turkey after I started making beer, okay, well, then I upgraded.

Ellen :

So Ijust because you do live deep in the woods, let's just retire. That is that retired? The turkey fryer? Is that gone? Now

Rich:

I no longer fry turkeys. Okay? It's, it's easier ways that are equally as good. Agreed,

Trevor:

agreed.

Ellen :

Oh, I was gonna say so. So what makes berlinet is approach different than other breweries in Connecticut. We've got quite a little brewery scene here in our state, right? So what's different or special about Berlinetta in comparison with your other competitors? I'll say,

Rich:

Well, nowadays, a lot of places are starting to do these styles that were always our focus. So it seems like a little less differentiating now, but when we started, the idea was straightforward, like, high quality, focused beer that tastes like beer of a certain origin, this central European flavor of beer. That's what we wanted to do, and not like being very particular, like, we're gonna be exclusively lager like we'll make some pale ales and stuff like that. But we wanted to focus on these clean beer, flavored beers, from that part of the world. And this was like we started basically in 2018, or 19. It just took forever to open because of COVID. You know, of course, three years to open,

Ellen :

nothing gets in the way of a great space for people to meet than COVID or a film to come out in our Yeah, also true, yes,

Rich:

yeah. At that time, it was IPAs sours. That's what everybody was doing, pastry stouts, beers made out of, like, cocoa crispies, you know, like, the beer gotten like, so crazy, like, so off the rails. I just kind of wanted to focus on the basics. It's weird to say these styles are trendy, but, like the Czech, dark Lager is popping up everywhere. Now, cool that people want to drink it, but I'd never would have guessed you had it. You were the OG.

Trevor:

Well, I mean, Czech Republic was the OG, but then rich Czech first, and then 100% Rich was literally the second one after the Czech Republic. You

Ellen :

You know, we mentioned this in your intro, but I know, we know that you're a grower. You may have an amazing home garden. You're always creating and expanding your garden. I think you had an updated plan for this year. So I know ingredients, and obviously this book was so inspirational to you around trying different ingredients, making beer. So I know that's important to you, and I think that's one of the reasons we love your beer, and we just know your interest and heart that goes into it. So now, with what you're making, what tell us a little about the ingredients that you use and how you select your ingredients and the different types of beer that you're making.

Unknown:

Yeah. I mean, the main thing for the beers that I make is I really don't think about cost of the ingredients at all. That is a great business model. Yeah, you're like, Oh, this guy's gonna go broke, which, if you're, like, a very big brewery, or even like a medium big brewery, you look at every penny. Because if you're making, like, you know, 50 barrel batches, which is 10 times bigger than I'm making, like, these things add. It up more for me, I just wanna make the best possible tasting beer. So the malt that we use comes from Europe, and it's like, almost twice as expensive as other stuff you can buy, but I'm not gonna compromise on it to save a few bucks. I want it to be from Europe a because it's really good and it's true to style, but also because the beers I'm making are supposed to mimic those beers. So money is really not an issue. Same with the hops and the yeast is kind of what it is.

Ellen :

I know your beers change seasonally, just like obviously things that we're growing are seasonal. So what flavors do you chase in the European style throughout the season here in Connecticut? And does Connecticut have any influence?

Rich:

I think about what I would like to drink based on the weather. If it's hot, you probably don't want strong, dark beer, like Seven 8% but that's nice in the winter, but

Ellen :

so we're coming to the tap room to get your Kolsh.

Rich:

Yeah, Kolsh is a summer beer.

Trevor:

Now, speaking of drinking beer, should we do it? We should do we have some beer. We have some beautiful yellow labels from Berlinetta that are sitting right here.

Ellen :

And this is the signature beer. This is the one, right?

