Tap List 12/30/08

Celebration IPA (7.1% a.b.v.)
Let's Celebrate a New (and improved) year in 2009! Our reddish IPA is crafted with three American hops (Chinook, Amarillo and Cascade) and are balanced by the medium-bodied sweetness of the malt and the alcohol. The bold citrus and pine type flavors linger on your palate and blend magically with the caramel malt flavor.

Munich Winterbock (6.5% a.b.v.)
This started as a Munich Style Dunkel which is a dark malty lager made in the Munich style, and then it fermented lower, dryer, and made a stronger beer than we anticipated. Plus it’s winter.
Munich Winterbock is an amber/copper/brown colored lager made with lots of munich malt for a bready malt flavor. The nose hints at a touch of roast malt used with little to no hop aroma. The flavor is predominately malt but not sweet. This beer has a clean and crisp finish that makes you want to drink some more.

IPA for Change (7.1% a.b.v.)
Obama-Nation! The transition team needs a beer too, let's hope this gets made the official IPA of the new White house administration.

Guest Tap: Dark Horse Perkulator Coffee Doppelbock
Guest Stout:

Strong Ale Fest Continued

Wow.. I guess I must have been on vacation. Started this recap and then set it aside. time to finish the update.....

So as I alluded to, I traveled to San Diego a week or so ago(edit: a month or so ago) to Pizza Ports Strong Ale Festival. This Fest began 12 years ago as a brainchild of Tom Nickel formerly a handful of brewpubs and now of O'Briens), Tomme Arthur Port/Lost Abbey and Jeff Bagby, head of the pubs for the Pizza Port Empire. The idea is two days of beer sampling. All beers are over 8%. Woot! This year, their 12th, celebrated the 75th year since Prohibition ended and the goal was to gather 75 strong ales. Well, they overextended themselves and nabbed about 103! Beers were mostly from California but they also collected several from Arizona, Chicago and the East coast as well. And all were over 8% abv. Yeah, that's a lot o alcohol. but more on that later, let me back up.

I arrived in San Diego on a Thursday night. Christmas carols were ringing thru the speakers at the airport and as I exited baggage claim I could feel the warm tropical breezes blowing in the doors and I could see the palms. Weird, really weird. I'm a midwest boy and Christmas means cold and snow. (In fact as I type this it is about 1 outside -that's Fahrenheit in case you wondered-and ice galore) Once I got over that, Jeff Bagby picked me up and we grabbed his better half-much better half, Dande (and their pooch) and headed over to the semi new Toronado. What a great line-up of beers and a great place to tip back a pint. When I walked in the door, who did I see, but the one and only Pete Crowley of Rock Bottom Brewery in Chicago. Wow, half a country away and I run into my buddy. Oh wait, I knew he was doing a brewery audit in La Jolla and had planned to meet up with me . So, we had a few Califonia brews and parted company. We drove up to Carlsbad, about 20-30 minutes north where I would be staying for the night.




Upon arriving at Casa de Bagby in Cardiff by the Sea, I encountered one of the largest beer collections I have seen in a long time. I like to drink beer, evidently Jeff does not (just kidding, pal!) He has rare beers, common beers, vintage beers, and oh yeah, 12 beers on draft. Yeah baby! Maybe a pic or to of his shelves if he sends them over. Once again, forgot the camera (stupid!)

On Friday morning we headed up to Carlsbad Pizza Port, with a pit stop for Breakfast Burritos-sweet! I helped a bit with set up. That consisted of perilously riding up on a fork lift to hang tarps. (If you work for OSHA, stop reading at the last paragraph). It seemed like "tarp overkill" because rain was not in the forecast, but I was reminded that double IPAs get skunky real quick in the San Diego sun! AHA! You are not in Kansas anymore toto.

