By Jill Nagy
At Ferdle Turtle Brewing Company, owner/brewer Alexander Fredell brews his beer one barrel at a time.
He refers to his operation as a nano-brewery, smaller even than micro. Still, he keeps four beers on tap: dark lager, lager, India pale ale, and a “rotational” selection.
A tasting room takes up about half the space.
In late September, Octoberfest, a malty, slightly sweet brew, was “flying out the door” and a pumpkin ale was almost ready to replace it.
“It’s a nice problem to run out of beer,” Fredell said.
The brewery is located at 161 Broad Street (Route 29) in Schuylerville. It is tucked in under Sweet Lou’s Bistro and “we try to play off each other,” Frerdell said.
Ferdle Turtle doesn’t serve food, except for some chips and salsa, but people can bring their beer upstairs to Sweet Lou’s or bring their food down to the brewery. Fredell is starting to serve a 12-inch pizza.
Fredell started as a home brewer. During the Covid pandemic, he said, “I switched my career path,” and been working at a brewery, a somewhat larger operation than his present one: about 50 barrels at a time.
“Now, I am down to one barrel at a time,” he noted.
