The New England Brewing Company Puzzle

When I first arrived on the craft beer scene, April of this year, I was completely overwhelmed. With hundreds of breweries and thousands of beers, I had no clue where to start. CJ first advised me to start utilizing different resources such as BeerAdvocate and Untapped. I quickly learned that there were a ton of breweries within a stones-throw here in Connecticut. I visited many of the local package stores and grabbed whatever I could and the journey began. I immediately realized that New England Brewing Company (NEBCO) was located in Woodbridge, CT. NEBCO is not only one of the finest breweries in Connecticut, but in the northeast. After following them on Twitter and Facebook, I came to realize that they have a devout following and many people are fixated on three of their beers in particular, Gandhi Bot, Coriolis, and the famous Fuzzy Baby Ducks. Finding and trying each of these beers became my first personal challenge in the craft beer world.

Gandhi Bot, a Double IPA, was the first I was lucky enough to try. NEBCO announces their beers on tap through social media outlets from Wednesday-Saturday. I dropped much of what I was doing and raced to Woodbridge to get my first ever growler fill of Gandhi Bot. It seemed to be my first real achievement in the ever changing craft beer scene and I was thrilled.

About 6 weeks went by and Fuzzy Baby Ducks as well as Coriolis continued to evade me. These beers are not canned or bottled, so finding them at a local bar or at the brewery was really my only option. I became further entrenched in the craft beer scene over these weeks, being able to try the likes of Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, and Julius.

Just when I thought Fuzzy Baby Ducks, an American IPA, would have to go on the back burner, NEBCO announced they would have it at the brewery a few days before the 4th of July. I was fortunate enough to have the day off and raced to Woodbridge. I planned to arrive 90 minutes before they opened, knowing how big of a following this beer has, and it wasn't nearly early enough. Upon arriving, there were easily 150 people there in front of me. We got inside the brewery, 3 hours later, sampled Fuzzy Baby Ducks, and left with 4 full growlers. The whole trip lasted about 5 hours in total but was completely worth it. This brew remains in my personal Top 5 to this day. Bringing this up to Maine to share with family for the 4th of July weekend was a real treat.

Two of the top 3 NEBCO beers had been "ticked" off my list and I was only in search of one more, Coriolis, a Double IPA. Today, I saw that NEBCO had this on tap and I filled and drank the growler all within 3 hours. This was the final piece of the "NEBCO puzzle" that I first set out to complete. Although it took much longer than I initially thought it would, today was the end of one small chapter for me and the beginning of the next.