Urban Chestnut Brewing (from former A-B employees)
August 10th, 2010The news (and press release) making the rounds right now is the imminent opening of Urban Chestnut Brewing, a St. Louis brewery start-up made most notable by the fact that it’s being started by two former Anheuser-Busch employees. One is a former brewer for A-B, the other was in sales and marketing.
The PR is hitting all the right points for craft beer marketing—here’s a pull:
UCBC likes to call its unique brewing philosophy Beer Divergency —a ‘new world meets old world’ brewing approach wherein UCBC contributes to the ‘revolution’ of craft beer through artisanal creations of modern American beers, and pays ‘reverence’ to the heritage of beer with classically-crafted offerings of timeless, European beer styles.
UCBC will create, brew and offer their beers under its Revolution (American craft) and Reverence (European traditional) series.
Revolution: Our contribution to the renaissance of craft beer—brewing artisanal, modern American beers.
Reverence: Our celebration of beer’s heritage—brewing classically-crafted, timeless European beer styles.
They’re located in a 1920′s garage in the Midtown Alley district of St. Louis, and plan to begin distributing their beers late this year. No word on whether they’ll be available outside of the St. Louis area.
The Session #42: A Special Place, A Special Beer
August 6th, 2010
It’s the first Friday of the month, which means for beer bloggers that it’s time for The Session: a monthly group blogging effort on whatever topic our host chooses. Hosting duties change from month to month, and in addition to selecting the topic, each month’s host also compiles a list of links to all the participating bloggers—which means lots of good reading.
This month is the 42nd edition of The Session, and hosting honors belong to Derrick at Ramblings of a Beer Runner: the theme is all about location in A Special Place, A Special Beer.
Two of the best ways I’ve found to explore a new place are to run around in it, and to sample the beer from it. And like many in the craft beer community, I constantly exhort anyone who will listen to support their local brewery, while simultaneously seeking out beers from distant lands that are new, novel, and exotically foreign. The Session provides a unique opportunity to explore this connection between the beer in our glasses and the place it comes from with perspectives from all over the world
So I ask for this 42nd Session that you write about a special place in your life, and a beer or brewery that connects you to that place. It can be the beer from your childhood home, a place you once lived, your current hometown, a memorable vacation you once took, or a place you’ve always wanted to go to but never had the chance. Please take a few moments to think about the how the beer connects you to this place, and share this with us. Of course, the definition of “place” is rather open ended, and in some cases, highly debatable, so it will be interesting to see the responses on what constitutes a place.
This month’s topic is perfect because it gives me an opportunity to write about a brewery that I’ve been wanting to cover for a while: the defunct Birkebeiner Brewing Company from Spokane, Washington. (There are a couple of reasons for this. One is nostalgia. The other is in the spirit of trying to document a bit of the history of these breweries that are no longer around, combined with a bit of web archaeology.)
Back through the mid-90s I spent four years in Spokane, Washington, generally going to school and discovering my affinity for craft beer and homebrewing (which I’ve written about before). These were formative beer years for me, and while Spokane wasn’t the beer town that Portland was (or is), there were still several microbreweries, the best of which (in my opinion) was the Birkebeiner Brewery.
It was in fact one of my semi-regular beer haunts, in large part because Tuesday nights they had their $1 pint specials (I would get off work in the evening—I worked late hours while going to school—and enjoy two or three pints for cheap along with something to eat). They also had a tremendous number of beers on tap for a brewpub, a dozen or so, and were always rotating and experimenting with new beers: I remember when they first brewed a chili beer, and one night we were there and a woman at the table next to us had ordered a pint of it. She had barely a sip and didn’t like it, and offered it to me instead (she felt bad about sending it back). Always game to try a new beer (not to mention a free one!), I accepted.
It was awful. I couldn’t drink it either, but I had to give the brewery credit for attempting it.
I drank a lot of their beer, and two that stand out in memory are the Apricot Ale and the Oatmeal Stout. In fact, I even have an old T-shirt for that stout:
The Stout was a great beer, and the Apricot was well-brewed and tasted like an Apricot Ale should (not something I will say about a lot of versions).
