Blog Archives:
Flavour Training Success!
Friday, February 25, 2011
By all accounts the first Flavour Training Course was a rousing success. We actually ended up shortening up the number of nights and took on a few more flavours on the second and third nights so everyone could free up their Thursday evening.Click here to see the view from Colin's tasting notes.
Thanks to all who participated - we're really looking forward to the next course in March.
In other news:
The Growing Local conference is this weekend and for those of you local foodies and farmers, we're happy to provide some tasty beverages to this intelligent local event. Say hi to Chris at our booth during the dinner this evening and grab yourself some local treats from the Chefs.
$ellout $tout release day is on Saturday. Doors open at 9am, while we do have about 20 cases more of it this year vs. last, don't expect it to last the whole day. Be here early, or sleep in and hear the never ending stories about how great it is from your friends who know how to set their alarm clocks and are strangely unwilling to share their bottles. The way I see it, if Kyle can be organized enough to make it here from Lethbridge, surely some Winnipeg folks can be here to huddle up and keep him warm out there!
The week of April 11th, I'll be in Regina judging beers for the ALES Club National Homebrewing Competition. Those of you out there who brew beer at home can send their entries into the Regina competition for judging. Winners automatically advance to the NHC First Round in the states, and winners from Regina have done quite well on the international stages in the past.
On Friday evening, April 15th, we'll be hosting a beer dinner along with the Chefs and staff at Beer Bros. Half Pints' beers are on tap there regularly, so we'll have plenty of interesting pairings for the crowd.
Labels: ALES Club, Flavour Training Course, Regina, Sellout Stout
Catastrophic Failure and New Date Coded Cases
Friday, February 18, 2011
For those of you who haven't heard, we had a batch of St. James Pale Ale that decided it would give us some trouble during fermentation and make life generally miserable. We pulled the pin and dumped the whole 4000L. rather than make our St. James fans suffer the unbearable horrors at the drinking of this off-spec beer.
This is the first time in Half Pints' history that we've decided to dump an entire batch cause it didn't meet our specifications, and rather than hide that fact away and let you all wonder why the hell you can't find the beer on the shelf or at your favourite local pub, we wanted everyone to know why.
Moving on...
This is the first time in Half Pints' history that we've decided to dump an entire batch cause it didn't meet our specifications, and rather than hide that fact away and let you all wonder why the hell you can't find the beer on the shelf or at your favourite local pub, we wanted everyone to know why.
So there you go. Quality not quantity - says it right there on the box, it's not just lip service. It tasted nasty, so we dumped it.
Moving on...On that subject, it just so happens that at the same time, we've been working on a method of batch tracking and labelling our cases. This week, we started labelling all the 6 packs that are coming off the bottling line with a "bottled on date" in a clearly legible form. This way, real beer lovers can see clearly when their beer was bottled.
Look for the stickers on the bottom left of the beer description panel.
For example, a St. James Pale Ale 6 pack labelled with this sticker:
15.02 pkg1
2011.246
was bottled on:
15th February - 1st tank of the day
2011 - Batch #246
Over the next couple of weeks as the stock is depleted at stores, you'll see these new labeled cases popping up.
All this begs the question: why we haven't decided to put a best before date on our beer?
Ideal storage conditions are dark, cold, free from vibrations and free of wild temperature swings. So basically, a fridge. When was the last time you went blindfolded and shopped for beer in a walk in cooler? My last venture was in Edmonton at Sherbrooke Liquors, but Jim there was at least kind enough to turn on the lights for me. That's one store out of 1500 I've been to over the last 18 years - not exactly great odds there.
Simply put, we have no control over how our beer is treated out in the trade. Besides, no one can predict how quickly any beer would go off because every store treats beer differently. And, rather than add sulphites, sorbates and subject our beer to the evils of micro filtration, our method has always been to brew great beer first.
Cause in the end, brewing great beer is what it's all about. No more, no less.
Labels: Bottled On, Date Codes, Quality