Adega Beer & Wine Making Supplies offers locals a way to craft their own beers, wines, ciders and even cheese

Beer has never been more popular in this country than it is today. The amount of varieties available are astounding. The general knowledge of the common man is at its highest – people know more about the brewers, the brewing process, even the cultivation of the ingredients. For the first time ever, we even have the term “Beer Snob.” You know that guy that tells you why that favorite beer of yours shouldn’t be your favorite and then tells you what your favorite beer should be based on his elaborate algorithms, scientific understanding of gluten, and bunch of other mumbo-jumbo?

The same can be said about wine. Though it has been around for thousands of years, it has crept into popular culture and can be bought in boxes, mixed with fruits and even heated up. These days many restaurant will host special pairing events and knowledge of varietals and understanding profiles with the common folks is of a high level as well.

So it should come as no surprise that many are delving into crafting their own wines and beers to their palettes and preferences. We’ve all sampled a wine or beer that we thought was near perfect and with the slight addition or removal of a certain element it would be perfect in your eyes. Information on recipes, the process, and everything else under the grapevines…er…sun, is published in magazines, books, blogs the only thing holding one back to enjoy this increasingly popular hobby is a way to purchase the necessary tools and ingredients.

If you don’t live near a supply store, you are relegated to the poor method of ordering online. This leaves you with a LOT of questions, and if you end up finding out you purchased the wrong thing or ruined a batch, you are weeks in between a resupply. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to browse the tools and ingredients? To hold them in your hand? To ask someone a question face to face? To defer to someone more knowledgeable so you can spend less time dealing with errors and issues and more time experimenting and sipping your creations?

Well, you can. Adega Beer and Wine Supplies, owned and operate by Barry Ferreira, opened their doors three years ago on State Road in Westport. They carry all the popular brand name devices, kits, adjuncts, top quality grains, cleaning supplies, yeast, extracts and everything else one can imagine. Finings to clear your wine, oak chips for flavor, bottles and corks. The list goes on and on.

In essence, if it is used in wine and beer crafting – even cheese crafting – Adega has it, and if they don’t have it they will not only order it for you, but keep some in stock for your next visit.

The beauty of Adega’s inventory is that they not only carry everything sectioned out for the advanced crafter, but if you are new or just starting out, the kits contain everything you did. You can literally walk into Adega, grab yourself a kit, and be crafting your beer or wine 10-30 minutes later and then sampling it days later. These kits lay everything out for you, and if there is any confusion, you have a crafting partner at Adega more than willing to help out – give Barry or retail assistant Chris Camara a call and they will get you out of a spot or provide you with enough advice to bat it out of the park.

Barry has a passion for the home-brewing process that goes back decades. He began 20 years ago when he was an accountant for a local wholesaler in Westport. His love for wine prompted him to explore how it was made, what gave wine its flavor profiles, aromas and appearance, and how the varietals affected its production.

Luckily he had a friend who worked with him at the same wholesale company who was already crafting wine. This friend became his mentor and today they still craft wines and beers. Barry has found it to be an incredibly rewarding hobby even 20 years on.

This wealth of experience and knowledge translates into a cherry-picked inventory of the best products and equipment available. This doesn’t mean it is limited in scope – if you browse through the aisles at either location, you will be astounded by the variety.

If you are interested specifically in beer making, there is a large variety of hops, malted grains and yeast from around the world available at Adega. They also have a grain mill and will gladly mill the grains for you free of charge. Yes, free.

If you are already an experienced brewer and have your own recipes or want to clone one of your favorite beers or wines you will find everything you need to do exactly that. However, if you are new to the hobby the kits which allow you to get started as soon as you get home, make one or five gallon batches. A five gallon batch makes up to 55 bottle of hand-crafted beer at a fraction of the cost if you bought those beers wholesale at a liquor store. That means your new-found hobby is one that can actually save you money!

That aforementioned experience also means hundreds of recipes that Barry and his friends have perfected over the years are shared with you. So you don’t have to start out with all the ingredients and tools and not know where to start. You and your friends can even have a friendly competition whereby you all set a date, invite some friends and family over and have a blind tasting.

If you prefer to craft wine, the wine kits contain concentrated juices from the best vineyards around he world and produce one or six gallons of wine – approximately 30 bottles. There are well over 200 kits available from simple table wine to fruit-flavored wines to high-end wines. You’ll be able to reproduce your favorite wines – maybe even one that it out of reach in terms of price, for a fraction of the cost.

All the kits – beer, wine or cheese – contain step-by-step instructions and come with a 100% guarantee. If there is any problem with the kit, simply take it back to Adega and it will be replaced.

If your hobby turns into an active one, and you wish to pursue more knowledge, Adega has periodic wine-making classes right in the store. They also offer wine-making parties where you can book the experts to come to your house and teach you and your friends how to make delicious wines and have a complete and total blast doing so.

If you want to expand your wine or beer crafting – or perhaps neither of those is you cup of proverbial tea – than you may be interested in crafting your own cider or cheese. The cider kits show you how to make mouth-watering ciders from apples, pears, cranberries and other fruits so you can make either hot cider to keep you warm during those frosty nights, or cold cider to cool you down on those hot summer days!

Learning how to make a few cheese to pair with your wines is one excuse, but heck…you can just make cheese to eat on its own. Mmmmmm…..cheese. Only a communist doesn’t like cheese!

If you aren’t interested in crafting any of these things, you may know someone who would be. The kits make fantastic gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, corporate promotions, or Christmas.

Adega Beer and Wine is active in many areas: a monthly newsletter, participation in many local beer festivals and tastings, and social media – all ways to keep you informed on the latest news in the industry, recipes, new items & products, deals, specials and discounts. Inquire about their loyalty discount plan. If you live too far away for frequent visits, Adega Beer and Wine ships to anywhere within the 48 continental states.

The professionals at Adega Beer and Wine have a genuine interest in helping the general public make the best beer, wine, cider, or cheese possible. They know first hand how much fun, rewarding, and infectious the hobby is. They know you are one kit away from being hooked!

If you would like to find out more about what people are saying about Adega, you can check out their Facebook Reviews/a>. Gift Certificates can also be purchased online as well as in person.

[Show as slideshow]