Boatyard Brewing To Release The First of its WWI Float Plane Beer Series 10/3

Just a dozen years after the Wright Brothers flew over the dunes of Kitty Hawk, the world became entangled in a brutal war.  Men and women from many countries heard the call to serve, and serve they did.  They protected their homeland, their families, and the soldiers they served with.  A few men took the call to fly above the battlefields and coastlines that stretched from America to Russia; they flew the flying boats and float planes of World War I.  We have spent the last few months studying the men and the machines they flew.  We found stories of one-legged pilots and submarine attacks on the American coast.  We are honored to create a series of beers that might just keep these memories alive.  Memories that have been flying over the waters for nearly 100 years.

We will release our first beer at 5PM on October 3rd.  We honor the first plane with our Wölfchen Rye created by Dennis Massingil, a beer with more rye than any other beer we’ve produced.  Read the following story and then drink the beer.  Join us in lifting a pint to those who loved their country and served in the skies.

Throughout World War 1 the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) operated a variety of floatplanes and flying boats. Perhaps the most widely used were the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen FF33 series of floatplanes. Starting out as unarmed reconnaissance aircraft, FF33’s would eventually be armed in later versions. By the end of the war it had been produced in greater numbers than any other German floatplane. Perhaps the most famous was FF33E Marine #841, nicknamed “Wölfchen” (Wolf’s cub).  This remarkable aircraft was carried onboard the German surface raider “Wolf”, which conducted the longest raiding cruise of World War 1, lasting 15 months. The success of this raiding cruise was no doubt due to having the FF33E Wölfchen aboard.