Interview with Bison Brewing Company

I'm excited that I have two interviews with organic brewers so that I can now technically call it a "series." So, here is the second of my series of interviews with brewers; Daniel Del Grande of Bison Brewing located in Berkeley, California. Since I live in Minnesota, I have not had this beer, but Bob's Woodshed has some great reviews of their beer: http://bobwoodshed.org/beer/ and the scores at Beer Advocate seem to be really solid. Daniel was nice enough to take the time to answer some questions for me about his brewery, organic beer, and some things we can all do to be more sustainable.

First off, how long have you been a brewery?Bison was founded in 1989 by brewpub pioneer Bill Owens. I bought it in 1997. We have focused on bottling our organic beers exclusively the last 4 years when the restaurant closed, but have been brewing organically since about 1999.

How did you get started or founded? Did you know you wanted to start a brewery with the goal to be organic or wanted to appeal to that niche? We had started small scale bottling and when organic brewing malts began to become available, it made sense to sync my personal life with the business. It is easy being green in Berkeley, CA, and easy being organic, so it all just made sense to me. Back then, there was really only Wolaver’s organic beers brewed domestically under contract all around the country (great business model, too bad it didn’t work out for them). So in 2000, we brewed some Bison Blonde organic (but uncertified) and put it on tap, then bottled it as “Bison Light.” By now I was “certified” organic, but I only did a couple beers….slowly I added the Belgian, then the Red, then the IPA and finally, I could buy ingredients to do the Chocolate Stout once all the roasted malt was available organically. Some of my malt comes from Germany. Quality of malt does vary more with organic. Ultimately, being organic is important to me and my customers. But if the beer sucks, you won’t buy it again, even if it is organic. So I focus quite a bit on quality. A couple years ago, I decided to do all bottle conditioning for quality reasons, but given my size, I was not able to keep uniform carbonation levels so I stopped because I thought, overall, it actually hurt my quality. Anyways, I feel pretty good about converting my business like that. It was a risk, and at first consumers didn’t understand what it all meant. “What is that USDA symbol on your label? What does it mean to be organic?” It was a fun educating people, and the process continues. For example, I tell customers (you guys) that obviously the most green thing you can do is patronize a beer on draft, but if you have to buy bottles, buy organic to be just that more ‘green’.

As a homebrewer, its only been the past year or so that organic materials have become easily accessible. On a larger scale, has it been difficult for you to be able to find organic grains and hops?
Yes, as described above. It took about 3 years before I could declare my whole product line fully organic certified…..I had to wait once I could make my most popular Chocolate Stout organically. Homebrewers could get the grain theoretically, but think of it from the shop owners perspective….should they carry twice the # of malts for the few homebrewers that want to do organic? Check on line. There is at least one homebrew shop that does mail order of organics. Tough call. At a minimum, you should be able to ask your homebrew shop to buy you a bag of organic 2-row. In any event, brewing it at home and reusing bottles, or better yet, kegging, is way greener for the planet than buying beer at the store, so take that into account and pat yourselves on the back.

What are some things you do at your brewery to be sustainable or minimize your environmental impact?
1. Every beer I make is certified organic and sports the nifty USDA logo. Every other “organic” brewer that I know of ALSO brews non-organically because of convenience. My conviction is to go as far as possible.
2. Paperless office (I bought Adobe Professional to jockey documents on my laptop….well worth the price).
3. Home office (short commute).
4. Instead of buying and building a resource intensive new brewery, I recently did a brewery co-op with a brewery. My idea is that it is more green to use an existing brewery and bring it closer to full capacity and optimal efficiency than to start a second, private location. It is like a newspaper printing press which can print many different newspapers using the same equipment and people, but the Bison beers has its own exclusive “editor” and “sales and marketing” staff and distribution network….just like a different newspaper editorial board…..
5. Bought a VW Jetta TDI from Detroit so I could run biodiesel during my sales calls (and personal life).
6. Sold my old Isuzu Box Truck which was terrible on fuel efficiency. Now I rent a diesel truck about once per week (not biodiesel, but better mileage).
7. I use recycled paperboard and soy based ink for all my 6-pack carriers…..BTW, recycled cardboard boxes are the norm, so I can’t really take any credit for that.

