Twelfth Stop – Diamond Bear Brewing Company

I chose to add Diamond Bear to my tour largely because of its convenient location between Fort Worth and Saint Louis. It seemed like too far of a drive without a stopping for a tour at least once. Before arriving I send out calls and emails to each brewery I’m headed to so as to make sure someone will be around to give me an interview and/or a tour. Diamond Bear was one of the very few that never responded to my requests.

I was going in blind. I researched each brewery before my arrival but because of Diamond Bear’s lack of response and my short time I skimmed their history and that’s about it. The plan was to drive up from Fort Worth, go on the tour, and drive on to Springfield where I would stay the night with a friend.

Lucky for me Chuck Heinbockel, my volunteer tour guide, and others made that significantly more difficult than I was anticipating. He and I sat down in the small, but cozy taproom and started talking. Eventually we were joined by Adam, the “taproom attendant,” Bonz, a colorful new employee and avid homebrewer, and the brewer from a local brewpub that stops by on Saturdays to hang out.

Chuck is the embodiment of passion for beer. He is a professional landlord owning stakes in buildings all around Little Rock. I’m making an assumption here, but I think he does pretty well for himself. Still though, he comes down to the brewery on weekends to give tours in exchange for a free case of beer.

Over the last few years Chuck has really started getting into the world of craft beer. His self described “beer quest” began when he tried Abbey Grand Cru from New Belgium at an event hosted by the Little Rock Art Center called Art on Tap. Since then, he has been a changed man.

Chuck became a regular at Vino’s, a local brewpub, where he greatly enjoys the imperial IPA. He also started watched closely for beer events and tastings in the area and got involved with Diamond Bear Brewing as a volunteer.

I never would have guessed but the tour he gave me and the 15 other happy drinkers yesterday was only his fifth. I was complimenting Chuck on being such a quick study and he admitted to having forgotten to pass around the examples of brewing grains and hops. Once he realized it he brought them over to the table where we had been talking and gave me his explanation. There aren’t all that many ways to describe grain and hops but Chuck still managed to throw in a few extra tidbits I hadn’t heard other places.

My favorite was when he showed me the ratio of toasted to regular malt for their porter. He compared it to when you’re cooking gravy. When you’re getting those little caramelized bits it’s extremely important to scrape them up so your gravy will taste…like gravy. However, it doesn’t take too many of them to flavor quite a bit of liquid. Stout beers are the same. The toasted malt is extremely important, but it doesn’t take too much of it to flavor your beer but what you do throw in really packs a punch.

It’s safe to say at this point that as much as I’ve absolutely relished my interviews with various brewmasters and brewery owners, I might have enjoyed by other interviews even more. Speaking with a volunteer tour guide gave me a unique perspective on Diamond Bear Brewing that couldn’t have been matched by anyone else. The same could be said of my interview with Peter Takacs, the manager of quality assurance at Spoetzl Brewing in Shiner, TX. These different people in different brewery positions are showing me a whole new side to the world of brewing.

The book version of All Hopped Up will include much more from my conversation with Chuck and a bunch of stuff I learned about homebrewing from Bonz, who is sending a recipe for his popular jalapeño amber homebrew. I’ll probably post the recipe as soon as I get it, so watch close!

Eleventh Stop - Rahr & Sons Brewing Co.

One visit just wasn’t enough for me. Monday afternoon I went by the brewery in Fort Worth to interview and have a few beers with Fritz Rahr, the brewery’s founder. Although wonderful I had to be sure to make it back Wednesday evening for the open house brewery tour.

In the interest of full disclosure before anything else I should mention that I harbor an extraordinary bias when it comes to anything Rahr. While in college at TCU in Fort Worth I was a regular at the Saturday afternoon Rahr brewery tours and a frequent “sampler” of their products. Rahr’s was also my first American brewery tour when I was of legal drinking age. Because of that, the fact that Rahr is “proudly brewed by a Horned Frog” (fellow TCU alum), and my nostalgia for college nights drinking it on my apartment’s patio with friends, Rahr will always be one of my favorites. There you go; I’m a big, biased fan.