The Birkebeiner was located in a (then) sketchy part of town, on 35 West Main, and they lasted from 1994 until 2000 (a few years after I moved away). Despite the fact that the brewpub has been closed for 10 years, there are still a surprising number of regional guide websites that have it listed—it even shows up on Google Maps! But real information online about the brewery is scarce; so far all I’ve found of substance is this article from 1999 that talks about the overall Spokane beer scene:
Just a few blocks away from Fort Spokane at 35 West Main Street is the Birkebeiner Brewing Co. Founded by owner/brewer James Gimurtu in 1994, it is located in an old dry goods warehouse and textile factory. The building has been extensively remodeled inside, with large storefront windows, a handsome bar and marble-topped tables. The surrounding area is sadly in need of refurbishing, however, consisting mostly of a row of crumbling warehouses. Just down the block is the House of Charity, a local mission for the homeless. It is reminiscent of Pioneer Square or the Market Area is Seattle twenty years ago, before its massive renovation.
But Birkebeiner is a bright spot in this somewhat seedy location. Gimurtu, an avid cross-country skier, named it for a legendary group of hardy Norwegian skiers who rescued the infant King Haakon V (birkebeiner means “birch binding”) Originally from Minnesota, James has lived in Seattle and Portland, where he went to hotel/restaurant school in 1992. Afterward, he moved to Spokane to open a coffee bar. James decided to open a brewery after taking brewing classes at UC Davis in California, and getting hands-on experience at a couple of western Washington brewpubs. Gimutrtu opened Birkebeiner in May of 1994.
He has worked hard to make a go of it in an admittedly difficult spot for business. The brewery has a comfortable restaurant, managed by Joe Kaler. It is handsomely decorated with vintage beer posters from old Spokane breweries, advertising Bohemian Club from Bohemia Breweries and Goetz Beer from the Spokane Brewing Co. (with its certificate of excellence from Siebel Institute in Chicago, no less.)
The menu is more adventurous than most pub fare, with choices like Buffalo Burgers and several Cajun items, including andouille sausage and jambalaya. Prices are very reasonable as well. The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to midnight weekdays, until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
James brews with a 12 barrel brewhouse (the kettle size) from Century Manufacturing in Ohio, with two 22-barrel fermentation tanks. There are up to 12 beers on tap at any given time, including an American-style Hefeweizen; a somewhat fruity blonde ale; Alien Amber ale ( poured from a twisted rebar-hand tap handle), a nut brown ale, a roasty Scottish ale, a strongly bitter IPA, a seasonal winter dark, a hoppy, dark amber ale, and a roasty but smooth Oatmeal Stout. There are several fruit-flavored brews, including the blueberryish Tough Guy, a golden, aromatic but somewhat thin Belgian Raspberry, and an apricot ale, a cloudy pale ale which seemed to have the best fruit taste. Also available when I visited was a malty chili beer, with a good peppery aroma and not too much heat in the finish.
Good times. The Birkebeiner’s Apricot Ale inspired me to try brewing my own version (with fresh apricots a friend brought back from Moses Lake, Washington)—which turned out just okay as I recall, not great—which I hope gives you an idea of the impact the brewery had on me. It was a great place, and in some ways I wish I could revisit it. But then again, this month’s Session has helped me do just that.
Craft Brewers Alliance (Widmer, Redhook) purchasing Kona Brewing
August 4th, 2010John Foyston broke the news yesterday which seemed to surprise people:
Portland-based Craft Brewers Alliance Inc. said Tuesday it will pay $13.9 million for Hawaii’s Kona Brewing Co., cementing what had been a nine-year partnership.
Under the agreement, Kona will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Craft Brewers, which also distributes the beers of Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery. Craft Brewers was formed with the merger of Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing and Woodinville, Wash.,-based Redhook Ale Brewery in 2008.
