• Review – Southern Tier crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout

    Today I am reviewing Southern Tier’s crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout.  We did our real beer float review a few weeks ago and several people suggested we use this beer.  I couldn’t find any at the time, but last week I found a bottle of it at a great beer store, The Perfect Pour.  They had so many great beers I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  I’m watching football while getting a few things done around the house, so Chris will not be with me and I’ll be going this one alone.  Also, I was a little lazy and used my cell phone camera instead of my real camera for the pictures.


    In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/.

    About Southern Tier Brewing Company:

    Based out of Lakewood, New York they started operations in 2002 and have grown to produce over 30,000 barrels annually.  They were listed as one of the top 50 American breweries in the June ’07 issue of  BeerAdvocate magazine.  The crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is listed as a Summer seasonal on their beer page, so I was happy to score one in mid-November.

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/stbcbeer

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SouthernTierBrewingCompany

    crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout 

    Without Ice Cream

    Appearance

    Scott: Very dark brown, almost black in color.  The head lasted about a minute before dissipating.

    Aroma

    Scott: Unquestionable smell of crème brûlée.  I’m looking forward to getting a taste of this one.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Somewhere between a syrup and a creme with light carbonation.

    Flavor

    Scott: No mistaking this flavor.  It is a liquid form of one of my favorite desserts.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: There is a slight bitterness.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: Very good, although not something I would have sought out.  With plenty of other stouts from which to sample I don’t see this one coming back around too soon, which is fine as it is a seasonal beer.

    crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout

    With Ice Cream

    I still had some Hoffmans Ice Cream left from our real beer float review, and as this was one of the beers recommended by the reddit.com commentators,  I decided to try this with Ice Cream, too.

    Appearance

    Scott: Well, head abounds.  Like the others poured over ice cream, this beer wants to fill the glass with head.

    Aroma

    Scott: I need an old school batman POW or BAM image to describe how the smell crème brûlée is hitting me in the face.  While the smell was there without the ice cream, the combination of the two has pushed the smell over the top.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Similar to the other real beer floats, this one has that nice creamy feel, compliments of the coupled dessert.

    Flavor

    Scott: High quality palate pleasure.  If you love crème brûlée, this is for you, but drinking this while eating crème brûlée may be overkill.  If you can’t have crème brûlée, this is a cold, second cousin.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: Seeing I finished the whole thing in about a minute, aftertaste is all I have.  Like any good dessert following a great meal, I feel well satiated with a pleasant “mmmmm” resonating though my mind.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: If you get the chance , give this a try.  Ice cream and beer has been a new found pleasure for me, and this one is high on the list of those I think anyone new to the experience would enjoy.

     

  • Interview – Chick Brewing Company

    After we finished our review of Chick Beer I was able to catch up with the owners of Chick Beer and ask them a few questions as part of our ongoing interview series.  I included some of the responses from the community in the series of questions.  Thanks to all who posted their comments which helped contribute to this article.

    On reddit.com “hopster” says, “This retarded gimmick is an insult to the millions of women who enjoy craft beer.”  Has your product overly simplified and stereotyped women?  Do you feel this negativity is based on the fact that the beer is marketed to women, or would response have been the same if you painted the male beer drinker with a similar broad brush stroke?

    Wow, is someone really using the word “retarded” to tell us how insensitive we are?  Really?

    Beer has been around for thousands of years.  Women have been around for even longer.  So how is a beer for women a gimmick?  Is beer a gimmick?  Are women?  Can we agree that the major light beers are marketed directly to men, what with all of the women in their commercials being bimbos and the charges that the drinkers are “unmanly”?  Market segmentation is clearly not concept invented by us.

    Chick Beer is a choice.  We’re not telling anyone that they have to drink our beer.  If someone wants to drink Chick Beer because they like the sexy packaging, or its positive statement about women, because they love the taste, or because we donate 5% of our profits to women’s charities, then they have that choice.  If they don’t value those things, then they should drink something else.

    In the comments below our Chick Beer review, Jon says, “There are plenty of women who drink craft beer, write about craft beer, and brew craft beer. It’s clear this beer was created by someone more concerned with business and appearances…”  Do you feel that is the case?  Were you more concerned with business and appearances than creating a beer just for the love of brewing?

    Chick Beer has never been about making a brewing statement.  Chick Beer is making a cultural statement.  The fact is that – whether you like it or not – light American lager is by far the most popular style of beer in America. Chick Beer is merely acknowledging that women aren’t a niche market.  At 25% of the market, they are more like a Grand Canyon.  Women choose to drink Chick Beer because it is a brand that is for them.

    That being said, we’ll blind-taste Chick Beer against any light lager.  At 97 calories and 3.5 carbs, you simply cannot beat us.

    I invite anyone out there who wants to make an Imperial IPA for women to give that business model a try.  About 5% of beer sold is craft beer.  That means that the female craft beer market is perhaps 1% of the total beer market.  You simply cannot build a business on a base that small.

    Jon goes on to state, “It’s what is inside the bottle that matters, not the labeling, appeal, or advertising. Hence, this beer totally misses the mark.”  Do you see a lot of this reaction to the name?  How do you market a beer to the craft beer community when the beer may be perceived as a gimmick?

    If Jon is right, then the best-selling beers in the U.S.- Bud Light, Budweiser, Coors Light and Miller Lite – are also the best-tasting, best-made, highest-quality beers out there, right?  The success of ANY product is based upon a combination of marketing and production.  If “totally missing the mark” means being commercially successful, then we’ll take that.

    We are not marketing Chick Beer to the craft community.  We are marketing it to the beer drinking community, 95% of whom are NOT craft beer drinkers.

    Where have you seen the greatest positive response for your beer so far?

    From virtually any woman that we talk to.  Women love this brand.  No, not every single woman, but certainly the vast majority of them.  We’ve also seen broad support from beer distributors around the country, which is why you will see impressive expansion from Chick in the coming months.

    Are the responses consistent among men and women, or does one group like the beer, or the idea of the beer, more than the other?

    Women are more receptive to the brand, but that was pretty much the idea to start with.  Men are typically neutral about the brand, but some men seem to be threatened by it.  We’re not psychologists, so we aren’t sure why.

    It was mentioned in the comments of the review, and from the people I’ve talked to about the beer, price seems to be a sticking point.  We paid $9.80 ($8.99 before tax) for our six pack used in the review, which is similar to many other craft beers, but yours is unique in that it is a light beer.  Do you feel that $8.99 is an optimal price point for Chick Beer?

    We don’t control, or even have much influence, over retail prices. $8.99 is certainly at the higher end of where we’d like to see Chick Beer priced at retail.  We are a craft-brewed light lager, which means that we should be priced between the majors and craft brews, which is typically where we are priced. As competition does its job, we think that you’re generally going to see us priced under $8.00 at retail.

    While you’re based out of Maryland, it’s brewed and bottled in Monroe,WI.  How did you find Minhas Craft Brewery to brew the beer for you?  Why them over someone who may have been able to brew it closer to home?

    We have always envisioned Chick Beer as a national brand, and not as a regional craft brew.  So the key for us was finding the place that could brew the best beer, regardless of its proximity to Maryland.  We began our distribution in Maryland because that’s where we live.  We wanted to learn our early lessons in our own backyard.  Minhas is the second-oldest brewery in the country.  The folks there are terrific brewers.  We couldn’t be happier.

    Do you own the recipe to the beer, and if so, are you allowed to have it brewed elsewhere if you needed?

    We don’t release details about the recipe, and Minhas will be able to handle our needs for the foreseeable future.

    Did you use Minhas’ existing Maryland distribution channels to get into the market, or did you develop your own?

    Minhas brews primarily for the mid-West and Canadian markets.  We love their beers, but sadly, they aren’t available in Maryland.   So we’ve developed our own distribution networks, utilizing Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors and independent distributors.  If we go into Canada, we’ll probably ask Minhas to show us the way.

    What are the current hurdles involved in widening the distribution to other states?

    The main hurdle is cutting through the fog of the hundreds of brands out there.  Every distributor is bombarded with requests to carry new craft beers.  But Chick is unique in that it is the only brand that is targeted to the 25% of the drinking public that is female.  We are extremely pleased with the reception that we’ve received from distributors.

    As a new beer company, how much beer are you brewing per week?

    As a privately-held beer company, that is not information that we release.

    What local women’s charities do 5% of your profits go to?

    We’ve been on the market for less than three months, so it’s safe to assume that we haven’t generated a ton of profits yet.  We are investing heavily in building the brand.  However, we’re already involved in raising funds locally for a number of women’s charities, including Susan G. Komen For the Cure, Women in Film & Video, and the Soroptimists.  We have seated an independent board of directors to oversee our Chick Cares program.  This board will direct our charitable giving, and will issue reports on our website.

    Are there plans for other beers, or is Chick Brewing Company only going to produce its flagship product?

