Super Macro shot of Rye Dry Stout grains

Click for full size

Gear

I have a lot of brewing gear. Relative to other brewers, I have no idea how it compares. But for my laundry room – aka beer gear storage room – it’s a lot. And I just bought another bucket today. I figured I’d regale you all with pictures and numbers. Figure out exactly what it is I have in stock right now. This also helps me when I have 5 batches going at once, and I need to do resource management graphs to figure out how to maneuver them properly for maximum efficiency. Yes, I have done that before. Yes, it was awesome.

Mash

Bayou Classic® Single Burner Turkey Fryer Kit

We start out the day by boiling a lot of water. I used to do this on my electric stove, but that took too long. So, I present to you the Bayou Classic® Single Burner Turkey Fryer Kit. This thing is sweet. It can boil 8 gallons of water in about 20 minutes. Huge fan. Definitely a keeper.

Mash Tun

Next is my mash tun. This is a recent creation. I took a 70qt cooler, put a spigot on it, and grabbed a braided washing machine hose as the filter. Simple, cheap, and amazingly effective.

Mash Paddle

A piece of equipment that is used from this point through the boil is the mash paddle. It’s essentially a big ass slotted spoon. I used to use a smaller, normal 12″ plastic spoon. Turns out that sticking your hand into boiling wort really hurts. So I bought the paddle. I thought about using my paddle from college, but.. never mind.

Pitcher

Lastly, we have a pitcher. It took me a lot of batches before I bought this. Which is stupid. I should have bought a pitcher from the start. Live and learn. Anyway, this is pitcher 2.0, because my old roommate put it on a red-hot burner. Old roommate. Not current roommate.

Boil

BFP

Once the mash is all done, we move on to the boil. I technically have 4 kettles. I use 3 of them. Wort goes in 1. One kettle is my 15 gallon aluminum big boy. I bought it off craigslist last year. I left PBW soaking in it for too long. It’s all pitted now. I’m nervous to use to. So, I don’t use it. Next is this little 5 gallon kettle. My wort chiller lives in there. Then we have the big ol’ fryer that came with the Bayou Classic® Single Burner Turkey Fryer Kit. I use that one for water. Finally, we have my BFP. Big. Something. Pot. She’s my favorite. And is the one pictured here, bringing an American Pale Ale to boil. Weighing in at 32 quarts, she has been a part of my system for a long while, and has helped in pretty much every batch over the past year and a half.

Thermometer and Hydrometer. What a happy couple!

Cylindrical Testing Tube, chilling in the freezer

At some point in this process, we have to see how much sugar there is in the wort. That’s where super fancy scientific devices come in to play. Like a thermometer. Or a hydrometer. Or another late purchase that should have been made earlier, a cylindrical testing jar. I know, big fancy words. It’s ok, they ensure the beer tastes great! Actually, if I never tested anything, the beer would probably still be just as good. I rarely actually change anything based on these measurements. I only wait longer or don’t wait longer to do certain things.

 

Wort Chiller - My picture wasn't as pretty as this one.

After the boil is done, um, boiling, I have an awesome wort chiller to chill the, um, wort. This thing saves hours in the process. Rather than letting 5 gallons of boiling wort come down to 72˚, a wort chiller uses heat transfer and running water to chill the wort in 20-30 minutes, on a slow day.

Fermenting

Carboy, looking like the champ he is.

The wort gets turned into beer now. It goes through a few stages. First, it’s in the primary. This is called a carboy. I have 3 or 4 of them. I’ve owned probably 7 or 8, but I lend them out or they break or something else happens. Anyway, the wort sits in these for about 7-10 days. Or a month, if I forget it’s in there. Oops.

Ale Pail, with ale inside.

Next we transfer to a secondary fermenter. I like the Ale Pails, with a spigot toward the bottom. Some are nervous about the spigot, as it’s potentially a breeding ground for contamination. However, I like them. They allow me to test the gravity of a beer really really easily, which is a huge bonus. I have 4 with a spigot, and 2 without. They also have lids with airlocks, like the one seen in the carboy shot.

