Brewery Swag: Where's the Love?

It occurs to me that I love the marketing of beer and especially craft breweries. It is interesting to see the names and graphics that accompany a new brewery or a new beer from an established brewery. I love the magazine ads, the tap handles, the TV commercials (for the big boys), almost everything. I especially love the logos emblazoned on everything from temporary tattoos to t-shirts. For all of this, I have realized that own not one t-shirt or other clothing apparel from any brewery. You would think that for all the hanging around breweries and brewpubs that I have done over the years, someone, somewhere would have pulled a Mean Joe Green (remember the 1970's coke commercial, where he says "Hey Kid!" and throws the kid who gave him a coke his stinky soiled jersey?) and given me at least a t-shirt. Those who know me, know I am cheap and poor, and can't really afford such luxuries as a brewery t-shirt.

In retrospect, there is a very good reason that no one has been so generous. Breweries do a very good business selling their wares. A bad brewery with a good marketing department might even make their profit from the t-shirts and other products, while breaking even on beer. I have no statistics to back it up, but I do know a lot of people who buy t-shirts or glassware or something from every brewery they visit. I also know for a fact that poor design has cost the sale of at least one shirt/glass. My brother wanted to buy a Liberty Street Brewery t-shirt or polo, or glass (maybe more than one), but the shirt didn't include the words "Plymouth, MI"....it could have been Liberty Street anywhere USA....but my brother felt that the hometown should be displayed on a local brewery's shirt. Definitely, the profit on a $20 t-shirt is much larger than the profit on two or three $4 pints that the person drank while at the brewery.

Still, it would be nice to have one nice t-shirt, and would be nice to get one free for all of the promotion I do for breweries. I am not complaining. Brewers as a group are some of the most generous and giving people in any industry, and after all it is a business with tight margins. I have had many a free taster or pint of beer for just showing an interest in the beer, or conversing with the brewer.

Granted, I am no Michael Jackson (imagine the free swag that guy must have gotten every year). My words and opinion don't command a large audience, but I am no less prolific or insightful. You would think that Brekenridge, Wynkoop, Rock Bottom, or some other local brewery would throw some material love my way. Or offer me a job....any job (even to just shut me up).

Anyway, I like their art work on the outside and the inside of the bottle or glassware, and would wear any decent looking clothing item with pride should one present itself.

What are your favorite craft beer logos and why?

Porter!

To say that I have been in a funk lately, would to be putting it mildly. I have not been interested in brewing, and definitely not in the mood to write. My brother and I have been making and breaking loose plans to do our yearly pumpkin beer for well over 2 months. We just could never get the ingredients, or find the time. Most of this was my fault. I don't know if it was the weather changing cooler, the busy time of year with all of the holidays, my over indulgence on various beers during beer week and the Great American Beer Festival in September, or just the general state of mind I have been in, but I considered giving up this blog, and began to wonder if I was entering a dormant period in my brewing.

Finally, I think my brother has had enough. He had long run out of beer, and even the 12 pack of red ale I gave him more recently. He decided he was coming over to brew the day after Thanksgiving, ready or not. This was a good tactic, because it made me at least commit to it. Ordinarily, I put a lot of research into formulating a recipe. I read about the style, and think about what we like commercially and why. This time, not so much. I just didn't have the will or the time to get going on it.

We decided that pumpkin was too complicated and we weren't sure that we could get our hands on pumpkin due to a poor harvest, and that we both wanted to try something new and a little more robust. We settled on Porter. I decided to adapt a clone recipe of Anchor Porter. I used a yeast from Anchor's brewery (Wyeast American II, purportedly used in Anchor Liberty), and modified the chocolate malt to pale chocolate malt on a whim.

Porter is reportedly the first mass produced beer. Common practice in the early 19th Century was to blend new (green), aged, and/or stale beer to get a drinkable beer. The drinkability of the beer was dependent on the bartender's ability to appropriately mix the beers, and the cellar man to rotate and keep the beers stocked and conditioned in the right proportions. Porter was formulated to taste like the blended beer. It was a robust drink compared with the brown or pale ales of the day, and was favored by laborers so much so that it was named after the Porters who loaded and unloaded trains. Stout is a offshoot of Porter and was often referred to as Stout Porter. Nowadays, Porters are classified by the AHA of either Brown Porter or Robust (brown, closer to brown ale, robust closer to stout). Both are of medium alcoholic strength, perhaps 4-6% (more for Robust less for the Brown), medium/full body, dark and malty with little hop flavor or aroma. The dark grains give it that burnt or coffee flavors, and is complemented well with additions of chocolate, coffee, or other aromatic flavorings. Porter's can be made in a export variety of greater strength and bitterness and is either referred to as an Imperial Porter or a Baltic Porter. Baltic Porter was made in England for export to the Baltic nations (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, perhaps Finland and Russia). Anchor Brewing in San Francisco revived the Porter style in the United States in 1975 with the release of their Anchor Porter.