I have looked at carbon credits and schemes like that, but feel it is just a license to pollute, so I haven’t gone down that road.

What tips do you have for organic homebrewers or just homebrewers in general?
Brewing is 80% cleaning, 10% fermentation temperature control, and 10% recipe…..sometimes homebrewers mix that up.

Where do you see organic brewing going, especially with the recent surge in popularity with a lot more organic beers on the market?

First, there are almost no organic hops available, so hopefully farmers around the world will see the demand and start planting and converting their fields (a 3 year process). I wish the quality was there with today’s organic hops, but it just isn’t. So I have to use conventional hops, but as you know, it is a small %. Important thing is to send a market signal to those darn farmers. I think that is why the USDA gave us a few years allowance to use conventional hops, to develop a market for hops. We will see.

You are right, there are a lot of new organic beers on the market. I am fortunate to be one of the pioneers and think I’ll have staying power, but generally, consumers have to be willing to pay an extra $1 a 6 pack to support organic brewers….if we continue to make sub standard economic return on the business, you will see some existing organic brands convert back to conventional or go away. ALL beer is under pretty intense pressure to increase prices due to world supply and demand of malt and hops. Organics just need a little extra consideration when you are shopping. Heck, people spend $3.25 for a hot latte in a paper cup that took 2 minutes to make, yet the same person won’t spend $10.99 for six organic beers that took 3 weeks to brew, keep cold, package in colorful cardboard packaging, keep cold, and deliver to a market?

Remember, 60 years ago, ALL beer was “organic.” Heck. All agriculture was “organic”. Industrial farming post WW II has harmed our soil health, increased erosion, polluted our rivers and streams, harmed farm workers, and a list of other harms that add up to one big mistake. As consumers, converting to organic has a ripple effect through the economy and environment well worth the small increased price. For some fresh fruits and veggies, there is also a personal health bonus for consuming organic, but not really for beer. Ultimately the goal is to rid ourselves of the widespread reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. I hope all beer is organic again in the next 30 years.

Check out their website for further information: www.bisonbrew.com
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

I'll admit I was wrong

Recently in a post I stated that Imperials and stouts (or the combination) were not my styles of beer. Well, I can scratch stouts off the list. I think for the longest time I associated stouts with the most famous one, Guinness. I was never a fan of Guinness (although maybe I need to re-evaluate) partly because it always felt like a meal for me to drink. Well following my visit to Town Hall Brewery and having their Black H20 Oatmeal Stout, I thought I needed to revisit stouts. I like porters a lot and there isn't a huge difference between the two, plus I never thought I'd like porters.

So on a recent visit to my liquor store, I picked up a bottle of Rogue's Shakespeare Stout. Well... this was a great beer. Roasty and chocolately with a nice smooth finish and a hint of hoppiness. I thought, damn, maybe I should open my mind some more. So, today after buying the ingredients for The Gringo at Northern Brewer, I stopped at a really good liquor store on my way home and picked up a mixed sixer and two bombers. In the "make your own" sixer I put Bell's Java Stout and also bought a bomber of Lion Stout.
Here are my impressions:

Bell's Java Stout pours black with a two finger tan head. It has a great roastiness right off the bat with a dry finish. The body is really creamy and the coffee gives it an interesting aftertaste. I think it makes it a bit bitter, but definitely gives it a unique finish. I thought this was a good beer, and one I'd probably buy again if I found it in another "mix your own sixer" but probably wouldn't go so far as to buy a six pack of just the stout.


Lion Stout- This is a Sri Lankan beer that weighs in at a hefty 8.0% abv. This beer pours jet black with a foamy tan head. Heavy coffee and chocolate aromas. The beer is quite creamy with a nice chocolaty-roasty flavor. There is a slight coffee presence and a some of that alcohol "heat." My first impression was that it was good, but the more I drank it, the more I enjoyed it (that could be the 8% abv!) . It was $2.99 for a 22oz, so at that price, it's a bargain. I would definitely buy this beer again.

