Dan began brewing in 2007 and quickly allowed it to consume his life. Brewing led to the Niagara Association of Homebrewers and Ethan, where they forged a friendship out of their mutual appreciation for the number 23.
The web nerd of the group, Dan is responsible for the look, feel and functionality of the website: if you have any complaints he's the one you should yell at. He's still unsure how exactly he was lucky enough to make a job out of tweeting.
Friday, April 20.
Cole’s and Mister Goodbar.
Community Beer Works is launching.
Everything seems up to snuff. Get it? No, you're not laughing, I don't think you get it. See, snuff, like sniff. Snuff! Never mind.
Is this exciting enough for you? No? Well, how about we talk about the first two beers we’ll be releasing? Only the first will be available next week. The second will follow soon enough, don’t fret.
Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to introduce you to our pale ale. Meet Frank. Frank is honest. He’s just zis guy, you know? He goes well with pretty much any food. Frank is our flagship beer and we’re proud as hell to be showcasing him next week. He’s under a bit of pressure right now (that is a carbonation joke) but, fear not, will be completely ready in time.
I love pale ales. They might not be exciting or extreme, but they’re tasty. They’re the meat-and-potatoes of the craft beer world. There is literally no time that I would reach for a beer and say “No thanks, I don’t feel like a pale ale now.” A pale ale is unassuming, doesn’t put on airs and is the perfect flagship beer.
Our second beer might catch you from surprise, rumbling from beneath. We’ve talked about a saison since the beginning, and the saison is coming, but instead may we present The Whale, our brown ale.
Having a whale of a time
I think brown ales just might be my favorite style of beer. A hint of sweetness, but not a sweet beer. Some dark malt characteristics but not so much as to be out of place on a hot summer day. While a pale ale is what I drink with dinner, a brown is what I drink afterward while playing a game of Carcassonne.
More information on both these beers, including pictures and maybe even a video or two of us drinking them (just to rub it in) will be coming soon.
I’d like to close with a story from last Saturday. The five of us were there, as we always are, and busily working on tasks. Instead of all putting up insulation or waterproofing or cleaning, we each had our own separate activity. Rudy and Ethan were brewing: brewing, you understand, actually doing it nearly two years after we first gathered in Ethan’s basement to discuss this idea of Community Beer Works. Greg and his cousin-in-law, in for the holiday, were cleaning kegs. Dave was putting together shelves and then filling them with hops or growlers. I was filling boxes with Kickstarter rewards, wrapping glasses with such an obscene amount of bubble wrap that they could, if desired, be used in a pinch as footballs.
All hail his noodly appendage!
My overwrapping was paused, from time to time, as Kickstarter backers walked in for their tours and high fives. (If you’re a Kickstarter backer and haven’t received any mail from us, please let me know and we’ll set up a time for you to come in or will get your stuff to you post haste. Those we haven’t heard from will be receiving packages soon.)
So the day went, us each working on something separate yet related, with pauses to meet people as excited about our idea as we were. I got to show off our brewery, my brewery, fully functional with kettles boiling and fermentation vessels conditioning and kegs prepped for filling. “This conical here,” I said in the afternoon, “was empty this morning. Now it has a barrel and a half of brown ale in it.”
It was an exceptionally satisfying day. I simply cannot wait to share its results with you.
And how absolutely cool is that?
This morning, Greg sipped a porcelain cup filled with Earl Grey tea. Nibbling on a small cucumber sandwich, he asked, “Is everything finished?”
It really ties the brewery together
“Yes,” the inspector replied. “Everything is in order.” He slid a flat manilla envelope across the table. Greg opened it and glanced inside.
“Good,” he murmured. “Good.”
Okay so I’m pretty sure that’s not at all how it went. All I actually know is that Greg met with our city inspector and returned with our Certificate of Compliance, which is evidently the same thing as a Certificate of Occupancy but with a different name for a slightly different purpose. The result is the same.
All systems go. Community Beer Works is operational.
This Saturday we’ll be brewing a double batch. Those fermenters aren’t going to fill themselves. Then next week? More brewing. Week after that? Brewing. Brewing, brewing, brewing.
It's a known fact that the number of ball valves on something is directly proportional to its awesomeness.
Last night we met at the brewery to construct our keg washer. Fermenters full of beer need to go somewhere, after all. We got the design from Phil Internicola at Pearl St, and it’s a pretty nifty setup: with a few openings and closings of valves we can take a dirty keg and make it sparkling clean and pressurized. I wrote down the steps we should take, including the one about stepping back so the vat of acid doesn’t splash up onto your shirt. Not that anybody would have been dumb enough to do that. On an unrelated note, I can confirm that a small amount of acid cleaning solution will not burn through your shirt.
We’re reading. We’re doing this. Our exact opening date isn’t set yet. We will be announcing when that is, as well as details about an opening event/party, as soon as they’re finalized.
