Beer Draft Kits

Madison's newest brewery is still technically based in Peter Gentry's living room, but it's bringing excitement to the near east side. Gentry, 32, is looking to open Madison's smallest brewery, which might also be one of smallest in the state. He's calling his venture One Barrel Brewing Company and is interested in a location in the 1100 block of Williamson Street. "It'll be a neighborhood conversation space, like a coffee shop, only with beer instead of coffee," says Gentry.

Gentry isn't making beer yet. He is still in the process of working through lease details. However, he's already accumulated several thousand dollars in new brewing equipment in anticipation of being able to start installing it within the next few weeks. His goal is to be open and serving his beer by summer.

Gentry grew up in the Marquette neighborhood, and hopes his small brewpub will be within walking distance of his childhood home (where his father Jim Gentry and mother Ellen Henningsen still live). That's fitting, because Gentry started homebrewing eight years ago when he bought a homebrew kit for his dad. After a few years, Gentry ended up with the kit, and his dad seemed just as happy with a case or two of beer every so often from what he made for him.

His dad is now storing some of that new equipment in the family home, because Gentry's own living room and basement is already overflowing with fermenters, small kegs and stainless steel brew pots. Gentry plans to make beer in 30 gallon batches, which is about one barrel at a time -- hence the brewery's name. Most of his equipment is new from Blichmann Engineering of Lafayette, Indiana, a company that specializes in helping small breweries and wineries.

Gentry is an accomplished homebrewer in the Madison area. His beers have won a handful of awards in local homebrew competitions. His signature beer, what he calls No. 2 Strong Ale, was one of the winners in the Grumpy Troll brewpub's homebrew challenge in 2009. That honor allowed him to make his first commercial-sized batch alongside then-brewmaster Mark Duchow (now owner of Sweet Mullets Brewpub in Oconomowoc). The beer went on to win Honorable Mention in the 2010 U.S. Beer Tasting Championships.

Once Gentry's One Barrel Brewing Company is up and running, his standard beer list will consist mostly of ales. He's anticipating brewing almost daily to keep up with demand. "I know I won't get rich, it's impossible with this small of a system. When you run the numbers, you realize there are not enough hours in the day," Gentry laughs. But he's even quicker to point out that he's doing this because he loves beer. "It's basically a homebrewer's dream, I can brew what I want, when I want."

Along with No. 2 Strong Ale, Gentry's first beers are expected to be Penguin Pale Ale (a Belgian pale ale), and The Commuter (a Kölsch-style ale). The small system will allow Gentry to keep up to 10 beers on tap at a time, with an aggressive rotation of new brews constantly. His brewpub is also expected to serve light Wisconsin tavern-style foods like warm pretzels, Wisconsin cheese plates and locally-made pizzas.

Gentry is the former Madison sales manager of The Onion newspaper, and before that he sold print advertising to bars and restaurants in Madison. He says those experiences helped him learn about the local beer scene while developing relationships with bar managers and restaurant owners. Along the way he picked up a lot of valuable tips about running his own business.

Gentry recently met with residents in the Marquette Neighborhood to answer their questions about his business plan. He says that if he's unable to reach a lease agreement on the property on Williamson Street, he has other options in the Atwood neighborhood. But the road to making beer is still a long one for Gentry. Even after he secures space, he still has to meet local, state and federal licensing requirements.

If Gentry finds success, his longer term plans are to expand, but stay small. He says he would like to be able to open a second location, utilizing a slightly larger three-barrel system, somewhere in the Monroe Street area. His ultimate dream is to own a small production brewery capable of making 2,000-3,000 barrels a year. But now, all that seems a long way off.

Shiner's Wild Hare

The good folks at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner have explored many German and Czech lagers since they launched their annual anniversary brew series seven years ago, but on the occasion of their 103rd year of making beer for Texans the brewery has made its first ale.

Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale isn't as assertive on hops as many micro or brewpub American pale ales, and it finishes much drier than a typical English-style pale ale. This is what makes it a perfect introduction to the style for Shiner fans.

An unscientific survey of a dozen business people attending an 8:30 a.m. beer-and-cheese tasting I conducted recently resulted in many of the attendees pledging to become regular drinkers of Shiner Wild Hare.

