When businesses celebrate anniversaries they mark it with events and look back and forward in regards to their business. On September 3rd Pump House did this, but they looked back hundreds of years to replicate an ancient brewing technique used today by only a handful of companies like Port Brewing to make Stein Bier (literally Stone Beer). 
This was an invitation only event at Pump House's production facility on Mill Road in Moncton where brewmaster Andi Bieger clad in traditional lederhosen and Shaun Fraser, Pump House co-owner, officiated the event. This method dates back to middle ages when brewing was carried out in large wooden vessels that needed to have a boiling wort. Necessity being the mother on invention, someone figured heating rocks and dropping in to the wort would not burn the vessel and get the desired result. Pump House heated rocks, specifically greywacke from the Fredericton area and river stones, to between 700 and 1000 degrees Celsius, loaded into steel cages and lowered into a kettle of wort which brought it to a boil and filled the air with steam and a delicious malty aroma. This was repeated several times during the evening. As the rocks cooled it is evident that the sugars caramelized on them making their surface sticky.
I thoroughly enjoyed this hands on demonstration of of beer making and look forward to the limited 4000 750 ml bottle release of the Stonefire Ale in late October at ANBL and NSLC and at the event there was the ABV was estimated to be between 6 and 6.5%. For more pictures of the event you can see them here
