Sunday, May 31, 2009

Sunday,Sunday....

Greetings beer lovers. What a glorious Sunday morning! We have been swamped with rain for too long and how sweet it is to see the sun. I was in the brewery's cellar/basement all day yesterday and didn't have the time to enjoy the sun.... but today I will be in the sun most of the day gardening, paddling and perhaps taking a ride on the old bike. But enough about me. Get out and enjoy the day! And be sure to head over to the brewery for a few new items.
Here's what's up at the brewery. We have just seen the end of the 7 barrels of Wheat Wine, sad face, but behold there are some kegs stashed to age for a little longer while we bring out the long anticipated Imperial IPA, happy face! If you didn't get to sample the most recent version of the Wheat Wine when it comes back do not hesitate to sip on a glass as it was spectacular in it's toffee-like flavor and big bold maltiness caressed by the hops. And while I am speaking of hops the Impy IPA is tasting just like the hopbomb it is. At 100 IBUS ( international bittering units... the measure of a beer's bitterness content) this beer could be very bitter but it is well balanced by the abundance of malt used in making the extract. This batch of Imp. IPA was on it's dry hops (Simcoe, Nugget, Warrior and Amarillo ) for close to a month and boy does it taste good. But I'l let you be the judge of that. We are still gearing up for summer and we have put on Weizenheimer and have back ups of Weizenheimer as well as some Hefeweizen and a Belgian Wit.... how about that for a few wheat beers? We will be brewing on of my favorite pale ales next Tuesday Wild Thang which is brewed with wild rice and Sterling hops. This one has the most unique flavor profiles as there are fruity esters created by the combination of the wild rice and the Sterling. It is this unique combination that gives the beer a cherrypit-like flavor profile that I cannot explain as there are no cherries involved in the production of the beer. In any event the beer will be ready at the end of June. Be on th lookout for Wild Thang.
Well, there is a little tease to entice you back into the brewery. Hope to see you soon, Cheers! Todm

Friday, May 22, 2009

Psych!

Hello,

Well we made an executive decision to put on the Weizenheimer instead of the Hefeweizen to replace the Saison…because when the Hefe was pulled through the lines we found it to be a little over carbonated (oops my bad for leaving it on straight CO2 for too long). So, the Weizenheimer was ready to go so it decided to make a surprise leap to the front of the class. The weizenheimer is our American wheat beer, which is light clean and crisp. It is an amazingly quaffable summer beer for the Memorial Day weekend. I will be here working most of the weekend so come on in and say hello.

Cheers,
Tyler

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Bravo! ... Bravo! ... Encore!

Hey all,

The much awaited Bravo Pale Ale is on tap. It is an American Pale ale, unlike its British counterpart, it has hop character. The bitterness is very clean and we did five Bravo (a newer hop variety) additions starting at 30min all the way through the whirlpool addition. For those who have yet to take the tour here at the brewery, the 30min addition is for the hop flavor and the later the addition goes into the boil you get more hop aroma. So this beer is going to show the full flavor and aroma profile of Bravo. The beer has changed for the better in the serving tank. Out of the fermenter I couldn't get any of the hop aromas because of the residual yeast in suspension, but now the yeast has settled out and there is a very nice background earthiness on the nose with a slight hit of citrus. On the tongue there is a nice hop spice character and a slight earthy/fruity background post-nasal flavor lingering on the pallet. Bravo seems like it will be a nice flavor addition to any Pale Ale or IPA. Let us know what you think.

On a sadder note, the Saison de Printemps is on her last legs. We have about 20-30 gal left. So there is a good chance she isn’t going to last until the weekend. So get in a taste it before she is gone. We do have our first batch of Hefeweizen ready to go on after the Saison is gone. But please order this beer like this, “I’ll take a Hefeweizen, N.F.L please.” N.F.L. stands for No Freaking Lemon, if you didn’t know. I know that I mention this every year when the Hefeweizen comes out. Because our Hefe is the traditional version of Hefe, not the American style Hefeweizen, where there is tons of flavor in the beer already. Plus the lemon will kill all head retention as well as hiding all the spicy/fruity flavors and aromas you are supposed to get off the beer behind the crazy citrus character of the lemon. Ok I am done venting now.

But, if you really want a lemon in your beer, I guess you can get one.
Just know that I might be up there watching. Muahahaha! :)

Cheers,
Tyler

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

American Craft Beer Week

Hey all,

I hear that there was a question if we had anything planed for American Craft beer week, that is going on as we speak. (Apologies for hitting the wrong button over the publish button on a earlier comment.) To answer your question, yes we have a couple of things planned. First off as it states on the beertown.org web site we are doing tours every day this week at 1 and 3 pm vs. just the normal Thurs, Fri, Sat tour hours. Secondly we are bringing out a special pin (5 gal gravity fed cask) Thursday afternoon and putting it on the bar upstairs. What’s in the cask you ask? Lets just say that you hop-heads out there are going to be quite pleased. Wink wink, nod nod. :)

Cheers,
Tyler

P.S. Tod here to chime in about American Craft Beer week..... I believe every week is American Craft beer week. Day in day out Tyler and I work very hard to bring you, the American Public, the finest ales and lagers to entice your palattes and whet your whistles. So, whether you are coming to P-Brew for the first time or are a regular we hope you find at least one American made beer, in International styles, to your liking. ( Do you hear the National Anthem or the Stars and Stripes gently playing in the background?) That's nice! I raise my glass. Here is to you and American Crafted Beer forever!. Cheers! Todm

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

BC -> Oatmeal

Hey all,

The Black Cat has changed over the Oatmeal stout on the tap line up. Plus the Cask has changed over to our second offering of the Bravo Pale ale casks. The Pale ale dry hopped with Simcoe. The Huge simcoe flavor plays very nicely with the spiciness of the Bravo. Great combo! Well huge cellar day for us here so I have to get back to cleaning…well… everything!

Cheers,
Tyler

Friday, May 8, 2009

WiezenBock

Hey all,

The ESB has changed over to the much anticipated (well by our Head Chef Rob that I know of) WiezenBock. This beer is a hybrid of a Hefewiezen and a German Bock. We use 2 yeast strains (hefe and lager) and krausened with Maple Syrup during secondary. This beer has the nose of a hefe with the flavor of a dark German lager and just a lingering hint of the Maple syrup flavor. Defiantly was worth the wait to lager this beer correctly.

The cask changed too. We are onto our Bravo Pale ale dry hopped with Bravo. The Bravo Pale ale is going on tap after the Baltic porter kicks. But we have been selling so many casks that all we had left to put on was the Bravo pale cask. So you are going to get a sneak peak of the new beer. The Bravo come of relatively spicy in the well balanced Pale Ale. Worth a run though and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Tyler

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Oatmeal Cask

Hey all,

There was a HUGE run on the cask beer last Friday that caused the IPA w/ Simco to kick and the IPA w/ Amarillo that was put on after it to almost kick that day. So we had to put on the Oatmeal Stout dry hopped with Columbus on Saturday afternoon even though the Oatmeal isn't on tap yet. The sales slowed a little but the Oatmeal stout casks are always a favorite. So that went away and now we have our Oatmeal w/ Bourbon Oak on which is quite delicious.

Are there more people out there that are digging cask beer? Are we are getting back to the old school beer service? If so, I am loving it. Pretty soon you are going to see Tod bust out his bellbottoms for a throw back to the old days in celebration!

Cheers,
Tyler