Monday the focus of much of my conversation with Fritz was on the last ten months of Rahr’s operations. Or rather, non-operation for much of it. On February 11th 2010 Fort Worth received 12.5 inches of snow in slightly under 24 hours. I wasn’t keeping track but I would be SHOCKED if that didn’t double how much snow fell in Fort Worth in my four years there. North Texas is used to the occasional sleeting, maybe even a little ice here and there on cold nights. 12.5 inches of snow though? Even a seasoned Iowan like me thinks that would be miserable.

Fritz was supposed to be meeting one of his brewers to get a new batch of beer going on that fateful morning but in light of the snow called and told him not to come in. While still in the five o’clock hour a call came in from Rahr’s alarm company to alert Fritz that the brewery’s sprinkler system had activated; he needed to get to the brewery as soon as possible. Worried about his business he hopped in his car and turned on the radio. On the way he heard reports of damage around the city and started putting two and two together. Massive amounts of snow. Sprinklers running. A flat roof. It could only mean one thing, the roof had collapsed overnight under the weight of the snow.

He arrived at the brewery he had poured so much of himself into over the last five and a half years and was greeted by firemen who were ripping down the overhead door to get in. The damage was catastrophic. In some areas the only thing holding the roof up at all were the fermentation tanks.

The call he received about sprinklers had been more than accurate. They, along with a broken water main, had poured over a foot of water into the brewery. The cooler was crushed. The bar was destroyed. Their bottling line was ruined. Some fermentors were damaged. The list, of course, goes on and on, and on.

Despite how it sounds so far, this really isn’t a tail of defeat. Rather it is a story of rebirth. Rahr worked with Farmers Insurance (about whom Fritz only has the best things to say) and rebuilt. In the four/five months of non-production the brewery created a new identity for itself with new labels and a new logo. They also changed some things about their overall brewing setup they would have liked to have done anyway and a new tasting bar was built that backs up directly to their new cooler.

Even when not producing beer the staff of Rahr was hard at work with one of their partners, CGC marketing, to create a viral video series titled “what brewers do when they’re not brewing. It stars Fritz, and Rahr brewers Austin Jones & Jason Lyon and if I may say so myself, is very funny.

Here is a link to view all ten of the videos.

Now Rahr is happily back in full production and is continually expanding capacity. I’ll be talking about all things Rahr in the book. That will include the rest of my non-roof related conversation with Fritz, A bit of my chat with a former plumber/current Rahr employee, the origins and history of Rahr, and tales of my trip out to the brewery Wednesday night with some old college friends.

Up next I’ll be at the Diamond Bear Brewing Company in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Tenth Stop - Real Ale Brewing

I’m only putting up a mini post about Real Ale in Blanco, TX because truth be told, it was a mini visit. I don’t want to say that my trip to Blanco wasn’t an afterthought, but it wasn’t really at the forefront either.

After spending the early afternoon at Independence Brewing Company I knew I was going to be cutting it close to make it in time for Real Ale’s last tour of the day. As I waved goodbye to Amy and Rob Cartwright at Independence I slammed on the accelerator to try and get to Blanco by four o’clock. The problem was that I only hit the accelerator for 2 of the next twenty minutes; the traffic in Austin was horrendous.

When I pulled up to Real Ale the final tour had started a few minutes before I got there. I saw the last couple people in the group walking into the brewery so I ran along and joined in. The tour was easily and without question the worst brewery tour I’ve been on to date.

No, not because the guide was uninformed or anything like that. Despite my late arrival I was a far cry from being the last one to arrive. First it was a bus from a retirement community that unloaded 10 or so octogenarians that shuffled over to us. Besides moving slowly and one persistently whistling hearing aid they weren’t bad.

The second was a group of seven twenty-somethings. They spent the entire tour standing directly behind me loudly talking. Never once did they whisper or say something under their breath, they just kept talking in at full volume. I couldn’t hear the guide so I politely turned around and asked the pony-tailed asshole to please quiet down. He apologized and said they would stop talking.

