Firestone Walker

This should have been written and posted about two weeks ago, but I am lazy, I mean busy, yeah.  One of my buddies from UW got married the other week in Paso Robles, which at first meant two things: an awesome party and wine.   A little trip to the beer mapping project and my eyes lit up, partying, wine and awesome beer!  So when I got their on Thursday, I took myself on a little pilgrimage to Firestone Walker.

First off, Firestone is "as in Firestone tires," one of the founders is of the Firestone family that made tires and up until recently I guess owned a pretty successful winery. The brewery has nothing to do with the tires other than the family member (they aren't owned by some big company if that matters to you) and I think some other company owns the Firestone Tire name...anyway...

Even though they don't advertise weekday tours, a few emails later, and bam, I got myself a tour.  No, I do not feel bad about using the fact my email address ends in "brewing company" to my advantage.  The one thing that really stood out at FW, was the brewing process they use for some of their beers.  My description can't do it justice, so check it out on their site.  Of course I didn't take pictures of the interesting part, the only one I took was of the bottom of their fermenter...

Bottom of some huge fermenters

I was also at the brewery a week before one of their special releases, Parabola, so I had to ask if there was any way to try it.  I did get to try it, but in no way was it special treatment.  The beer that was going to be released in a week, but had already been on tap at the brewery for a week.

The tasting room was rather simple, but a place I could hang out at on a daily basis.  The brewery's main beers are pales and ipa's, but they do know how to make some other good stuff.  Double Barrel Ale is their main beer and one of the beers made in the union system, so their most popular beer spends time in barrels while most other breweries put something in a barrel, limit it and sell it for $$$.  FW is dedicated to their craft in a different way than any other brewery in the US, it takes a lot more work to mass produce with the union system.

Tasting Room

I also went on a winery tour...talk about a fish-out-of-water experience, but that is a whole different post that will never be written.

LB2

Last batch was the first attempt at an Idaho-Style Farmhouse Ale, trying to marry a light session beer with a more complex Belgian-Style beer.  Right now, the only thing I have learned from that batch is that my new water filter is TNT.  I also found out I’m not a very good plumber.  Before I get into why I’m not a good plumber (which is not a big issue in any way) I want to say that I know that some of the things I write might not paint me in the best light (backed up drain problem and stirring the mash with a wrench to name recent ones).  I write that stuff for two reasons; first, I think it makes for a much more entertaining blog.  I don’t take myself too seriously (nobody should takes themselves too seriously for that matter) and try to convey that in the blog.  If I didn’t want to give people a real look at what is happening with starting a brewery, I wouldn’t have started it.  The second reason is a selfish reason, but I want to be able to look back at my journey and remember all the fun/maddening/shitty stuff that went on.  Writing the blog is my way to being sure to enjoy the ride.  I am excited to get to my “destination” of running a brewery, but I have to constantly remind myself that it’s about the journey not the destination.  As for the plumbing, well my filter installation drips if I keep the water on constantly.  I blame the filter since the plumbing fittings are steel and the filter threads are plastic, most likely I didn't use enough Teflon tape or tighten it enough (it is pretty damn tight though) Enough of my crap, onto the beer:

Leaning Barn

Style: Idaho-Style Farmhouse Ale (The TTB will nix this as a style, who cares right now)

Malts: American 2-Row, Aromatic, Wheat

Hops: Admiral, Saphir

ABV: 5%

Playlist: Dead iPod...Silence is not golden

I did sample the last batch and some of these changes are based on that and some are based on having something different to compare to.  A lot of Belgian-Style beers are made using various different spices and I haven’t decided it that is something I want to go into for this beer.  It is a fine line to walk in that too much spice would turn a lot of people off from, but the current state of the beer doesn’t quite have the complexity that I am hoping for.