So...there you have it. Actually this is one of the best things about beer, finding something (or a style) that you think you wouldn't like, but do. I am going to sample some more stouts, so I'll take suggestions please. I think my spring 3 gallon experimental is going to be an oatmeal stout, but I'm still formulating the recipe.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Bearded Brewery and Tap-A-Draft

I wanted to take a minute to give a bit of information about my system. I know when I started out home brewing I was always curious about what other home brewers had for setups and there always seemed to be a pretty steep curve between the basic kit you start off with and the all-grain systems that are displayed in magazines and on the web.
For starters, I'm a stove top brewer who has been partial mashing for about a year. I like the flexibility it gives me, the room it takes up (or doesn't) and the extra steps/toys incorporated into it. I don't really have plans at this point to make the leap into all-grain. I'm sure that there are benefits to it, but I'm pretty happy with the beer I make and don't feel like I'm cheating myself or the legions of Bearded Brewing fans (that's a joke), by not moving into all-grain. I can mess around with different specialty grains, base malts and have been happy with the turn out. I also still make extract beers, and have been perfectly happy with that as well. In fact two of my most popular beers, Inky's White and Whitefish Cranberry Wheat, are extract recipes.
Last year for Christmas I asked for a mini-draft system. I originally got the mini kegs, but after several uses, I switched to the 1 1/2 gallon plastic vessels. The mini kegs always exploded when I tapped them and they seemed to lose carbonation quickly. I think this is because there's a piece that connects the dispenser through a rubber bung to the keg, and its not very secure. So instead I've been very happy with the plastic bottles and the tap-a-draft dispenser. I don't have the money or room currently to go to a kegging system, and this satisfies that need. Plus its nice because I can bottle half the batch to give away and have some on tap. Also, I never like drinking one beer style for too long, so its nice to be able to have a small amount on tap, and still have enough other beers. For those on a budget, I'd recommend the TAD system and I've had no problems with it.

Salud!
-The Bearded Brewer

Summit Brewing Company

I have written a lot about some midwest beers like Schell, New Glarus, Rush River, etc. Yet I realized that I haven't given any love to the grandaddy of craft brewing in Minnesota, Summit Brewing Company. Summit has been brewing in St. Paul since 1986 and to quote their site: "The brainchild of St. Paul beer lover Mark Stutrud, Summit brewing Company was founded with one goal: To bring back the remarkable craft beers once brewed throughout the Upper Midwest."
On a personal note, I was one of the many that spent college drinking shitty, cheap beer. Aside from another midwest favorite, Leinenkugels, my first foray into craft beer was Summit. I think it was probably Summit Extra Pale Ale, a beer that at the time was far too hoppy for my uneducated tastes. But actually the first Summit that reeled me in was their Maibock. Released in early March, it became a beer that we couldn't wait to see its signature blue and white checkered tap handle at our regular bar. Since most of us weren't accustomed to drinking a beer as strong as Maibock, it was always quite the event.

Over the years, Summit has turned into my fall back beer. Meaning, the beer I choose if I'm being too indecisive or just need to run in and grab a sixer. For starters, I'm a sucker for beers that pay homage to their local traditions, and Summit (a famous St. Paul avenue) is the perfect example. Their packaging has a picture of St. Paul and several names of their beers (Great Northern Porter, Scandia and the former Grand) feature tributes to their home city and state. They also contract brew one of the most socially responsible beers, Finnegans Irish Ale, which donates 100% of their proceeds to charity. But most importantly, Summit makes great beer.

Their flagship is Summit Extra Pale Ale. This beer is a light bronze colored ale that is hopped with Cascade, Horizon, and Fuggles. It has a great carmely presence in the body and a nice hoppy bitterness. As their website says, there isn't a beer lover in the cities who isn't familiar with this beer.

I mentioned the Maibock, a limited spring release. It's malty and smooth, with a presence of Saaz hops. This beer is 6.7% abv and pours a golden color with a thick white head. One of my favorite beers of all time. I've yet to have a better Maibock.