    As a company that has been selling beer for three months, our focus at this point is getting Chick Beer to all of the women out there who are asking for it.  We certainly have some ideas for additional products, but at this point we’re not ready to discuss them.

    If you are planning on producing any additional beers, can you offer any thoughts on what they might be?

    We could, but we won’t.

    Currently what is the primary means of marketing the product?  Word of mouth?  Advertising?  Or perhaps customers just seeing it in the store?

    We are primarily marketing Chick Beer through Facebook ads, which are by far the most efficient way to reach our core customers, who are women aged 21-34.  Those ads are generally targeted in the areas where we sell Chick Beer.

    Is your beer available on draft anywhere, or is it bottle only?

    No, we have no current plans for draft.

    Are there any upcoming events where your beer can be found?

    You will find Chick Beer at charity events, beer festivals and all kinds of venues.  As with any new product, it’s going to take awhile before we get to every event.

    On the website you state it took ” two years of effort” to get the beer made, how big do you see the Chick Beer brand in another two years?

    We generally don’t play the projection game.  It’s a hollow exercise.  However, we can say that we plan to expand aggressively into new markets. Chicks are everywhere!

    When you’re not drinking your beer, what beer do you prefer to drink?

    We have been on the retail side of the business, where we’ve sold (and tasted) hundreds of beers.  We believe that every beer has a corresponding occasion, whether that is cutting the grass, watching a football game, or a tasting session.  We generally take a mixed six-pack so that we can keep up with all of the great beers out there.

    What was the first beer you remember truly enjoying to drink?

    We were drinking very warm Guinness Stout back in the early 1980s, before people realized that serving it warm meant European cellar temperature, not 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  But it was so different than the mass-produced American beers that dominated in those days, we drank it anyway.

  • Review – Chick Brewing Company Chick Beer

     **We are in the process of conducting an interview with Chick Brewing Company and it should be posted Friday or Monday.

    Today Chris and I are reviewing Chick Brewing Company’s Chick Beer.  We first found out about Chick Beer while doing a ghost tour in Ellicott City, MD.  We were intrigued by a beer marketed directly towards women, so we sought out a place to buy the beer.  We picked up our six pack for $9.80 with tax.

    In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/.

    About Chick Brewing Company:

    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ChickBrewing

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chick-Beer/134861446534117

    Based out of Easton, MD, Chick Brewing is a new comer to the craft beer scene.  The beer is brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, WI.  It has just 97 calories, 3.5 carbs, and 4.2% ABV.  From their website:

    One day, we were in our local store looking for an interesting beer to take home, and thought “Isn’t it strange that out of hundreds of beers, none are designed to appeal directly to women?  In fact, most are clearly marketed to men.”

     

    We went home and did some research, and found that women drink 25% of all the beer consumed in the U.S. That’s over 700 MILLION cases every year!”

     

    The idea to create a brand of beer specifically for women kept stirring in us.  We thought about it night and day, and decided that we were going to give women a female-centric choice that reflected their tastes.

    I was able to find an interview with the founder, Shazz Lewis where she says the following about getting the beer brewed:

    I knew I needed it not to be a gimmick. The beer had to be good. I looked at who was drinking most of the beer and the target market is really 21- to 35-year-old women. The ones who were out at night partying and getting together with friends. What they were drinking was American light lagers. We looked for brewers and tasted lots of beer and went with Minhas in Wisconsin. The beer they brew for us has 97 calories and 3.5 carbs but also a very mellow beer flavor. It has a very rounded, full flavor. People say, “I can’t believe this is a light beer.” So then all those things started going together and we got it brewed in June and launched in Maryland.

    In reference to the packaging she had the following to say:

    I knew I wanted to make it stand out. There was no sense of going halfway. I wanted to use pink and black and do something extremely iconic [by depicting it using an image of] a purse and a little black dress. I wanted it to be fun and sexy and I wanted people to have a good time with it. Beer’s about fun. And because I think globally, I knew right away that I wanted to be able donate some money from the sales to charities that empower women.

    Lastly, on gender specific alcohol products:

    I have daughters who are so powerful and so unconcerned that a labeling has anything to do with who they are or represent. That’s one reason why I used the word “chick.” That’s actually what men used to call subpar or light beer. I happen to think all things chick are terrific. I came up with a slogan that was a little in your face. It was empowering to turn it on its head. I’m not trying to be serious about it.

    Appearance

    Scott: Light, clear, golden color.

    Chris: Pours smooth with a golden color. There was a little head which dissipated quickly. Small bubbles continued to float to the top.

    Aroma

    Scott: Fruity with a slight hint of apple and/or pear.

    Chris: Clean and fruity.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: A slight ting of bubbles that quickly dissipates.  Very much the consistency of drinking carbonated water.

    Chris: No curveball here, it feels as it looked, very smooth and light.

    Flavor

    Scott: No question this is a light beer.   It has a slight taste towards metallic that is mostly on the sides of the tongue.

    Chris: Light with hints of sweetness and salt.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: The metallic taste tends to stay around for a few minutes, but it’s nothing overpowering.

    Chris: Not much going on here after two minutes. A few minutes later a soft metallic tone appeared.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: This is a great beer to drink as a replacement to Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors Light. The flavor (or lack thereof from the big 3) is comparable, and I doubt many would be able to tell the difference.

    Additional note, I’m now on my third (and last) beer, and I’m just now noticing the hint of a buzz.  We have been at this for just over an hour and these beers unquestionably go down easy.  If you drink Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors Light I would recommend the switch to this beer (if you can find it).  It’s better, and supports an independent brewery.

    Chris: The carbonation was abundant and the taste was smooth and crisp. This is exactly what I expected from a 97 calorie, 3.5 carb, Light American Lager. It’s easy to drink and no real buzz factor after two of them.

     

     

  • Review – Real Beer Floats

     

     

    Today Chris, Peter W,  and I are reviewing several different beers.

    This is based on the post we wrote a few days ago and the reception it got on this website and on reddit.com.  There were a few beers that were recommended on both sites, so we made a trip to one of our local craft beer suppliers and picked up a few of the mentioned beers.

    This review will be be done in 2 parts for each beer.  First, we’ll taste the beer without the ice cream, and then we’ll add the ice cream and drink it as a real beer float.  We’ll only be doing flavor and afterthoughts for the real beer float.  Keeping with the original post, I made a drive out to Hoffmans Ice Cream and picked up some fresh vanilla ice cream and pumpkin ice cream, a half gallon of each.  Also in keeping with the spirit of the day of the original post, we’ll be using my Duvel glasses for the regular beer tastings.

    In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/.

    About the Various Brewing Companies:

    Young’s Beers
    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/YoungsBeers
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wellsandyoungs

    North Coast Brewing
    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/NoCoastBrewCo
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/northcoastbrewingcompany

    Oskar Blues Brewery
    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/oskarblues
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BrewedAndCannedByOskarBluesBrewery

    Dogfish Head Brewery
    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/dogfishbeer
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dogfishheadbeer

     

     Young’s Chocolate Stout

    Without Ice Cream

    Appearance

    Scott: Looks like Guinness to me, with a little more of a head to it.  As it sits, I’m seeing small bubbles falling through the head.
    Chris: My favorite, motor oil.
    Peter W: It’s appearance looks thick

    Aroma

    Scott: Smells like a chocolate stout. Hints of cereal and caramel.
    Chris
    : I barely smell the chocolate.
    Peter:
    I think it has a real chocolatey smell to it.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Velvet-ly with a slight carbonation at the end.
    Chris
    : Creamy on the tongue, buttery texture going down.
    Peter W:
    Smooth and silky.

    Flavor

    Scott: Thick chocolate flavor evenly layering the taste buds.
    Chris
    : Lightly sweet with hints of chocolate
    Peter W: 
    Chocolate with a hint of coffee

    Aftertaste

    Scott: Similar to the after taste from bitter chocolate, very pleasant.
    Chris
    : Doesn’t have too much of an aftertaste…stouty
    Peter W:
    It’s like the aftertaste of eating a handful of dark chocolate M&M’s

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: A great stout, I can see why it was recommended by several people.
    Chris
    : This is an incredible stout and dangerously drinkable.
    Peter W:
    Not being a huge fan of stouts, this is on my radar for future drinking.

    Young’s Chocolate Stout

    With Vanilla Ice Cream

    Flavor

    Scott: Wow, this is really good.  When you get the mix just right, POW!!
    Chris: This is like dessert.  (Chris finished his in about 1 minute)
    Peter W:
    I’m not digging it with the ice cream. (Peter is not going to finish his)

     

    Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

    Without Ice Cream

    Appearance

    Scott: Thick head with big bubbly foam that after a few minutes completely disappeared.
    Chris: Opaque, A lot more carbonation than I expected to see.  Not really sticking to the glassNot very viscous.
    Peter W:
    Dark and syrupy looking

    Aroma

    Scott: Grainy, malty smell
    Chris
    : I smell sweetness, more so than the Young’s, maybe a woody smell
    Peter:
    Grainy

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Lots of small bubbles tickling my tongue
    Chris
    : Like a 9-volt battery all over your tongue with all the bubbles
    Peter W:
    Lots of carbonation

    Flavor

    Scott: Like a dark chocolate coffee….
    Chris
    : Slightly sweet and roasted coffee.
    Peter W: 
    Yuk.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: …with a long lingering after taste of darker coffee.
    Chris
    : Somewhat bitter, perhaps too much.
    Peter W:
    Too much.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: Not too bad.  I’m looking forward to enjoying some ice cream with this one.
    Chris
    : This was my first Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and won’t be my last. I’m excited to see how it works with the ice cream, as well.
    Peter W:
    I would never choose to drink that again.

    Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

    With Vanilla Ice Cream


    Flavor

    Scott: All bitterness is gone, and this is really good.  I would consider serving this at a restaurant.
    Chris: The sweetness of the ice cream neutralizes the bitterness of the beer, bringing out a roasted taste, like roasted marshmallow. (finished in less than 2 minutes)
    Peter W:
    It’s definitely more drinkable with the ice cream.  With the ice cream I would consider having another.


    Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

    Without Ice Cream

    Appearance

    Scott:  Darkest of the three.  A thick head that was gone in 60 seconds (great soundtrack).
    Chris: Very dark with carbonation that sticks to the glass and doesn’t float up.
    Peter W:
    Peter tapped out on this one, as he is not much of a stout guy.

    Aroma

    Scott: Not much of a nose with a slight tilt towards grainy
    Chris
    : I agree with Scott. Almost devoid of aroma. Perhaps a clean smell.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Syrup-y thickness with not a lot of carbonation, but enough to let you know it’s there.
    Chris
    : Watery with almost all the carbonation gone from when it was originally poured. Very easy to drink.

    Flavor

    Scott: Really bitter compared to the others.  I’m feeling that by chance we went from light to heavy with our tasting.
    Chris
    : Like the smell, it seems very average. Pushes between creamy and soapy. I really expected it to have more flavorful. 

    Aftertaste

    Scott: I’m thinking doing 3 stouts in 1 night with ice cream wasn’t the best decision, unless it really is that heavy.
    Chris
    : Not all that good. Somewhat acidic.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: I’ll give it a clean slate try another time (we have a few left), but my hopes aren’t too high.  If you love a HEAVY stout, this is for you.
    Chris
    : As a stout lover, I found this to be disappointing.  I’ll give it another try because of all the stuff we have on our pallets.


    Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

    With Vanilla Ice Cream

    Flavor

    Scott: Even with ice cream the bitterness is difficult to overcome.
    Chris:  The ice cream didn’t spice this up much at all. Still disappointed.

    Dogfish Head Punkin

    With Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

    (In light of the night, I’m skipping right to the ice cream as this beer is in my wheelhouse)

    Appearance

    Scott: Looks like a light colored Orange Julius with ice cream.
    Chris: Throwing in the towel, too much ice cream for the night.
    Peter W:
    See Chris’ comment above

    Aroma

    Scott: Pumpkin smell is just smacking you in the face.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Well, when you have the ice cream mixed in, it’s the texture of a good pumpkin pie

    Flavor (I made Peter and Chris taste)

    Scott: If I could get pumpkin pie this good, I would eat it all day.
    Chris
    : Mmmmm…(Chris won’t stop eating my drink)…”You might want to get your own”.
    Peter W: 
    Give me some whipped topping.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: The best part of a long night, satiation from a good meal.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: Best of the four, without a doubt.

     

    Overall End Notes

    The whole process took 2.5 hours with 4 more afterwards to setup and finish writing the article.  I would say this worked really well, but doing this many beers in one night may have skewed the results.  To help keep things in perspective we were sticking our noses into a cup of coffee beans in-between a lot of the smelling and tasting.


    Scott
    :  I would say it worked best when the ice cream was mushed a little and not one big scoop.  Getting the mix of ice cream and beer just right was the key.  For me I liked the Dogfish the best, with Young’s taking second, Old Rasputin grabbing third, and the Ten Fidy coming in last.  I have a feeling this weekend I’m going to have a few more of these.  I may even get my family in on the mix when they come over for Halloween.

    Chris: As a stout lover, the Young’s Double Chocolate and Old Rasputin Russian Imperial impressed both alone and with ice cream. I feel like the Oskar Blues Ten Fidy was a let down, but I would definitely give it another chance. After drinking the other two first and with ice cream, I feel like my taste buds were overworked. This was a fun experiment which I will have no problem partaking in again.

    Peter W:  A Stout would not be the first beer that I would pick, but the two that I reviewed were worth while.  The chocolate was a nice start, but the ice cream was lacking.  The other was not up my alley, but add the ice cream, it was really good.   The pumpkin was like pie without the whip topping, not that you needed it.  Really good.

  • Interview with Brian Carl – Brewer for Burley Oaks Brewery

    I met up with Bryan and his brew master, Brian Carl, from Burley Oak Brewery at the Oktoberfest in Berlin, MD for a couple of interviews. This is the interview with Brian Carl the brew master. This is the first part of the interview I did with owner Bryan Brushmiller, and this is the second part.

    Scott: Are you Brian?
    Brian: Yeah.
    Scott: Hey man, I’m Scott.
    Brian: Scott, ‘sup dude.
    Scott: So you’re the brewer for Burley Oaks Brewing?
    Brian: Yeah
    Scott: Cool.  So do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
    Brian: Who are you…whats the….
    Scott: Indybeers.com
    Brian: Oh nice.  That’s kinda scary actually.
    Scott: Whats that?  Whats scary?
    Brian: This.
    Scott: Oh, you being interviewed.
    Brian: Yeah (laughter)

    Scott: Yeah. So how long have you been brewing beer?
    Brian: 10 years
    Scott: Was it home brewed stuff for 10 years or were you actually working for other companies?
    Brian: No, I home brewed for a few years and then started doing some commercial stuff.
    Scott: And who did you work for prior to coming to Burley Oak?
    Brian: A couple of places.  San Diego, and then New York, Outerbanks and now I’m in  Maryland.
    Scott: What kind of beers do you typically find yourself brewing?  Is there a favorite or do you just…is there a swath of beers that you like to brew?
    Brian: I don’t know, I’d have to say my beers are kind of like a fingerprint.  They’re never the same.  I take a style and I tweak it to make it my style.
    Scott: And do you apply that to every beer that you brew?
    Brian: Yes.

    Scott: This is obviously the most recent beer that you’ve brewed. (holding up my glass)
    Brian: Yeah it’s Octoberfest.
    Scott: Whats the most consistent beer you’re brewing over there?  This is obviously a seasonal–
    Brian: I’ve brewed 12 batches since I’ve been there and no beers been the same and I’ve tried to find what people are looking for, what people are liking and tried to veer it towards that maybe in 1 or 2 batches, but I don’t see myself having 5 main beers on tap all the time.
    Scott: It could just change all the time.
    Brian:  Yeah.

    Scott: How did you and Bryan initially meet each other?
    Brian: He posted an ad on ProBrewer and I got up with him. And we took it from there.

    Scott: Are you guys in the same area?  Obviously you lived out here as well?
    Brian: No, I’ve been all over the country since high school, and now I’m in Maryland.
    Scott: Did you come to Maryland to expressly brew for him?
    Brian: Yup.
    Scott: What was it about him that brought you to Maryland to brew beer?
    Brian: Location.
    Scott: You wanted to come to Maryland.
    Brian: No. Location was, it was close to the ocean (laughter)..I could surf…
    Outside voice: I mean, he’s wearing a Quicksilver shirt man. He’s a surfer dude!  From San Diego!
    Brian: And Brian and I just kinda clicked.  He surfs, he’s super cool, and I’d worked for a bunch of dicks previous to this and…
    Scott: What do you think of the surfing scene here?
    Brian: East coast surfing is awesome when you can get it.
    Scott: So have you caught any of the hurricane action?
    Brian: Oh yeah.  But surfing on the east coast sucks.  You know, you get 2 days of good surf and then you wait for 3 months. (laughter)  So, its you know… it is what it is.  But I’m stoked, you know? Openin’ up a brewery makin’ some kick ass beers and everyone’s loving it.

    Scott: So what has been, so far, working for Burley Oaks, your most favorite moment in the whole process of being an employee and brewing the beers?  Whats been the “this is awesome!” moment?
    Brian: (Pause).  Its all kinda cool.  Its all very challenging.
    Scott: Right.
    Brian: There’s been no like, one instance where like wow, we’re kickin’ ass.  But…because there’s daily challenges that put you back on your heels and go “ok, what do I do now?  How do I improve this, What do i gotta do…”  You know, its intense.  So, every day, if I get a beer on tap, that’s a great improvement.  For the system  I’m working with, you know?
    Scott: Whats been the most positive experience in terms of feedback you’ve received from somebody drinking one of your beers so far?
    Brian: I wouldn’t say 1 person but I would say that I am running out of beer because people are drinking it.  I shut off growler sales because I can’t make that much beer.  We are running out of beer serving pints.
    Scott: Wow.
    Brian: Its stupid. So that’s not a bad thing.

