Devil’s 9 Ball – Pale Ale

You’re going to love this deliciously hoppy little devil.  Packed with an abundance of citrusy American Hops, this dry-hopped amber beauty will keep you coming back until you’re satisfied.  Rumor has it, it’s a favorite of “the guy under the brewery floor”.

Our Devil’s 9Ball is dry-hopped in the fermenters.  This addition of pounds (Not Ounces!) of hops causes this beer to appear cloudy, but, we do not want to filter out all those great flavors and B vitamins just to improve the clarity of the beer.  This is a perfect example of being beautiful on the inside!  [B Vitamins by the way are known to be natural hangover inhibitors.]

How did the Devil ever get his moniker on this little taste of heaven you may ask? It came from building our brewery in Oxford, PA.  Oxford is a small town with a history dating back to the mid 1700s; this means some of the buildings are pretty old, ours included! While we are not exactly sure how old our building is, we know we are not the first tenants of this building.  During the building out of the property, two things were (and still are) mysteries to all of us; what was down the ominously dark hole under the receiving platform and why did a 9 ball keep turning up in weird places? Each of us remember knocking the 9 ball down the mysterious hole at different times but somehow the ball kept turning up.  It seemed we had been playing a weird game of fetch with some unknown partner.

We are in no way glorifying the devil.  That 9 ball on the other hand; it has been to hell and back at least a half a dozen times and it is as shiny as the first day any of us found it rolling through the warehouse! Our Devils 9Ball has that same tenacity of flavor and an enduring taste that will keep you under its spell.

Bitterness (IBUs): 43
Color (SRM): 7.0
Est. Alcohol (ABV): 5.8

Rochambeau Rouge – Red Ale

Without getting too deep in the weeds of history… the Comte de Rochambeau, the French general who was a hero of the American Revolution was one of our French allies during the war of independence.  He has been mentioned to be in the company of General Washington on numerous occasions and may have even been part of the surrender of Cornwallis after the Battle of Yorktown.  All of that has nothing to do with our Rochambeau Rouge Red Ale.  We are referencing the “Rochambeau” associated with Rock-paper-scissors; what has been called a child’s game.  We think there is nothing childish about rock-paper-scissors.  Frankly, the world would be a much more peaceful place if our illustrious world leaders and their egos would sit at one table and “shoot” for it rather than spend fortunes and years to settle what could be a quick round of Rochambeau.

On a more local level, Rochambeau can be used more practically. Dinner check just came, everyone wants to be the hero and pay the bill; Rochambeau! The next round just got served, who is paying? Rochambeau it!  There is only one pint left, who gets it? Rochambeau for it.

Just to put an end to the rumor that Rochambeau was French for: Caramel, Malty, Toasty;. It is not. However, those words are excellent descriptions of the flavors you will enjoy with our Rochambeau Rouge Red Ale.  As a red ale, we back on the hops a little so that the malt can shine through.  In early taste tests we performed on “volunteers”, the Rochambeau Rouge Red Ale was the top pick! Watch out though… you may have to compete for the last one. They’ll go fast!

And one last thing (ala Columbo); there is a South Park version of Rochambeau.  While that version more clearly defines who the winner of the “round” was, it will most likely lessen your enjoyment of the Rochambeau Rouge Red Ale.  We will leave that up to you to decide……

Bitterness (IBUs): 24
Color (SRM): 15
Est. Alcohol (ABV): 5.7

First newsletter

Well, what did YOU do on your Summer vacation? We spent our summer ( and our spring, and our late winter) doing this:

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And this:

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And this:
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We  signed our lease at 14 S. Third Street on March 1, 2015.  Since then, we’ve been working hard sweeping, building and turning our new home from this :

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To this:
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It’s been a busy almost seven months. We ‘re proud of all the work we’ve put into our new home.  We’ve been hands on for every aspect of building our facility.  Special thanks to Rich Higgins at The House Mechanix, who installed our exterior doors, and Mike King, our master plumber.  An  extra special thank you goes to Doug Poole, our fantastic electrician, who helped us not only upgrade our electrical system, but didn’t run the first time he was confronted with this:

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We’ve been asked a lot about when we’ll be open and actually making beer.  What we can say is this:  We’re really close!  We’re through the demolition phase and our big construction projects are done.  We’re testing out equipment as we’re installing. We’ve completed our applications with both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Federal Government.  We are confident that when they are available to make their inspections, we’ll be ready to go. Since we converted our brewing equipment to electric from propane over a year ago, we haven’t made any beer so we’re as excited as you are!!

