Kettle to Keg Started when I moved back to NH from my Beer World Tour. In less than ten years, I had worked at 8 breweries in 3 states and 2 countries doing everything from putting bottles on a bottling line to brewing my own recipes for experienced beer drinkers in the northeast of england.
After my last brewing job in Arizona in 2004, I moved back to the east coast and into the Concord, New Hampshire area. To my dismay, I was unable to find any homebrew shops or beer supply stores in the local area. So I decided then and there the only way for me to get good beer was to open a homebrew shop and brew a better beer myself.
In 2005, with no money in the bank, a third shift job and a credit card in hand, I found the perfect location at 161 Main Street in the historic Suncook Village. The size was small, but the price was right. I figured I would provide the basics needed to make any English style beer. This way if no one else ever came to the shop, I’d have enough malt to supply my hobby for a few years. What was there to lose?
Fortunately, people did come! The beautiful thing about home brewing is that there is a beer for everyone. As Kettle to Keg’s customer base grew, the retail space evolved into a homebrewing community. Customers not only came in to buy ingredients, but they would also stay to share ideas and chat with like—minded beer geeks about recipes and ideas to make a recipe a little more personal or for the upcoming season. Inspired by customer creativity, I created my own line of beer kits. My formal training at the University of Sunderland in the Northeast of England gave me to the skills to recreate any traditional brewing recipe by infusing local ingredients and incorporating the color and customs of local characters.
I kept doors open at 161 Main Street until early that next summer in 2006 before I decided I would need a bigger space to keep enough supplies to match the creativity and ambition of the Kettle to Keg customers. I have always argued that brewing beer is as much of an art as it is a science. That is why I was stoked to find an available space just down the street at 123 Main St. right next door to Studio 3 Tattoo. In the new shop, there was enough space to have a retail show room in front, a separate malt room, and a laboratory in the back for experimentation and tasting. Even if the guys from Studio 3 only drink PBR, it is still a space where creative juices flow as freely as the beer out of my kegerator.
My hope is to continue this vibe for many years to come not only at the store but also throughout this website. As a member of the Kettle to Keg community you can always feel safe knowing that the products you buy are the freshest and there will always be someone at the shop or through the e-mail that can help you accomplish your brewing goals.
-J