The Brewers Blog

The Red Alert is back on after too long of a wait! We also have a new Pumpkin “Gaarden” seasonal on.  A hint of pumpkin flavor with spices and a dry finish.  Look for the StrikeTeam Stout to debut in the next week or so. Cheers!

Hindenburg Light.
-Kolsch Style Ale, stop complaining we don’t have the wheat and give this a try, promise you’ll like it.

Blakberry and Raspberry Blonde Ale.
-A delicious berry blend to close out the last days of summer.

And

The Hotshots Harvest Ale.
-Only a few kegs left! Help us finish it off.

First off, I have to apologize. We’re going to be out of the Red Alert for about a week. This saddens me as much as it does you, but there are some things in life that are out of our control.
The reason that we’ll be out isn’t that we forgot to brew the beer, or that our fermentation vessel ruptured and spilled the beer all over the floor, but because the batch we have ready now isn’t quite right. Usually the Red Alert is a full-bodied, malty ale with distinct toffee and light chocolate flavors that give a complexity to the sweetness in the finish that is delightful. Our new batch is the same color, uses the same ingredients, and followed the same basic procedures that we’ve always used for the Red Alert, but it isn’t the same. This beer continued to ferment beyond what is normal for this ale, and produced a drier, lighter-bodied beer, with less malty sweetness, and slightly more alcohol. It doesn’t taste bad, there are no “flaws”, but it isn’t the Red Alert that you and I know and love.
Consistency is one of the greatest challenges to a professional brewer. Our raw ingredients can vary in a number of subtle ways, from different sizes and color of the kernels of malted barley, to differences in the aroma in our hops, based on what side of the field they were grown on. Temperature fluctuations outside can affect our processes yielding minor differences. The fact that yeast are living creatures living complex little life cycles can be the greatest variable to attempt to control. These and a host of other vectors for change can make it extremely difficult to produce the same beer every batch.
It would have been easy for us to sell our new batch of beer as the Red Alert, but all of our loyal customers would know the difference. So instead, we’ll brew two new batches this week to get caught up, and do everything that we can to get some fresh beer ready for you.  Our “Hot Shots” Harvest Ale is nearly gone, so I’ll make sure I savor the last of our fresh-hopped amber. Our new Firestorm Witbier is also quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It is light enough that I can have several while watching the ball game without getting myself into trouble, but has enough flavor that I don’t get bored with it even after four or five pints. In fact, I’m going to start my beer travels right now.

Hope to see you soon, and happy drinking!

Stephen
Assistant Brewer