Trade Winds Tripel

I just realized I haven't been plugging the Trade Winds Tripel as much as I should be, given that it's my new favorite beer and we released it about two weeks ago!

A very late summer seasonal, perhaps even an Indian summer seasonal (crap, why didn't I put that on the label!), Trade Winds Tripel is a Belgian-style Golden Ale brewed with the Asian-inspired ingredients Thai basil and rice.  For those of you who swore off drinking beer with rice, it's about time to consider your choices again.  Don't blame it on the rice, it's the boring beer the rice is in!

The Thai basil comes through in the aroma as a flowery, almost hop-derived, and the rice imparts a coconut-like quality.  In the flavor, the malt contributes a hint of sweetness, with the Thai basil delivering unmistakeable herbal and floral qualities, and the rice giving a hint of coconut-like creaminess in the finish.  The relatively high carbonation and the dryness of this beer keep it immensely drinkable.

I've heard several people call it a dangerous beer on various occasions for its high drinkability while maintaining a respectable 8.1% ABV.  Dangerously delicious, perhaps.  Dangerous after guzzling two bottles and deciding to drive around on Labor Day weekend?  Definitely.

If you get the chance, I'd recommend enjoying one over this Labor Day weekend.  Be safe so you can go back to work on Tuesday!

LA County Fair Beer Competition

Last weekend Tyler and I judged some fantastic beers at the LA County Fair Commercial Beer Competition.  I entered several of our beers with the hope that we might be able to gain some recognition for The Bruery, and I'm very happy to report we did earn a few medals!

- Experimental Beers: Gold, Humulus Bruin

- American-Style or German-Style Sour Ales: Gold, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse

- French-Belgian Style Saison: Gold, Saison Rue

- Belgian and French-Style Ale: Gold, Black Orchard

- Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beers: Bronze, Levud's on Oak (more commonly known as Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1 - Levud's)

Full results are available at http://www.calferm.org/news/2008results.htm

Stone 12th Anniversary

A recap on a festival that happened a few weeks ago, but is certainly not old news--

The Stone Anniversary Festival was pretty fantastic for us.  We brought every beer we've released so far (Orchard White, Black Orchard, Saison Rue, Trade Winds Tripel, Batch No. 1 - Levud's, Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1 - Levud's, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, and Humulus Bruin).  We went through 84 gallons of beer; not a minor feat.

The reason this festival was so great was that many of the people coming up to our booth did not know about The Bruery.  We were able to meet them personally, explain who we are and what we do, and have them try our beers.  I think we might have a few new customers now.

It was also great to talk to people who have been supportive of us since we started-- old homebrewing friends, fellow BeerAdvocates / RateBeerians, and Southern California brewers.

The folks at Stone did an amazing job organizing the festival.  I was overwhelmed by the coordination and helpfulness of everyone working.  When we arrived, everything for the festival was unloaded from my truck onto a golf cart, and was driven off to my booth.  Not having to drag around a few jockey boxes, Co2 containers, and our fairly heavy new portable bar made the day all that much better.

We're looking forward to the 13th Anniversary!

The line for Barrel Aged Batch No. 1-- sorry to those who patiently waited and didn't get any!

Tastings / Tours / On-Site Sales Approved!

This past Tuesday I had a hearing before the Placentia Planning Commission to decide whether The Bruery should be permitted to have a tastings / tours / sales at the brewery.  The Commissioners seemed very interested in the brewery, and it was approved!  It didn't hurt that the previous item on the agenda was a bit gloomy-- the revocation of a permit for a massage parlor (happy ending, anyone?).

We'll likely start tasting room hours on Friday, September 5th.  We'll do our best to be open every Friday (2 pm to 8 pm) and Saturday (12 pm to 6 pm).  As we get closer, we'll let you know for sure. 

I'm looking forward to having visitors and being able to share our beer and passion.

Vote Yam '08

Even though it is smack dab in the heat of summer, and our summer seasonal Tradewinds Tripel is about to hit stores, just like the grasshopper and office supply and clothing store commercials are telling us, it's time to start preparing for fall. Instead of stocking up on protractors, notebooks and erasers, we at The Bruery have decided to hoard a different sort of supply, namely yams. I am sure you are thinking that I must have misspelled yeast, or that I meant to say hops, with the hop shortage and all. But we like to think a little different here, and we have a yearn'in for the yams. 440 lbs of yams to be exact.