Their Great Northern Porter is the beer that forever changed my views of porters. I have tried quite a few porters since (I even have a post about it) and yet Summit's still is the best. This is a roasty black porter. It is malty and smooth, with a bit of a hop presence. It's jet black with a thin tan head.

Summit also has an ESB (which I've only had a couple of times). They also renamed their pilsner from Summit Grand to Summit Pilsner. Apparently they changed the recipe as well. I'd had Grand before and it was a nice, light, crisp pilsner. I have yet to try their new recipe.

I recently had their Winter Ale, which is a dark brown, almost black beer. It has a great roastiness with a nice chocolate presence. Unlike most winter warmers, this one lacks spices. Its just a nice full bodied beer for the frigged Minnesota winters.

I've only had their IPA once, and I don't remember much about it, so I'm going to skip the description. Sorry I didn't buy some for this posting, but I bought the porter instead!
Their summer beer has changed locally. For the longest time Summit released a Hefeweizen, I personally really liked it. There was a nice cloviness to it, and a refreshing, crisp body. However, I know a lot of people who didn't like it. They stopped making it locally and now only have it in the Chicago market. Perhaps some of my Chicagoland readers can chime in their impressions if they've had it. What it's been replaced by in the cities is Scandia Ale, their Belgian witbier. While this isn't my favorite Belgian witbier on the market, I do like it. It pours a cloudy pale yellow and has hints of cardamom, coriander and orange. Its really crisp and refreshing, and a nice change of pace from their normal line-up. They also release an Oktoberfest which I've never had.

Last spring, I finally went on a tour of the brewery. I live very close to it and don't know why I'd never gone before. But anyway, my friends Brian and Jeff (from the Town Hall experience) and another friend Bob went over on a Saturday morning for their free tour. There wasn't anything super special about the tour itself, a pretty regular brewery tour. But what we were really struck by was how cool and nice everyone there was. We ended up having a great time, drinking a ton of great, free beer, and all walked away wanting to support Summit as much as possible. For anyone who lives in the Twin Cities, or the midwest, it's a tour really worth your time. It's free, but there's a big waiting list and you have to call ahead.

If you can support Summit, it's worth your while. Its a great brewery and I think that because they've been around for 21 years, they tend to get overlooked a bit in the local market. Understandably, the new breweries of Flat Earth and Surly have been getting a lot of attention. What's really nice is that all three are doing different things, so we are starting to have a nice variety in the beers in the Twin Cities market.

Cheers!
-The Bearded Brewer

Town Hall Brewery

In the most recent Beer Advocate, I was surprised to find two Minnesota breweries listed in the top 25 for Best American Brewers. Number 1 was Surly and number 11, was Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. For a budding beer culture, the Twin Cities lacks two things in abundance, breweries and brewpubs. We have 3 breweries in the city (only a couple more in the state), and while we have a lot of bars with great beer selections, we have very few brewpubs . Town Hall is always a brewpub I was aware of, but never knew much about it and had never visited it.

So, on Saturday I ventured out into the bitter 2 degree air to meet up with Jeff and Brian at Town Hall Brewery for lunch and some beer. We walked away very impressed.
First of all, the bar itself has a great atmosphere (sorry, my camera's batteries died so no interior pics). There's a great old tin tiled ceiling and a beautiful huge oak bar. Their selection of "guest" taps was impressive, including several hard to find beers. But we were here for Town Hall's brews. Onto the beer:

