World Cup

Ladies and Gentlemen, tomorrow marks the beginning of the best sporting event in the world, as a result, much of the communications coming from Payette Brewing Company will be soccer related.  Brewery news will continue to be posted at the current rate of slow to quite slow.

In a full disclosure brewery note: Depending on how you look at it, the World Cup starting means I fell short of my goal for PBC I wrote down three years ago.  My goal was that I wanted to be able to watch the 2010 World Cup at Payette Brewing Company.  Technically I could watch TV at Payette Brewing Company, but the brewery is not finished, so that is up for interpretation.  Either way I am pretty proud of myself for being anywhere near my goal based on an arbitrary date I wrote down over 3 years ago.

I am going to do some previews for the USA games, because those are all that really matter.  I will be watching as much as possible (my flexible employment is great for that) and there are some great matches people should watch, but I'm an American, so that is all that matters.

A note on my analysis/previews: if you want "professional" analysis, go to espn.com, stay here if you want thoughts from a washed-up soccer player/beer drinker/red-blooded American.

Coming tomorrow...USA vs England preview, including beer recommendations, predictions and first-rate analysis

White Pine IPA

Other times I have written Outlaw or Pistol Flip, I am just trying out different names and seeing how they fit.

White Pine IPA
Style: American-Style IPA
Malt: American 2-Row, Crystal, Honey Malt, Munich
Hops: Centennial, Chinook, Columbus
IBU: 60
ABV: 6.3%

To fit the name, I am looking to get more of a pine character from the hops in this IPA than the last few batches which have been stronger in the citrus side.  Based on the feedback from the last three batches I made and shared with people, I am close, but the hopping schedule just isn't there yet.  In my mind there are two balancing acts you have to play with IPA hops.  First there is the bitterness/flavor/aroma aspect, I like an IPA that is equal in all three, so no part of the drinking experience lacks.  The second is the relationship between the contributions of the individual hop varieties, this is tough because all varieties are not created equal.  Putting in equal amounts of all hops wont give you equal contributions in bitterness/flavor/aroma.  I guess I just need to keep making and drinking IPA's, damn.  The malt is another balancing act, but I like where I'm at with the malt, it is strong enough to hold up to the hops, but not sweet enough to take over.  You need some substance there, but IPA's are all about the hops, right?

I should have some new fermenters for the pilot system in soon, meaning I can make more and better beer.  The 15 barrel stuff is still a ways off from getting here and from me being licensed etc.

Gotta Hop

Back in Action

After a May that took me all over the country, my travels are over for the foreseeable future, so now I am really getting down to business.  First order of business for June, brew.  For the first time in a while, the amount of beer in the pipeline and on tap is getting low.  As with all the beers I have been brewing recently, I am trying to nail down the flavors for opening.  The Payette Pale has been in the works the longest and the beer that I am most comfortable with, but it has been 4 months since I made it.  Now that I am using the water that will be used for my big batches, this beer is into the fine tuning phase.

Payette Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
Malt: Carapils, Crystal, Pale
Hops: Bravo, Cascade
ABV: 5%
IBU: 30
Playlist: Tool, A Perfect Circle, Motley Crue, GnR

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