And Even More Time To Kill

a.k.a.  Layover-induced market research.

With three hours before my connection from Philly to O'Hare, I decided to stop in at the airport bar that's right next to my gate.  How convenient!

I'm at the Jet Rock Bar and Grill.  When visiting cities outside my own, I make it a point to try some of the local craft beers.  Today I tried a Rye IPA from the Dock Street brewery.  It was tasty--didn't get a lot of the rye, but it did have a bit of that characteristic spiciness. Orangeish-red hue with a slight haze.  Nice malty backbone with a big punch of grapefruit from the hops.  It's on the bigger side:  6.8% abv.  I may try making one of these back at the Brewery.

Next up was the Brawler Pugilist Style Ale  (I guess breweries are making up their own styles these days).  It's a brown ale.  Nice dark copper color--most likely filtered as it's crystal clear.  No head.  No lacing.  Super-light with an all-malt presence.  4.2%abv.

I spoke with my bartender, Alice and asked her what craft beers sell the best.  They have about 25 craft beers on tap.  Alice said the hoppier ones tend to sell best:  Victory Hop Devil, Yard's Pale Ale, Harpoon IPA, etc.  I also noticed that many of their beers fall in the <5% area.

Any bar manager or brewery owner (who's NOT the Brewmaster) loves the low abv beers because they're cheaper to make.  For me, I like to know I'm drinking a beer.  It's not that I purposely brew beers that are higher in alcohol.  Rather, I like to brew beer that's higher in flavor.  The higher abv just happens to be a pesky by-product.

Unfortunately, these bigger beers tend to be less "sessionable". 

So, let me ask you.  Would you like to see more lower abv beers at SFB?  There are valid arguements on both sides. 

Send me an email:  brewmaster@stfrancisbrewery.com and let me know.  I read all emails and respond to most.

Time To Kill

So, I'm sitting here in the Frankfurt airport.  Ahh, the joy of International Air travel.....

Ramstein Air Base is about 90 minutes from Frankfurt.  There is a military shuttle bus that departs the base at 0600.  Because it's free, I take it regardless of my flight time, which happens to be 1245 today.

Customs and security are much easier and quicker than the States, so you tend to get to your gate faster than in the USA.  So, I have about three hours to kill (but only about 20 more minutes of free wi-fi!).

Kelley, Mikey and I took a six-day trip to Rome and got back to Germany on Monday.  I'll get some photos up by Saturday.  All-in-all, it was a great trip.  Not very beer-centric, unfortunately, though the ones I tried were pretty good.  Rome is very expensive, however--even more so than Germany.  With the current exchange rate, it's easy to drop at least $60 for a light lunch and well over $100 for dinner.  More on that later.

I wasn't able to make it to the Bischoff brewery this time around.  It's only been about 20 days since I was last in the states.  Six of those were spent being Mr. Mom while my wife was in Turkey.  Six more were spent in Rome.  The remaining eight days just didn't work out schedule-wise, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for early April, when I get back to Germany.

I received a surprisingly high level of response for the "Brewmaster's Reserve" Series about which I previously wrote.  That said, it WILL happen.  I just have to work out the logistics.  I plan on opening the first one up to twenty people, on a first-come, first-served basis.  From there, I will adjust the level up or down, depending on what seems to work best.  I am also toying with the idea of a separate Ladies Only series.  I got this idea from a recent article in "Zymurgy" Magazine about women and the craft beer scene.  Our meetings will be dominated by men, and I fear that women may get marginalized a bit.  Anyway, I'll float that out there and see if the ladies would prefer a "room of their own", so to speak.

Well, I'm almost out of wi-fi time, so I'll cut this short.  See you tomorrow at the Brewery!

A New (But Not Novel) Idea...

I'd like to gauge your interest in a new program.

I am considering putting together a "Brewmaster's Reserve" series which would be catered toward craft beer enthusiasts, not unlike our Mug Club tappings, but on a much more intimate scale.

I envision a group of 15-30 folks where we could get together in the banquet room, try a couple of beers and have some Q&A with me along with some fellowship. There would be some light fare. There would be a nominal charge, yet to be determined.

If this series comes to fruition, it would be a monthly event, dates of course to coincide with my trips back to the States. Nights will be themed to particular beer styles. It would be informal, informative and fun.

Reservations would be taken in advance, but this is open to everyone, 21 and older.  If friends and family are interested, please share this message.

Anyway, if I get enough takers, I'll get the ball rolling and contact you.

If you'd like to join us, contact me directly at brewmaster@stfrancisbrewery.com.

Naturally, I value your input and patronage and would welcome any suggestions or comments.

Cheers!

Scott

Back In The States

I returned to Wisconsin on Monday to a brewhouse that was in very good shape, thanks to Natalie.  The Envy IPA is selling well and has gotten some very favorable comments from guests. 

Prior to leaving for the USA, I had been tinkering in my home brewhouse back in Germany.  I've got two batches of Altbier and one Helles in the tanks.  I've experimented a little with mash temperatures from one batch of Alt to the next, so it will be interesting to compare the two.

I also spent another brew session with Braumeister Bernhard and we discussed mash and fermentation temps, and other brewing miscellany.  He also arranged with the Bischoff Brewery for me to meet their Brewmaster.  It didn't work out with my last return, as the brewery shut down operations for a couple of weeks, as they do every year following the New Year.  Apparently, the Bischoff Braumeister requested that I bring some of the SFB beer back with me for him to try.  I may bring some Doppelbock as it's the closest thing I have to a German lager on tap.  I'll also bring some Kolsch to see what he thinks. 