The recipe is that of a fairly classic American pale ale, using two-row barley, Munich and Caramel malts that add both color and richness, with U.S. Golding and Bravo hops bringing subtle fruit and floral notes and just enough bitterness and carbonation to stand up to cheeses, sausages, or even spicier fare. Expect to see this in the regular Shiner lineup even after the anniversary year comes to an end.

Could a 10 percent ABV Shiner Russian Imperial Stout be far behind? Unlikely. That would truly be a bit of a wild hair.

Freetail stares at goats

Freetail Brewing Co. is going batty for goats. Not in a vampiric chupacabra kind of way, but by pairing a selection of their beers with artisanal cheeses from CKC Farms goat dairy of Blanco.

The Monday, February 13 tasting will feature Rye Wit served with fresh chevre, Broken Treaty IPA with Baby Caprino, a rare remnant of Freetail peach double wit Pechecus paired with Baby Blue cheese, and the strong Old Bat Rastard ale with chocolate ganache strawberries.

Chrissy Omo of CKC will talk about each local goat's milk cheese served. Advance tickets purchased for $20 at the brewery (4035 N Loop 1604 W, Ste 105) are recommended.

Lüke does Deschutes

Lüke restaurant on the San Antonio River Walk will feature Deschutes Brewery beers alongside Chef Steve McHugh's creations at their next beer dinner Thursday, February 23.

This impressive Oregon brewery will feature Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale, Green Lakes Organic Ale, Hop Henge IPA, and a rare appearance by Obsidian Stout.

They will be paired with yard egg salad with local greens, bacon jam and jalapeño battered cock combs; house-made corned duck arugula and pickles, cracklin' crusted Pacific salmon over creamy lentils and rosemary aioli; and fried bread pudding "churros" with Nutella.

Prepaid reservations for the $60 dinner can be made at 227-5853.

Travis E. Poling is beer writer for the Current and is co-author of Beer Across Texas: A Guide to Brews and Brewmasters of the Lone Star State. You can hear him at 7 p.m. February 9 at The Friendly Spot Ice House leading a tutored tasted of local beers. Reach him at travis@beeracrosstexas.com.

MORROW, Ohio -- Valley Vineyards is hoping that their new line of beers becomes as popular as its wine.The Morrow vineyard is only the second in Ohio to brew its own beer.Head brewer Steve Shaw has been making beer as a hobby for about 10 years, and he's helping Valley Vineyards expand their product line after 42 years in the wine business."I think it'll just broaden our customer base," said Joe Schuchter, director of sales.It's one of only a handful of estate wineries around the country that also brew beer."Maybe people who haven't been here in a while, it'll give them a reason to come back," Schuchter said.Shaw plans to brew six standard beers, along with seasonal and monthly brews that will each be made in 10-gallon batches to start."Wwithin 12 to 18 months, move into a 700-barrel system, and then be able to distribute," Shaw said.As the brewery expands, so will the winery."We're going to have a wine and beer garden built up front so people who just want to come in have a glass of wine, glass of beer, pretzel or cheese can go outside, enjoy live music," Schuchter said.The vineyard hopes to obtain a permit to begin tapping their kegs by this weekend.

The world-famous Clydesdale Horses are coming to Kemah Thursday afternoon, Feb. 9.

DENVER - So a rocket scientist, a farmer and a newspaper man walk into a bar. And they brewed all the beer on tap. That's no joke. It's an indication of how many of Colorado's craft brewers are making beer as a second career.

Many Coloradans are familiar with Governor John Hickenlooper's personal story: geologist turned brewer turned politician. Fewer know that in Colorado's burgeoning craft beer industry (130 breweries and counting) there a barrel of similar stories of people who have turned their passion into their profession.

The rocket scientist now brews and pours at Denver Beer Company, a LoHi brewery that has pumped out an impressive 60 different brews in its first six months in business.

"We didn't just jump into this," said co-owner Patrick Crawford, who once worked on classified satellite programs for Lockheed Martin. He teamed with an old college friend named Charlie Berger after they renewed their friendship over beers several years ago.

"We took a class from the Chamber of Commerce and worked really hard at putting together a great business plan before we got any money, before we swung a hammer, before we did anything, we knew what we were going to do for the next five years," Crawford said.

Brian Dunn of Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver's LoDo neighborhood is an elder statesman of sorts, having made the leap into craft beer in 1994. He'd travelled the world after graduating from Colorado State University with a degree in soil science.

"I was in about 35 or 40 countries and I really became a student of beer in all those countries," said Dunn.

