Invest in the Province Ale Co., Dogfish Head's old-fashioned (and purely imaginary) analog brewery

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Meet Nicolo Mastroianni, the cheerful, hardworking proprietor of New York City's Province Ale Co., a wholly-owned, imaginary subsidiary of Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats. He looks a lot like Dogfish Founder and President Sam Calagione, but squint your eyes and let your imagination transport you to a black-and-white world of analog ales.

Nicolo and friends are looking for about a hundred adventurous beer lovers to join them on a journey of antique ales, storytelling and camaraderie. Those who join this journey will experience the re-creation of a dozen 19th-century beer recipes discovered in the dusty shelves of a local library. Nicolo and his plucky head brewer, Ragged Jordan (aka Ben Potts), will release one beer a month in 2013, and Chef Joseph Arsenault (aka Dennis Marcoux) will re-create a period-appropriate food pairing to go with each beer.

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For $30, investors will receive a handmade journal to record their thoughts, observations and experiences as each beer is released. The journals also will tell the story of Province Ale Co. and include Ragged's notes for homebrewers. At the end of the year, investors will receive their completed journal, as well as a turn-of-the-century Province Ale baseball cap and retro T-shirt. Also, anyone who can guess which two of the 12 recipes were invented by Nicolo and Ragged's modern-day alter-egos will enjoy a private dinner with the whole Province Ale team. Yup, all that for just $30!

Here's the fine print: Journal shares can be purchased only at the Rehoboth pub. This is a full-on analog project, so we want to see the whites of your eyes when you sign up. A new beer will be released at the pub on the third Saturday of each month. From noon to 4 p.m., Province Ale Co. investors have exclusive access. After that, they're fair game for any pub visitors. Our best guess is that each will last about a week, but we can't make any promises. To help investors stay up-to-date, the previous month's beer will also be available as each new batch is released. The antique brews will be $4 per 10-ounce pour, and food pairings will vary based on the recipe.

Sign up in person at the pub starting Jan. 19, and join the journey of Province Ale Co. – an analog project for the digital age.