Around 11 AM I jumped in Jeff's truck and motored over to Stone Brewing in Escondido. All I can say is wow! Check out the website. I wish I had my camera. This place is just awesome-not only the state of the art (and clean) brewhouse but the gardens and the menu are great. Wish I had some pics to share. I had been there before, but it was for the Craft Brewers Conference gathering and seeing it with less crowds was much better.

Then I headed to the festival. They have a VIP session from 1-4. Less crowds. Rare beers that will run out quickly. Dark Lord from our very own Three Floyds ran out first. Yeah! Did they just send a growler??? This was a great feature to the fest as you could move a bit better and hit the rare beers. I met up with Pete (RB Chicago) and also Marty (RB La Jolla) who would be our taxi driver Sat to Lost Abbey.










Next Stop:Bed. Since the hotel was a mere 6 blocks away, we could sneak away whenever we "needed" to. A quick stop in the PP bottle shop to buy some beers that we would pass out with on the nightstand (hint: keep your a/c cranked in the hotel room, and the beer you passed out with will still be cellar temp. in the morning.)

Hydration!! A little vitamin water and a walk on the beach and I am ready for the day!













Pete and I caught up with Marty again and had lunch in Oceanside. There is a new brewery that is waiting to start brewing. Kirk McHale, formerly of Pizza Port, is owner/brewer-but is being tied up by the city and has a dormant system collecting dust. Good Luck Kirk!

From there we headed to Lost Abbey. Oh goodness does Tomme have barrels galore. We sampled straight from the barrels. Need I say more??





But I will. This is a picture of their bottling line. Homemade I am told. I was blown away that they just had a 8 head tabletop-ish filler. We have only 4 heads, but I think we are more automated. Sure we spent a whole lot more money, but I think it's time to upgrade and pump a little bit more beer out of there. Come on Tomme, beer drinkers await!





So, we were set up like kings (well, visiting brewers) atLA and then headed back to punish the 'ol liver and try take on a few more of the beers we missed Friday.



Hey, is that 2008 World Beer Cup Small Brewpub Brewer of the year, Tonya Cornett? Why yes it is. She was in town to brew a collaboration beer with Tomme at Lost Abbey. What a great person-and brewer.



So the fest wound down. I assisted Pete to the Extended Stay America about 11:30 (just to make sure a car didn't run him down and leave Rock Bottom Chicago brewerless) and then headed back to PP for post game festivities. Needless to say, much of the details are a blur, but I think I recall jeroboams of Duvel and something else, shutting down a bar down the street, drinking in the dark, a stray roll of red duct tape (sorry Jeff) and a stroll around Carlsbad looking for some place to feed us. Dennys it is folks. Bring on the omelet at 4AM!

Blurry eyed and foggy headed it was time to venture back to the midwest on Sunday morning. Thanks to Pete for the lift and entertainment of course. Major shout to Jeff Bagby and the entire PP empire not only for a kick ass fest, but also for extreme hosting skills. We will definitely be back! I'm not sure if I could handle 70 degree walks on the beach in December every day, but...wait, yes I could!
Awesome trip........

Chicagoist names Collaborative Evil Beer of the Week

Chuck Sudo over at Chicagoist.com had some great things to say about CE. If you don't read chicagoist on a regular basis, you better start. They write about us a lot. Check it out.

Tap List 12/17/08

Munich Winterbock (6.5% a.b.v.) On Tap 12/18/08 7 p.m. (8 p.m. for non-mugclubbers)
This started as a Munich Style Dunkel which is a dark malty lager made in the Munich style, and then it fermented lower, dryer, and made a stronger beer than we anticipated. Plus it’s winter.
Munich Winterbock is an amber/copper/brown colored lager made with lots of munich malt for a bready malt flavor. The nose hints at a touch of roast malt used with little to no hop aroma. The flavor is predominately malt but not sweet. This beer has a clean and crisp finish that makes you want to drink some more.

Big Black Pumpkin (8.0% a.b.v.)
Made with 100lbs real pumpkin, 20# cocoa nibs, and pumpkin pie spices (ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon). Nice and spicy in the nose, full bodied porter, with a smooth chocolate finish.