Unknown:

The Pilsner, absolutely yes. Tell us a little bit about what you brought for us today. This is the Pilsner. It's called the velvet Pilsner. Does anyone know where that name comes from? I don't tell me. Well, it's a smooth beer, obviously, like velvet. The Velvet Revolution was in Czech Republic, which is when they broke peacefully from communism. So it's a nod to check there as well. I love it. That's really cool. It's a five and a half percent, so a little stronger than a standard Czech beer. The way the Czechs do beers, by the way, is different than how we do it, because they primarily have pale lager, which is Pilsner. If you go to a place, and I'm talking more traditionally, like now, you're gonna find IPAs and stuff, but you would see a 1011, 12, maybe a 13 Play Doh, little teeny circle above the number, and that refers to the starting gravity of the beer being that they're all pale lagers. They're going to be made out of pale malt and over there saws hops. So what's differentiating those beers is the strength. So a 10 Play Doh would on the lower end of the gravity would ferment out to be about four and a half percent, and then say, 5% five and a half percent. So this five and a half percent beer is stronger than like the standard check pills. But for me, it wasn't so much about getting the alcohol higher as making it really smooth, and hence the velvet and that extra malt just gives a lot of nice flavor.

Trevor:

Ooh, why are we? Why are we still sitting?

Ellen :

Yeah, do it on the mic. Let's hear it.

Trevor:

Oh, that sounds nice. That's a good sound.

Ellen :

That's lovely. Oh, thank you, ladies first. Yes, love it. Here we go.

Trevor:

Lovely, lovely, lovely. So what should we as we, as we taste this beer? What should we notice first when we're tasting this beer, or any beer?

Ellen :

Well, wait before we sip. I'm thinking of Olga. I think we have to say a certain toast right now,

Rich:

Na zdraví!

Trevor:

There you go. All right. So the question is, what should we first notice as we taste this beer or any other beer as you're tasting them? What are the things you want to you want to know about this beer?

Rich:

Well, for this beer in particular, and what I appreciate about well made beers is the taste of malt, which too often gets forgotten about. It's like people are so focused on hops,

Ellen :

and I don't love a real hoppy beer, right? That's not my style.

Rich:

To me. It's about balance, right? Like I do like hops, but I want to also taste them all. So what you get in this beer is, without it being too heavy or sweet, you get a malt flavor, and then the hop bitterness comes next.

Trevor:

So for those who might not know the difference between hops and malt and how those work, where does malt come from?

Rich:

This is amazing. Malt is a type of grass, right? Like wheat or, you know, so malt grows our yard, right? So you, every time you mow your lawn, you're killing beer. Terrible.

Trevor:

People. That's why we have no moment that's right, because of no Mow Beer

Ellen :

we know we have so it saved the pollinators and the beer and the beer, okay, right.

Rich:

In all seriousness, you don't have barley growing in your yard, but barley is a grass. It's a grain, and it's grown, as you know, for beer and animal feed. And you know, some people will eat it, but it's not common. I mean, it's wheat and corn are typical grains, right? And then barley gets malted, which means they harvest it. You have the kernels, they get dried out, and, you know, they're in storage. And then they soak them in water, they start to germinate because they think they're going to grow again in the earth. And as soon as that little endosperm starts coming out, they dried again. So you're ceasing the growth of the kernel the seed. And what's happened is now that little kernel is full of starch, which it needs to continue growing. So you've transformed it once. So now you have that malt, then you crack it and you steep it in hot water, and now the second transformation happens, where that starch is converted to sugar at particular temperature. So it's amazing. It's grass that you then get, like a very delicious sugar out of that's so cool ferment

Ellen :

All right, so we talked about the malt. Let's talk about the hops, for people who don't know

Rich:

Right hops, going back to our book here, sacred and herbal healing beers, hops really got to be codified into what beer is around the 16th century, or something right around when the German purity laws Reinheitsgebot came about, that beer could only be barley, hops, water, yeast. So a hop is a flowering plant, like a it's a vine. Actually, the reason our logo is a wolf is because the Latin name for hop is Little Wolf, because these plants grow very aggressively. That's so cool. That's fun. So it's a it's a vine that produces these little, beautiful cones. They look like green pine cones, and when you crush them, there's these oils inside that just smell amazing. Can't drink a lot of beer. When you do the podcast,

Trevor:

don't drink beer next time we record pause, it is delicious, by the way, it is delicious.

