Wallenpaupack Brewing Co. Head Brewer Logan Ackerley Talks 'Pack & Brass

We spoke with Wallenpaupack Brewing Co. Head Brewer Logan Ackerley about 'Pack & Brass.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
The fates. I’ll explain this in a later question.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
My favorite things about ‘Pack & Brass are the color and aroma. This beer blows people’s minds when we serve it at the brewpub. It smells and tastes like coffee but they look at the beer in a glass and it’s a translucent, pale yellow-orange beer.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
For this beer, we use a light roast Yirgacheffe coffee from a local coffee roaster – Black & Brass. So we decided to mash up our names and take the “pack” from the end of “Wallenpaupack” and throw it together with the “Brass” from their name.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
It probably wouldn’t be my first choice but the coffee might give you the motivation to build a raft and get off the island.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Don’t know why coffee and hops work, but they do.

BC: Do you know a story – or have a personal story – that revolves around this beer?
The original batch of ‘Pack & Brass was actually an accident. We had a batch of our Largemouth IPA get messed up – over attenuated, and we missed some of the hops during the brew. It was still a good IPA but it wasn’t Largemouth. I had made a coffee IPA at the brewery I previously worked at and it was one of our most popular beers so we decided to work with our local coffee roaster to find a blend that would work with the hop character in the IPA. The ‘Pack & Brass base now has its own recipe but if the yeast didn’t go into overdrive, and we didn’t miss the hop addition, this wouldn’t be our most sought-after release every time we do it. The fates intervened!

BC: What's a good food pairing for this beer?
The great thing about ‘Pack & Brass is you can have it any time of day. You want a beer with breakfast? We don’t judge, have a ‘Pack & Brass. The best thing I’ve had this paired with was tiramisu at one of our beer dinners.

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