Happy August!

You know when you can't tell what day it is, or you forget what month it is? I am now reminded by a menstrual cycle known as rent. Progress is being made, so it shouldn't be too many more months of paying rent without any beer being sold.

I received 21,000 bottles of bulk glass yesterday from California Glass. That's 20 pallets of glass, each pallet costing more than I want to think about. I was very nervous I was going to topple one over as they are structurally not so stable. They are just layers upon layers of bottles with cardboard in between that are then plastic wrapped a few times, strapped to a pallet. I learned quickly how to be more gentle on the forklift.

Rachel and I had a fun day on Saturday visiting a few San Diego breweries. We went to Oceanside Aleworks, Alesmith, and Port Brewing / Lost Abbey. Our main purpose was for me to check out how the ground loading cargo doors are separated from the brewing area (research for our health department permit) and for her to check out tasting rooms. We won't be opening a tasting room initially, but Rachel is very interested in designing something very cool and unique when we do open one. On the previous Thursday, I did the same 'research' at Craftsman Brewing and Skyscraper Brewing, and paid a nice visit to Tyler at BJ's West Covina brewery. Thanks to Peter, Tomme, Mark and Phil for letting me check out their breweries!


Julian's dog (forgot your name, Pooch!) sitting under Tomme's chair at Lost Abbey.

Rachel's First Blog Entry

Howdy Folks,

It’s Rachel here. Patrick asked me this morning if I would like to contribute to The Bruery’s blog, so I thought I would give it a try. He was probably sick of my rantings on the infrequency of the blog entries, or how they can sometimes be boring enough to put both computers and their readers to sleep. So I am thinking this is revenge time, so let the criticism’s rip!

I am the OTHER Bruery employee. I am Co-owner/ Beer Wench/ Brewery Designer/ Publicist/ Beer namer/ Designated Driver/ Beer Lover (not while I am the Designated Driver)/ Paper Pusher/ Marketing Director of the Bruery. I was the lucky recipient of Patrick’s first homebrew batch, and every beer since. We were high school sweethearts, which means I knew him when his only craft brew exposure was Sam Adams. So if you are lucky, I will let some little known facts surface about him that the deserving public wants to know.

Unfortunately The Bruery cannot be my only job right now. Patrick is the only one to live, breath, eat The Bruery. I just get to do it after work and on weekends, or when I am sneaky at work, like now! When we are up and running, and are making sufficient income to support Patrick, Barley, and my shopping habits, I will take on The Bruery full time.


Who’s Barley, you ask? Well if you don’t remember, he is the official Bruery Dog.


He is now about 6 months old, and already a HUGE beer lover, longingly licking the outside of our chalices, scurrying after spilled grain, ears perking up whenever a beer ingredient list is read out loud. He is planning to work at the Bruery full time too, but has to work on his keg washing skills first. NOTE- Barley pisses fizzy yellow liquids, he does not drink them.

If I am not banned, hopefully you will see more from me soon. I usually accompany Patrick on the majority of his trips, so I look forward to chatting with you!

And yes- I DO like beer.

-Rachel

Celebrator Beer Magazine Mention

Rachel and I were very excited that we got our first mention in a publication! Here's what was written about us in the August/September 2007 issue of Celebrator in the "Beer Behind The Orange Curtain" section, written by Ed Heethuis:

"Orange County is slated to welcome another brewery in October... another Bruery, to be exact. The nme is a combination of the traditional spelling and owner/brewer Patrick Rue's surname. Located in Placentia, The Bruery is holding a competition to determine what beer will be brewed for the first batch. Patrick could not decide which beer to make first, so his wife and business partner, Rachel, suggested holding a homebrew contest as a way of honoring their homebrew roots.

Entries are due August 24, and the styles are restricted to Belgian and French Ale, Belgian Strong Ale and Specialty Beer (BJCP categories 16, 18, and 23, respectively). The beer may or may not be brewed as a regular offering, but the winning homebrewer will always have the distinction of having created the recipe for the first batch! Go to thebruery.com for drop-off locations and other details.

We wish Pat and Rachel all the best with this new endeavor and would like to remind them that any and all wisdom they may seek may be found within Karl Zappa's 100-Year Plan."

I'll have to ask Karl what this 100-Year Plan is. What a great article Ed, thanks for covering us!

One of three: Blanc Wit

I realized I hadn't discussed much about the beers I'll be brewing, so over the next few days I'll be writing about the different beers that will be coming out in the Fall. There will have three year-round beers, and four to six one-time / seasonal beers.

Blanc Wit (if you couldn't tell from the name) is a witbier, meaning "white beer". The name of our beer, Blanc Wit, roughly translates to "White White". Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense, but I like it.

