Batch No. 50 -- Grand Funk Aleroad

I just heard from the Best of Show winner, Al Buck, who brewed the marvelous Grand Funk Aleroad, a Gueuze. I eMailed him last night to let him know and his wife Nina read it this morning. He was brewing up a batch at the time and was reportedly jumping around his kitchen when we received word. Congrats Al, you deserve it!

This beer reminds me a lot of Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze. It's sour for sure, but there's so much finesse in the layered flavors of leather, barnyard funk, citrus / lemon, and indescribable qualities that make this so wonderful. Al told me this is a blend of a 1 year old lambic and a 2 year old lambic. We'll brew this in mid-February of this year, and the 2nd batch in February of 2010. At the proper aging rate, this beer will be released in the Spring of 2011. Based on my growth projections, we'll be somewhere around Batch 300 when this beer is released (or at l hope!).

I wonder where Al got the name from. We'll most certainly be calling it this-- it's a damn funny name. Al is looking into traveling to our brewery to brew this with us. I hope he does.

Batch No. 50 Competition Results

The judges all had a fantastic time judging the 62 entries that came in for our second homebrew competition, the Batch No. 50 Competition. Thanks to all who entered. There is clearly some amazing talent in homebrewing community when it comes to Belgian-style and experimental beers, and we're honored to have sampled these beers.

The results:

Category 16 - Belgian & French Style Ales

First: Oaked Strong Saison Hybrid, Kyle Manns, La Habra, CA

Second: Saison 566, Sean White, Brooklyn, NY

Third: De Dolle Clone, Rick Adams, Lakewood, CA

Category 17 - Sour Ale

First: Grand Funk Aleroad, Al Buck, Hillsborough, NJ

Second: Flanders Red, Bryan Smith, Torrance, CA

Third: Ich bin ein Berliner Weiss, Blair Howard, Rumsey, CA

Category 18 - Belgian Strong Ale

First: Mr. T's 30 lb. Necklace, Sean White, Brooklyn, NY

Second: LT, Patrick Duke, Orange, CA

Third: Pleasuretrip, Todd Peterson, San Dimas, CA

Honorable Mention: Harvest Tripel, Patrick Miller, Portland, OR

Category 23 - Specialty Beer

First: Sourfest, Todd Peterson, San Dimas, CA

Second: Liquid Whole Wheat, Bryan Smith, Torrence, CA

Third: Wheat Chocolate, Jim Schmalzried, Garden Grove, CA

Honorable Mention: Citrus Blossom, Brent Brubaker, Riverside, CA

Best of Show (our 50th Batch of Beer): Grand Funk Aleroad, Al Buck, Hillsborough, NJ

Congratulations to all of the winners! We're looking forward to brewing Batch No. 50 - Grand Funk Aleroad, it's an amazing sour beer.

Thanks to the judges and the stewards (not in any particular order):

Mark Harris

Tyler King, The Bruery

Jonas Nemura, The Bruery

Cristian Sierra

Dave Moody, Backstreet Brewery

Andy Marshall, Black Market Brewery

Evan Price, Hangar 24 Brewery

Lyn Davidson

Brent Rahn

Jim Wilson

Brent Brubaker

Brad Nixon

Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing Co.

Jake Ratzke, Stone Brewing Co.

Hal Ward

Pete Bakulic

Brian Cockle

Bryan Tetzlaff

Jay Goodwin

Matt Staley

Ben Weiss

Thanks to Joan and Dennis Paul (my parents in law), who brought the food for the judges.

And a big thank you to Rachel Rue, who pretty much did everything. Cheers!

Batch 50 Competition Update

The Batch 50 judging is well underway...

This Weekend at the Tasting Room (1/23-1/24)

Here's how the menu board is shaping up for this weekend-

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) the Batch 50 competition will take place.  17 different judges from commercial breweries and the BJCP will be casting their votes, so good luck to all!  The results will be announced at the tasting room immediately following the judging, so come on by during normal tasting room hours.  

To celebrate, we decided to put the cask of Black Orchard Mole Poblano (aka holy mole) on tap for this weekend.  For this cask, we have taken Black Orchard and added roasted cocoa bean, roasted and dried poblano chiles, and cinnamon, similar to the traditional mole sauce.   If you come by tomorrow, there will be some special Mexican appetizers specifically chosen to pair with the cask.

Hottenroth Berliner Weisse is finally back, and we love this one even more than the first.  It is  tart and delicious!  Finally, not to forget you hopheads, Humulus Ambre is now on tap.   It's a continuation of our hoppy Belgian-influenced beers, this time a moderate 6% and loaded with American hops.  Both the Hottenroth Berliner Weisse and Humulus Ambre are draft only, so be sure to get a growler fill if you want to take any home.

Cheers!