Serving

As of a few months ago, I can now serve beer via bottle or keg. Kegging is one of the best things to happen to me in my life. It’s amazing. I love it. Except for the fact that the beer goes so damn fast. So I still bottle the beers I want to save.

Capper. Again, Northern Brewer takes prettier pictures.

A capper is the only permanent device used in the bottling process. There are also bottles, caps, etc., but those go with the beer out the door, so no pictures of those. Just the capper.

The Kegerator

CO2 tank, regular, splitter, and a keg of Great Divide Hibernation

A few of the kegs

For kegging, I have a bunch of stuff. Four kegs, 3 pin lock and 1 ball lock. I feel like I’m missing one in that count, so let’s call it 5 kegs. Also, CO2, a kegerator, and other fun stuff.

Other

There are a ton of other random stuff that ends up being super important. Turkey Baster? Ya, super important. Tubing? I have 4 or 5 different lengths and diameters. Chemicals? Ya, Oxy Clean, PBW, and Sani. All ensure a tasty beer. I use Duct Tape for every batch. Mostly to keep information on the vessel, but sometimes for other stuff. It’s keeping the cardboard in the kegerator on the door. Why is there cardboard on the door? To hold the insulation in, obviously. I also have about 6 ways to get beer out of a keg, one of which is a rubber mallet and a screwdriver. This can all be seen in my sweet sweet toolbox:

Sweet sweet toolbox

Of course, the most important things in the brewing process aren’t the gear, but the people who use it. As I write this, Kell is cleaning out a carboy. That sort of help is so important to the whole process, and I’m going to wrap this up so I can go help him.

A good brewer can make a good beer with much less than this. And a bad brewer can make bad beer with much more than this. See my post on books for some good information, or just ask your local homebrewer.

That’s about it. I’m sure I have other stuff that I’m not even thinking of. If you want to know about something here, or something that should be here, or something that shouldn’t be here, leave me a note.

More thoughts on Rock Art, Monster, Trademarks, and puppies

Sorry, nothing about puppies. Go here to see one.

I figured I’d write a little more on this whole… issue with Rock Art and Monster. My last post was sort of reactionary and heated. This one is more thoughtful, I hope.

Support for Rock Art has been astounding, at least within the craft beer and Twitter realms. There are a lot of different goals out there. Everyone is shouting Boycott Monster very loudly, and honestly, it’s not that hard to do. I prefer coffee. Or Rockstar. Red Bull reminds me of very late nights in college, generally mixed with a deer-blood based liquor.

If we climb up the boycotting tree, I honestly don’t have much issue never buying an A-B product again. In fact, I generally don’t as it is. There are two brands in their portfolio that I would have some issue saying goodbye to: Bass and Boddingtons. But I don’t foresee any problems saying goodbye to Chelada, the combination of Bud Light with the refreshing taste of Clamato, spices and a hint of lime.

Refreshing clam juice and delicious light beer.. mmmm

But I digress. The real goal here, at least in my mind, is to ensure Hansen’s Beverage Company does not pursue legal action again Rock Art Brewery. What’s that? Ensure they don’t pursue? Aren’t they already in a heated, cut throat court battle, likely to grace the nation’s networks any day now? No. There’s not been any lawsuit as of yet. Hansen’s intellectual property lawyers suggested a cease and desist as part of their due diligence to protect the trademark that is Monster Energy. Rock Art said no, we will not cease and desist. Hansen’s now has the option to say “Cool, no worries. Thanks for your timely response. We really enjoy your beer, btw.” The other option is for them to remove their very dirty glove, slap Rock Art in the face with it, and declare a duel. Sadly, it would be like the epic battle between the Canadian and American Air Forces in South Park, the movie. For those not up on that certain pop culture reference, a legal battle between Hansen’s and Rock Art would be like a pea shooter vs. a nuke. So, our goal as craft beer supporters is the former option (“Yo, good beer!”) rather than the latter (“Hey, let’s fight”).

