Perrin Brewing Co. lands Brewer Nate Walser

 Perrin Brewing Co. will open its new microbrewery and restaurant this summer with a familiar West Michigan face in charge of the beer recipes.  Nate Walser, who was head brewer at Founders Brewing Co. during its rise from a brewpub teetering on the edge of bankruptcy to the powerhouse craft brewery it has become, has been acquired by Perrin. “The sky is the limit around here,” said Walser, who joined Perrin a month ago. Walser, who worked at Founders from 2001 to 2005, said he helped develop the recipes for several of Founders' flagship line of beers, including their Dirty Bastard scotch style ale and Centennial IPA.  He also helped craft the recipe for one of Founders incredibly popular specialty brews, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, or KBS, as well as Blushing Monk.
 Walser came to Founders after several years working in the production facility at New Holland Brewing Co., and was promoted to head brewer after several months. He worked closely with Founders current head brewer Jeremy Kosmicki until he left Founders in 2005.  “He was an integral part of our team and he did a great job for us,” said Founders vice president Dave Engbers.
 Kosmicki characterized Walser as a mentor during a Q&A interview with Food GPS in 2010: "Back in the day, another one of my friends wanted to start homebrewing and asked if I’d come to his place and get him started. His name is Nate Walser and he was living and working near Holland, Michigan, at the time. Nate had been hanging around New Holland Brewery quite a bit and eventually got himself a job there as assistant brewer. Soon, my job at the tiny brewpub fell through, so I went down to Founders and took a job in the packaging department, doing whatever I could to get hours and be involved. In the summer of 2001, Founders’ head brewer left and we hired Nate to take over. I became his assistant and learned how to run the bottling line, transfer beer, and brew on the brewhouse. I pretty much did every job, including shipping and receiving. Founders’ owners soon gave me and Nate the opportunity to get really creative with the recipes and make the beers big and flavorful. Nate is one of those geniuses that can always find a way to make something work, even if he doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing. He’s a great visionary and really got Founders rolling in the right direction."
  At Perrin, Walser replaces Thomas Nicely, who was previously the head brewer for the new operation in Comstock Park, which tentatively opens later this month. Nicely had been a brewer at Lagunitas and Goose Island breweries, but left Perrin earlier this summer, said brewery partner Jarred Sper.
 Walser said there are no sour grapes between him and the folks at Founders. He left at a time when the brewery was expanding rapidly and his job was becoming more of a production manager and less of a brewer, he said. The brewery's capacity has skyrocketed from about 800 barrels per year when Walser came on to more than 25,000 per year in 2007 when Founders moved out of its longtime location in the Brass Works Building on Monroe Avenue NW and opened the 235 Grandville Ave. SW location. “It was a good time for him to move on and a great time for Jeremy to really shine as a brewer,” said Engbers, who called Walser “a friend of the brewery.” Walser said the two breakfast stouts were developed for the Founders taproom clientele and he’s proud of how popular they have become. Founders vowed to triple production of KBS this year based on overwhelming demand for the beer.
 Walser said he’s very excited for the opportunity to return to a production brewing facility at Perrin after spending the past six years working as a brewery consultant around Michigan.
Perrin beer has begun showing up on tap in local establishments such as Rockwells & Republic, HopCat and The Score. The brewery will eventually add a canning and bottling line, and the system has the capacity to brew between 12,000 and 15,000 barrels.

Coming To Holland, Big Lake Brewing

 The Lakeshore is getting another craft brewery project next year after a trio of West Michigan engineers finish a planned nanobrewery and winery operation in Ottawa County.
Big Lake Brewing LLC in Holland Township is in the very early planning stages, but has secured a lease at 977 Butternut Drive, Suite No. 4, in a commercial plaza near the intersection of Butternut, North 144th Avenue and Riley Street. There, partners Nic Winsemius, Gregory MacKeller and Travis Prueter plan to open a brewery and winery in the next six to nine months. The trio of Ottawa County engineers are starting the business with money saved between them.
 “It was a process of seeing how much we could save, what kind of equipment we could get our hands on and what kind deal we could work out with a landlord,” said Winsemius, an engineer for the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power. “It kind of just all came together for us.”  Winsemius, 28, has been brewing beer at home for about eight years and started brewing on a bi-weekly basis with Prueter several years ago. Prueter, 28, and MacKellar, 31, are both engineers at Gentex Corp., and MacKellar is an amateur vintner.
 Big Lake Brewing will be a microbrewery exclusively selling product made on site. They will start with a 3-barrel brewing system and are still determining the scope of the winemaking component. The location is about 3,000 square feet total.
 Their microbrewer and winemaker license requests won approval from the township in late July and are pending approval by the state. The brewery will not include liquor or food sales and Winsemius said patrons will be encouraged to bring food or have it delivered. The brewery will have a pub feel with some televisions, but much of the interior design and aesthetics are still being determined, said Winsemius.
 Beer styles are still being determined, but the partners will mostly likely begin brewing the type of ales popular in Michigan right now, given the extra investment necessary to brew lagers, although Winsemius said they would like to explore different styles in the future.
 The three engineers plan to keep their day jobs after opening the new venture, which would become the third brewery in the Holland area behind New Holland and Our Brewing Co., which is opening this fall downtown.
“I really like the Holland area and I think its going to be a good market for us,” said Winsemius.
  BEST OF LUCK GENTLEMEN!