Rachel

Chief Style Officer/ Owner

The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis

Yesterday Rachel and I went to Hollywood to do an episode of The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis, a syndicated show mostly on wine and beer.  It was a lot of fun to meet "The Professor" Tom Leykis in person, as well as Gary, Dino, and their intern.

Two segments will come out of what was taped yesterday.  The first one will air this weekend.  This show is broadcasted to 25 markets, and some air it on Saturday, while in Southern California (LA / Orange County) it is aired from 5 to 7 PM PST.  You can listen live over the Internet from 5 to 7 PM PST at http://www.tastingwithtom.com/

Thanks to Gary and Tom for bringing me on!

"New" Kegs

Our amazing brewing team spent hours spray painting, numbering and cleaning our "new" 50 liter kegs! Now if I can only get our keg washing machine to work so we can actually use them! Thanks a lot to Ben, Jay and Jeffery (who volunteered his time) to get this done!

 

Here's Bryan serving some guests at our tasting bar. Make sure to come in and say hi to one of our newest team members during tasting hours!

Brewing Saison De Lente Today

Heating up the mash/lauter tun

Jonas and Jay mashing in Saison De Lente

Beer Releases and Approximate Dates

Some have asked what we're coming out with in the future.  While I still want to keep some tricks under my sleeve (mostly just in case plans change), this will be what we're seriously planning to release.  

Seasonals:

Saison De Lente-- Mid-February

Trade Winds Tripel-- Late April

Autumn Maple-- Late August

Two Turtle Doves-- Late October

Special Releases (Small, brewery only releases):

- Cuvee Jeune: A young blended sour beer, release sometime in Spring/Summer when ready

- Papier: Our 1st anniversary beer, tentative release date of May 9th, brewery only release in 2009 (Approx. 16%)

- White Oak: Early summer, this barrel aged wheat wine is coming out very nicely (12% ABV)

Special Draft Releases:

For those in Southern California, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse is coming back in late January!  We brewed this batch a bit differently this time around, so it's a bit more tart and a bit less grainy.  Same ABV of 3.1%, this is a great session beer.  I think we nailed it.

Around the same time we release Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, we'll be releasing Humulus Ambre.  It's a continuation of our hoppy Belgian-influenced beers, this time a moderate 6% and loaded with American hops.

Cask Releases:

We don't plan these ones so much, but I can tell you about what we'll be putting on this weekend and next month.  For the first Friday in January, we'll have Humulus Gold, loaded with extra hops.  Which ones?  I forget, so you'll have to come by and try it out.

In February, we'll have Orchard Mole Poblano, Black Orchard aged with roasted cocoa nibs, roasted poblano peppers (with seeds removed), and cinnamon.  Think Black Orchard meets the delicious mole poblano sauce.

We have some other beers on the horizon, but I know they won't be ready for some time.  We have an Imperial Stout aging in rye and bourbon barrels that's approximately 18% ABV.  It's coming along nicely but still needs quite a bit of age until it reaches what I'd consider it's peak.  Our Flemish Red is coming along well but the funk is still developing in this one.  We brewed a beer with about 30% Zinfandel grapes and a base blonde strong ale which is aging in barrels. My best guess is we'll release this around August or September.  I'd forget about these releases for awhile if you want to save your sanity, I certainly have.

For a few festivals and at the brewery, we'll soon have Melange #3.  This is a blend of White Oak, Imperial Stout and Papier.  I'm excited about this one-- I'm too impatient to try these barrel aged beers when they're good and ready to be released, so this release is totally self serving.

What should I be posting about?

When I was in the initial phases of starting The Bruery, this blog was a great way for me to bitch and complain.  Today, I don't have much to bitch and complain about.  Well... I always have things to complain about, but the blog isn't the greatest medium for my bitching these days.

Many people discovered The Bruery from this blog, and I want to keep it a source of information about beer and share how I started a brewery.  I'd like to gather some comments on this and see what you'd like me or anyone at The Bruery to write about.  Post away and let me know what you'd like to know.

Potential topics I was thinking about because they are relevant to what I'm currently doing (some may be interesting to a general audience, some are extremely dry but useful to aspiring brewery owners):

-- Choosing Distributors

-- Expansion (Space, capacity, and employees)

-- Barrel aging / approach to flavor

-- Merchandise

-- Guide to getting a job in a brewery

-- A Checklist to State and Federal Regulations

-- Taxes

-- A Guide to Successful Delegation (I wish I could find a good source on this right now!)

-- Importance of tasting rooms / tours in production breweries

-- The Bruery in 10 Years: How Big is Too Big?

Distribution in Oregon, Northern California, and Better Looking Website!

Lots of good things have been happening at The Bruery.  Our beers are now distributed in Oregon, and are making their way around Portland as we speak. In a few weeks, our beers will also be available in San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano Counties.  I'm very excited to have my beers in such beery destinations.

 Also, we have a new, redesigned website.  Soon we'll also have food pairings and recipes from The Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton.

Cheers,

Patrick