After developing farms in North Africa, he returned to Colorado for graduate school, but soon found himself turning his homebrewing hobby into a business.

"We ran out of money very quickly, probably within a year of opening," said Dunn. "I was not going to let this thing fail."

"If you really care enough about something and you have that passion and that drive you'll make it work," said Dunn.

Eighteen years later, Great Divide has 39 employees and plans to produce 26,000 barrels of beer in 2012 to quench a growing national reputation in craft beer circles.

His advice to people pining to start a business?

"If you have a passion for it, go for it," said Dunn. "When there are roadblocks and obstacles, you can find a way around them typically."

The closure of the Rocky Mountain News forced Tim Myers' hand. With the death of the paper, his IT job ended along with that of coworker and fellow homebrewer, John Fletcher. They partnered to open Strange Brewing Company at West 13th Avenue and Zuni St in Denver.

"Before we even lost our jobs we were looking at, is this feasible, is this possible," Myers said. "Don't wait. Figure out what you like to do, what makes you happy, because then it's not work. Then it's joy. It's life."

Strange Brewing will turn two years old in May. They've poured their profits into new, larger brewing equipment as the demand for their beers has outpaced capacity.

"This business is a child of the great recession," said Myers. "When we started, there was no credit to be had."

They essentially banked on themselves rather than financial institutions. Myers still hasn't taken a paycheck.

"When the money's coming this way," said Myers, pointing to his chest. "Instead of going that way, yeah, that's going to feel good."

Regrets?

Myers pauses and sips a pint of his own creation.

"None," he said.

(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – Home brewing has become popular among Wilmington beer enthusiasts lately, and now, locals are getting a chance to have their homemade brews sold on tap.

As part of the fourth annual Lower Cape Fear Homebrew Competition is coming up, Front Street Brewery starting accepting entries Wednesday.

Each entry will be sampled and rated by a panel of beer brewing experts.

The winning home brewer will be allowed to recreate their brew to be sold at Front Street Brewery. Organizers are excited because they say local home brewers do a lot for them.

"The home brewers are what makes us," said Kevin Kozak of Front Street. "This is where the craft industry got started with people making beer at home. So, we like to throw it back to the home brewers, the people making beer at home and give them a chance to get some feedback on their beer and just have a great time."

The registration fee is $20 per entry, and participants must register before Feb. 10

Copyright 2012 WECT. All rights reserved.

Thank goodness Erica Shea has a small kitchen.

I'd like to think if Shea's Manhattan apartment had a bigger kitchen, the recent movement in small-batch beer brewing might never have been born. And I wouldn't have seven bottles of chestnut brown ale, eight bottles of special bitter and 2 gallons of 90 Schilling Scottish Ale sitting in my spare bedroom.

For years, the magic number for home brewers has been five. Beer recipes are formulated for 5 gallons. Pre-packaged beer-making ingredients come in 5-gallon proportions. Brewing equipment - stock pots, fermenting jugs, bottling buckets - is geared for 5 gallons. Whether you're a beginning beer-maker or veteran brewmaster, you're likely making 5-gallon batches.

That's how Erica Shea and Stephen Valand started out. Recent college grads living in New York City, Shea and Valand got interested in home brewing and quickly found that Shea's Manhattan apartment kitchen was simply too small for all the equipment needed to make beer. So they started making beer in Valand's apartment, which had a much bigger kitchen.

All was well, Valand explained in a recent phone interview, until his roommates got tired of Shea and Valand taking over the kitchen every other weekend for their beer-making adventures. Deciding they needed to get back to Shea's kitchen, they embarked on a plan to scale down their brewing exploits.

They formulated recipes to fit 1-gallon batches, and they literally took a saw to some equipment

to make it smaller. They traded a 5-gallon glass carboy [beer fermenting jug] for a 1-gallon jug, and small-batch brewing was born.

The differences between 1 gallon and 5 gallons should not be underestimated. Sure, the process - the actual brewing of beer - is the same. But the equipment needs are vastly different.

A few months ago I assisted my son, Nathaniel, in making a 5-gallon batch in his Sacramento apartment. Hauling around the 5-gallon carboy, setting up a propane burner on his patio, running a hose to the patio, immersing the wort chiller in the boil - this was all more than I had envisioned in making beer.

I could see why people in apartments or small houses might not want to get started on this hobby. The setup and equipment storage can overwhelm a small space.