Rich:

So you have these flowers and the hops are doing a couple of things for the beers. They're balancing out that sweetness of the malt. If you made a beer that was just malt, it would not be very refreshing. It would just be too sweet, like any chef would tell you or home cook, you need to balance flavors right, very important. So you're balancing the sugar with something bitter. Hops are also preservative, so before refrigeration, beer would last a lot longer with the hops in them, they're just a natural you know, they have antimicrobial properties. They're natural preservative. Yeah, and then and the flavor, you know, beyond just the bitterness, there's also the flavor. And there's so many hops these days to give all sorts of crazy aromas and flavors.

Ellen :

Now, is there are hops? Maybe I've read this, I don't know. There's so many headlines I read and then I don't read the article. So forgive me, are hops in danger? Are we... is there a hop shortage?

Rich:

There was a surplus last year here really well in certain areas. So like in check, for instance, I use saws hops a lot, because I do check beers. The yields were down last year. And the Alpha acids, which is the all hops are rated based on Alpha acid. It's basically how bitterness, how bitter they are, and you need to know that number When calculating how much to use in your batch. So the Alpha acids were like crazy low. They're normally saws is already a low acid hop usually 3% but they were like 1.7% last year. So it means you need to use a lot more. But in America, I mean, our yields were fine. Yeah, so overall, hops are doing all right? I think it's a pretty hardy

Ellen :

you said it grows prolifically. It's interesting too, because we follow the Connecticut foraging club, and they were just posting some photos around finding some wild hops out in the forest. Oh, that's amazing, which is pretty cool upon that I know we'd love to see that there's some good stuff.

Trevor:

Is hops, something that you could grow if that was something you wanted to grow.

Rich:

Yeah, I'm growing some of my house. Ah, right? I mean, like, the amount I need, and then you need to, like, store them. It's kind of not practical for the amount of beer that I make. But I grow them because they're pretty and, you know, I like hops, but it is a pretty thing to grow, you know, if you want to cover a trellis or anything, it's really nice. Connecticut in New York actually used to be the biggest hop growing part of America, really, and now, but now it's the Pacific Northwest, like, that's where all the research and all the growing is done. There are some hop farms in Connecticut and New York. I know there's at least two in Connecticut, because it is the right latitude for growing hops. When you think about like Czech Republic and Connecticut, we're about the same latitude, Pacific Northwest, maybe a little more damp over there, but right similar latitude. But in sometime, I think in the 19th century, there was a blight that took out the hops here, so then they shifted production over to the Pacific Northwest, and it's been taking off. Yeah. I mean, it's massive over there. So Berlin and his Tap Room is located in Bridgeport. It's hard to get a space off the ground without COVID. It's hard to open a business tap room, anything like that. So why Bridgeport? And what it's meant for you to be in the city of Bridgeport. We are in downtown Bridgeport. So when we signed our lease down there. I mean, we looked at my brother and I looked at properties from, I guess, as far west as Norwalk, over to almost New Haven, and then north up to, like Newtown, so But ideally we wanted to be along the shoreline, kind of 95 strip. We looked at like 50-80 places. A lot of places.

Trevor:

That's a lot of places,

Rich:

yeah, commercial real estate tour. And with a brewery you're looking for that's a tap room, you don't want it to be like in the middle of nowhere. But then you also have technical requirements. You're going to need a floor drain, and you want your ceilings to be high enough, and you probably want three phase power. So these like technical. Little things you need. So it makes it tough. And we didn't really want to be like in an industrial park, because we were not trying to be a production brewery. We wanted to be a tap room. So we looked a lot of places, and the place we found in Bridgeport was just, just a beautiful spot. I mean, it's all windows park across the street. We have Bucha courts there, just a nice close to the storefront. We're close to the train. They're on the bus. Today, we're going to give it a shot. And so far, it's been good.