All went smoothly during our brewing process yesterday afternoon (with afternoon temps reaching the 60's and dipping down to the 30's by the time we finished after dark), and we had visible signs of vigorous fermentation within a couple of hours of pitching the yeast. My brewery's fermentation area is doubling as Santa's Workshop (or Warehouse, actually) right now and I need to get the Christmas Lights out today, which will make more room. I will snap pictures of the Porter in the next day or two. The nice thing about Porter is that it will be ready by Christmas and New Year's.

I have already made plans to brew again when my brother in law is in town. I do want to figure out what we are going to brew, and be ready with my normal amount of research and preparation....I do hope that I can get my heart into it by then.

Man I need to get it together

I have been complaining about slacking on this blog. I have. I haven't been in the mood to drink as much beer, and I have been busy.

It is hard to believe that Upslope Brewing in Boulder is having its one year anniversary party tomorrow. I still haven't had the chance to get up to visit them. I did get to sample their beer at the Great American Beer Festival, though.

Also, a new brewery in Fort Collins that I reported on earlier, Horsetooth Brewing is holding a contest to come up with a new name. Apparently, the owner's of Coopersmith brew pub in Fort Collins has their long standing beer Horsetooth Stout. It was decided amongst the two owners that it could cause confusion in the market place. Therefore, Horsetooth Brewery needs a new name. Winner of the contest will win a year of free beer....The contest ends tomorrow, so I need to put in my two cents.

....snow day....

I have been ignoring my writing lately, and while it is not because I have little to say, I just have not been in the mood to either drink or talk about beer....weird, I know.

The weather getting cooler has been part of this. I have been not wanting my traditional selections of beer in my fridge, but have been wanting a winter warmer or holiday beer, and my Red Ale, while good, has not been on my radar.

Breckenridge Brewery has a nice Autumn Ale that is out now, and a even more robust Christmas Ale that will be coming soon. The Autumn Ale is an Old Ale (German Style Ale, also referred to as an Alt) it is the precursor of and tastes a lot like an Oktoberfest style beer (a German Lager)). It is a style of beer that I have not brewed myself, but after more research, I will give it a try. I don't brew lagers as I don't have temperature control of my fermentation. Once in a while I will do a Steam beer (Lager brewed at ale temperatures).

With two feet of snow on the ground today in Denver, it makes me wonder if the ghetto liquor store that is closest to my house would have the Autumn Ale or something like it. My neighborhood has two liquor stores in it. The ghetto one that is six blocks from my house sells a lot of malt liquor in single cans, and small bottles of booze and has a lot of losers hanging around it all of the time. The other one is a much smaller establishment, a little less than a mile from my house, and has a nice selection, even some hard to get Belgian beers. The beer is more expensive and doesn't carry any malt liquor or cheap booze (but does have some limited selection of cheaper beer) so it is not so crowded at all hours.

I am not likely to leave my property today, as I didn't yesterday, and might not go anywhere tomorrow, either. What's the point if you don't have to go out in the snow? I do have a nice pair of snowshoes, though, if I get desperate.

What are your favorite beers of fall and winter?

.....If you are in Michigan Today....

If the chance to sample almost 200 hand-crafted, Michigan-made microbrews sounds like your idea of a good time, head to Detroit's Eastern Market from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday -- rain or shine -- for the inaugural Michigan Harvest Beer Festival. More than 40 microbreweries and brewpubs will participate in what is intended to become a major annual event, says Michigan Brewers Guild executive director Scott Graham. (from freep.com)

No Bullshit Brewery

Crabtree Brewing Company

Greeley, Colorado

I was up in Greeley, Colorado yesterday to meet a friend for lunch. Greeley is a college town (home of the University of Northern Colorado) of about 75,000 people in Northern Colorado, about 70 miles north of Denver and 30 miles east of Fort Collins. Greeley is known for its livestock processing plants, and associated smells, but mostly, the winds (and smells) are blowing eastward away from town. It is a bad rap Greeley has. Despite living in Fort Collins, I never spent much time in Greeley before, as there has never been much of a reason to. Until now.

Since my lunch meeting with my friend was pushed back to noon, I spent a little time visiting the Crabtree Brewery. The Crabtree Brewery is nestled up against the Railroad tracks (what isn't in Greeley) in an industrial part of town. It is located in a nondescript building that looks like an old mill. The grain silos on site may be because of the brewery, but they looked much older.

The brewery itself has been around for three years, but appears to be in a constant state of construction. It was being run by Juan and Jeff both brewing and serving in the tap room. Jeff is the owner and master brewer, and is another example of a homebrewer gone pro. There was one local regular there, Raul, who informed me that this was the better of the two breweries in town (the other one is a brewpub named Pitchers, that I have never been to, so I with hold my opinion). Raul is from Florida via Seattle, and was a self described beer guy. Raul informed me that the brewery recently expanded their tasting room and the work was being done by the band that often plays in the tap room. In the back they also had a climbing wall in the tasting room and darts in the storage room in back. It looks like they probably have trouble keeping people from literally climbing the walls on a busy night. I didn't ask about it though. It could have been a previous incarnation of the space for all I know.

