At Element Brewing Company in Millers Falls, new ideas are brewing alongside the now locally-famous beer.
Co-owners Dan Kramer and Ben Anhalt opened a space down the street from their current location in 2009. They moved to their new, larger space at 16 Bridge St. in Millers Falls in November 2015, and more recently began distilling alcohol alongside their beer.
Since they were approved in March 2017, they’ve become the first commercial distillery in Franklin County since Prohibition, according to Element’s owners.
The two owners come from brewing science backgrounds, something that’s reflected in the packaging and style of Element, where the slogan is “Art, Science, Beer.” Both men believe that brewing is something that can be scientifically crafted, but is also an art.
They said that while a lot of smaller breweries are started by those who are home-brewers first, their science-based approached was something that would make them different.
“It’s the fusion of science and beer,” Kramer, who has been a professional brewer for more than 30 years, said. “Both of us have formal educations in brewing science. We really come from this as brewers.”
Anhalt has been a professional brewer since 2000. The two also saw science brewing as something they could use to set them apart in the marketplace.
“There was no one doing what we were doing,” Anhalt added.
They use bottle conditioning for their beer, a rare method that uses carbon dioxide and yeast to create a longer shelf life — where the flavor changes over time.
Anhalt and Kramer met at a brewpub in Amherst in 2005 and immediately wanted to start a brewery together. They landed in Millers Falls, where they said the reception has been supportive.
“The vast majority has been extremely supportive and positive,” Anhalt said.
With Interstate 91 and Route 2 nearby, the duo said the spot was an intersection of a lot of places. They added that the tasting room was something that grew out of a community need, where there weren’t a lot of establishments like this in Millers or other nearby towns.
“When we first opened up on the corner, we had people coming in and saying, ‘thank you for putting a business in Millers Falls,’” Kramer said.
For a while, Element was the state’s smallest brewery, but it has grown over time, they said. Now, with the addition of the distiller, they are the state’s smallest distillery.
They said they got the idea for the distillery around the same time they wanted to start the brewery, but decided to focus on the brewery first. When they moved to the larger space, they felt it was time to pursue it and applied for state and federal licensing.
“We moved down here and said ‘we can finally do this now,’” Kramer said.
Both owners said that state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, was instrumental in helping the business and getting the state license approved, which allowed them to get started in June 2017.
They applied for the federal license when they moved in 2015, and it took about a year and a half to get. They have one still, which holds about 13 gallons of “wash” — the finished product of fermentation, destined to be distilled for the first time. Distillation removes the impurities of the spirit, so, it is washed.
The duo now make whiskey, vodka, gin, bourbon and rum, and the process to make one batch can range from six weeks to 13 months. Their still is customizable, so they can change and adjust how it runs for each type of product.
Anhalt said that fermentation lasts about two weeks, distilling lasts three days. At that point, vodka and gin, which require no aging, are ready. Products like rum and whiskey, however, are aged in an oak barrel — rum for two months and whiskey for three.
The beer and alcohol are all made in small batches, which allows them to continue learning and experimenting with each one. The still is in constant use as they try different things.
The distillery’s first product came out in March and was a 100-proof moonshine called Black Lightning, colored with dark malted barley. Beyond the moonshine and the hopped gin, Element also offers whiskey, vodka and rum. The gin and vodka are both made from Hatfield potatoes and the hops in the gin are also local.
The different alcohols are currently only available at the Element location. Mixed drinks and shots are available on-site in the tasting room, as well as 100-milliliter bottles and one-liter Erlenmeyer flasks.
Eventually, they’d like to sell their products through local distributors and sell beyond the brewery. But for now, they can’t keep many of their products on the shelf because of their popularity.
“We don’t want to be Titos or Bacardi, but we want to be able to do more signature cocktails and more signature things, and we just need to build up inventory,” Anhalt said.
As for the future? The duo plans to keep experimenting with all of its products and improving the still. They are also working on some partnerships with local friends in the business, using some local products like Ginger Libations and Headwater Cider as wash.
“Because we’ve been in the industry so long, we know people; we have professional friends that make other alcohols, including breweries,” Kramer said. “So it’s fun to partner with these people and take the cool things they’re already doing and put a new spin on it.”
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280, or mdavis@recorder.com.