IPA for Change (7.1% a.b.v.)
Obama-Nation! The transition team needs a beer too, let's hope this gets made the official IPA of the new White house administration.

Guest Tap: Anchor Christmas Beer
Guest Stout: Founders' Breakfast Stout

Strong Ale Fest 2008

...Strong enough anyway. That's me waxing poetic about who knows what with Pizza Port Carlsbad's Jeff Bagby's dad. Anywho, I had the distinct pleasure of traveling out to San Diego last weekend (yeah, boohoo, right-rough life) for the 12th annual Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival. They had about 103 beers over 8%! And you can see it in my eyes I am sure. What a great weekend! Toronado, Stone, Lost Abbey and Pizza Port. Oh and 75 degree sunny weather. When I get the pictures from Pete Crowley (Rock Bottom brewer who I tagged on with) I will tell the story of the week. I like to do it with pix better. For now, know that it rocked and below is a pic with Pete at Lost Abbey's brewery infront of a few of the 8 bazillion barrels Tomme uses to age beer. Awesome!

Surly Darkness Tapping

December 11th @ 6 p.m. we are going to tap into our 5 gal keg of Surly Darkness. Snifters for $5.00 until it runs out. Open to everyone, not just our Mug Club Members. Stay and watch the Bears play the Saints and enjoy a free half-time buffet.

Tap List 12/04/08

Big Black Pumpkin (8.0% a.b.v.) [almost gone]
Made with 100lbs real pumpkin, 20# cocoa nibs, and pumpkin pie spices (ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon). Nice and spicy in the nose, full bodied porter, with a smooth chocolate finish.

The Curse IPA (7.3% a.b.v.)
Matt's beloved Cubs proved their worth again this year. Let's drink to forget with a big American IPA made with Columbus, Simcoe, Cluster, and Cascade hops.

IPA for Change (7.1% a.b.v.)
Obama-Nation! The transition team needs a beer too, let's hope this gets made the official IPA of the new White house administration.

Guest Tap: Founder's Red Rye
Guest Stout: Founders' Breakfast Stout

mmmmmmm...Hard Cider!

I spent the week in Iowa City with the in-laws. It was nice to get away and it was pretty tolerable, perhaps due to the mind numbing beverages I brought along. Boy, did we consume a lot of beer! Anyway, as the week came to a close, "the men" decided to get away while the little buggers napped and take in a company making hard cider (among other things) in rural Iowa. You probably haven't heard of the little town of Sutliff Iowa. In fact, I'm not even sure if it is a town-village, hamlet, burg? In fact I hadn't heard of it and I grew up less than an hour away! Nonetheless it is a little area along the Cedar river, just south of Mt Vernon and Lisbon and North of Solon. Oh wait, haven't heard of those either. Ok, it's close to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. But this isn't an Iowa geography lesson here. It's about a great place called Sutliff Cider Company. I first heard about it a month ago as my parents were taking the Harley out for a fall ride through the countryside. For whatever reason they stopped, took the tour and found it was a whole lot like brewing beer. After tasting their hard cider, I knew I should stop by. I contacted Scott, the owner/cider maker. (Ok, someone tell me, brewers make beer, vintners make wine, who makes cider? is there a name?). Scott said he'd be in the Friday after Thanksgiving so we made the trip north about 30 minutes to the Sutliff Cider Company.

What we found was way more than expected. To say the least, Scott is passionate about his cider just as any brewer or vintner is about his drink of choice as well. We got a great tour. Here is a

little peak(forgot my camera, but bro-in-law Jeff came to the rescue until his battery died-still pretty good despite the camera phone pix):

In the main pressing room. An apple press is a new gizmo for me and I found it pretty cool. Sadly they were not pressing juice today as they normally do on Fridays.

