FERRET THE BEER

Explore. Hunt. Examine. Seek. Ferret. The Beer (with a capital B). Los Angeles, CA.

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Words by Mike Sardina. Photos by Wes Kitten.

There was a line in the plan, big and bold, that read: ‘THIS IS ILLEGAL. We need to change the law.’ It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever written. If you write that into your business plan these days, you better re-write your damn plan. No investor should ever get behind a business plan that hinges on changing the law.

-- Scott Metzger

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The Beer Hunter TV Show 25 Years On

Michael Jackson's "The Beer Hunter" was a television show ahead of its time.

Simply stated, If you claim to be a beer fan, you should know be familiar with the Beer Hunter, Michael Jackson. Bonus points if you’ve seen his TV series, which first aired on the Discovery Channel in 1990. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen the episodes available for purchase…HOWEVER (fortunately), they’re available for free on Youtube thanks to a hero named liquidblue4.

Get to watching.

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A Cellar Man

Whenever somebody asks me what I do, I inevitably get the subsequent question, “So…are you a brewmaster or something?” Then I fake a laugh, say, “No, no. I’m a Cellar Man.” The reply: “Huh?”

Every time.

So, I write this post in order to shed some light onto the position. In a nutshell, working in the “cellar” means you have a hand in all the production aspects of the brewery that is not the specific act of brewing beer. Most folks are surprised that there’s more to brewing beer than the brew day.

To elaborate, some of a Cellar Man’s tasks include:

1. Mill the grain – In short, the starches and enzymes that we want to get out of the malted barley are locked in unless we mill the grain. Each beer has a different recipe and I make sure the correct grain gets in the mill and in to the grist case, which then goes to the mash tun. Fortunately, we recently installed a new malt handling system so grain usually doesn’t have to be added one 55-pound bag at a time. Broadly speaking, most batches have somewhere between 700 and 1000 pounds of grains.

2. Check gravities – Fermentation is the process of yeast eating sugars and producing ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. ABV is measured by tracking how much sugar is in solution before this occurs and how much is left afterwards. I check the gravities (a sugar-density measurement) everyday to make sure the beer is coming along as it should. It also lets us know when to dry-hop the beer…

3. Dry-hop the beer – All our IPAs beers receive 2 dry-hop additions wherein hops are added into the tanks following active fermentation. This adds a great deal of hop aroma. For a 30-barrel batch, our session IPA receives a total dry-hop of 50 pounds, the west coast IPA gets 70 pounds, and hoppy, imperial styles get 90 pounds, sometimes more.

4. Tank transfers – Once done in the fermenter, I sanitize the hoses and transfer the beer to the brite tanks. When this transfer is complete, I carbonate the beer by injecting carbon dioxide into the tank. We have an instrument that measures the amount of CO2 dissolved into solution, however, we always need to taste test the beer along the way.  This sounds great until you’re carbonating a 9.5% ABV imperial stout at 9 o’clock in the morning.

5. Cleaning the tanks – After I transfer the beer out of a tank, yeast and hops (aka “trub”), in a form that can best be described as a fantastically aromatic sludge, remain inside the tank. I get that out and run a cleaning cycle with a warm caustic solution. This process can be particularly gross and time consuming, especially if there are other additions such as coffee beans.

6. Sanitizing the tanks – Before we move any wort or beer into a tank, it has to be sanitized with a perasetic acid solution.

7. Keg off the beer – This is pretty straightforward, although in terms of time, this process usually takes the longest. With our manifold, I can fill six kegs at one time. A sixtel (5 gallons) takes about three minutes, a ½ barrel (15.5 gallons) is done in about 10 minutes. My record for kegs filled in one day is 167.  

8. Clean kegs – Our owner and brewmaster both had the foresight to buy an automatic keg washing machine when we started. Sixtels are cleaned in about 60 seconds, ½ barrel kegs take about 90 seconds. Often times, I have to clean the outside, as well. You’d be surprised at how disgusting these things can get when a restaurant or bar is through with them.

9. Work the bottling line - We have a bottling line that can fill, at optimal speed, 1700-1800 twenty-two ounce bottles per hour. It can also fill 750 ml, 500 ml, and 12 oz. bottles but we’ve mostly only done bombers.

10. General cleanliness – Clean beer requires cleanliness in all aspects. This includes floors, exteriors of tanks, drains, draft lines in the tasting room, etc.

11. Inventory (aka cold box) management/organization

12. Putting orders together – About every 2 weeks, each distributor comes to pick up an order of kegs and cases of bottles. We have four distributors. A large order could be 60-70 kegs, while a small order is maybe 10 kegs.

