First time hearing from me and #2 of the 4 brewers, to make a blog entry. It is actually my first ever blog entry so bare with me.
A good friend of mine, a co-worker at Wells Fargo, invited me to check out brewing from pure grain to make beer. It only took one brew day to know I was going to be a home brewer. People love tasty beer and like to try varieties. That is what we are all about, making deliciously fresh, high quality beer and sharing it with others.
Tonight is the second night in a row where we've had a few people over and tasted between 6-8 different types of beer and talk about them. Yes, we are beer geeks and we love it! Even the most novice beer drinker can talk about what they like and don't like and we listen.
At this point in our start up we are refining our signature flavors and still experimenting with other varieties. Yesterday Ryan brought some of the IPA he's been working on and I was shocked. Ryan is a great brewer, but to get a signature IPA I thought it would take many more test batches experimenting with different grains and hops and balancing the ratio. I would definitely classify it up there as one of the best IPA's I've had and the IPA's are what brought me to enjoy craft beer. The recipe as is, is solid, but we'll continue to make some minor adjustments to see if we can make it even better.
Here's the list of beers we have ready to taste or soon to be ready. If you are interested in trying some send me an email brandoncriger@gmail.com
I can put together a little sample pack for you. All we ask in return is you give us some honest feedback.
American Ale (little hoppy/bitter but not quite an IPA)
Sour Berliners (light wheat beer some regular style and some with touch of blue berry)
Numb Nut Brown Ale (kinda like a New Castle with a little more spice)
Doppelbock (fermenting)
Smooth Porter (not thick, dark and refreshing)
Imperial Stout (aging to maximize flavor)
Sweet Celebration (brewed tonight by Bailey in honor of his girl friend's graduation - first experiment with using grapefruit)
Cheers! Brandon
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Business Plan!!
A couple of months ago Brandon, Dave and Ryan went to the Smart Start series at the Small Business Development Center. I wasn't able to go on that date, but will be attending the series next month. It seemed like a great resource as, over the course of two days, entrepreneuers are given information about business plans, tax information, marketing information and more. It would have been well worth the $40 just for that session, however attending this series allows us to have free counseling whenever we need it from here on out! It's an absolutely wonderful idea that has no doubt helped many small businesses in Iowa get off the ground and stay off the ground! One of the unique aspects about this series is that it puts you in touch with the actual firms and professionals you will need to partner with (attorneys, accountants, etc.). So, not only do you get great information, you get to pick the brains of people who have been through this with other businesses many times over!
Our counselor is Greg Saboe, President of Strategies Plus, Inc (follow him on Twitter at @gsaboe). Strategies Plus is a company that specializes in management and marketing issues for small businesses. His bio lists a wealth of work experience, including being an adjunct instructor at DMACC. We are very happy to have his assistance with our little venture!
Anyway, we finally got our business plan to the point that we were comfortable showing it to someone. We all worked on different sections and Ryan pieced them all together a few days before our meeting. Going into it, I was worried that it would look like a hastily written 8th grade essay...covered in red ink from beginning to end. Thankfully there was no red ink in sight! There was, however, a little yellow highlighter and black ink...but I can deal with that! He gave us some great ideas for bettering our plan as well as some ideas to help us nail down a solid name for our yet-to-be-named business!
Looking at the suggestions Greg had for us will definitely help us maintain momentum as we move through the planning process. It has been very easy to get bogged down in working on a document that very few people will ever see! However, its importance can't be understated. This is laying the groundwork for our business and if the foundation isn't solid...how can we expect the end result to be? Not only will this help us maintain our momentum, it will likely force us to think about various problems from a different angle which could ultimately lead to a solution! Since each portion of the plan is integral to the rest, working on one section can seem completely separate from an issue in another, but while working through it we can see how they link together and how they both depend on each other and support each other.
Anyway, our living document has been born and even though it isn't fully developed and has a lot of rough edges, it is great to really have something that we could give to someone and prove we haven't simply been just getting together, dreaming and having a beer! There is a plan! Now it is time to nurture it and coax it into a healthy being that will support all of the work that we have yet to begin!
Our counselor is Greg Saboe, President of Strategies Plus, Inc (follow him on Twitter at @gsaboe). Strategies Plus is a company that specializes in management and marketing issues for small businesses. His bio lists a wealth of work experience, including being an adjunct instructor at DMACC. We are very happy to have his assistance with our little venture!
