Vee Vee and Streetcar Wine Roll Out Centre Street Consortium Project
Mystic Brewery’s new collaboration beer with Streetcar Wine and Spirits and Vee Vee. Photo provided.
Vee Vee and Streetcar Wine and Beer have launched the Centre Street Consortium, bringing local artists and brewers together for small-batch, collaborative projects sold exclusively at their respective Jamaica Plain businesses. Several times a year the Consortium will pair a different brewer with a featured artist and unveil them at Vee Vee and Streetcar.
The inaugural release, 366, was brewed by Mystic Brewery and features the artwork of Andrew M.K. Warren, a local video artist and photographer. The exclusive farmhouse ale, brewed with equinox hops (HBC-366), is adorned with a label featuring Warren’s photograph “Cadillac & House.”
“Me and Dan [Valachovic] at Vee Vee started the Consortium to get some new, fresh ideas out of the brewing community and to celebrate our Jamaica Plain neighborhood,” says Streetcar owner, Michael Dupuy. “Fortunately, we’re blessed with a lot of good brewers in the Boston area who are willing to take on small projects like this. Bryan Greenhagen and Mystic were at the top of the list for a number of reasons. We’ve always liked Bryan’s approach with his own beers, his attention to detail, and his regard for the history of brewing.”
The official release of 366 is scheduled for September 4, but Dupuy is anticipating having product at his store by August 29. A tasting event will take place at Streetcar on September 4 from 5 to 7 p.m., with Greenhagen and Warren in attendance to discuss the project. Warren, an admitted audiophile, will be spinning records from his extensive collection of vinyl. Afterward, the two will head over to Vee Vee to continue the celebration.
“Bryan is really excited about this beer,” Dupuy says. “The way he described it to me is that he doesn’t normally have the opportunity to work with these new, experimental hops because of the nature of what he does: farmhouse ales. His house yeast is very much rooted in the Belgian saison mold, something that doesn’t typically meld very well with citrusy, overt hops. This particular one worked out really well, though, bringing aromas of citrus, papaya, apple, and pepper.”
In addition to Vee Vee and Streetcar, 366 will be available at the Mystic taproom in both bottle and draft. The Centre Street Consortium’s next beer will be brewed by Chris Tkach and Ben Howe at Idle Hands Brewery. Dupuy says the beer will be available before the holiday season.
488 Centre St., Boston; 617-522-6416 or streetcarwines.com.