13. General organization – I drive a forklift a lot. I have a system for evaluating the status of wooden pallets for which I am mocked.

14. Other duties not specified – Working brewery events like our anniversary party or new bottle releases, transporting the odd keg to and from a distributor, important things like setting up the keg Christmas tree and lights, etc

So, there it is. Next time you’re at a brewery and somebody tells you they’re a Cellar Man, you know exactly what they’re talking about.

And knowing is half the battle. Or some such thing.

[ferretthebeer]

Chris Quinn of Chicago's Beer Temple bottle shop (via his podcast, The Insider's Round Table) takes a stab at figuring out how much it costs to produce 1 bottle of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout Rare that carries an MSRP of $60. Note: he only analyzes HARD costs, this does not includes such items as advertising, opportunity cost, etc.

What is a beer worth? This is a question that gets raised increasingly more often as craft beer continues its meteoric growth. Is it simply the sum of its parts, no more than the combined costs of the raw materials, packaging, labor, plus a little something, you know, for the effort? Or is it something that, when done well, should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the finest fermented beverages from Piedmont and Bordeaux? In short, we don’t know.

So, as we [Beer Temple Insiders Roundtable] look for the answer to this question, we believe it is important to first inform ourselves on how beer arrives at its commodity pricing before we begin to divorce from it and enter a pricing model that takes intangible things (rarity, exclusivity, brand recognition) into account.

For the subject of our experiment, we chose Goose Island’s Rare Bourbon County Stout, which was recently re-released with much anticipation after a five-year hiatus. Derived from 35-year old Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, Rare brings much trepidation with its $60 price tag for a single 16.9-ounce bottle. What went into pricing this beer, or for that matter, any beer?

Link to the podcast page 

P.S. All this being said, I honestly knew we still didn’t have the full picture because Goose isn’t the one selling that bottle for $60. That’s just the retailer.(the exception being the bottle release party at the brewery). Goodbeerhunting adds these considerations...

So I guess what I’m getting at is...draw your own conclusions??

[ferretthebeer]

Hello and Again

Well, it’s been 6 months since I’ve posted anything. Over a year since I’ve posted anything of note, really. Despite the apparent lack of activity, 2015 was a busy time for yours truly.

Firstly, I’m married now. Ta da! Since I’m sure my wife will read this at some point, I’ll just say that this is enough to make 2015 a BIG year. But I’ll keep going…

Secondly, and this is partly from 2014, I work at a brewery, now. I had a desk job for 4 years as a production and graphic designer for large, corporate events and Hollywood/rich people crap. It wasn’t my thing from the very beginning but hey…a guy’s gotta eat, right? Anyways, I hit the wall and decided to strike out on something I had been thinking about for a long time: the brewing industry. Fortunately, a new brewery, Three Weavers, was opening really close to my place of residence in Los Angeles, and they needed help. I started in the tasting room in November 2014. As we expanded, help was needed in production and I was bumped up. So, there ya go. I’m a cellar man at Three Weavers Brewing Company. Did I see that coming? Short answer: no. Long answer: nooooo?

Almost nobody knows what a cellar man is, so I’ll make a post about that later.

Thirdly, I earned the title, Certified Cicerone. I took the test in late October of this year. As the program is geared more towards people in service and sales, it doesn’t change anything about my responsibilities in production. However, I had been thinking about taking the exam for a few years, so I gave it a shot.

Almost nobody knows was a Cicerone is, so I’ll make a post about that later, too.

I’ve got plenty of topics lined up for research and discussion including, but not limited to…

Porter and the beginning of industrial scale brewing

Malt liquors…WTH?

Brewing and the Romans. The Romans and brewing

The Reinheitsgebot and the four little asterisks

Barley? Why barley?

The convincing case for beer and food

Barrel-aging, beer, and you (this is such a massive subject, I don’t really know where to start)

I haven’t home-brewed in 6 months. I’ll get that going again to some extent

I’m toying with the idea of doing interviews

In the meantime, it’s good to see everybody’s shining faces again.

