So it’s great to see the New York Times showing some respect to Upstate New York and Madison County. Hops was once a booming industry here in CNY and some dedicated farmers and brewers are responsible for the rebirth of this craft. Great story and great beers!

Many years ago, the winter of 2000 to be exact, I was deep in the jungles of Vietnam sipping a sweet nectar they called “Tiger Beer.” We would ask “toi un Tiger beer, moi lom lom” and they would come back with a cold (for Vietnam standards anyway) Tiger Beer for us. There were other beers there in Vietnam, Saigon Beer for example, but none of them had the flavor of the blue bottle.

Since that wonderful trip in 2000, I don’t recall ever having Tiger beer again. I always knew I could get it if I wanted it, but for some reason I avoided it. That was until I received a fateful offer by Melissa Tavss from The Baddish Group to try some Tiger Beer on the house.  Having been so long and with the changes in my tastes over the years, I had to try it.  Would it live up to the memories?  Would the flavor of this beer take me back to the Mekong Delta watching long shabby fishing boats putter around with the mountains in the back ground?  Would I smell the exhaust of thousands of two stroke motor scoots and hear the constant stream of beeps that turned into white noise?  Who knows, but I had to find out!

So I took Ms. Tavss up on her offer and asked to send along a sample.  Within days there was a box waiting for me and I have to say, I haven’t been this excited about a tasting in a VERY long time.  Now one sits, chilling waiting to be drank.  Will rediscover and old fond love or will my memories be dashed by a pedestrian beer?  Time to find out…

Empire Amber Ale from Daylight Blue Media on Vimeo.

Very cool video and join me in raising a glass to Empire Brewing Company for doing things the right way (and kicking some ass in the process)!

This past weekend I broke out the two tap cold plate setup and had two beers on tap for the big “Colgate Vs. Syracuse” showdown.  We had an epic tailgate party with plenty of beverages, food and happy people.  It’s events like these that the cold-plate and all the extra fixings come into effect.

Interestingly, the Noble Pils had a totally different flavor (hops wise anyway) than my one at home on tap.  I really felt like I had a full hops flavor, where the one I have on tap at home was a little soapy tasting almost.  The one that I tapped at the party though really tasted like Saas hops, which was what I was going for.  Maybe I didn’t rinse one of my kegs well enough or something.  Who knows.

The Kaffir Lime Imperial Lager was a big hit and we kicked a whole keg of it.  It took a little bit for my brews to get settled out and for some of the folks to break into the homebrew, but once everyone did and the beer was flowing, it was on!

Finally, I racked over my harvest ale and tasted it.  Very good so far, but really muddy.  It needs some time to settle so I may pull out some tricks to get it good and clear by the end of October.

Cheers

The crux of this post is that one of the professional brewers, in the process of describing how he attracted the necessary funding to start a brewery, made a comment about being aware of where you were located and that will dictate your brewery.  While I am never a supporter of backwards pro habitation style limits to alcohol production, the comment was directed towards the general business environment in New York State.  It was a comment in passing about never taking an investor from New York because of all the hell in the process of satisfying state-based requirements to take the investment.

Anyway, prior to the comment, I was listening to my iPod mowing my lawn thinking “hey, you know, I could do this, I could maybe do a brew pub” but that comment brought me crashing back to reality of living in New York State.  It’s a sad state of affairs here in NY and honestly there is no end in sight.  For anyone that reads this from another state, the reality of New York is that we are dominated by New York City’s interests  as it’s the home of over 65% of the state’s population.  You see, in NYC, there is no need to create a good business environment because you have Wall Street and one of the most dynamic cities in the world.  However, in Upstate New York, the interests of NYC cripple the business environment in an area where we need to work to be competitive.

Even LeBron James decided that the tax-free shelter of Florida was a more attractive option than New York.  While anyone here in New York is extremely familiar with the term “most dysfunctional government in the country”, it’s times like this that I am reminded of the real consequences of this reality.  It’s a sad state of affairs that we in New York are stuck and there is nothing we can really do.  I know, you’re thinking “go vote your politicians out” blah blah blah, but unfortunately it won’t change a thing.  New York City has the vast majority of the state’s population, money and elected officials.  They will always have the interests of the city in mind over the rest of the state and this will continue to be a state with a very poor business environment.

That means fewer brewers and brew pubs opening, those that do start will face a state that sees them as a problem more than a benefit.  They’ll be forced to clear the violations on a property that have nothing to do with the new owners, pay taxes and fees that dwarf those of other states, face a state alcohol regulation bureau that assumes guilt over innocence, and fight countless local regulations.