Monster drinking Monster. Whoa.

Now, some might (and have) ask “why?”. That’s good. Getting all up in arms over an issue and not knowing why is a pretty big problem these days. So why are we all so pissed at Hansen’s? They are, in fact, doing their duty in protecting a very expensive trademark. They even sent a cease and desist a real monster!

There are a few reasons as to why we’re all so pissed. First is the issue of brand confusion and dilution. I don’t care what Wal-Mart you go to, no one is going to mistake an oversized can of Monster Energy for a bomber of 10% ABV Vermonster. If anything, this cease and desist has brought Vermonster to the public eye, where before it would have stayed in Vermont. (Yes, I just said Vermont isn’t the public eye. Do you know where Morrisville, VT is? Do you know where VT is?)

Monster Energy is a registered trademark. In fact, their cease and desist lists five marks:

1. Registration No. 3,044,315 for the mark MONSTER ENERGY
2. Registration No. 3,044,314 for the mark M MONSTER ENERGY
3. Registration No. 3,057,061 for the mark MONSTER ENERGY
4. Registration No. 3,134,842 for the mark M MONSTER ENERGY
5. Registration No. 3,134,841 for the mark MONSTER ENERGY and Design

I went to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to take looksie at these marks. Let’s see what I found.

The first two are the same, just for different typed designs. The meat:

IC 005. US 006 018 044 046 051 052. G & S: nutritional supplements in liquid and non-liquid form, but excluding perishable beverage products that contain fruit juice or soy, whether such products are pasteurized or not. FIRST USE: 20020327. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020418

Nutritional Supplements. Pretty sure beer is a nutritional supplement, right? All jokes aside, there’s not much I can come up with for why a chocolate porter might be sold at your local GNC. Moving on.

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: Fruit juice drinks having a juice content of 50% or less by volume that are shelf stable, carbonated soft drinks, carbonated drinks enhanced with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, amino acids and/or herbs, aerated water, soda water and seltzer water, but excluding perishable beverage products that contain fruit juice or soy, whether such products are pasteurized or not. FIRST USE: 20020327. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020418

Fruit juice. Yes, some beer has fruit in it. The guy who won this year’s NHC made a Peach Lambic with 15 lbs of fresh peaches. Pulled out 5 gallons after 10 days, 180 days, and 360 days, then blended them. Sounds so good! But I digress.

The last two are also the same, but for different marks:

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: Beverages, namely, carbonated soft drinks, carbonated drinks enhanced with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, amino acids and/or herbs, carbonated and non-carbonated energy or sports drinks, fruit juice drinks having a juice content of 50% or less by volume that are shelf stable, and water, but excluding perishable beverage products that contain fruit juice or soy, whether such products are pasteurized or not. FIRST USE: 20020327. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020418

This one gets the closest to our industry. But it is still a distant cry from beer. Things like Monster Energy are called soft drinks because they’re not hard drinks. Hard drinks have alcohol. Soft ones do not. Good talk.

But wait! Soft drinks do not have alcohol… What about a non-alcoholic beer? You’re totally right. Here’s Coors’ NA mark (Registration No. 2,335,054):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER. FIRST USE: 19911001. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19911001

See where it mentions beer, specifically? How about MillerCoors, as a company trademark (Serial No. 77,432,087)

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: Beer; Soft drinks

IC 033. US 047 049. G & S: Alcoholic beverage produced from a brewed malt base with natural flavors

I can keep going. Coors Edge (Registration No. 3,297,189)

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: beer. FIRST USE: 20040601. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20040601

More MillerCoors (Serial No. 77,511,583):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: Beer

Coors (Registration No. 3,467,665):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: BEER. FIRST USE: 20060100. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20060100

Just a few more, I promise. Sam Adams (Registration No. 1,987,061):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: beverages, namely beer and ale. FIRST USE: 19921105. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19940909

New Belgium (Registration No. 3,018,632):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: FERMENTED MALT BEVERAGES, NAMELY, BEER AND ALE. FIRST USE: 19981200. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19981200

