Monday 6/29 Update

A whole lot going on, just not sure what is worthy of reporting. Although I am sort of on vacation ("sort of" because I am always on vacation these days), a lot of time has been spent talking, writing and dreaming up things for Payette Brewing. Since I am in Boise I have had time to talk with different people and am starting to feel dangerously close these days.

I have two presentations this week, I wouldn't really call them investor presentations, but they sort of are. They are sort of a craft beer/Payette Brewing concept talk that happen to take place with two different groups of potential investors. I hope to do some real investor presentations end of July and early August. I am also meeting with a local bar manager tomorrow to talk beer and brewery stuff, progress is on the horizon.

To sum up the post, the Monday update would have been better off written on Thursday. As not to disappoint my five fans, expect a Thirsty Thursday Post.

Treasure Valley Hop Farms

My drive from Seattle to Boise to a slight detour to look at the hop farms in Wilder, Idaho. I really do mean just to look at, I pulled my car off to the side of the road and took a few pics and a video, that's it. I did this mostly to have my own pics that I can use of hop farms in Idaho and fill up some much needed blog space.

Hops Late June, FYI the poles are 20 feet tall

My ten minutes of research on the all knowing inter-web have given me an arsenal of information to share about Idaho hops. Idaho hop production accounts for 8% of the US harvest and 2% of the world harvest, nothing huge but still a substantial amount. Word on the street (local homebrew store owner) is that S. Idaho use to account for 25% of the world production and the one of the farms started growing hops over 120 years ago. Obviously things have changed, but the production has increased over the last few years due to the shortages in the hop market. Rumors has it (same guy, new cliche phrase) says these farms sell their hops to Steiner, so I am going to have to go through that company for some hops to be able to make an "all Idaho" beer and jump on the "Buy Idaho" train.

Hop field in the distance

This post is only a little bit about the hop farms in Idaho and a lot bit about proving that I still have "it". By "it", I mean the ability to put up a mildly entertaining post while showcasing my uncanny ability to use modern technology. Yes, that is an unnecessary hop field drive-by video embedded below...

I hope this you enjoyed this post, I burned my chicken breast because I was so focused on writing something awesome.

Drew's Brew

Now that I have caught up on my drinking a little bit, I can get back to brewing. The ridiculous weather in Seattle might just be leaving us, last night we got out first rain in 29 days, unheard of for May/June. Today I have some company in the brew, my roommate Drew. When asked how he could get a membership to my keggerator, the answer was simply buy me supplies for a batch. So today we are making Drew's beer. Being a huge fan of Mac and Jack's, the request is for an Amber. What I am aiming to do is make a similar northwest style Amber Ale, but try to be noticeably different. Not that I actually know the recipe for the African Amber, but I have a good idea on the main components and will try to avoid making a clone.

Amber Ale
Malts: American 2-Row, Caramunich, Crystal, Munich, Roasted Barley
Hops: Chinook and Cascade
ABV: 6%+ per request of Drew

Post brew day comments: The brew went well and should land well about the 6% minimum set by Drew. Generally speaking I don't drink much when I brew, mostly because I try to start at 8 AM, but with a late start and some motivation we kicked back a good number of beers (in the process. It is definitely more relaxing (brewing drunk that is), but you get a lot lazier with everything. It seems like blasphemy in the homebrewing community to say this (because it is generally a ritual, drinking and brewing), but I am not a fan of getting drunk while brewing(drinking yes, but not getting drunk). Anyway, the beer is well into a healthy fermentation and hopefully this is the Amber where I stop sucking.

Monday 6/22 Update

I think I am a good week or two away from some Monday updates with some real substance. I have a trip to Boise starting tomorrow that will give me a lot of time to make contacts in Boise and get the ball rolling a little more. I probably should make a list of what I need to get done, because it could easily turn into an unproductive trip. I have two informal meetings I am working on setting up with prospective investors. Not really asking for money at this time, but a time to let them in on my plans and where I am at. Of course there will be beer there and a great time for me to practice my pitching skills and beer education talks.

I have some initial logos done, but it still needs some work and because of that I wont post it on the blog. As soon as I get something I like, rest assured it will be on here that day. The biggest problem that I am having is that I cant really pinpoint what I want. I will show what I have at my meetings to get feedback and ideas. A few rounds of revisions and I will have something.

