Welcome to IndieFerm!

Independent Fermentations Brewing (aka IndieFerm) is a small craft beer brewery, kombucha brewery, tap room, home brew shop, and hop farm.

IndieFerm specializes in making craft beers with locally grown ingredients with an emphasis on Belgian and German styles. We brew what we like to drink and that covers a lot of territory.  We tend to like beers with balance believing that a beer made with the perfect mix of malts and hops is better than a beer overloaded with either one. In other words, we make a lot more than just New England IPA’s.  There are so many ways to combine water, malt, hops and yeast that there is no need to go crazy with other flavorings. The guiding mantra is “beer should taste like beer”. Our beers are available throughout southeastern Massachusetts, typically within 45 miles of Plymouth. 

Our tap room has eight beers and three kombuchas on tap Thursday through Sunday every week. We usually have a pop-up food vendor and sometimes we have live music. We are always pet and family friendly.

Our craft kombucha is brewed in small batches, handcrafted with organic tea, and organic cane sugar in stainless steel fermentors. We lightly carbonate our kombucha and keg, bottle, and label everything by hand. It is a labor of love. We have both non-alcoholic (< 0.5%) and alcoholic flavors. We have six rotating flavors of kombucha on tap at our brewery (3 in the taproom, 3 in IndieFerm Supply shop) and we have several more flavors of kombucha available in bottles.

Our homebrew store, IndieFerm Supply, has everything the new or experienced home brewer needs to make their own beer, kombuchca, cider, wine, or mead.  And we frequently hold classes on brewing beer, kombucha making, cheese making, and other fermentation topics.  Normally (pre-COVID-19), our homebrew club meets on the third Thursday of every month in the tap room.  Until we come up with a better name, it is tentatively known as the Association for Socially Awkward Home Brewers (the AFSAHB?) because aren’t we all at least a little bit socially awkward?  But a little beer helps. Meetings will resume when it is safe to do so.

Our hop farm, Chillinville Hops, is located in the Chiltonville section of Plymouth on land owned by Wildlands Trust.  We have a total of 400 hop plants growing there including centennial, cascade, and nugget hop varieties.  We are still brewers first and foremost but it is great to grow and harvest some of the ingredients for our beer ourselves.  Thanks to Wildlands Trust for allowing us to use their property!

Taproom

Our outdoor beer garden and taproom are open for pints, flights and to-go sales of cans, growler fills, and other merchandise. The taproom and beer garden hours are:

  • Thursday & Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
  • Saturday from 12 – 7:00 p.m., and
  • Sunday from 12 – 5:30 p.m.

We have 8 beers on draft .  We pride ourselves on having a wide variety of styles to choose from including a few malt forward beers, something hoppy, and usually something funky or sour.  The line up changes often as new beers are brewed. Three flavors of draft kombucha are also available.  Draft beer to-go is available in 64 oz. and 32 oz. growlers.  We also sell 4-packs of 16 oz cans of many of our beers and 16 oz bottles of kombucha.

The taproom/beer garden is a family-friendly relaxed atmosphere where beer and conversation are the focus.  No TVs, no loud music, and one wall is a large chalkboard for kids to draw on.  We are “dog-friendly for friendly dogs” so bring your best friend. We have installed a covered geodesic dome to provide some shelter in colder weather. It is actually quite comfortable.

We will have live music most Saturday evenings starting in May. Our pop up food vendors will be serving delicious foods Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting in May also.

Indie Ferm Kombucha

Kombucha is an ancient ferment that originated in China in 200 BC. Kombucha is a sweet tea fermented with a unique culture of active yeast and bacteria referred to as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). Kombucha is popular for its array of health benefits, specifically it’s live, active cultures that promote gut health, and detoxying and immune boosting properties. 

Kombucha is composed of water, black or green tea, sugar, and a SCOBY and starter liquid (backslop from a previous batch of kombucha). First, the tea is brewed, then the sugar is added, the tea cools, and the starter liquid and SCOBY are added to the tea, and it is left to aerobically ferment at room temperature for anywhere from 1-3 weeks. While the kombucha ferments, the starter liquid innoculates the tea with active yeast and bacteria to jump start the fermentation process and lower to pH to encourage an acidic environment that inhibits the growth of harmful pathogens. The active yeast consumes the sugar and converts it into ethanol. The bacteria eats the ethanol and converts it into acetic acid (vinegar). By the end of the fermentation cycle, you have an effervescent, slightly tart, and slightly alcoholic beverage. 

