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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Final Brew of 2010

Brewing up the Kolsch today.  Beer #104 for the St. Francis Brewery.

After that, there will be a couple of days of minor tasks in the Brewery, a couple of tours, and then a few minutes of reflection on the year.

During those minutes, I will try to put together a pictoral "year in review" featuring some fun times the Brewery has hosted over the past twelve months.  Who knows?  Maybe some of you will appear??

With that, I want to thank all of you who have tipped back a pint or two, or enjoyed the kitchen's wonderful offerings.  Thank you Mug Clubbers who remind me monthly what is one of the best parts of this job.

Thanks to the staff and fellow managers who keep the place running.

I wish you the joy of the Season and the hope of an even better 2011. 

Enjoy your New Year's Eve.  Please, celebrate safely. 

Scott

Monday, December 27, 2010

That Odd Time Of Year

So, our First Annual New Year's Eve Party is coming at the end of the week, and I have no idea what to expect, beer-wise.

At every party that I've ever attended that had an open bar, the party-goers lean toward cocktails over beer.  I think people think they're getting more bang for the buck.

Regardless, this week will be spent making sure all the tanks are full.  Transferring a Nut Brown tomorrow.  The Doppelbock is done fermenting and tastes wonderful.  Plus, it will only get better as it lagers. 

The Chocolate Hazlenut Porter is almost gone.  I'm a little surprised by how quickly it is selling.  St. Francis seems to favor the lighter beers over the darker ones, but lots of folks are taking this one home in growlers.

Tonight I made pork chops braised with Victory's Moonglow Weizenbock.  They turned out great, but the beer didn't come through very well.  Next time, I'll try a stout.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Gift of Beer

Looking for a great gift to give the Beer Lover in your family?

How about a gift basket from the St. Francis Brewery?

You get two weisse glasses.  A half-gallon glass growler, and a coupon for a free fill of one of our craft brews.

All for only $25!

Plus, you may add a gift card for any denomination.

On behalf of the staff at the St. Francis Brewery, I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed Holiday Season.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Second Annual SFB IPA Contest Announced

Hey Homebrewers!

As a brewer, I appreciate all styles of beer.  However, there's a big difference between appreciating and enjoying all beers.

Though it is a bit of heresy to admit this, I've cultivated a weird attitude about IPAs.  Quite frankly, and perhaps to my detriment, I am not a hophead.  This is a term of endearment applied to those of you out there who find that with hops, more is better.  My tastes lean toward the maltier side of brewing.

Many years ago, I really didn't like IPAs.  Then, I tried Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale and fell in love.  A homebrewed version of this quickly became my favorite beer.  From there I started to "get" what you hopheads believe and I started diving into IPAs.  I found the history of the style fascinating.  I developed a fondness for a well-brewed IPA.  I had reached an epiphany about the heavy-handed use of hops, and I truly enjoyed them.  Then, about three years ago, IPAs became the rage.  I attended a couple of local beer festivals, and it seemed every one of them had an IPA on tap, and it's quite possible that I tried them all!  Brewers bragged about the insane amount of hops that were in their beers.  They developed ingenious methods for periodically adding hops throughout the entire length of their boils and adding more in the fermenters. Some brewers focused so much on the hops side of things, that they forgot that there still has to be some beer backbone.  Unfortunately, I got "IPA-ed out".

Then, about two years ago, a series of events occurred that drove hop prices through the roof.  Many hop varieties were in very short supply, and brewing IPAs became an expensive proposition.  The proliferation of this style slighly waned, though the popularity of it did not.

Hop prices have since come down significantly, and that's a good thing for you hopheads.  I can't let my personal preferences get in the way of the demands of our patrons.  But, my attitude toward this style prevents me from being the best judge of a good IPA.

We solved this issue last year by holding an IPA contest for local homebrewers.  I expected maybe a half-dozen submissions and I think we ended up with 24!  The success of the contest and the final result makes me excited to repeat it for this year.

So, homebrewers, I know it's a long way off, but start planning.  Brew up a batch of your favorite IPA this spring.  We will accept submissions starting April 23rd until the deadline on April 29 at 9pm.  Submit two unmarked 12oz bottles.  Entry labels will be available at the host stand which you will need to fill out and attach to your bottles with rubber bands.  The judging will occur on Saturday, April 30th, and the winner will be announced at our May 4th Maibock tapping, at 7:30 pm.  All contestants are welcome to attend the tapping, even if you are not a Mug Club member.  I will once again assemble a great judging panel, though I will only serve as a steward.