    Scott: Have there been any negative experiences along the way?
    Brian: On the beer side, no.  No, there’s no negative its just good hard work and I’m loving it ’cause I get to just figure it out.  And its…dude working a brewery is intense anyway.  It’s just a lot of problem solving daily in this place.

    Scott: Just for the record I think Todd had just announced in the background that they’ve tapped the keg on the Burley Oak.
    Outside voice:  Its gone.  Awwww.
    Scott: Its all gone. You gotta go to the brewery. (laughter).
    Brian: And I gotta go to the brewery and fill kegs now (laughter).

    After a quick break from checking on the keg situation, we started talking again…

    Scott: Are you working with a distributor?
    Brian: Do not sign up with a distributor.   Do not, do not, no. Wait ’til next year.   Wait ’til next year.  We’re not established yet.  We’re not big enough yet.  And he’s all getting these great offers…
    Scott: So do you think signing up for the distributorship has aided in making it difficult to produce enough beer, because your selling that much beer?
    Brian: No, because we’re not selling it to the distributor but, to sign up for all these festivals, yes.  I’ve had to put the brakes on.  If we sign up with a distributor and they said, “ok, we got you in 8 festivals, and we’re gonna need this much beer”,  and i said “No, I cannot…no.”  Where do you wanna be?  Do you wanna be in house or do you wanna be–
    Scott: Well if you’re not selling your beer through a distributor, where is your beer being sold that you’re running out of it?
    Brian: In house.  Like, right at our own bar.
    Scott: At your own bar?
    Brian: Yeah (laughter). Thats insane.
    Scott: Cheers.
    Brian: Selling pints, you know?  Like I can’t keep beer on tap ’cause we’re selling stupid pints.  Not even growlers.
    Scott: Not even growlers.
    Brian: Pints.  No growlers.  We’re out of beer.  I’m having to rush my beers.
    Scott: So what are you going to have to do to increase production?  Is it a matter of equipment?  Is it a matter of man hours?  Is it a matter of both?
    Brian: Its mostly storage.  And equipment.  I don’t want to say equipment, but storage.  Which means serving tanks, and/or kegs.  I like serving tanks better myself ’cause you put a whole batch in there and serve right to the bar.

    Scott: How many square feet is the current location?
    Brian: 6000.
    Scott: 6000. And how much of that is used for brewing?
    Brian: (Thinks). 5000.  Or 4500.
    Scott: If you were to take a guess as to how many barrels of beer you could produce on an annual basis what do you think you could do with that in the current location.
    Brian: No se.
    Scott: No se?
    Brian: No se.
    Scott: No se.  What are you currently producing?
    Brian: (Goes back to question from before). Because my beers….I don’t like to rush my beers.  I’m doing an ale and I like to lager an ale so that it comes out how it should be.  I don’t like to push my ales for 7 days to get it out there.  I like to give my beers an extra week, an extra 2 weeks, so that they’re that much better.

    Scott: How would you describe your own Octoberfest, if you were gonna talk about the taste.  How would you describe the taste of your Octoberfest?  The aroma?  The mouth feel?
    Brian: Fall time.
    Scott: Fall time.
    Brian: Very earthy.  It starts smooth but it finishes very…after you take a sip it finishes very earthy, very true.
    Scott: We were actually discussing earlier saying that we felt it had an earthy tone to it.
    Brian: Yeah. Thats what I was going for.  So, I’m glad you guys picked that up.  (laughter).  Shit yeah.
    Chris: I’m glad I got what you were aming for.
    Scott: You did. He was the one that said earthy.
    Brian: Yeah. Its real light, it goes down smooth, then you’re like wow, let me get another taste of that.  Thats the bomb.
    Scott: Right.
    Brian: Thats what I’m trying to do for my beers you know?  You give them that extra little bit of time.  Give it that extra week or 2 in cold and it just comes out like, bam.  You can’t deny it.

    Scott: If there was one beer so far that you’ve brewed for Burley Oak that has made you most proud as a brewer, what beer would that be?  The one that when you tapped it you were like, “ooh thats money.”?
    Brian: Nope. None.
    Scott: None. You’re equally as proud of all the beers.
    Brian: Yeah.  Absolutely.  However they’re all equally still in the works.  (laughter). They’ll always be evolving you know?
    Scott: Sure.
    Brian: They’ll all still gonna be evolving.  You know, I can put out a beer and not be stoked about it but everyone else is.  But to me I just kinda, I’m gonna throw in my 2 cents here and tweak it a little bit.  So, its a fun ride, you know?
    Chris: There’s always room for improvement?
    Brian: Always.  You know, you don’t get a recipe and say “Thats it”.  You get a recipe and say how can I improve this?  How can I tweak it?  How can I make this different?  Maybe I’ll try hopping, maybe i’ll a little of this in, a little of that in.  A handful of…you know?  Thats what brewing is, at a pub level.  You go to Evo…they make great beer.  They do.  They make kick ass beer.  Cask conditioned.  Barrel aging.  They are putting out some insane beers.  But, I’d say 90% of that brewing is factory stuff.  You know, they have to produce to supply the man.  Which is tough.  And on my end, I can brew a batch today, and not like it and brew that batch to begin next week and tweak it.

    Scott: When you lived in San Diego what was your favorite craft beer to drink that you weren’t involved in the process to drink of the brewing?
    Brian: I’d say Stone’s Arrogant Bastard.
    Scott: (laughter). Thats a great beer.
    Brian: They do a Double Arrogant Bastard, they do a…..but Arrogant Bastard wasn’t…I hate it, i drank it to get drunk to begin with.  And then I started brewing and learned what went into beers and figured out…and I couldn’t figure out how they produced such a,  such a huge beer, so nicely.  And thats what I’m trying to do here, is make big beers.  Just like, big heavy beers so good, you know?  My next 3 beers are over 8% and they’re gonna be the bomb. (laughter).  So sick.  I don’t know if everyone else is gonna like it but I’m gonna be stoked on them.

  • Interview with Bryan Brushmiller – Owner of Burley Oak Brewery – Part 2 of 2

    I met up with Bryan and his brew master, Brian Carl, from Burley Oak Brewery at the Oktoberfest in Berlin, MD for a couple of interviews. This is the second half of the interview done at the brewery later in the day.  The first part of the interview I did while we were standing in the beer garden earlier in the day.  This is the interview with Brian the brew master.

    Scott: Where did you get the inspiration for the design of the tree?
    Bryan: I just drew it one night
    Scott: You drew it yourself?
    Bryan: Yeah, we just drew it up. My buddy’s got a killer Mac. We were on his Mac messing around, and like, found some stuff, and then like, kind of sketched it. And then our boy is like a super good artist. He was just made the gnarlyness of it he made it twist around he just added some stuff to it.
    Scott: So on your website it says that the Burley brewery name was derived from what you feel is a historically accurate representation of the town Berlin, Maryland.
    Bryan: Yeah that’s what Wikipedia said.
    Scott: So were you looking for a name for the brewery and decided to query Wikipedia on what Berlin was or did you have that in your head ahead of time?
    Bryan: No I was just had it like, Burley, Burley Oak. That’s a wicked name you know what I mean? I was like, alright. ‘Cause we wanted to do Burley, kinda keep it local cause we didn’t want to be like Ocean City you know? Burley is kinda abstract so its not really…then the whole oak part comes from the building…the building is like this 120 year old building. So.
    Scott: This building is 120 years old?
    Bryan: Yeah. It actually used to be a cooperage at the turn of the century so they made barrels, wooden barrels, and then they make them in the back and then they pack them with oysters or seafood and then take them down to the railroad tracks you guys walked down and sent them to Baltimore. So its was cool it was like a package house. You know we’re all into like, oak aged beers, and diggin’ like, sours, and chardonnay barrels or whatever. So it’s kinda cool.

    Scott: I’m seeing a good brewery set up behind you. You’ve got a stainless steel tank, I see a copper tank back there. When you’re talking about the oak barrels…and more importantly, on your site you talk about taking old age technologies and blending them together with new technologies to make beers. So between the 2 of old technologies and new technologies where do you find yourself making the beers more?
    Bryan: Right now it’s all straight up off the system you know what I mean? Like off the system Franken-system we put together. You know I mean, I definitely like, we’re working on like designs for like a cool ship and just stuff like that but fucking we can’t make beer enough to supply our festivals for 6 hours. So you know, like, our main goal is to just try and make beer.

