Bog Iron Brewery Making a Splash in Norton

Frank White, Brian Shurtleff and Matt Menard said they always had a passion for brewing beer, and now they’re getting to fulfill their passion at Bog Iron Brewery in Norton.

They all have been brewing beer individually with small brewing kits for years.

“Anybody who’s ever been a homebrewer, they sit around and daydream about this,” Shurtleff said. “We took one small step and then another, and we just kept going from there.”

The trio agreed it has been hard, but in 2012 they opened the brewery.

“It was three times the budget and twice the time frame, but we finally opened,” Shurtleff said.

White said he first started home brewing with his cousin and a friend in 1982.

 “We figured we’d brew beer and sell it to our friends,” he said.

Shurtleff said he started because he was a “foodie,” and felt creating and selling beer was a natural progression.

“I got a kit close to 20 years ago and it came out pretty decent,” he said.

They said they all met at the South Shore Brew Club.

“That’s when we started talking about the brewery,” White said.

Shurtleff said beer brewing is essentially like brewing coffee.

“They’re basically the same process,” he said.

The trio makes four different beers, an India Pale Ale, a blonde ale, the Black Steam and the English Session Mild.

“The blonde is an easy drinking beer,” Shurtleff said. “The only difference is it’s 7.5 percent alcohol.”

The trio agreed their most popular beer at the moment is the English Session Mild, which is traditional English beer.

“The craft beer drinkers tend to like a lot of hops, or alcohol or some crazy off the wall ingredient,” Shurtleff said. “The English beer is a pretty basic standard ale. Not a ton of hops, alcohol or crazy ingredients.”

They sell two taps to Trinity and one at Kinsale in downtown Boston.

“It’s been amazing,” Shurtleff said. “Both Trinity and Kinsale have been amazing to work with and really supportive.”

Menard said after only being in business for three months, Trinity has put two of their craft beers on permanently, which is rare.

“For craft beers, they like to cycle the beers pretty quickly to get people to sample the new beer and get the crowd moving through,” he said. “It’s kind of unheard of.”

They said they will be going before the Norton Board of Selectmen soon to start selling the beers out of growlers and giving samples. For now, Trinity and Kinsale are the only places you can get a Bog Iron Beer.

For more information visit www.bogironbrewing.com.