Monday Means Brewing
First, three pieces of good news. One, we’re brewing tonight. Two, next week we will have a full supply of Monday Night beers. Three, DNA tests have confirmed that Jonathan is NOT the father of my son.
Ok, you knew it was coming – one bit of bad news. Remember how I said that next week we’ll have a full supply of beers? Tonight is a little different. While we have a modest amount of our IPA on tap for this evening, we will most likely not have enough to get us through the night. So you have two options – either come early or bring a little beer for yourself. We suggest the latter.
That said, in a brave and dedicated effort to replenish our beer stock, we will be brewing our Belgian Wheat beer this evening. There are even rumors that fresh ginger may be added, which I can neither confirm nor deny. But considering that Joel grew up in Japan and has always had a strange fixation on ginger, this would not be a tremendous surprise.
Birthday Boy
Ladies, gentlemen, and ladies, today is a day unlike all others. It is our esteemed marketing guy and master of mind control’s birthday. Happy birthday, Jonathan.
If you’re looking for a special way to recognize your favorite brewery-in-planning blogger, here are a few gift ideas…
- An ironic tee shirt
- 3-ply toilet paper
- Tickets to a Swedish/Korean-indy-folk-progressive-alt-bluegrass concert. Any will do.
Or just send the man an e-mail or a “Twitter e-mail”, whatever you kids call it.
My favorite numbers
The craft beer industry numbers are in for 2008, and given the current economic climate, we are pleased. It appears that you have continued to buy craft beer despite losing your jobs – nice work, everyone. In order to establish my credibility as MNB?s resident geek, here are my favorite numbers from the Brewers Association?s annual sales report and why they matter:
- Craft beer volume was up by 5.8% for the year, and dollar sales were up 10.5%. What does this mean? Craft beer is still growing, and not just because brewers are increasing their prices. Demand for craft beer is still ticking up and people are buying more good beer. In fact, my back of the envelope calculation says that in the second half of the year (which was a lot crappier than the first), volume grew by around 5% and dollar sales were up double digits. Not bad in a shrinking economy.
- Craft beer made up 4.0% of the market last year up from 3.8% in 2007. Suck it, InBev.
- Overall beer sales grew by 1 million barrels last year, and nearly 500,000 were craft beers. That means that 4% of the market accounts for half of the growth in beer sales.
- Operating costs for small breweries increased 39% last year. Probably the most alarming statistic in the report, it?s a sobering reminder that in order to stay in business, you can?t just sell more beer. You have to sell it profitably.
Overall, some good news here and some cause for concern ? we?ll be keeping our eyes on the numbers for the first half of 2009.
Milk Stout, Take 2!
Last night we gave our milk stout a second swing after underpitching the yeast in our batch a couple of weeks ago. It was no walk in the park – the obstacles facing our attempt were numerous and horrific. No oats. Low propane. Frigid cold. Malfunctioning fermentation chamber. And most dire, Joel alone at the helm for the better part of the evening, thanks to late nights at the office for Jonathan and me. By some miracle, we ended the night with 10 gallons of milk stout dead on our target gravity of 1.068.
In other news, the fermentation chamber continues to be finicky. Rather, we continue to find ways to inhibit functionality of this remarkably simple contraption. This time, the heat lamp somehow came unplugged from the temperature regulator, and the air in the chamber had dropped to a chilly 52 degrees from 67. It can’t have been that way for long, because last week’s IPA still managed to attenuate about 50% – we’re hopeful the yeast can finish the job with the aid of our now-functioning heat lamp.
Why we?re not starting a hop farm
Last week we harvested our first hops from our vines, and were quite pleased with the yield. I was thinking we?d get 1-2 lbs of hops based on the amount we pulled off. But after a few days of drying, the final weight was just about 8 oz. But my dreams of hop farming were not yet dashed, until our friend West sent us, as he often does, his latest beer related article find.
The Wall Street Journal last week ran an article about a surge in the number of people interested in starting hop farms. Why? Because ?for years, a world-wide glut of hops resulted in prices that were too low for U.S. growers to turn a profit.? So now everybody and their mother (Joel?s mother included) is gunning to start a hop farm. Prices for hops have gone up 4-6 times in the past few years, and last year?s price increases resulted in a total value of $169 million, up from $118 million the year before.
Sounds good, right? So why not go be a hop farmer? The general consensus is that hop prices will come down substantially over the coming 12-36 months, just about the amount of time it would take to get a legit hop farm up and running. And with some serious capital costs in equipment and land, I?ll pass and stick to brewing beer…
…which we’ll be doing tonight. The IPA has been flying out of the fridge fast and furious, so we’ll be brewing it again this evening. We’ve got the Wit and a new variation of Drafty Kilt on draft, so drop us a line if you need directions.
Eye Patch Ale (or How I Fell In Love With a Pirate)
This summer’s focus has been on refining a handful of beers that we think hold the most promise as MNB flagship launch beers. So at the end of August, what do we have to show for it? Let’s start with the Eye Patch Ale (originally Swashchuckler IPA).
The goal with our IPA was to make a moderately hoppy brew with a bit more maltiness and body than the typical American IPA. This summer we’ve made a few small tweaks to get it just where we want it. The key changes:
- We’ve been using Cascade and Simcoe hops for flavor and aroma additions, and finally got the mix right. Too much Simcoe early on tasted a bit too much like freshly cut grass (which our cow friends thought was not a big deal – sorry, Bessie).
- Consistent yeast starters have given us attenuation rates at around 70-75%.
- A slightly lower fermentation temperature of 67-68 degrees from 72 degrees has given a cleaner, crisper finish, made possible by Joel’s space-age fermentation chamber.
- A new name (Eye Patch Ale) that isn’t quite as confusing (Wait, it’s a pirate, but a clown? And this makes sense how?), but maintains a pirate theme. Because we still love pirates.
The result? Our Eye-PA is our proudest beer – it’s a beer that I go for over almost any craft IPA. It’s also converted a number of MNB regulars to hop-heads.
Tonight We Brew!
Tonight we’re brewing another batch of our Belgian wit beer (name pending – thanks for all the feedback). Since switching from a Bavarian style hefe to the Belgian wit, we’ve made 2 batches and are very pleased with the results. All indications are that tonight will be a good crowd, so drop us a line if you need directions. We’ve got our last batch of wit on tap and if Joel can get his act together and refill the CO2 tanks, we might even have some of our Eye Patch Ale.
