Omnibus II - The Omnibus Strikes Back

Ah, the doldrums of mid-winter – nothing happening – bored stiff – waiting for something – anything – to shake up the dull, lifeless, happenstance of existence… but wait, that’s not right at all. There’s a literal (figurative?) ton of things happening right now that beer is either directly related to, or will be carefully juxtaposed to by me in this latest installment of…

THE INSPIRATIONS FROM INSIDE OF A MASH TUN OMNIBUS SERIES

… hold on to your butts.

Ah, ah, ah... you didn't say the magic word

1) Did you hear that Blue Point Brewing Company sold their soul to the devil?

I love the way that question was phrased. Yes, I did hear that, and I also have a few insights on the whole thing. By way of background, Blue Point was one of two breweries that got their start in the greater NYC area in 1998 (the other being Brooklyn Brewery). They quickly gained notoriety and prestige in the area and were local favorites. But as we've discussed ad nauseam in this blog before, success breeds more success, and with the success of Blue Point and Brooklyn, along came the next wave (Sixpoint, Captain Lawrence and Barrier). The breweries of the second wave, along with Brooklyn, began pushing the limits and offering truly unique and special brews to New Yorkers, while Blue Point continued to churn out properly made consistent award winning beer. Meanwhile, the market place became flooded with regional, super-regional, and even nationally distributed beers, and over time, Blue Point found their share of the market slipping, to the point that Brooklyn was outselling them 3-1.

Est. 1998; Sold out in 2014

This led them to the point where they felt they had no choice but to sell to A-B, thus branding themselves with the same scarlet letter(s) that Goose Island has. Interestingly enough, Goose Island’s story of rise to prominence to fall to soul-selling is identical. These breweries didn’t really do anything wrong as far as beer making was concerned. They were both highly celebrated members of the craft beer community. But refusal to adapt and keep things fresh in the minds of their consumers ultimately led to them being muscled out and eventual selling their breweries to big beer. It’s a cautionary tale to any of us who want to enter in to this business and it also an elegant vignette on the actual nature of this “thriving” industry.

2) Got any craft beer suggestions for Valentine’s Day?

Do we ever?

There is an “interesting” article on CraftBeer.com that discusses beers that are ideally suited towards Valentine’s Day due to their being brewed with ingredients that are supposedly natural aphrodisiacs. Without plagiarizing the article completely, they claim that oyster stouts (obviously), chili pepper beers, chocolate beers, and fruit beers will all “enhance” romance if drank on Valentine’s Day. Personally, much like the holiday itself, this stinks of commercialism run amuck and I lend it no credence, clearwater or revival. In fact, I think CraftBeer.com is dabbling in forces that are in stark contrast to the very spirit of craft beer – pandering to marketing and commercial drivers. Then again, if you believe for a second that CraftBeer.com is about anything but the all-mighty buck, then I've got some beach-front property in Nebraska to sell you. Also of note, the recommendation in the chili peppers section of “Ghost Faced Killah” by Twisted Pine Brewery is nasty… anyone who would recommend that beer has never had it – it is abhorrent. Happy Valentine’s Day!

3) Got anything brewing?

As many of you know, we have had our rig packed-up for months now, and have been collaborating with any other local homebrewers who are willing. That being said, we've been busy. We brewed a rye IPA called the Dread Pirate Ryeberts with our friends at Bottled City Brewing Co (formerly Donnaubles and Man of Steal) in Centreville, VA, which is all but kicked. There are a few bottles lying about in various people’s houses at this point, but for all intents and purposes, she’s gone. DPR was a delightful IPA with a nice hop bouquet, courtesy of the cascade, magnum and amarillo hops, balanced with a strong malt backbone of pale and roasted barley and spicy rye. She weighed in at 7.5% ABV and was a treat for the weary soul.

Next, we teamed up with Godwin Ales in Montclair, VA to create a Belgian style dubbel abbey ale called Monk ‘e Business. This one has required additional aging time due to the Belgian-ness of the final product, and is not yet been unleashed onto the public, but very soon, it will be. Monk e’ Business is a fairly standard version of a Belgian dubbel, built around a solid malt backbone of caramunich, Special B and golden malts, dark Belgian candi sugar and two strains of Hallertau nobel hops. I’m pretty excited about this one. More to follow.