Trevor:

You know, I think it's so interesting because we talk a lot about community on the podcast, and we talk a lot about spaces, mostly yards. But what I think is fun is it is kind of your backyard, a little bit in the brewery, where you have this park, you have this communal space, summer beer garden, yeah, where people come together. What is that like to help build community because of a place that you have created?

Rich:

Well, it's kind of snowballed nicely in that we had the outdoor area, and then this organization called skateboard started doing these really fun rollerskating things. Yeah, they planted a pollinator garden on two sides of the beer garden. So, like, beautiful flowers there. So things have have come up a little bit around it, which is nice.

Ellen :

That's fun. And you're bringing just this life fun to an area that that it didn't have that before. So people are you're more, you're a destination now to an area that didn't really have a destination focus. And how's the relationship been with with Bridgeport in general? Have they been welcoming? I mean, because I know creating the beer garden was a was a dream, right? Was that like an easy process, or was that something that came was it hard or came naturally to what you were wanting to do?

Rich:

The city's been very nice to work with when you're dealing with something like alcohol. Neighbors in the city could make it impossible for you, you know, just get a liquor license. It says multiple zoning hearings and all this stuff. Like anybody could say no and, you know, kind of like, throw the whole thing off the rails. So the city has been, has been great, like economic development general, like, permitting and fire department, your basic stuff, everybody's been really nice to work with. Yeah, that's cool, because they were welcoming. If you try to open in a place that they feel like they got enough stuff like that, or they just would, for whatever reason, don't lie there. It's so easy for them to make it impossible. But that was the opposite issue for us.

Ellen :

That's so great, yeah, because you and you were really bringing something new into that area that wasn't there before. And I think it's important to mention too, with your tap room and your background music and the arts, is a huge part of the tap room too. Do you wanna tell us a little bit how you've merged those things together?

Rich:

Yeah, I mean, the tap room, the brewery in general, is really just a reflection of my brother's and my interests and sensibilities. So everything you see there, like, the place kind of looks like my house or his house, you know, like

Ellen :

it's where you go to the Trevor I'm like, Oh, I'm at Richard Olga's house, their living room.

Rich:

It's really, there's no, like, you know, focus groups deciding what this place was like. It's just what we like. We got a lot of plants. We like plants. I like plants, inside houses, outside houses, all over. A lot of music. My brother and I are both musicians. So we sell vinyl there. We also just, like, old school stuff. So we sell a lot of vinyl, like, well selected, nice condition, vintage vinyl. My brother is a master at finding this stuff. We have DJs come in that spin on this, like, really cool system. My brother built a lot of the amps. He builds tube amplifiers. So we have vacuum tube amps and cool old school turntables

Ellen :

and a really cool, diverse group of DJs that come in. I mean, you really, like, hit, yeah,

Rich:

we get a whole range. So every, yeah, usually two days a week, we have DJs and live music. Maybe trying to do it more. I'd love to do it once a month right now. We're doing it every two or three months.

Ellen :

And then food. You incorporate some food now into your into your offerings, or you have partnerships that you we do.

Rich:

We have because we do not have a kitchen, but the food that we prepare is very tasty. You guys have had it. Trevor loves the pretzel.

Trevor:

The pretzels are amazing, literally, the greatest pretzel I have ever had in my life.

Ellen :

Yeah, you had it before I did it. And you're like, when I want to, we need to order that. I'm like, Yeah, okay, great, yeah, and it's delicious,

Trevor:

and it's unreal.

