Another reason why it’s great to be a craft brewer(aka PHIL ME UP!)

SuperFriends-Brew

Seriously, folks.  One of the most exciting things EVER is about to happen.   Sometimes in our production brewery that’s cranking out at full-capacity, amidst all of the growing pains, I lose sight of why it is that we do what we do.   We do it for adventure, we do it for the unknown, we do it because there’s no feeling as satisfying as seeing somebody’s eyes light up when they taste something truly new to their experience, and knowing that it was US who “turned them on”.  Sometimes to make big flavors, we need to take big chances. Next Friday, we are going to jump off  of the proverbial cliff, but at least we’ll be in good company.

You’ve mostly all heard us brewers blather on about how great and camaraderific our business is.  It’s true, we’re loose-lipped and incestuous- but definitely not to a fault.  I feel very lucky that many of MY brewing “heros” have become my friends too, and some of them are going to grace the Ithaca Beer Company with their talents next Friday.   Roll call:

Brewery Ommegang, Phil Leinhart and co.  Ommegang is a truly singular operation.  WORLD CLASS belgian-style beers brewed in New York State  in the most bucolic of settings by great people.   Phil is one of the rare brewers who can fit into either a corporate(A-B) OR iconoclastic(BO) brewing role.  He took over the reins from my boy Randy Thiel(NGBC, whatup?) a couple of years ago, and they haven’t looked back since.  They’re only about 90 minutes from us, so I get to see them often and it’s always a treat.  Little-known-fact: Heather and I got married in Cooperstown and had an event at Ommegang just before our rehearsal dinner.

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, Scott Vaccaro.  Scotty Cowboy opened up his place in Westchester County just about 4 years ago.  Since then he’s turned the beer wasteland that was his backyard into a mecca, and played a huge role in making NYC  one of only a handful of places that can be debated as the best beer destination.  His brewery is just up the Saw Mill Parkway from my brother’s house, and he started this collaboratradition last summer by inviting me to help brew NY3 for last year’s New York City Beer Week,  another great honor.  As Larry Horwitz so eloquently put it “Everything that f****** touches turns to gold.” Maybe some of that will rub off on us.

Flying Fish Brewing Company, Casey Hughes.  Casey’s been brewing professionally since he turned 18.  In his early thirties(but with a 50 year old liver) now, he’s actually legimately old school.   Those who know him are aware that he is able to board airplanes without photo ID.  We might need a jedi mind trick or 2…..

I’m going to mention Ithaca Beer, but only because we originally were going to have our friend Hutch Kugeman come down from Great Adirondack in Lake Placid.  Both of you who read the last blog entry know that  Hutchie started working here at the beginning of April(when the beautiful and talented Mike Smith left), and we’ve just been cranking ever since- 2,ooo bbls sold in the 2 months since he got here.  I think(hope) he’ll welcome a more casual, later starting day for a change.  Not to mention that he is cousins-in-law with the next guy:

Southampton, Phil Markowski.  Ask any serious professional or home brewer if they’ve read “Farmhouse Ales”, and they are likely to produce a dog-eared copy of this classic tome on old world brewing tradition.  Phil literally wrote the book on brewing the 2 seminal styles of rural Belgium and France, Saison and Biere de Garde.  He’s also a little bit of a recluse, so luring him up here is a coup for sure.

Valley Brewing, Steve Altimari.  Steve and I first met back  in the “old country” (in this case the SF Bay area) around the turn of the millennium.  I doubt he remembers me from then, but it turns out that he grew up right near here in upstate NY and his mother still lives in Romulus.  He popped into the brewery for a visit last summer, and I think that he and I are fairly simpatico in philosophy(although he is much more chill than me in practice).  He likes big flavors and doesn’t seem to be too much of a purist(see Markowski, Phil) about how to create them.  He’s a “brewer’s brewer” and it was a treat to have his wife Barri and their incredibly well-behaved kid here for an afternoon of show-and-tell.

We are honored to have these “Géants”  come and play with us.  I’ll try not to get underfoot too much, lest i get squashed.SuperFriends-Brew

Ithaca Beer Co. NEWS

Is anybody still listening to me? We have been JAMMING(sometimes marmalading too) and just trying to keep up with production has been crazy. Our January and February numbers were on par with last summer’s record months and y’all keep buying more, so I guess we’re doing something right.  Anyway, just to scratch the surface on all the goings-on:

National IPA Challenge! Some of you might remember that we made it to the Final Four a couple of years back, and then got unceremoniously bounced out of the 1st round last year by Big Sky IPA(which as a small consolation to me eventually made the Final Four). Last week we whooped up on the seminal Goose Island IPA to advance to the “Elite Eight” and we’re feeling pretty good about how our beer stacks up to the field,  so look out.  Here’s the bracket so you can follow along with how Flower Power is doing!

