So, you want to work in a craft brewery??

This from the Mad Fermentationalist - I detailed a brew day on the brewery's "main" system. So to follow up on that, I thought I'd give an overview of what day-to-day life is like at a startup craft brewery when you aren't brewing. I think many homebrewers don't have a clear image of what goes into working at a new craft brewery...working-at-startup-craft-brewery

Michigan's Best Brewery; Nominate Your Fav

 The nomination process begins today for the best brewery in Michigan.
What are we looking for: The best overall experience, including the variety of beer they produce, quality of menu (if food is offered), ambience and the staff's craft beer IQ.
Bottom line: This has to be a fun place that offers great beer!
• email: gonzo@mlive.com (Put the name of the brewery in the subject field along with a few details about what makes your favorite brewery so great!
• On Tuesday, Sept. 3, all Mlive reporters throughout the state at MLive.com and affiliate website AnnArbor.com, will also post stories online and take your nominations. If your favorite brewery is not in one of our markets, don't worry: We'll take nominations from all over the state, including the Upper Peninsula, the Traverse City/Grand Traverse Bay Region and Southwest Michigan.
• The breweries with the most nominations in each market will be added to our official polls.
• Polls will be published online Thursday, Sept. 5. And readers will get to vote. michigans_best_brewery_

Muskegon Brewery Updates

Unruly Brewing Co.
Where: 360 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Russell Block Building
Owners: Jeff Jacobson, Mark Gongalski and Eric Hoffman
The beers: Unruly will serve a variety of beers, including the Revel Rouser IPA and the Sasquatch double IPA. The brewery will also serve a coffee porter, a cream ale and a California common steam beer.
Unruly has also acquired a small winemaker's license and will make white and red wine, as well as cider in the future.
Food options: The brewery will serve sandwiches from Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack as well as appetizers from local vendors like The Cheese Lady. Eventually, the owners hope to have a full menu.
The space will fit about 150 people inside and an additional 70 people in the outdoor beer garden area.
Expected opening is in November. Unruly has all the licenses to operate and has to undergo a few final inspections before opening.

Fetch Brewing Co.
Where: 100 W. Colby St., Whitehall, in the old State Bank building
Owners: Dan and Jen Hain
The beers: Fetch will have four standard beers on tap, said co-owner Dan Hain. They are:Tree Stump Coffee Stout, the Lazy Eye Rye, the Pitchfork Wheat and a pale ale.
The brewery will also make "small batch stuff" and seasonal brews that will rotate. Hain also said he wants to experiment with produce from nearby fruit orchards.
Food options: Fetch will serve pizzas, paninis and finger foods from Whitehall restaurant Sam's Grille and Pizzeria.
There will also be a second-floor mezzanine area. Hain said the space should accommodate about 95 people.
Expected opening is late December or January.

Pigeon Hill Brewing Co.
Where: 500 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Noble Building
Owners: Joel Kamp, Michael Brower, Chad Doane
The beers: The brewery will start out with large batches of four or five beers when they open and expand their portfolio once the initial rush slows down, said co-owners Joel Kamp and Michael Brower. The bar has space for 10 taps.
The taproom will seat about 80 people.
Expected opening date is unknown.

New Beer Sitcom?

 A new beer sitcom based on Dogfish Head brewery could be in the works. The show would feature funnyman Ken Marino (“The State,” “Party Down,” and the Ben Stiller-produced web comedy “Burning Love”) and his writer/actress wife Erica Oyama (“Burning Love,” "Children’s Hospital”) as the husband-and-wife owners of a funky craft brewpub. Marino was Dogfish Head owner Sam Calagione’s college roommate at NYU, and remains one of the brewer’s closest friends.
“It was actually my wife's idea – she does most of the thinking in our partnership.” Marino quipped to TODAY.com. “We pitched it to Sony TV earlier this summer and they loved it.”
  Fox also loved the idea, enough to purchase the exclusive rights to the show, Calgione confirmed. A pilot is in the works, and if Fox likes what they see, the show could make it to the airwaves. new-beer-sitcom

Summer Craft Beer Festival in GR

 The 2013 WGRD Summer Craft Beer Festival is taking place at John Ball Park in Grand Rapids MI Saturday, August 17 from 2-7PM.  20+ Breweries will be there along with food music and brewing seminars.
 2013-wgrd-summer-craft-beer-festival

IT"S SHARK WEEK!!!