Scott enjoyed "theifing" a little out for us. Ok, it was actually a lot. We tried 9 month old cider from four different barrels and even a little experimental perry (fermented pear juice).

Enjoying our cider right from the barrel with pa-in-law John. In the background are the 7 barrel fermentors. The cider is hazy in these tanks for many reasons including the yeast in suspension. After aging in the used wine barrels, it drops bright and delicious but is pretty dry with little sugar content. Scott then blends back each barrel along with some fress juice for the right amount of sweetness to accompany the tart crispness from this great cider. This is truly the art of cider making, I think. After that, they bottle it on a tiny bottle filler not unlike the one we use in our cellar.

A little blurry, but this is in their new tasting room where many of the barrels of cider will sit and age for 9 months before being blended and bottled. they have a lot more aging space now and are looking for bigger fermentors as well. I would kill for racks and racks of aging barrel space!

Sutliff Cider company makes three main products, Hard Cider, Soft Cider (non alcoholic) and Pure Cider (fresh press unpasteurized cider) John got to take a jug straight off the tank. yummy!

If you are ever in the Northeast area of Iowa take a little side trip to Sutliff. You'll be glad you did. Now, time to go crack a bottle out of that case I purchased.....

Tap List 11/17/08

Big Black Pumpkin (8.0% a.b.v.)
Made with 100lbs real pumpkin, 20# cocoa nibs, and pumpkin pie spices (ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon). Nice and spicy in the nose, full bodied porter, with a smooth chocolate finish.

The Curse IPA (7.3% a.b.v.)
Matt's beloved Cubs proved their worth again this year. Let's drink to forget with a big American IPA made with Columbus, Simcoe, Cluster, and Cascade hops.

Collaborative Evil (10% a.b.v.)
[Almost Gone!]


Hoppy Little "O" (6.5% a.b.v.)
Just like last time, except a little easier drinking. A beautiful marriage between a hoppy American IPA and a belgian ale. And made with organic malt of course.


Guest Tap: Surly's Coffee Bender
Guest Stout: Founders' Breakfast Stout
Wood Aged Beer (while it lasts): Oak Aged Pullman

Google Calendar added

Now you can track our upcoming events more easily. I've added a calendar to the bottom of the Blog that you can add to your personal Google Calendar if you use it. Our Public Calendar ID is: (Calendar ID: m20g437s7fhg51pfnqn96b57k4@group.calendar.google.com)



Hope this helps!

Barrel Aged Beer Now!

What do we do with leftovers from FOBAB?? We drink them, duh? We put Jenni's Sleepi ale on the bar Monday night and was out sometime Tuesday (sorry). Currently we are pouring Organic Woody(may last til Friday afternoon). I think we will do Wooden Hell next and finish out with Pullman Reserve (which we have to most of.) Hurry, these won't last more than a day or two each. Ask your bartender for today's selection.
cheers!

FOBAB doubly successful

We had over 100 beers, we had two sessions, we had over 1000 people. This year's Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged BeerSM was a huge success. We won silver for Wooden Hell in the Barleywine category, and silver in the experimental category for Jenni's Sleepi, a blend of Pullman, raspberries, and oak.

All of the volunteers, brewers, and workers deserve a big thank you for such a smooth transition between GI-Wrigleyville and the Plumber's Hall.

Here are some photos.


The hall right after setup.

Judging

More judging



The crowd during session 1.

Matt and the Sleepi one herself showing off our two silver medals.