During Christmas, Nat was home and I mentioned Shea and Valand's book, which had crossed my desk at work. Nat looked at it and said, "Dad, you could brew beer on your stove. You've got the pots, all you need to do is spend a few bucks on equipment."

The thought of making beer in the kitchen, with everything contained to the countertops, was too much to resist. It didn't take long to turn a recipe from the book into reality.

And that is the concept Shea and Valand are trying to share.

"Everyone is amazed they can do it at home," Valand said. "If they like cooking, this is a natural extension of that. People have really warmed up to the idea."

The two beer brewers and entrepreneurs turned their hobby into a business, Brooklyn BeerShop, in July 2009, and have seen the operation grow into a 6,000-square-foot warehouse. Valand said the shop is one of the few sources of 1-gallon brewing equipment and information, and is growing "greatly and rapidly."

They are now on a nationwide tour, touting their book, "Brooklyn BrewShop's Beer Making Book," which contains information for beginners and 52 seasonal recipes, all formulated for 1-gallon batches. The tour includes a Bay Area stop later this month.

Their mantra is simplicity, and to that end, they are making it extremely easy to get started. They sell a kit that contains every piece of equipment you need to get started, along with the necessary ingredients. With $40 in hand, you can go to a Whole Foods store, Williams-Sonoma or Urban Outfitters and pick up a kit, take it home, "just add water" and you've got beer.

"The key for us is to simplify without dumbing it down," Valand said.

Their recipes are all-grain, as opposed to a mix of packaged extracts and grains, which is a common method for beginning brewers. They also sell pre-packaged 1-gallon grain ingredient kits that you can order from their Brooklyn shop.

So, does the concept really work?

I've now brewed three small batches on my stovetop. I've made mistakes in temperature, gauging the amount of water needed and forgetting to take the yeast out of the refrigerator early enough. I've spilled sticky mash over the kitchen and made an ice bath that sloshed over the pot, onto the counters and down to the floor.

My last batch I dubbed "TBD," not because I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but because I had so many missteps I decided it was a "Total Brewing Disaster."

In the end, I hit the specific gravity I was shooting for and it might turn out to be the best of my three batches.

For me, small-batch brewing works. I've got the space to brew 5 gallons if I want, but I don't want.

I don't want to store the equipment. I don't want to sanitize lots of big pots and buckets, And I don't want to have 40-50 bottles of the same beer sitting around. You can share it, trade it away and drink it, but 5 gallons is a lot of beer.

On the flip side, your 1-gallon batch will yield 10 bottles at best. I greatly underestimated water loss during boiling in my first batch and I ended up with closer to a half-gallon. After hours of brewing and a couple of weeks of waiting, capping seven bottles of beer was a bit of a letdown. But it's a learning experience and I vow each batch will be a little better than the one before.

The beauty of beer is it's simplicity. It's a process that's centuries old and you don't have to be an expert to brew a decent batch of beer. Beer brewing can be as simple - or complex - as you want it to be.

I'm choosing simple. I like the fact I don't need much space to store my equipment, the fact that I can sparge the mash in a colander and pot, that I can set up a simple water bath on my kitchen counter.

I like the fact that I can experiment like a madman and if my beer turns out great, fine, and if not? Glad I made less than a 12-pack.

Thank goodness for Erica Shea's small kitchen.

Mike Blaesser is a longtime Sentinel newsroom employee. He is currently the Sentinel's Internet director.

If You Go

Beer-making classes

• On Feb. 13, the 'Beer Making Book' tour comes to Hands On Gourmet in San Francisco for an evening of beer making. You can join book authors Erica Shea and Stephen Valand of Brooklyn Beer Shop in making beer-inspired food dishes alongside Hands On Gourmet chefs while learning all the brewing steps, from grains to suds. The cost is $50, which includes a signed copy of the book. The class runs 7-10 p.m. Visit hogbrew.eventbrite.com for details or to register.
• Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz is presenting a workshop, Home Brewing Basics, on March 4. Dave Bossie, an award-winning home brewer from Ben Lomond, leads the class, which runs 2-6 p.m. and costs $95. Topics include the history of beer, styles, ingredients, equipment and techniques. Love Apple is at 2317 Vine Hill Road. Visit www.growbetterveggies.com or call 831-588-3801.

 At a Glance

Tips from a first-timer

 Want to make the jump into home brewing? Here are some tips from a first-timer.