Fort Collins Brewery Trip

Anymore, any sort of vacation I go on turns into a beer finding/brewery visiting/drinking adventure.  This past weekend is no exception and the weekend trip to Denver took a one day detour into Fort Collins.  The post is going to run kind of long because I need to cover 4 breweries and a lot of beers (25 to be exact).

New Belgium

First stop in the morning was New Belgium.  A note to anyone that wants to go there, you need a reservation for a tour and they seem to fill up well in advance (I checked the day before and they were booked 1 ½ weeks out, 8 or so tours a day).  Even without a tour, the tasting room is cool and three beer samples costs a grand total of zero dollars.  The tasting room has the feel you would expect from New Belgium, there is bike stuff everywhere including all of the chairs/stools which are made from old bike wheels.  Beer-wise, I am documented as not being a Fat Tire fan, but New Belgium makes some tasty stuff.  The only beer that was new to me was their Dark Heather Saison, the others I tried are more common, Trippel, Mothership Wit and Blue Paddle. Here are some shots of the tasting room and the New Belgium Airstream in the parking lot.

Tasting Room

Chairs Made from Old Bike Wheels

New Belgium Airstream

Odell’s

Stop number two was at Odell’s, probably not a house-hold name since they don’t distribute into Idaho, but they are pushing 21 years old and know how to make a good beer.  Both Odell’s and Fort Collins Brewery are great examples of how well the craft industry is doing as Odells just went through a big addition/remodel and FCB is about to open what looks like an awesome new facility down the street from Odell’s.  Got on a tour at this stop and even though there isn’t much difference between most breweries, I still like to go on tours to pick up new ideas or justify the ways that I am doing things.

 Odell's Grain Silo

Sampler Tray

The beers were good, although I thought that their big beers and one-offs were a noticeable step down from their year-round line (which I really enjoyed).  A great place to check out in Fort Collins, hopefully some of their beers make it this way.

Equinox

The newest brewery to Fort Collins, Equinox opened about a month ago downtown Fort Collins.  This stop was both the quickest and most valuable stop of the day.  Not only did I get to meet up with and talk to some guys I went to Siebel with (see next section), I got a change to talk with the owner/brewer and had a great talk about getting the TTB license.  They had a great range of beers, all different enough that there was something to appeal to everyone.

Funkwerks

I didn’t actually get to check out Funkwerks, as they are not an operational brewery yet, but wanted to give them a shout-out anyway.  Two guys (Gordon and Brad) I went to Siebel with are in the process of starting an Organic Saison Brewery in Fort Collins.  I met them at Equinox, had some beers and talked about our respective projects.  Great to see those guys again and can't wait to start drinking my way through all the bottles of beer they gave me.

American Craft Beer Week

This post is about 3 days later than it should be, sorry.

You should know by now that this is American Craft Beer Week, I hope you are taking part in some of the great events around Boise and the rest of the US.  Unfortunately PBC is not to a point where we can put on events, but rest assured that I am celebrating the only way I know how - drinking beer.  For those in Boise, Matt at the Co-op has put together a nice list of the events going on this week here.  If you aren't in Boise, there are a lot of places to find events, the easiest place to start is the American Craft Beer Week website, look under Events near the top. 

If you aren't up for going out to any of the events, at the very least I recommend going to your local bottle shop or grocery store and grabbing a sixer of craft beer, maybe a few bombers.  My personal plan is to try a new beer each day throughout the week, last night was Laughing Dog's Pale Ale (maybe I have had it before, but I can't always remember all the beer I have tried).

Being that I live an absurd life, I am going to Denver on Thursday and will have to do much of my celebrating there. Although I am going there for a wedding, the plan is to check out at least 3 breweries in Fort Collins on Friday and will give everyone a comprehensive report upon returning.

While you are anxiously awaiting my next post, go grab a beer and celebrate American Craft Beer Week.

