(Courtesy Marblehead Brewing Co.)

When American Craft Beer gets it wrong, we don’t mess around. And boy did we get it wrong yesterday, when we updated and republished an article from 2022, which reported on a false accusation against Massachusetts-based Marblehead Brewing Co. that was rightfully “dismissed in the interest of justice.”

We had everything wrong.

And rather than a simple retraction, we’d like to personally apologize to Father Andrew, head brewer at Marblehead Brewing Co., the first Orthodox Christian Monastic Brewery in the Americas, and the only one over 1,000 years. Father Andrew, who honed his craft alongside Trappist masters in Belgium, has been crafting serious beer in Massachusetts since 2017.

Father Andrew attended seminary at the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Vatican graduating in 1996, magna cum laude, and has been a member of the clergy over 29 years.

(2016 photo of Father Andrew at Westvleteren Brewery, located inside Sint Sixtus Abbey, with Brother Joris of Sint Sixtus)

We’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize to Tracey Stockton, a lawyer referenced in the article that we have necessarily taken down, who upon leaving DLA Piper, has donated her  services “Pro Bono” to Father Andrew and the Marblehead Brewing Co., St. Nicholas, and St. Paul’s Foundation, for the past 14 years.

And after Easter next year, if you’re touring New England, be sure to stop by St. Nicholas and hit Marblehead Brewing Co.’s beer.  Until then, while St. Nicholas is under construction, you can email ale@marbleheadbrewing.com for local delivery, shipment or growler pickup.

And you should because Father Andrew has serious brewing chops.

Their current tap list included Marblehead #4, an 8% ABV Imperial Ale, Marblehead #2, an ESB which they market as a 5% Pale Ale, and the Father’s Beer, which is a hoppy 4% table beer that is not to be missed.

Marblehead also brews a terrific Kölsch, Altbier and a Russian Imperial Stout. And they only use malted barley, water, yeast and hops in their beers.  Every brew has a small amount of Holy Water, first filtered from the River Jordan, then blessed in Jerusalem in the Aedicule by a priest-monk of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcre.