No Bell's Cherry Stout This Year

Weather conditions that decimated Michigan's tart cherry crop this spring have made it impossible for Bell's Brewery Inc. to release its seasonal Cherry Stout this year, the brewery said. Bell's issued a press release today saying the Cherry Stout, first released in 1988, will not be made this year because warm temperatures followed by multiple frosts destroyed the cherries used to make the beer, typically released in October.
 Cherry Stout is made using Montmorency cherry juice made from cherries grown in the Traverse City area. Cherry Stout kegs from last year will be released in limited numbers, the brewery said.
"While we do hope that a bountiful harvest will allow us to bring this beer back to our fall stout line-up next year, more importantly, we are hopeful that it will allow Michigan's fruit growers to recover as well."

Great American Brew Trail

 The first season of the Grand Rapids-based program, "Great American Brew Trail," debuts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 on WOTV 4. The 13-program season will aim to capture "the excitement and growth of the microbrewery industry," according to a press release. It is hosted by chef and homebrewer Amy Sherman, who traveled around Michigan for three months gathering material the first season.
 For more information on the program, go to greatamericanbrewtrail, or find it on Facebook. (Great American Brew Trail)

This Is Bell's! Crankin It Up To 11!

 

 by John Liberty Bell's Brewery Inc. will commemorate its 11,000th batch of beer with This One Goes to 11, a reference to a scene in "Spinal Tap."

Courtesy of Bell's Brewery Inc.-- In the world of craft beer, people have heard of "big beers."
But how about a loud beer?
 Bell's Brewery Inc. is planning a loud beer with an alcohol-by-volume of 11 percent that also pays respect to the mockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," and a brewing milestone for the state's largest beer maker.
The beer, called This One Goes to 11 Ale, is a reference to one of the film's best scenes. It is a limited release and will be shipped from Bell's in mid-September to all states in the brewery's distribution network.
The Comstock Township-based brewery with its Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo ended its Batch Series at 10,000, but will celebrate its 11,000th batch with this Imperial Red, according to Bell's blog.
According to the blog, This One Goes to 11 Ale "opens with bright, juicy aromas such as tropical fruits & ripe cherries, largely derived from massive kettle & dry-hop additions of Southern Hemisphere hop varieties such as Galaxy, Motueka, and Summer. The citrus & resinous pine notes of the Pacific Northwest hop family are also well represented, making their presence known through Simcoe, Citra, and the newly released Mosaic varietal, just to name a few. A wide range of specialty malts anchor the hops to this Imperial Red Ale, contrasting the assertive bitterness & juicy aromatics with a robust, toasty depth of flavor."
Much like the film, This One Goes to 11 Ale "finishes with a lingering warmth."

How NOT to Brew

click here to see How_NOT_to_brew

Homebrewers United!

THANK YOU NEW HOLLAND!!

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