The Tastings Continue…

Early March has been busy for us with lots of tastings of our first test batches with friends, family, drunks, investors, geeks, and maybe a few by ourselves. We brought a mixed bag of these folks down to Silvio’s BBQ in Hermosa Beach to see how our Pilsner and American Strong Ale paired with awesome BBQ. The general consensus was that the light Pilsner was great with the Ipanema Salad as a starter and the Strong Ale worked with everything else – spicy prawns, tri-tip, grilled chicken, and garlic fries.

Beer ‘n BBQ

Christian deep in thought.

Fun with Planning Departments

Out of two locations we’ve been scouting we have decided to move forward with the one that was less of a pain in the ass, but not as close to the beach as we had wished. This means that now we get to work with the local planning department to vet out any issues of having a “beverage manufacturer” in that area. The first hurdle – does the zoning allow this type of business? – has been crossed. The answer is “yes”. So now we get to file for a Conditional Use Permit to allow an ancillary tasting facility. We sent a fancy, color coordinated site plan as well as a previous/future tenant comparison to the planning department. Now we wait for their response, which will probably be very vague and confusing.

Here’s a tip – when working with any branch of local government, especially when you are asking for something to get done, make sure you ask as many questions as possible and ask them more than once. You will start to realize that deadlines, requirements, zonings, etc are rarely clear.

Test Batches

We finished bottling our first two test batches on Sunday and had our first tasting Tuesday night at Simmzy’s in Manhattan Beach. We got some great feedback and now we are off to set up the rest of the tasting events.

The two beers we are tasting right now are a Pilsner and an American Strong Ale. While both lean more towards the sessionable side of the spectrum we do impose our own twist on each style.

Style: Pilsner
Alcohol: 4.8% ABV
Bitterness: 25 IBU’s
Color: 4 SRM
A blending of Czech Pilsner and American Lager with copious amounts of Saaz hops in a delicate balance with biscuity malts. Behind the light straw hue lurks intense flavor and an extra dryness provided by the addition of rice sugar. A curveball comes when the beer is revealed to have been fermented with English ale yeast making this not a true Pilsner but a Cream Ale in disguise.

Style: American Strong Ale
Alcohol: 6.7% ABV
Bitterness: 55 IBU’s
Color: 13 SRM
The tropical fruit aroma comes from a diverse combination of six types of hops and Caramel Vienna malt, which is typically used in Belgian Ales. The taste of raisins and figs hold hands with a bitterness and hop flavor that are never overwhelming but present throughout from start to finish. The smooth and creamy body rounding out the hop bitterness is a direct result of the rolled oats.