The Church Brew Works

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Pittsburgh to attend the Iowa-Pitt game in Heinz Field. My wife is from Pittsburgh, and her dad is a die hard Pitt fan, and I'm a life long fanatical Iowa Hawks fan. My dad and I jumped at the chance to be able to see an Iowa game in Pittsburgh so we flew out to go to the game. My dad is also a beer aficionado and homebrewer, so we were excited about the opportunity to visit a place my wife had told me about for years, The Church Brew Works. Sadly Iowa lost the game by one point, but it was a gorgeous day in an amazing stadium, and the next day we had a great visit to this unique brewpub.
As you can see, this brewpub is in fact built in an old church. Ironically, I know a guy who went to this church as a kid! Facing tough times, they sold the church and it became The Church Brew Works. Unfortunately it was too dark inside to get good pictures, but the brew kettles and fermentation tanks are actually on top of the altar. There are high ceilings as one could imagine, and the original stained glass along the sides. The pews have been replaced by tables, it's pretty logical once you're in there...of course an old church would make a great brew pub! Extremely spacious and naturally lit, it provides a great atmosphere.
My dad and I split the sampler, and the beer was good, not great, but good. The ambiance is so unique that it makes it worth the trip alone. The sampler included their Celestial Gold, a fairly nondescript lager, a good British Pale Ale (Pipe Organ Pale Ale), one of my favorites was their Pious Monk Dunkel, a very good Octoberfest, a very good American Pale Ale (Referendum Ale) and the most interesting...a Coconut Stout. Which was good and interesting at first, but then the coconut became overwhelming the more you drank it. Think drinking a Mounds bar. I've always wondered if coconut would be good in a stout... and now I know the answer is not really.
This makes two great and unique experiences in the Pittsburgh area for beer, my visit to the East End Speakeasy... I mean brewery, and now The Church Brew Works. If you visit Pittsburgh, these two are must. A visit to East End for amazing beer and then head over to the Church Brew Works for a truly unique drinking experience.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

A Year in Review

I wasn't planning on doing a "looking back" post, but after looking back at my first entry, it's kind of crazy how far this thing has come. A little history... about two years ago I had the First Annual Bearded Brewfest. My friends knew I was a homebrewer and my closest friends had drunk my beer, but the large group of friends had not. The party was a big success and I introduced a lot of my friends to my beer and the self indulgent dorkiness that is the Bearded Brewing Company. This was the birth of the original Bearded Brewing website. My friends wanted to keep tabs on what I was brewing and were interested in possibly buying some. My friend Jeff was good with computers and such and helped me design the website and buy the domain Beardedbrewing.com. The website was fun, but expensive and after having some software problems, we decided to scrap it.
I decided to look into blogging, and the Bearded Brewing Blog was born. It has become much more than I ever thought it would be. Like my website, I envisioned this as being a self-indulgent thing that would allow the few friends who had been checking it out, to continue to monitor my brewing. What I wasn't expecting was the large community of like minded people, brewing and blogging. That connection has made this the most rewarding experience. Getting over the initial "who cares about what I'm writing" and finding this world of people who not only enjoy what you write, but connect with it, and have their own blogs with their thoughts is immensely cool.
To break it down, here's what I never expected, but has been so positive about the "beer blogging" experience.
1. As mentioned, the connection to brewers and beer geeks. I've exchanged homebrew and local beer with people in Oregon and Pennsylvania, and soon to expand. So much fun to have other people review your beer, drink other great homebrew or commercial beers otherwise not available to you.
2. I'm a better brewer, period. The advice I get from reading other blogs, or comments posted on my own posts, or even questions raised that make me think more about what I'm doing. This has all helped me improve.
3. Creative outlet. This is what brewing has always been for me, and this is a great forum to share recipes, artwork, reasons behind the names and labels, etc.
4. Interviewing breweries. Something I never thought I would do, but I thought "why not just email them." It gave me an avenue to say "I have a blog, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions." The interviews came out of nothing more than my own curiosity and it was great to be able to get responses to questions I have about the industry.
5. Organic/sustainable growth- I was dabbling in this area a year ago. But after putting up my logo with the tag line of organic brewing and socially responsible, I felt like I needed to make a commitment to myself to become more educated and "practice what I preach." I have learned SO much more than I imagined in that area by blogging, interviewing, and reading other blogs about that topic. Plus a lot of positive feedback, which has encouraged me to continue to try to brew organically and sustainably.

