Size Doesn't Matter... or Does It?

Manassas, VA 

Oh no! He placed a double entendre in the title of the blog post! That can’t be a good sign.

Last weekend, in what can only be categorized as a stroke of brilliance on my part, I ventured off to Manassas, Virginia in order to pop in at the BadWolf Brewing Company. For those not from our area, BadWolf is a small, relatively new brewing operation that opened on June 28, 2012 and brews beer in one barrel batches. They describe themselves as a family-owned and operated nanobrewery (don’t worry – we’ll get into this term in a minute).

BadWolf’s business model is an interesting one. As I mentioned, they brew using a one barrel system, a barrel equaling 31.5 US gallons. When they finish a batch, it replaces a batch on the tap line that just kicked, ensuring that there are always six craft-brewed choices for us to drink. What makes it interesting is that BadWolf is constantly changing recipes and brewing new things. There is very little repetition, and the odds are, if you go in there 10 times, there will be six beers you never had before all ten times you go in. They are almost like a home brewery in this way, except with a professional-grade rig and a store front.

The tap room is small and intimate, and doesn't offer much in the way of seating, but the people are friendly, and the atmosphere is inviting. There is an oversized chalk board on the wall where the brewers list what’s on tap, as well as various other scribblings of interest. And as the name may have given away, they have a Dr. Who theme going on throughout their operation, to include the door to their office which is painted to look like a TARDIS. Honestly, you can’t help but feel like you’re part of the group when at BadWolf.

Don't blink, just drink.

I helped myself to a flight of six tasters while I was there, which included a rye saison called The Rising Sun, a dry Irish stout called Irish Wrist Watch, an American blonde ale called Ahtnum Gold, an American amber/red ale called Jesse’s Girl, an adjunct American pale ale called Jezzebell, and a scotch ale/wee heavy called Scotty’s Heavy. With the exception of the Jezzebell, which had a dominant lavender note that detracted from the otherwise good pale ale, all of the beers were amazing. I was exceptionally impressed with the rye saison, being that I am a professed fan of rye beers, and filled my trusty growler with it.

And now to shift gears, what’s the deal with this word “nanobrewery?” We've all heard the word “micro” in front of a brewery, but “nano” is still relatively unknown. Quite simply, “nano” and “micro” (and even “peco” believe it or not) are all words referring to the size of the brewery. As best as I can manage, the words only refer to the yearly output in total volume, or to the size of the batch, and have nothing to do with the physical size of the building or staff or operation. So when BadWolf refers to themselves as a “nanobrewery,” they are merely drawing attention to the fact that they don’t make as much beer as other breweries do.

The counter, in the tap room of BadWolf Brewing Company

The problem is that there are no universally accepted criteria for determining whether a brewery is macro, micro, nano, peco, or whatever. The feds (as in the US Department of Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB) do mention nanobreweries in their regulations, but only in terms of whether or not home brewers are subject to taxes, based on how much beer they make. There is no attempt made at defining what a nano brewery is.

There are a few folks within the industry who have defined the term, but none that are universally accepted. For example, when Rogue Brewing Company hosted a festival and competition for “nanobrewers,” they arbitrarily cut off the nano-breweries at a yearly production of 996 barrels. It’s hard to figure out why they chose number, but it has nothing to do with any nationally discussed and agreed upon cutoff point. Interestingly enough, BadWolf would have to brew almost 1000 batches of beer in one year in order to hit that threshold.

BadWolf's giant chalkboard - perfect for announcements, beer menus and random shenanigans

The term “nanobrewery” is also causing a bit of a stir within the brewing world. Not only can we not agree upon what the criteria are, we can’t even agree on how to measure it in the first place. Many brewers think it should be gauged by how much beer one makes per batch (IE: 3 barrel system or lower is NANO; over 3 barrel is MICRO) and others on how much beer one makes annually. There are others in the community who are upset at the intentional misuse and coopting of the term from a strictly marketing stand point. There was a small brewer a few years back that claimed that many microbreweries were calling themselves nanobreweries in order to create a “mom and pop” appeal in the minds of their consumers. He likened the effect that this was having on “actual mom and pop” nanobreweries to what happens when Budweiser tries to market one of their lines of beers as “craft.”