    Scott: OK so I am going to put you on the spot on this one because you do say it on your website. You do say something to the effect of “I’m blending the old with the new”. So give me the old and give me the new.
    Bryan: So the new would be all this technology and you know, using heat exchangers and glycol systems, but I guess the old would be like we don’t filter any of our beers, we don’t use any finings no filk no isinglass, no irish malt, no preservatives so its…I mean the thing you’ve got has 4 ingredients: hops, water, barley and yeast that’s it.
    Scott: So you’re standing to the German beer laws?
    Bryan: Yeah, we try to, you know what i mean? We think that’s where the beer is going to be the best instead of adding a bunch of shit to it, you know? Like, I know ales are supposed to be fermented for 2 weeks but, you know what? If they’re in the cold tank for an extra week think it friggin’ tastes a lot better you know what I mean? We don’t filter so it just grows up, you know what I mean? We don’t taking the yeast out of it….
    Scott: So as a processor your saying your starting with the German beer laws, but does that exclude any beers that you would include in your suite of products available because they wouldn’t be that type of beer?

    Bryan: Yeah like rye…the local rye would be, you know what I mean?

    Scott: What’s the beer that you haven’t made that you’re most excited to try making?
    Bryan: Saissons.
    Scott: And why haven’t you made that beer yet?
    Bryan: I think because of the yeast. You know yeast is super expensive and its even more expensive because we can’t harvest it, so we only have like, one tank that we can really harvest yeast from, everything else is done in bottoms. So it like you go into this whole romantic idea that yeah, but then there’s some actual logistic problems…I can’t spend $200 on saissons yeast and not harvest it 9 times, right? We harvest our Kolsch yeast so we don’t have a lot tanks we can harvest yeast from. We’ve always said like bean counters don’t make brewers? It doesn’t make sense that we use like crazy grain, like 9 different grains in our Rude Boy. We use a lot of grain We spend a lot of money on beers ’cause we want it to be good beer. Its all about the beer, you know?

    Scott: Considering the fact that there is not an empty stool at this bar currently, would you consider the town of Berlin to have a positive response for your beer?
    Bryan: For sure, yeah man, they’re awesome.
    Scott: How long did it take after opening this establishment to find that positive response?
    Bryan: We ran out of beer in about 2 weeks [Laughter]. Literally we had 1 keg left until we were kegging off our Belgian and that was going to be like, a special beer. We made it, we let it sit and we were like, fuck, we gotta keg this shit off, dude. So it was a Friday night at 8 o’clock we had 1 keg left out of 3, me made 3 batches, and 1 keg in the walk-in, a half keg up front here and we finally kegged off the Belgian and it was BOOM alright we got 2 beers on for tonight, you know?

    Scott: What’s the turn around time for you to produce a beer? If you say right now, today, I need a beer, how quickly is that beer on tap?
    Bryan: Probably like 16 days.
    Scott: 16 days.
    Bryan: Yeah, definitely, but I mean, then we’re like, ahhh we can keep it in the cold for 1 more week and then it will just be dank as fuck, you know what I mean? So we’re like, that’s what gets us in trouble, you know? That’s why we’re always like, its all about the beer.

    Scott: What’s beer have you found so far out of the beers that you’ve produced has responded most favorably to being left alone longer?
    Bryan: The bigger beers. Like our Rudeboy it’s 9 different malts, this big red ale. It just loves the cold, getting funky, you know what I mean?

    Scott: What’s the beer that you feel has most quintessentially defined your brewing company so far out of those that you’ve presented to the public?
    Bryan: Either Rude boy with that big malt bill 9 different grains and just all those notes and complexity. Or, I’d like to say Pale Rider because we got local grains, you know what I mean? Like that’s fucking awesome. Like we’re using a farmer whose growing grains and we put in our beer and then we take all that grain and we give it to a cattle farmer and he feeds his cows with it and he brings us back beef, you know what I mean and we eat it for lunch. So, that’s what’s cool.
    Scott: Along those lines, outside of the water that you put into your beer, what percentage of the product that you’re putting into the beer is local?
    Bryan: It’s still a small percentage. I mean like, next year you tell me, I’d have to say like, a large percentage. I mean like, we’re working with farmers right now. I have some brilliant farmer his name is Brooks Claybell with Penn State, he’s like an older farmer, he teaches other farmers how to farm. He’s fucking money. He’s actually growing a seed, a 2 row barley seed, for other farmers to take that seed and use as a cover crop. So, instead of using like, winter wheat and tilling it under, not getting any money at all, dude, if we can make a 2 row barley, its called Charles, and we can have these farmers use that as their cover crop for the winter, they’re making like $1400 an acre…you know this is what we’re guessing….this is a guestimate.

    Scott: Where do you want to go as a brewery? I mean obviously you’ve already got a nice suite of products but is there a particular part of the market that you’re trying to be accompanied with or is there something that you’re saying I want to be a bigger producer and whatever beer comes to mind, whatever beer we brew….
    Bryan: I dunno. I want to be a community brewery you know what I mean, where we can…so we can use the farmers and grow grain for us and give it back to the other farmers that grow cattle and just like the whole local system, you know what I mean.
    Scott: Like a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture.
    Bryan: Yeah. How cool is that. Yeah. So we’re helping out the community. You know what I mean. That’s what its about, you know. That’s responsible business. But as for beers. I love Belgians you know. We made a wicked one, we just kicked it last night. I just like drinkable good beers. We have 3 beers coming out that are like 8-9%. I dunno, like its cliche to say like pushing the limits of beer but I dunno. (pointing at the beer I have in my hand) What style would that be? Think about it.
    Scott: I’ve got the Pale Ryeder. I personally don’t think that’s a pale. Its not even close to a pale. But that’s not to say its not a good beer, its a very good beer.
    Chris: A Pale what? A pale ale or a pale rye?
    Scott: No this is…you can take a look at the color. Oh okay, so Chris…go ahead Chris.
    Chris: Its a Pale Rye. Its a different type of beer, man.
    Bryan: That’s what I mean, to define us as…
    Chris: And that’s where the “independent” comes in.
    Bryan: …To be like, fuck styles, you know what I mean, that’s what we want to make.
    Chris: Totally twisting it up a little bit.

    Scott: So what is your favorite beer to drink that is not something you brew?
    Bryan: Hmmmm, {long pause] Rodenbach or Leffe from New Belgium.
    Scott: And what types of beers are those?
    Bryan: They’re both sours.
    Scott: Sours
    Bryan: Yeah, Rodenbach, I can fuckin’ drink Rodenbach every night.

    Scott: Do you find those in town?
    Bryan: No. Like, Max’s on Broadway.
    Scott: Where in town do you find a beer store that sells good craft beers?
    Bryan: Cheers. Cheers is fucking money.
    Scott: They looked like they were good. Now lets talk closer to Ocean City. Where in Ocean City do you find good craft beers sold by the 6 pack?
    Bryan: Dude its crazy. If you asked me that a year ago I’d be like, I don’t know. Now its like the Green Room, The Citgo right next to Crabs to Go.
    Scott: Oh out there 589.
    Bryan: Yeah, yeah right on 589 and 15.
    Scott: Well Bob.
    Bryan: Yeah Bob! [laughter] He’s got the dank shit, dude! Oh man.
    Scott: But specifically within the town limits of Ocean City? Where would you find a good place? I was told–
    Outside voice: Anthony’s is money.
    Scott: Anthony’s, I’m not going to argue Anthony’s is money. So the funny thing about this question I keep trying to ask, is that every time I ask it I find that I’m having to refine it. So here we go, in Ocean City, during the off-season, where can I find a place to buy good craft beers?
    Bryan: 65th street liquor and kegs right next to the Galaxy.
    Scott: Right next to Galaxy? But do they have good craft? They have a large selection.
    Bryan: Yeah they got like a lot of 750s now.
    Scott: Okay.
    Bryan: Lets see, where else. See that’s all I really would know. Like, if I was in town I would be like, alright, like right now I would go there.
    Scott: We really had a difficult time finding good craft beers and it kinda put us back a little bit.
    Bryan: But you know they weren’t cold.
    Scott: It doesn’t matter to me.
    Bryan: But they have a shelf of 750s.
    Scott: You know what, I assure you I’m looking and I’m not seeing so, yeah finding a good craft beer…there was a place out here on…you know where Steer Inn…
    Bryan: Hops of Barley?
    Scott: Yeah Steer Inn, across the street from them.
    Bryan: Was that good? I’ve never been there.
    Scott: They had a very good collection. Now I will describe their collection as this: it was a great craft beer selection. However, its very clear that they’re using the same distributor as some of the other craft beer distributors that find themselves promoting business in Maryland because you see your Evolution, you see your Flying Dog, you see your Sierra Nevadas out there, you see your Magic Hat. Honestly it was the ones that were at the Good Beer Festival last week. So its difficult to say what you’re seeing but you’re absolutely seeing the independent breweries brewing the independent beer.
    Bryan: Yeah. For sure.
    Scott: I’m sorry that was totally a plug. [Laughter]


    Bryan: I would say Cheers has a lot of them, too. Definitely. (pointing at the other people around me) So what kind of style would you say that was?
    Bryan: Ask these guys, they’re all drinking. Here’s the thing…I wanna know. I mean that’s my question I ask everybody.
    Peter W: Sure. I’m really enjoying this.
    Scott: What are you guys drinking over here? Peter?
    Peter E: Uh, the September Fest.
    Scott: Joe?
    Joe: September.
    Scott: September? and Chris? September.
    Chris: September
    Scott: And what is your initial impression of the September?
    Joe: It doesn’t suck.
    Peter: Rich.
    Scott: I would almost say nutty.
    Bryan: Yeah Pale Rider and that nuttiness.
    Scott: Yeah, I’m getting nutty in the Pale rider. And its not like a nutty like a peanutty its more like a pine-nutty.
    Bryan: Yeah yeah yeah definitely. Definitely. That’s that rye. Rye does crazy stuff man we’re like whoa, what’s this going to do? next time. Now we’re going to add, like, double. We’re going to add 100 next time.
    Scott: Yeah this is absolutely pine-nutty. That’s what I’ve come up with. [Laughter}

  • Interview with Bryan Brushmiller – Owner of Burley Oak Brewery – Part 1 of 2

    I met up with Bryan and his brew master, Brian Carl, from Burley Oak Brewery at the Oktoberfest in Berlin, MD for a couple of interviews.  This is the interview I did while we were standing in the beer garden.  The second half of this interview was done at the brewery later in the day.  This is the interview with Brian the brew master.