City Provisions Dinner Wednesday, November 19th

Just a reminder about the awesome dinner we have coming up with City Provisions. If you haven't seen this week's Time Out Chicago, here is the reminder:

Featuring Flossmoor Station Brewery, Flossmoor, IL
Dietzler Farms

Wednesday November 19th, 2008
7 :00pm
City Provisions
1820 West Wilson
Chicago

$60 all inclusive

-MENU-
ON THE TABLE
fall spiced popcorn
Zephyr Golden Ale
ONE
organic split pea soup with braised oxtails
Station Master Wheat Ale
TWO
Albondigas, roasted poblano salsa
The Curse IPA
THREE
cumin cilantro marinated flank steak, fingerling potato latkes, roasted red pepper cream
Hoppy Little O
FOUR
Pullman brown BBQ brisket, beer battered onion frizzles, on Texas toast, sweet potato
mash, Collaborative Evil syrup
Pullman Brown
FIVE
big black pumpkin ale cake, homemade marshmallow, and pumpkin crème anglais
Big Black Pumpkin
-MENU-



Flyers if you would like to print and hand out to your friends.

GABF judging review

Our notes just came in the mail from the Judging at this year's GABF. I'm always excited and nervous to read the notes because I have a hard time being objective about my own beers. In a blind tasting with judges from all over the world, a lot of them being fellow brewers, it's always great to get feedback. In '06 when we "won it all" the notes were overwhelmingly positive. We sent six beers and won medals with four of them. Last year we sent eight beers and "only" won one Gold Medal. This year we also sent eight beers and again, we "only" won one medal but the notes were again very positive. I want to try to give you a little insight to the process and show what's it's like to those who choose to participate.

When you get your envelope it has stapled packets with a cover sheets like this:


The first thing I always dart my eyes around for is that first "yes" "no" check box. Yes means that your beer went on past the first round of judging. We entered eight categories (with number of entries in parenthesis): 75 Barley Wine (55), 14 American-Belgo Style Ale (36), 38 Baltic Style Porter(18), 48 American Style Amber/Red (65), 17 Wood-and Barrel-Aged Strong beer (79), 35 German-Style Schwarzbier (23), 15 American-Style or German-Style Sour ale (34), 76 Pro-Am (58), and 64 Belgian Style Strong Specialty Ale (44).

Every year the competition gets bigger and therefor harder to win. As far as judging goes, categories with 12 or fewer entries are judged in one round, 13-48 entries are two rounds, and larger than 48 are three rounds. The Yes or No check box lets you know that you beer went past the first round at the very least. If you entered American IPA with 104 entries and your beer made it out of the first round, that might not mean nearly as much as a category with smaller number of entries. Some judges just try to wean out the beers with faults first. Any dink can be a reason to knock it out. But I've never judged at GABF so maybe Matt can chime in later to give a different perspective.

The beers that we had go on to the next round were Sheol, Killer Kowalski, Panama Red, Black Wolf Schwarz, 12, and Collaborative Evil. When you're at the awards ceremony and you're mentally biting your nails you hope that somehow all of your beers will win. Normally there isn't much chance of that. Winning even a single bronze is a great accomplishment that many people can't or don't fully understand. These are the best beers in the country, and to a large degree the world. Winning an award feels great. It gives your ego a boost. It makes cleaning kegs for hours on end or bottling until you're numb in the mind worthwile. You can tell people that, "Yes, I did make the best such and such beer in the country." So having said that, when you "only" win one award after winning more than one in the past, it can be a little dissapointing. Not as much as getting shut out; because that really sucks. However, this brings me back to judging notes.

Six of the Nine beers that we sent out went on to the next round. That's awesome. The judges for the most part really seemed to like our beers. The fact that only one meddled doesn't hurt nearly as much once you see that in the judges minds you had a really good beer. Some of the notes are great, like this one:



Some of them are entirely unhelpful, like this one:



Can you read what that says? Because we can't. Thanks for the silver medal but I can't tell if you liked our Baltic Porter or how we can improve it back to Gold status.

Regardless, my point is that if you are submitting beers to the biggest and best Beer Competition in the US, it's great to know that you were really close to winning on a bunch of your beers. Once you get past the first round and there are four or five or six beers that the judges are trying to decide on for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, it can come down to the smallest thing. It doesn't mean that your beer is bad but it's up to the people at the table at that point and if your beer gets that far you've done well.