We first started brewing kombucha at the brewery in 2017 in small, experimental batches. Since then, we have upscaled our production. We went from offering three flavors to nine flavors, and our kombucha is now available in various stores, cafes, and restaurants along the South Shore.

Where to find Indie Ferm Kombucha:

IndieFerm Brewing & IndieFerm Supply: on tap & bottles & discount refills (Plymouth)

The Market at Pinehills: bottles (Plymouth)

Clements Marketplace: bottles (Plymouth)

Jolly Bean Cafe: on tap, bottles (Plymouth)

Hot Yoga 1620: bottles (Plymouth)

Wicked Healthy: bottles (Kingston)

Nessralla Farm: bottles (Halifax)

Lamplighter Brewing: on tap, bottles (Cambridge)

Three Fins Coffee Roasters: bottles (West Dennis)

Coffee Obsession: bottles (Falmouth)

Windfall Market: bottles (Falmouth)

Provincetown Brewing: on tap (Provincetown)

Farmers Markets

Rye Tavern Farmers Market @ The Rye Tavern, Old Sandwich Road in Plymouth (Mondays Spring-Fall)

Kingston Farmers Market @ Gray’s Beach Kingston (First Sundays Spring-Fall)

Plymouth Farmers Market @ Plimoth/Pawtuxet (Thursdays Spring-Fall)

Rockland Farmers Market @ Hartsuffs Park (every other Saturday Spring-Fall)

Our craft kombucha is brewed in small batches, handcrafted with organic tea, and organic cane sugar in stainless steel. We typically flavor our kombucha with dried herbs and dehydrated berries to reduce the use of added sugars commonly found in fruit juice, but we also have limited edition flavors that are brewed with local goods such as herbs, whole fruits, honey, and maple syrup. We lightly carbonate our kombucha and keg, bottle, and label everything by hand. We have both non-alcoholic (< 0.5%) and alcoholic flavors (0.7 – 1.5 %). We have six rotating flavors of kombucha on tap at our brewery and we have more flavors available in bottles. We offer discount refills on empty kombucha bottles to encourage you to reduce and reuse.

Interested in offering our kombucha in your cafe, market, or restaurant? Contact us at indiefermsupply@gmail.com to discuss wholesale opportunities.

Visit Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indiefermkombucha/ & Instagram: @indiefermkombucha to learn more and stay updated!

Events

Wondering what’s going on at IndieFerm and IndieFerm Supply? Here’s where you’ll find a listing of upcoming events classes, etc.

Resuming on May 14 (but on hiatus until then) every Saturday morning at 10:30 – The “Not Ready For Preservaton Hall Open Jam” for horns, percussion, and more. It is an open jam like a bluegrass jam or Irish session but with a New Orleans Second Line feel. Beginners to experienced players are all welcome and it’s all ages. When the Saints Come Marching in, Tiger Rag, St James Infirmary Blues, as well as modern riffs like 7 Nation Army, One Step Beyond, and anything that sounds good with horns and drums.

Saturday April 30 – 5 to 8pm: Live Music Returns to the beer garden with The Shady Roosters (formerly known as Lonesome Jukebox).  Food by Chica V’s Tacos.

Friday May 6 – 5 to 8pm: Michael Skillings and Friends live in the beer garden.  Classic rock you can sing along to.

May 7 – 9am. Big Brew with IndieFerm. Every year the American Homebrewers Association designates the first Saturday in May as Big Brew Day when homebrew clubs all over the country get together and brew a big batch of beer to share. We will brew up to 70 gallons of beer on the IndieFerm brew house and every attendee gets to help brew and bring home a 5 gallon share to ferment and finish at home. This year’s recipe will be Jim Bowser’s British Dark Mild Ale.

May 10 – Meeting of the South Shore Brew Club. The May meeting will take place in our tap room. All are welcome.

Please check our facebook page for the latest updates