    Scott: So 10 kegs and you just tapped it today.
    Bryan: Yeah.
    Scott: That’s good stuff.  What other beers do you have on tap right now?
    Bryan: Here or at the brewery?
    Scott: Well do you have anything else on tap here?
    Bryan: Uh uh.
    Scott: No. So at the brewery?
    Bryan: Yeah we have like 4 or 5 beers at the brewery.
    Scott: 4 or 5 beers at the brewery?
    Bryan: Yeah, we kicked the keg last night. So we have….we kicked the Belgian last night. So we have a Lani-kai which is a single hopped galaxy beer. So we used galaxy hops all the way throughout the whole brew. And then we did a Pale Ryeder, which is our IPA that we do with rye from a local farmer. And September Fest, which is like a big red….imperial red ale.  And then we have Octoberfest.
    Scott: The Octoberfest.
    Bryan: Yeah.

    Scott: What other beers do you like personally to drink the most?
    Bryan: Whatever is in my hand at the time.
    Scott: Whatever is in my hand. (laughter).
    Bryan: Yeah.
    Scott: Good answer. Good answer.
    Bryan: I stole that from Sam. (laughter)

    Scott: So what was it that you….you just recently opened the brewery, correct?
    Bryan: Yeah like, 6 weeks….7 weeks ago.
    Scott: 7 weeks ago?

    Bryan: Yeah
    Scott: What was it that inspired you to open a brewery?

    Bryan: I got fired from my job construction (laughter). And then I was always home brewing, building…geeky with like, building equipment and stuff so I built a little brew house in my garage, you know, like everybody does, right?  Hook some kegs up, and i made it a little bigger and built a bigger one, and then just started like, trying to find used equipment. And built like what I got now going on. So.

    Scott: How long were you brewing beer prior to opening the brewery?
    Bryan: Kinda like, 3 years.
    Scott: 3 years.

    Bryan: Yeah.
    Scott: What kind of types of beers did you experiment with prior to opening the brewery?

    Bryan: Just like Belgians and Saissons.  Just stuff that people weren’t doing, you know what I mean?  Like if I can go somewhere and drink a beer I just go and drink a beer. But like, if I wanted like a Saisson that was like….I dunno or something crazy I would….that’s what I would try to make so.  That’s really what inspired me is just me trying to make beers, like push the limits.  And thats what we do at the brewery, you know?  Like, I dunno you guys should come check out the beers ’cause they’re real styles.
    Scott: Yeah we were hoping to come by the brewery at some point.
    Bryan:  We’re open until 2am Thursday Friday and Saturday.  There’s a full bar.

    Scott: Are you guys going to be doing anything after Octoberfest tonight?
    Bryan: Yeah, we’ll have a whole fucking party there, go down until like 2am. It’ll be nuts. (laughter). I’m serious. (laughter).

    Scott: So you brew all the beers on those premises.
    Bryan: Yes, and Brian..you’ll meet him later hes just walked by.
    Scott: I’m sorry, who?
    Bryan: Brian, the other Brian is the brew master.  Yeah.
    Scott: So you are B-R-Y-A-N
    Bryan: Right, he’s B-R-I. Yeah, I’m the brewing assistant.
    Scott: So is it the 2 of you in business together?  Who’s the owner of the company?

    Bryan:  I’m the owner, yeah.
    Scott: You’re the owner.
    Bryan:  I just hired him.  He’s a Siebel alum.  I went through the Siebel connections and hooked it up.  He’s, he’s the man.

    Scott: Are you local here in Berlin yourself?
    Bryan: Yeah. I’m just right down the road in Salisbury.
    Scott: So, obviously then, Berlin, you wanted to find a location close to where you already lived to open the brewery.

    Bryan: Yeah yeah. Well, i wanted to find a town that would embrace it.  And Berlin came to me and was like, “dude what can we do for you?” And every other town was like–
    Scott: The Chamber of Commerce?
    Bryan: Just like the economic development director and the mayor…like, I’m good friends with the mayor… (pointing) he’s over there.  They were like “what can we do for you to come here?” Where every other town was like “this is what you need to do.”  Like, fuck, I’m going to Berlin, you know?   I don’t need any more hard fight you know than dealing with all this other stuff, like dealing….you know dealing with everything else to have a town be like, “You know, whatever you need, you know, we’ll make it happen.  You need a grant, to fix up  the front of that old building you bought?”
    Scott: The funny thing is, for myself, I’ve been coming down to the ocean obviously my whole life, but recently, more actively over the past 10 years and this is my first time to main street Berlin.

    Bryan: Sure.  That’s awesome.
    Scott: Obviously it was your beer that brought me here.

    Bryan: Oh, awesome.
    Scott: So hopefully you can be that kind of draw to the township.

    Bryan: Definitely, definitely, that’s what we want to do.  We want to give back to the town.  That’s why we do like events, a lot of charities and stuff

    Scott: Who’s promoting this event?  Is this you?
    Bryan: Yeah, me and the chamber of commerce.  You know, Michael Day, the economic development coordinator, the mayor, Mayor G Williams, you know, we just all hang out and its like, alright what can we do?
    Scott: How long did it take to plan this event?  Or rather I should say how long has this event been in the planning?

    Bryan: A couple of months.
    Scott: A couple months?  Was it originally put forth by you or was it–

    Bryan: No!  By these other 2 home brew guys.  And then the town kinda just ran with it.
    Scott: Do you know their names?

    Bryan: No I don’t but I knew that they were like the guys that wanted to get this all started.  So….that….you know you kinda gotta give credit to those guys too.  Then they kinda couldn’t do it ’cause of the laws, (interruption with “Cheers”) so the chamber of commerce was like, “alright, well we’re gonna do it coz its a good idea”.  And at first I was like, man you gotta have, you know, next year hopefully it”ll be like, every brewery in Maryland.  You know I kept pushing like, don’t just have me have every brewery and their Octoberfest or their pumpkin beer or whatever.  It’ll be crazy, you know what i mean?  But they were like oh, we just want to showcase you for now.  So I’m like, alright, that’s fine.  But I’m going to run out of beer, which, I’m getting ready to do.  We’re putting the last kegs on right now and its only 3 o’clock and it goes until 6, so.

    Scott: (laughter) Wow, that’s the last keg?
    Bryan: I think so.

  • Oktoberfest – Berlin, MD

    Berlin, Md hosted its first ever Oktoberfest, and IndyBeers was on hand for the event.  Overall it was a great time.   There was a good size crowd on hand for the event with the downtown Main Street area being well packed.  We headed from the north end of town down past the center towards the beer garden, as that was the only place one could procure a fine malted beverage.  Entrance to the beer garden was free, but tickets were $3 each, which is a great price for drinking a delicious craft beer.



    After getting our handful of tickets we stood in line for about 10 minutes to get our first sample of the newly released Burley Oak Oktoberfest.  As it was, however, we only managed to get 1 beer each of this earthy toned beverage, as the keg ran out while I was interviewing brew master Brian Carl.  From that point we switched to the Flying Dog Marzen.  That worked out well because we had been drinking the same beer earlier in the day before coming to the festival.  While we were standing around drinking we spotted Bryan Brushmiller, the owner of Burley Oak Brewery.  I quickly introduced myself and jumped right into asking about his beer.

    After talking with Bryan for a while, he introduced me to his brew master, Brian.  Brian and I discussed his passion for brewing and why he decided to come to Burley Oak Brewing.  It was during this time the the keg went dry, and he half jokingly said, “I gotta go to the brewery and fill kegs now.”  While he went back to business, Chris and I took some time to survey the scene.  There was a place serving big barbequed pieces of meat, so Chris purchased one to try out.  He said it was really good.