It's great to be back, though.  I brewed up a big Scotch Strong Ale yesterday which may near 10% ABV.  Today, I'm brewing up an E.S.B. using imported British Malts (Crisp Maris Otter) as the base malt and a little Caramel 60 for color and some flaked corn--an abomination by German standards, but it's a British beer and those guys will throw anything in the vat!  I'm also using a special strain of yeast from the Timothy Taylor Brewery in England which emphasises the malt flavors but finishes dry.  A healthy dose of Hallertauer, Perle and Goldings hops round out this beer. 

Stop on in for some Doppelbock before it's gone, and stop by to say "hi". 

Road Trip

Railroad trip, that is.

I decided to take a day trip to Heidelberg today.  I ordered a Bahncard which gives me a 25% discount on train fare, and the train system here in Germany is extensive!

So I rounded up the boy and myself and we caught our first train out of Ramstein.

There was a light rain/snow mix which let up about 10:00 this morning.  This was to be the first of three trains which would take us to Heidelberg.  This was also our first train trip since we arrived here.  I was in Germany about ten years ago and we rode the trains almost everywhere we went, so I was pretty confident that I wouldn't have many problems.

This train took us from Ramstein to Landstuhl.  From there we caught a train to Mannheim.  (No, we didn't see any steamrollers.)  Finally, the third train took us from Mannheim to Heidelberg.  The entire trip took about 90 minutes.

Upon our arrival, we were impressed by Heidelberg's train station:

The station is mall-like with some pretty nice shops.  We stopped at the bakerei for a pastry and some coffee before continuing.

Right outside the Bahnhof (train station) is a tourist center.  We picked up a map and tickets to the Schloss (castle) Heidelberg which is what I really wanted my son to see.  The castle is located in the part of town called the Altstadt or "old town" which was pretty far from our current location.  Thankfully, the Bahncard also allows free ground travel so we hopped on a bus and made our way.

Schloss Heidelberg is set high on a hill overlooking the Rhine River.  Though my bad knee is screaming a little right now, we travelled up the fantastically steep and somewhat treacherous cobblestone path to the castle.  Once there we continued upward onto the castle walls and ramparts and got this view of the Altstadt below:

The castle itself is technically in ruins.  However, an apothecary museum has been installed which taught us about the importance of the pharmacist back in those days.  This castle also boasts one of the largest wine barrels in the world.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we're in Germany's wine country, so beer tends to take a back seat here.  My future trips to Bavaria will correct this gross injustice.  Anyway, area vintners would pay tribute to the king with donations of wine which would get mixed up in this behemoth:

That's me at the bottom, for perspective.

This barrel holds 58,000 gallons of wine--about 56,698 more gallons than all six of SFB's serving vessels combined!  The barrel is so large that a dance platform had been installed on top of it.  It is also closely and constantly guarded by a statue of Clemens Perkeo, the court jester from 1707 to 1728.  Legend states that Perkeo has an unnaturally high alcohol tolerance and could empty the barrel in one gulp!

After leaving the Schloss, it was time to grab some lunch.  We headed back down into the town and found a great restaurant serving, of all things, German food.  My son and I both thought the sampler plate looked good, and it was:

Weissewurst, a couple of breakfast-style links, some sort of sausage patty with potatoes and cheese mixed in, a German ravioli, potatoes, mustard and sauerkraut.  I enjoyed a Heidelberger Dunkel with dinner and capped it off with a Heidelberger Hell.  Both decent, if not tame, examples of their styles.

From there, my son and I walked along the Rhine a bit to the "old bridge".  You can see it in the upper right of the city photo above.  We did a little Valentine's shopping for Mrs. Brewmaster and then it was time to catch the bus and trains back home.

Next up, Köln--the birthplace of Kölsch beer.







The Buzz on Homebrewing in Wisconsin

Most of you know I'm a homebrewer.  It just so happens that I get to home brew really really big batches of beer and sell it legally at our Brewpub.

Most craft brewers got their start as homebrewers. 

However, efforts are underway to stifle and muscle out the homebrew community through legislation.  I've seem many articles about these efforts, and I've been provided a link to someone who, I think, has summed things up perfectly.

I would urge you to follow this link:  http://www.beerfellows.com/2012/02/war-on-homebrewing.html.  It's not too long.  It explains the situation extremely well. 

After reading this, take action.  Contact your state legislators.  Let's get this common sense bill passed.

Thank you!

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch

A little bit tired this morning.

It's a quarter past nine.  About seven hours ago, at 2:30 am my time, the St. Francis Brewery held it's first Trans-Atlantic Tapping of our February seasonal beer--the Envy IPA.  We piped me into the TV monitor hanging over the bar via Skype and it all seemed to work pretty well:

Photo courtesy of Eric Whyte

Yeah, that's me on the TV, live via Skype while sitting in my dining room in Germany talking about the newest seasonal beer: the Envy IPA.


Envy IPA is an English-style IPA.  While it is the hoppiest beer we've tapped in a long time, it's not over-the-top hopped as are its American IPA brethern.  There's a nice malty backbone to this one. 

We're test-marketing this beer to see if it should make a regular showing to our house beer line-up.  Please try one and let me, Natalie or your bartender or server what you think of it.

I'll be back to the States in less than two weeks to brew a couple more special beers for y'all.  Hope to see you then.