So a great year, and a special thanks to those of you who read and post and email, etc. It doesn't feel quite so self-indulgent when you know people are into what you're doing.
As mentioned before, I will be posting some thoughts on my recent trip to Pittsburgh (a formal apology to Dave @ Muckney for not letting him know I'd be in Western PA...it was a short, family oriented jaunt.) Also my final thoughts on some West Coast Beers sent to me by Rick @ BW Beer Blog.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

UNO Review and Quick Hits

Yesterday I brewed the first of a two brew week, brewing a new organic IPA. Green Beard Organic IPA is a result of getting a good deal on hops at Seven Bridges Co-op. Green Beard has 2 ounces of New Zealand Cascade and is going to be dry hopped with an ounce of high alpha Admiral hops. I'm excited about this one.
Tomorrow night my friends Brian and Jeff are coming over to help me brew El Jefe. It'll be Jeff's first brewing session and we figured we might as well brew his namesake brew.
Also a special thanks to Rick @ BW Beer Blog for another nice review, this time my UNO Orange Honey Wheat. I look forward to his thoughts on the other beers I sent him.
I've drank all that he sent me, so there will be some reviews to follow along with my thoughts on a trip to Pittsburgh this last weekend and a visit to Church Brew Works.
More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Reviews- Laurelwood Brewing Co.

I recently sent some beers to Rick @ [BW] Beer Blog, and in exchange, he sent me a box of beer. A nice collection of Oregon and Washington beers, I was super excited to dive into them. Included were two beers from Laurelwood Brewing Company, their Green Elephant Organic IPA and Mother Lode Golden Ale.

Of course knowing my love for organic and sustainable brewing practices, this was a great pick from Rick since Laurelwood has a number of organic beers, and from the looks of it, a number of organic/sustainable practices at their brewpub. But onto the beer:

My next beer is going to be an organic IPA, so I was very excited to crack open the Green Elephant Organic IPA first. It pours a nice golden orange with a thin white head. A wonderful aroma of sweet citrus and slight honey presence. Right away you taste a great citrus sweetness, along with some nice malty sweetness and a faint bitterness. Flavorful and hoppy, but smooth and easy drinking. A great IPA, and something I'd like my own organic IPA to resemble.

Mother Lode Golden Ale: This beer pours a straw golden color with a big three finger white head. A nice aroma of lemon and herbal notes, flowery and sweet. I didn't know what to excpect but was really pleasently suprised. A great aroma leads to a nice, light, balanced ale. Smooth with some sweet, lemony citrus notes. A great flowery hop presence, with a very sublte bitterness and dryness in the finish. I have to admit when I opened the box I wasn't as excited about this beer as some of the others. But sometimes those are the best surprises, this proved to be a very nice drinking golden ale with more complexity than expected and nice, soft flowery hops throughout the beer.

A brewery I'd love to get more beers from, these were both excellent, and based on what I read about their brewery, sounds like a place right up my alley. More reviews to come, as I have another IPA, a double IPA, and a stout left to consume. I'm excited Rick is back to his excellent reviews after his summer hiatus, and I'm curious on his thoughts on the beers I sent.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Reviews- Stone, New Belgium, Four Peaks

I've been super busy with the start of the new school year, so blogging and basically all beer related things has taken a back seat. A couple weeks ago I was in Arizona for a quick visit to see my grandma. As one can imagine, beer is hard to come by in Sun City, but lucky for me there was a Trader Joe's not far from her house. Trader Joe's had a nice beer selection, and even better, the ability to by individual bottles. I knew I had to have some Stone Brewing Company, and chose the Leviatation, which I'd had before, but it had been quite awhile. I picked up New Belgium's Triple, something not available among the New Belgium beers here in Minneapolis. Also, I bought a local Scotch Ale from Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe. There were a couple others, but nothing worth mentioning, so I'll stick to reviewing these three offerings.

Stone Levitation: Let me start by saying that it's a cruel world that Stone beers are not available in Minnesota. A damn shame actually. Everything I've had of their's is great, Arrogant Bastard is excellent, their Smoked Porter is outstanding, and Levitation is phenomenal. Levitation pours a dark ruby red with an off white head. It has a nice citrusy hop presence in the aroma. A hoppy bitterness is balanced nicely with the malty sweetness in the body. A wonderful smooth drink ability, a great mixture of West Coast hops and maltiness. Just another great beer from Stone.

New Belgium Triple: While we have a few New Belgium beers available in the Twin Cities, this isn't one of them. I'm a huge fan of New Belgium, and a big triple fan, so I was excited about this beer. It pours a nice golden color with a thin white head. A musty-yeasty aroma along with some citrus and spice. A nice subtle orange flavor with some spicy notes and some warming, alcohol presence in the finish. A little less sweet than some triples I've had, instead a little more dry and crisp. Nevertheless a great triple, with a nice flavor and wonderful, soft mouthfeel.


Four Peaks Brewing Kiltlifter:
Four Peaks Brewing Company is a brewery out of Tempe, and apparently this is their flagship. My cousin told me this is a popular beer on tap around town, and I can see why. This is a great Scotch Ale. It pours a redish brown with a thin white head. Wonderful malty sweetness, smooth body with a some nice softness. Typical of the style, there's no hop presence, instead great bready, biscuity flavors with a subtle smokiness and great sweetness. This was an excellent scotch ale.

I'll have some more reviews from some beers I drank this summer coming up. I also am hoping to brew a couple beers in the next couple weeks. I bottled the second go of Irie Stout, in preparation for the National Organic Homebrew Challange. It didn't end up as big as the last time around, not sure what the cause of that was, but it tasted great when I bottled it today.
More to come. Just not sure how soon.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer