Open Source Beer

I will start this post by saying that I am pretty sure I heard this idea somewhere else, but have not idea where so I can't credit them. On the other hand, maybe it is just such a brilliant idea that I am afraid to credit myself when in fact I am really just that genius...probably the beer talking there.

Here's the deal, the abundance of information and mass collaboration has given way to sites like Wikipedia and operating systems like Linux, so why not apply that to a beer. Here is what I want to do, put together a beer recipe that starts out rather simple, but produces a decent beer. Make a batch 15 barrel batch of the beer and call it "Boise's Ale 1.0" or something that gives some ownership to consumers and shows where it is in development. I then make the recipe and all the details available to local homebrewers and ask them to make a batch, but try to improve on it in some way. Then they would need to bring in samples, similar to a competition, and we would go through all the samples and decide on which change(s) should be incorporated in the next batch. Brew 15 barrels of "Boise's Ale 2.0" and go through the process again and again...Maybe call is just "1.0" then "1.1" or "2.0" etc.

The way I vision this unfolding would be that the beer gets a few iterations in and is grows into a damn good beer. The recipe would still be available and I would still take samples of beers that the local talent brew, but it should get to the point where it will take an excellent improvement to change the beer.

Based on what I know of homebrewers, the beer may start as an Amber at 5% and a few batches later be a Barley Wine aged in bourbon barrels clocking in at 10%.

Ideas keep coming...just need to get the financing to start rolling in so I can put the ideas to good use.

Brewing on a "Real System"

Although my home brews are real beer, I can't call my equipment a "real system."

Friday morning started out a lot like my tenure at Boeing, early, but had a much different feel to it, brewing. I met Matt, one of the owner/brewers at Schooner Exact, a little before 6 AM and got the chance to help him brew a 7 barrel batch of their Gallant Maiden Hefeweizen. I am not going to give away the secrets to their beer, but it is a German Hefeweizen as opposed to the American Wheats that I have made in the past. It was a long hot day in the brewery, but it was great to get some work in on a real system. It was a lot better atmosphere to ask questions and share my thoughts compared to the other times that I had been at the brewery. As we went through the day, I could ask questions as they popped into my head and Matt shared multiple "things I would do differently" as he came across them. The experience really reinforced my level of brewing and brewery planning knowledge.

I will be brewing a 1/2 barrel batch of my Pale Ale on the pilot system at Schooner Exact this Wednesday. I am trying my best to keep the recipe tweaking at a minimum, so this one will be almost the same as the last Pale I made for my presentation. I am certain the beer will improve compared to previous batches because I will get to use a temperature controlled fermenter.

I need to remember to write down all of the genius beer names that I come up with, so here's one: Jackalope Belgian IPA, well I am not sure about the style (never made a Belgian IPA before), but I want to make it some sort of hybrid style of beer because of the nature of Jackalopes...hoppy as a jackrabbit and the reddish-brown of an antelope... This might need to be a seasonal or ale of no return, but I think this could be a really fun one. Any style ideas out there for "The Jackalope?"

Tap Handles

When you really start thinking about this, tap handles are one of the most important things to a draft only brewery (good beer always helps). With draft only accounts, it is the main marketing presence in a bar. A good tap handle will bring the beer to people's attention and make them ask about it and hopefully order it. Making a good product is what brings them back. When you are at a bar, you aren't always sitting at the actual bar and take a look at the taps from afar to see what they have, the well designed ones are noticeable.

Problems I see with many common tap handles:
1) You can't read them. I always like to know what I am ordering and if I can't tell what it is then I wont order it, I will probably go to one of my mainstay beers instead of something new. Not all the brewery and beer information needs to be in word form to be identifiable. Too many taps have a novel written on them and you don't care about most of the information on them.
2) Shape, too many are a standard oval on top of a long wooden handle. I am aware that making tap handles is expensive and it is cheapest and easiest to go with a standard shape, but I think that tap handles are a worthwhile investment. Look at Goose Island, probably the easiest tap handle to recognize from anywhere in a bar, I am sure it is worth the extra cost to make those taps. Just being a different shape doesn't make it better though, there are plenty of weird looking tap handles that do nothing more than the standard tap shape.