Anyway, I was really optimistic listening to those stories of brew pub owners and how they got started, but as you can tell my response is more pessimistic given the reality of where I live.  No I am not going to move, no I am not going to run for office, I am just pissed that if I do decide to create a business, perhaps a brew pub, it’s in spite of the environment where I live, not because of it.  This is yet another reason that I am such a strong supporter of New York based breweries, especially those in upstate, you know what they say “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!”  Sadly oh so true.

Time for a beer.

Anyway, I’ll be brewing this week, this will be my harvest ale and I’ll have more to come on how that will go.

Yup its the often criticized Triumph TR7 which I have been working on getting back into operation the past three weeks.  I know what you’re thinking, drinking and driving don’t mix, not kidding.  However, in some weird way, beer and old cars do, don’t ask me how, they just do.  Why is the Tr7 criticized?  Well many believe that it led to the downfall of the British Leyland and it was voted one of the 50 worst cars ever built due to its under-powered engine and over protective bumpers.  However, with all that being said, it’s had a bit of a resurgence in the past 5 years in Europe and with many (including mine) getting after-market engine upgrades to more powerful v-6’s and v-8’s, it’s actually a nappy ride.

Mine is a 1976 with a 231ci 3.8L V-6 engine and automatic transmission.  Over the past few weeks I’ve tore out the interior and installed new carpet, changed the valve cover gaskets, the manifold gaskets as well as tinker with the carb.  It’s a lot of fun, but it’s distracted me for brewing.

The good news is that I was sick for about two weeks and didn’t touch my beer so there was little to no hit on my supply from the end of April until about a week ago.  Currently, Bobby Brown is still hanging out on tap, my Noble Pilsner is tapping (although I really may have over hopped with Saaz on that one, the hops flavor on it is a little intense), along with my latest IPA and Japanese Kaffir Lime Imperial Lager ( just realized I didn’t make a post for this one, I will have to write something up ASAP!).

Besides all of the above, I’ve been out exploring beers in the greater Syracuse area…oh yea, and I was lucky enough to see Pearl Jam AGAIN in Hartford CT, here is a little taste:

Thanks for sticking with me! More to come, cheers!

A little more than a week ago I received an invitation from Josh Solomon, Director of Sales for US Beverage Net, to visit their offices in downtown Syracuse.  Funny thing is I’ve walked by their building for the last 5 years and was finally able to get in and check it out.  The building was vacant for a number of years and they have been one of the new tenants, remodeling their floor to include a demo bar, conference rooms and a bunch of offices.  But I’m not here to talk about real estate, I’m here to talk about beer.

As a quick overview, US Beverage Net has a patented process for measuring the flow of beer through keg lines and relays the information into a web-based user interface.  The user interface allows managers, brewers and business executives to monitor real-time statistics about what brews are selling, track innovatory and beer temperature.   The video below is quick peek at how the system works:

The system allows managers to see how much beer is being sold with the information from the registers at the bar against the actual beer that flows through the beer lines.  Innovatory is tracked in real time and allows managers to know the status of kegs on tap.  Over time, information is collected so that larger bars and beer operations can produce reports to show trends in purchasing, beer choices and sales.  This is really precise measurement where most bars and brew pubs rely on simply lifting kegs and quick counts.

Now beer is an interesting asset for a bar.  While we (beer geeks) can really see the value in tracking the beer flow on a high end beer like Chemey, most people in the bar/restaurant service industry see beer as a low-cost, high profitability product.  This can easily lead them to ask “why should I care?” – I have to say, when I first learned of US Beverage Net I asked myself the same thing.

So what makes this valuable to customers?  After talking with Josh, I’ve learned that they’ve found a few hot-spots for customers and have an enticing opportunity for future growth.  First, restaurants with multiple locations that see a large volume of beer flow through their lines can quickly realize the value of tracking “beer loss” (includes everything from people who waste beer that is foaming by leaving the tap open to overly friendly staff that like to treat their friends).  It allows for accountability and in some cases, US Beverage Net was able to identify 20% loss of beer and, with some basic review of staff and practices, were able to get the losses down to 2%.

