Thu Aug 28th, 2008 Thu Aug 28th, 2008 at 07:16:31 PDT Thu Aug 28th, 2008 at 07:16:31 PDT 0 story L.A. Times on homebrewing in Alabama ryan Brewing Apparently, Alabama is tired of being the last backward state in the union. A group of true patriots is trying to get the legislature to repeal the state's prohibition on homebrewing. And, wouldn't you know it, the Southern Baptists have their panties in a bunch.Beer battle brewing in Alabama story OH NOES!!!11ONEONE ryan Business Thanks to a weak dollar, and a demand spike in corn (for ethanol), the prices of hops and barley are exploding. From the Wall Street Journal:
Craft beer makers have faced escalating costs over the past year. Prices for malting barley, which accounts for a beer's color and sweetness, have jumped as farmers increasingly shifted to planting corn, which has been bringing higher prices because of high demand from makers of biofuels, like ethanol. The weak dollar also has made it more expensive for U.S. brewers to buy commodities from Europe.The news worsened for craft brewers significantly in recent weeks. Firms that turn barley into brewing malt informed craft brewers of price increases ranging from 40% to 80%, and hops suppliers announced increases ranging from 20% to 100%, depending on the variety of hops.The price of hops -- which give beers their bitterness and aroma -- has risen because of shortages across the globe, due in part to poor crops in Europe. Some European brewers are competing with American brewers for hops grown in the Pacific Northwest.For years, hops were cheap due to a glut. That prompted growers over the past decade to replace hops with other crops, such as apples. Now, the amount of hops acres world-wide is about half the total of 12 years ago, says Ralph Olson, a hops dealer with Hopunion CBS LLC in Yakima, Wash. That's caused some hops varieties to quadruple in price over the past year, he says.
I blame the president. If he drank real beer, he wouldn't have let this happen. story Mead, etc ryan Brewing Wow, it's been almost a year since I posted anything here. <sfx:the cruise>So, what inspired me to break my silence? A holiday weekend of brewing.Saturday, I brewed up a batch of steam beer (see Anchor Steam). It's probably far too hot for it (even though it's an ale, it's supposed to ferment at the lower end of the ale spectrum, since it uses lager yeast). That should be ready by early next month.Then I went crazy on the mead. A little background, first:
The first mead I ever did turned out great. That was a pure honey mead. I added blackberries and ginger to the second, and I'm not as thrilled with the results. (Though, to be fair, the blackberry mead is still fairly young — less than a year old. The first mead has gotten much better with age, so this one may still be salvageable.)
This time I wanted to do a straight up honey mead again. But there are so many delicious varieties of honey. Which to use? Well, by making more than one mead at a time, I don't have to wait a year in between tastings. So, on Sunday, I brewed up a batch with eucalyptus and sage honey, and then dove right back in and brewed up a batch of avocado and sage. (Mead takes considerably less time than beer — 2 hours as opposed to 6.)Then, with today being a holiday, I figured I had time for one more. By this time, I only had a few pounds each of several different honeys, so I threw them all in together: eucalyptus, avocado, sage, orange blossom and wildflower. Congratulate me on having the presence of mind to label each of the fermenters with the correct recipe. Now I just have to remember to label the bottles correctly.And one final activity for the holiday weekend: I bottled a batch of a Belgian ale I brewed a couple weeks ago. This is the second time I've brewed this recipe; it's a blonde, not quite trippel, not quite saison style spiced ale. I'm still struggling with a name for it, so suggestions are welcome. This should be ready to drink by the end of September. story Brother Seamus ryan Misc I've got the Irish Rovers on right now, and i was startled by the song "Goodbye Mrs. Durkin", which contains a reference to "my brother Seamus". This CD will have to be in the jukebox.On a related note, I have more Brother Seamus fermenting. Should be ready by Halloween. story What would you do if you had a million dollars? ryan Brewing I'm doing a blonde today. Two, in fact, and at the same time.Unfortunately, that only refers to the beer I'm brewing. It's a combination strawberry blonde and honey blonde, which I'm calling "Blonde On Blonde" in honor of Bob. Tip of the hat to Stephanie for the idea. story Pub Name ryan Business Some ideas for the name of the pub:
  • Clancey's — This has the appeal of attracting the Irish pub crowd. It would also give a more local feel to the place, if people know Clancey.