I stopped by one of Seattle's nanobreweries last week, Gilligan's Brewing, and had a talk with one of them. They have an interesting concept going. They are not full-time brewers and do everything on nights and weekends as more of a hobby, but do sell their beers. The set up that they have in no way will turn a profit, but it gets them into the market none the less if they want to expand in the future. I need to go down again when the Seth Gilligan is there because he knows the answers to some of my questions (licensing etc for a small operation). Once I go down again with a camera/flip cam I will do a full post about the brewery.

I brewed last week and wrote a post on it, but since I didn't finish it and post it yet, it will be scheduled to come up either tomorrow or Wednesday.

All for now...

Monday 6/15 Update

I started doing these Monday updates to try to get me to accomplish something every week that I can share, which has sort of happened. It is also keeping me thinking and blogging, cause laziness is like a virus that often strikes me for extended periods of time. I don't really like the title I have for the update though, seems like every site has a Monday morning update of sorts. I will try to think of something, but it is unlikely it will change.

Everything seems to be coming together a bit and I had a roll going this morning, then I ran across something very important. USA is playing Italy in the Confederations Cup right now. My work got very rudely interrupted to check it out and I am trying to get this post done during half time. First off, Clark's red card was bush league, absolutely deserved a yellow card though. Reckless tackle, yes, but it was in mid-field and it wasn't like Clark was accumulating fouls to deserve the strait send-off. They were really just starting to play well and being down a man for another 45 is going to be tough, but Jozy drawing that PK will really help that out. In general I think the US lacks two things, creativity on the attacking end and they are careless with the ball. They always turn the ball over is stupid places and in general can't maintain possesion very long. The attacks usually look like they have promise, then get into the attacking third and can't create a decent shot. Enough about my soccer rambling, but the bottom of this post will have a game wrap up because the second half is about to start...

...The US soccer team is a very frustrating team to watch, flashes of brilliance mixed with careless play can easily lead to giving up 3 goals in the second half. You can't expect a team playing down a man against one of the best teams in the world to not concede some goals, but I thought they were the result of careless play. I am going to restrain myself from ranting for too long, but have some food for thought. First, is Landon Donovan actually the best player in the country or overrated? I lean to the later. I swear half of his 40 international goal have come from the penelty mark. FIFA's eligibilty rules are questionable in my mind. The US does benefit from having some foreign born players on the squad, but having a player score two goals against his country of birth rubs me the wrong way. In his defense, Rossi's father is Italian born and he moved back there when he was 13, but he is still an American citizen. That reminds me of the US qualifier last week in Chicago (or maybe Honduras north). What other country can play an away game on their own soil? To quote my boy Adam Carolla in The Hammer "You guys sure seem to love Nicaragua except for the part where you risked your lives not to live there any more."

I am going to check myself right now, because I don't really have the energy to do what it takes to truely finish this rant. Those looking for an actual brewery update are going to have to wait another week or so.

Feelin' Kind of Rugged

Rugged enough to take on the Mountain Man today. Brewing up my second batch of the Mountain Man Barleywine. It follows the general recipe of last years version with a few modifications, including some more base malt to get a little more alcohol, less chocolate and some crystal malt. While I will be able to taste this one and the one I made in the fall side by side, they should be pretty different because of the age on the old one and the changes to this one. I also plan to let this one age longer in the fermenting vessels, I of course think it is going to be great, but going to have to wait a while to find out.

Mountain Man Barleywine
Malts: American 2-Row, Aromatic, Biscuit, Chocolate, Crystal
Hops: Chinook, Centennial
ABV: Probably in the 9-10% range
Playlist: Soaking up the new Ryan Bingham album

Moved some beer around today, excited for the Brown Ale I made last week, but I am always excited about what is next instead of what is on tap now.

Monday 6/8 Update

I feel like a broken record saying this, but I am making progress. The frustrating part is that it seem like there is little to really show for it at this point.

The actual brewing that I have been doing has been okay recently. Discouraging in that the last few batches that I have gotten on tap have been sub-par, but brewing and tasting them have been good to put a lot of what I have learned into practice. It seems like I have been learning a lot more of what I don't want to do than what I want to do, which is good information to have, but I could use a win or two pretty soon.

