Breweries Popping Up Everywhere

Over the last year or so, I have noticed tons of small breweries popping up throughout Washington and Oregon. The same is true of lot of parts of the country, the craft brewing market is certainly not slowing down at all. The thing that puzzles me is the lack of breweries opening in Idaho and more specifically Boise. I am not mad by any means because there are benefits to being one of the first commercial brewery in Boise (the brewpubs are excluded because their beers are generally not available in other bars and grocers). I guess maybe I am questioning the market in Boise, I certainly think that there is a great market for craft beers, but are other prospective brewery owners seeing something I am not? As of 2000, there were 20 breweries in the state (including brewpubs) which actually puts Idaho #9 in the breweries per capita (1 for every 62,000 people). If Alaska is any proof (1 per every 32,000), there is definitely room for some more in Idaho, especially if they brew some tasty beverages. All of the start-ups that I am seeing around Seattle are serving as good motivation. Six different breweries (that I know of) have started up in the Puget Sound in 2008 (during a big hop shortage too). I will be sure to visit and blog about as many of the Seattle breweries as I can. Not sure where this post is going, but with all of these breweries popping up, I just don't want to be the last one to the party. Just need to remember to take my time, learn as much as possible and do things right from the start.

Southern Tier

In recent weeks, beers from Southern Tier have made their way out to Seattle and I have had the chance to sample two. I don't know why we only got their Imperials, but it is hard to complain about trying some new "big beers"

Pumking - Literally tasted like a pumpkin pie in a glass. Probably more so than any of the other pumpkin beers that I have tried. This one did hit 9%, so I think it was necessary to have that amount of spice and pumpkin taste to balance out the high alcohol. It was also one of those beers that you do need to pay attention to the optimal serving temp, initially when it was too cold, you definitely missed out on some of the flavor.

Hoppe - This was an Imperial Pale Ale that was very basic, but well made. The high alcohol content was evident and the hops were not overwhelming.

My overall impression with Southern Tier was good, although I think they got a little more hype out here than they deserve. I do plan on trying a few more of their beers, but these Imperials are pretty spendy.

The thing with S.T. that stuck out to me was their labeling. I really like what they have done with their labels. I think they do a good job marketing to most types of beer drinkers. The designs are simple and sort of new age. They have a fun description/story associated with the beer and then they also provide the geeked out info like the malts and hops. The labels from S.T. are ones to benchmark against as Payette Brewing Company moves forward.

Here Goes...

I am not sure where to start with this...I guess the idea behind this blog is to capture the ideas behind Payette Brewing Company from the current dream state through the start up and beyond. I have some ideas where this will go, but who really knows. In the end, this will be the probably collection of what I have dubbed: incoherent bullshit...