I think we did well this year. I look forward to next year as we begin planning and plotting on how to take back the mantle of "Best Small Brewpub" in the country. Hopefully. If we're lucky enough. If our beers all taste great. And I guess if the judges like them too.

Tap List 10/29/08

Big Black Pumpkin (8.0% a.b.v.)
Made with 100lbs real pumpkin, 20# cocoa nibs, and pumpkin pie spices (ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon). Nice and spicy in the nose, full bodied porter, with a smooth chocolate finish.

The Curse IPA (7.3% a.b.v.)
Matt's beloved Cubs proved their worth again this year. Let's drink to forget with a big American IPA made with Columbus, Simcoe, Cluster, and Cascade hops.

Collaborative Evil (10% a.b.v.)



Hoppy Little "O" (6.5% a.b.v.) [Almost Gone]
Just like last time, except a little easier drinking. A beautiful marriage between a hoppy American IPA and a belgian ale. And made with organic malt of course.


Guest Tap: Surly's Coffee Bender
Guest Stout: O'hara's Irish Stout Founders' Breakfast Stout

Tap List 10/21/08

The Curse IPA (7.3% a.b.v.)
Matt's beloved Cubs proved their worth again this year. Let's drink to forget with a big American IPA made with Columbus, Simcoe, Cluster, and Cascade hops.

Collaborative Evil (10% a.b.v.)


Oktoberfest (6.3% a.b.v.)
I think we have really nailed this recipe.

Hoppy Little "O" (6.5% a.b.v.) [Almost Gone]
Just like last time, except a little easier drinking. A beautiful marriage between a hoppy American IPA and a belgian ale. And made with organic malt of course.


Guest Tap: New Holland's Ichabod
Guest Stout: O'hara's Irish Stout

Up Coming Calender of Events

Here are some dates to write down on your calender and sign up for.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 -In Fine Spirits Harvest Beer Dinner 7:30 to 9:30pm $60 per person

Join us upstairs for a fun night featuring six beers and six courses!

Matt Van Wyk, brewmaster at Flossmoor Station Brewing Company, will present a line up of six craft brews, paired to delicious harvest-themed dishes from our chef, Marianne Sundquist.

Flossmoor Station's beers are handcrafted from the finest all-natural ingredients, with no preservatives, chemicals or artificial flavorings. This event will be a great introduction to beer styles (if you're new to craft beer), and a great tasting tour for beer lovers! Our menu will include some fall favorites as well as fresh seasonal plates.

Join us to celebrate autumn and the harvest!

Saturday, November 8
The Sixth Annual Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer^SM

Chicago Journeyman Plumbers' Local Union 130
Stephen M. Bailey Auditorium
1340 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago

Two Sessions: 1:00-5:00 & 6:00-10:00 P.M.
$35 in advance, $45 at the door (if available)
A maximum of 500 tickets will be sold for each session.

November 17th Bluebird event
1749 N. Damen | Chicago, IL | 60647
(between Bloomingdale and St. Paul)
773.486.2473
More details to follow

City Provisions Supper Club: Get Local with Beer & Beef—Wednesday, November 19, 2008,

7 p.m. at City Provisions (1820 West Wilson, Chicago, Illinois)

Cleetus Friedman, owner of City Provisions Catering and Events, has put together an event to educate, enlighten and entertain his guests. Joined by Flossmoor Station Brewery from Flossmoor, Illinois and featuring beef from Dietzler Farms of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, this month’s Supper Club will help guests gain a better perspective on eating locally and promote understanding of the farming process…from farm to table.

The experience will comprise of a five course meal, paired with beers by Flossmoor Station. Both Michelle Dietzler from Dietzler Farms and Matt Van Wyk, brewmaster at Flossmoor Station, will be on hand to discuss the their processes and speak about the amazing, quality products they each produce. The cost for this event is $60 (all inclusive).

Each of Friedman's dishes will be served on pottery made specially for the Supper Club by local artist, Melissa Monroe.