• If you have a friend who is a home brewer, by all means invite them over to help. No matter how much you read or how many videos you view, there is nothing like having an experienced brewer at your side. You'll be amazed how many steps are so much clearer when someone helps you along.
• If you're not so fortunate, head to the Internet and search for beginning brewing tips. For every term and step you find, search for a corresponding YouTube video.
• Invest in a Brooklyn BeerShop kit and follow the directions. They have mastered the art of clear, concise instructions.
• Don't brew if you don't have an afternoon or evening free. This is going to take a few hours and you have to pay attention to what you're doing. You can't but the pot on the burner, walk away and come back in an hour.
• Practice siphoning before you have to siphon.
• No shortcuts: a 60-minute boil means 60 minutes. Maintaining a 155 degree mash means 155 degrees.
• Keep a mop, sponge and plenty of dish towels handy.

 Books

•  Erica Shea and Stephen Valand's 'Brooklyn BrewShop's Beer Making Book' [Clarkson Potter, 2011; 175 pages; $19.99] has lots of tips for the beginning brewer, and 52 seasonal recipes in 1-gallon batches.
• First published in 1996, Ray Daniels' 'Designing Great Beers' is as relevant as ever. If you want to know the science and theory behind grains, hops, water and every other possible factor that makes a beer what it is, this is a must-read.

 Video

• The Brooklyn BrewShop has produced a number of short, informative videos that take you step-by step through the brewing and bottling process. And the music is nice to listen to. www.brooklynbrewshop.com.
• YouTube. Need we say more? It seems that every person who has ever brewed a batch of beer has made a video on some aspect of brewing. From general information to esoteric treatises on fly vs. batch sparging, YouTube has it covered.

 Local resources

If you're looking for equipment, organic grains, pre-made kits or just information, Seven Bridges Cooperative is your local resource. It is at 325A River St. in Santa Cruz. Call 831-454-9665 or visit www.breworganic.com.

In Lincoln Square, beer has become a civic priority. Pet store owner, Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce board member, and avid homebrewer Rich Forsythe helped found Square Kegs, the Chamber’s homebrew club, in early 2011. Forsythe’s and other beer lovers’ advocacy led to last summer’s Pairings in the Plaza and last Saturday’s Winter Brew. As we mentioned in our recap, the Chamber is also planning a Summer Brew, a three-day outdoor beer festival on the last weekend of July.

Forsythe has lived in Chicago, and Lincoln Square specifically, for most of the past twenty years. A biking enthusiast, he worked for Cannondale before opening Ruff Haus Pets (a great spot to get high quality, ethically- and environmentally-friendly-produced pet food, by the way) by the Rockwell Brown Line stop in 2001.

The Saturday prior to Winter Brew, we met Forsythe for a beer at Rockwell’s, a quiet neighborhood bar just across the street-level L tracks from Ruff Haus, to discuss Lincoln Square, Square Kegs, and Winter Brew.

A quick note to current and prospective homebrewers: To be honest, prior to this conversation - which occurred the same day that Chuck was in Wicker Park covering Brew Ho Ho and when Maria’s tapping of rare kegs brought in hoards of beer nerds, many of whom were members of Homebrewers' Pride Of The Southside - we didn’t realize that Chicago had caught homebrewing fever so badly. If you’re making beer, check around; chances are there’s a homebrewing club nearby.

Chicagoist: Your dad was a homebrewer. Was that unusual for the time?

Rich Forsythe: He was part of that mid- to late-'80s homebrewing renaissance. That’s what led into that first wave of craft beer in the States. I don’t know if it was unusual. My dad’s a bit of a hobbyist. He likes beer and is into doing. It’s a DIY mentality. Thriftiness. I think homebrewing is a great hobby because it combines cooking, science, and gear, which are all things that I like.

C: How did Square Kegs come about?

RF: Square Kegs was created because we were at a [Chamber board] meeting, discussing the wine strolls that they do in the neighborhood, which are really successful. They’re essentially wine suppliers setting up shop in local businesses. Businesses provide an appetizer and you get groups of people that just move down the street, head business to business, get in, drink some nice wine, get some nice hors d'oeuvres. It’s just a way to very informally introduce people to the businesses.

So we were in a planning meeting and someone posed the question, “Why do we always do wine? Can’t we do beer?” So we decided to try to do something beer-related. That was the creative moment of Square Kegs.