Shark week drinking games... The-Shark-Week-Drinking-Game

Breaking Bad Beer

 by Dana Henninger- Brewers Ted Rice, Jeff Jinnett, and John Gozigian are huge fans of the TV show Breaking Bad. After all, the AMC series is filmed in Albuquerque, N.M., where the trio has run Marble Brewery since 2008. Several Marble beers have made cameos on the show, and cast members have found themselves relaxing after a shoot in the Marble tap rooms. Next week, on August 8, the brewery will release two commemorative beers in honor of the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad, the second half of which premieres on August 11. The first, named Heisenberg’s Dark after main character Walter White’s alter ego, is a black IPA, according to the craftbeer.com. The second is a white IPA called Walt’s White Lie — a reference obvious to anyone familiar with the show’s premise (a school teacher turned meth dealer to support his family).
 Breaking Bad fans outside New Mexico are out of luck when it comes to sampling these brews, as Marble doesn’t yet distribute out of state. The beers will be available on draft at all three Marble tap rooms (two in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe), as well as select local draft accounts. Perhaps a trip to the Southwest is in order?  stop-everything-theres-now-2-breaking-bad-ipas

Less and Less of the Light Stuff

 Today in "news that surprises no one," people are drinking less and less of the light beers that have long ruled the beer market, because they're finding that they don't taste as good.
AdAge cites the ConsumerEdge Insights' Beverage DemandTracker, "a periodic survey of U.S. adults who consume alcohol at least once a week," which found that 27 percent were drinking less light beer because they were "tired" of the taste, while 21 percent were drinking "more types of beer." We can only assume that means that craft beer is making stronger and stronger gains (again, to no one's surprise). Fewer and fewer people now say that "light beer tastes great," 30 percent in the last survey, compared to 33 percent in June 2012.  breaking-light-beer

Bell's Brewing in Escanaba

 The new facility will be called the Upper Hand Brewery, and it’ll produce entirely new types of beer.
Bell’s owner and founder Larry Bell has told the Escanaba Planning Commission that Upper Hand beer would be available in the U.P., northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, but not in Lower Michigan.  new-bells-brewery-site

A Microbrew Love Story...

"Drinking Buddies" is a new romantic comedy based around a small brewery. It's release is scheduled for this August.
Check out the trailer Drinking Buddies

Craft Beer Releases July 2013

July craft beer releases.
Dogfish Head – Brand X
Dogfish Head – My Antonia
Dogfish Head – Festina Peche
Firestone Walker – Double DBA
Founders – Rubeus
Great Divide – Rumble
Great Divide – Wolfgang
Great Divide – Seasonal Yeti
Lagunitas – DayTime
Smuttynose – Homunculus

Big Lake Brewing Opening July 5

Big Lake Brewing (BLB) at 977 Butternut Drive (a commercial plaza near the intersection of Butternut, North 144th Avenue and Riley Street), will officially open to the public at noon on July 5.
 The new brewpub will specialize in traditional beer styles and wine produced on-site. When the doors open, patrons will find a beer menu with traditional styles, including a porter, strong ale, IPA, and a wheat ale brewed on a 3-barrel nano system.  For now, Big Lake will focus on brewing for the taproom, but  they are interested in distributing keg beer in the future if demand warrants.
 Big Lake Brewing will not have a kitchen or food, but patrons are encouraged to bring in outside food,  Thai Palace and Peppino’s Pizza are located next door.
 Initial hours are 5 p.m. to close on Friday, and noon to close on Saturday and Sunday. Weekday hours may be added down the line.