Things I like in tap handles:
1) Easily identifiable logo at the very top, Avery is a good example of the logo on top, but I am not sure that I am a fan of the information below.
2) Consistency through the beer line up, Georgetown has a little more unique oval, but all the taps have the same basic shape.
3) You can easily tell the two most important things, Brewery, Beer Name. Beer style is included in that, but that has more to do with naming conventions that the brewery uses.

I will be giving a lot of thought to what the PBC tap handles will look like and will be getting some help from a marketing company because I know beer, they know marketing. I have a lot of different ideas floating around in my head and once some of those get sorted out I will try them out on the blog. To throw out a few, I have never seen carbon fiber taps and I love that look, maybe there is a cheap carbon fiber coating out there. Bright colors, but not obnoxious...well maybe obnoxious, it would stand out. I also like aluminum taps that are machined or water jetted into logos and shapes. Once I decide, this will be the first place to reveal them.

Brewing Playlists

Two of my favorite things: beer and music. One thing that I always think about when I vision my brewery is how tight it is going to be to rock out and make beer. I have been thinking about this for some time and on my drive home today (actually Friday, using the post scheduling feature, how 'bout them apples) while rocking out to Reckless Kelly's Bulletproof (tight album) I decided I had to write a post about it. Lets just hope that I can remember all of the literary gold I came up with while driving.

So here is the deal, music and beer are generally at the core of all of my inspiration (rocking out and booze, how could it do anything else but inspire) and I want to utilize that in the brewery and share it with PBC's customers. Most brewery websites have information about each of their beer offering that may include a description, ingredients and who knows what else. I want to include a music playlist for each beer. I am not going to make these playlists claiming that they are the inspiration for the beers though. The playlists are going to be a combo of what I listen to while brewing the beer and what I like to listen to while drinking the beer. Or have no real relation at all and just be a stellar playlist. It is going to be tight to be in charge in the brewery (even if I am the only employee) because I can rock whatever tunes that I want. If anyone has a problem with my music selection my response will be "shut up, I do what I want!" because I am the man in charge.**

As time permits, (something that I have quite a bit of right now) I am going to try to post some playlists I start to come up with while brewing. Once I figure out all the gadgets that blogspot.com has, I will try to put some music on the blog or maybe even the entire playlists. But mark this day down, if you see this stuff on another brewery's website they officially stole it from me. Although someone might already be doing it and if that is the case I plead ignorance and still came up with it on my own.

Although my music personal selection favors country to a great extent, I embrace most music. Each list will be unique and hopefully different in the overall theme. In honor of my first unborn fermenter, the first playlist I post will be a compilation of Wu Tang Clan, both the group and solo projects from the members. For those wondering, the unborn fermenter is O.D.B. because one day it will be my O.D.B. of fermenters and the name will be just that much more fitting. I can't wait to write a blog saying, "the first batch of Mountain Man Barleywine is fermenting in Old Dirty Bastard."

These playlists could be somethings that comes into play later when I try to put on some concerts and stuff. Once I get a real website up, all the songs will be linked to the artists site or somewhere to buy their stuff. Also, it could be cool to allow fans to post their own playlists of what they like to listen to while drinking a PBC beer. Sort of create a music community intertwined with the beer community because many of them are the same people. I will have to solicit ideas from Sheila, our budding music production person or whatever it is you are trying to do. You realize that I officially own your career Sheila, food and music with my beer, game over.

I really need a voice recorder or at least carry around my flipcam all the time so I can record my inner Bill Simmons when I come up with the stuff. Compared to my vision in the car, this post is good, but falls well short of the gem I had brewing in the car.