Fat Tire by New Belgium (Registration No. 1,846,908):

IC 032. US 048. G & S: fermented malt beverages; namely, ale. FIRST USE: 19910628. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19920320

Last one. Coca-Cola (Registration No. 3,252,896):

IC 032. US 045 046 048. G & S: Non-alcoholic beverages, namely, soft drinks; and syrups and concentrates for making beverages, namely, soft drinks. FIRST USE: 20021215. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20030101

K I’m done. The point? Beer says beer, non-beer doesn’t. If Monster wants to maintain its trademark across all liquids, cool. But it’s registration is not for all liquids. It can’t tell some laundry detergent to stop being so monstery. It’s also not across all beverages. It’s across soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, etc. But it’s registration does not enter the beer world. Nor should its lawyers.

Now yes, we’re all up in arms because it’s a small company. We love the underdog. It’s true. If MillerCoors put out Monster Ale, we’d expect Hansen’s to sue on the spot. Likewise, if Monster Energy came out with a Vermonster Energy Drink, for all your blue ice days, no one would expect Rock Art to do a thing, because it’s just too expensive. So there’s that argument. That’s the VerPepsi argument. However, Pepsi isn’t a real word. Monster is.

One of the biggest issues I have with all of this is that Rock Art Vermonster isn’t the only Monster or -monster beer on the market. Now, don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t want any brewery to get sued over Hop Ness Monster or This Beer Is An Effing Monster or some other neat name. But the question is, why Rock Art? Why haven’t the other 58 monster named brews gotten a letter? Again, I really don’t want that to happen. But, if Hansen’s is so upset about this one, why have they left the others alone? A Beer Advocate search for *monster* (any names with monster as a whole word) returns 34 results. I’m not smart enough to do a search for words containing monster. Like Vermonster. But that basic search returns things like “Brooklyn Monster Ale” and “New Old Lompoc Monster Mash Porter”. Vermonster isn’t even a real word! Here’s a fun game. Find Monster in this selection. Find Vermonster.

So seriously, Hansen’s. Just drop it.

For continuing coverage on this topic, please bookmark MonsterBoycott.

Support the little guy

This blog is generally focussed on me and the brewery. That’s a conscious choice, because there are a lot of other blogs and sites that focus on other things. So yes, startingabrewery.wordpress.com is self-centered. Deal with it.

Today, however, the support goes over to Rock Art Brewery in Vermont. If you haven’t heard about this story yet, allow me to fill you in.

Rock Art Brewery is a nice little microbrewery in Morrisville, Vermont. Never heard of the brewery or the town? Or Vermont? Weird. Obviously they’re a threat to the energy drink empire that starts with M and ends with onster. (Monster, if you missed that)

Rock Art has been in operation for 10 years. Matt started the company by himself in his basement, and now they have a whopping 7 employees. For the 10 year anniversary, Matt decided to make a super hoppy, 10%, 100IBU monster of a beer, aptly named the Vermonster. And he got slapped with a Cease and Desist from Hansen, the publicly traded parent of Monster Energy.

Here’s a video with more information, starring Matt of Rock Art:

Katie over at Gonzo Gastronomy posted a great write up on this battle: “All the dishes rattle in the cupboard when the elephants arrive…”

Chris at snowboarding.about.com wrote Monster Energy Is Messing With The Little Guy.

Ashley – aka The Beer Wench – just posted her writeup as well.

While Rock Art has close to zero chance of losing this legal battle, Hansen is worth around a billion dollars. $1,000,000,000. They can sit there and appeal the verdict of each and every appearance in court until Rock Art either doesn’t have the money to go on, or changes the name. This means that while the law states Rock Art is in the right, isn’t endangering the Monster trademark, and shouldn’t have ever garnered the attention of Hansen, Hansen will win because they have more money.

Matt and the rest of Rock Art have decided to stand up to this. They could just change the name and go on. But they’re not. They stand up for what they believe in.