Gotta Hop

Revisiting the Wheat

The kegs of Wheat Beer are dead and gone so now it is time to look back on the three batches.  The biggest thing I learned was that I need to print out score sheets or something like that when I have any sort of side-by-side tasting.  That was the plan, but that was the day I had some plumbing issues and by the time that was resolved I spaced the feedback sheet.  Regardless of any written comments, I was able to get great feedback from a variety of beer drinkers, from beer savy guys to drinkers who given the choice might have ordered a PBR.  Here is a brief run-down of the beers: (links to brewday posts)

#1: Majority favorite, drank like an American Wheat with little (if any) bubblegum/clove/banana characteristics of a Bavarian Wheat.  It had a much higher hopping rate than the other two, but was not overly bitter.  It seemed to combine the light refreshing aspect you like in a summer beer with an evident hop characteristic that is a little different than the majority of wheat beers in the market.

#2: Unanimous least favorite, which was good to hear for two reasons.  One, people had no problem telling me that they weren't a fan of a beer and two, give the option, people like a more flavorful beer.  I was a bit surprised about this result, mostly because I figured that some people would like it because it was the "easiest" to drink.  I don't know if bland is the right word, but that is what it was.  Not to overly justify the result, but it makes sense based on my recipe and some of the techniques used in brewing.  It lacked any esters and phenols from fermentation and the low hopping rate resulted in muted bitterness and hop flavor.  I liked hearing that the beer with the least amount of complexity was the least liked, bodes well for all of the beers I am working on.

#3: More of a traditional Bavarian Wheat than the other two, with the bubblegum/clove/banana esters and phenols taking a front seat to the hops.  It seemed like it is more of a seasoned craft beer drinker's wheat, not a wheat beer for the masses.

So where do I go from here?  As the American Wheat received the most positive feedback, that is the direction I will go for now, but a more Bavarian-Style Wheat could become a tasting room release to keep honing in that style.  The next few batches will probably play with a few different hop varieties because Citra is still not easily obtained and I need to compare how some different American hops are received by drinkers.

Thanks for everyone that tried the beers and gave me their opinions.  More tastings will be on the way

Gotta Hop!

Getting Political - H.R 4278

This bill is probably recent news to most Idahoans, as Senator Crapo just became a co-sponsor of the bill.  I have not seen much written locally on this yet, but I wanted to give everyone my bias news bit on the bill.  Am I an authority on the matter, not really, but I am sure that I know more of the details than the self-proclaimed "experts" that litter the online newspaper comment sections.

Note: I have not seen a single comment that was either uninformed or against the bill.  I made the "expert" comment because there is nothing more maddening to me than seeing uniformed verbal diarrhea on the internet where you can say anything you want tucked behind the security of your computer and username.

The headline for this bill is cutting the federal excise tax on beer from $7.00 to $3.50, but that doesn't mean all the beer made in the US will have a lower tax.  Almost all beer brewed by the big breweries (Bud, Miller, Coors etc) is going to be taxed the same.  The vast majority of beer made in the US will still be taxed at $18 per barrel, the total tax revenue for the government is not going to be cut in half  In total, this cut affects less than 5% of the beer made in the US, but helps an industry that employs over 100,000 people.  The bill actually sets a more graduated tax rate for all breweries.  When the current tax structure was passed in 1976, the idea was to give small breweries a lower tax rate than the big breweries.  As it stands right now the first 60,000 barrels is taxed at $7.00 per barrel and anything over that is taxed at $18.00 per barrel.  The proposed structure would be $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels, $16.00 on barrels 60,000 to 2 million and $18.00 on everything over 2 million barrels.  The Brewer's Association has a more detailed look at the bill here.

That is a sort of overview on the bill, here are my thoughts on how it affects me and you.  First, it is not going to change the price of your beer.  A savings to a brewery of $3.50 per barrel, means $1.75 per keg and about 1.5 cents per pint at a bar, sorry you are still going to pay $4 (or so) for a pint.  No, brewers are not lining their pockets with this saving.  For a start-up like me, I see this tax break as way to help me to become a viable business.  Lets say I make 1,000 barrels in my first year, after doing the math, it is not a huge amount of savings, but it will mean I can hire additional employees or move into bottling/canning that much sooner.  Every bit counts when you are a small business.