C: Why did you start Square Kegs rather than immediately do something like Winter Brew?

RF: We wanted to do a lot of different things. We wanted to do something like a beer stroll, but we also wanted to have events. And I always wanted to do a homebrew club. I’ve gone down to the Chicago Beer Society meet-ups at Goose [Island]. It was alright, but that club...like, I have old ‘80s Zymurgy magazines from when I was brewing the first time with my dad, and there are pictures of those dudes in those magazines that many years ago. It was their club. It wasn’t the new wave’s club. I felt that it had gotten to the point that it didn’t have the spirit that I wanted from a homebrew club.

It’s like when I race bikes. When you go out on a training ride, there’s a guy that’s faster than you, there’s a guy that’s just your speed, and then there’s a guy that’s always slower than you. And you need to ride with all three of them to get good. You need to be able to chase that fast guy to get better. You need to have that competition back and forth with that person at your level. And then you need to know how to be a leader with the guy below you and help him bring him up. And that teaches you a whole different way. So that’s how you become the complete rider. To me, that’s anything that’s craft. When you’re learning to do something, you benefit from all three of those people.

Anytime that I hang out with someone that’s a way better brewer than me - which happens a lot, I’m intermediate at best - I want to glean everything I can from their process. When I brew with guys in my group, it’s a free flow of information. There’s no posturing. We just kind of do our thing. We’re not chasing, we’re not leading, we’re just brewing together, and free-forming. And then anytime I’m asked to bring someone through their first process, it’s always a challenge. I can’t go by the seat of my pants anymore. I gotta break it down and look at the process through their eyes and I’ll usually discover something that I used to do but that I don’t do anymore. I didn’t think that was happening at that particular meet-up.

Around the same time that [the discussion of beer at the Chamber board meeting] happened, one of my brewing friends comes in [to Ruff Haus Pets], we’re chatting about what we’re going to do next, and someone overhears us, and they’re like, “Oh, you guys homebrew?” And then we start talking and find out that they live right over there. And before I knew it, there’s like 10, 15 people within a stone’s throw of the store that are homebrewing. Why aren’t we talking more? So that’s Square Kegs. It’s kind of an umbrella that could cover the craft beer enthusiast and the homebrewer. And from the Chamber’s perspective, it's an umbrella to do events like Pairings in the Plaza and Winter Brew.

C: What other activities is Square Kegs doing?

RF: We started a monthly homebrew meet-up on the last Thursday of every month. Much like the wine stroll, it’s always a business, and the business changes.

C: Do you just hang out and talk shop?

RF: Yup. We try to do a little 15-minute program where we talk about something that’s been on people’s minds. We’ve done temperature control, yeast starters. We did a competition. And then we did a group brew where there was six of us that all brewed the same recipe with different variations. Base recipe with all grain, then with extract. Then the same recipe with the changing of the yeast, all grain, then extract. So we had two yeasts that we used, then we also did an all grain version of each one. Then we met up at Fountainhead and we had the beers so we could go head to head. This is the same recipe with just a different yeast. So I actually brewed 10 gallons, split it up and pitched two different yeasts. So the only thing different in my beers was the yeast.

C: And you could taste the difference?

RF: There was a decided different between the two beers. I boiled all 10 gallons in the same pot, fermented them in two car boys but in the same room at the same temperature. Everything between those two beers was really consistent. I used an English yeast and a Scottish yeast, and the English had a lot more fruity esters and the Scottish had a more malty profile. And the Scottish was not as clear as the English. The English ales really flock out and clear up. The Scottish ale didn’t. Historically, Scottish ales, they’d kind of would lager them a little bit so they would store them and then they would clear them. So the Scottish ales that I’ve brewed, if I wait long enough and I crash them, they’ll clear up. But it takes that crashing-

C: Crashing?

RF: Dropping the temperature to freezing. It was kind of interesting to see that experiment. I learned something because I’ve used both those yeasts and I was always wondering, had I done something wrong? Why wasn’t my Scottish ale clearing the way my other ones would. Now I know, that’s just what the yeast does.

So we did that. It was really two meetings, because it was the brewing meeting and then it was the recap. We try to keep it informal. Most of our meetings, the good stuff is just drinking each other’s beer and asking what you did. You learn a lot that way.

C: That sounds pretty collegial.

RF: It’s a really good group. The people that have been showing up, it’s the full gamut, from first time brewers to guys that have over 100 batches to their name. It’s a very free, friendly exchange of information.