Matt’s got this awesome cliche thing going on, first by rocking the American Dream (basement brewer makes it 10 years? That’s awesome!) and now stepping into David’s shoes to try and sling a 12 oz rock at Goliath.

I’m hoping to be a microbrewery owner soon. It makes me smile to see someone standing up for his ideals and for the industry.

Help Matt stand up. Support Rock Art. Boycott Monster. Spread the word. Make sure the world knows how pissed off we are.

If you’re on the Twitter machine, let @MonsterEnergy know how you feel. And give @RockArtBrewery a follow too. Let me know other ways you’re letting Monster know that this. is. bullshit.

[Update] There is now a petition to show support. Sign it.

And smash cans with bigger cans.

More people writing about this. I’ll keep updating this list as I find more:

• Save Vermonster, Save Rock Art Brewery (w/12 things you can do to help)
• Why You should Boycott Monster Energy Drink

Slowing Down A Little

Yet again, I’ve been bad about keeping up with posts. My apologies to the 67 of you who check this site every day for enthralling information about Mad Haven.

I’ve done a lot of research, and met some very helpful people along the way. A lot of what I’ve learned has shown me that I have a lot to learn. Right now, I’m focussing on learning more about the beer industry and business in general, and more about every aspect of brewing. So the business planning has slowed down as I learn what I need to know to make this work. Hence the lack of posts.

Some things that have been happening:

• The wedding beer service went splendidly. We went through 3 5-gallon kegs of my beer, plus a 5-gallon of Great Divide’s Samurai, in about 90 minutes. Even though the beer was unfiltered (the IPA had some nice hop and yeast floaties going on), and generally a little too foamy, people loved it. I had to go buy another 5-gallon keg, this time Great Divide’s Titan IPA, because we were out of beer. It was super super neat hearing total strangers talk about my beer, not realizing the bearded gentleman at the keg (me…) crafted their beverage by hand. It also helped that the wedding was for two Colorado College alums. My alma matter as well. People there know how to enjoy a good beer.
• At the wedding, I made some great contacts. One person approached me about getting Mad Haven into CC alum events. That would be awesome.
• On the other side of all this, I’m going to start writing a weekly blog post for RateBeer.com. More on this as I learn more.
• I’m also going to start writing more on here about things I learn about brewing, as I learn them. I’d really like to learn more about yeast, and I’ll try to explain my findings. I’ve got a few new books and whatnot to help me on that journey.
• And of course, I’m still brewing often. If you’re in Denver and want to join in a batch, please let me know.

Lastly, as always, if you have any questions about the beer industry at all, or want me to look into something specifically, leave me a note. If I can’t answer it, I’m sure I know someone who can.

Mad Haven On Tap

My very first tap handle

I’m serving beer tonight at a college friend’s wedding rehearsal dinner. It’s sort of huge. I’m a wee bit nervous. Considering it’s the first “contract”, and the first time Mad Haven will be on the label, it’s a pretty momentous occasion.

So first, thanks, and Congratulations to Elizabeth and Raffaello.

The Beer

Kegging the Blonde

I’m bringing three cornelius kegs with me tonight. I’ve got a batch of the blonde (Pam, for those who know her), a batch of the IPA, and a batch of a ginger saison. A little about each.

The blonde is tasty, as usual. I wanted to make a few batches and blend them, but I ran out of equipment and time. She’s good though. I think she weighs in around 6% today. Clean, crisp, slightly malty, a little on the darker side. Pam is ready to show her stuff.

The IPA is really fun this round. It didn’t quite finish fermenting. Again, time issue. It got down to about 1.022, from 1.086. I believe that’s an 8.6% beer. If I had time, it would have weighed in at a super hot 10%. It was also dry hopping until last night. So we have a super fresh, refreshingly malty, delicious double IPA. I think I’m going to call this one Ice Tray IPA. When I hop it 8 times during the boil, I separate the hops out in an ice tray. Simple story for a good beer.

