FDR, SFHG & E66 Part IV

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

First & foremost, I’d like to congratulate Kevin, VP of the SF Homebrewers Guild, and his wife Shae on getting the financial support needed for their dream project - a Nanobrewery through crowdfunding. They needed to raise the startup capital of $50,000 in the 30-40 day timeframe, and it was looking tight a week ago, but just before the deadline they were able to pull it out thanks to contributions by many guild members (including myself) and now for the tough part… starting the actual brewery & paying back all those rewards.

 

Ferment.Drink.Repeat (FDR) Nanobrewery is going to be a 3.5 barrel (about 110 gallons) nanobrewery, homebrew supply shop, and brewery incubator located here in San Francisco. The exact location is up in the air but it’s being hinted that it’ll be in the Portrero Hill area more than likely. Now, you may be asking yourself… what’s a brewery incubator? Basically, it means they’re going to be a place where up-and-coming professional brewers (like say… Terrible Lizard Brewing) and have access to some of their equipment & facilities… and help develop their brands without having to finance all of the equipment & facilities themselves. Kind of like… how a catering company may rent out a kitchen from a restaurant during their off-hours. Also, they will be displaying some of the award-winning brews from members of the SFHG for public consumption, again so that they can spread their brand awareness (if desired) or just provide some fantastic brews at this local spot. The whole thing is very centralized to the homebrewing community here in San Francisco… but the idea itself can probably be utilized anywhere. It’s basically what I would like to do one day wherever we decide to settle and once we have sufficient (minimal) experience & resources… so I’ve been intrigued by the process & picking Kevin’s brain a few times about it since he announced it a few months ago… and will definitely continue to do so.

 

As mentioned, we did invest in FDR back in the beginning… and one of the rewards was that you design your OWN recipe, Kevin would be there to guide you & make suggestions, you’ll have lunch on brew day, and then you get a little private reserve party on the day that your craft beer makes it to the public with up to 12 friends. So eventually a Terrible Lizard Brewing brew will make it to their draft… and if you’re in the Bay Area& want to reserve a spot at the release party, let me know. Reading the blog has its privileges indeed. In the meantime, once they get started we will also have a $500 gift certificate to use at the supply shop. That’s a good chunk of change & we’re looking into a keg system… but we’ll probably take care of that before this all gets up & going. Again, congratulations Kevin & Shae!!!

 

Tuesday night was the monthly meeting of the SF Homebrewers Guild at Anchor Brewing… and our special guest was Jay with Rare Barrel Brewing in Berkeley. He gave a great little talk about making sour beers & how their business came to be because they had a passion for them… and it’s kind of a niche market due to its lack of availability & die hard fans. Now… I’m not a HUGE fan of sour beers… but I’ve tried a few & they’re pretty nice in moderation. However, I can see how you can be in a market like the Bay Area where just about everybody who really wants to have a brewery is opening one up… or gypsy brewing… or whatever, so to stand out in the market without a huge advertising budget, you can specialize. Rare Barrel makes exclusively sours. Trumer makes just about the perfect pilsner. Anchor just makes f**king liquid gold & obsidian, but they’ve also been doing it for a long, long time. For upstarts, you almost have to try to find a good market that isn’t saturated… or specialize.

 

Another thing that Jay mentioned: He was asked how the transition from passionate homebrewer to professional brewer changes your view, he replied something along the lines of “When I’m a professional brewer, it’s doing about 10% of the stuff you love to do as a homebrewer.” Basically, as passionate as you might be about making beer… that’s only about an hour or so a day of your job. The rest is getting out there, handling paperwork, cleaning, running the business, hiring people, firing people, working out your marketing strategies, taxes, bills, customer complaints, partner complaints, mortgages, all that stuff that you didn’t really have to deal with when you were just cooking up brews in your basement. Now… where that may sway a lot of people… it kinda made me feel good that I had already thought that far ahead before even considering doing a brewery. It means I probably have a good head on my shoulders & am willing to work hard in many different facets of my life to make it work… so we’ll see.

 

We also brought some of our homebrews for a little Taste Testing by the Guild & though we only had about 5 or 6 subjects stop by, they all really liked our Bourbon Barrel Porter & Winter Warmers. We also got to meet a few more members that we hadn’t before… including one gentleman that lives a street away from me there in the Presidio. Small world here in San Francisco. After the meeting, I congratulated Kevin in person on his crowdfunding & let him know that we look forward to working with him… and then the President of the Guild (Chris) invited us to have a drink at Steep Brew a block away, where we shot the sh*t for a bit and… honestly, drank a little water for the drive over to Izzy’s place. Don’t drink & drive!!!