The brewery itself is a 10 barrel system with rectangular stainless steel fermenters and conditioning tanks, all visible from the tap room. They were busy cleaning kegs and filtering beer while I was there, but were friendly enough to answer questions and chit chat while working. It was kind of nice to be so close to the action. This is a small brewery with a local following, which even had a sign up sheet to help with bottling. The tap room did and does not offer food, which is for me, a plus. I like the brewery atmosphere better than the brewpub experience. It is about the beer. The locations tend to be in industrial areas, the interiors tend to be (like the brewery) focused on functional rather than aesthetic, and the servers know about their product. This is my preference and this describes the Crabtree to the tee.

They had 6 or 7 beers on tap and a few more varieties in bottles in the fridge. They were willing to have me taste all of their current taps to find one I liked, but I chose to taste their Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Deerfield Ale (watermelon and some fruit), and Ginger Bee (Ginger beer). They did not have their brown on tap, but allowed me to have a bottle of it as well. I missed the tapping of their Pumpkin Beer by one day (my bad luck to miss it). I enjoyed the Brown Ale and the Oatmeal Stout the most, but my complaint (a small one) about their beers is that it seemed that none of their beers had a nice head upon pouring and the head it did have completely dissipated within seconds. I like all of my beers to have a nice head that remains through the pint, even if the style doesn't call for it. It is just my thing.

The beer is good, the brewery is a fun place, and the staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Nothing about this establishment is frilly, or pretentious, or expensive. The beer is basic to style stuff, and there is not a whole lot of emphasis on extreme beers, with crazy hop schedules, oak aging, or wine-like alcohol content. It is not to say that they don't do it (they did have a pumpkin beer coming out today and other special beers throughout the year), but it is more egalitarian, more blue-collar, like the town itself. I am not sure that they do lagers or just ales, I think all they had were ales at the time, though. They will take the time to help you find a beer of theirs that you like or suits your mood at the time. Needless to say, this is my kind of local brewery. I highly recommend a visit if you are passing through (on your way, perhaps, to Rocky Mountain National Park), or become a regular if you live there.

Beer Not in My Fridge

Did you ever crave a beer? Sure, when you were thirsty and hot any cheap cold beer would be perfect, and there is nothing better when you get your hands on one. What I am talking about is craving the taste or character of a specific beer.

This morning, I woke up craving a Detroit Dwarf from the Detroit Beer Company, an Alt beer that I had on my trip to Detroit (see my write up on it here). Is it a bad thing to crave a beer when you wake up? I am not sure, but I am pretty sure that it is a bad thing to give in to your craving for beer at breakfast....the Door's song notwithstanding. I am not there, really, I am not. The craving is made doubly interesting since I can't get one anyway.

It got me thinking again about regional and local beers. I like that you can't get everything everywhere, and sometimes lament that although you can get a lot of beers imported from around the world and across the country, you can never be sure of their freshness or be sure that you are tasting the beer the way it was intended to taste. I know from experience that the beer I brew ages, and improves with time. Most of my beer does not get older than 6 months, and is stored at a constant temperature in my basement or at a low temperature in my fridge, preserving it.

Hoppy beers are especially susceptible to change during aging. Any beer with a fresh hop aroma or taste loses that striking feature with age as the distinct hop flavors blend into the beer. It doesn't make the beer taste bad (as long as the beer hasn't been skunked by exposure to heat, sun, or fluorescent light), it just loses its hoppy punch over extended periods. IPA's, Steam Beers, and my Detroit Dwarf would not necessarily satisfy my craving for the fresh beer I know, love, and respect. Stocking up on a beloved beer may not be the answer here.

Of course, there are many beers that are intended to age and improve with time. Like red wines, those beers tend to have a lot of complex flavors from aging on wood (in barrels sometimes), or have specialized yeast strains, or other interesting spices or ingredients. The Biere de Mars from the Jolly Pumpkin that I served at the Rare Beer Tasting is an example. It is a Flemish Sour Brown Ale and was aged in oak for 27 months and aged in the bottle for a year and a half. It had a different taste than the same beer that was aged for 18 months in oak and in the bottle for less time.

So, know your beer. Age the ones intended to age with care, and enjoy the fresh beers directly from the brewery whenever you can. Craving beer you can't get is a good thing. It makes it all that more satisfying when you can get your hands on one. Don't save a beer that isn't intended to be aged. If you have an old beer on your counter or in the back of your fridge, do that beer a favor, and drink it. There is no better reason or special occasion or excuse necessary.

So, I can't get my Dwarf craving satisfied, but I do have some special beer in my fridge that is going to be drunk soon.