Lastly is the ginger saison. It’s a recipe out of that Extreme Brewing book (My Library). It’s slightly sour, which wasn’t exactly intentional, but it tastes pretty good. It’s a backup beer. Not my own recipe, and made with extract. Gotta love the quick brews!

The Kegs

Typical problem this week

I have never had so much trouble with kegs as I did this week. Makes sense. I’m all nervous and rushing, and things get stuck. It started early in the week. I bought a new ball-lock cornelius keg, and couldn’t get the fittings off. You could smell the soda from the o-rings inside the posts. My wrench was just too big. Nothing was working. So I went to Ace and bought some tools. The fittings fell off on their own when I walked in with the big 7/8″ closed wrench.

Of course, in this process, I mixed up the posts. Last night, I put the gas disconnect on the liquid post, and the liquid disconnect on the gas post. Needless to say, that’s not how they’re supposed to work. Things got jammed, I sprayed myself with various chemicals, and started to freak out. Then I remembered my nice big 7/8″ closed wrench. Leverage is a super cool phenomenon. Popped those disconnects right off with some properly applied pressure.

Finally everything was in the right spot, and the liquids and gasses were flowing properly. I force carbonated the kegs, cleaned up, and went to bed. Added some more CO2 this morning, just to be safe. We’ll see what happens!

The Equipment

Serving cold beer at a park comes with a few challenges. I can’t bring my kegerator. I’d rather not rely on buckets of ice. The best option is the one breweries use at festivals: The Jockey Box (aka the Draft Box). I asked a few pros if I could borrow theirs, not expecting much. They’re expensive, and this is festival season. I found some great plans for building one, but with only a few days before the event, certain supplies would be hard to come by. My local homebrew shop came through on this one. I went in to gather supplies to build my own, and they offered theirs. Collateral? The promise that I bring it back. I love local.

Draft Box

It needed some cleaning. It needed some lovin. But it’s amazing. It has two lines, and uses a two-line plate chiller for the cooling element. I ran PBW through both lines for about 20 minutes, and then ran sani through as well. Worked beautifully. I didn’t have time to run beer through it, so fingers crossed!

The Tool Box

Sadly, I don’t have a picture of it. But I put together an “oh shit everything broke” tool box. It’s got various sizes and types of wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers. It’s got gas and liquid disconnects for ball- and pin-lock kegs. It’s got random fittings, an extra tap handle, direct taps, and a CO2 canister, just in case. It’s pretty sweet. There’s an extra CO2 tank there too. I hope I don’t have to touch any of it.

That’s it. I’m showing up tonight around 5:45. Hopefully everything goes well, the beer is perfect, and someone signs a blank check to open the brewery. Congrats again to Elizabeth and Raffaello, and thank you so much for giving me this opportunity!

(in other news, have you seen http://steakhouseorgaybar.com?)

On brewing popular styles

Do I need to brew an amber? I am a fan of New Belgium – 1554 is a crazy good beer, Biere de Mars is awesome, and La Folie is a different experience altogether – but do I need to have a Mad Haven version of Fat Tire to please the masses?

Beer for the masses (aka a picture of a lot of people drinking beer at Oktoberfest)

There are a lot of beer styles. A lot. My last post was a quick rundown of BeerAdvocate’s styles, and how many beers are listed in each one. It wasn’t very scientific. There are a lot in there that aren’t made anymore. There might even be some that are in the wrong style. And honestly, we could probably narrow it down to 10 categories rather than 90.

I did narrow it down a little. I went into this thinking that ambers would be toward the top of the popularity list. I have no reason for this hypothesis, and I was apparently wrong. Here’s a quick breakdown. Be nice, I know my categories aren’t perfect.