'Iron Chef'-like Michigan Brewers Challenge

By Garret Ellison | gellison@mlive.com To coincide with a beer history exhibit planned this fall, the Grand Rapids Public Museum is launching an “Iron Chef”-like challenge to determine which Michigan brewery will get to supply the museum with beer during the exhibit’s fall run.
“I hope to capture a lot of attention for what Michigan as a whole, and West Michigan is doing brew-wise these days,” said Steve Smith, the “chief beer geek,” in charge of beer purchasing and the beer menu at HopCat in Grand Rapids.
Smith has been collaborating with the museum on organizing the challenge, which is tentatively planned for Friday, October 19 and Saturday the 20th.
Brewers in the area have been prepped with some rules for the challenge, which is designed to showcase as much Michigan-sourced ingredients as possible.
Recipe rules for the challenge include:
• 80 percent of the malt bill must be from Michigan.
• 50 percent of the hop bill must be from Michigan.
Now, for the variable:
• Each brewery can have a variable of their choosing. Smith said the variable is meant to capture the audience and allow the brewers to really show off their stuff.
The variable can be either wood (staves or barrel — as longs as it’s from a Michigan distillery); a herb or spice addition such as tea or coffee that would help make the beer unique; or a yeast strain.
The sampling will tentatively take place Friday and Saturday at the Van Andel Museum Canter and the museum will purchase two half barrels of beer from each brewer for the event. Smith said they are hoping to include between 30 and 40 Michigan breweries, but confirmations are still rolling in.
Due to production schedule constraints at larger breweries like Founders and Bell’s, the majority of the brewers in the challenge will be smaller operators who have the scheduling flexibility of a small batch system.
“This will be a nice way to showcase the little guy who is doing cool things,” he said.
The first place winner with the most public votes over the two days of sampling will be asked to reproduce the beer recipe and have it sold on tap (or in bottles or cans if that’s an option) at the museum throughout the entire fall exhibit. The Top 5 finishing breweries will get to participate in a black tie beer dinner at the museum in November.

Beer Talk With Vinnie of Russian River

Over the past 30 years, California microbrew has conquered niche markets and infiltrated the mainstream in its evolution from “social lubricant” to “serious, artisanal product.” Arguably, no individual is more responsible for this spirit of innovation than Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company, based in Santa Rosa.
 Acclaimed for his generously hoppy beers, which possess a cult following of Trekkie-like fervor, Cilurzo is credited with inventing the double IPA early in his career in San Diego; and Russian River’s elusive, seasonally released Pliny the Younger was recently determined, by popular vote, to be the best beer in the world. However, Cilurzo’s mavericky side is perhaps best reflected in his sour ales: a highly specialized range of Belgian-derived brews, revered in beer-geek circles for their complexity. Aged in wine barrels for years at a time, with the addition of fruit like sour cherries and currants, and often subjected to the risky practice of spontaneous fermentation, sours are as temperamental as they are inefficient in respect to time, cost-effectiveness, and space preservation. Often called “wild ales," these beers require a knowledgeable, experienced brewer to tame them. see the entire interview here. beer-talk-russian-river-brewing-co

