Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Rock Bottom Brew and welcome back Geoff.

I just talked with Brian from Rock Bottom of Bellevue about some final recipe adjustments and we are ready to brew Saturday at noon. I'm pretty excited as it seems like to guys at Rock Bottom have a lot of wiggle room and creativity. For a corporate owned brewery and restaurant,they are A-OK in my book. They turn out some great beers and I have been pretty happy for the most part and I know Brian will do our Saison justice.

Mark Emily's awesome Kolsch will be on tap starting tomorrow at Rock Bottom Seattle. I have had the pleasure of trying the original a couple of times and new it was a winner from the get go. Great job dude, and I can't wait to try it tomorrow!

Last but not least, welcome back Geoff Kaiser who has been on vacation to Italy for the past couple of weeks (bastard). Hopefully after all of the great wine and food he experienced over there,he still has an appreciation for all of the great beer and food we have here in out little corner of Washington. I need to rush out and get some beer in him before he completely turns into a cork dork. There still might be time if we hurry! Welcome back dude. We have some heavy pint lifting to do.

Monday, July 7, 2008

And here we go...

As most of you may know, beer has taken a back seat for the past couple of months due to a few circumstances. Unfortunately Rodney is sustaining some back injuries and is trying to take it easy. He's doing great, but no more heaving 55lb grain bags up the stairs for a bit..I for one am in the process of trying to get into the best shape of my life after my back surgery and have cut beer drinking out for special occasions. There seem to be a lot of special occasion lately though. Our huge drop in cooler took a dump and we are somewhat limited on cold storage right now, but we are making due and have plans for a brewery revamp very soon, so come over and help get rid of some of our old stuff. We'll be back up and going in a couple of weeks.

So the good stuff: Saison Du Beacon took first place in the Belgian/French ale category at the Pro-Am competition. It was picked up by Rock Bottom Bellevue to be scaled up and entered in the Great American Beer Festival. I'm pretty stoked I must say. This is not only an honor, but it's also going to be a kick ass time. There is a bunch of us going down to Denver this year and is going to prove to be a great time no who wins what.I'm rooting for Mark Emily and Kevin Davey though. We'll all be down there rooting for each other. I will post the date of the tapping party when the beer is ready. Should be a great time.

I just worked the Seattle International Beer Festival this weekend and have to say it was an awesome experience.Yes, I carried a radio and wore a shirt that said "Beer Police" on the back. Probably got called a douchebag by a couple of people, but for that weekend, the few and the proud of us were above the law. Beer Police Brewtality. Lots of incredible experiences and I went away with some new friends as well. I won't have to worry about hotel rooms when I go down to Portland anymore:)

I just had the pleasure tonight of attending a dinner/beer pairing at Smith on Capitol Hill hosted by New Belgium Brewing. I was lucky enough to sit next to Peter Bouckeart and chat about brewing and the industry for a bit. If you have never heard of Peter, he's a pretty incredible guy. He doesn't believe in beer style, so some of you guys who read this would get along with him very well...Talk about artistic and passionate..jesus.

So future brews coming up in the future:

Out house IPA. You know it and love it. It will be here soon.

A series of Belgian Strong Ales, hopefully ready by Octoberfest along with a few others yet to be decided.

Funky stuff. No Lambics yet, but we do have a surprise up our sleeves that will rock your world. We have a 100 percent Brettanomyces Wit beer that is pretty awesome right now.

More Saisons of course. My favorite style.

I gotta run. Lots of stuff to do this week. Putting together a beer pairing with some of the best food in all of Seattle for the winner of the Belgian Category of the Novembeerfest competition. Yes, believe the hype. This place is that good (Hillary can I get an amen sista?)especially at the hands of Jimmy.

Last but not least, let me give a shout out to the soon to be opened Big Al Brewing. Alejandro, Jerome, Eddie and Noel, you guys are going to be great. We're all behind you and there to help make this place great.


Make beer not bombs,

Colin