BadWolf's store front. Dentist's office?

The interesting thing is that many years ago, “craft beer” was not a buzzword – the word used to describe small, artisanal brewing operations with proper ingredients and love in every pint was “microbreweries.” Eventually, that term was for all intents and purposes replaced with “craft” because it was decided that the size of the brewery doesn't matter as much as the quality of their operation. I have a feeling that when the dust settles, nanobreweries and pecobreweries will embrace the craft label and not worry too much about their size labels. Microbreweries still exist, but nobody worries about whether they’re a microbrewery or not – as long as they make good craft beer.

If needing to sell yourself as a tiny mom and pop operation is critical to your marketing campaign, and I certainly appreciate that aspect of craft marketing, you can still do that without relying on an industry-approved size label. Customers do care about supporting their local economy, personal interaction with the brewers, being part of a community, and so on. What they don’t care about, and probably don’t understand either, is a buzzword like “nanobrewery” or “pecobrewery” which seem gimmicky at first, and quickly become nothing.

All of that being said, here’s to BadWolf Brewing Company! Their brews are delicious; their business model ensures a world of possibilities, and their outlook on brewing and life in general is tremendous. Plus, they’re Whovians – what else needs to be said?

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

A Cold, Dreary Night in October

Last night, like many of my Friday nights to be honest, I tried a beer that I had never had before. In fact, it was a beer made by a brewery that I don’t have much interaction with, as they don’t distribute to my neck of the woods. Nevertheless, the few and far between brews that I have managed to get my hands on from this particular brewery have been sublime – each and every one of them. The brewery in question is the Cigar City Brewing Company in Tampa, Florida. But before we get in to all of that, let me further dissect the sequence of events that lead me to last night, in the vein of good story telling.

Pride of Tampa, Florida

As I have preached in the past, the secret to tracking down beers from faraway lands that don’t distribute to your home region is a robust network of friends, snitches, well-wishers and benefactors. After all, drinking craft-brewed excellence is a team sport. In this case, the key to my success is a friend of mine who I will refer to throughout this post as Galen.

I'm kind of a big deal. People know me.

Galen is something of a muckity-muck in his career field. People know him, and he’s kind of a big deal. From time to time, his work takes him down to the Tampa Bay area, and being a conscientious beer guy (in training), he thinks of his fellow craft beer enthusiasts from Old Dominion while enjoying the sunshine-soaked Florida brews. It just so happens that he has a relation who works for Cigar City Brewing Company, so he is granted unfettered access to all of the goodness contained therein. Galen has been the nexus between Cigar and myself as long as I've known him.

About six months ago, Galen was sent to Tampa on one of these junkets of his and he brought all kinds of goodies back with him. He brought a six pack of Cigar’s Jai Alai IPA, which was out of this world, and also a six pack of their Hotter Than Helles Lager, which was also quite enjoyable. But the real jewel of his treasure haul was a 750ml wine bottle of Cigar’s special release Big Sound Scotch Ale that was aged in bourbon barrels. This was the specific brew that we enjoyed last night, after letting it sit for six additional months.

Being that it was a very cold, rainy night in October, to say that this beer was perfect for the occasion would be underselling the timeliness of the affair. I would have said the stars aligned perfectly to this beer and the night at hand, but I couldn't see the stars and I have no idea what they were up to. Regardless, let’s just say that the bourbon barrel aged Big Sound went with the last night’s atmosphere like peas and carrots (too many metaphors?).

A rare and delicious find.