New Stainless!  Yesterday’s first order of business was to unload a flatbed truck laden with not one, not 2, but 3 brand new tanks.  A 100-barrel fermenter(that makes 5 total), 100-barrel brite beer tank(2 now), and a whirlpool vessel for our brewhouse(this will help us brew more times per day and cast out better wort to boot).  These were all custom made in Portland, OR for us and we had a bunch of laughs about how far we’ve come in the last few years.  The real challenge was getting them into the building and standing them up, but by about 630pm we had finished without any excitement to speak of.  That’s a good thing when you are moving 15 foot tall tanks that weigh 3000 lbs.

assessing the situation

assessing the situation

Rigging gear.  Manly!

Rigging gear. Manly!

Moving on to the real news at hand: we’re losing a couple of really important people here, Mike Smith and Jarrod York.  Mike’s been here for 3 years now and now that I’ve finally figured out how to get him to do most of my dirty work he goes and gets involved with a startup brewpub in his hometown of State College, PA.  Just kidding, it’s a wonderful opportunity for him and his budding family and we expect that he’ll kick a lot of ass with a project of his own.  Jarrod came to us through the American Brewer’s Guild apprenticeship at the end of 2008 and never left.  He’s also starting up his own thing in his hometown of  Mansfield, PA(affectionately known to us as “Hicktown).  Pennsylvania, you’re not lacking for good beer as it is…. WHY MUST YOU TAKE THEM FROM US?!?!?!?

But the good news other than the fact that we get to go bowling for their bon voyage party is this(and I’ve been holding it in):  WE HIRED HUTCH KUGEMAN to replace Mike!  For those who know Hutchie you know what a coup this is, for those that don’t BeerAdvocate mag got it right, he’s “..one of the best brewers you’ve never heard of.”  We’re really excited and also a bit relieved that he’ll be able to start during Mike’s last week here.

For those who have been clamoring for me to blog more, is this enough for you?  Hope so, cuz it’s all I got!

The Chief

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Excelsior! Le Bleu on sale at the brewery Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009 at 11:00am!

When doors open at 11:00am on Thursday, Dec. 31st, our much-anticipated sour Excelsior! Le Bleu will be available.  Limit 1 case per customer. 

Le Belu is a sour blueberry ale brewed with NY blueberries and Brettanomyces.  Le Bleu  is a blend of barrels filled in 2007, 2008, and 2009.  It’s finished in the bottle with Champagne yeast.  Enjoy the dusty rose appearance, mouthwatering aroma of ripe berries, piquant flavor and quick finish.

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11Anniversary-Poster

In honor of the launching of our new website, I’m reviving the Blog!

Today’s a huge day for us, our 11th anniversary! We’re having a shindig at the brewery to celebrate, pouring 09 White Gold(so perfectly fruity tangy right now),TEN(still really resinously hoppy after almost 2 years of confinement in the secret stash), Eleven(while it’s still legal-but more on in another post),  and a special sneak preview of Twelve(our upcoming Monastery-style Quadrupel Ale) and serving up some tasty snacks.

In other huge news, we’re having our first ever day of simul-bottling- with one 3-man crew doing about 150 cases of LeBleu and the other rocking out 1,000 case equivalents of CascaZilla.  “LeBleu” you say?  Yep, it’s finally ready to bottle.  It’s a blend of 8 different wine barrels of aged sour beers from 2007, 2008 and 2009 each spiked with 50 lbs of fresh, handcrushed local blueberries this past August.  It is a really unique beer, and each of the barrels brought it’s own element to the blend.  It’s very sour and dry, brilliantly red colored with a beautiful cap of pink foam and has that unmistakable blueberry aroma.  I sampled each barrel and the overall blend while transferring them to the bottling tank, and the sum of parts is really pretty special. For those curious about the name, it’s for our old friend(and 2nd IBC employee) Bret LeBleu.  He and his wife Catherine and daughter Audrey moved back to Ithaca this year, and it’s great to have them around…what with all of the brettanomyces and blueberries it just was a natural fit with the beer.  Next Friday, we’ll be bottling Twelve…the highest gravity beer we’ve brewed to date, and after a couple of weeks of conditioning, these 2 newest additions to the Excelsior! lineup will be available!Chief at the helm bottling Le Bleu

The boys got the new speakers all wired up for an all-new sonic experience of eclectic musical mixing(pretty sure I heard Blues Traveler on one stereo today and Southern Rock on another?), so we should be able to power right through this winter’s annual expansion-during-production-project.  Coming soon, a Whirlpool Vessel and another 100 Barrel Brite Beer Tank.  Lots more great plans are being laid for our growth over the next few years, with plenty more exciting announcements to come. Welcome back!

Beer Dinner at NYWCC Tomorrow

Hey all,

I’m psyched about the event we’re doing tomorrow, a 7-course dinner in the private dining room at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, NY.  We’ll be featuring some killer beers(new ones, multiple vintages of old ones, etc.).  As usual, the staff there is “cooking up” a ridiculously tasty dinner to accompany our wares.  Dan(the owner) and I will be there, tickets are extremely limited(I can’t even get any!).  Contact them if you happen to be available or are looking to give the beergeek/foodie in your life a suprise gift!  www.nywcc.com

the chief