We all had a couple of pints and split the sampler. Jeff and I started with the West Bank, which is their British pub ale. This beer was excellent, very mild with a creamy two finger off-white head. It pours a nice copper color and has a great hop/malt balance. A great session beer!
Brian started with the Hope and King Scotch Ale. This beer poured a dark mahogany with a thin white head. This beer was also outstanding, it had a very malty sweetness to it with virtually no hop presence. Brian ended up taking home a growler of this. Another excellent beer.
Onto the sampler:
The current seasonal is a Belgian Abbey Triple, called Triple Vision. This beer was a scary 9% abv. Scary because it was candy sweet and extremely easy to drink. It poured a light golden color with a thin white head. Sweet with some fruity esters, this beer was really good.
The least impressive beer for us was the Bright Spot Golden Ale. This beer was much closer to a lager in our opinions, it had that "lager finish", as Jeff put it. It was a nice drinking beer, very crsip with a light body. It poured a golden color with a thin white head.. There was nothing wrong with this beer, it just wasn't as impressive as the rest of the beers we had.
Also in the sampler were the Masala Mama IPA and the Cask-Conditioned Masala Mama. The IPA was a very good IPA. It was a copper color with an off-white head. It was definitely hoppy, but also had a nice caramel presence in the body. I haven't had many cask-conditioned beers before, but we all thought the regular was better. The Malsa Mama was a good IPA, not the best I've had, but very good.
The last of the sampler was the Black H20 Oatmeal Stout. Both this and the Hope and King Scotch Ale have won various awards. Onto the stout. This might be the stout that changes my opinion about stouts! I'm not normally a stout drinker, but this was excellent. It pours a black color with a thick two finger tan head. It had a great malty and roasty presence to it, with caramel elements in there as well. Great beer, I ended up getting a pint of this as well.

So, now that I know what a gem lies a short distance from my house, I'm going to have to be making it over to pick up some growlers. We were really impressed with the beer and the atmosphere of the bar. I can understand why they ranked so high on the list.





Cheers!
-The Bearded Brewer

List of beers

I'm waiting on some responses to some questions from Bison Brewing Company and East End Brewing company. Once I get those responses, I'll post the interviews. So right now there isn't a lot to post about in the Bearded Brewing world. I'm planning on going to Town Hall Brewery (ranked in the top 25 brewpubs in Beer Advocate) this weekend with a couple of friends. I'll of course write about our impressions. But today I was just thinking about the beers I've made over the past 3 + years I've been brewing. I might be missing a couple of kits I made early on, my memory isn't serving me. Below is a list of the beers I've made, the * indicates beers that were either completely organic, or contained mostly organic materials. These are kind of in chronological order:
Northern Brewer Kolsch kit
Northern Brewer Phat Tire kit
Northern Brewer American Wheat Kit
Northern Brewer Belgian Witte Kit
Northern Brewer Hefeweizen Kit
Midwest Brewing Steam Beer Kit
Rohan Red (Midwest Brewing Autumn Amber Ale Kit)
Bearded Fury Pale Ale (x4) *
Inky’s White Ale (x4)
El Muerto (x3)
Hank’s Hazelnut Brown Ale (x2)
Whitefish Cranberry Wheat (x2)
Bangy Tangy Belgian Ale (x2)
Cali Common *
Burning Beard Belgian Pale Ale
Brother Brotino Belgian Double
Iron Lion Saison
Minneapolis Lager*
Mayabock *
British Pale Ale *
Nokomis Summer Ale 1: Honey Kolsch
Nokomis Summer Ale 2 * (light ale with orange peels and honey)
Hawkeye Honey Brown Ale
Apricot Wheat
None More Black (deep dark wheat)
Oh Yah Organic Ale * (first ale brewed with wild rice)
Northwoods Ale * (second ale brewed with wild rice)
Dr. John’s Husker Ale (cream ale made as a gift for my uncle)
Morris Park Porter*
Yinzer Lager *
La Libertad *
Frozen Beard Winter Ale *

There are maybe 3 beers I didn't list that either turned out bad, or were just plain forgetable. Looking at this list, it doesn't look like I've brewed a lot of organic beers, but I've been increasing the amount of beers I make organic and I've also been converting some old recipes to be organic.
Coming up; I'll be posting soon about some impressions of a couple beers, including my Bangy Tangy, and a couple of comerical organic beers.
That's all for now.
-The Bearded Brewer