Rich:

Those come from my guy, Stanley, at Wake up coffee in Fairfield. He makes those just for us, using the traditional bavarian method, which a lot of which is beyond just baking them. I don't want to give away all secrets, but it's a traditional method of preparation for these things. They make them so, like, chewy and kind of like crispy on the outside, and then, of course, we cover them in butter. So those pretzels are great. Then we have zoo parties pizzas, zoo parties from West Haven makes these 10 inch pies that they're frozen you just you throw them in the oven, they come out amazing.

Ellen :

So it is a little Connecticut, Czech Republic mash up.

Rich:

Oh, right. I mean, I'd like to keep this stuff kind of as local as we can.

Ellen :

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. So obviously, the arts are huge part of your. Life, and something that you're even extending into this, into this phase of your career, there's a collaboration that you do every year in Bridgeport with the arts. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Rich:

Well, we're involved with the art Trail, which is a great thing the city does every yearThere's multiple stops throughout the downtown and kind of spreading out from there. A big stop on the art trail is the American fabrics building, which is incredible, really cool.

Ellen :

Yeah, very cool space. I think if people know this, either how much public art is in Bridgeport, between the murals and, oh, a ton, a ton. It's gorgeous. And then you have this building, which is just filled with these incredible makers and artists,

Rich:

probably like 50 studios there. And a lot of the people that work at Berlinetta have studios there. So we have a very close connection with amfab American fabrics. We often have our beer there when they do open studios. So we're, yeah, we're pretty tight. So your sister, sister in law, has a studio there, right? Emily has a studio there. And that's kind of how we got started with those guys a while ago, but, yeah, we've been involved with it since, since we started. And like you were saying, Bridgeport has a ton of murals. I think they did like, 25 in the last couple years. They're gorgeous,

Ellen :

huge, beautiful. Just such an impact in that, like, urban landscape. It's gorgeous,

Rich:

right, right. There's like, great artist housing downtown, really nice loft apartment buildings just for artists that are reasonably priced. It's kind of incredible, right? Like a lot of places, you know, maybe it's the way Williamsburg was, like, 25 years ago, or something, right? But, yeah, it's got, there's a lot of cool things going on there.

Trevor:

And what I think is always so interesting is, like we said, You're bringing all of this community together to create something that is new, and it's unique to Berlinetta is so many people, even when we're there at the tap room, you know them. The regulars are people that you see all the time and that come in and you can share the table with them and share their stories and know about them. And it's such a it's such a unique it's such a unique place.

Ellen :

You know, it is Trevor's secret wish to be like norm and cheers, maybe not going every day, but you know, to go in and have on someone's someone say, hey, Trevor,

Trevor:

a lot of those guys, I just realized something. Actually, I'm gonna say I just realized something

Ellen :

that is your secret dream.

Trevor:

Oh, it's not a secret. I say it all the time. It would be great, but I actually have it,

Ellen :

yeah?

Trevor:

Because when I go to Berlinetta, Rich says, Hey, Trevor, so I have it. You made my dreams come true. I just realized that that's amazing

Ellen :

good to have a friend that has a place like this. That's very good.

Trevor:

Tell us more about what's what do you see for the future of Berlinetta? Are there any new brews that are coming up, other than the Kolsch, which I'll take all of because it's so amazing. Are there new that's getting warmer your is correct, new beers that you're developing? Are there new flavors that you're coming together? Tell us more about the Berlinetta of the future

Rich:

Yeah, I'm always coming up with new beers. You know? I do the kind of the core beers regularly, like always want to have Pilsner on tap. I do Volk, which is our check dark lager. Often, I do the kolsh, often the Pale Ale. Like I was saying, I'm not exclusively lager. That's something that changes every time that I drew it, and we don't package or distribute it. It's only on tap at her place.

Ellen :

That's really important to note, because you do, we'll want to talk about your distribution of it all, but you have specific beers that you only serve in the tap room that are delicious.