As part of Craft Brewers, Kona will be able to expand its brand and distribution while maintaining its craft brewery operations in Hawaii, said Kurt Widmer, co-founder of Widmer Brothers Brewing. Kona beer for mainland distribution will continue to be brewed by Widmer and Redhook.
I’m not sure why it was surprising, as it makes perfect sense: Widmer has been brewing Kona’s beers here on the mainland for years (it’s costly to export from Hawaii), and this deal will not only be an extension of that but will also get Kona’s beers into wider distribution (always a good thing).
There will be (and already are) those who think this is a bad thing because these bigger craft brewers have “sold out” somehow, but Jeff over at Beervana zeroes in on this and talks about why this is in fact a good thing (and nails it).
The Session #42 is this Friday
August 2nd, 2010Don’t forget that the 42nd edition of The Session is coming up this Friday, the 6th. The topic is location.
Hop Press: Silipint Review
August 1st, 2010My Hop Press article this week is a review of the Silipint silicone pint glass, which you can get by completing the Bend Ale Trail. Complete with pictures!
This review is about a month late, as the Silipints were on backorder—so those folks (like us) who had completed the Ale Trail already were on a waiting list. Visit Bend finally got them in just over a week ago.
They’re pretty interesting drinking vessels; we plan to take them camping in a couple of weeks and I expect they’ll be perfect for it.
Christmas in July: Climax Noel
July 30th, 2010
My local Whole Foods still has bottles of Eel River Brewing‘s Belgian Christmas beer, Climax Noel, in the cooler (albeit on sale) so I picked one up to review this week. According to the label it’s a Belgian Imperial Red Ale, 9% alcohol by volume, and is certified organic.
Appearance: Nice clear amber-red color (“auburn” from my wife), bright with a lively thick head.
Smell: Sugary-sweet nose with a cherry-like fruit note. Juicy. Some sherry-like notes from the alcohol.
Taste: Sweet strong Belgian-style character, warming from the alcohol and candi sugar washes over the tongue. Long and dry, with a sweet fruity note of figs.
Mouthfeel: Lively and effervescent, a bit of a drawn-out dry finish. The effervescence lightens up the body considerably.
Overall: Nice nose, nice flavors, it’s Belgian-styled through and through, something like a Tripel but “red” and figgy.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.42 out of 5 and is in their 90th overall percentile.
Christmas in July: 2 Turtle Doves
July 29th, 2010Even though they’re only a couple of years old, The Bruery in Southern California is the current darling of the Brewinati (did I just make up that word?), and everyone online was raving about their 2 Turtle Doves over the holidays—the second in their ambitious “12 Days (Beers) of Christmas” series, where they’ll release a new beer based on a verse from the eponymous song each holiday season for, er, 12 years.
2 Turtle Doves sounds great in concept:
2 Turtle Doves is the second in the 12 Days/Years of Christmas Services. We decided to take our inspiration from the name and base the beer on the “turtle” candy, brewing it with cocoa nibs, toasted pecans, caramelized sugar and a lot of caramel malts. Somewhere between a Belgian-style Dark Strong Ale and an Imperial Porter, this beer is designed to take the journey through time until 12 Drummers Drumming.
In execution, though… this is where I get to be a lone voice of dissent, because I don’t feel that it lived up to the hype. It’s a big, 12% ABV beer with lots of things going on—too much, perhaps.
Appearance: Cloudy brown coffee-colored with a creamy light brown head. Reminded me of chocolate milk in a way.
Smell: Cocoa with a sharply nutty note; minerally and a touch roasty. Kind of a “chocolate Belgian funk” going on, with some hard-water notes.
Taste: Semi-sweet chocolate combined with a somewhat fruity Belgian character. Yields to a dry finish at the back of the mouth—roasted malts and bittersweet cocoa and a bit of residual alcohol heat. Fruit but indistinct—a dark berry or black currant, kind of muddled. Wine-y.
Mouthfeel: A touch tart with a dry finish and well-attenuated, medium-full body.