**Some might say that doing what you want because it is your business is a bad idea, well those people have never met me...whatever I touch turns to gold and most of all...I rule! (Amy, you probably don't read this, but you are still #2)

Hop Sampler (Hops 101)

A huge part of a craft brewery is educating people on the beer they are drinking. As you know more about what you are drinking and can identify more of the ingredients/tastes, you start to experiment more and have more fun with actually drinking beer (drinking itself usually takes care of having fun in the social aspect of beer). As with wine, there is more to drinking beer than just getting drunk. The biggest eye opener I had when I started making beer was hops, after handling them, making different styles and knowing exactly what was in what I was drinking, I really started to enjoy them much more. Hops is a very good starting point for educating and expanding knowledge of beer, that is where the hop sampler idea comes in.

With all the variety of hops in the world, it really is hard to pin down one specific hop taste that encompasses all varieties. Flavors from hops range from fruity and citrus to grassy and pine. My current pale ale recipe uses 3 different hops, Amarillo (spicy) Cascade (citrus) and Simcoe (grapefruit). When you drink this, these flavors are there individually, but also blend together to make up the hop profile of the beer. The "hop sampler" idea is to make a different pale ale with each of these hops individually then one with all of them and sample them at the same time. I would make a barrel each of the different beers and have some sort of event for people to try them. The beers would be the same in every step of the brewing, except each one made exclusively with one hop variety. This would be a really cool way for people to taste the flavors individually then combined. It wouldn't have to be limited to just those hops, there could be ten, fifteen different beers made to further increase the hop knowledge. How often do people grab a beer in the store, read the label, and truly think "I really like the flavors of Brewer's Gold and Hallertauer hops?" There are people that do it, but most people read that and don't actually know what that means. After doing something like this you could.

This same technique can also be used for different yeast strains, malt bills and other variables in the brewing process. This is also the basic way that recipes are developed and perfected, change one thing and see if it improves the beer. I do think providing a side by side hop sample like this is pretty unique and can work really well

Year Round/Seasonal/Limited Beers

Here is what I would like the PBC line up to look like around year 5 (of course earlier if possible):

Year Round/Core Beers - These are the standard Payette beers available any time in 12 oz and 22 oz bottles (cans?) and on draft. Probably 4-6 beers that will probably be more in line with traditional styles, but would not rule out something more experimental if it worked well. As far as names go, I think these will remain basic such as Payette Porter, Payette IPA and Payette Wheat (again of course, you can't pass up a good name if one comes up).

Seasonal Beers - Not just limited to the four seasons, these are beers that will only be available during certain times of the year. Like the core beers, these will come in all forms of distribution when available. I see these being more on the experimental side in ways to fit the time period when released. I see these and the limited beers the place where the names get a little more fun and creative. No idea how many of these there will be, probably start with one or two and it might grow to six.

Limited Beers - I like to call these the "Ales of No Return." These are going to be "big" or "extreme" beers that as the name would suggest, might only be made once. I say might only be once because I do see some of these sort of turning into seasonal beers, but not included in that series. Beers like the Mountain Man Barleywine, it will be made every year, but that doesn't mean the recipe will be exactly the same every year. Other beers might be really good and come back for an encore, others might suck and are never heard of again. I know what the name says, but come on, people returned from the river of no return all the time. Due to the small amount of beer that will be made, these will be sold in 22 oz bombers with some kegs distributed. These beers generally will be ideal for cellaring (cellaring will be discussed in another post). I anticipate an "Ale of No Return" to be released every six months.

All together I see this putting the Payette Brewing portfolio at about 10 different beers during a given year with the repertoire always growing.