C: How many people are in the club?

RF: We don’t do dues, so the only way to really gauge it is how many people like us on Facebook. But I can tell you on any given meeting, we get about 30 people or so.

C: All guys?

RF: No. We probably got a dozen girls that show up from time to time. Some of them are hard core - they’re there every time - which is a big difference from the first time I was brewing. It was a total dude’s thing. But now the women are getting involved, which I think is excellent. Really, in many ways, women were the first homebrewers. You used to brew for your house, and that was under the cooking thing. It wasn’t this hobby. It was, “You want beer? Make it.” There’s no liquor store, you know? So a lot of those farmhouse ales? That was the farm wife that brewed those beers just like she made the food.

C: How did Winter Brew come about?

RF: There are two components of Winter Brew. On the homebrew side, we wanted to host a BJCP-sanctioned contest.

C: How do you get it sanctioned?

RF: You sign up, and you have to have BJCP judges. The reason we wanted to do that is because we wanted meaningful feedback for the people who entered, and you’re going to get that when you have an official homebrew contest, with guys that are trained to give good feedback. It’s one of those things that really helps people with their process, so we thought that would be the most valuable thing to the homebrewers that we were talking to.

On the craft beer end of things, we wanted to template a festival for future events. As we look to summer, we’re going to have a three-day larger event. Working on details, on location. We’re not at the point where we can tell people it’s going to be here, but we’re looking at the last weekend of July, three days, local beer, local food. [Author’s note: Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melissa Flynn has since said the summer festival will take place in the parking lot across the street from the Old Town School of Folk Music.]

We want to create a more refined festival mentality. One that’s about quality over quantity. It’s about what you’re drinking not how much you’re drinking. That’s the niche in this neighborhood. So with Winter Brew, we wanted to template a craft, local festival that targeted that demographic which we’ve been successful with. Which ties right into our farmers market, our Thursday concerts, it’s that same sort of person that’s hitting the farmers market, they’re also into the beer that’s brewed down the street. There’s a sense of ownership and pride and community that I think comes from that mentality. And we’re really lucky that we got Half Acre, Metropolitan brewing [here in the neighborhood]. And we got Fountainhead, Bad Apple, the Grafton. I’m so happy that I can go drink good beer. Even now, these guys [Rockwell’s] used to have two beers on tap. They got a new owner, the guys that have been here working since the beginning with the old owner got a little more opportunity to express themselves and their desires for the place. And now we got a pretty good tap list here, and it rotates. When the stuff rotates, it means the people are drinking it.

C: For the competition, how many judges will there be?

RF: In the neighborhood of 35 judges.

C: How many will be BJCP judges?

RF: Almost all of them. We also have some brewers. You can have so many non-BJCP. Doug [Hurst], the brewer from Metropolitan, will judge. We got Randy Mosher, who’s judging best in show. You just have to have enough BJCP judges that you’re getting feedback. James Lewis is our BJCP judge on hand who’s organizing that element of it. He has judged a lot and had helped put on a homebrew competition up in Wisconsin.

And then Tony [Black], he actually went and stewarded at Spooky Brew to learn about the stewarding process. Stewarding, those are the guys that organize the beer and get them to the judges. The judges just sit, they’re brought a flight, they judge the flight, and then they go get another one. It’s the stewards that make sure they got what they need. He’s been getting all the beers in and organized by their styles, getting them ready to transport.

And Brew Camp, that was the drop-off point. Right when Square Kegs started, Brew Camp opened, which is the homebrew store over on Belle Plaine, and Jared [Saunders] and Whit [Nelson] have jumped in feet-first and been totally supportive of Square Kegs. They got really involved with this homebrew contest. They hosted the registration site on their website. Their background is in web development so they were really helpful in tweaking stuff and making sure everything was working the way it should. They were the drop-off point so they’ve been carefully taking care of over 1,000 bottles of beer.

C: Are there other neighborhoods that have this much beer activity going on?

RF: I don’t know. To me it just seems like, there are so many in this hood. I don’t know if it’s more guys living in houses where you got a basement, you know, because there’s a fair amount of gear. I don’t know why, it’s just like that. I’ve been brewing at my house, and I’ve found that there’s maybe five to six brewers on my block and the block over. It’s crazy. Everyone who’s coming to these things are coming from the hood. There’s just a lot of homebrewers in this neighborhood.