East End Brewing Company

After Christmas, my family went to Pittsburgh. I had read about and had wanted to visit the East End Brewery. We drove to look for East End and after leaving the Squirrel Hill area (a nice, cool area of Pittsburgh) we go down a hill, under an over-pass and find ourselves in a run down area of town. There is a red building to our right with a number of cars parked outside. The building looks like an old shitty warehouse and sits across from an empty lot. I wasn't expecting glamorous, but something more accessible than this! Peter, my brother-in-law, insisted it was the place. Sure enough, there was a gray door propped open with a keg, and twinkle lights led down to the main room, which housed the brewery and a small bar with taps. It was kind of crazy to be in this sketchy area, and yet be served amazing beer! Anyway, the trip was well worth it, this beer was excellent. I tried their Grissette and Cherry Grissette, which were both outstanding. This is a French farmhouse ale, similar to a saison. The cherry grissette was great because you could detect a sweetness, but not necessarily pick out the cherry flavor. I bought a growler of the grissette since its not a beer I'd had before. I also tried their East End Witte and their winter ale, Snowmelt. I thought all the beers were great. I really liked the Snowmelt, a deep ruby red ale, and the Witte was a really light witte with a citrusy presence. There were several more beers we could have sampled, but we wanted to get all the tasting in and get a growler before my daughter woke up. It was a very cool experience and I like their approach to beer. They also do a lot of great sustainable things, you can find more info on the brewery and their sustainablility or their beer at: www. eastendbrewing.com


Check out this link to a similar experience written by Adam from the Brew Lounge:
http://www.brewlounge.com/2007/03/ready-to-go-east-end-brewing-pittsburgh.html

Definatley check out their website and visit if you get a chance. They are on tap around Pittsburgh and have growler hours on Saturdays and I think a couple days during the week.
-The Bearded Brewer

Brewing weekend and Imperials

This past week my wife and infant daughter were in Pittsburgh visiting family. With the extra time, I made sure to get a lot of brewing and beer related things taken care of. I transfered my Yinzer Lager, and set it up in the garage to lager for a month or two. It's sitting at about 40 degrees. We'll see how it turns out. I'm a bit nervous about this one, but it's only 3 gallons.
I also brewed both Friday night and Saturday. On Friday night I brewed a 3 gallon batch of Frozen Beard Winter Ale. I'm planning on having this beer be a rotating recipe. For my first Frozen Beard I used up some Fat Tire yeast I had bought. I also experimented with spruce extract adding 2 tsps during the boil at various intervals. I'll post the recipe once its finished and I can let you know what I did at secondary etc. Should be interesting though.
On Saturday, I finally brewed a beer that I had designed the recipe for in October. I've had the ingredients, but just kept brewing other beers instead. I brewed La Libertad, my take on a West Coast Pale Ale. It's inspired by Liberty Ale, nothing fancy, but I did use 3 ounces of hops in the boil, Northern Brewer, Vanguard and Cascade and I'm going to dry hop with another ounce of Cascade as well. Again, I'll post the recipe once its ready. I think this one will be pretty good.

Imperials- My friends Jeff and Brian came over on Saturday night to hang out and drink some good beer. We drank a lot of Bearded Brew, and also Jeff brought some more of that great Millstream beer from Iowa, both the IPA and John's White, great stuff! But anyway, after my soapbox post about hoppy beers, I decided to buy two Imperials to give them a shot. I bought Avery's Czar, an Imperial Russian Stout. I also bought Sam Adam's Imperial Pilsner.
We cracked both open and the feeling amongst the group was that both beers were not our style of beer. The Pilsner was definitely more drinkable, but still too over the top for my taste. I was expecting hoppy, but what surprised me was the chewiness of the body. It definitely seemed like 8.8% alcohol or whatever it is. We all tried the Czar as well, and it was a hard one to finish. I guess Imperials are out of my league. There aren't many beer styles that I don't like, but based off these two beers, I'm adding Imperial Stouts to my list. Hopefully my mind will be changed. Nothing against people who enjoy those beers, just not my (or Brian and Jeff's) beer style of choice. I think we all felt the Czar was just too much of everything. The hop presence was huge (70 IBUs!) and the body was really thick. I'm not a stout fan, so I shouldn't be surprised, but I needed to see what the hype was about.