After that, we once again teamed up with Bottled City, as well as newcomer Matti Ice Brewing Company from Lake Ridge, VA, to create an American IPA called Overdue IPA. Overdue is a mystery, wrapped inside of a riddle and juxtaposed to a conundrum. Legend has it that this was a kit that was purchased from a now defunct homebrewer kit supplier. The company name is lost, but even if it wasn't, their main detractor was that their instructions sheets were impossible to find if one was to lose them. In the case of this particular kit, the instructions were lost. Not only that, the kit was well north of a year old, creating the high probability that the grains would be stale. BUT WE BREWED IT ANYWAYS!!! Overdue is still about a week out from it’s release party, so I still don’t know how the whole thing will shake out, but we know it looks and smells like beer, so that’s a good start. This will either be a miracle beer, a colossal mess, or somewhere in between. I know, because I was there.

Finally, we joined forces once again with Bottled City and Matti Ice to create an American adaptation on an English Brown Ale that we called Phantom City Brown Ale. This one hasn't even been racked to secondary yet. Phantom City will be a sessionable American brown ale with dense layers of malt, caramel, baking chocolate, a hint of light-roast coffee and a mild hop character. It’s definitely not your average English brown ale.

As I said, we've been staying busy.

4) What did you drink during the Super Bowl?

I feel I must answer this question, and then hint towards a better answer if you were to rephrase the question. The simple answer to your question is Bell’s Brewing Company’s Better Brown Ale from Kalamazoo, MI, Flying Dog Brewery’s Old Scratch Amber Lager from Frederick, MD, Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Edmund Fitzgerald Porter from Cleveland, OH, and Fat Tire Amber Ale from Fort Collins, CO. All of them were top-notch. I know your disappointed by my lack of Seattle and Denver based beers, which is why you should ask me about what I drank for the Brewper Bowl.

5) Okay, what did you drink during the Brewper Bowl?

I built myself a flight of three beers from Seattle (and the surrounding area) and three beers from Denver (and the surrounding area), and pitted them against each other in a no holds bar, winner take all, death match of sorts to figure out who has the better beer. The combatants were Fish Brewing Company’s Reel Ales 10² Barley Wine Ale from Olympia, WA, Scuttlebutt Brewing Company’s Porter from Everett, WA, Fish Brewing Company’s Hodgson’s Bitter End IPA from Olympia, WA, Twisted Pine Brewing Company’s Hoppy Boy IPA from Boulder, CO, Breckenridge Brewery’s 471 Small Batch IPA from Denver, CO, and Oskar Blues Brewery’s Deviant Dale’s. They were all delicious, and far out shined the beers that I consumed during the main event (although they were all good too). For more info on this year’s Brewper Bowl see the pre-game report and post-game report.

Brewper Bowl III was a success!

6) Do you ever shout “Omaha” while making beer or drinking beer?

Yes, but I assure it doesn't mean the same thing as it does when Peyton Manning shouts it. I've also been known to shout Raleigh and Sioux Falls while brewing beer... again, it's not important what it means.

What a great night

7) Do anything cool lately, like participate in any brewery’s birthday shenanigans?

These questions are fascinatingly specific. Yes, I joined some colleagues of mine in celebrating the third anniversary of the opening of Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria, VA last Friday night. Port City is a great brewery for those who are within their distribution area and aren't already aware. They rolled out the red carpet so to speak with the release of their third anniversary brew “Colossal Three” which was an imperial helles bock lager. Quite delicious and hard hitting at 8.5% ABV – unheard of for most lagers. They also had a special release rarity that was truly the star of the show in their “Suspicious Package Black Rye IPA.” It was out of this world, and given my ongoing obsession with rye, easily out shined the birthday beer. Of course, they had their usual suspects there as well, and even had a special guest appearance from last year’s birthday beer, the “Colossal Two” Smoked Imperial Porter. A great time was had by all.

8) What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?

42.

No caption required.

Okay, this omnibus has been barreling down route 66 long enough for today. Stay tuned for more omnibuses in future, and as usual, more inspirations every week – same bat time – same bat channel. Until next time...

Omnibuses - they come in all shapes and all sizes

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!