That didn’t do a thing, they incessantly kept at it. One little known fact about me is that when I’m angry I get eloquent. “Hey dude. I can’t believe you dudes keep talking. I mean dude, its just not cool, I can’t hear anything dude.”

I don’t believe I’ve said the word dude in normal conversation since the late nineties. For some reason though I thought it would be best way to address my problem would be to drop it a half dozen times in two poorly crafted sentences. The response was an appropriate “sorry dude.”

One of the few things I actually heard was that like many breweries Real Ale disposes of their spent grains by giving them to a local cattle rancher to use as feed. I’ve heard rumors at other breweries and I know some like Independence in Austin occasionally get some meat in exchange for the grain. From the sounds of it Real Ale has a deal for big thick T-Bones for their grain. Not too bad for getting rid of their waste product!

Despite a lame tour the tasting room was still a lot of fun. I got to speak briefly with a couple brewery employees that were hanging around. I also got to sample a few of their beers and get the full story about why their Fireman’s 4 Ale has completely different packaging from the rest of their beers. It was something I had always been curious about and one of the main reasons for my trip.

In the book I’ll tell you all about the Fireman’s 4 Ale, their tasting room, and some history of Real Ale Brewing Company. Oh, and I forgot to take pictures until I was driving away. Sorry they’re terrible.

Ninth Stop - Independence Brewing

I’m realizing that breweries tend to be built where rent is cheap. Because of that I’m slowly gaining a great appreciation for breweries that aren’t in neighborhoods rough enough that I get shifty-eyed when cruising by in my Toyota Corolla. It has significantly stood out in a few of these areas to say the least!

My assumption that all city breweries I visit will be in bad areas left me pleasantly delighted when I found Independence Brewing Company of Austin Texas. It’s in a nice, relatively new warehouse/office park.

That wasn’t all that impressed me right off the bat either. My dad has owned a family business for almost exactly twenty years now so I have a certain appreciation for any true family business. When I hit the door at Independence I was met by the husband/wife co-owners Rob and Amy Cartwright, their one month old daughter Ruby, and their two dogs Jasper and Indy. I don’t know how it could get to be much more family-oriented than that!

More than any of that, it was just a fun environment. I know that every brewery is full of hard workers and Independence is no exception, but they seemed to have some kind of “X” factor that made everyone love walking in the door for work. It might have been the relaxed atmosphere, the cool bosses, or the dogs just hanging out. It may have had something to do with Rob cooking up some BBQ on the grill out front. He had a full rack of ribs, some hand-twisted sausage, and a beer can chicken going. Of course, not just any can though, a custom made one that he could pour Independence Brewing’s Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout into. Rob and Amy even invited me to stay and eat with them but sadly I had to move on and get to Real Ale out in Blanco, TX.

Despite the fact that Austin seems to be a new mecca for craft brewers (at least seven are currently in development stages), Independence is currently the only one that bottles their beer. They still do a brisk keg business. In fact, Rob told me that their keg business has been increasing over the last year to take back a majority of their business.

The increase in keg sales is great but Independence still has one beer that ALWAYS sells out of bottles in a matter of a few days of when it goes on sale. Oklahoma Sucks. It’s an amber beer that goes on sale the week before the annual football game between the University of Texas and Oklahoma. The beer is a creative idea that came about when Rob and Amy found out that a brewery in Oklahoma sells “Texas Sucks” year round.

Watch for the book version of All Hopped Up where I’ll tell you about some of the amazing events hosted by Independence Brewing, more about Rob and Amy, and some other neat stories about the brewery.

Seventh Stop - Spoetzl Brewery

I’ve always been a little confused as to why the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX refers to their beers as “Shiner Beers.” Sure, I could have checked their website or any number of research materials but instead I went to the brewery.