Now while it’s easy to see how hundreds lines with beer flowing inefficiently can lead to quick turn around on investment dollars, but how can this help a brew pub?  Empire Brewing Company is currently using the system and brewer Tim is able to accurately monitor inventory so he can plan out brew sessions, asses the effectiveness of recipes with sales information, and do all this from the comfort of his home.  The web-based user interface has created a situation where he can pick and chose the time he needs to spend in the bar so he doesn’t have to walk into the coolers picking up the kegs every night to monitor supply.

Finally, they’ve got some interesting prospects for the future.  US Beverage Net has recently signed on with a few distributors.  Now this is interesting because they can provide access to distributors to have a real-time view of inventory at bars and restaurants.  This can save them man hours, gas and increase efficiency of the beer distribution process.  There is also the possibility  for US Beverage Net to, as they build their client base, compile information for brewers and the beer industry to provide an immediate snapshot of consumer reaction to beer in the market.

Over all, the upside of this product is great.  It’s especially attractive given the current economic climate and everyone’s desire to stretch every penny.  This quote from Jake Wright of Quaker Steak and Lube says a lot:

“We have had a FULL return on our investment for the installation and a full year of fees from just ONE busy night, moving from a variance of 20% the week before we notified staff to just 3% the week after. The system worked from day one, the support from the Bevnet team was immediate when needed and most importantly the cost was amazingly low. No hassle, easy to use, low cost and immediate ROI.”

Syracuse is a great beer town and US Beverage Net is a great beer company using innovation to help modernize the industry we support.  Cheers.

UPDATE – Found this story online

So this weekend, I spent a good 16hrs taping and mudding. This week I am going to treat the many water stains and paint. When it’s all done, I have some cupboards to hang up in there and finished semi-gloss finish on the sheet-rock.

I consider this a semi-beer project because I brew in my garage. Since I spend 5+ hours in there staring at the water-stained unfinished sheet-rock every other weekend, this seems like a great way to spruce-up my brew space.

I’m not going to bother with pictures until I brew again, but I should have some real brew news in the next few days.

Cheers.

I scaled my recipe down to 2.5 gallons to fit into the 12 1 Liter bottles I had. I also didn’t use the oak chips as I had never used them before but had read that it is very easy to go overboard and I didn’t want the oak to dominate the flavor.

7.5 lb Pale US 2-Row
1.25 lb Munich 10L
.75 lb Special Roast
.50 lb Caramel 120L
.50 lb Caramel 45L
.12 lb Chocolate 350L
.50 oz Columbus – 60 Mins
.30 oz Goldings – 10 Mins
Mash was the same as above. 60 min boil. I used Wyeast 1056 (with starter) instead and my fermentation temp was a bit higher at 70 degrees. It was in the primary for 2 weeks and then I racked into a secondary on top of a Madagascar Vanilla Bean that I had cut down the middle, scraped out the inside, and then chopped into quarters. I soaked the pieces in a bit of bourbon for a day beforehand. I left it in the secondary for another 2 weeks and added half a cup of Jim Beam Bourbon at bottling.

Now I had this while my wife and I were over for dinner, but Jeremy was nice enough to give me a bottle to try on my own.  I enjoyed it over some football, here are my notes:

Aroma: I noticed a lot of fruity smells in the nose, there were some light vanilla tones, but very subtle.  Vanilla is a forgiving additive for a beer, it plays nice.  The fruity aroma was pretty intense and probably a result of the warm fermentation.

Head: A pretty thin head until I poured it more aggressively, this happens in beers with higher alcohol content, he may want to increase the dex on the next time around.  The color of the head was cream/off white and reminded me of a cream ale head.

Color: Deep rose red to a mahogany color, a nice color for a porter.  The clarity was fantastic on this brew, there was no chill haze or sediment in the brew.

Taste: There were hints of fruity esters on the front end with the creamy vanilla flavors following on the back end.  Clean finish with all the flavors being subtle and nothing really overwhelming the beer.

Mouth feel: Early on there was some carbonation burn on the tongue, but nothing too bad and it really tapered off as I drank.  The body was clean, crisp and easy to drink with no alcohol burn.

Over all: This is rich, but not overbearing.  The vanilla and caramel notes really set this beer off, but it finishes clean on your pallet.  This makes the beer very palatable that I might even go so far as to call it a session beer (perhaps it’s a drinking mans session beer, but it’s something I could have a few of and not get sick of).  There are only two things I would change; fermentation temp to keep the esters in check and maybe tweak the recipe to give it a little more complexity, but it should be done in extreme moderation as it’s a very drinkable beer and that should remain.

Thanks to Jeremy for sharing his beer, it’s a great beer and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cheers