    After a few more beers we decided to head back to the brewery and see what was going on there, as well as sample some of the other beers that might be available.  As we walked back North through town we passed the live music which was offering up some traditional Oktoberfest style melodies.

    After about a 15 minute walk from the downtown area we found ourselves at the brewery.  The brewery was very modest and unassuming in looks from the outside.  Except for the small sign in the front, you wouldn’t know that there was a brewery inside.  They have only been open for about 2 months, since August of 2011.



    Inside the brewery was a sizable bar area.  There were plenty of places to stand and or sit and enjoy some of the beers they currently had on tap.  I went with a Pale Ryeder (which was full of a great rye flavor) and Chris went with the September Fest.  Both were high in alcohol content, and after a day at the Oktoberfest everyone was beginning to notice the effects.



    I continued talking about beer with Bryan and he explained why he had decided to brew beer, and why Berlin was the location for him.  I was hoping to get a tour of the brewery, which could be seen through a large window behind the bar, but something had spilled in the back, and it wasn’t a good time to bring people through the area.  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to come back again!!!


    The end of the day final came for us and it was time to head back home.  Bryan was happy to step outside with us for a couple more pictures.  It was pretty funny, actually,  as he was prone to goofing off while the pictures were being taken and there are more than a few that made me laugh looking at them later.


    Notable Quotes for the day:

    -Pete Arslanian
    Q: You had a beer called the 7 finger farmer?
    A: The farmer only had 7 fingers, lost in a machine accident, so [Bryan] named the beer after him for growing the hops.

    -Dennis Krembel
    Q: So what do you think you’re gonna get here.  You’ve got the Flying Dog, the Ocktoberfest…?
    A: I’ll take a Flying Dog. 2 of ’em.

    -Mark Jersey Cerbo
    Q: In terms of the beers that you’re distributing, how many of them were part of Anheuser Busch, Miller, or Coors…what percentage?
    A: Our portfolio when I was with Carry Distributors at the time Unibev was buying everybody up, they owned a large percent because at that point Miller and Coors had merged together.  We had a strong portfolio.  I mean we had Yuengling, we had Heinekin and Corona,  I mean we had pretty much all the big hitters but Anheuser Busch.
    Q: How difficult did you find it to distribute your beer not having Anheuser Busch in your portfolio?
    A: Not hard.  ‘Cause we had, you know, percentage-wise if you looked into say, a package store we were probably anywhere from 65 to 70% of the door space.
    Q: Outside of distributing the Anheuser Busch, Miller, Coors products how difficult was it to push craft beers into the market?
    A: In the beginning it was a little difficult, but once Dogfish opened up in Delaware in our back yard, you know, Dogfish was an easy swing into the craft beer industry for us down here, you know.  And they have quality products and they expanded, you know, in the right point of time.  They didn’t try to grow too fast, they came along at a good pace that, you know eventually they’re world wide now.
    Q: Do you feel that because of the fact that Dogfish Head made a presence in the Delmarva scene that it made it easier to push craft beers locally?
    A: Absolutely.  Good question.
    Q: So you feel that because of Dogfish Head, craft beers are better appreciated in this area.
    A: Well, in this area down here I think they really were the first stepping stone in the craft beer industry, so with their success grew craft beer in our area, so.  With Burley Oak opening up here in Berlin, I mean I think they’ll do well.


  • Brew Master Interview – Fordham/Old Dominion – Daniel Louder

    During the Good Beer Festival I was fortunate enough to talk to one of the brew masters for Fordham and Old Dominion beers, Daniel Louder.  Below is the transcript of that interview.

     

    Q: So what’s your name, for the record?
    A:Daniel Louder.

    Q: And you have a shirt on that says “brewer”.  Are you indeed a brewer?
    A: Absolutely.

    Q: For who do you brew?
    A: I brew Fordham and Old Dominion products.

    Q: How long have you been doing that for?
    A: I’ve been doing that for probably a year and half now.

    Q: What did you prior to brewing for them?
    A: Prior to brewing for them I was actually a construction supervisor for 7 years, and i did probably about 8 years of home brewing also on the side.  I’ve always been big into craft beers and just into making beers and the whole aspect and the science behind it.

    Q: So what was it that led you from home brewing to working for Fordham and Old Dominion?
    A: Actually I’m fortunate enough to know somebody inside of the company.  That got my foot in the door.  I started off kegging…worked on the bottling line for a while…then was in the cellar and brewing, all within one year.  I worked my way up the ladder.

    Q: Now your statement about who you worked for lumped these 2 brewing companies together and you said you worked in the bottling line.  Are they indeed bottled on the same bottling line or do they keep separate factories for brewing the beer?
    A: No, Fordham and Old Dominion are both brewed out of the same exact roof.  Its a total of 17 to 18 different beers between the 2 companies.  They’re still 2 completely different companies brewed underneath the same roof.

    Q: What is it about those 2 companies that keeps them brewed under the same roof?  What allegiance do they have to each other?
    A: They really don’t have an allegiance to one another.  Fordham was sent to Dover in 2003, where it started being brewed.  And in 2007 Fordham Brewing Company bought Old Dominion Brewing Company out of Ashburn, Virginia and moved it to Dover in 2009.

    Q: Did they buy that with their own funds or was there external backing behind that purchase?
    A: That I’m not 100% sure on.

    Q: And out of the beers that you brew, what is your personal favorite beer to drink?
    A: My personal favorite from the Old Dominion side would have to be Hop Mountain, and my favorite from the Fordham side would have to be Copperhead.

    Q: And if you had to go–by the way, for the record, those are my 2 favorites (laughter)–but if you had to go toe to toe between the 2 of those, which would you prefer?
    A: I would definitely have to go with Hop Mountain, because I’m a big IPA (or pale ale) fan.  I love hops!  I’m a hop head, but I’m also different than everybody else in the way that I’m a malt head.  I also….a  lot of people are into hops these days but nobody really looks at the true aspect of what makes a beer.  And that is the actual malt that is derived from the beginning throughout the whole process.

    Q: So those are your 2 favorite beers out of the (suite???) of products offered by the 2 companies, but what is your most favorite beer to brew?
    A: My most favorite beer to actually brew would honestly…i would have to say Scotch Ale, which is a fall seasonal which will be out next month if I am correct and that is actually my favorite brew to actually–or beer–to actually brew.

    Q: What beer out of the seasonal ales that you offer do you think gets the best reception from the public?
    A:  Ooohhh that’s a tough one.  I would have to say our Octoberfest.

    Q: Octoberfest?  Is it simply the season that makes it popular?
    A: I believe it is the season and also the basis that’s already been established for your Octoberfest beers.  A lot of people are already familiar with them and they look forward to the actual fall season when the Octoberfests come out and a lot of people try a different style Octoberfest.

    Q: What’s your personal favorite seasonal beer?
    A: My personal favorite seasonal beer would actually have to be our newly released Fordham Spiced Harvest Ale.

    Q: Do you have anything coming up soon that hasn’t been released yet that’s–
    A: Yes we actually have a couple coming up soon that hasn’t been released yet.  We have our Baltic(??) Porter which will actually probably be packaged this month.  We also have….and that is from our Fordham side I believe…we have so many different beers its hard to keep track.  And we also have from our…Dopplebock, which is Fordham, which will be coming out in the wintertime.  And we also have our Millennium by Old Dominion which is our barleywine which comes in at about 10, 10 and a half percent which is one of my favorite beers to sip on during the winter.

    Q: For this particular event, were you guys contacted by the event coordinators, or did you seek out this event to present your beer to the public?
    A: We were actually contacted by our distributors. The coordinators contacted our distributors.  This is our 2nd year here.  The distributors and the event coordinator have both done a great job with just keeping us updated and then having a great presentation for our overall product and our area where the beers are actually being poured.

    Q: So do you feel like this event gets a good turnout for the Maryland area compared to other events, or do you think this is on par with what you’ve seen elsewhere?
    A: I would say this is actually a great turn out.  Last year was their first year that I was here and on the first day of the first year here they had almost 2000 people  show up from what I was told and it looks like today I would say there’s at least a thousand people here today and I think its a great turn out.  I haven’t been to many other Maryland events but, as opposed to some of the other beer events that I do, this is one of the largest turnouts and well planned events that I’ve been to.

    Q: Where is the beer truck and where are you based out of?
    A: The beer truck is actually based out of Eastern Shore Distributing, is who provided the beer truck.  That is our distributor.  We’re based out of Dover.  Eastern Shore Distributor is our Maryland distributing company, so if you wanted to buy any of our products it would basically be whoever Eastern Shore distributes to.

     

    A big Thank you to Dan for the interview and Kelli for transcribing it.

  • Good Beer Festival


    Wow, the Good Beer Festival was a lot of fun!!! Kelli and I sampled so many beers that I’m glad I took some notes. The festival ran on both Saturday October 8th, 2011 and Sunday October 9th, 2011 from 12:30pm to 6:30pm both days. We only went on Saturday and arrived at around 1pm. We decided that next year we are going to make a weekend out of the festival and go both days, doing the 5k hangover race on Sunday morning, as well.