Rich:

There's a number of those, yeah, and the Pale Ale. I mean, it's fun to always it's a way to experiment with ingredients and combinations and stuff and techniques as well, because beer is really coming up with the beer. It's the things you use in it, but also how you use them, right? So the pale ales kind of keeps me in having a good time back there, and then it's a new thing to drink. So it's also more fun for me that way. It's always a clear beer, though a pale ale, I never got into hazy beer. So it's, it's very Hoppy, but it's, you know, you'd say more of a West Coast kind of IPA, like a clear, hoppy beer. We also just did a beer with two roads that was very fun collaboration, collab that came on tap this past weekend. Very fun. It's a Munich lager, really tasty, like little bit of an amber lager, kind of in between a pilsner and a Vienna lager. That was really nice and very fun to, you know, meet those guys and make some beer together.

Trevor:

That's really cool. You think about the whole beer world of brewers and other people, what's one surprising thing that everybody doesn't know about brewing? Like, what would be one thing that you could say about the brewing world that would really surprise people?

Rich:

I think anybody that thought they would want to be a brewer and not realizing that it's 90% cleaning. You're just, you're basically a like a janitor, a beer janitor, and you're occasionally feel like a cook, but you're really, you're cleaning and sanitizing. Most of the time.

Ellen :

And we thank you for that, by the way.

Trevor:

And you don't mean just like, from the beer, like, from cleaning up the tap room.

Ellen :

Oh, we've seen his setup. You're talking about the big, some real cleaning, right?

Rich:

Oh, yeah, with, with the most amazing chemicals, though, I think people are like, What's your favorite thing in the brewery? I'm like, the cleaning chemicals. These things are amazing. I mean, you clean off gunk like you You mean, you could never get off in any traditional means, but the stuff we have, which you can't, like, buy in a store, you don't even need to scrub. You just basically spray it on.

Ellen :

And the German in me responds to that so strongly.

Trevor:

The German cleaner in you,

Ellen :

I love a clean

Rich:

Yeah? So you're cleaning, and then you're sanitizing the last surface that touches the stainless steel before the beer. It can't be water. It needs to be sanitizer, because, you know, water has bacteria.

Ellen :

So it's 90% cleaning, 10% experimentation and drinking.

Trevor:

Yeah, how much is the drinking is that? Like, 2% out of that 10%

Rich:

I try to keep those numbers a little higher.

Ellen :

That's what makes his beers so good.

Trevor:

And I think it's fun part, because it's like we've had your beers at your house with other amazing dishes that you've made. You are a fantastic cook as well,

Ellen :

and we brought things over from the garden, and Rich has made them into

Trevor:

magical strombolies and other things as we've brought him.

Ellen :

Well, that's the fun part. We share things like we got figs from your tree one year. We brought things over that you weren't growing, which is so much such the fun of our neighborhood in general.

Trevor:

But yes, what is a great meal to pair with, since we're drinking it the velvet Pilsner like what do you think is a great additional items to have with this?

Ellen :

We're setting the table of an evening at the Ruggerio household.

Rich:

I'm going to say grilled vegetables and meat. Love grilled vegetables as well. You know, beer and sausage is a classic combo, but throw anything on the grill and it kind of like doubles its deliciousness. Yes, agreed, a little bit of char, fully agreed. Throw some broccoli on the grill, it's amazing. And little olive oil always good. And plus it's, it's grilling, you're outside drinking a beer. So beer and grilling, to me, is the best combination. I mean, beer, you know, is also good with pizza. That's why so many places do pizza. But grilling is that's where it's at. That's the best. Yeah, I love that.

Ellen :

So we know that the tap room is in Bridgeport, and everyone should go there. And now that it's getting warmer, the beer gardens opening up soon.

Rich:

Now we opened it last weekend. We have two really nice bocce courts, 60 foot courts, stone dust, really nice to play on.

Ellen :

So they're open all season, through end of summer, yep, till it gets cold, amazing. Where do we? Where do people purchase at a distributor of your beer?