I'm probably going to be taking a short break from brewing. I have a lot of beer right now and aside from a recipe I'm working on, there's nothing I'm planning on brewing for a bit. Also I'm tentatively planning the Second Annual Bearded Brewfest and thinking about what I'm going to brew for that. But be checking out Bob's Woodshed. I'm going to be sending him 3 of my beers to review. Could be cool, but I'm a bit nervous. I've never entered a contest before, and the reviews at Bob's are outstanding. We shall see how it turns out, hopefully I have honest friends and I'm sending him good beer :)
-Also, thanks for all the great replies on the organic and hoppy beers discussions, glad to see its a forum for that.
-The Bearded Brewer

Hop Madness

Recently, my friend and I were discussing the obsession in this country with hoppy beers. I'll forewarn readers that this post may not be the most popular opinion, but hey...it's my blog and if you disagree, please feel free to voice your comments...they will be welcomed.
Anyway, the latest Beer Advocate had the best breweries in the country for 2007 and #1 was Brooklyn Center's own Surly Brewing Company. Surly has always gotten a lot of love in Beer Advocate and certainly has its fair share of fanatics on the web. My friend Brian and I don't like Surly, and so we obviously disagree with the rating. To be fair, Brian said that Surly's Cynic Ale, their summer Saison, was really good, I meant to pick it up, but didn't. However, I have given both Bender and Furious several tastings, thinking the next one will be the one to win me over. But I have to say I don't like either beer...and I think its because they are way to hoppy. Let me clarify that there are plenty of hoppy beers I like. But I take issue at times with the "we're hoppy as hell, and if you can't take it, you don't get it" attitude.
The newest craze seems to be Imperial beers- big, and super hoppy. An Imperial IPA?! And I think there were something like 10 Imperial Russian Stouts in the BA's top 25 brews of 2007.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation and creativity. Its how I strive to brew. However, I do think there is something to making a complex Belgian, or something with a subtle mix of malts and hops.
One more thought on the whole hop overload in recent beers...in a time when beer prices are going up because of hop shortages, shouldn't the trend be the opposite? To experiment (like Ted on Ted's Brews) with alternative flavorings, like herbs or spices. At the very least to try to limit our hop consumption? Just a thought and I'd love to hear people's ideas.
I recently visited East End Brewing Company and they have a really hoppy Belgian Ale called Ugly American, because as they put it, its a"perfectly enjoyable classic Belgian Trippel corrupted almost beyond recognition with a completely inappropriate amount of US hops. Only in America can such excessive excesses be fully appreciated, celebrated, and enjoyed..."
I think that's clever, but I do think its true, there is something about the excessive excesses when it comes to hops and even alcohol content. I've just been thinking about that as I've been seeing bigger, hoppier beers dominating my liquor store.
But of course I'm a hypocrite because I'm brewing my La Libertad this weekend with a lot of cascade hops and am currently toying with the idea of trying my hand at an imperial beer. I'm thinking of something a bit different, an Imperial Mexican Lager.
So weigh in on my ramblings if you want. Like I said, I'm not against hoppy beers and I think there are a lot of great, other beers being made. But it feels like right now, the hoppier and the bigger you can get, then you're really pushing boundaries.
I personally think that Dogfish, New Glarus, Rogue, New Belgium or even Bell's are breweries that really put out a wide variety of beers that range from classic to experimental and are examples of breweries that are impressive in my mind.
Just my two cents...
Cheers!
The Bearded Brewer

Interview with Jon Cadoux of Peak Organic Brewing Co.

I recently contacted Peak Organic Brewing Company, an organic brewery in Portland, Maine. I asked if I could send some questions about organic brewing to post in this blog and I was excited that the founder, Jon Cadoux quickly replied that he would love to participate. So below are his responses to my questions. I'm hoping to be able to make this a common thing, provided that I get the same kind of response from other breweries. Thanks to Jon for taking the time to participate in this interview.

First off, how long have you been a brewery?
We have been brewing for 10 years, in various different capacities. The last 8 of which have been strictly organic. Just started our wider distribution push a year and a half ago.