Shiner, TX is pretty out of the way between Houston and San Antonio. So instead of making you head down to Shiner to figure it out for yourself I might as well tell you. The Spoetzl Brewery was started in 1909 by the Shiner Brewing Association to make only one beer, Shiner Premium. Their famous bock beer wasn’t introduced until 1913 when it became a seasonal offering.

Shiner Premium must not have been too stellar because in 1913 the Shiner Brewing Association started a search for a real brewmaster. Eventually they found Kosmos Spoetzl. He was arrived in Shiner in 1914 and purchased the brewery in 1915, which was when the brewery took his name, Spoetzl. However, the identification of their products as “Shiner Beers” never really stopped after the brewery’s name changed, hence my confusion. The name wasn’t the only thing changing with the new leadership though. In just his third year at the brewery in 1916 Kosmos started bottling his beer.

Shiner is one of very few breweries that managed to survive prohibition intact. Spoetzl converted to produce ice and “near beer” during those dark years. My tour guide noted that the near beer produced in Shiner was not produced to be made with no alcohol but instead had the alcohol removed before distribution…usually. Apparently Kosmos was occasionally a little forgetful and would leave the alcohol in the beer when selling to some locals. Kosmos led the brewery until his death in 1950 when his daughter “Miss Celie” took over operations.

You might notice that my pictures at Spoetzl are kind of lame. That’s because Spoetzl’s picture policy is kind of lame. They don’t allow any pictures to be taken while on the brewery tour. Because of that I was limited to just taking pictures around the outside of the facility.

After public relations rep Anne Raabe gave a tour I was on she was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. She also went out of her way on an extremely busy day to try and track down brewmaster Jimmy Mauric or his assistant brewmaster to have a conversation with me. Both of them weren’t even in the town of Shiner that day, but she did find Peter Takacs, manager of quality assurance, for me to talk with.

I’m actually grad I got to talk with Mr. Takacs instead of a brewmaster or owner. His job and his perspective on beer/brewery were completely unique from anyone else I’ve spoken with so far on my tours. We talked for quite a while about the quality assurance process at a brewery and some of the most in-depth history of brewing anyone I’ve spoken with has imparted to me. All of that and more will be coming in the chapter about Shiner in my book.

Sixth Stop - Saint Arnold Brewing Co.

It’s another brewery in a warehouse district in a rough area of a big town I’m not familiar with. In fact, Saint Arnold’s itself is inside a big 100 year old former frozen food warehouse they renovated and moved into in 2009.

Saint Arnold was started in 1994 by Brock Wagner with two goals in mind. First was the Brock wanted to brew and sell the best beer in Texas, something he believes he has accomplished. Second, he wanted to create something that Houston could be proud of. This one is something that any beer fan can agree on. Brock has created a company that any city would be proud to have; Saint Arnold is a regular at community events and has a strong record of philanthropy.

When I tour small breweries I have usually been going on tours led by and speaking with an owner/founder. That makes sense for a small facility without too many employees. However, Saint Arnolds is one of the top fifty largest craft breweries in America. So yes, I was a little surprised when I was speaking with Lennie Ambrose, who works in events and marketing, and he suggested I take the brewery tour led by Brock Wagner.

There were two reasons the actual brewery tour was the shortest I’ve been on to date. First, the brewery layout is extremely logical. The brewhouse directly overlooks all of the fermentation tanks. It is just a simple set of stairs between the first and second halves of the tour. Reason two; we didn’t see any of the Saint Arnold bottling line. That’s not a huge deal, but I think a lot of people really enjoy seeing hundreds of bottles whizzing by every minute being filled, labeled, and capped. C'est la vie.

On the other side of the coin, Brock was an absolutely hilarious tour guide. He was constantly making jokes about all kinds of things. When explaining the brewing process he said that you can really brew using any kind of grain. That’s everything down to and including your morning Grape Nuts. He doesn’t suggest you try using fruity pebbles though, he thinks that’s how the make Miller Chill.

Also, after a detailed explanation of how yeast works and is utilized he also simplified it by saying “Basically, yeast eats sugar, pisses alcohol, and farts CO2.” I’ve heard similar explanations, but never phrased so elegantly.

