Sustainability and Responsibility

 

Greetings all!

Well just received our syllabus for the Craft Brewery Start-up Workshop in Bend, Ore. on September 9^th.   It was refreshing to see that along with many of the typical topics one would assume would be discussed (e.g. finance, operations, logistics) was  sustainability.  Given that there are, at last count, 2,483 microbreweries in the United States, sustainability is a clearly a topic that all current and future microbrewery owners need to address.

Many of the larger microbrewers have already taken steps towards sustainability and beyond.  New Belgium, for example, approaches sustainability from the perspective of core company values, environmental metrics, sourcing and community.  Similarly, Sierra Nevada has had a long commitment to supporting the cause of sustainability and has a very extensive webpage detailing the steps that they are taking to continually improve their processes, energy efficiency/generation and minimize waste.

All along we’ve been considering how we can make our brewery, even in the start-up phase, more consistent with the tenets of sustainability; it will be interesting to hear how others are tackling this problem as start-up microbreweries.

 

Switching from sustainability to responsibility, the New York Times today featured the results of a small study out of Johns Hopkins which found that five beer brands were prevalent among emergency room patients who had consumed beer within the 6 hours prior to their presentation to the emergency room (Budweiser, Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Bud Ice, and Bud Light).  Moreover, nearly 46% of beer consumed by emergency room patients in this study was accounted for by four malt liquors (Steel Reserve – 8.1% ABV, Colt 45 – 6% ABV, Bud Ice – 5.5% ABV and King Cobra – 6% ABV), despite the fact that these four accounted for less than 2 percent of the beer consumed among Americans.

While things like study size, study location, demographics, etc make it difficult to interpret the implications of this study, the authors did suggest these results suggest that there should be better labeling on malt liquor beverages and less marketing. They also recommend a higher tax on beverages with higher alcohol content to discourage people from drinking more potent brands.

With many craft beers in the 6.5 – 7.5% ABV range, changes such as those suggested by the researchers conducting the above study, could have a significant impact on craft beer producers.  Consequently, like sustainability, responsibility and education are major considerations in the development of our business plan.

With the old adage, “all work and no play” in mind, it’s time to start brewing again.  Our recent first tap gathering has depleted our stores of tasty homebrew, with our robust porter being the latest victim.

The last of our experimental IPA batches (with single aromatic hops) is about to come out of the fermentor and will be transferred to a keg for dry hopping later this week.  While we wait for it to mature we are beginning work on a “sessionable” IPA recipe.  Our first attempt will draw from the taste profiles of our single aromatic hop IPA’s to date; can’t wait to get back to brewing.

More to come.

First Tap

Was able to try a few of our new beers out on friends last night and it was a resounding success.  We used a standardized beer tasting questionnaire from Beerology in the hopes of gathering helpful feedback for the next batches.  There was some great comments and all positive reviews.  Next time we’ll do a blind comparison with a “gold standard” of that particular style as the comparator. 

Our two latest beers are an American pale ale and a Cascade IPA.  The latter is part of an IPA series we’re doing featuring a single aromatic hop.  Our thoughts are to appreciate the taste of these aromatic hops solo before putting them together for a more complex flavor profile.  

In the meantime, we are working away on our business plan and have begun to talk to banks about financing.  Last week we were able to obtain the particulars for the Pegas Craft Tap and Novotap growler filling system (http://pegasdistusa.com/pegas-novotap/).  We first became acquainted with this system when we were in Russia a few years ago.  It’s a great system that allows a growler (both glass and plastic) to be filled under an atmosphere of carbon dioxide in about a minute with minimal waste (the Pegas distributor website states growler loss is as high as 30-40%).  The benefits for the consumer is that the beer tastes better longer and with the use of polyethylene two liter bottles it can be transported to the beach, fish camp, or camping without worrying about dealing with a large glass growler.  For the craft brewer  the benefit is that the quality of the beer will be preserved and there is a minimal amount of product loss due to foam over, etc.  

There are still some issues obtaining the brown polyethylene bottles (necessary to prevent UV damage to the beer) in the US but we have some ideas for a work around to this issue that will also tie in with our marketing plan.   

[caption id="attachment_83" align="aligncenter" width="130"] Pegas Craftap[/caption]

In the meantime we continue to brew.  Today we brewed another of our IPA series.  This one features Ahtanum.  Ahtanum has a decidedly floral presence with some spice and a bit of pine thrown in for good measure.  It isn’t nearly as popular as Amarillo, Centennial or Cascade for dry hopping and its aromatic properties but from what we could tell from today’s batch, it’s a tasty little hop. 

More to come.

Oregon State's Short Course on Brewery Startups

For those of you who are interested in how to start a brewery, you should check out this:



https://pne.oregonstate.edu/catalog/craft-brewery-startup-workshop

Where Y'at?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  We’re currently under the gun to get our business plan in order so we can present it at the Oregon State University’s short course on how to open a brewery.  We head to Bend, Oregon the week of September 9^th to get educated by the professionals from the Ninkasi Brewery.

So outside of the business plan you may wonder what we’ve been up to…  well let’s see…  we’ve fallen in love with session beer.  The winter weight gain has been pretty hard on me and I have to consider that outside of not exercising as much because it’s cold and dark, a contributing factor could be my love of IPAs!  So, I’m trying to wrangle the weight down before the snow hits the ground again.

Outside of drinking session beer, we’ve toured a few Alaskan breweries.  The folks at King Street and Midnight Sun Brewery gave us impromptu tours…  all we did was ask a few questions and the brewers were happy to show us their ‘kit’.  We also had a chance to stop in Denali Brewery.  We didn’t go to their production brewery but we did visit their brew pub.  Their business is on the rise.

I’ve begun to read the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control’s website trying to understand what it takes to open a brewery.  Hurdle number 1 – we have to have a location prior to applying for a permit so I guess that means I need to contact Stacy Head, Council Woman at Large in New Orleans to try and figure out what we need to look for in a location.  Now, here’s the million dollar question – do we lease or own the property?  I’m in agreement with Mark, we purchase the property and locate the brewery on our on ground!



More to come y’all!