Pale Ale	9064
Lager	6514
Other	4552
Wheat	3841
Stout	3033
Strong	2439
Amber	2140
Porter	1806
Pilsner	1712
Brown	1566
Bock	1457
Light	1418
Scottish	1010
Barleywine	632

It’s no surprise that Pale Ale is number one. For this count, Pale Ale includes all varieties of Pale Ales and IPAs, both American and English, Imperial and regular, double, etc. IPAs are all the rage these days, so obviously there are a lot of varieties. For Lagers, I just grouped all the lagers together. I don’t know much about lagers, so I’m ok with this grouping. Other includes things like sours (which I love!), Oktoberfests, Chile beers, Fruit / Veggie, Pumpkin, and the rest of things that fit in a category named “other”. And so on down the list. If you group Light with Amber, which one might be inclined to do,  the hybrid groupology pushes it to #5.

When I originally set out to grab these numbers, I had an unfounded hypothesis that ambers would be higher. So the premise of this post being somewhat shot, let’s move on.

My blonde is heavyset and a little dirty.

I don’t tend to get too crazy with my recipes, at least not yet. They’re generally a little off to the side of their supposed style (the judges agree on that one too, at least), but I haven’t yet delved into the “extreme” side of things. My stout has caraway seeds. My blonde is more.. dirty blonde. My IPA is heavily hopped with hints of ambrosia (the food of the gods, not the weird fruit salad stuff).

I guess my long, drawn out question is this: Do I need to make beer for the masses? Or is the craft brewing world big enough now to support whatever style I make, assuming it’s amazingly delicious. I’m not getting into this industry to sell beer to every person who walks in off the street (though that would help sales quite a bit). I’m making beer because I love to make beer, and I love to share it. So what are your thoughts? Do I need to have the “entry-level” beer? Or can I stick with the bigger, stronger, hoppier, maltier, crazier, sourer, whateverer brews?

P.S. I realize this is was a complete ramble. Congrats on your persistence in getting this far into the post / my brain.

Beers by style

Earlier today, I asked people on Twitter for a count of commercially available beers by style. I received a lot of resources, but no exact counts. I haven’t contacted the Brewer’s Association yet for exact figures, but my friend Tyler wrote a script to help count the beers in each style on the Beer Advocate website, which I feel is a pretty good source for this information. I’m writing a post where this information is useful, but here is the raw data from the Beer Advocate site. Thanks Tyler!

These data are accurate as of around 5pm on August 18, 2009.

Style	Total
American Amber / Red Ale	1621
American Barleywine	455
American Blonde Ale	801
American Brown Ale	590
American Dark Wheat Ale	64
American Double / Imperial IPA	668
American Double / Imperial Stout	303
American IPA	1814
American Pale Ale (APA)	1994
American Pale Wheat Ale	727
American Porter	1288
American Stout	806
American Strong Ale	339
American Wild Ale	148
Black & Tan	49
Chile Beer	64
Cream Ale	236
Pumpkin Ale	228
Rye Beer	262
Wheatwine	52
Belgian Dark Ale	293
Belgian IPA	88
Belgian Pale Ale	805
Belgian Strong Dark Ale	478
Belgian Strong Pale Ale	524
Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut	13
Bière de Garde	170
Dubbel	336
Faro	15
Flanders Oud Bruin	70
Flanders Red Ale	84
Gueuze	43
Lambic – Fruit	203
Lambic – Unblended	39
Quadrupel (Quad)	102
Saison / Farmhouse Ale	498
Tripel	489
Witbier	871
Baltic Porter	209
Braggot	37
English Barleywine	177
English Bitter	1148
English Brown Ale	674
English Dark Mild Ale	302
English India Pale Ale (IPA)	328
English Pale Ale	843
English Pale Mild Ale	107
English Porter	309
English Stout	239
English Strong Ale	202
Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)	745
Foreign / Export Stout	128
Milk / Sweet Stout	253
Oatmeal Stout	458
Old Ale	200
Russian Imperial Stout	499
Winter Warmer	421
Sahti	20
Altbier	378
Berliner Weissbier	47
Dunkelweizen	355
Gose	13
Hefeweizen	1317
Kristalweizen	102
Kölsch	381
Roggenbier	40
Weizenbock	193
Irish Dry Stout	347
Irish Red Ale	294
Kvass	144
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy	403
Scottish Ale	415
Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale	41
American Adjunct Lager	979
American Amber / Red Lager	254
American Double / Imperial Pilsner	60
American Malt Liquor	112
American Pale Lager	315
California Common / Steam Beer	141
Light Lager	571
Low Alcohol Beer	153
Czech Pilsener	586
Euro Dark Lager	265
Euro Pale Lager	1287
Euro Strong Lager	221
Bock	506
Doppelbock	478
Dortmunder / Export Lager	275
Eisbock	27
German Pilsener	1066
Keller Bier / Zwickel Bier	233
Maibock / Helles Bock	473
Munich Dunkel Lager	463
Munich Helles Lager	404
Märzen / Oktoberfest	839
Rauchbier	102
Schwarzbier	332
Vienna Lager	309
Happoshu	66
Japanese Rice Lager	41
Fruit / Vegetable Beer	1128
Herbed / Spiced Beer	434
Smoked Beer	90