The beer was dark (obviously), heavy and very sweet. The sweetness was a careful balance of malt, toffee and oaken vanilla notes from the bourbon. The peat from the scotch was there, but it was subtle, as though the scotch was yielding its rightful claim to “star of the show” status to the bourbon. Also, I might be crazy, but I think I picked up the slightest cherry and coffee notes as well. The alcohol heat was quite noticeable for an 8.5% ABV brew but it was not overwhelming, and the beer was quite heavy and demanded to be sipped. It poured dark brown (almost black) with a tan head and was absolutely phenomenal. Five out of Five, ten out of ten, whatever you want to do – this one is a rock star.

I would tell you to go out and get one (and I definitely recommend it) but distribution limitations being what they are, it will be tough to find this on the open market. The fact that it is a brewery-only release only further complicates matters. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, certainly stop in and see if this is available. The Big Sound Scotch Ale (minus the bourbon barrel) is a seasonal brew that they release in September, so maybe you should try in the fall. Then again, Galen found our bottle when he was there in April, so who knows? If you know someone in the Tampa area, set up a barter arrangement.

So here’s to Cigar City, team-work, my buddy Galen and his hook-up at Cigar City, and of course, a beautiful beer in Big Sound bourbon barrel aged scotch ale. I can’t wait for my next one.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Shut 'Er Down

...and there was much rejoicing... yeah.

You may have missed it if you don’t live in the DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area, but the Federal Government has been shut down since Tuesday. I assure you, it’s not as bad as the main stream media is describing. There is a lot of arguing, name calling, and virtually nothing is being accomplished, but how is any of that any different from usual?

As the shutdown was becoming a reality, the media pundits tried to convince us that this thing was going to have a very real effect on the local economy, including the craft beer industry. The argument was that with people not working and not earning money, less money would be spent and the economy would decline. This, of course, is nonsense, intended by both sides of the fight to scare and convince you that the other side is evil. It’s even more of an abstract concept in the craft beer world, as I maintain that tough economies are actually good for the beer industry. Simply put, people will spend their last dime on a product that helps them forget about their worries. Every time.

However, I have discovered that the Federal Government shutdown actually does effect the craft beer industry. This effect is not abstract, and is not contained to the DC local level – the effect is nationwide. There are two main issues for the craft beer industry to deal with during the shutdown.

They also make you use one of these annoying ink well
pens to fill out the forms... frakin government

The larger of the two issues is the Treasury Department’s Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) ceasing approval of new beer labels and recipes. According to the beer news site Beerpulse, an estimated 400 labels per day won’t receive approvals during the shutdown, based on the over 110,000 labels that TTB had approved over the course of 2013 through the end of September.

What does this mean exactly? By federal law, breweries are required to submit requests for approvals for new products before they can offer them to the public. So every time a brewery plans to release a new beer (new as in they never offered it before), they have to first get a permission slip from the overly regulated federal government. As long as the TTB is shut down due to its non-essential status, there will be no new brews at your favorite local breweries. This pain will not be felt so much at the bigger breweries as they don’t create new beers nearly as often, and when they do, they submit applications well in advance.  But the little guys will certainly feel the sting, particularly breweries like Bad Wolf Brewery in Manassas, VA, that release never before released beers all the time.

What difference does it make?

The other issue, which is perhaps more immediately detrimental to the health of craft breweries, is the Small Business Administration halting approval of new loans for the duration of the shutdown. This one means that until these executors and legislators get their heads out of their butts, new breweries will not be able to receive a small business loan to help them open their business. The craft beer industry, unlike most segments of our economy, has been growing exponentially for years, and shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. But the inability to receive federal loans will almost certainly slow that growth down. There are, of course, other funding streams to draw from, so this second one isn't necessarily a deal breaker.

This is not a political blog, so I will refrain from making this post any more political than it is already is. Needless to say, let’s hurry this thing along so our small breweries can get back to being uninhibited in their mission to give us locally crafted deliciousness. Stupid government.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!