Jonathan Moxey of Perennial

Jonathan Moxey of Perennial Artisan Ales (Flash version)

  Non-Flash podcast   

On Dec. 6, 2013 Proletariat hosted Jonathan Moxey of St. Louis' Perennial Artisan Ales. And while it wasn't quite the extreme tap take over by Perennial at Barcade earlier this year, there was plenty of great beer and good cheer to welcome Jonathan back to the city where he discovered the art of brewing!

Full house on a rain drenched Friday night.

Jonathan explained to us how a friend introduced him to homebrewing while working as an editor for the financial services industry in New York, biding his time as he sought to discover what he really wanted to do for a career. He immersed himself the craft brewing world, joining the NYC Homebrewers Guild, becoming a beer judge, brewing scores of beers, entering contests, and taking in all things beer. His success in contests gave him the confidence to return to his hometown and apply for an internship at St. Louis' Schlafly Beer. After an arduous month of brewery hard labor, he applied for a position at Perennial Artisan Ales, where he interned for 6 weeks before being hired on full-time.

Currently, Perennial brews at a full capacity of 2,000 bbls per year on their 8 1/2 bbl system. The brewery is tiny in size, but enormous in stature, brewing some of the most interesting, delicious, intriguing and creative brews you could imagine. A big part of the brewery's identity is their use of fresh, local ingredients. Their Peach Berliner Weisse, which in late summer annually, utilizes local Missouri and Illinois peaches -- 750lbs per batch! Jonathan explained that while they could brew the beer with less expensive and more readily available Georgian peaches, their concept source as many ingredients as possible from local producers.

"Needs more bird!"

B.R. ribbed Jonathan a bit by asking if Perennial uses Cardinals in their Vermilioin Winter Ale. He played along and noted that it is their only non-vegetarian beer! More seriously, he noted that their Walnut Dunkel Weisse uses Black Walnuts from Stockton, MO, and that Woodside honey from Maplewood, MO goes into their triple, and said that coffee is specially roasted for them by local roasters Sump Coffee for their Sump Coffee Stout.

B.R. has that Perennial glow.

When asked about any special brewery projects, Jonathan told us that he recently took part in the blending of Perennial's La Bohéme, which involves fermenting a Belgian Brown Ale with Michigan tart cherries in used wine barrels, allowing the naturally present bacteria and Brettanomyces to transform the beer into something magical. He also mentioned an on-going project involving an all-Brett version of their Aria Strong Belgian Ale. They take a portion of the aging beer out of the barrels each year to bottle and keg, and replace it with fresh beer, adding layer after layer of depth and complexity to the beer over time.

Cory of Proletariat, David of Hearth, B.R., Jonathan and beer writer Chris.

We spoke with Jonathan on day two of the Belgium 2 Brooklyn fest at Mugs Alehouse on Sunday Dec. 8, 2013 and learned a few new things about the brewery, owned and run by Phil Wymore, which adds to our knowledge from previous blogposts on Perennial.

Same crew, different pose.

Bob and Jonathan at Mugs Alehouse.

Menu at Proletariat.

John of the NYC Homebrewers Guild at Proletariat.

Jonathan and Chris O'Leary.