City Provisions is a Chicago-based catering company that uses sustainable practices and focuses on connecting people with their food. To RSVP to this event or for further information about City Provisions, please call 773-235-2489, email info@cityprovisions.comor visit us at www.cityprovisions.com.

Mention on Gapers Block

Tough Competition at Great American Beer Festival

Every October, the Brewers Association puts on the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), where hundreds of brewers and thousands of people descend upon Denver for three days of celebrating beer. The culmination of this event is the awards for the best beers in 75 categories, as well as naming the breweries and brewers of the year.

Jill Jaracz talked to Matt this week. Read about it at Gapers Block.

Denver Week

Now that we are back, and every so slowly re-acclimating ourselves to the daily grind, let me try to tell you what we did this past week in Colorado. Matt was judging so he was busy most days from Tuesday until Friday. I flew in Wednesday, got our materials, and we went to the Brewer's gathering that is held every year at Wynkoop brewery in LoDo on Wazee and 18th. Our friend Charlie,(seen here in the red shirt) who used to brew at O'Fallon in Missouri, is now on the brewstaff at Wynkoop. He gave us the full tour and made sure that we had a great time.

Thursday, while Matt was toiling away at the judging tables, I was riding in a Escalade Limosene with the Pizza Port Crew. Jeff Bagby, the brewer at their Carlsbad location, and director of Brewing operations set up a tour for us of New Belgium with none other than New Belgium's brewmaster Peter Bouckaert.



They set us up with special lanyards that doubled as bottle openers that let the staff know that we were allowed to have free reign over wherever we wanted to go. And we certainly did. Peter asked us first thing, "Vat iz it that you vant to see?" And we responded with pretty much "everything."


Lauren Salazar also came with us to help answer our endless questions. Lauren is New Belgium's Sensory guru and is also very involved in their sour beers.


Heat exchanger for their 200bbl Steinecker brewhouse.

Hop and spice dosing tanks.


Peter explaining something important.

A view inside their kettle equipped with a calandria.

We checked out their mostly out of use 100bbl system that will eventually come back into use once they can max out their fermenter space. Then we got to see their 200bbl system that is in full use.

all breweries should be this cool.


The view from "acid alley." Peter asked us if we wanted to see the view from the tops of the fermenters. Nobody said no, so up we went.


A quick trip through the filtration and transferring room. and then UP.


and up.



The view was pretty awesome. You could see the Ft. Collins AB plant, and a whole bunch of other stuff in the vicinity even though it was cloudy.

Working preparing concrete molds for new fermenters that are coming.

New canning line!

Foeders in a line. These wooden vessels are typically used for wine production, but some breweries use them for aging beer in.

Lauren and Peter explaining the wood aging process of their sour beers. This was some of the coolest stuff on the tour for me.

Foeder #2 was tasting especially good to Lauren. Peter said the beer inside it would probably be used to make Le Terroir, an amazing sour beer that is dry hopped with Amarillos. We gave it third place last year in the sour category at FOBAB (tickets still available for this years fest).
But enough talk, it was time to drink!

After that went to the bottling building.

Thunder Dome is no joke. There was no Master Blaster, but it was loud. And this is a serious bottling facility.

700-800 bottles per min. Robot arm that automatically sorts and palletizes cases of beer. A lazer machine that prints the dates on the labels as they zoom by. It nearly made me cry to know that they bottle more beer in five minutes that I have in a year.

But to make things better, Lauren let us grab beers right off the line and drink them. Very Cool.


Then finally, the tour was just about over. The only thing we hadn't done yet was go down the slide.


This is the slide from the offices to the downstairs. Lauren says that she uses it at least four times a day.

It was an especially awesome tour. I can't reccomend New Belgium highly enough. And if you get a chance to go there in the near future, make sure to try Ben's Saison, part of their Lips of Faith series. Ben was in my Siebel class and made a great Saison.