Labels: Since I am nothing close to an artist I don't have any examples for labels yet, but I will try my best to describe what I am thinking. I want to use the general diamond design used for the "55 Pale Ale" and "Dubbel Your Luck" for all of the lines. I figure that the rainbow bridge will be used on one of the bottles, so think of that as I go through what I want to do for the year-round beers. What I want to do is keep the picture the same, but change the picture and the edgers of the diamond to fit the season. With the rainbow bridge one, it is pretty easy to imagine a spring, summer, fall and winter shot of the bridge (they wont have to be from the same vantage point, just the landmark will need to be recognizable as the same). As for the edges of the diamond this could be consistent throughout the line, but maybe skis/poles for winter, raft/kayak paddles for summer. Still need to work on the other seasons, but that will come. The beer itself wont change, but the artwork will about every 3 months (maybe never using the same picture twice?). It might be a stretch to do all this at first, but I think is would be something pretty unique in the artwork/design of beer bottles. The other lines will probably follow the same form, but since they are seasonal and limited, the artwork wont change with the seasons. I guess I need to take a look at the whole marketing thing and make some sort of a plan, right now I am just throwing out my most recent thoughts.

As for the three different beer lines mentioned above, I would like to come up with names for each of the lines as not to just call them year-round/seasonals/limited. I already mentioned "Ales of No Return" for the limited, so throw out any ideas for the other two if you have them.

Bronco Beer

At some point I would like PBC to cultivate a relationship with Boise State, mostly for Bronco football. Much like the relationship BSU has with the Double R Ranch, PBC needs to be the only beer available in the suites at Bronco Stadium. Pre and Post game festivities can take place at the official PBC Tailgate. Whenever I think of this I go back to the game at Ohio State, the tailgate we went to at the parking lot of that apartment building. Ideally it would be a fenced off beer garden with PBC beer on tap. In the area there would be TV's showing all the games, cornhole, redneck golf and probably a bit of beer pong going on. Basically your ideal tailgate. If there was some sort of partnership with the university then maybe this could be in the campus parking lot, if not, then it could be possible to team up with one of the bars on Broadway to get this going. The reason a deal with the university would preferred is the use of the name "Bronco Beer." They might not have a tight of a grasp on their words as UW does, but it would be great to market Bronco Beer throughout Boise during football and even basketball season. Of course the place to start with all of this is getting a good beer on tap up in the suites, then working the university from there. I think that the tailgate would be an excellent way to get the name out in Boise and could also establish a great tradition at BSU games.

Canning Line

While canning craft beer is not a new thing, it still hasn't taken the industry by storm and might never do that. The stigma against canning beer probably started with the first canned beer because of the aluminum "canny" taste it gave to beers. With new technology, specifically the material lining the interior of the can, a lot of people find that canned beer no longer has that bad taste. The debate still goes on, but I think that there is future in canning beer, weather that is in addition or opposed to bottling. Oskar Blues has made a name for themselves by first making great beers and second their beers are only available in cans. Recently New Belgian has joined the ranks of cans with Fat Tire being canned.

While canning might make some craft beer drinkers shy away from PBC, it might also bring another type of drinker to PBC. I also think that anyone that would choose not to drink a beer because it is in a can is too much of a snob to drink my beer and I wouldn't want to call them my customer. I also think a canned craft beer could help bridge the gap between the macro drinker and a craft drinker. Another huge advantage to cans is the places where you can take and drink cans as oppose to bottles. Tailgating is a prime example; while glass isn't necessarily outlawed, it is not really recommended either. While I wouldn't see myself bringing a six pack of a porter on the river, it would be nice to bring a good pale or blonde on a raft trip (not that easy with glass).

My one reservation with cans has to do with big beers. I know Oskar Blues makes an Imperial Stout (TenFidy, great beer by the way) but I do not know how these beer hold up to aging. There would be no problem with light spoilage, I just don't know how possible it is to "can condition" a beer. Something that will have to be looked into.

I don't know if canning is the route that PBC wants to take, but I think it could be a really successful route. The best would be to have both canning and bottling, as of now don't know what sort of capital that would take, probably a lot. Getting past being looked at as a gimmick would be the most difficult part is PBC goes the canning route. Something to be looking at down the line...