We’re in the process of updating our website with the most recent information. We’ll soon be introducing our merch page, with some great BTB shirts and gradually introducing other items as we can.

If you don’t have any plans on Saturday, October 10th, we suggest attending the Sacred Heart OKTOBERFEST.  We have been affiliated with this event for a number of years, and it’s always been a fantastic night.  Please visit their site HERE for ticketing and time information.

That’s all the information we have; consider yourselves up to date!
Thank you for taking the time to sign up for our newsletter.  We’ll make these a more regular event.  Also, please like our Facebook page for up to the second information.

Here’s hoping that the next newsletter starts with these words : WE’RE OPEN!!!

The crew at Bog Turtle Brewery
John, Jon, Steve, Tom, Chris, Johnny
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Two Stories – Blonde Ale

People say there are two sides to every story.  Some people feel that is true about the name of our Two Stories Blonde Ale.  A perfectly balanced ale with just the right blend of Pilsner malt and classic Bavarian hops.  You’ll notice the subtly spicy, floral aroma of this beauty as you enjoy it’s light crisp taste… a real thirst quencher!

One story says it is named after the first structure built in Oxford (even before it was called Oxford) by John Hayes,  a two story cabin on the corner of 3rd and Market Streets. Sounds pretty tame considering it’s sister beer is The Devil’s 9 Ball.  The other story is it is named after a beautiful blonde woman (already more interesting), John’s sister.  John’s sister, it turns out, was the brains of the operation.  Let’s face it; Moving halfway between Philadelphia and Baltimore back in 1754 doesn’t seem like too bright a move, seeing as it was all pretty much wilderness and indians out this way and we were still under English rule. Now throw in smart beautiful woman with the idea to build a two story cabin that could feed travelers and have strong defensive capabilities, and things start to make a little more sense.  Travelers most likely wouldn’t keep coming back if it was just John hanging out on the front porch of his one story/one room cabin out in the woods.

John’s sister had a speculators eye and bankers mind.  They built that two story cabin, and they created a crossroads rest stop that ended up being just a short trot off the first interstate road in the United States. They later sold that simple cabin and that location is now the main intersection in downtown Oxford, PA.

So you decide which story you believe; John Hayes getting the credit for a cabin in the woods (men got all the credit back in those days) or a perfectly balanced (gorgeous and brilliant) blonde that was just right for the times and made it very easy to go back again and again.

 

Bitterness (IBUs): 21
Color (SRM): 4.6
Est. Alcohol (ABV): 5.5

Cattail – Honey Brown Ale

If you ever find yourself down in the bog trying to snap a selfie with the elusive Bog Turtle, you are going to work up a thirst that only a Cattail Honey Brown Ale will be able to satiate! Or, you may just have sat down after coming home from picking up a disc from Red Box, a Cattail is going to taste pretty darn good then too.

Our Honey Brown Ale is made from 8 different malted grains featuring floor kilned English malt, dark chocolate malt and  golden honey malt as well as local honey from West Grove, PA.  Cattail has a smooth sweetness that you’re going to love! The flavor of the Honey Brown Ale may vary a little from batch to batch, but, that’s the bees fault (or faults?!?).  The nectar gathered by these swarms of golden gatherers all depends on the flowers that it is gathered from, thereby causing slight flavor changes in the honey, which can cause a change in the taste of our Cattail Honey Brown Ale.

It’s a bit darker than some other brown ales on the market, that is due to the fact the we brew all of our beers for 70 minutes to allow the sugars to become more concentrated.  The heavier concentration and the fact that we do not filter our beer creates a darker, warmer brown color ale.

Cattail Honey Brown Ale has an abundance of flavor, a rich color and a sweet finish.  While it will pair well with numerous foods, it is best with friends and loved ones!

Bitterness (IBUs): 30
Color (SRM): 24.5
Est. Alcohol (ABV): 5.9