What's On Tap?

Any Martha Stewart special can teach you how to bake perfect apple pies or grow rose gardens the neighbors will envy. But have you ever seen Stewart brew her own beer?

For that kind of help, Cantabrigians can turn to The Modern Brewer.

Located on 99 Dover St. in Somerville, The Modern Brewer operates as a brewery, a home-brew supply shop and a place where customers can come in to brew their own beer.

"In general, people come because they like to make things themselves," says owner Jeff L. Pzena. "It's like bread. You could go out and buy it for $2, but some people spend three hours making it themselves. You do it because it's fun."

Pzena first learned how to brew while an undergraduate studying economics at the University of Chicago. He now drives a pick-up truck with a bumper sticker reading "Think Globally, Brew Locally."

"I took a class called 'Our Moldy Earth' and the professor talked about every way that people interact with fungus--beer, wine, cheese. I went with the beer," Pzena said.

"It seemed like fun. I'm interested in knowing where things come from," Pzena explained. "Everyone knows where mashed potatoes come from, but it's not the same with beer."

Pzena opened The Modern Brewer in Cambridge in 1989, moving to the present Somerville location in 1995 when the brewing equipment demanded additional space.

Besides offering brew-on-premises services, The Modern Brewer sells equipment for home-brewing and operates its own brewery. Local yuppie restaurants like the Cottonwood Cafe, Redbones, Gargoyles and East Coast Grill carry the brewery's final product.

The Modern Brewer's staff provides eager customers with a recipe book of more than 40 different types of beerand step-by-step assistance. Customers can also come in with their own ideas for the type of beer they would like to brew, but the suggested options are fairly expansive, ranging from standard American beer to Mindblowing Barleywine.

For customers, brewing the beer stretches over a twoweek period, Pzena says. Customers first boil the mixture for two hours and then allow it to ferment for a week. The beer is stored for an additional week in a cold storage room, and then lovingly bottled by customers. Pzena even provides patrons with the option of designing their own bottle labels.

"Our customers are usually a big mix of people," Pzena says. "We get people who don't have the equipment to brew at home or decide that it's easier to do it here because we do the filtering. We also get beginners who end up really liking the whole process and want to then try it at home for themselves."

Wendy L. Pzena, an employee and Pzena's wife since June, says most of The Modern Brewer's customers are between the ages of 21 and 40.

"We get about 15 customers every week, and only one of those is usually a college student, probably because of the age requirement," she says.

Many customers come only once a year to brew beer as holiday gifts, she explains. Business picks up during the summer as well, when engaged couples come to brew beer to serve at their weddings.

"We provide the directions and tell you what to do each step of the way," Wendy Pzena says. "The equipment is sanitized for you, and the cleanup that we do is a bonus."

According to her husband, sanitation is the most difficult aspect of the brewing process.

"It's hard to keep the equipment clean," Jeff Pzena says. "People who are careful and detail-oriented make good beer, but here we take care of all the clearing and sanitation for you, so it's inevitable that you'll make good beer."

On average, one batch of beer costs between $100 to $130 and makes about five to five-and-a-half cases. Jeff Pzena estimates that making beer at home costs between $10 and $15 per case, while brewing a case at The Modern Brewer costs about $20.

Although business is steady, the Pzenas say they are disappointed that the brewing-on-premises end of the business hasn't proved more profitable.

"It hasn't caught on like we thought it would or like it has caught on in Canada, where brewing your own beer is treated like a singles' event," she says.

So the Pzenas turn to tastings at restaurants, universities and graduate schools to generate business, offering brewing classes and selling brewing equipment and ingredients. Shelves are full of glassware, publications like Zymurgy, a magazine for homebrewers and beer lovers or guides to beer and wine-making.

"We are very profitable for a home brew supply shop, and the brewery is a good idea," Wendy Pzena says. "We just break even, though, on the brew-on-premises equipment because of the costs of labor and ingredients."

High operating costs leave little money for marketing or expansion.

"We don't even have a budget for advertising," she says. "We'll do a little advertising around Christmas, but a lot of our customers are regulars."

Nevertheless, the Pzenas say that the people who enjoy the brewing come back.

"Everyone always seems satisfied with the end product," Jeff Pzena says matter-of-factly.