Local Vendor Spotlight: Adelbert’s Brewery
Adelbert’s Brewery produces hand-crafted Belgian style ales right here in Austin, Texas. Started by Scott Hovey, Adelbert’s Brewery is a tribute to his brother, George Adelbert Hovey (1953-2000). Del always took time to enjoy a good ale with family and friends.
Scott and head brewer, Taylor Ziebarth, have both been passionate home brewers for many years. Scott completed the Master Brewers Association of the Americas’ Malting and Brewing Science Course and Taylor attended the American Brewers Guild’s Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering program.
Adelbert’s Brewery is committed to brewing Belgian-style, bottle-conditioned ales. They believe quality beers require quality ingredients and a painstaking attention to detail throughout the brewing process. They use Bohemian old-world floor malted barley, low alpha Noble Czech hops, and fresh yeast propagated at the brewery. In their seven vessel brewhouse, they use a time consuming, multi-temperature decoction mash technique which extracts a more complex flavor from their grains.
They were happy to answer a few questions for us:
1. Can you tell me about the Inspiration behind your brewery?
Adelbert’s Brewery is named in honor of Scott’s brother, George Adelbert Hovey (went by Del), who passed away in 2000. When Scott decided to start the brewery, he couldn’t think of a better way to pay tribute to his brother than name the brewery after him. Then after seeing a commercial about “the most interesting man in the world” he knew that made up character had nothing on his brother and his real life experiences. That’s where all of our beer names come from. Each is named after a different story Del would tell.
2. What kinds of beers do you make and what is your brewing philosophy?
We are a Belgian-style brewery focused on bottle conditioned ales. 99% of our ingredients (accept the water which we get from Austin) are sourced directly from Europe (malt, hops, yeast strains). We are about as authentic an European brewed beer you can get here in the states.
Adelbert’s Brewery is committed to brewing Belgian-style, bottle-conditioned ales for people to seek, savor, and share with others. Adelbert’s Brewery believes quality beers require quality ingredients and a painstaking attention to detail throughout the brewing process.
3. Why is bottle conditioned beer better?
At his first Craft Brewers Conference, Scott attended an aged beer tasting and fell in love. The cork and cage was the “sexiest” bottle format he’d seen and he liked the idea of creating beer that continued to develop and improve over time.
With bottle conditioning the beer is still alive. Overtime the flavors will continue to develop and change. They bring an excellent flavor when enjoyed fresh but also will bring something new to the table after a few months/years!
4. Who are your brewers and what is Adelbert’s history?
Scott Hovey, founder and brewmaster of Adelbert’s Brewery, believes in brewing the beer he likes to drink. A passionate homebrewer for many years, he found his calling when sampling aged Belgian beers at his first Craft Brewer’s Conference (CBC). In 2010, he completed the Master Brewers Association of the Americas’ Malting and Brewing Science Course while developing the business plan for Adelbert’s Brewery.
Shipping its first bottles in late 2011, Adelbert’s specializes in hand crafted Belgian-style ales. Now in its third year of business, Adelbert’s beer has received 11 awards and is distributed all over Texas, California and New Mexico as well as south Florida and the Long Island area. Prior to starting the brewery, Scott received his degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and worked in the semi-conductor industry for more than 25 years. When he isn’t at the brewery, Scott can be found training for marathons and spending time with his wife and two kids.
Our head brewer is Taylor Ziebarth. He attended the American Brewers Guild’s Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering program.
Other brewhouse staff: David Yancey (brewer) and Conner Strickland (cellerman)
5. Can you tell us what you like about working with the co-op?
Wheatsville on Guadalupe was one of our first accounts back in early 2012 when we first started selling! We’ve had an amazing relationship with Wheatsville for the last three years and were honored when you included us in your new store on Lamar! We are thrilled to work with such an awesome retailer and your amazing, knowledgeable staff!
Wheatsville is committed to working and promoting local vendors. You graciously took a chance on us when we first started out and we’ve been appreciative ever since. Since our first delivery in early 2012, we aimed to provide the same level of customer service and reliability that you provide your customers. We love working with local partners and Wheatsville is awesome to work with!
6. What excites you about Adelbert’s future?
Everything! Craft beer is booming and it’s an exciting time watch it grow all over. We recently built a new climate controlled finished goods warehouse to better serve our customers – it’s huge! We look forward to releasing several new beers over the coming year in addition to maintaining the outstanding quality of our year round offerings!