Tomorrow we will be brewing our fall seasonal- Autumn Maple. And for this beer, we have decided to abandon pumpkin for the OTHER fall favorite- yams. It's the year of the yam. Pumpkins are so over. They have no flavor of their own, carving them with those cheesy pumpkin carving knives is hopeless, and they always end up just getting that fuzzy mold on the bottom of them, well before Halloween. Now yams are the true friend- freshly available year round, , better nutrition than a regular potato, and just the right amount of phallic shape to warrant a snicker or two at the grocery store. Oh and those sweet potato fries that everyone loves so much? Really yams.

Pumpkins have had their day, so now it is time to give yams a chance. We will be hand roasting 440 lbs of yams on the barbeque, to be added to this special beer. Oh So Yammy! Maple syrup, molasses, and traditional pumpkin pie sort of spices will be added as well. We will report back with how it goes!

Saison Rue on TV!

Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing debated with a sommelier the merits of beer vs. wine on Good Morning San Diego (KUSI San Diego), and in an obvious gesture of outstanding taste brought a bottle of Saison Rue with him.  The host thought a fast one was being pulled on him, "But, golly, that bottle looks just like wine!"  Very cool to see our beer getting TV coverage, and I hope it isn't our last!

http://www.kusi.com/news/goodmorning/25648474.html

Beer, Food and Tanks

Last Wednesday night I invited a couple of friends over for a little dinner party at my house, needless to say that The Bruery's beer was center stage. We started the night out at our local Belgian beer bar with bottles of Chimay White, Foret, and Fantome. After we were primed and ready it was time to start cooking. We had somewhere between six and eight different beer and cheese pairings that I wish I could remember (that's what alcohol does to you when you drink too much!).  I do remember I wasn't a fan of the extra aged gouda; it tasted like I was eating cardboard which I could have been doing after drinking all day! For dinner my friends and I grilled up three different types of chicken:  one beer butt chicken cooked with Orchard White and two others using Stone's grilling sauces (have to support our distributor!). We sauteed some asparagus with Trade Winds Tripel and grilled up some corn to compliment the chicken. This was the first time I have cooked with The Bruery's beer and it won't be the last!  The beer butt chicken was the favorite dish of the night along with the Tripel and Levud's. I never knew my friends had good taste in beer; I must be converting them over. It ended up being one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time and something I needed after that whole mash incident.

I almost forgot to mention the addition of a new bright beer tank to the Bruery! A few weeks ago my friend Kevin and I drove up to Woodland Hills and loaded up a 7 barrel BB tank in the back of my truck. All I can say is that loading a tank in and out of the back of a truck bed without any machinery was really fun! Thanks to Kevin for waking up so early to help me!

My friend Bryan helping cook dinner. I had to empty out a soda can to put Orchard White in it for the beer butt chicken.

My friend Jessica (my old room-mate) and I at the bar

Our 7Bbl BB tank waiting to be unloaded.

The Beer From Hell

Yesterday was our toughest brewing day yet.  It was a day where nothing seemed to go right, and with brewing, you can't stop what you're doing and come back on another day.  

I arrived at 4:30 in the morning and started mashing in.  The batch was our Imperial Stout, which consists of 2500 lbs. of grain (our typical batches are in the 1000 lb. range), several different types of sugar, a long boil, and usually another batch from the second runnings.  While I was mashing in, I was milling because our grist case only holds 1000 lbs.  Ben (our part time brewing assistant) showed up at 7 and mashed in the other half of the batch.  Mashing in took a little over 3 hours, but it went smoothly. 

I then went to recirculate the mash and Ben discovered the pump was leaking.  I tightened the connection between the pump head and the motor, which resulted in bending the pump bracket and increasing the leak.  Meanwhile, a few people showed up to visit.  I forgot that the sparge was running, and the mash tun started to overflow from the top.  I started to hook up our grant to another pump, and then after ten minutes of trying to rig something together, I decided to back track and use the leaking pump anyway.  It's about 10 AM now.  To this point, the day had been hectic but tolerable.