 

Wednesday morning, we woke up again dark & early to help out with another big batch at Elevation 66 Brewing with Super Dave & Big Ben. With our experience, we’re getting more & more duties to do… almost to a point where they are just kind of telling us where to attach the hoses, etc. while they watch. Obviously they’re still doing a lot of the hands-on stuff when it comes to the actual beer, but we’re doing some good cleaning… and a lot of heavy lifting when it comes up. Still, we’re learning so much… and I’m always excited to help out… even at 5 AM. Let’s see… one different thing this time was that I was a part of my first transfer from the fermentor to one of the storage tanks that they have for the time from the beer is ready, until they have a tap ready for it. Since business is kinda boomin’, they go through beer pretty quickly (especially their IPA & vanilla stout) but we got to see how the transferring & storage is done. It’s pretty much what you would expect… but here are a few pictures anyway…

 

Cleaning the fermenter...

Some spent grains for making bread

to share with Super Dave & Big Ben

Jack in the Box afterwards...

Not sure if it's art...

or just a very delicious new food item

Anyway, that was the groovy past… 30 hours or so in our little world. A fellow homebrewer’s dream came true, Terrible Lizard’s first official brew is coming soon, rave reviews from our homebrew by the Guild, drinks with the Presidents, helped with a legitimate batch of award-snubbed IPA, and all the time networking with some great brewers & overall great people! Oh… and I get to spend time with my ladyfriend & enjoy her company as well. I think she really likes me… and that’s good… because I kinda like her too. Have a great day everybody!!!

SF Beer Week 2014 - Part One

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Since Friday, it has officially been SF Beer Week here in the Bay Area… and boy, have we been having some serious fun. It seems at just about every bar and/or microbrewery in Northern California (and let me tell you… there are a LOT) there have been everything from special event tap room takeovers… to “Meet the Brewer” events… to discussions & festivals about IPAs, barleywines, and the craft beer market in general… and a lot of other interesting things in between. Well, being a recently HUGE fan of everything craft beer & market related… Dizzy & I decided to brave the rainy weather (which we love anyway) & check some of the more interesting (and affordable) events out.

 

First up Saturday was a panel discussion called Beer Talks… which is basically like the TED Talks that you see online and various outlets, but about Beer. How does that work? Well, we had special presenters from some of the major microbreweries on the West Coast talking about subjects like the future of the craft beer market… whether with regards to the availability of barrels for barrel aging techniques… to brewing with brettanomyces (wild yeast & bacteria that produce good & bad effects depending on use)… to the future pairings of beer & food… to things like the correlation between craft beer & pop music… which may have been a bit of a stretch… but the clientele was affluent white men with combinations of glasses, beards & flannel so… the guy was trying to sell his album & you can’t hate on that. The final speaker was none other than a GOD in the microbrew world, Mark F**king Carpenter from Anchor Brewing who has been there from the beginning in the 70’s and was just a great speaker as well.

 

With each speaker (there were about 7?), there was a beer sampling that they brought along with them to pair with their discussion, along with snacks available throughout like cheeses, fruits & salads. Not too bad, though I wasn’t a fan of some of the samples… I LOVED Fifty Fifty’s bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout & it made me even more excited for our BB Porter which should be ready just in time to finish Beer Week. Overall, we had an amazing time at Beer Talks & I would highly recommend it for anybody interested in this kind of subject matter (beer geeks). It was pretty amazing & very interesting to people like us who are trying to learn as much as we can about not only the processes, but the market & the real world applications of certain elements of beer making… and apparently I need to work on my beard. Perhaps in a few years I’ll look like your standard brewmaster / lumberjack.

 

Next we headed over to see the new Sierra Nevada Torpedo Room in Berkeley. We’re pretty big fans of Sierra Nevada & their selection of beers. Luckily, the staples are readily available just about anywhere (and Dizzy’s Aunts always have plenty at their events) but here we were able to sample some of their more rare & elusive options like Narwhal (Imperial Stout), Bigfoot (Barleywine) and their Ovila Abbey Ales (Belgian style quad with plums & a saison with mandarin oranges & peppercorns) among some other treats. It was pretty much standing room only at this point, but we stopped for a few samples including their Chocolate Cream Stout (very interesting & surprisingly good), Narwhal, Weizenbock & their Off-Kilter Scotch Ale. All were fantastic. I highly recommend this place if you’re in the Berkeley area… and I’m sure in a future adventure, we’ll probably check out their big brewery in Chico.

 

Next was a stop at Elevation 66 Brewing down the street in El Cerrito to sample the first batch of beer that Dizzy helped out with two weeks earlier, their collaboration with Pacific Coast Brewing called Coast 66 Double Rye IPA, which came in at about 10.5% ABV. Pretty strong for a beer that only takes about two weeks to make. Typically the higher alcohol content takes a long time for the yeast to do their thing, but apparently this one didn’t take that long. Despite being a higher alcohol content than most are used to, it was actually surprisingly (almost dangerously) delicious & very easy to drink. The bitterness was less than expected (maybe 60-70 IBU) but as Dizzy put it “This is a $teve Beer!” She was right.