 Owners, Greg Mackeller, Travis Prueter, and Nic Winsemius founded the LLC in 2009.

Spruce Tips Are Poppin Out!

 It's that time of year again when the spruce tips pop out from the ends of the branches, so make a spruce tip beer.

Spruce tips have been used in the brewing process for hundreds of years. In fact, they were one of the main additions in beer before people learned about brewing with hops! Spruce tips add a fresh, bright aroma. The fresh, tender tips have a mellow pine scent and a crisp flavor.

 Alcoholic spruce beer was common in the colonial United States and eastern Canada. The Daily Order for the Highland Regiment in North America (early to mid 1800’s) stipulated that: "Spruce beer is to be brewed for the health and conveniency of the troops which will be served at prime cost. Each gallon will cost nearly three coppers."
 Harvest some tips soon and give this recipe a try or experiment on your own. Spruce tips work nicely with ambers and browns also. Cheers!

Spruce Tip Pale Ale
(5 Gallons)
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
1 lb Munich Malt – 10L (Great Western)
.50 lb Carapils
2 lb Caramel / Crystal Malt – 60L
1 oz New Zealand Hallertauer (8.5% - 60 minutes)
.50 oz Cascade (8.6% - 20 minutes)
4 to 8 oz Spruce Tips (15 minutes - less for subtle flavor, more for strong flavor)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1 oz New Zealand Hallertauer (8.5% - 5 minutes)
American Ale Yeast
 Mash crushed grains at 152 degrees for one hour. Bring to a boil and start hop additions. Cool wort in a fermenter and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary after primary fermentation has slowed (usually 3-5 days). Condition in secondary for two weeks before bottling or kegging.

Grand Rapids Wins Beer City Title Outright!

 Again Grand Rapids wins the Beer City title with 27,005 votes!  Kalamazoo was a distant second with 11,150 votes and Asheville NC, last years co-winner, received 10,075.
 Thank you for voting, now have a beer.

Brewer's Workshop

Brewer's Workshop is a software tool intended to assist the home brewer in recipe design and record keeping. With all the BJCP beer styles built in, Brewer's Workshop can help with recipe design to ensure you are on the mark for the style of beer you are after. Brewer's Workshop has nicely formatted Email and print functions to document what you have brewed. Read more at their site. brewers-workshop

Founders Expansion With Beer Garden

 Founders Brewing Co. broke ground on a large-scale taproom expansion project on April 1 that will expand the taproom and add a second floor.
In place of the Grandville Ave. parking spots, Founders is building a 3,975-square-foot partially-covered beer garden that will feature multi-level seating, an outdoor bar and a fireplace. The taproom expansion is the second phase of the brewery’s $26 million overall brewery expansion project that will create approximately 50 new jobs and increase annual production capacity to 340,000 barrels of beer.  Also, the second phase construction will add an educational facility for beer tourists, additional offices, an enlarged deli kitchen and company store. Construction should be completed fall of 2013.
 The taproom will stay open during construction and the current layout will remain unchanged except for the restroom and company store areas.

Mobile Beer Canning Truck In Michigan

 Two Western Michigan University graduates are launching Michigan Mobile Canning, the state’s first mobile canning line. They have invested more than $160,000 to replicate what is a successful business in Colorado.  The Wild Goose Canning Technologies MC-250 modified system will be housed in a 16-foot box truck, with custom-made, sleeve-wrap labeled cans designed to can beers. Their aim will be to arrive when a brewery is ready to distribute beer, fill the cans under the brewer's direct supervision and then leave. The line will be able fill 2 to 2.5 million cans a year (approx.7,500 to 8,500 barrels).
 The MMC are aiming to help small breweries who have never packaged before by helping to package for the first time, and help them get into the retail setting by going  state-wide rather quickly.  Many craft brewers have been seeing the benefits of cans, there’s less packaging weight and it stacks better for storage.
 Michigan Mobile Canning's first client will be Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, with more in line for the summer. The pricing will be pay-as-you go for interested brewers.
 The first truck will be on the road in Michigan by June and they hope to expand to two trucks by 2014.
Michigan Mobile Canning  www.michiganmobilecanning.com