New Breweries Opening in Holland This Fall

By STEPHEN KLOOSTERMAN The Holland Sentinel New Holland Brewing Co.’s 12-year run as the only brewery in the Holland area is set to end this fall.
Born out of the popularity of the craft beer scene that New Holland has worked to promote, two new entrepreneurs are working to open two new breweries — one just a few doors down from New Holland’s Eighth Street pub, the other somewhere in Holland Township, where New Holland brews its beer.
 “New Holland is thrilled to know that we're going to be have some friends in the brewing industry downtown,” said New Holland partner Brett VanderKamp. “We believe that anybody who is offering good beer is good for the community ... We think that anything that offers the consumer more choices is a good thing. And we look forward to years of enjoyment.”
 Trevor Doublestein worked up a sweat Thursday afternoon working on the interior of 76 E. Eighth St. where he plans to launch "Our Brewing Company" LLC this fall. “I started a couple of weeks ago,” said Doublestein, a longtime homebrewer who has a background in construction. “We’re going to build our own tables, our own bar.”  Doublestein has a silent partner in Ada and is bringing a trained brewer, Ed Degalan, on staff.  The new business will be what brewers call a “nanobrewery,” with a variety of small-scale brews available, Doublestein said. He’ll repeat customer favorites, but much of the fare will be “small batches, constantly changing.”  There won’t be a kitchen serving hot food, but snacks such as popcorn and chips will be available to go along with the beer.  Customers will also be able to learn more about the brewing process at the place.
  A second bar featuring craft beer is in the works for a Holland Township location.  "Big Lake Brewing" LLC recently signed a lease, said partner Travis Prueter. He wouldn’t give the address of the location. The company is working to secure a liquor license from Holland Township.  “We’re just doing beer and wine — we’re not going to serve any hot food,” Prueter said. He and his two partners hope to open the company in eight to 10 months.

'How Beer Saved The World'

 Grab a beer, sit back and see 'How Beer Saved The World'  How_beer_saved_the_world

SURPRISE! MillerCoors Buys Assets Of Michigan Brewing Co.

 The assets of the former brewer of Kid Rock's Badass Beer have been acquired through auction by MillerCoors. According to beer insider website Beer Pulse, the Chicago-based joint venture acquired the equipment and brand trademarks of Michigan Brewing Co., best known for making the Kid Rock-branded brew. "We bought some of the assets of the Michigan Brewing Co. at auction with the primary intention of acquiring their brewery equipment, which is in excellent condition," MillerCoors spokesman Peter Marino told Beer Pulse.
  MillerCoors did not acquire the 76,000-square-foot Webberville brewing facility.
 An on-site restaurant drew customers in recent years to Michigan Brewing Co. and its craft beers won medals at the Great American Beer Festival. But founder Bobby Mason was evicted in April following foreclosure on the brewery.
 Kid Rock's camp last month said it was looking for a new brewer for Badass Beer, but conceded that could take beyond summer.

GR's First Collabrative Beer!

 While hanging out at The Hideout doing what brewers do together, the guys in the Grand Rapids Society of Brewers decided some kind of substantial response was needed to mark the city’s new crown as ‘Beer City USA.’
What could they do to ensure the honor doesn’t just pass the city by?
“We wanted to come up with something we could do to celebrate it,” said Wob Wanhatalo, head brewer at The Hideout Brewing Co.
“We figured, there hasn’t been a collaborative effort on a beer in Grand Rapids before, why don’t we do that?”
The fruit, or pale ale of their labor, will hit tap handles all over Grand Rapids on Sunday, July 1 when the 10 different West Michigan breweries that collaborated on the project will unveil the "Beer City Pale Ale" at their respective establishments.
Wanhatalo wrote the recipe for the amply hopped, red pale ale, brewed with cascade and nugget hops from the Michigan Hops Alliance. Each brewery brought a unique touch to the beer in secondary fermentation, resulting in subtle differences.
“There will be style flourishes, but for the most part it’s the same celebration ale,” said Barry Van Dyke of Harmony Brewing Co. in Eastown

Hey, Pass Me A Beer!

Pass Me A Beer

10 Best Vacation Cities for Beer Lovers

Beer drinkers shouldn't limit craft beer to part of their vacation. With enough planning, those IPAs, Hefeweizens and Russian Imperial Stouts can be their vacation.  10-best-vacation-cities-for-beer-lovers

Brewing Water

   Water, we take it for granted yet it is the most important ingredient for brewing. Here is a nice water calculator for adjusting your water to the beer style you want to brew. You will need to know your water's profile first, which can be obtained from city offices or by sending a water sample to be tested. ezwatercalculator
 This is a good forum to help you along. HBT EZwater

Nice Beer Locator While Traveling

 This is a great little website for locating brewpubs and breweries nationwide, try it for your travels. beermapping

Still No Homebrewing In Alabama

This homebrewer is glad that I live in the beautiful state of Michigan and not Alabama where homebrewing is illegal.
 ‎ We Just Ran Out Of Time   posted May 17, 2012 4:36 AM by Brant Warren
 I am sorry to report that the Homebrew bill died at midnight last night, when the Senate adjourned without getting to our bill. Though it is still too painful to try to look on the bright side, there is something to say about the bill dying because time ran out, rather than being voted down. We progressed farther down the legislative process this year than ever before, and yes, we will be back in 2013.