Do you want the date of something we can announce? How about a five course beer dinner at Blue Monk with dishes created using beer pairings from our head brewmaster, Rudy Watkins? Featuring two beers from CBW, one of which will likely be poured for the first time at the event? Yeah, we thought so. May 1st at 6:30, tickets available at Blue Monk for $75.
Sorry for making you wait so long for that.
Remember this bad boy?
Speaking of waiting: as you may have seen on various social media sites on Monday, we had our state Department of Agriculture inspection. And… We passed! “You’re all set now. You can begin your processing.” That was the motivational quote that came out of the inspection.
Of course, we’re not quite there yet. We still have to get our city Certificate of Occupancy. That should be coming soon: we’ve passed all the individual inspections, and all that remains is to see whether that’s enough or if we need one final all-encompassing inspection.
Soon. Soon.
This is now feeding it!
Also exciting is the status of our roof: it’s now the proud bearer of a solar array! As promised in our Kickstarter video, we have a solar powered hot water system to supplement our primary tank. It is now fully armed and operational. Sorry. I think I’m contractually required to reference Star Wars at least once a month.
While we’re on the subject of Kickstarter, I’ll reiterate and say that if you backed our project and haven’t gotten an email from me in the past month, let me know. And also, in case we haven’t said it recently, thank you!
Finally, a hearty congrats to our friends at Lloyd’s for their successful Kickstarter campaign! Might we suggest they park their second truck at, oh I don’t know, Lafayette and Gelston every day?
Every week I wonder to myself what I’m going to write on Thursday. “Surely there won’t be that much to say,” I think, “and I’ll have to write on a non-CBW beer topic.” Those are fun too, of course! Ethan and I used to have a beer blog together and it’s fun to wax poetic about these things.
Recently, however, invariably once Thursday rolls around there’s been so much excitement that I have to drop my philosophical plans and let you know about all of it. Ready? Here goes:
That's a lot of grain!
On Monday the state Department of Agriculture will be stopping by to do their inspection. This is unrelated to our city Certificate of Occupancy, but both are needed before we can start selling beer. Our city inspections should be done by next week as well, so the CofO won’t be far behind. This is happening. (Maybe I should explain that last link. “Dance Yrself Clean” is the first track on LCD Soundsystem’s album This is Happening.)
Yesterday quite a bit of malt was dropped off. Well, “quite a bit” by homebrewing standards, not craft brewery ones. Us nanos don’t need quite as much, though, and so it’s just dandy for our needs. We already have the hops and yeast that we need. Everything is in its right place. (Okay, a pattern has emerged. I can do this!)
Please keep all hands and legs away from the giant flame
This past weekend we also took the brewing system out for a spin. The Psychobrew system has computer-controlled burners for the mash tun and hot liquor tank (Love, if you’re knowledgeable about that sort of thing). It’s been nice for a few reasons: I’ll be the first to admit I giggled like a kid on Christmas when I flipped the switch for a pump and water started moving. It’s also let us work out a few kinks, like, uh, forgetting to open the gas valve. That one was embarrassing. It also turns out that the recirculating coil in the HLT is hard to connect properly, so it’s a good thing it was only leaking hot water and not precious wort when we discovered that. That would have been a calamity. (Okay, Conley, you’re stretching it).
I began to write that it’s been a long ride up to this point, but that’s not true. If starting a brewery is a roller coaster, we’ve only just reached the top. We’re cresting the first peak, shivering with antici-
It has come to our attention that this Saturday is St Patrick’s Day. That seems like the sort of thing a brewery should mention, right? Despite a Irish-sounding last name I’m actually more Scottish, however, and I don’t particularly like dry Irish stouts. Take that as you will! (Opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Community Beer Works LLC, etc etc) Corned beef and cabbage is pretty great, though. Steer clear of the green beer and everything should turn out okay.
This isn’t related to beer at all, but both this weekend and next are Maple Weekend in New York State. I hadn’t heard of this great tradition until a fellow member of the Niagara Association of Homebrewers sent out an email a few years ago. There are more pancake breakfasts than you can shake a stick at, not that I know why you’d want to shake a stick at something, and you can tour the various sugar shacks in Western New York. “Sugar shack,” by the way, wins the award for Best Name of Something Ever.
Ethan caulks. That's a pun. I didn't think of it, and it makes me sad.
Hey, Kickstarter backers: have you gotten two emails from us this week? If not, please email me: it’s about getting your rewards.
Last night I had a nice exchange on Twitter with someone looking for a homebrew store. It was a great example of how the medium can be used, with Flying Bison and Kegworks chiming in as well. He finished by asking about Twitter lists for Buffalo breweries and homebrewers. I didn’t know of any comprehensive ones, and so I decided to make them.
For the uninitiated: a list on Twitter is both a collection of users and a way to view all of the members’ tweets. As someone with a library degree, being able to cultivate a subject bibliography is cool.
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know. The “Buffalo homebrewers” list is particularly barren, so @ us, comment, send me an email, whatever. Make yourselves known!