In the book I’ll be featuring details of my conversation with Lennie Ambrose, some notes on the very, very unique events hosted by the brewery, background on Saint Arnold (both the brewery and the saint), and beer in Houston, TX.

Next posts will be Shiner and 512 Brewing.

Second Stop – Boulevard Brewing Company

I barely know where to begin with this one. I suppose I should start with a HUGE “thank you” to Julie Weeks, the Marketing Communications Manager for Boulevard. She went above and beyond to make sure that I was taken care of today on my visit to Boulevard.

<--Me with Boulevard brewmaster Steven Pauwels

Boulevard’s bottle caps and much of their other artwork features drawings of their iconic brick smokestack. As I drove down Southwest Boulevard looking for the brewery I was more than a little frustrated from the complete stoppage on I-35 on my way into Kansas City. My mood sank even further when I realized that I must be lost because I had driven significantly past where the brewery was supposed to be. The landmark I had been searching for, the ubiquitous smokestack from all of their advertising, was shrouded for repairs. Also of little help to me was the fact that the side of the brewery facing the street is is just simple red brick that blends perfectly into the neighborhood. Aesthetically it’s nice, but I giant gaudy flashing sign would have been of significantly more help to me!

The building’s back is much more impressive! Four foot tall lettering spells out “Boulevard Brewing Company” across the roof and the architecture of a modern brewery is clearly visible. I was still forty minutes early so I took the opportunity to make a few laps around the brewery complex. I was impressed by the employees leaving with six-packs of beer to take home. I was later told that most of it was the brand new Smokestack Series beers that were being packaged in 12 oz bottles for the first time ever. Sure, they were going to have to let them sit in a cool, dark place for a couple of weeks, but they still get to take home what is absolutely the freshest beer around.

The one sad thing about my walk around the brewery was the number of broken Corona bottles strewn around the outside. Sure, the brewery is in a Hispanic neighborhood and it isn’t the richest area in Kansas City, but you can do better than THAT! You’re literally standing on the property owned by an excellent craft beer maker and you’re drinking….Corona? I don’t think I could do that if I tried!

Once inside my afternoon consisted of a tour of the brewery and an absolutely delectable lunch with each course paired to a Boulevard beer that was prepared by the executive chef of Lidia’s Kansas City, Dan Swinny. Each month Boulevard does one of these “Brewmaster Luncheons” featuring different local chefs. The event is limited to 35 participants but every month hundreds of people are vying for those spots. Then a lottery is drawn to see who is lucky enough to attend.

Are you ready to be jealous? If so, read on.

The lunch consisted of butternut squash stuffed ravioli in sage brown butter and toasted almonds paired with the relatively new Amber beer. Brewmaster Steven Pauwels said that he and Swinny chose that combination because of the way the toasted almonds and the sweetness of the amaretto in the pasta filling match with the amber. The meat course consisted of a succulent lamb shank coated in Venetian spices with sweet potato Swiss chard mash that paired masterfully with Boulevard’s Sixth Glass beer from their Smokestack Series. Finally for dessert we were treated to a copa of Boulevard stout ice cream, barley malt ice cream, and Boulevard stout granita. Atop all of those were lightly toasted grains of barley. This pairing was with another beer from the smokestack series, Long Strange Tripel. Despite being one of my favorite beers from Boulevard this pairing didn’t work nearly as well as the others. The amber and sixth glass matched almost seamlessly with the food. They each complimented the dishes in an ideal way which brought out the flavors in both the food and the drinks. The tripel was great, the desserts were great, I just wasn’t in love with how they mixed.

While the food was being served Steven Pauwels walked from table to table to talk beer with the diners. His friendly demeanor, in-depth knowledge, and passion for what he does helped make a great event even better.

In my book I’ll be detailing some of my conversation with Pauwels, the history of Boulevard, and many of the interesting things I found out about the brewery today. The important thing to take away from today’s post is that if you’re in the Kansas City area make sure you’re putting your name in for the lottery every time one of these evens happens, you’ll be happy you did!