Get One of These and Don't Get Shorted!

The "Piaget" Beer Gauge:  Don't Get Short Poured thebeergauge
Ask yourself the following:  Is your bartender sloppy, cavalier, or imprecise when pouring your favorite micro-brew, or is he just trying to increase his profit margin?
 When your local pubs say they are selling you a pint of beer, you should get a pint (i.e., 16 oz). Not 12 oz or even 14 oz, but 16 oz of beer. A "pint" is a standard U.S. liquid measure,  or precisely 16 oz of liquid.
 As it turns out, the majority of the volume in a standard US pint glass is in the relatively small height in the top part of the glass. In fact, if a beer is poured to within about 1/2 inch from the top, 13% of the beer is GONE.  If the beer is poured to about one inch from the top of the glass, an astonishing 25% of the beer is missing from your pint.

Craft Beer Quiz

 See if you are an American craft beer know-it-all. craft beer quiz

G.R. Ties Ashville for Beer City Title

by Mittenbrew - Grand Rapids is the new BeerCity USA 2012!
The poll closed early Monday morning with a “statistical tie” between the West Michigan city and three-time winner Asheville, N.C.
 The annual poll is conducted by homebrew godfather Charlie Papazian, who showed the final tally as an exact tie, based on a three percent “margin of anomalies.” Both cities received 17,849 of 55,926 votes, or 32 percent each.
 Among the breweries in Grand Rapids are Founders Brewing Co., Brewery Vivant, BOB’s House of Brews, Harmony Brewing, The Hideout Brewing Company, HopCat and Schmohz.
In the nearby outlying areas are New Holland Brewing Co., White Flame Brewing Company, Jaden James Brewery, Saugatuck Brewing Company, Michigan Beer Cellar, Old Boys Brew House, Odd Side Ales and Vander Mill.
  Founders owner Dave Engbers is passionate about his brewery, but he gives all the credit back to the people.
“I think (Grand Rapids won) because of the phenomenal beer enthusiasts we have in Michigan,” Engbers said. “The people came out and spoke. We’ve had great dialogue with some of the folks down in Asheville, another thriving metropolitan beer community.”
 Co-founder and vice president of marketing for Founders, Engbers called the BeerCity USA crown a testament to West Michigan’s “thriving brewing industry.” He is not naive to that fact that Founders attracts a large draw to Grand Rapids, pointing to its being the second-highest rated brewery in the world by RateBeer for two straight years. “We’re doing what we love,” Engbers said. “The fact that other people are jumping on board is just a testament to the industry.”
 Engbers credits other leaders such as Mark Sellers of HopCat for helping educate the beer culture and other brewers quietly doing their part.“I really think there’s just a great beer culture here in West Michigan,” Engbers said.
 The culture is a supportive one, or “non-competitive,” as some might term it.
 If you come visit Grand Rapids and don’t make it to a brewery most of the restaurants have Michigan beers on tap.  Jason Spaulding said. “You come to our town, you’re going be surrounded by local beer. That’s a take away when they come visit us.”
Finally, Spaulding credits the Michigan Brewers Guild’s annual Winter Beer Festival for putting Grand Rapids on the map. “We saw people who traveled from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana. I met someone who came from Texas just to go to this Winter Beer Festival,” Spaulding said.
The nominating process for Beer City USA was April 15-21. In all, 31 cities made the final poll, which opened May 1 and ended early Monday morning. Winning isn’t everything, but both Engbers and Spaulding agreed it puts Grand Rapids on the map.
“It’s really great for West Michigan to get some recognition for the great beer community it is,” Engbers said.