I didn't want to brew a standard wheat beer, or a standard witbier, so Blanc Wit will be a bit unusual for the style. First of all, it'll be 7.3%. I don't like the term "Double Wit" or "Imperial Wit", so you won't find any of that on the label. I don't think it's big enough anyway to call it imperial or double. A large proportion of the recipe will be malted wheat (not unmalted wheat, which is traditional), a healthy dose of oats (about 10%), and the rest pilsner malt. Cane sugar will also be used for about 10% of fermentables to dry the beer out a bit. It will be lightly spiced with Indian corriander, kumquat peel (if I can find any suppliers!), and a secret ingredient that I don't want to reveal at this point. It will be fermented with a saison yeast strain, the same strain I'll be using for the primary fermentation of our other beers as well.

I'm hoping this beer will be different from any other beer you've had, in a positive way. I think it'll be a delicious and special beer, but it will also be one of our more 'standard' offerings, meaning it will be more subtle than my other beers and a beer I wouldn't hesitate to give to that person who "doesn't like beer."

Also, if you've been following the equipment I'll be using, you may have noticed it's not sized too well. My mash tun is designed for a 23 bbl brewery, my kettle has a 17 bbl (20 hL) capacity, my whirlpool has 23 bbl capacity, and my fermenters are either 15 bbl or 30 bbl. This mismatch of equipment sizes is actually a good thing for me. I'll be brewing 17 bbl batches, and then will ferment the extra 2 bbl in oak, and then, depending on the beer, add the oaked portion back to the batch after fermentation, or bottle / keg the oaked portion separately from the main batch. I'm pretty excited about this approach-- I love the effect that oak has on beer and can't wait to experiment with it.

Lesson #346

I went to the City today for plan check, and found I needed the Health Department approval first! I should have expected this, not sure why I didn't. I submitted my plans to health last week, so they'll have a response within 3 weeks or so from today. I'm going to do as much work as I can in the meantime while I'm waiting on that.

On a positive note, the 3 phase 200 amp electrical service installation started today, which should be completed by Wednesday. I'm tying into an existing line about 90 feet from my space, so conduit is being run along the roofline.

On a less than positive (somewhat neutral note), I won't be submitting anything into the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) or be serving at Stone's 11th Anniversary. It's too early to get my beers out there at this point, but there's always next year! I'll be attending both events and can't wait.

Bootlegger's Brewery

I had lunch yesterday at the Yard House in Brea with Aaron Barkenhagen, the co-owner of Bootlegger's Brewery, soon to be brewing in Fullerton, CA. Aaron's brewery is near the Old Town area of Fullerton, on the other side of the tracks in a small industrial center. His place is about 3 miles from mine. He has a 7 bbl system, I believe manufacturered by DME, and he's starting out with an Extra Pale Ale, Bavarian Hefeweizen, and an American IPA.

Aaron is well on his way to opening. When I visited, trenches were open for the installation of drains, and most of his equipment appears to be on-site. Aaron and I seem to be following the same path in having a tight budget for equipment, which is tough to do when used equipment is hard to come by. Some of the items we've both purchased have higher scrap value than what we've paid for them.

Aaron showed me his logo and label artwork, which looks great. I'm looking forward to his beers!

New Breweries for Southern California

Yesterday I was at the brewery meeting with a family friend who was advising me on my plans, and had a surprise visitor-- a brewer who is setting up shop just a few miles from me. I won't say where his brewery is, or give details about it without his permission, but it sounds like he will be making some great beers. He's probably a month or so ahead of me, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for his beer. I'm excited that this area will have a few breweries to call home, and I think gives people an incentive to come out and visit us, along with the few other brewpubs in the area (Taps and BJ's).

Another brewery in the works is Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands. Ben Cook has been underway for some time, and from what I've heard, is about ready to start brewing.

My friend, Curt Dale, is expanding his Dale Brothers Brewery in Upland from a 4 BBL system to a 10 BBL system. Curt makes some great session beers, so I hope I'll see more of his tap handles in my area. Curt's old system has been purchased by a homebrewer from Costa Mesa / Newport Beach, who plans to open shop at some point, perhaps in Orange County?

I'm sure there's other breweries I haven't heard about in this area getting started. LA, Orange County, and the Inland Empire are reknown for the lack of craft beer, so we're due for some local breweries.

The influx of new breweries coming to this area would make some brewery owners a bit nervous, as there will be more competition. Oddly enough, having more craft beer being produced in a region more often than not leads to the increased sale of craft beers. That sounds a circular argument, but when people in an area have a higher degree of knowledge of craft beer, they are more likely to drink craft beer. Portland, Oregon, or San Diego are great examples of this phenomenon. Competition also compels breweries to produce a higher quality, more distinctive beer in order to stand out in the marketplace, which is a great thing for our customers and our own success.