This is not a BJCP sanctioned contest.  The judging panel will have some BJCP-certified judges, as well as prominent members of the Milwaukee brewing community. 

Once again, the winner will brew his or her beer on a commercial scale with me on Wednesday, May 18th.  They will also be invited to the tapping on June 8th where praise and accolades will be heaped upon them.  Finally, they will win a party at the Brewery. 

Good luck and good brewing!

2011's Year of Beer

I will send this list out separately to the Mug Club, but I thought you might like to know what's in store for 2011 and when the tappings will occur.  This schedule is subject to change.  If you're not a member of the mug club, you are welcome to stop in for these seasonals the day after their tap date.

2011
January 12--Doppelbock
February 9--Double Red
March 2--Scottish Heavy*
April 6--Altbier*
May 4--Maibock
June 8--IPA
July 6--Saison
August 10--Dortmunder Export*
September 24--Oktoberfest  (This will also be the date of our second annual Oktoberfest Extravaganza)
October 19--Pumpkin Pie Spice Ale
November 9--Weizenbock*
December 7--Christmas Ale (Style, TBD)

* Indicates a new style for this year

In addition, once our expansion project is completed some time late summer of 2011, three of my serving vessels will be freed up allowing me to add three more seasonal taps to our current lineup.

What Did Scott Eat Last Night??!

or

Who Pulled St. Francis' Finger??

I don't often think twice about it.  One gets used to the sounds and smells of the Brewery.

The staff on the other hand.....

So where is this going?  I've mentioned before that I seldom brew lagers.  I wish I could brew them more often, but it is hard for me to tie up one of my three fermenters for a month or more with a single beer and keep the other house beers in stock.  However, the restaurant industry slows down a bit in January and February and I can plan for lagers.  It also follows Bavarian tradition to brew lagers in the colder months.

Without getting overly technical, lagers use a different type of yeast than ales.  This yeast tends to produce a lot of sulphur during the early stages of fermentation, and much of this sulphur vents out with the carbon dioxide, thus lending a particular pungent smell to the Brewhouse.  The rest of the suphur drops out of solution with time and actually lends some beneficial characteristics to lagers the longer they age.

I brewed January's Seasonal beer, the Doppelbock earlier this week and the Brewhouse now smells like the campfire scene from "Blazing Saddles"!  This morning, I mentioned to the GM and the bartender, "The brewhouse may smell a little like farts.  It's not me."  Both ladies immediately smiled and said "I was wondering what that was!"

Friday, December 3, 2010

Road Trip!

I buy nearly all of my malt from Briess malting company in Chilton, WI. 

When setting up the Brew Schedule for 2011 the other night, I decided to make January's Seasonal the Doppelbock.  A quick check of our malt inventory showed that I'm a little short on a couple of the malts.  This being a lager, I'll need to get it brewed asap.

I've never been to Briess, but I heard it was very impressive.  So, I'm going to brave the "blizzard" that's supposed to hit the Milwaukee area this weekend and take a trip up to Briess on Monday.  I've got a tour lined up and am hoping to meet with one of their tech guys, Bob Hanson.  Bob is a wealth of knowledge and it would be nice to feed off of his intellect for a while.  Plus, he gave me some advice about using Briess smoked malt--the malt that gives our Harvest Strong its unique flavor.

If they let me bring my camera in, I'll post some photos next week.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Another Year of Beer

I've written in this blog's past about deciding what will be the next seasonal.  I had some time this evening to finally sit down and come up with 2011's seasonal schedule. 

Some of my seasonals will be making reappearances:  Oktoberfest, Doppelbock, Maibock, Double Red, the Saison and the Pumpkin--(what's with you people and your love of Pumpkin beer??)

I've got several newcomers in the works as well.  I've tentatively scheduled a Scottish Heavy, an Altbier, a Dortmunder Export and a Weizenbock.

What's more, once the brewery expansion project is complete, I'll be able to add two or three more seasonals to our brewpub lineup.

Maybe there's a beer you'd love to see?  Yes, there will be an IPA again, and I may choose it through a contest again.  Let me know your thoughts.