Rich:

Well, we are in fair amount of stores, especially in Fairfield County. We're throughout the state, but you know, us being down here, and I think just people drinking more down here, more population, we're in a lot of stores down here. Probably I'd say all of the big stores, anything above, like a few 1000 square feet, you know which ones they are, and then a lot of the nicer, smaller stores. So I think we're in a couple 100 stores. So you can look for the yellow can. That's the pills. We're around there. Look for the wolf and the yellow can. And we're on tap at good restaurants and, oh, that's

Ellen :

okay, ton of different places. Great, too. Yeah. Are you going to be in the new liquor store in Western Center? Oh, is it reopening?

Rich:

Yes, we were in the old store. So I hope so. Yes.

Ellen :

The journey of our little downtown and our small spaces stores, that's perfect.

Trevor:

One day we'll have everything we need. The last question, as we always do, what's growing in your yard?

Rich:

The hops have been transplanted to go up the like fence posts in the kind of archway going into this new garden I planted so it'd be a little hoppy. Entrance way, lovely. And then inside we have some red onions and some kale and zucchini. Green beans, some multi colored beans, you know? Yeah, the green color, yeah, some rainbow chard, tomatoes, grape tomatoes. Oh, because I read you can start those ones right in the ground later. So I'm trying it. Okay, you know, I one of the things I like about gardening is it's just is it's just a big experiment. Like, I've been doing this for like, 10 years now, and I'm like, not that good at it, but every year you make a tiny little improvement, but it takes a whole nother year before you can implement that change. So it's like, it's a real slow burn, but if you like tinkering with stuff, it's fine. It is. Well, you know, we agree.

Trevor:

I would like to say, I would be remiss, in fact, if I did not say,

Ellen :

Oh, I can't wait.

Trevor:

How are the chickens doing?

Rich:

They're good. So we're down to six, but we're still getting five eggs a day, so I can't be mad.

Ellen :

Okay, listening. Does not see the eyeballs looking at me for both. For chickens.

Trevor:

Maybe just, I'm just saying, it's season two, and we're still talking about chickens.

Rich:

You won't regret it.

Ellen :

I keep hearing this. I keep hearing this. I will say our neighbor across the street on Newtown Turnpike, I dropped off some tulips today, and I have some for Olga today as well. And she texted me back, and she said, I'm gonna drop off some eggs. It's nice,

Rich:

especially when they're 13 bucks a dozen.

Ellen :

Thank you very much.

Trevor:

Thank you. So it changes the game on chickens. It does just have to build a coop, like, rich build a coop for almost no dollars, and then you're in the then you're in the black right away. On chickens,

Ellen :

you need to, like, just come together and do it and wait, what am I saying? Ever it will revisit it?

Trevor:

No, no. I like where you're going. Continue. Please continue. Please continue.

Ellen :

The ever, ever ongoing chicken conversation.

Rich:

and they eat all your your scraps. I can give them my brewing grains, but I have way too many, so I actually my grains. go to our friend Tom down the street.

Trevor:

Tom Kubic

Ellen :

We're thinking we're gonna have Tom on the podcast.

Rich:

You should.

Trevor:

Tom will be a guest.

Rich:

He's amazing.

Ellen :

We talk about that, which is a real cause, that's fun, and we'll talk about it with Tom too. So just he gets grain, right? Yeah.

Rich:

Yeah. So I bring the grains over after I brew in the back of my truck, and he has huge piles of really high

Ellen :

and again, this is one of the amazing things about our quality compost. Yes, he does. And any gardener would tell you, it's just about the dirt, right? Like, how good is your compost? That's how good your food's gonna be. And that's another thing that took me a long time to realize gardening, I was just throwing seeds in the ground for a while. I'm like, Why did these plants? They're so, like, tiny, you know, it wasn't good, good quality soil. So the grains go over to Tom, and then he mixes it with he gets tree guys to drop off wood chips. He gets all the leftover stuff from the grocery store in town, like bread and fruits, amazing, just all this free, old junk mixes it with this tractor that ends up being what he grows. I mean, his vegetable garden is amazing because this his, and that's what's in my garden now, is his compost, which was my grain. So it's nice. It's nice town. It's just people sharing. And I love that. And yes, Tom's garden is unbelievable,

Rich:

so productive.