The changes done in 1976 reflected the industry at the time, since then, there has been drastic change in the industry and HR 4278 is trying to update the laws to better reflect the industry today.  This bill is a great start, hopefully it passes, then maybe they can take a look at the really outdated alcohol laws on the books.

I am generally not a very political person and this could be the first time I have really taken a true interest in what is going on in Washington.  I even sent letters to both Crapo and Risch asking them to support the bill.  Don't worry, political issues wont make make many appearances on the blog.

Sorry for the political stuff, but I wanted to present the facts and give my opinion on the matter.

UPDATE: So after carefully writing this to get my facts straight, I messed up a little.  While HR 4278 is the House bill to make these changes, the bill that Senator Crapo is a part of is Senate Bill 3339.  The premise is still the same and I guess it is just the Senate version of the House bill, I really don't know enough about this stuff to know everything.  Here is a link to a story from the Brewers Association.

Leaning Barn - Farmhouse Ale

I decided on the name for this beer before I even figured out what it would be exactly.  Anyone who has driven Idaho 55 from Boise to McCall has seen the Old Tate Barn that seems to inch closer to collapsing every year.  I call it the "leaning barn" and even though that isn't the real name you probably know what I am talking about.  It is technically called the Old Tate Barn, but most people would give me blank looks if I said that.  The barn is a landmark in my favorite part of the world, and like the brewery name, I want to pay homage to things throughout the Payette River Corridor.

Leaning Barn
Style: Saison/Biere de Garde/Belgian Blond
Malts: American 2-Row, Rye, Vienna
Hops: Saphir
ABV: 5%
Playlist:  Live at Billy Bob's (Mickey, Randy & Wade)

The reason for the three different styles is that I am doing the following the traditional American brewing method of doing what I want.  Maybe it is a cop-out so that I can categorize it once it is done and not be one of those brewers that names a beer to a style that it doesn't qualify for.  In the title I say "Farmhouse Ale" which in some ways is a catchall for this type of beer.  To throw out some beer speak; I want to make a dry and refreshing beer that also has that complex layer of spice and fruity esters.  After re-reading that, I came off like a total douche, but I'm going to leave it.  Basically, I love Belgian beers, but often times the alcohol content really creeps up on you and you can't really session them.  My two favorite ones, just now available in Boise, are Goose Island's Matilda and Sofie.  I could drink those all day, but they are 7% and 6.5% respectively.  Maybe it is a Belgian  Blond...

It all makes sense in my head and one day will make sense in your glass.

Gotta Hop

The IPA's Have It

Okay, I get it, everyone likes IPA's.  It isn't like there is a huge number of total votes, but it is a dominating lead by IPA (I am glad to see that over 50 people have stumbled upon the blog though).

Any semi-regular reader knows that I have been working on developing the IPA recently.  Right now it is almost nailed down, but now on to the real challenge...naming the IPA.  Here is where I need your help, I have a few up my sleeve, but could use some more input.  Go ahead and comment with any ideas that you have.  Guidelines...something related to Idaho, the outdoors, Payette River/Lake/National Forrest, etc.  Any suggestion will be considered, maybe not for long, but will be considered.

A new poll will be up once I have some good name suggestions.

Only Getting Better From Here

It is only fitting that the first brew in the space was a total Charlie Foxtrot.  First off, the water.  I am having it tested today to know exactly what's in it, but I am thinking this last batch could come out interesting.  The water coming into the building has almost zero treatment, so has an "off" tinge to it and a mineral taste to it.  Who knows, it might be excellent, but I wouldn't bet on it.  I will, at the very least, have a carbon filter for the next batch.

