Talking Craft Beer with Out.Haus Brewing’s Tom Albright

A homebrewer for 7 years, Tom Albright took his passion to the next level in 2009. After visiting White Birch Brewing, Candia Road, and Squam Brewing, he was surprised to discover that they were all brewing on small and sometimes homebrewing-sized systems. Realizing that he could also start small, Tom decided to leave his job, follow his passion, and open his own brewery–Out.Haus Ales.

I was excited to sit down over beer with Tom to learn more about his brewery (and its unusual name) and to get his take on the craft beer scene.

How did you get into the beer business?

Commercially? I had been homebrewing since 2006. In 2009, my homebrew club (the Concord Area Home Brewers) visited White Birch Brewing in Hooksett. When I saw a commercial brewery using a homebrew set-up to make beer, I was floored. The next key was when I first saw Candia Road Brewing company’s operation. The brewery itself with fermenters takes up such a small space. I had always thought a commercial brewery needed room. Even White Birch, with his homebrew setup, was in a warehouse. So now I saw you could be a brewery with a small system, and in a small space. The final key was going out to see Squam Brewing. His brewery is also on his own property. Once I knew you could start small, in a small space on your own (properly zoned) land, I decided that I should give it a try.

You went from being a homebrewer to owning your brewery. What is the most difficult part of what you’re doing now?

The paperwork. I’ve always been a meticulous note-taker, but the government forms are really daunting and confusing the first few times through.

Out.Haus Ales is a humorous and memorable name for a brewery. We can’t wait to hear how you came up with it!

Before we moved to our current house, we were part of an online community where a bunch of people had names for their houses. And because it was fun, everyone used the German spelling of “Haus.” When we moved to our new place, it was 35 minutes anywhere. Since we were so far out of the way, we took the name “Out Haus.” Once I started labeling my homebrews, that was the name I used. When I started planning on going commercial, I played around with other names, but had too much positive feedback on the Out.Haus name, so I kept it.

You opened Out.Haus Ales as one-barrel nanobrewery in your garage in the fall of 2013. Do you have plans to grow the brewery any time soon?

Actually, I submitted my paperwork to the federal government in June of 2013, and got the approval in October. The state approval came in November, and I sold my first beers in January 2014. When I started this endeavor, I had a simple plan: if I don’t do well enough to expand in two years, I’m shutting down. I’ve actually already looked at a couple other locations. I haven’t found any I’m really happy with, and I really want at least six months of sales under my belt before going to the bank for a loan. So, short answer, yes: I do plan to expand as soon as I have the sales and income to support it.

How has business been since opening this past fall?

When I released my first beers in January of this year, I was sold out in 5 days. Initially I had six outlets, and I now can be found in 19 different stores throughout the state. I think I can say business has been good.

What styles of beer do you brew and what is your best-selling beer?

Currently I’m brewing Pale Ale, IPA, and Stout on a regular basis. I still have Brown Ale available and have just released a Coffee-Oatmeal Stout and a Smoked Porter. Now that the warmer weather is coming in, I’m going to be stopping production of the darker beers, except the Stout, and switch over to lighter-colored beers. I have plans for a Maple Pale Ale, an American Wheat Ale, and a Rhubarb-Wheat Ale to be coming out over the next month or so. My current biggest sellers are my IPA and my Stout.

Out.Haus Ales is currently only available in New Hampshire. Do you have any plans to widen distribution in the future?

Not at this time. The biggest reason being I like being local. I’m not saying I won’t, eventually, but it’s not in my “five-year-plan.”

The craft beer biz has been growing at an incredible pace. Do you think the industry can sustain all this growth?

Yes, I do. Before prohibition, there were over 4,000 breweries in the country compared to about 2,700 today. I think there’s plenty of room for more growth, considering the population at that time compared to today. Also, it would seem, based on my conversations with store owners and distributors, that local beers are the best sellers out of the small beer stores. [Note: I don’t have actual numbers or stats for the following; it’s based entirely on observation.] Also, it is one of the reasons I’m not too concerned about out-of-state expansion. Considering the limited amount of shelf space at the grocery store, it’s given over to mega-brewers such as Bud/Miller/Coors, large craft brewers, imports like Samuel Smith, and local brewers; with small craft brewers given what’s left.

Collaborations in the craft beer world are becoming increasingly popular lately. Have you thought about getting into that game and who would you like to brew with?

I can’t really answer that. I’m too focused on getting myself established as my own brand. Once I’ve got that under control, I think I’d like to take my Spruce beer over to Throwback and see what they would do with it.

If you could be a cast member in any TV show in the last 15 years, who would it be…and why?

Doctor Who with the Ninth Doctor. Because he is the coolest of all the reboot Doctors, plus Rose, Mickey, and Captain Jack Harkness were some of the best supporting cast on the show. Being part of that team would be pretty cool.