     

     

    As we made our way through the entrance area we found the event to already be in full swing.  There were over 50 craft beers from 25+ breweries waiting for us to enjoy!!!  Just past the entrance way and along the back fence were 10 cornhole stations setup for gaming by festival goers that were already in full use.  This wasn’t too surprising as the day was already in the mid 70’s with temperatures expected to rise to around 80.  WBOC 16 & FOX 21 had a tent with 4 large flat screen TVs showing college football games.  There were not too many kids around, but there were enough to let you know that it was family friendly event.

     

    Kelli and I started the one of our local favorites, Dogfish Head.  They were close to the entrance and I was craving the Punkin.  Kelli went with the 120 minute.  We roamed about while enjoying the first of many samples and found a good crowd with shoulder to shoulder action close to main stage that got thinner back towards entrance.  There seemed to be a Jovial spirit among festival goers, with everyone enjoying the great day.

    It wasn’t long after we arrived at the festival that I had to start removing layers of clothing.  We weren’t sure if the the weather was going to hold, so we dressed in several layers, of which the long sleeve layer came off of me within the first hour.  In retrospect, I probably should have worn shorts and flip flops, but who knew that an October day in Maryland was going to be so nice?

    There were plenty of various vendors selling their goods at the festival.  A few sold clothing, and a few more were selling food.  Kelli bought me a Good Beer Festival hat to wear.  The reason for the hat was because she found out from someone about the festival because they were wearing a hat form last years festival.  She thought I, too, should have a hat!!!  I in turn bought Kelli not one, but two shirts.

    The only downside of all this was that I forgot to bring cash.  The onsite ATM charged $3.25 to pull out cash (plus any charges you bank may assess) .  It was, however, good to be able to grab some cash once inside the event.  I’m not sure how close another ATM would have been, but my guess is it would involve getting in the car and driving to the location.

     

     

    After a few beer samples we were getting hungry, and this festival had the usual fried food offerings, but there was something I had never had before, an oyster fritter.  I was reluctant at first to have one, as I thought they would be a slimey mess to eat, and be too much oyster for one man to take.  Boy was I wrong.  They were so good we ended up getting a second one.  The pepper crust outside that was deep fried to a golden brown easily held the oysters and breading inside in a fantastically delicious treat!!!

    There was plenty of music all day long, and the Time Police on the bar stage did a great rendition of Jackson 5’s I want you back.  One of the reason we had come to this festival was to see The Electric Company play.  We have long followed the band and it’s members though the various iterations of musical groups through the years, and this day was no different.  They not only put on a great show, but they let me record one of their songs from the performance for free download!!!  Feel free to grab the MP3 file here for your listening pleasure:

    FREE MP3 – The Electric Co. – 2011 Good Beer Festival Live – 01 – I Need You

    We also did a tour of Pemberton Hall.  The tour included a brief description of the history of the property, as well as a visit to the rooms within the structure.  This would be a good stop for anyone who is a history buff, but not too interesting for others.  We ended up leaving the tour early to get back to beer drinking.

    Outside there was a gentleman dressed in period costume brewing beer as would have been done in colonial times.  He explained the processes that would have been required using the now archaic methods of brewing.  There was no beer to sample, but I would have liked to have tasted the end product of what he was making.

    With the end of the day coming at this point, we decide to slow our drinking and work towards heading home.  Overall the event was a really fun time, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys craft beers.

     

    I interviewed a few people over the course of the day, and here are some notable quotes:

    -Brian McDavid, Fenwick Island, DE
    What do you plan on trying next?
    Whatever is closest to me

    -Nathan W. Clendenen – Ocean City, MD
    What Beer are you drinking?
    Sierra Nevada Tumbler.  I don’t get a chance to drink nearly as much Sierra Nevada as I used to in the past.  It’s delicious.  It’s a little more complex.

    -Corlie Brice – Crisfield, MD
    What are you drinking right now?
    Double pumpkin Sam Adams
    What do you think of that so far?
    It is delicious
    Have you had any of the other pumpkins today?
    I’ve had three other pumkins and this is by far the most pumpkin-y
    What were the other pumpkins you had?
    I had the blue moon and then I had another one I don’t even remember, maybe, flying dog and it would make sense the double pumpkin has more pumpkin in it.

    -Tony Shipyan – Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
    What brought you out to the event today?
    These guys here, they kind of led me in on it, they’re kind of beer aficionados

    -Josh Owens – Milton DE
    What is your favorite beer fest to go to?
    This one is looking pretty good.  The one in the Poconos is pretty crowded and you can’t get around but this is pretty nice being wide open and just being able to walk up.
    Have there been any standouts for you?
    The Duck Duck Goose was really good, that and the 1554 by Fat Tire.

    -Marc Gloyd – Milton, DE
    You’re wearing a beer advocate shirt.  Are you associated with beer advocate?
    No, I’m just an alcoholic.

    -Sonny Martin – Millville, DE
    Right now you are enjoying the Hoptopber what do you think?
    It’s got a slight little piney after taste.
    Do you typically like the hopped beers?
    No I’m typically a pale ale guy, but this is nice, I might have to get a full pint of this. This is sweet.

    Kelli’s new favorite quote seen at the festival: Everyone needs something to believe in and I believe I need another beer.

     

    Here are the list of Beers Kelli and I had for the day (with and notes we may have made at the time of sample).  I may have missed some of Kelli’s beers because we were separated for a while, but this is most of them.  I may have missed one or two on my list, but I definitely had all 17 listed.

    Kelli
    Dogfish Head – 120
    Stone – Arrogant Bastard (Hoppy, Medium Colored, I liked it)
    Oskar Blues Brewery – Hemp Ale (Kelli liked it because it was cold, the perfect temperature, Kelli like it because it’s easy to drink).
    Oskar Blues Brewery – Stillwater Artisanal
    Evolution – #3 (delicious, perfectly hopped) Hopped at a rate of over 2% per barrel, great flavor, perfectly chilled temperature.
    Sierra Nevada – Tumbler (I think it’s good, definitely a brown ale)  Amidst all these crafts brews it’s kinda funny that Sierra, who’s one of the best well known beers has no one in line and they only have 2 beers to show today.
    Sierra Nevada – Torpedo (Kelli, as a hophead I like it, but they are sort of falling a little under my radar today because they’re so many other great beers here, but still you can’t not be happy with a little Sierra in your life)
    Evolution – Jacques Au Lantern (I think my glass is so messed up from so many different beers that the smell might be a little off, but the taste is great.  It’s my favorite kind of flavor in a pumpkin beer because you can taste the spice and they’re actually not advertising it as a pumpkin beer.  They’re advertising it more as a fall seasonal with spices and pumpkin.  They’re not really directly calling it that)
    Sierra Nevada – Torpedo

    Scott
    Dogfish Head – Punkin
    Ommegang – Hennepin (tasted like a Belgium wheat, Not a big fan of it, hoping to find something better)
    Magic Hat – Hex (Kelli says I got a nice size pour)
    Oskar Blues Brewery – Hemp Ale (Definitely a brown ale that doesn’t taste overly brown, actually has a nice flavor to it)
    Oskar Blues Brewery – Stillwater Artisanal (because we were already standing next to it)  Didn’t like it. Bad lemonade. Dumped it out.
    Eastern Shore Brewing Company – Duck Duck Goose (brown ale.  Very Dark.  Can’t see through it holding it to the Sun)
    Evolution – Lucky 7 porter (lighter side, not very heavy which is working out very well on a day like today)
    Sierra Nevada – Tumbler (Autumn Brown ale, as you would expect from SN a quality product, not too heavy, not too light, just a perfect balance of taste)
    Sierra Nevada – Torpedo (as an IPA lover, this beer is delicious.  It’s a little more heavy than their pale ale, full of that hopped flavor that you love)
    Evolution – Summer Seasonal (no nose or I’ve had a lot of beer today. The flavor is mild, like a heavy pale ale that you drink all day),
    Evolution – Pumpkin Ale – (I don’t like it at all.  It is overly infused with flavor and I don’t feel like it’s a natural flavored beer.  It just has that artificially injected flavor to it)
    Sam Adams – Double Pumpkin ale (not much of a nose, it is, however, full of pumpkin flavor.  Almost over-pumpkin-ed, but certainly enjoyable)
    Fat Tire – 1554 (very dark brown ale.  Thick red muddy color, nothing on the nose, a Chris beer for sure)  This may be a stand out for those who like brown ales, but I prefer the lighter brown ales.
    Stone – Arrogant Bastard –
    Yards Brewing Co – brawler ale – Brown ales ( I have found some good brown ales, and this one is not good.  A sour flavor that rides on the back of your tongue) I dumped it out
    16 mile brewing – Amber sun (good on a day like today.  Sun in the name is indicative of the environment in which it should be drank)
    Sierra Nevada – Torpedo
    Fat Tire – Hoptober