New Holland Expansion

by Garret Ellison - Don’t be surprised if you see a large fire-breathing beast perched atop the new outdoor fermenting tanks installed at the New Holland Brewing Company in the future. The new equipment installed at the brewery’s production facility in Holland Township this week are the largest pieces of a $3 million expansion by New Holland this year to meet “exponential” demand growth for specialty brews like their Dragon’s Milk. The five new 400-barrel outdoor tanks, shipped over from Germany, will allow the brewery to more than double brewing capacity, said CEO Brett VanderKamp. “We couldn’t push another drop of beer through the system right now,” said VanderKamp, who started New Holland in 1996 with Jason Spaulding, who left to establish Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids.
 New Holland anticipates brewing about 23,000 barrels this year. The new tanks will allow the company to reach 50,000 barrels per year, said VanderKamp. The company is experiencing 40 to 50 percent in top line revenue growth, said VanderKamp, although he declined to release sales figures. New Holland distributed 15,000 barrels of beer in 13 states in 2011. Each barrel holds about 31 gallons.
 “We’re seeing across-the-board growth in both the mainstay brands like Mad Hatter, and solid growth in our Dragon’s Milk,” he said. This year, New Holland is doubling production of Dragon’s Milk, a bourbon barrel-aged ale with complex flavors of oak, vanilla bean and chocolate. The “high gravity” beer clocks in at 10 percent alcohol by volume. New Holland’s website describes the painstakingly-crafted brew as a “crown jewel.” The brewery recently built a new aging cellar to hold up to 3,200 Kentucky bourbon barrels, which the Dragon’s Milk matures in for at least 90 days.
 Brett VanderKamp, president of New Holland Brewing Company, talks about the construction of five 400-barrel outdoor fermenters that are part of a $3 million expansion project which will more than double the company's brewing capacity. Other changes to the production facility include a rebuilt bright conditioning tank cellar, which will house four tanks by the end of May, said Brewmaster John Haggerty. New Holland also added a new centrifuge to help clarify larger batches of beer more quickly.
 The expansion will allow New Holland to not only expand their distribution footprint around the country, but also to expand product availability on shelves within the current distribution area, which VanderKamp said was “critical” for the brewery. The brewery brought on another four brewers amid the production expansion. They anticipate creating another 8 to 10 jobs in the next two years, he said. The brewery started laying the groundwork for the expansion about a year ago. Haggerty began looking around the country at operations using the outdoor system and settled on tanks built by a Germany company called Ziemann.
Haggerty said the tanks are temperature-controlled and built to withstand the heat of summer as well as the cold of winter without any adverse side effects to the beer. Each tank has six inches of foam insulation blown into the space between the exterior cladding and the stainless tank wall. The tanks were constructed with an indoor room at the bottom for the brewer to access without having to bundle up in January.
“I think we are the first brewery in Michigan to use these outdoor tanks,” said VanderKamp. “Most everybody had gone the more traditional route of building a building around the tanks.”
The tanks are costing more upfront, but should pay off in the long-run in reduced heating, building maintenance and other overhead costs, he said.

Michigan Brewing Co. Evicted

WEBBERVILLE — Michigan Brewing Co. was evicted Tuesday from its headquarters in Webberville, according to court records and officials familiar with the case.
The company’s restaurant in downtown Lansing remained open Wednesday, though MBC officials did not return calls seeking comment.The 76,000-square-foot property, located at 1093 Highview Drive, fell into foreclosure after MBC failed to make loan payments to Zions First National Bank, documents indicate.An entity called Highview Enterprises then bought the property but failed to reach a rental agreement with MBC and its lending company, Highview Holdings, said attorney Pat Gallagher, who represents Highview Enterprises.Gallagher would not say who owns Highview Enterprises.Highview Enterprises asked for permission to evict MBC in January during a 55th District Court appearance, Gallagher said. That eviction came Tuesday.Bobby Mason, president of MBC and head of Highview Holdings, and other management at the business’s Webberville location did not return repeated calls on the matter.It was not known how many employees lost their jobs.John Gormley, MBC and Highview Holdings’ attorney, declined to comment Wednesday.It also is unclear how the eviction will affect MBC’s other sites, including its downtown Lansing restaurant and brew pub, or its beverage-making business, which includes rocker Kid Rock’s American Badass Beer.MBC also has plans to expand to Fenton. City officials there could not be reached for comment.Ingham County records show Highview Holdings purchased the deed to the property from Michigan Brewing Co. for $2.6 million in 2007.The MBC site at 1093 Highway Drive, near Interstate 96 and M-52, had been listed for sale for $1.65 million.

The beer name game

Grab a homebrew and play  fiftybeers_fiftystates

• Enter a state in the box 
• Correctly named states will show up below
• Click any empty Beer or State to answer for that location

Lagunitas to build new brewery in Chicago

Chicago's craft beer fans have been no doubt delighted by the growth of the area's beer scene: half a dozen new brewers opening in 2011, and at least as many on tap for 2012. The scene has been upended with the announcement at Lagunitas Brewing Company will building an expansion facility in Chicago.
 Lagunitas Brewing Owner, Tony Magee, just announced one of the biggest news stories of the year in the beer world…140 characters at a time on Twitter. No press conference. No press release. No press kit. Just a handful of text messages likely sent over a mobile phone.
The brewhouse is a 250-barrel system to be built by Rolec, the same manufacturer that recently completed a 250-barrel system for Lagunitas’ home base in Petaluma. The first mash at the Chicago brewery is expected to take place in Q4 of 2013.