Careful Cellaring, Part 1: The Quality Assurance Process for Creating Clean, Living Beer

Before a beer leaves our brewery to go to your cellar, or your bottle share, or your mouth, it has a very busy schedule as it gets approved for its release into the world. We've explained previously how working with sours comes with its own trials and tribulations, but for cellared & aged beer month at The Bruery we think it's time to delve deeper into the steps it takes to produce and release clean, cellarable, living beer.

As many a craft beer lover may know, the brewing process requires a ton of cleaning and serious attention to sanitation. This attention to detail doesn't just apply to a single brew day. To make sure a beer can be sold and consumed as it was intended to taste, every part of every brew endures our quality assurance process. It takes all levels of staff to pull this off, including our brewers, lab ladies, packaging, cellarmen, and managers. We love to make experimental ales, but with each unique experiment comes new challenges for our team to monitor.

What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 5 with Cambria Griffith

We're taking a look at some of our staff's personal beer cellars as we continue our month of celebrating (or cellarbrating?) cellared & aged beer. Today we look into the cellar tucked away in several cabinets in a (hopefully) temperate Long Beach apartment of Cambria Griffith, our Social Media & Marketing Manager.

Ok, yes, I wrote that in third person. Though my cellar might not stack up to some of those wine caves out there, I love getting surprised each time I decide to go ahead and dig in there to open something special. Thanks to this series of blogs on Bruer Cellars, I've been inspired to do a little spring winter cleaning.

What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 4 with Andrew Bell

Our brewer and infamous beer collector & trader Andrew Bell had some very thorough points on cellaring. Here's what Andrew has been up to with his beer collection.

I'm going to hold onto ___________ the longest. Probably up to _________ years/months!
I usually don't intentionally plan on aging one of my beers for more than five or six years at the longest (with a few exceptions). As far as ones that might stick around for a while: I have a case of 2011 Tilquin that will probably last another 10 years (if I open one a year), as well as a case each of Pelican's Perfect Storm and Mother of All Storms from a few years ago.

From the remaining bottles that I have of Partridge, at least one of them will last the 12 years. I ended up stocking up on that beer when it was first released and common on shelves out here in SoCal. I wasn't working for The Bruery back then, but I loved the beer fresh and ended up buying a case and a half of it around Christmastime. I still have about half a case yet. I figured that it was pretty affordable, tasty, and with all the craziness that was starting to build around Stone Brewing Co.'s 02.02.02, I figured that Partridge would probably be a good investment.

My most exciting beer opening will be _________ because I plan on opening it at ___________.

What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 3 with Matt Olesh

For the month of December, we're taking a closer look at cellaring & aging beer. So far it sounds like we have some serious gueuze and lambic fans, and given our trip to Belgium earlier this year, it's no wonder the enthusiasm for these beers is spreading among us.

Matt Olesh may be someone you know from previous beer trades or our very own Tasting Room. Here's what he has in his ever-expanding cellar.

What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 2 with Matt Becker

For the month of December, we're taking a closer look at cellaring & aging beer. One of the beautiful things about being able to cellar beer is that you can learn as go continually shrink and expand your cellar.

You might know our brewer Matt Becker is you are a New Brew Thursday fan. Here's what Matt has to say about his beer cellaring experience so far.

Check out the rest of our Bruers' cellars:

• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 1 with Benjamin Weiss
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 3 with Matt Olesh
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 4 with Andrew Bell
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 5 with Cambria Griffith

What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 1 with Benjamin Weiss

For the month of December, we're taking a closer look at cellaring & aging beer. Our staff not only works with beer everyday, we obviously like to drink it too, so some of us have amassed our own beer cellar in the process.  We're opening our cellar doors (or maybe it's just a cabinet or closet door) to share our ups & downs of cellaring.

Check out what Ben, our Director of Marketing, has to say about his cellar. We had him fill out this Mad Lib so he wouldn't get bored with another Q & A asking him about his beer knowledge.

Check out the rest of our Bruers' cellars:

• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 2 with Matt Becker
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 3 with Matt Olesh
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 4 with Andrew Bell
• What's in our Bruers' Cellars? Part 5 with Cambria Griffith

Recipe: Aaron's Holiday Bruery Beer Cocktails

Our manager over at The Bruery Tasting Room has experience working at fancypants cocktail bars in San Diego, so when we were looking for some holiday recipes that incorporate beer, we had to include a couple bonus "recipes" that the cook might enjoy while preparing all those holiday plates. Aaron put together some new beer cocktails using each a limited release Bruery beer, a seasonal, and a brand new brew that we have not released just yet. It's tough work, but someone has to do it!

The first cocktail is a classic that has been around The Bruery since it's inception -- you will even see it in our Tasting Room from time to time: the Hottenroth Mimosa.

Recipe: Daniel's Smoked & Savory Grey Monday Wild Boar Shanks

When Daniel sent in his directions for making your own delicious-and-simple-yet-time-intensive soaked & smoked wild boar shanks in your own backyard, we couldn't help but share this one with you. And the fact that it requires we open up a little Grey Monday isn't too shabby either. For honorable mention in our Holiday Cooking with Beer Recipe contest, enjoy Daniel Fernandez's take on smoked shanks.

Full recipe after the jump.

Recipe: Stacey's Bread Pudding with Spiced Black Tuesday Sauce

The first winning recipe from our Holiday Cooking with Beer Recipe contest comes from Stacey Thompson. Her Bread Pudding with Spiced Black Tuesday Sauce is an indulgent holiday twist on a relatively simple holiday classic. We love the idea of having a "bread + liquid bread" dessert to top off an evening of gluttonous holiday dining.



Full recipe after the jump.

Recipe: Belgian Beer Geek's "Chicken a la Bruery"

Our next winner from our Holiday Cooking with Beer Recipe contest comes all the way from Belgium! Belgian Beer Geek's Kevin Desmet translated his recipe for a spiced up chicken dish that incorporates Saison Rue, our award-winning farmhouse ale made with malted rye and Brettanomyces.

I saw the post about the recipes on the FB-site of The Bruery and wanted to participate even tough I realize that Belgium is a bit too far away to really be a contender.

I made this recipe with Saison Rue (about the only Bruery beer that is easy to get around here) and posted this on my Dutch written beer blog, Belgian Beer Geek.

The spiciness of the beer nicely accentuates the spices of the chicken and the freshness of the tarragon while the carbonation cuts trough the creaminess of the sauce.