 

As for a “Dizzy Beer”, she tried their new Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale, which is basically tailor made for her tastes… and just under 10% ABV itself. However, this one was so high because they took their standard Scotch Ale (about 6-7%) and put it in the Bourbon Barrel to age for a few months, thus taking some of the bourbon sugars out of the wood, and allowing more time for the yeast to break them down into alcohol, raising the content another 2-3% and also allowing some of the bitter notes to smooth out and gain a little complexity. Very well done.

 

Sunday, we went to Steep Brew in Portrero Hill for an event where Anchor Brewing was doing a release of their new IPA simply called… Anchor IPA. They like to keep their beers simple in name, yet incredible in execution… and the IPA is no exception. We sampled that along with a few other brews on tap… and we also got to meet one of the brewers & one of the sales team (though the brewer surprisingly did most of the talking) sitting at the bar next to us. He went into some of the stories behind the beer, and even gave us some great tips as homebrewers to make some exceptional beers since we had nothing but fabulous things to say about Anchor’s selections… and we mentioned that we were part of the SF Homebrewers Guild so we frequented his establishment monthly at least. Good dudes… and fantastic beer. So after some samples, some chatting, and a jalapeno & cheddar pretzel, we were off to our next stop…

 

The VP of the SF Homebrewer’s Guild (great guy named Kevin) was holding a Crowfunding Campaign for his & his wife’s dream of a nanobrewery called Ferment.Drink.Repeat or FDR. You can read more about the nanobrewery / incubator HERE but basically, it’s a very small scale establishment (a 3 barrel system) that will give homebrewers access to facilities to share their magnificent brews on a slightly larger scale. He’ll provide the equipment & environment to not only share their award-winning recipes in a Taproom setup… but it’s also a great location to teach homebrewing to others interested, sell equipment & supplies, and just create a good sense of community in the area. His fundraiser on Sunday was at Danzhaus (it’s a dance studio during the week) in Portrero Hill, and we got there a little early to help with set up… but they seemed to have it all under control. Below are some pictures of the event…

 

Random art at the dance studio...

Poutine tater tots...

Personally, I think it’s a great idea… and is basically what we’re looking to start out with regarding our brewery… so I’m VERY excited how it will turn out… and yes, I’m already a backer on his crowdfunding campaign for $400. What do I get with that? Well, along with some sweet swag like T-shirts, etc. we’ll also be able to collaborate with him to design our own signature brew which will go on tap… and we’ll also get to name it. That’s right… Terrible Lizard Brewing… will be OFFICIAL!!! Of course, this is as long as the financial backing goes through… and it’ll be a few months down the road… then the place has to open… and then I’m sure there’ll be a waiting list… and blah blah blah… but yeah, by then… we’ll basically be f**king EXPERTS and have our own recipes ready to go with samples to make sure the Guild can give us notes… and by then, we’ll probably already be entering local contests & stuff like that… so yeah, VERY excited about the possibilities of this place when they get it off the ground & kind of excited to be part of it… even in a small capacity. It also give me a lot of hope for when/if Dizzy & I decide to start our own little place. We’ll definitely keep you posted on this.

 

Unfortunately due to time constraints & day jobs getting in the way, our Oktoberfest Brewing has been pushed back to next weekend… but that’s quite alright because… here is what else we have planned for the remainder of SF Beer Week… and this is just planned. We’ll probably stumble on a few other things along the way:

 

·         Wednesday – Early Morning Brewing with Elevation 66

·         Thursday – Dogfish Head is at Hops & Hominy (may stop by quick)

·         Saturday – Barleywine Festival at Toronado Bar in Haight-Ashbury

·         Saturday -  Magnolia Brewery since we’re out that way

·         Sunday – SF Homebrewer’s Guild Party at Pi Bar

·         President’s Day – Brew batch of Oktoberfest…

·         Bottle our Winter Warmer and…

·         Taste our Bourbon Barrel Porter and Quick Mead

 

Yes, it’s certainly a busy schedule… but the important thing is that we learn so much from each event… whether it’s brewing in the real world (Elevation 66), testing out some great beers for research (most), mastering our own brewing process, and then at the SFHG Party… we’ll not only have fun & network & meet some great people to just party with… but we’ll also be able to share our homebrews, get some constructive feedback from certified beer judges (Yes, they’re a real thing) and help us hone our craft to use in the future. I’m EXTREMELY excited about things right now!!! And I hope that you are too!!! VIVA LA CERVEZA!!! Happy Beer Week everybody!!! Go forth & enjoy responsibly!!!