Anyway, we finally got our business plan to the point that we were comfortable showing it to someone. We all worked on different sections and Ryan pieced them all together a few days before our meeting. Going into it, I was worried that it would look like a hastily written 8th grade essay...covered in red ink from beginning to end. Thankfully there was no red ink in sight! There was, however, a little yellow highlighter and black ink...but I can deal with that! He gave us some great ideas for bettering our plan as well as some ideas to help us nail down a solid name for our yet-to-be-named business!
Looking at the suggestions Greg had for us will definitely help us maintain momentum as we move through the planning process. It has been very easy to get bogged down in working on a document that very few people will ever see! However, its importance can't be understated. This is laying the groundwork for our business and if the foundation isn't solid...how can we expect the end result to be? Not only will this help us maintain our momentum, it will likely force us to think about various problems from a different angle which could ultimately lead to a solution! Since each portion of the plan is integral to the rest, working on one section can seem completely separate from an issue in another, but while working through it we can see how they link together and how they both depend on each other and support each other.
Anyway, our living document has been born and even though it isn't fully developed and has a lot of rough edges, it is great to really have something that we could give to someone and prove we haven't simply been just getting together, dreaming and having a beer! There is a plan! Now it is time to nurture it and coax it into a healthy being that will support all of the work that we have yet to begin!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Brew Day!!
Brandon and I took a little bit of time this afternoon to brew and do some work with past brews. As I'm writing this, I'm having a taste of a Strong Belgian Golden Ale that Brandon and I brewed a couple of months ago. It's not the best Belgian I have ever had, but it was our first attempt, and overall I'm pretty satisfied with it. Good, strong malt profile along with some fruity esters associated with the Belgian yeast we used to ferment. Yes, I am drinking it out of a Sam Adams glass (thanks to Craft Brew Week at El Bait Shop!).
Anyway, back to brew day. Our goal today was to brew a Doppelbock for Brandon and I was working on a special request brew for my girlfriend. My instructions were to brew a fruity, summer ale for her. I know that she doesn't like really hoppy beers, so I am keeping the bitterness low. However, I am going for a grapefruit taste and a lavender smell (I know, it's a little goofy, but I'm going to give it a shot!). Unfortunately, the brew store didn't have one of the hop varieties in stock that I wanted to use, and none of the substitutes really were what I wanted either...so I decided to wait until I can find some Saaz hops somewhere! So, our busy brew day got a little bit less busy. We still had to brew Brandon's Doppelbock, bottle my Numb Nut Brown Ale and bottle Brandon's Berliner...with a twist!
Brandon's Berliner is a very sour beer, but we are working on some other interesting iterations of this beer. This time, Brandon bottled half of the batch like normal...the remaining half he simmered some blueberries and let it sit in the secondary fermenter a little bit longer to try and add some fruity flavors to the mix. So, we bottled about 3 gallons of that and, what I found interesting, is that even though he used only blueberries...the beer turned out a surprising light pink color! I'm really eager to try some of that!
As we were doing our bottling of the Blueberry Berliner, we were also moving right along with brewing the Dopplebock (as yet to be named!).
Hot Break!!!
First hop addition...German Tettnang, if I remember correctly.
Mmmm...hops!! Love how they turn the beer green!
When I brewed my second edition of Numb Nut Brown Ale, we apparently had an extremely vigorous boil going on, because instead of ending up with 5 gallons of finished beer, we only ended up with about 4.25 gallons. Regardless, we went ahead and bottled that today as well. So, even though we weren't able to get the Sweet Celebration Ale (named because it will be in honor of my girlfriend's birthday as well as her hard-earned graduation from college!!) brewed, we were able to get a lot accomplished on an extremely hot and sticky day! I came back home with a growler of the Belgian, 42 bottles of Numb Nut Brown Ale as well as a few bottles of Brandon's American Pale Ale. Now, if only I knew some people who liked craft beer to give some bottles away for some "taste evaluation"!! Any takers! :)
I think I'll finish my glass of Belgian Blonde and see if I can't figure out a way to get my girlfriend's beer brewed and perfected in time for graduation! Have a great night everyone!
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