I think that the trouble that I am running into is trying to design a beer that is both good and unique. Sounds a lot easier than I am making it right now. I don't want to put out the exact some beer as another brewery, but there is only so much you can do before you make a weird beer. I keep on trying different combinations of ingredients that are not traditionally used together and I am finding there are reasons that they aren't used. Not that the beers are terrible, but there is usually one or two things that aren't quite right and that can usually be traced back to the recipe. I think every once and a while I need to remember to heed the advice of those that have come before me.

Not really sure what is on the docket for future brews, running low on space and need to spend some quality time drinking to catch back up. I plan on brewing the second batch of the Mountain Man Barleywine soon, slight tweaks to last years brew and making it earlier so it is ready come Thanksgiving or Christmas.

That was hardly an update, but that is what I'm calling it. One of these days I will take a step forward instead of sidestepping the issues, then I will have a worthy post.

Brew Day 6/3

The brewing has slowed a bit, mostly because of lack of space for new batches. The number one thing that is telling me is that I am not drinking enough. Here is whats brewing today:

Brown Ale
Malts: American 2-Row, Brown Malt, Chocolate Malt, Crystal
Hops: Magnum, Amarillo
ABV: ~4.8%
Playlist: Carolla and Sports Guy podcasts (I still need to actually make a real brewing playlist if I am going to include it, but Carolla is funny as shit)

I know I mentioned honing in the Pale Ale recipe by making 4 back to back batches with slight changes, but that is going to have to wait. I am so close with that recipe being set that I think I will hold off on making Pales for a bit so I can get another recipe or two dialed in. For the Brown I am shooting for sort of a hybrid between an English and American Brown. English Browns are dryer have a nutty taste and have low hop bitterness and aroma where Americans have more of a caramel and chocolate taste with higher hop bitterness and aroma. Basically meld those two and I am targeting a slightly nutty taste with a bit touch of chocolate and a moderate hop presence.

I also want to start posting name ideas for the different beers that I am making. I have thrown around different ideas for naming conventions, most recently I think I said I wanted to keep the year round name simple by just preceding the style with Payette, not sure that I like that idea anymore. I am sure I will continue to flip-flop on this, but right now I want to have names that include the style, but also put in some creativity. I would like to thrown in an element of something Boise/Idaho specific, but subtle to the point that it doesn't exclude people outside of Idaho from drinking it. Not sure if that made sense to you, but it make sense in my head.

Not sure why I keep associating Brown Ales with sheep, but in my head they seem right for each other. I have always been a fan of Mutton Buster Brown, just don't know how the association with beer and kids riding sheep will go over with the authorities and he public. The other direction I was thinking was something to do with the Basque Sheep Herders that come through the foothills in the summer. I have been doing some research on the topic and haven't found anything that sparked a great idea yet, so feel free to help me out. If I need to abandon the sheep theme, thrown out some ideas...Penitentiary?

Monday 6/1 Update

A few updates for this week, unfortunately most of it is not that interesting. I got the results back from my entries in the Puget Sound Pro-Am and they were about what I expected, but would have liked them to be higher of course. I only have the raw scores at this point and will be able to analyze it all a bit more when I get the judges sheets with comments and everything. My Pale Ale and Stout fared the best and the Blonde and Amber performed poorly. Even though I could probably speculate for a few paragraphs, I will write another post once I understand why I got the marks that I did.

Last week I met with the guys from Schooner Exact Brewery twice last week. I got to check out their brewery, ask a bunch of questions and even got in some help with a brew on Saturday. Failed twice to bring a camera or my flip cam with me to get some media to spice up the blog a little. Saturday was their inaugural brew at their new location which was cool to be a part of. Schooner Exact is pretty much where I want to be in about a year (I would like to say sooner, but after all the research and such I have been doing, brewing a year from now is reasonable). It was another good opportunity to check out how someone else built their brewery and get some hands on work with some brewing equipment. I am probably going to help them out a little more in the future and will do a more in depth post later (even get a pic of two).

Got another brew in the works this week, probably Wednesday. Changed my mind about the consecutive pale ale brews because I have a good idea on how that is going to work out, doing a brown ale tomorrow.

On the planning front, things are moving forward again. Hit some points where I stalled out, but have found ways to get through that. Planning is fun to be able put all these ideas together and dream about how things will look in a year, but mostly it is a bitch. Gotta Hop...