Happy Holidays

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This Expatriate IPA brite tank ain't gonna clean itself! @threeweavers #labeer #craftbeer #inglewood

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The grain goes in. The triumphant return of @threeweavers & @prostheticrecords collab, Blood Junkie Imperial Red comes out. Pumped to have this one back. #craftbeer #labeer #inglewood

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#latergram close up of the final, gloriously pungent dry-hop addition of Citra and Galaxy - my favorite hop out there in the ether. @threeweavers @infinitecycles #craftbeer #labeer #inglewood #hoplife

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Last month's Pacific IPA is out of the fermenter and into bottles. Now it's time for the next batch: a test brew of a Belgian-style Table Beer that will eventually be served at our summer wedding. Should be interesting. Grist is a base of 2-Row and Munich with Crystal 40 and Rye Malt adding some additional character. Hops are Styrian Goldings and Hallertau Mittelfrüh. Yeast is Wyeast 3522, Belgian Ardennes. Projected OG is 1.039 with an ABV of 3.7%. Projected IBU total is around 15. #homebrew #beer

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Inaugural home barrel-aged spirit project: 5 liters of @greenbardistillery's Slow Hand White Whiskey in American Oak, medium toast, to be served at our summer wedding. The spirit is specifically designed NOT to be barrel-aged and is delicious in its own right (a tour/tasting at their #DowntownLA location is highly recommended) though I can't help but be curious. I'm guessing the timeline will be 4-5 weeks. Updates will follow. #notbeer #whiskey #spirits #barrel

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#latergram of Barrel-Aged Beer sampling night with @sanchosmom13 & Co. KBS by @foundersbrewing + Soroborous by @thebruery + Rye Like An Eagle by @beachwoodbbq_brewing. Truly an embarrassment of riches. There are no losers, only winners. #craftbeer #labeer #whalezbro #imfinethoughthanks

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Over a Barrel: The Rising Cost for a Specialty Beer

Via This is Why I’m Drunk

...Wooden tuns previously housing bourbon, rum, tequila and more are finding a welcoming market within craft beer and an even happier consumer base that craves the flavor-rich or high-ABV beers that often come along with their use. In turn, the jump in use of barrels is shaping up a competitive marketplace that adds another layer to the business of beer...

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So Metal. The Metal Shot, even Dark Lord 2013. @infinitecycles @sanchosmom13 @zoundsounds #darklordday #craftbeer

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"Hopped Up Ferret" currently in the kettle, a Pacific IPA #homebrew collab between @hoppedla and @ferretthebeer. Bittering is Waimea, bursted with Pacific Gem, Motueka, Cascade, Wai-Iti and Waimea. 2 dry-hop additions: first round is Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, and Motueka; second round is Nelson and Galaxy (again!) with Wai-Iti. #ridiculous #ipa #beer #teamwork

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Image via jamesbeard.org

The complete list of 2015 James Beard Foundation Award nominees. 

If you recall from last year, Garret Oliver won for Best Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional in 2014 owing greatly to his book, The Oxford Companion to Beer (which I reference more than any other beer book in my small collection). However, in 2015, we’re returned to the back burner - Sam Calagione, founder and president of Dogfish Head Brewery, is the only beer-related nominee in the Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional group and in total. Then again, this is his fifth time on the shortlist. At this point, he seems to be a perennial candidate so that it seems like the JBF doesn’t forget about the beer category. [Note: to date, only a total of two brewers have won an award: the aforementioned Garret Oliver and in 2003, Fritz Maytag]

This .gif still seems applicable...

Tangentially related, the book “Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes” by Jennifer McLagan, nominated for Best Single Subject Book seems like it could be an interesting read. Right now, I’m going through “Taste What You’re Missing: The Passionate Eater’s Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good” by Barb Stuckey. It was featured in the James Beard Foundation’s Beard on Books series. I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the biology, genetics and brain activity behind the simple (or so I thought) act of tasting both food and beverage.

[ferretthebeer]

All hail the Beer Can Chicken feat. Point the Way IPA by @goldenroadbrew shoved up where the sun don't shine - but the oven light does. Lots of zesty herbs on this bird so we're going with Pistol Whip'd Pils by @noblealeworks to wash it down. #craftbeer #labeer #foodporn

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The New Science of Old Whiskey

It’s well known that a good portion of a whiskey’s flavor comes from the barrel it ages in, but less well known is just how large a portion we’re talking about. I recently asked a dozen or so people involved in the bourbon industry how much of the flavor comes from the barrel, and how much comes from other elements, such as the grains used or the distillation method. Most said that 60 or 70 percent of the flavor comes from the barrel, and one went as high as 80 percent. No one I spoke with estimated the proportion at less than 50 percent—meaning one of the trendiest liquors on the contemporary cocktail scene owes most of its flavor to a technology that’s thousands of years old.

Interesting article that gives a good overview of the major questions currently being asked of the barrel-aging process. It has implications far beyond whiskey.

edit: "...implications far beyond whiskey" not only suggesting beer and other spirits, but also barrel-aged coffee, barrel-aged syrup and honey, barrel-aged hot sauce, barrel-aged ciders, barrel-aged mustard, barrel-aged vinegar, barrel-aged cocktails, and more. (Credit to ModernFarmer for the links)