Trevor:

Its painful sometimes. I'm like, What? What do you what is why?

Rich:

I guess when I when I drop off the grains and it's summer, I come home with, like, a shopping bag full of, Oh, yeah. I mean, always mushrooms, because he's an amazing mushroom grower. And then what else, whatever else he's grown, you know, greens.

Ellen :

And I'm always like, Oh, yours look so much better. Oh, it's, it's like, I said, it's painful. Always have tomato envy, although I said, last year we had a really great tomato season. But in general,

Trevor:

Tom is the only person I've ever met that made his own charcoal, really, for the grill? Yeah? He's like, Yeah, I just made this. He seemed like, What do you mean? You just like, he burned it in chamber. Thank you.

Rich:

Oh, wow. I didn't know that.

Trevor:

Yes, yes. He has some next tires. He's a, he's a multi talented, multi hyphenate grower

Ellen :

, the New England renaissance man. Yeah, from from milk to sea to garden. Oh, gee, he's the OG OG he'll be coming up on yards table.

Rich:

Oh, one time he gave me a jar of honey that he extracted from somebody's wall in New Canaan, he pulled a hive out of somebody's house. Sounds, right? And he got like 10 gallons of honey. It was great wall, honey,

Trevor:

you're looking for good wall honey....

Ellen :

Now that is a Tom story. That is 100% Tom.

Trevor:

Marina, if you're listening our former guest on the podcast, don't listen to wall, honey. That's, yeah, that's a different that's a different show.

Ellen :

Oh, my friend, it's been such a joy. It's such a great deal at the table with us.

Trevor:

We've taken up so much of your time, but we really, really appreciate you coming and joining us at the table and telling us about your table and about your yard and about all the great community that you're building here.

Ellen :

And we're so happy to celebrate your incredible business and your beer. And we've had so many good times sharing a glass together and having a can right now together, and we're just so incredibly grateful for your friendship and for all the things, wonderful things that you're making

Rich:

well. Thank you very much. And you guys are so sweet.

Ellen :

Trevor, do you think it's a given that anyone who grows things is just like an incredible person

Trevor:

Like Rich?

Ellen :

Like Rich,

Trevor:

that rich, I tell you, he is.

Ellen :

You know, so many of the guests that we've had on the podcast, I mean, here's another

Trevor:

awesome person, awesome who

Ellen :

started out with making things in their yard, growing things in their yard

Trevor:

cool, starting at home, doing a little a little a little cooking, drinking,

Ellen :

building community,

Trevor:

yeah, and has grown it into something that is really an anchor Yes, in that part of Bridgeport, and is a really stand up guy,

Ellen :

and what we didn't even talk about is just how much they've done within our community.

Trevor:

No, that's true. I think you're right. Basically, anybody that's on our podcast is amazing, including us,

Ellen :

According to us,

Trevor:

according to us, everyone, we are amazing and we are great. That is true,

Ellen :

but we couldn't be luckier to have

Trevor:

I mean, he's right up the road from us, just right up the dirt road, an amazing person, an amazing friend, his whole family. We just love them, and it's a really, it's just that's the whole reason why all this works,

Ellen :

and just another amazing person growing things in their yard that you get to meet on yard to table. That's right. Thanks everybody for listening with us.

Trevor:

But is it too early to have a beer? We already did True. Good point.

Ellen :

Thanks for being with us and having a seat at our table.

Trevor:

Yard to table is a production of Macrocosm Entertainment. Don't forget to rate us and subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts and for tips and more information, follow us on Instagram @stonebrookhouse.

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Ellen Scherer Crafts

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Trevor Crafts

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