The runoff of the Imperial Stout went fine, but a bit slow.  It was a 3 hour transfer that Ben masterfully supervised.  We then went to run off the second runnings, which went about as slow as the Imperial Stout.  It's now 3 PM, and on a typical brewday we're just about finished at this point.  About 6 BBL of the second runnings were in our whirlpool (we didn't have any place to put the wort) when the mash stuck.  After about two hours of Ben and Tyler trying to unstick it, I told them to forget the second runnings batch and lets just empty the mash tun.  

We stuck a 55 gallon drum under the mash tun (which is filled to the brim with water and grain) and opened the dump valve.  Nothing comes out, so I poke a hole in the grain bed with a stainless steel paddle and it starts flowing.  I go to check on how full the drum is, and decide to put a bit more in there.  I open the valve, and the mash forcefully falls into the drum.  It is flowing everywhere.  I try to close the valve, but it's jammed.  Mash and 170 degree water is flying everywhere.  It's a tidal wave of hot shit, all over my arms, legs, in my boots, and the brewery is a disaster.  I'm cussing, running around in frustration, and in pain.  Tyler gives it a shot to close the valve, and eventually the drum fills and the flow slows.  After a few minutes of trying to comprehend the situation (the brewery has a few inches of water and mash everywhere) Ben notices the stainless steel paddle is coming out of the valve.  Tyler and him fish it out of the mash tun, and we close the valve.

After several hours of cleanup, I leave the remainder of the batch for Tyler and Ben to complete.  Thanks guys for finishing up!  I have a few burn blisters on my hand and my leg, but nothing too bad.  I'd like to say I'm lucky, but the day was too horrid to say anything about luck.

I already hate this beer.  I'm condemning it to bourbon barrels for over a year, and hopefully I'll forgive it at that point.  The starting gravity is 31 P, and with the sugar additions during fermentation, should be around 37 P.  We're aiming for a 20% ABV beer, but I'm sure fermentation will stick, just because the beer despises me.

When you wonder why the beer costs so much, or why I hate it so passionately, you'll now know.  It doesn't have a name yet, but expect it to reflect my opinion about it and the day we had making it.

Some photos of the disaster:

Getting Out There

A few days ago I received a list of the accounts that have ordered by beer, and I just added them on to our listing of retailers.  We now have 28 establishments carrying our beer!  I know of at least five more accounts that will be ordering next week, and there are many others that we have yet to visit.  All of the Stone sales reps. have been doing a great job getting our name out there, so thank you to them!  At least 75% of the accounts that have been opened in the last two weeks have been from Stone sales reps.  That's very significant considering I'm spending two-three days per week finding new accounts.

Check out the list at http://www.thebruery.com/find/   If your favorite place to buy or drink beer isn't on there, let me know, and equally as important, let the establishment know!

San Diego Real Ale Festival

I spent Friday and part of Saturday in Carlsbad (Pizza Port) at the San Diego Real Ale Festival organized by Jeff Bagby, Tom Nickel and Tomme Arthur.  

This is a great festival with a focus on local beers served in an unusual way.  Real Ale is beer that conforms to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) method of treating and serving finished beer.  To describe it briefly, the beers were mostly served from hand pump engines, where the beer is hand pumped out the faucet instead of forced out the faucet with CO2.  The beer is naturally carbonated, and tends to be low on carbonation, and the serving temperature is around 50 degrees F.  Bottle conditioned beers are also "Real Ale", so there was a small selection of bottle conditioned beers.

We had our Humulus Bruin on cask, which is a hoppy Belgian-style brown ale.  This is the second runnings of our Imperial Stout (which won't be released until late 2009), and I have to admit not a great candidate to be served on cask.  I really like this beer from the tap, and trying it at the festival was the first time I had it on cask.  It still had the intense hop aroma I enjoy in this beer, but without much carbonation, became a bit thin.  Carbonation is one of those things which can contribute to the perceived body of a beer.  It was fun trying it on cask, and enough people seemed to enjoy it, so no harm done I hope.

We also had bottles of Saison Rue for the VIP session.  The case we brought for this ran out within an hour and I received a lot of positive comments on it.  

The word about our brewery is getting out there.  I spoke with a lot of people who have recently tried our beer (besides those trying it at the festival), and heard a lot of great things.  We'll have many new accounts in San Diego over the next two weeks, so I'm hoping the positive attention grows!

I'll keep an eye out on other blogs for pictures.  As normal, I was too focused on people and beer and didn't take any!