Overall: Interesting, big and ambitious; I think it needs some aging. Notable chocolate notes and maybe a hint of nuttiness; a little sharp.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of A-. On RateBeer, it scores 3.75 out of 5, and is in their 98th overall percentile.
Christmas in July: 25 Dodici
July 28th, 201025 Dodici is another beer I’d featured on last year’s Advent Calendar: a strong Winter Warmer from Birra del Borgo in Italy, which I speculated had not been actually brewed since 2008. I must have been wrong about that, because imagine my surprise when this beer popped up at Whole Foods this past winter! Yes, I snapped one up, because with a description like this, how could you not:
Dark amber with a beige-colored foam. The nose is dominated by fruity notes such as berries, plums and orange as well as spicy notes such as pepper and coriander. Chestnut honey and definite hints of chocolate enrich the aroma. On the palate, 25 Dodici is rich and full bodied. The fruity notes are well balanced with the maltiness.
The beer is 9.5% alcohol by volume, but comes in reasonably-sized 12.7-ounce bottles.
Appearance: Amber-brown with chunks of what looks to be orange peel floating around in it. Slow-building off-white head doesn’t stay long.
Smell: Musty, bitter, a bit of funk and a touch ascetic. A bit of caramel and for all that it’s enticing.
Taste: Bitter and spicy in a bitter orange peel way; for a malt profile I’d call it a brown (if I had a gun to my head) but it’s got a nice sweet backing and a bit of funk. Nutty, maybe. No sense of its alcohol strength. Woody. Interesting.
Mouthfeel: Bitter, semi-full-bodied and finishes dry with just a hint of tart.
Overall: I like it, it’s got what I’m coming to think of as the “Italian funk”—similar to a good Belgian in that sense. Nice sipping beer.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.36 out of 5 and is in their 80th overall percentile.
Christmas in July: Goose Island Christmas Ale
July 27th, 2010This past holiday season was the first year I remember seeing Goose Island Christmas Ale available here in Bend, and was also the first beer I picked for last year’s Advent Calendar—needless to say, it was one I knew I had to try (and had been wanting to for a while). Goose Island is old-school about their Winter Warmers: they change up the recipe every year.
Every year to celebrate the holiday season, we brew up our Christmas Ale, and with each year we change the recipe slightly so that you have something special to look forward to. Traditionally, our Christmas Ale is a complex brown ale that develops well in the bottle for up to five years.
The 2009 vintage was 5.7% alcohol by volume and, I have to say, lived up to its reputation.
Appearance: Hazy amber-brown with two fingers of light tan head.
Smell: Sugary with burnt toffee and hints of spices; a touch of roast and caramel malts.
Taste: Sweet and caramel-rich, slightly buttery. Very tasty, reminds me of rich candies—not quite bon-bons, more caramlized sugars and nuts. Spicy aftertaste, kind of mace-y or clovey.
Mouthfeel: A bit fuller than medium-bodied, with a sticky-sweet presence.
Overall: Very good, way too easy to drink and the candy body steals the show.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.49 out of 5 and is in their 93rd overall percentile.
Christmas in July: Winter Hum Bug’r
July 27th, 2010Portland’s MacTarnahan’s holiday offering is Hum Bug’r: an easy-drinking Porter wrapped up in packaging reminiscent of something you’d see in an indie graphic novel. The “hum bug” part of the name naturally makes you think of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol—though MacTarnahan’s has someone else in mind:
You know he’s arrived. Wheeling through the party, being too loud, crowding the buffet, lurking under the mistletoe and spilling cheer. He’s a lot like this beer. Its dark malt body and rich roasted flavor will unravel your ribbons and leave you wanting more. Too bad it only comes once a year. Good thing is there’s plenty more where it came from.
MacTarnahan’s makes good (if slightly boring) beers, though one thing that stands out is that they are super clean and polished.
Appearance: Opaque dark brown with coffee-tan head, nicely frothy.
Smell: Roasty coffee notes, a bit of sweet cocoa malts. Some milk chocolate?