The "oh shit" moment of the brew is when I realized that the drains were nice and blocked, probably what happens when the water hasn't been on in almost a year.  The toilets are on a slightly different line, so don't worry it wasn't that horrible.  As I was washing my mash tun, I came to find out that everything I was putting down the sink was coming out of the floor drain in the other bathroom.   Having water all over the bathrooms and warehouse is a great motivator to go purchase cleaning supplies, I needed a mop and squeegee sooner or later anyway.  So after I got all the stuff, I came back and noticed the drains had at least subsided to the point the looked like they worked and were dry.  I even poured water in them, just to make sure it was draining, looked like it worked.  Well, I tried to clean a little more and of course there is still a clog.  It is a fact, drains don't magically unclog themselves.  The second try wasn't one of my brighter moments, but I didn't want to call a plumber and it isn't like the mess could get that much bigger than it already was.  Cue plumber, and now the drain works like a charm, so the next brew should go smoother.

So the batch in the fermenter right now may or may not be any good, but its the only way to know how bad things can be right?

Baseline Beer

I finally have all (I hope) of my pilot brewing stuff down at the brewery, so I am making my first pilot batch here. I am calling it my baseline beer because I have no idea what the water is like down here.  I have checked the city reports, so I have an idea, but I need to see how it makes the beer taste.  I haven't even mashed in yet and already know I need to get a carbon filter, which I was planning on doing anyway.  From what I can tell from my building and the taste of the water, I am getting the most basic treatment the city does.  It isn't a big deal, but without even making a batch, I know the water is not brewing ready as it comes in.  On to the beer:

Rodeo Amber
Malts: American 2-Row, CaraMunich, Chocolate Malt, Crystal, Munich
Hops: Cascade, Chinook
ABV: ~ 5.4%
Playlist: Wade Bowen: Live at Billy Bob's (No Finished Yet is the best song)

So it took me this long to realize I forgot something, my mash paddle (okay, spoon).  So for everyone's information, I am mixing the mash on the first batch at the brewery with a 7/8 inch wrench.  It works surprisingly well.

I decided to make the Rodeo for this batch because I think it will give a good profile of the water.  Not to give a brewing lesson, but different aspects of the water content will affect the beer in different ways.  For example, for a hoppier beer, it is good to have higher levels of carbonates (harder water) because it brings out the bitterness better.  With the Rodeo, it is more balanced between the malty sweetness and hop bitterness, so should give me an idea how the base water will affect different styles.

Okay, I know I'm smart, but I can't take credit for actually thinking about that beforehand.  I just wanted to brew the Rodeo and wrote that last paragraph to justify it and look smart.  The facts about the water are correct, but justifying the Amber was made up 15 minutes ago.

Gotta Hop

Something

I have turned into what I hate...a blogger that doesn't blog.  No excuses, so I'm sorry.

No real topic for today's post, just exercising the keyboard.  The brewery is vast and empty right now, although I have started to bring stuff down there and hope to make a pilot batch down there very soon.  I wanted to do that Monday, but I didn't get the water turned on until yesterday, which was a pain in the ass all by itself.  Don't need the details, but that being the first real taste of working through the bureaucracy, it frightens me for what it could be like down the line.  I just wanted to be able to use the bathrooms...

The biggest thing right now is working on the design of the brewery.  The layout of the building is not just a big rectangle, so deciding how everything will fit isn't easy. I like it because it is giving me a lot of options, but that is also the problem, figuring out which option is the best.

Last night I met with the guys from Behind the Menu, great guys, great website, great networking and on down the line.  Really though, if you are living in Boise (or not?) make sure and check out their site, I am excited to do some things with them in the future.  If you found me through them, then welcome, the blog archive is full of stuff, although mostly useless banter.

I don't have internet down at the brewery yet, a combination of being cheap and lazy, but will do what I can to keep posting stuff as I move forward.  The phone does wonders for Twitter, but is too much of a piece to blog or Facebook anything.