How did you get started or founded? One thing really led to another. When we started incorporating organic ingredients into our homebrews, we thought the taste and quality was taken to another level. We were just brewing a lot of beer and giving it away. Folks kept encouraging us to actually start bottling so we went for it! I believe that all of our success has been based on taste. Purer ingredients make better beer, and our organic ingredients are the purest around.

You mentioned that you were an organic homebrewer, did you know you wanted to start a brewery with that goal or niche in mind?
Probably answered that above.

As a homebrewer, its only been the past year or so that organic materials have become easily accessible. On a larger scale, has it been difficult for you to be able to find organic grains and hops?
Not really. We’ve been working with the same farms and coops for years now, so the relationships are solid. The organic farmers we work with consistently grow superior barley and hops, so it makes the relationship fun and rewarding.

What are some things you do at your brewery to be sustainable or minimize your environmental impact?
We start at the source. We are one of the few brewing companies in the world who brews exclusively organic beer. This isn’t a line extension for us. Our commitment to sustainable agriculture is simply the backboard of our company. Also, we partner with great like-minded organizations like the Organic Trade Association, the Chefs Collaborative, Farm Aid, the Surfrider Foundation, etc.

Where do you see organic brewing going, especially with the recent surge in popularity with a lot more organic beers on the market?
As environmentalists, the only end goal is that all beer is organic. To reverse the serious effects of agricultural run-off and soil degradation, its not enough for a small % of barley and hops to be grown organically. It needs to be the majority to reverse the damage. Some of the new organic beers are simply delicious, and more and more consumers are getting behind them. We hope that continues to push larger brewing companies to see the light!

Recently your beers started appearing in liquor stores in the Twin Cities. How far does your distribution stretch? Are you in most states or major markets
We distribute on both coasts and some great markets in the Midwest. There is no formula really, we just get our fine ales to places where people are asking for it. We have been fortunate that a lot of beer and fine food writers have been getting behind our products lately. That seems to have a ripple effect. Also, we have had great luck with some of the top chefs in the country. They seem to be influencers as well. Its really all grass roots at this point.

What tips do you have for organic homebrewers or just homebrewers in general?
Tips are to always innovate. Take a recipe and stretch it in some way. We always like to look at all our recipes and think “what is this adding to the craft beer scene”. If the recipe is just a mimic, then its not adding that much. Be creative.

You can check out Peak Organic Brewing Company at www.peakbrewing.com. Soon, I'll be posting about my recent trip to the East End Brewery in Pittsburgh and maybe some thoughts on the book, Ambitious Beer: The Story of American Brewing that I'm currently reading.
Cheers!
-The Bearded Brewer

Organic beers

I haven't had many chances to try organic beers because there are very few I can get my hands on in Minnesota. I almost purchased Stone Mill when it first hit the markets, but in searching for the brewery location, I found the Anheuser-Busch logo sneakily placed on the bottom of the six pack. Not that I don't applaud A-B's effort, I just believe there's too much good beer out there to spend my money on the big guys. I do need to try Samuel Smith's organic beers at some point, however.

But anyway, recently Peak Organic Brewing Company has come to the Twin Cities and I bought a six pack of their Amber the other day at my local liquor store. I believe they have two others, a pale and a nut brown ale in their line.

I was impressed with the amber. It pours a nice copper color with a small white head. It has a nice maltiness to the body, with a sweet/caramel aftertaste. A nice hop balance, but not overwhelming by any means. Its a very nice drinking beer. Its nice to have an option for purchasing some organic beers locally. I've heard good things about their nut brown, and will review that if I get a chance.

I found this article about the rise of organic beers, including an interview with Jon Cadaux, founder of Peak Organic Brewing Company.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13803199/

Also, stay tuned, because I contacted Peak and asked if I could submit some questions about organic brewing and got a quick response from Jon Cadaux saying he'd love to answer some questions. I'll post the "interview" once I get the responses back. I sent a similar email to Bison Brewing Company in Berekley, another organic brewery. This could be cool if I could get some interviews as a part of this blog.

Cheers!

-the Bearded Brewer