Taste: Porter with a touch of roast, a touch of spiciness (hints of cinnamon or cardamom), with a clean dark profile.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full, with bitterish aftertaste from roasted malts, very clean.
Overall: Decent porter, nice and sessionable.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.23 out of 5, and is in their 66th overall percentile.
Christmas in July Week
July 26th, 2010It’s the last full week of the month so that means it’s time for Theme Week here at The Brew Site! This week I’m being a little rebellious (and a bit lazy) and declaring it Christmas in July Week: all week I’ll be writing up reviews of Christmas beers—yes, some of which I’ve backlogged.
It’s not entirely an apropos topic, either: soon I’ll have to start thinking about this year’s Advent Beer Calendar so this is a great way to get that ball rolling as well.
And besides, who doesn’t love Christmas and holiday beers?
Next week is Theme Week
July 23rd, 2010It seems like I always forget to mention when a Theme Week is coming up and what the actual theme will be… with that in mind, this next final week in July, starting on Monday the 26th, will be Theme Week here at The Brew Site, and I have decided that this month’s theme is going to be “Christmas in July”—reviews of Christmas and/or winter beers.
(Yes, it’s true: this is prompted in large part due to a backlog of beer reviews that I haven’t posted. But some of these beers I actually didn’t even drink until after the holidays, so why not?)
BrewDog, No.
July 22nd, 2010I’ve pretty much ignored the PR stunts of Scotland’s BrewDog because, well, they’re just that—stunts. But this is just offensively crude, in my opinion. I will never drink beer (or anything, really) from a bottle packaged in taxidermy roadkill.
Oregon Brewfest
July 21st, 2010Sadly I’m not going to make it to the Oregon Brewers Festival this year, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about it: my last two posts on Hop Press were “field guide” articles, including my annual beer picks.
So while this year is no good for me, next year should be a thumbs up: the 31st falls on a Sunday, so the OBF—always the last full weekend in July—should be the 28th through the 31st, which moves it out of “alternate commitments” territory.
Roots Organic Brewing is closed
July 15th, 2010I’ve been remiss in writing about this earlier, but this week Roots Organic Brewing in Portland closed its doors suddenly; John Foyston has the story.
[Craig] Nicholls had been trying to sell the pub and brewery for a reported $450,000, but a couple of deals fell through and he said Tuesday that every day the pub stayed open, he went deeper in the hole. He retains all rights to the name and the beers however, and said that it was possible that his beers might still be brewed and bottled and found on grocer’s shelves.
And some further details:
First, the good news. Roots ales will be on tap this weekend at Lompoc and Lucky Lab locations, thanks to those guys buying kegs and beer in a show of brewerly solidarity…and there is a dock sale this weekend, where you can buy cold kegs for $110 plus $100 deposit, cash/check only…you’ll e-mail Nicholls to return the keg…
10 a.m., Saturday, Roots Organic Brewing, 1520 S.E. Seventh Ave.
“We just reached the point where it was time to stop the bleeding and cut our losses,” said owner/brewer Craig Nicholls, who also runs the North American Organic Brewers Festival, which will continue. The closure shouldn’t be taken as a comment on organic beer or the health of the Portland brewing scene, because Roots fell victim to many of the ills that plague small businesses, including the economic downturn, under- capitalization and an unseasonably cold spring and summer, which has affected many Portland brewpubs.
It was especially hard on Roots, Nicholls said, which recently ceded its outside accounts because of distribution problems. Those accounts once were 60 percent of the pub’s income and a slump in the brewpub side further hurt the business. Nicholls has been trying to sell the pub for several months, initially for an asking price of $450,000. Five different buyers in Portland and beyond toyed with the idea, but even at a reduced price, none signed a deal.
Roots was the first organic brewery in Portland (indeed, it may have been all of Oregon) and I had only tried their beers from afar, never on the premises. And of course, I may now never get to try their Epic Ale.
What’s going to become of the space, I wonder?