Up next I continue south of I-35 to the Co-op Ale Works in Oklahoma City.

Peace Tree Brewery

Yesterday I made it out to Peace Tree Brewery in Knoxville, Iowa with four friends from Des Moines. We drove by the building three or four times before we actually found the brewery. Once we found the building it was a pretty nice looking place. The taproom and exterior have a cool minimalist/modern vibe. Before it was a brewery it was a bar and before that a Nash dealership. I mentioned that in a previous post where I reviewed their Red Rambler Ale.

Within the first minute or two of walking in with my friend Ken we were greeted by the owner, Megan McKay Ziller. She, along with her father, Dan McKay, and husband, Scott Ziller, just started experimenting with Peace Tree Brewing last year. While I sipped my way through a sampler of their beers she was kind enough to tell me all about her brewery.

The opening of the taproom was last October, but they just started distributing their beers in February. Before that they were testing the waters with a few different brews seeing what people liked best and what they should focus on. No brewery is cheap to open, but Megan and the others made a very impressive initial investment. The taproom is great, and the moment they got their equipment in they became the fifth largest brewery in the state in terms of capacity (according to the tour).

Megan also told me about Peace Tree’s original name, White Breast Brewery. Long ago around Knoxville there was a bear with a white chest. Obviously, that’s pretty rare, so the locals named stuff after it. There is a White Breast camp, White Breast lake, White Breast Street, and others. To someone in Knoxville, it just makes sense. The problem is that when most of us hear “white breast,” a bear with a white spot on his chest isn’t the first thing that pops into our minds. So instead they opted for Peace Tree, a name that comes from a tree now mostly submerged in Lake Red Rock where Native Americans met with Americans to sign peace treaties. It wasn’t until after the name was decided that Megan, Dan, and Scott found out there are actually a few Peace Trees in the area. Oh well, I guess it just means a broader appeal for the brewery!

Back to the important stuff, the beer! Before my trip I bought a six of the Hop Wrangler (IPA) and one of Red Rambler. At Brewfest I tried the Blonde Fatale and absolutely loved it. The sampler gave me my first ever taste of their Rye Porter, and Double IPA, but I missed out on their root beer. My favorites were the Double IPA and the Blonde Fatale. As of right now the plan is for the Blonde to be packaged and sold in stores, but not until next year. Besides the opportunity to drink that delicious beer more often I’m pretty excited to see the packaging for it. Peace Tree used an excellent graphic designer from Des Moines to put together the labels for Red Rambler, Hop Wrangler, and Rye Porter. I have a feeling that Blonde Fatale will be a fun one!

The only disappointment with the beer came with the Hop Wrangler. No, the beer wasn’t bad, but it was an IPA and it came sitting next to the Double IPA, which was, in my mind, a better beer.

There was also a surprise beer thrown into the mix. A local homebrewer came into the taproom while we were there. Although Peace Tree can’t legally sell homebrew, they sure can give it away. Everyone in my group got a free sample of a delicious, homebrewed bock. I asked and apparently it isn’t at all uncommon for local homebrewers to give away their beer in the taproom. That is just one of the many quirks that made me love Peace Tree. Also high on that list was the fact that no, they don’t have a kitchen, Megan said that they wanted to concentrate all their energies on their beer. They do however have many options available for food. They’ve got a binder full of menus from what seems like most of the local restaurants in the area. They’re fine with their patrons eating in the taproom so you just call and have food delivered to the brewery. I chose to get as many fried things as possible from The Swamp Fox. We were told that the food would arrive in twenty-five minutes. After forty we called and it didn’t show up for another twenty. Besides the wait, the food was pretty good and fairly priced.

All in all, I’m a huge fan of Peace Tree Brewing. They’re new, they’re local, and they’re growing. It also doesn’t hurt that they have delicious beer, especially the Blonde Fatale. I’m really looking for them to do some big things in the future; I’ll be watching them closely, and suggest you do too.