Brewing White Ale
Yesterday we brewed John’s Generations White Ale. It was also Kevin Buckleys second crack at brewing by himself. The poor guy has not had good luck so far. You see, the first time I let him brew, someone managed to bump into the handle of the mill upstairs, tightening it down further. A tight mill produces fine particles that tend to clog the screens of the Lauter Tun, so his first brew was quite a long one. Well yesterday, I somehow managed to bump into the mill in the morning, and we had a very difficult runnoff again! Oops! I think this is the only two times this has ever happened at the brewery, and Kevin is very unlucky… but I can be sure that he will personally inspect the mill gap everytime before he mashes in from now on!
We are breaking ground on the new warehouse on Monday… How cool is that!!!! We really need the space. Last week, the beer club was late in sending a truck to pickup their ten pallets of beer, and we really had some difficult storage issues…. We actually had to bottle less than we could because there was simply no place to put the beer!
Also, we have a new salesroom help. I heartily welcome Chris Hickman, he will be starting.. um Today! Chris let us know how your first day was!Its hard to find reliable help in the salesroom, we are very dependent on our two regular sales ladies, Deb and Gaycia. I think it has something to do with finding people who want to drive all the way to Amana to work every other weekend. Well you know the story.. good help is hard find in any business. We have been pretty lucky to get the people we have.
A friend of mine stopped by the other day and dropped me off some New Belgium beer. I have to say.. it the best New Belgium beer I have ever had! I bought several six packs of it the last time I was in St. louis, and it was all stale. It sort tasted a bit ..brothy! I assume their distributor down there must put the beer out on the dock to make more room for AB. This stuff was fresh from Nebraska, and really good stuff. I really enjoyed the 1554 Black Ale and the new Bier De Mars. The Bier De Mars was like a Wit/Saison with a hint of pepper and Lemon. It is still hard stuff to find in Iowa. I think I heard that they moved into Ohio this year… skipping over Iowa yet again. Oh well, I guess we don’t need the competition! I do find it very interesting that they have entered every state around Iowa (including MN, WI, IL, MO,KS and NE) but have skipped us. Last year they entered California rather than here. If you don’t know, New Belgium is now the third largest Craft brewery, after Boston brewing and Sierra Nevada.
Yes we are still Iowa’s largest brewery. Looking at the numbers from last year in this issue of the New Brewer, I can see that we are still the Largest brewery in Iowa, though Rock Bottom in Des Moines is not far behind. Everyone was in this issue… I will publish the numbers later on.
June 4th, 2005 at 9:05 pm
Hey, it was a good time. I appreciate the website welcome, wasn’t expecting that! I don’t like going up to the top floor because it’s hot, but other than that it’s great
Millie is very nice, if meddlesome. She likes to get in your face and then bat at you if you try to pet her.
Observations:
1. As I guessed and was warned, people want the “lightest beer” (i.e. Wheat) a lot. I tried to get some people to step up and try the Pilsner, and I think I had roughly a 33% success rate for those who didn’t ask for it initially.
2. Belgian Wit is love/hate. This is a style I have not been able to warm up to myself, actually. There seem to be few neutral on the Pail Ale and Stout, too, but mostly positive because I think most people willing to try them know what they’re getting into!
3. People are VERY disappointed that Cream Soda is gone.
I’ll be back again tomorrow and then next week. You should have me for at least a year, if you want me. I enjoy beer, working with good people, and the Amana Colonies in general, and I get all three working for you guys. What more could I ask for?
June 7th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
I pretty much agree with your findings. The Cream Soda thing is amazing. Where have these people been? Its like they buy a six pack once a year, and then demand that we keep making it forever!
Someday perhaps we will bring the Cream Soda back… But right now we already have too many brands to manage. We got the same flack for discontinuing the Hefeweizen, Dunkel Hefeweizen, and the original Millstream Lager.
June 11th, 2005 at 10:36 pm
Hey guys. I was up at the brewery on Memorial Day. Busy day.
I just moved to Iowa from Illinois, and was pleased to find at least one local brewery in an otherwise rather bland (beer-wise) state. Interesting coment about New Belgium…I haven’t seen it in Illinois! I’ll have to look next time I’m back for a visit.
Brew more Pail Ale! I’ve been drinking it in Knoxville at a little place called the Swamp Fox…until I drank them out of their supply. Good beer!