  • Sinclair's — Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, was a resident of Monrovia
  • The Jungle — See previous
  • The Monroe — Monrovia was founded by one William Monroe. See "Lucky Baldwin's"
  • ??? — According to Wikipedia Monrovia was incorporated by local prohibitionists of the time seeking to close down a saloon. I need to find the name of this saloon. The Monrovia Historical Society (626-358-0803) might be able to help me out with that.
 story Holiday Weekend Brewing ryan Brewing Today I'm brewing aclone of Saison Dupont, which I think I'll call "Saison Jazon" in honor of another DFMM'er. One of the best beers I tasted at the last Lucky Baldwin's Belgian Beer Fest was the Foret, which is apparently the Saison Dupont brewed entirely with organic ingredients. Hopefully, the stuff I get at the brew shop is organic enough to approximate that flavor.Tomorrow's batch is the one you've all been waiting for (assuming you read my last post). 1554 baby. Since it's Independence Day weekend, I'm going to call it 1776. story 1554 ryan Brewing Oh man, get ready for the best news ever. The new issue of Zymurgy arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and it includes a recipe for 1554. I now know what I'm brewing next weekend. story Research ryan Business I've been doing some research this evening into what it's going to cost to get the pub open, and what sort of operating expenses and revenue I can expect. I found a few resources that I just want to link for now, so I can come back to them.
  • First up, this awesome page from ABT on opening a brewpub. This one has a wealth of information that I don't have time to process all tonight, but this looks like a whole lot of information all in one place that I thought I was going to have to dig up on my own, or just guess.
  • That previous link came from Walace & Hinz, a manufacturer of custom bars (and goddamn, finding bar manufacturers on the web is a pain).
  • Mission Restaurant Supply gave me an idea what the restaurant equipment is going to cost. This place only lists new equipment, and for some of my needs, I can probably deal with used equipment.
  • This list of brewpubs and micro breweries in California verifies my belief that there aren't many brewpubs in L.A. In the San Gabriel Valley, we only have one local brewpub (Boring City!) and two chain brewpubs (BJ's and Gordon Biersch).
 story Danger: Hop Heads Working ryan Brewing My recipe for CLVIPA calls for 3 oz. of hops. The homebrew store sells hops in 2 oz. packages, so I usually end up throwing away an ounce of hops on this recipe. Now I was a little disappointed by the bitterness of the last batch of CLVIPA, so I decided to use all 4 ounces. If this isn't the hoppiest thing I've ever tasted, I'll be very put out. Unfortunately, it won't be ready in time for the home brew festival. On the other hand, that means that there will be more for my customers dear friends. story Brother Seamus, Sierra Madre ryan Brewing Just got finished bottling a Brother Seamus, which should hopefully be ready to drink in time for the Home Brew Fest in May. Last week, I bottled a pale ale, modeled after Sierra Nevada (calling it "Sierra Madre"), which should also be ready for the brew fest.This is very good news, as I'm pretty much out of everything right now. I have this Friday off, so I think I may do two batches this weekend, a CLVIPA and a Kansas City. But for the next few weeks, I guess I'll just have to drink some of the cases and cases of commercial stuff filling my fridge (and living room). story Into the Great Wide Open ryan Business Today is my official last day of working for the man. Next up, I have a short contracting gig to raise a little extra capital, and then I'm going to dive full time into getting the brewpub up and running.First step is to get the business documents written up, and I'll be talking to Dale about that just as soon as he's recovered from tax season. Then I need to take care of getting beer production and on-sale licenses. Hopefully that should all be done by July, so I can focus on real estate and equipment purchases.