My Library

What my desk at home generally looks like

I like to read. I also like to buy books. I actually just bought a book on woodworking, so I could learn how to build a bookshelf to hold more books. That being said, I have a few brewing books. Some have left my house, destined for the shelves of others. A few of my basic brewing books are no longer here, as friends getting into brewing needed them more than I did. So here is a partial list of what I’ve got on my shelves. (If you click the images, they’ll take you to Amazon. I get a little kickback if you buy from that link.) The first few are brewing books, then some equipment stuff, followed by some brewing business books. There are of course magazines and websites. I subscribe to Brew Your Own, Zymurgy, and Beer Advocate. I also regularly check out byo.com, probrewer.com, beeradvocate.com, and the recipes on beertools.com. There are many more websites, one off calculators, random articles, blogs, etc. Check out the sidebar for some, or go to the google.

Designing Great Beers

Once you’ve moved past the basic “How do I brew” books, this is the Bible. It is written like a text book, which in this case is a good thing. There is very detailed information on every little step of the brewing process, from choosing your malt to water calculations. Definitely a go to book.

Extreme Brewing

I bought this one because it had some clone recipes of some breweries I really like, such as Dogfish Head, Avery, Allagash, and Russian River. They are mainly partial mash recipes, but they’re pretty cool. There are some interesting recipes, like a Chamomile Honey Wheat, Blood Orange Hefeweizen, etc. And some information on what it means to brew “extreme”. It’s a fun book for sure.

The Brew Master’s Bible

I honestly haven’t read too much of this one. My roommate bought it when he was starting to get into brewing. I think it’s supposed to be a pretty good getting-started style of book, but I haven’t had time to peruse it too thoroughly.

The Home Brewer’s Answer Book

This is a great resource book. Every once in a while, something weird happens. This book either has the answer, or enough of a base of an answer to let you ask a better question. It’s got “Oh no something went wrong” answers, as well as “Why the heck do they do things this way” answers. And a few things in between.

Brew Ware

Great “How to” book on making your own equipment. It has detailed instructions on making everything from a mash tun to a wort chiller, a full brewing system to a grain mill. Definitely a good purchase.

Brewing up a Business

This is my personal brewery business bible. If you want some warm fuzzy feelings about starting a brewery, read this book a few times. Sam is the poster boy of our industry, and this book is his “How to start with nothing and be awesome” book. It has lots of blank pages at the back for note taking. Most of mine are filled up now.

Starting Your Own Brewery

This is the Brewers Association’s guide. It’s got all the goods. Floor construction, marketing plans, stories from those who have been there, and a sample business plan. Sadly, there are a huge number of proofreading errors, which can get distracting. But overall, it’s a good book. I’m almost finished with it. There are some essays by some pretty heavy hitters, like Ray Daniels, John Hickenlooper (founder of Wynkoop and current mayor of Denver), and Sam Calagione, to name a few.

Master of my domain

We have a website! And by website, I mean I put a link to this blog and an email address on one of the domains I bought. But now all those people I gave stickers to this weekend have somewhere to go. Check it out and be prepared for… nothing exciting at all. Logo design coming soon.