Zeeland's first brewery: Tripelroot To Open Spring of 2014

 Nate and Laura Gentry have started renovation in downtown Zeeland changing the old 5/3 building into a restaurant and brewpub called Tripel Root. The couple bought the building at 146 E. Main St. in February and have successfully convinced Zeeland city leaders to allow take-out alcohol sales at full-service restaurants. The building's last tenant was a Fifth Third bank branch, in the 2,400-square-foot building which started out in the late 1800s as M.C. Ver Hage hardware store. The new decor will include hardwood flooring and an outdoor German-style beer garden on what was once a bank drive-through. Laura says “We want to be local and environmentally friendly, with kind of an earthy feel and the historic pieces of the building highlighted”. They are still raising money for what’s estimated to be an $800,000 project.
 Nate Gentry, a homebrewer of ten years, says Tripel Root plans to brew on a 7-barrel system, with three fermenters and three serving tanks. The company is seeking a Class C liquor license that
would allow for guest taps, wine and liquor. The planned food menu will feature stone-baked pizza-like flatbreads. Gentry said Tripel Root is planning ales at two tiers of beer strength with many different options. A Belgian-style tripel ale will likely be a mainstay.

Dry Hop Flavor Experiment...with Bud Light?

Dry Hopped Bud Light
 No, your eyes aren't deceiving you; I'm dry hopping Bud Light today. I borrowed this idea from one of the brewers at Anchor Brewing. He mentioned on a Brewing Network interview that this is his favorite way to see the differences between different hop varieties. They just buy a 12er of Bud Light, pop the caps, drop in a few pellets, and then taste the differences. It sounded like a great idea to me, so here we go!

There isn't too much to talk about in terms of a 'how-to'. Label and sanitize your caps, pop the caps, drop in some pellets, and re-cap. It's a pretty straight forward process. I keep all my hops in mason jars, so it's a pretty simple process for me to open a jar, steal a few pellets, and seal it back up with the foodsaver. The only real question was how many pellets to add to each bottle...
  click here for the entire story

Siciliano's HB Competition Update

 by Greg Johnson  sicilianosmkt.blogspot
Several weeks ago, when we announced the 10th Annual Siciliano's Homebrew Competition, we linked  to two pdf documents—a contest entry form and a form with bottle labels. Please note that we have since decided to move the registration process online.
 This year, thanks to our friend Dan Frechette from the Kuhnhenn Guild of Brewer's (KGB), we will be using the Beers To Fear online software for entry registration. We will begin accepting entries on Monday, March 25th and will stop on Sunday, April 14th, or once we've reached a total of 250 entries (more on this below). More information about the online entry format will be detailed as we near March 25th, including the website URL, directions on how to enter your beer, and label printing, which this website will fully facilitate.

The contest this year will be capped at 250 entries, with one entry per person, so that the judging load remains manageable. If we were to allow more than 250 entries, the amount of time we would need to judge the beers would increase significantly. Increased judging time means asking our volunteer judges and stewards to take more time out of their weekends than they already so graciously give us. So to help provide the best experience for our judges and ultimately provide the best possible feedback for our participants, we have chosen to keep the competition on the smaller side. There are other, larger competitions in the state that we help sponsor throughout the year for anyone looking to receive more feedback on their beer, namely the Michigan Beer Cup and Homebrew at the World Expo of Beers.

Important points for the 10th Annual Homebrew Competition:

1 entry per person
250 entry cap (NEW!)
Entries accepted March 25th – April 14th (or until 250 entries is reached)
$5 per entry, cash or check only
BJCP Style Guidelines for categories 1-23 will be used
Beer submission & bottle label printing will be web based (NEW!)
Good luck to all who enter!